Amazon's Prime Day sale for October 2023 is in full swing, but Walmart got the jump on its fellow retailer with a sale of its own that it launched yesterday. The Holiday Kickoff sale is like a Walmart Prime Day sale, which we've seen other storefronts host in the past. It's a way for the company to take advantage of the shopping buzz generated by Amazon — and a way for you to save at more than one outlet. We combed through what Walmart had to offer and found the tech savings that are worth your time. One thing to note is that Walmart carries some devices that Amazon doesn’t, like the Google Nest Hub, which is down to $60. Other worthwhile deals include the 9th generation iPad for $1 less than it sold for during Amazon's July Prime Day and an Xbox Elite Series 2 core controller for just $88. 

Apple 10.2-inch iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB, 9th gen)

Apple's 9th-generation iPad dropped down to $250 in July for Amazon's first Prime Day of 2023, and it was one of the top sellers. Now Walmart's sale has dropped that price by a dollar, which makes it the new lowest prices o far. This is the budget pick in our guide to the best iPads and while it doesn’t have the thin bezels and as much accessory support as our favorite, the iPad Air, it's excellent for light gaming, streaming and browsing the web — and it's the most affordable way to snag an iPad. 

iRobot Roomba j7+ 

iRobot's Roomba j7+ is down to $300, which is a huge, $400 discount over the regular price. We named this the runner up model in our robot vacuum tests, though the version we recommended didn't have a clean base, this one does. It has strong suction power and utilizes advanced obstacle avoidance, which helps it steer clear of furniture and other objects while it's cleaning. 

Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)

The second-generation Google Nest Hub is down to $60, which is about $5 more than Walmart sold it for last time it did a Prime-adjacent sale. This is the top pick for a Google smart display in Engadget’s Engadget's guide The seven-inch screen lives in an unobtrusive exterior and through it you can watch YouTube, access the Google Assistant, control your smart home devices, and even check in on your cameras around the house. But it doesn't have a built-in camera itself, so you won't be able to make video calls from it. 

Microsoft Xbox Elite Series 2 Core

The Xbox Elite Series 2 Core wireless controller is down to $88. That beats the low price we saw a few months ago by a healthy $12 and is a $42 discount overall. The Core version of this gamepad is just like the regular Elite Series 2, except without the additional accessories (like extra joysticks and triggers). Both are designed for competitive gamers with a wrap-around grip, 40 hours of rechargeable battery life, adjustable tension sticks and hair-trigger locks. 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

If you haven't bought Nintendo's acclaimed 2023 Zelda game, TOTK for your Switch yet, here's a good opportunity. It's a game we thought unlocked "a ton of creative potential" and is now 31 percent off, bringing it down to $48 which is just $2 more than the lowest price we've tracked. This is the standard, physical copy of the game. 

Apple iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB, 10th gen)

The 10th generation standard iPad is down to $399. While that's a $40 savings, it's still about $20 more than the all time low price we've tracked for this model. This one didn't make the cut in our list of the best iPads. Though it has a bigger screen and a newer chip than the 9th generation, it's still not Apple’s own M-series silicon and it does away with the home button and headphone jack, which the earlier version retains. 

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Major Amazon sale events like Prime Day aren’t typically a haven for laptop deals, but if you’re looking for a new notebook, you can still usually find a few worthwhile discounts. That’s the case again for Prime Big Deal Days, the company’s latest deal-a-thon aimed at Prime members, which kicked off today and runs through Wednesday. We’ve sorted out a handful of notable laptop deals from the October Prime Day sale below, including price drops on MacBooks and gaming laptops. For the former, just note that there’s a chance we see new models by the end of the year, though reports have conflicted on that. 

