Latest news with #Puffin
India Today
6 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Meta working on mixed reality goggles, report says they are launching in 2026
Meta is reportedly working on a new mixed reality headset that could arrive by the end of 2026. The device is said to be a lightweight headset that connects to a small external device for processing power, helping reduce the weight on the user's head. The development was first reported by upcoming headset, internally codenamed 'Puffin,' is being designed to look like a thick pair of glasses and could weigh around 110 grams. It may not come with any physical controllers and instead rely on eye movements and hand gestures for control. Meta is still testing various display options for the headset, and the final version is yet to be decided. The device is expected to run on HorizonOS, the same platform that powers the company's Quest series, but it may be aimed more at productivity and entertainment than Meta seems to have changed its roadmap for upcoming headsets. Earlier, the company was rumoured to be working on two versions of the Quest 4, internally called 'Pismo Low' and 'Pismo High,' offering standard and high-end options. However, these headsets may now be cancelled. Meta had also dropped plans for a premium headset called 'La Jolla' last year, which was originally planned for 2027. The focus now seems to be on getting the lightweight Puffin headset ready for a 2026 launch. Meta's Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, had earlier confirmed that the device was in the early stages of Meta prepares for its next move, Apple is also working aggressively on its own wearable AR device. As per a report by Bloomberg, Apple wants to bring its AR glasses to market before Meta. Apple's CEO Tim Cook is believed to be directly involved in the project, which is being treated as a major step in the company's future hardware glasses are expected to be light enough to wear all day, but developing them remains technically challenging. The company is still working out how to fit high-quality displays, a compact processor, and a long-lasting battery into a slim frame. There's also an ongoing internal debate about whether the glasses should include a camera or media recording features, keeping in mind the company's strict privacy Meta and Apple are clearly betting big on mixed reality and augmented reality as the next big platform. While Meta's headset may arrive in 2026, Apple is aiming to get there sooner and possibly change how people view the future of wearable tech.
Tom's Guide
6 days ago
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Meta Quest 4 may be delayed until 2027 — but a lightweight alternative could take its place next year
The Meta Quest 4 is being pushed back until 2027, according to a recent leak, but we may be seeing an all-new lightweight VR device in 2026 instead — and it comes with an external puck. Meta appears to be shifting focus for its upcoming VR headset plans, with notable leakers Brad Lynch and Luna on X stating that the company may switch the release of the Quest 4 from next year to 2027. This is apparently due to two planned prototype headsets, codenamed "Pismo Low" (a budget model similar to the Quest 3S) and "Pismo High" (a high-end headset akin to the Quest 3), being canceled. According to the leaks, a "high-end device" is looking to arrive in 2026 instead, and it's set to be a lightweight headset that runs Horizon OS with an external compute puck, codenamed "Puffin." Yes, I too have heard whispers that Meta may swap the release schedule and debut their new high-end device in 2026, rather than Quest 4. Quest 4 would then ship a year 2, 2025 We've heard that Meta was developing a Quest Pro "successor" instead of a Quest Pro 2, and it appears Puffin could fit into that slot. According to RoadtoVR, this ultralight device would resemble VR goggles rather than a headset, and will be less focused on gaming than Meta's usual headsets. Instead, Puffin is rumored to be all about virtual screens, offering users a multi-screen setup for entertainment and productivity purposes. This isn't unlike some of the best AR glasses, including the upcoming Viture XR smart glasses. However, it stands out as the Horizon OS-based device is tipped to come with that compute puck — small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. This would be tethered to the device and deliver processing power, making it lighter to wear. It isn't unlike the Apple Vision Pro, although that headset's external device is a battery. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Rumors also indicate Meta's Puffin device won't arrive with any controllers, instead using hand-tracking to navigate around menus. That's what we've seen in the Quest 3 and Vision Pro already, but it could mean it won't offer any gaming-centric features. Interestingly, Lynch indicates Valve's Deckard headset will be available in 2026, with previous details suggesting it could launch in Fall 2025. Along with an upcoming Asus ROG VR headset (set to be the first third-party headset to use Horizon OS) in the works, there are a few VR devices coming our way. While the Quest 4 may not arrive until 2027 now, Meta's upcoming Puffin is still looking to be at the forefront of next-gen VR devices — and Apple may be scrambling to beat it to the punch. According to 9to5Mac, the Cupertino tech giant wants to launch its Apple Glasses ahead of Meta's offerings, but with Meta's changed plans, we could see its AR glasses get pushed up. What's more, rumor has it that the next Apple Vision Pro headset could drop sooner than we think. So 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for VR and AR devices, and while we'll have to wait and see what Meta ends up delivering, along with other headsets from major competitors, it's clear we have a lot to look forward to. That's not all we have coming our way, as we may see Meta's $1,000 smart glasses with a built-in screen arriving this year.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rosemary Sandberg, dynamic children's publisher who helped to found the Puffin Club
