1 844.742.7448

Email Us

Remote Support

Contact

Posts tagged "software"

  1. Home
  2. Posts tagged software

Our favorite free 3D modeling software gets free AI add-on
  • No Comments

Free 3D modeling software Blender now supports AI art generator Stable Diffusion, courtesy of an equally free Stability AI add-on. 

Dubbed Stability for Blender, the text-to-image generator lets users “add AI post-processing effects to renders,” Stability AI has revealed. Working inside the 3D software, they can experiment on scenes without endless remodeling, generating textures, animations, and images through text prompts and the tool’s style presets. 

By integrating Stable Diffusion within Blender, the firm hopes to streamline the design process, and make the tools more accessible without investing in dedicated hardware like high-end GPUs and graphic design laptops. 

But the AI tool may also offer an unexpected bonus for creatives. Artists, animators, and modelers who download the addon will be able to use the platform’s image editor to create textures and images. 

According to the company, users can go further, keyframing all properties and creating animations that “use Blender's built-in animation system to automate properties in Stable Diffusion.” By entering a text prompt, the tool creates an image using the artist’s existing render. 

3D model made in Blender

(Image credit: Stability AI / Blender)

In doing so, Stability for Blender could potentially swerve one of the biggest challenges facing content creators, content distributors, and AI developers: copyright infringement.

Read more

> Adobe is almost definitely using your content to train AI

> Here's our pick of the best VFX software

> Is the cost of AI worth it for your business? 

With everyone from artists to Getty Images suing AI platforms for illegal use of copyrighted materials, employing rendered frames as a starting point for the diffusion process may yet prove a (somewhat) definitive answer to the question “Who owns AI art?” 

The launch comes just months after rival AI platform OpenAI revealed its own 3D model builder. Its POINT-E solution “produces 3D models in only 1-2 minutes on a single GPU”, the developer said, while admitting it currently “falls short of the state-of-the-art in terms of sample quality”. 

Users with a Stability AI API key can get the Blender add-on by clicking here.  

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

The love for open source software is showing no signs of slowing down
  • No Comments

The love for open source software is spread across the whole technology spectrum, a new report looking at the state of developing software and the tools needed to do so has claimed.

The 2022 State of Open Source Report, conducted by OpenLogic, surveyed 2,660 professionals and their organisations that use open source tools. 

If you are a software developer or work in an adjacent industry then this is probably no surprise: open source tools are the glue that holds so many things together, a community of selfless individuals working towards a bigger goal. 

Open source love

The report asked respondents a series of questions to gauge their interest (and love) for open source, covering a wide variety of roles and companies (see below for more on the specific methodologies).

Most respondents use an open source programming language or framework, closely followed by databases, OSes, Git repos, frameworks for AI/ML/DL, and the cloud. 

2022 open source report

(Image credit: OpenLogic)

When it comes to reservations, respondents highlighted a lack of skills. But, perhaps most interestingly, a full 27% said they had no reservations at all.

READ MORE

>Microsoft .NET is officially 20 years old

>DeepMind’s new AI can write code that’s better than yours

>We still don't know who created Bitcoin – but it definitely wasn't Linus Torvalds

2022 open source report

(Image credit: OpenLogic)

When it came to reasons for using open source, the answers were clear: access to innovations and latest technologies; no license cost, meaning an overall cost reduction; modernising their technology stack; many options for similar technologies; and constant releases and patches.

2022 open source report

(Image credit: OpenLogic)

Methodology 

Most (38%) are technology companies, but lots of other sectors are represented: consulting, banking and finance, transport, telecoms, education, healthcare, public sector, and so on. 39% of companies were between 100 and 1,000 employees, 32% were under 100 employees, and 28% were over 1,000 employees.

In terms of the regions, North America dominated, representing 52.6% of respondents, followed by Asia Pacific (12.4%), UK and Europe (10.9%), Asia (7.7%), Middle East (6.6%), Latin America (5.2%), Africa (4.2%), and Oceania (0.32%). 

Full Stack Developers were the highest respondents, representing 21.8%, followed by Back End (18.5%), Front End (16%), Engineering (15.7%), Project Management (14.4%), Architect (14.4%), DevOps (12.6%), and so on. 

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Google wants secure open-source software to be the future
  • No Comments

After attending the recent White House Open Source Software Security Summit, Google is now calling for a public-private partnership to not only fund but also staff essential open-source projects.

In a new blog post, president of global affairs and chief legal officer at both Google and Alphabet, Kent Walker laid out the search giant's plans to better secure the open-source software ecosystem.

For too long, businesses and governments have taken comfort in the assumption that open source software is generally secure due to its transparent nature. While many believe that more eyes watching can help detect and resolve problems in the open source community, some projects actually don't have many eyes on them while others have few or none at all.

To its credit, Google has been working to raise awareness of the state of open source security and the company has invested millions in developing frameworks and new protective tools. However, the Log4j vulnerability and others before it have shown that more work is needed across the ecosystem to develop new models to maintain and secure open source software.

Public-private partnership 

In his blog post, Kent proposes creating a new public-private partnership to identify a list of critical open source projects to help prioritize and allocate resources to ensure their security.

In the long term though, new ways of identifying open source software and components that may pose a system risk need to be implemented so that the level of security required can be anticipated and the appropriate resources can be provided.

At the same time, security, maintenance and testing baselines need to be established across both the public and private sector. This will help ensure that national infrastructure and other important systems can continue to rely on open source projects. These standards also should be developed through a collaborative process according to Kent with an “emphasis on frequent updates, continuous testing and verified integrity”. Fortunately, the software community has already started this work with organizations like OpenSFF working across industry to create these standards.

Now that Google has weighed in on the issue of open source security, expect other tech giants like Microsoft and Apple to propose their own ideas regarding the matter.

We've also rounded up the best open source software and the best business laptops

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More