Apple MacBook Air M2 (15-inch)

The 15.3-inch version of Apple’s MacBook Air is down to $1,049 for an entry-level model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. That matches the best price we’ve seen and takes $250 off Apple’s list price. The MacBook Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave the 15-inch model a review score of 96 earlier this year, as it covers just about all of the things we look for in a quality mainstream notebook. Compared to the 13.6-inch version, it also includes a more powerful speaker system and a slightly upgraded GPU. The SSD in this base configuration is technically slower than the one in higher-capacity SKUs, but that shouldn’t be a major problem unless you’re looking to do more complex work. In general, you wouldn’t buy the Air for things like high-res media editing, though its M2 chip is still plenty powerful for everyday tasks.

If you do need more storage space, the 512GB model with 8GB of RAM is on sale for a low of $1,249. Variants with double the RAM are up to $250 off as well. Meanwhile, the 13.6-inch MacBook Air isn’t discounted on Amazon, but it’s down to $899 at Best Buy. That’s $200 off the notebook’s list price.

Apple MacBook Air M1

The previous-generation MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 chip is back down to $750, matching the lowest price we’ve seen. Apple sells this entry-level config with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for $999, though we’ve often seen it go for $800 or less in recent months. This notebook arrived back in 2020, so it’s harder to recommend these days when the M2 models offer a faster chip, sharper webcam, slimmer bezels and improved speakers. If you only need a laptop for more basic tasks though, it’s not a bad value at this specific deal price. It’s still quieter and more solidly built than many mid-priced laptops, and its keyboard, trackpad and battery life remain excellent. We gave the M1 Air a review score of 94 at launch.

Dell G15 5530 Gaming Laptop

A configuration of Dell’s G15 5530 Gaming Laptop with an Intel Core i7-13650HX processor, 16GB of RAM, an upgradeable 1TB SSD and an 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 GPU is down to $1,222 for Prime Big Deal Days. That’s roughly $180 below its usual going rate. This is an updated version of the “best budget” pick in our guide to the best gaming laptops: It’s heavy, and it can run warm, but this configuration is more than capable of playing modern games at high-ish settings, and its 15.6-inch, 165Hz, 1080p display is sufficiently bright. It is stuck with a 720p webcam though. The slightly larger Dell G16 7630 is also on sale at $1,500 for a model with a Core i9-13900HX and RTX 4070.

Acer Nitro 5

The Acer Nitro 5 is the runner up to the Dell G15 in our guide to the best budget gaming laptops, and right now a model with a Core i5-12500H, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and GeForce RTX 3050 GPU is down to $700 for Prime members. That’s about $100 off its usual street price. These are not the latest specs, so you’ll need to crank down the settings in more demanding games to reach a respectable frame rate. The chassis itself is chunky and made of plastic too. But there’s enough power to at least keep up with recent titles, and getting a 144Hz display at this price is nice. For those on a super tight budget, it’s competent.

Razer Blade 14

A config of the Razer Blade 14 with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, 165Hz 1440p display, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU is on sale for $1,950. That’s certainly not cheap, but you’d buy the Blade 14 if you’re willing to pay extra for a gaming laptop with a more slender, portable and premium-feeling design. This is a 2022 model, but the newer editions cost several hundred dollars more, and the last-gen CPU and GPU here are still powerful enough to play most modern games at high settings. Its keyboard is also great, though the whole thing can run hot. We recommend the slightly larger Blade 15 in our guide to the best gaming laptops, but that one isn’t discounted. And if you’re not into the Blade aesthetic, consider our top overall pick, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, instead.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is down to $1,800 for a model with a Core i7-1265U chip, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. That’s about $100 off its usual going rate. Chances are you know where you stand on the Surface Pro at this point: It’s still not especially comfortable to use on your lap, but it remains the gold standard for 2-in-1s that behave and perform like a laptop more than a traditional tablet. While this version isn’t a huge shake-up, it'll be a nice bump for those upgrading from a three- to five-year-old model. Just note that this deal doesn’t include a keyboard or stylus. We're reaching the time of year where Microsoft would usually introduce a new model, but as of this writing it’s not clear when a potential Surface Pro 10 might arrive. For now, the Pro 9 is the top Windows pick in our guide to the best tablets.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Editor's note: This article contains mild spoilers for Assassin's Creed Mirage.