Rosemary Sandberg, who has died aged 84, was one of the outstanding children's publishers of her era, helping Kaye Webb to found the Puffin Club before establishing her own Lions and Picture Lions imprints for Collins. She later became a literary agent specialising in children's writers. One of her clients, the Horrid Henry creator Francesca Simon, described her as 'quite unique and impossibly glamorous, the Lauren Bacall of children's books'. She was born in Blackheath on December 16 1939, and grew up in Esher. Her father was Leslie Northcott CBE, a metallurgist who became director of the government research laboratory at Fort Halstead; her mother Constance, née Eley, was a teacher. After Claremont School in Esher, she read French at King's College London. She became a secretary at the advertising firm J Walter Thompson, where her tasks included bombarding film stars with soap samples to justify the tagline: 'Nine out of 10 film stars use Lux Toilet Soap'. By 1967 she had drifted into freelance journalism and begun to write a column for 'an old bat on Woman's Journal', who told her one day that Kaye Webb of Puffin Books was looking for an assistant. Kaye Webb had built Puffin, the children's imprint of Penguin Books, into a huge success – known for its slogan, 'Nuffin' like a Puffin' – and Rosemary Sandberg was tasked with helping her to launch the Puffin Club for young readers. The club, along with its magazine Puffin Post, was launched in March 1967, and within two months had accrued 20,000 members. Rosemary Sandberg recalled the mercurial, charismatic Kaye Webb travelling around the country to host 'puffin sprees' for children – 'she greeted the kids like a whirlwind, clasping them to her great bosom in a cloud of her favourite scent, Youth Dew' – and together they led trips to see puffins on Lundy Island. 'Kaye really was lucky that none of the children drowned,' Rosemary Sandberg told Valerie Grove, author of Kaye Webb's biography So Much to Tell, 'and as for Health and Safety, none of us gave it a second thought.' Rosemary Sandberg brought marketing nous to the project (when she asked Kaye Webb if she had any marketing reports on children's book sales, the reply came: 'Darling, what are you talking about?') and was introduced to her boss's wide circle of artistic friends, including Laurie Lee, Joyce Grenfell, Malcolm Muggeridge and Yehudi Menuhin. After four years at Puffin, to Kaye Webb's disgruntlement Rosemary Sandberg was headhunted by Sir Billy Collins to establish a paperback children's book imprint for Collins (later amalgamated into HarperCollins). Generations of children became familiar with the Picture Lions imprint with its distinctive logo of a smiling yellow lion on a circus podium. Among the books she published were The Tiger Who Came to Tea and the Mog books by Judith Kerr, Dogger by Shirley Hughes (who defected from Puffin because she felt Kaye Webb was underpaying her) and works by Maurice Sendak, Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Quentin Blake and John Burningham. She was a doughty defender of her books. When the Conservative MP David Tredinnick called for the banning of Felix Pirani's Abigail on the Beach on the grounds that it featured violent bullying and alcohol consumption, she stood her ground: 'We try and show children in real life situations how to deal with what could have been an explosive or volatile situation… If someone gives me one example of it driving a child to the bottle, I will withdraw the book immediately.' Nevertheless, she also defended the escapism offered by the likes of Enid Blyton. 'Children need a balanced diet, not just what's good for them. If they are denied it, they'll watch television instead.' In 1991 she was fired from HarperCollins in a notorious mass bloodbath of redundancies ('Even I cried,' noted the notoriously hard-nosed managing director Eddie Bell). She set up her own successful literary agency with co-directors Ed Victor and Graham C Greene, representing writers and illustrators including Francesca Simon, Jane Ray and Babette Cole, before retiring in 2019. An attempt to revive Puffin Post in 2008 did not impress her: 'It's a manufactured project. The original Puffin Post was organic.' Rosemary Sandberg is survived by her husband Robin, whom she married in 1964, and their two daughters. Rosemary Sandberg, born December 16 1939, died April 2 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Mint
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Can AI replace children's book illustrators?