The deeper I got into Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the more a sense of warm nostalgia washed over me. It felt like a cozy hug from an old friend. A comforting, bloody embrace.

The latest entry in Ubisoft's long-running open-world adventure franchise takes the series back to its roots. Mirage mostly forgoes the RPG approach Ubisoft adopted in the last three main games: Assassin's Creed Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. I'd only played the latter of those and it didn't click for me, largely because of Ubisoft's propensity to ovestuff its games and partially because it strayed so far away from the earlier titles.

Some of Valhalla's DNA carries over to Mirage, which shouldn't be surprising as the latest game was originally envisioned as an expansion to the last 100-plus-hour epic. There is some loot to hunt for in the form of swords, daggers and outfits that give protagonist Basim some small upgrades, such as reducing the level of notoriety he gains while carrying out illegal actions or passively regenerating some health. These items are upgradable, as are your tools. One neat, if unrealistic perk, makes an enemy disintegrate after Basim eliminates them with a throwing knife. So, you can tweak your build to fit your playstyle to a certain degree.

Ubisoft

There are skill trees too, but rather than unlocking things like a slight increase to the damage Basim deals, the abilities here are genuinely impactful. Pinpointing opponents and important items from further away, reducing fall damage and a chain assassination ability are all super useful tools for Basim to have in his belt.

Ubisoft has pulled back quite a bit on the RPG elements of the previous few games. You won’t be using bows, shields or two-handed weapons as you might in Valhalla, for instance. Still, there's just enough customization for folks who want to optimize (or min/max) Basim for the way they like to play.

"Just enough" is a thought I kept coming back to in the 17 hours it took me to beat the main story. Mirage is just the right length. There are just enough collectibles and side-quests to make the world feel rich but not overwhelming. There's just enough to the story, which is fairly by-the-numbers though gets more intriguing in the last couple of hours. There's just enough variety to the enemies.

There are only a few enemy types, and I love that Mirage doesn't go down the well-worn and nonsensical path of arbitrarily making them stronger based on their geographical location — an aspect of Dead Island 2 I greatly disliked. Although Basim largely has to make do with his sword and dagger (and, of course, the Hidden Blade), enemies have a variety of weapons. A trio of goons will pose a different threat when they have spears instead of swords. You'll have to navigate that melange of weaponry carefully, especially so when enemies surround you. Putting an onus on that and the level design for encounters helps make Mirage feel like more of a refreshing throwback.

Ubisoft

In the main missions, I only encountered one traditional boss fight toward the end of the story. Practically every other enemy was susceptible to a single-button slaying. I absolutely made the most of that by sneaking up on assassination targets or distracting them with noise-making devices. The game actually discourages open combat, anyway. You won't gain experience points by killing tons of enemies. Staying stealthy is usually the way to go — unless you're a completionist, since there's a trophy/achievement that requires you to stay in open combat for 10 minutes. Thankfully, the game makes it fairly easy for you to slink around.

Contrary to my first impressions, the guards of Baghdad aren't all that smart. They'll often be briefly puzzled when they encounter the dead body of a colleague they were chatting with seconds earlier before walking away. They'll quickly give up on a hunt for Basim. They'll see a cohort being yanked around a corner and think nothing of it. That breaks the immersion a bit, but it does make it easier to mess with these idiots.

I took some delight in tormenting my opponents, even if that may not match up to the code of conduct the assassins live by. One larger grunt was trapped in a room alone to guard a chest. I entered, used a smoke bomb to distract him, opened the chest and left, blocking the path behind me. I then made my way around to a gate that kept the guard locked in from the other side and spent a few minutes whistling at him, for no reason other than to annoy him and amuse myself.

The real star of the show is the version of ninth-century Baghdad Ubisoft has built. It feels rich and lived-in, with bystanders simply going about their day as a hooded figure darts by them to climb up the side of a building. Unfortunately, that level of detail wasn't reflected in the character models. Main characters and NPCs alike looked far less refined than their surroundings.

Ubisoft

Some Arab critics and reviewers appreciated how Ubisoft represented Baghdad and Muslim culture in the game, and that's a positive sign. In that sense, Mirage seems like a prime candidate for the historical educational modes that Ubisoft has added to recent Assassin's Creed games.

I can't personally speak to the authenticity of the environment Ubisoft has created. The same goes for the Arabic used in the game, but the developers at least strove to avoid anachronisms. I spent an hour or so playing in Arabic with English subtitles and found it a compelling way to experience the game, though I missed hearing the velvet-voiced Shohreh Aghdashloo's portrayal of Basim's mentor Roshan too much.

Aghdashloo's performance is one of several highlights of a solid game. Developer Ubisoft Bordeaux has achieved what it set out to do in bringing back the format of early Assassin's Creed titles while adding some modern bells and whistles (such as a gameplay option to avoid the turgid pickpocketing minigame) and avoiding some of the old trappings.

No part of the game that I've encountered is set in the modern day. That's a wise move, since those parts of previous games pulled me out of the main experience and into some tedious sections that sought to serve a larger story. I didn't hear the word "animus" once this time around. Mirage does tie back into the broader Assassin's Creed narrative — Basim makes an appearance in Valhalla, after all — but you won't get sidetracked by Desmond Miles or Layla Hassan. That meant I could spend more of my time roaming the streets and rooftops of this well-crafted city, scouting enemy camps from above and figuring out the best way to approach an assassination mission.

Mirage probably won't be for everyone, including those who appreciated the format of the last three big Assassin's Creed games, but it struck a chord with me. Even though I've wrapped up the main story and have a bunch of other games to play (I'm looking at you, Cocoon and Spider-Man 2), I'll probably spend a little while longer nuzzled up in the comfort of Mirage.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It's coming to iPhone 15 Pro devices next year.

Amazon's second Prime-related sale of 2023 has discounted all three models in Apple's smartwatch lineup. That includes the lowest price yet on the new Apple Watch Ultra 2, which was only released last month. The Apple Watch Series 9 is only seeing a modest, $9 discount, but the Apple Watch SE is down to $199. We've also included smartwatch deals from Samsung, Google and Withings, just in case you're not an iPhone user. Here are the best October Prime Day deals on Apple Watches we could find.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the brand’s newest high-end watch and has the same list price as last year’s model, which is $799. For Amazon’s sale, it’s down to $749 or $50 off, which is a new low. The new Ultra has the same S9 SiP (system-in-package) as the Series 9, which allows for on-board processing of Siri requests and will help offer more intuitive answers to questions about your health and activity data. The Ultra 2 comes with GPS and cellular connectivity and has a large 49mm case to accommodate its always-on Retina display and battery with a claimed 36-hour lifespan. Engadget's Cherlynn Low particularly liked the new Modular Ultra watchface, which manages to make the most of the watch’s vast screen real estate.

Apple Watch Series 9

It only arrived last month, but the new Apple Watch 9 has already handily beaten out other contenders for the top spot in our guide to the best smartwatches. And now it’s on sale for $9 off the list price, thanks to Amazon’s second Prime Day. It's a modest discount, but likely the largest you'll find on a Apple's brand new flagship wearable. That makes the 41mm case $390 and the 45mm size $420 instead of $429 on Apple's site. One of the most notable updates to this model is the upcoming Double Tap feature that will let you answer calls or dismiss an alarm just by tapping your thumb and forefinger together.

Now that the Apple Watch Series 8 is no longer the brand’s most recent model, it’s seeing a significant discount. The list price is $399 for the 41mm GPS model, but the sale brings it down to $300 which is nearly $100 off.