In the late 1990s, when Sudeshna Shome Ghosh was working with Puffin, the children's imprint of Penguin Books India (now Penguin Random House India), she had an opportunity to publish one of the most exciting books of her career. 'The Puffin Book of Magical Indian Myths (2000) by Anita Nair was a big book for us—one of the first of its kind to retell Indian mythology for young readers," says the editor and writer. She commissioned Atanu Roy, one of India's finest illustrators and cartoonists, to illustrate it. 'His approach was 'old school', he took no shortcuts, and worked on each illustration for as long as he needed to," Shome Ghosh adds. 'Anita would lose patience once in a while, but then, Atanu would send an image, and it would be mind-blowing." The piece de resistance was the depiction of Lord Vishnu's matsya (fish) avatar for the cover, which remains iconic to this day. 'It was a different era," Shome Ghosh adds. 'If you needed time to produce good work, you could afford to take it." Cut to 2025, and you can write a children's book in a weekend and publish it. All you need to do is compose a prompt for an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, provide a skeleton of a plot, along with a few references for illustrations, and you will have your illustrated book ready in a few hours. All in all, AI can do a passably good job— but more often than not, it is hit and miss. 'Although AI-generated images often have a highly finished and rendered quality, I am yet to see an AI-enabled book that offers consistency of style and design throughout," writer and illustrator Pankaj Saikia says. 'But considering the speed at which it is evolving, it won't be long before AI is able to produce better quality books. Also read: Art in children's books comes of age GEN AI AS AUTHOR In 2022, Ammaar Reshi, a product designer in Silicon Valley, was one of the first people to publicly put out the idea of using AI to write and illustrate children's books. On 9 December last year, he posted a thread on X, starting with, 'I spent the weekend playing with ChatGPT, Mid Journey and other AI tools… and by combining all of them, published a children's book co-written and illustrated by AI!" The finished product was called Alice and Sparkle. It is a story of a girl, Alice, who creates her own AI, Sparkle, and together they embark on an adventure to make the world a better place. In a feel-good pitch, the blurb described Alice and Sparkle as a story that 'hopes to inspire children, encourage their curiosity and learning, in one of the most technologically exciting moments in our lifetime." Since then, the impact of AI on the livelihoods of artists and illustrators has become far more palpable. Writer, educa tor and illustrator Parismita Singh, best known for her graphic novel The Hotel at the End of the World (2009), remarks on the ease with which AI-generated images are being used in textbooks and educa tional content. 'Some of my friends are using AI to create teaching materials," she says. 'They send me their work from time to time to check if the art looks alright." Apart from sabotaging the careers of professional illustrators, the AI invasion may diminish the trust of organisations and NGOs that are funding projects to make children's books more diverse and accessible through translations and wider dissemination, Singh adds. That's why not for-profits, especially, have to be vigilant. 'As a not-for-profit organisation, we curate our books very carefully. We want to find humans who have a unique story to tell," says Canato Jimo, writer, illustrator and art director at Pratham Books. 