Apple Watch SE

Apple didn’t release a new version of the Apple Watch SE, which makes the second generation the current budget watch in the brand’s official lineup. It’s usually $250 for the GPS-only model and 40mm case but October’s Prime sale brings that base model down to $199. If you want more room on the screen, you can grab the 44mm version, which is usually $270 but down to $229 during the sale.

In our Engadget review, we called the SE “the best smartwatch $250 can buy." It doesn’t have the new Double Tap and on-board Siri features of the new watches, and it's missing a few of the sensors you get with the higher-end models, such as blood oxygen, temperature sensing and EKG readings. You also don’t get an always-on-display.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6

For those who don’t carry an iPhone, the Galaxy Watch 6 is our favorite Android smartwatch. Samsung’s latest wearable was released a few months ago and typically goes for $300, but is down to $269 during Amazon’s sale. It’s lighter than the previous model with a brighter display, better battery life and a processor upgrade. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic returns the spinning bezel which Samsung removed on the Watch 5. That model usually sells for $400, but the sale brings it down to $369 instead.

Engadget’s Malak Saleh gave the Galaxy Watch 6 an 84 in her review, noting the expansion of the wellness and health features — though many of those updates simply bring the Galaxy Watch 6 up to the standards of its competitors like Apple Watch and Google’s Pixel wearables. Still it's a comfortable, well-designed wearable with customizable workout routines that will give you a good amount of health data.

Google Pixel Watch

The Google Pixel Watch 2 was announced last week and will ship this Thursday. That's probably why the first generation of the Google Pixel Watch is 40 percent off. That brings it to $210 and an all-time low. While we liked the overall design, we found the rather short battery life concerning. Since the newer generation promises a slightly larger battery and more efficient use of it, you may want to go with the Google Pixel Watch 2, which we had a moment to try out during Google's event. But it looks like that one isn't discounted for Amazon's sale and is currently selling for the full $350.

Withings Steel

You can get the look of a classic analog watch combined with the health tracking features of a smartwatch by opting for Withings Steel HR Sport. The hybrid watch is usually $200, but the Prime sale brings it down to $160. Instead of displaying your health and workout stats on the watchface, the Steel HR Sport sends everything to the companion app on your phone. It can track heart rate, activities and workouts as well as monitor your sleep. Since it has no screen, Withings claims the battery can go for up to 25 days on a charge.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

1010music’s colorful and portable Nanobox line just gave birth to a brand-new sampler, the Tangerine. This may be an ultra-portable device, but it boasts powerful sampling features, alongside a pleasingly bright orange colorway. The Tangerine can trigger one shots, play time-synced loops and record live loops, among other tasks.

The maximum sample size is 4GB, so when we say “trigger one shots” we really mean you can trigger multi-sample pieces that act as a backbone to a beat or melodic composition, in addition to simple snare hits and the like. This being a modern device, you can also slice up clips and resample playback. There’s also “musically intelligent” looping that should keep everything in time without any obvious air-filled gaps.

As for the hardware itself, you get a touchscreen interface for making adjustments and a 32GB microSD card slot for storage, though there’s a small amount (64MB) of internal storage. The Tangerine connects to other instruments via MIDI for capturing additional samples, which is always nice.

Each file boasts a 4GB storage cap, which the company says is enough for up to four hours of continuous streaming. There’s a 500 multi-sample bank limit and a total wav capacity of 1,500. You can save multi-sample banks to nearly 80 presets for later use, complete with 16 velocity layers and eight stereo sample pads. There are plenty of adjustment options to change up the sound of these presets via granular synthesis, pitch, gain, filters, quantization and more. MIDI-mapped parameter controls also transfer over, so you can fiddle with those for even more sonic diversity. This is a real-deal sampler that approaches groovebox territory. Not bad for a ridiculously tiny device that 1010music calls “nearly indestructible.”

There’s one caveat, and it’s the same one that accompanies other Nanobox devices, like the impressively powerful Lemondrop and Fireball synthesizers. Despite weighing just 0.25 pounds and shipping with a pocket-friendly form factor, the Tangerine sampler is not battery-powered and must be plugged in via USB-C to function. For true portability, you’d need an external power bank.