'I haven't yet encountered AI-generated images in my field. There is a trust I share with the artists I work with." At the same time, it's not unwarranted for a textbook publisher to improve the bottom line by using AI-generated images, Canato admits. Why pay for the labour of human illustrators, when it is more expedient as well as cost-effective to get AI to do the job? Yet, it is not easy to take a black-and white view of the role of AI in children's books. For Reshi, generative AI was a tool for personal innovation. Excited by the possibilities he had opened up, many adopted AI to breach the gatekeeping of mainstream publishing. Even a child aspiring to write a book could get on to an AI-enabled self-publishing platform like BriBooks to fulfil their dream. If you want to correct historical wrongs, you can use AI to create stories that don't smack of gender biases, as illustrator and author Karrie Fransman and her partner Jonathan Plackett did in their 2020 project, Gender Swapped Fairy Tales. Such egalitarian uses notwithstanding, these trends forecast an uncertain future for professional illustrators. Also read: Isn't it time that Snow White learnt stranger-danger? A NEW VOCABULARY Rather than giving in to alarm, Saikia, whose recent work includes illustrations for Shome Ghosh's middle-grade novel, A Home to Haunt, takes a different stance. 'As a professional for almost a decade, it feels like the time has come to re-evaluate my approach to illustration as a practice," he says. 'I do not feel threatened by AI art. Rather, it feels like an important juncture in art history, similar to the rise of photography that led to newer movements in the visual arts." Indeed, illustrated books for young readers have evolved significantly over the few last years, becoming sophisticated tools for cognitive, behavioural and social development rather than didactic instructional manuals. Think of the work of writers and illustrators like Oliver Jeffers, Julia Donaldson, Quentin Blake. Or closer home, of Prabha Mallya, Priya Kuriyan, Rajiv Eipe and Adrija Ghosh, to name a few. Instead of lamenting the rise of AI, a more useful response may be to bring the human hand strongly into the creative process. Shome Ghosh gives the example of Tsering Namgyal Khortsa, whose novel, The Tibetan Suitcase (2024), she has published at Speaking Tiger. To provide a reference image to the book's cover designer, Khortsa had asked AI to create the imaginative suitcase he had in mind. But the final result, beautifully illustrated by Mohit Suneja and designed by Maithili Doshi, not only superseded the AI version but also had nothing to do with any AI tool. Even for the smartest AI tools, it is still hard to rival the richness of observation and lived experiences that humans bring to the creative process. That's why, as AI continues to improve, it is key for artists to 'get their hands dirty, rediscover the joy of creating illustrations by hand," says Canato, instead of relying heavily on digital tools like PhotoShop. In the days when Roy was illustrating Nair's book, illustrators had to go out into the world to collect ref erences, be it of a leaf or flower. 'With the coming of the internet, we became armchair artists, sitting in our rooms and drawing based on the visuals available on the internet," says Saikia. 'In the process, we have become the mythical snake eating its own tail." Also read: What artists' childhoods can tell us In the end, the survival of any form is linked to what its audience expects of it. 'The crux of the matter is visual literacy," Singh says. 'As writers and illustrators, our job isn't to simplify narratives for readers. To be able to read a graphic novel, you'll need to understand how visual lan guage works." With their subjective access to the joys, sadness and wonder of the world, artists can thus become the conduits of precious knowledge. 'Recently, I was in an interior village in Arunachal Pradesh to research a project. ...I realised that no amount of pre-existing material on the internet could have told me the way I needed to engage with the community," Saikia says. 'I had to be present there to understand the lives of the people, which, in turn, will inform the work I'll go on to make. No AI tool I know can do the job of an artist going out into the world and feeling things."