1010music’s Tangerine sampler is available now and costs $400. In addition to the device, you also get a USB-C cable, the aforementioned microSD card and a type B TRS MIDI to MIDI 5-pin DIN adapter.

As part of the October Prime Day sale, Amazon is selling the 2023 version of the Samsung Smart Monitor M8 for just $500. That's $200 off the starting price and the lowest price it's gone for so far. The 32-inch display has built-in apps and allows you to access streaming services, just like you would on a smart TV. This is the updated 2023 version of the model that launched at CES 2022 and not only combines a monitor with a smart TV, it can also act as a smart home hub, showing you your smart camera feeds and more.  

The 32-inch 4K monitor has a 3840 x 2160 resolution with HDR, a 60Hz refresh rate and a maximum 178-degree viewing angle. Like the original, this 2023 model comes with built-in apps and internet of things (IoT) control features. You can stream from services like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, but it also includes Microsoft Office 365 apps for when you want to get work done without connecting to a PC.

When it’s time to hook it up to your computer, it includes a USB-C cable, and it has built-in ports for USB-C, HDMI and USB-A. It even ships with software to access and control your PC remotely, making it much more versatile on its own than standard monitors. And if you own a Samsung mobile device, you can use the company’s DeX software to transform the phone or tablet into a faux desktop computer.

The Smart Monitor M8’s IoT hub lets you control smart home products through SmartThings, performing tasks like changing your home’s lighting or temperature straight from the display. It includes a detachable SlimFit Cam, which records in full HD and has face tracking for video calls. It also has Alexa for voice control, perhaps sparing you the cost of buying an Echo speaker for that room.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Sony announced new PlayStation 5 models that will likely be unofficially called the “PS5 Slim.” The new model has the same horsepower on the inside, but it has a smaller form factor with an attachable disc drive and a 1TB SSD. The new model’s detachable drive means you can buy the Digital Edition and change your mind later, essentially adding the drive as an $80 modular accessory.

“To address the evolving needs of players, our engineering and design teams collaborated on a new form factor that provides greater choice and flexibility,” Sony wrote in its announcement blog post. “The same technology features that make PS5 the best to play are packed into a smaller form factor, along with an attachable Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive and a 1TB SSD for more internal storage.”

Sony

Sony says the new PS5 has 30 percent lower volume, and its weight is 18 percent and 24 percent lighter than the original. The new design uses four cover panels (the top is glossy while the sides are matte). Both models include a horizontal stand, while a vertical stand “compatible with all PS5 models” will be sold separately for $30.

In exchange for the flexibility of “buy now, add a drive later,” the new PS5 model has a higher entry point with the Digital Edition costing $450. Meanwhile, you’ll pay $500 for the model with the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc drive. The new PS5s start shipping in November in the US at select retailers, and Sony says it will roll out globally in the following months. The company also mentions that once the current PS5 model has sold out, it will be discontinued.

TikTok announced a new API today that will let you post (and do other things) directly to the platform from approved third-party apps. An extension of Share to TikTok, the company says the new feature “increases the resources and tools our community can choose from to easily navigate every stage of the creation process both on and off the platform.” Early partners for the Direct Post API include Adobe, Twitch, Blackmagic Design (makers of Davinci Resolve) and others.

TikTok Direct Post integrations will let creators make drafts, set captions or audience settings, and schedule or post content directly from supported third-party apps. Only videos are supported at launch, but photo content is “coming soon.”

Third-party software supporting the feature at launch include Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Express, CapCut (owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance), DaVinci Resolve, SocialPilot and Twitch. TikTok says developer partners will be “vetted through an audit process” before they can use the API.

“Now more than ever, publishing content in real-time has become a necessity, and creators of all skill levels need tools that can empower them with greater efficiency and without constraints,” said Deepa Subramaniam, Adobe’s Creative Cloud marketing VP. “With the new Direct Post feature for TikTok available in Adobe Express and Premiere Pro, creators can continue to create standout content, but with increased speed and without adding more interruption to their creative workflows.”

Just seven months after its beta debut, Adobe's Firefly generative AI is set to receive a trio of new models as well as more than 100 new features and capabilities, company executives announced at the Adobe Max 2023 event on Tuesday. The Firefly Image 2 model promises higher fidelity generated images and more granular controls for users and the Vector model will allow graphic designers to rapidly generate vector images, a first for the industry. The Design model for generating print and online advertising layouts offers another first: text-to-template generation.

Adobe is no stranger to using machine learning in its products. The company released its earliest commercial AI, Sensei, in 2016. Firefly is built atop the Sensei system and offers image and video editors a whole slew of AI tools and features, from "text to color enhancement" saturation and hue adjustments to font and design element generation and even creating and incorporating background music into video scenes on the fly. The generative AI suite is available across Adobe's product ecosystem including Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop and Express, as well as on all subscription levels the Creative Cloud platform (yes, even the free one).

Adobe

Firefly Image 2 is the updated version of the existing text-to-image system. Like its predecessor, this one is trained exclusively on licensed and public domain content to ensure that its output images are safe for commercial use. It also accommodates text prompts in any of 100 languages. 

Adobe

Adobe's AI already works across modalities, from still images, video and audio to design elements and font effects. As of Tuesday, it also generates vector art thanks to the new Firefly Vector model. Currently available in beta, this new model will also offer Generative Match, which will recreate a given artistic style in its output images. This will enable users to stay within bounds of the brand's guidelines, quickly spin up new designs using existing images and their aesthetics, as well as seamless, tileable fill patterns and vector gradients.

The final, Design model, is geared heavily towards advertising and marketing professionals for use in generating print and online copy templates using Adobe Express. Users will be able to generate images in Firefly then port them to express for use in a layout generated from the user's natural language prompt. Those templates can be generated in any of the popular aspect ratios and are fully editable through conventional digital methods. 

Adobe

The Firefly web application will also receive three new features: Generative Match, as above, for maintaining consistent design aesthetics across images and assets. Photo Settings will generate more photorealistic images (think: visible, defined pores) as well as enable users to tweak images using photography metrics like depth of field, blur and field of view. The system's depictions of plant foliage will reportedly also improve under this setting. Prompt Guidance will even rewrite whatever hackneyed prose you came up with into something it can actually work from, reducing the need for the wholesale re-generation of prompted images.

Few tech companies have embraced generative AI as wholeheartedly as Adobe. At Adobe Max, its annual creativity conference, it unveiled a new version of the Firefly GAI model. Not only that, the company announced more GAI features for Adobe Express, just weeks after making Firefly more broadly available in the app.

Adobe Express now includes features such as Generative Fill. This enables users to add, remove or replace items, people and other aspects of images using text prompts. On a similar note, the Text to Template function can help users generate editable templates for things like graphics and social media posts based on text descriptions. Text to Template is powered by the new Firefly Design Model, which Adobe says will generate content that's safe for commercial use.

On top of that, Express now offers a GAI-powered translation tool. Translate can localize content between 45 languages, Adobe says. Meanwhile, new Drawing and Painting functions enable more than 50 multicolor paint and decorative brushes. These can mimic things like charcoal, pencil and watercolor textures. The company also noted student-friendly drawing templates that are available in Express for Education can make it easy to create effects like flowers and hearts.

A handy resize tool will make it a cinch for folks to automatically get multiple versions of a design to fit all social channels, Adobe said. Meanwhile, you'll be able to use the app to directly schedule and share videos to the likes of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and X.

Adobe isn't exactly stopping with Express. At Max, it announced more than 100 new features across its main Adobe Creative Cloud applications. These include additional Firefly-powered tools for Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as new editing capabilities in Lightroom.