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Beautiful Wildlife Photos: 15 Winners Of Nature Photographer
Puffin Courtship, Finalist, Birds category, a Puffin's courtship display during mating season in Newfoundland, Canada Karsten Mosebach - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Documenting the beauty and diversity of our planet's wildlife, the winning images of the GDT Nature Photographer Of The Year competition witness breathtaking landscapes, fascinating behavior of wild animals and gorgeous glimpses of Earth's mysterious wonders. From birds courting to a curious lion cub meeting a turtle for the first time and a perfectly camouflaged rock ptarmigan in the snow-covered Swiss Alps (winner of the jury prize), the winning photos were selected from more than 8,000 entries submitted by photographers from 11 countries across seven categories that include Birds, Mammals, Other Animals, Plants & Fungi, Landscapes, Nature's Studio and the Special Category. Photographer Konrad Wothe from Germany won this year's title with his spectacular sharp-focused, split-second image Dipper flying through waterfall, taken as a small Dipper bird was flying back and forth to a nest tucked away safely behind a dense curtain of water. The GDT (German Society for Nature Photography) that organizes the annual Nature Photographer Of The Year contest is a members-only association founded in 1971 that currently has over 2,000 members from Germany and 26 other countries. Dipper Flying Through Waterfall, Overall winner and winner of the Birds category Konrad Wothe, GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 A Dipper bird flies through a waterfall in Germany's Bavarian Alps. Konrad Wothe explains: 'It's been over 20 years since I first witnessed a dipper darting through a waterfall, flying back and forth to a nest tucked away safely behind the dense curtain of water. 'Two years ago, I had the good fortune to encounter another dipper nesting behind a waterfall — this one also regularly shot through the curtain of water. Interestingly, the bird alternated between the wet approach and flying around to the side of the waterfall. Frustratingly, the bird didn't always follow the same path and getting the correct focus and perfect composition took thousands of exposures. I lost count of the number of trips I took to the dipper's nesting site before I was reasonably satisfied with the result.' Patterns In The Snow, Category winner and Prize of the Jury winner, Birds category Levi Fitze - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 The image shows a perfectly camouflaged rock ptarmigan bird in the snow-covered Swiss Alps. Territorial Fight, Runner up, Birds category Christian Hoefs - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 These two male common redstarts are having a territorial fight in a meadow orchard. Multitasking, Finalist, Birds category Wolfram Nagel - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Marsh male warbler simultaneously serenades its partner while grabbing a quick snack. Chamois, Winner, Mammals Category. Radomir Jakubowski - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 This chamois was photographed through blades of dew-covered grass in the Vosges, France. Anybody Home? Finalist, Mammals category Jens Cullmann - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 A curious young lion plays with a tortoise in the Kalahari Desert. Red Fox In Heathland, Finalist, Mammals category GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 The photographer had a face-to-face surprise encounter with this red fox while on the lookout for fallow deer and stonechats. Life And Death, Finalist, Mammals category Ulrich Heermann - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 A snow leopard in Hemis National Park tumbles down a slope as it attacks a stray small dog from the nearby village of Rumbak in Ladakh, India. The dog escaped with injuries from bites and was treated. West Coast Dragon, Winner, Other Animals category Dr. Gerald Haas - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Wind and waves create striking patterns in the sand along the rugged west coast of Spain's Fuerteventura. This dragonfly was a perfect eye-catcher. Weevil, Runner up, Other Animals| category Torsten Christ - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 A weevil walks on the stem of a mushroom. Stars Above, Winner, Plants and Funghi category Paul Kornacker - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 An upward look at Quiver trees in Namibia near Keetmanshoop. These trees are native to Southern Africa. Wild garlic, Finalist, Plants and Funghi category Karsten Mosebach - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Wild garlic flowers in Teutoburg Forest on an early spring morning with fine mist hanging in the trees. Meadow Flamenco, Finalist, Plants and Funghi category Radomir Jakubowski - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Like a scene of 'flamenco in a meadow', this Pasque flower grows in the German Bliesgau of Saarland. Deforestation, Winner, Landscapes category Hanneke Van Camp - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Even today, old-growth forests in Sweden are regularly cut down and replaced with commercial plantations. 'Undisturbed forests can harbour over 2,000 species (many of which are endangered) and must be preserved at all costs,' says Hanneke Van Camp . Abstraction, Winner, Nature's Studio category Katja Manski - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 A long-exposure photograph weaves the movements of the waves, reeds and camera into an abstract image. Misty Morning, Winner, Special category Andreas Volz - GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 Dewdrop-covered spider webs blanket a field on a misty morning in Kochelmoos. An exhibition presenting the 104 prize-winning images selected by the international jury of experts will tour through Germany and Europe. The GDT Nature Photographer of the Year contest is open to members of the society, while the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is open to all photographers based in Europe.
