A new AI-powered service called ‘Deep Nostalgia‘ has captivated Internet users, who have rushed to try out the service. The deep learning tech brings old photos to life by animating facial features and movements and transforms the old photos into animated videos.

People have already uploaded over 26 million photos since the app’s release 11 days ago. The technology was licensed by online genealogy company MyHeritage from D-ID, a company specializing in video reenactment using deep learning.

“The draw here is that visual imagery is visceral and compelling and we respond to it,” says Hany Farid, associate dean and head of the School of Information at UC Berkeley. “We are visual beings. When you see your grandmother or Mark Twain come alive, there’s something fascinating about it.” [source]

The program works on both black and white and color photos and is capable of animating multiple faces in a single image. There are several possible sequences of gestures that can be applied to a photo, each originating from a pre-recorded driver video. The driver videos guide the movements in the animation so you can see faces smile, blink, and turn their heads.

In addition to animating their ancestors, people have experimented with historical figures, especially people that we’ve never seen video or footage of.

For those interested in some deeper analysis of the implications and reservations of this kind of technology, check out this CNN article, A new program can animate old photos. But there’s nothing human about artificial intelligence.

Below you will find some additional examples of this intriguing technology that will only continue to advance and find new applications.

In random Internet news, KFC’s official twitter account only follows 11 people: All 5 spice girls and 6 random guys named Herb. For those unfamiliar, Colonel Sander’s Original Recipe of “11 herbs and spices” is one of the most famous trade secrets in the food industry.

In fact, the recipe is not patented, because patents are published in detail and come with an expiration date, whereas trade secrets can remain the intellectual property of their holders in perpetuity.

Did you know a copy of the recipe, signed by Sanders, is held inside a safe inside a vault in KFC’s Louisville headquarters, along with eleven vials containing the herbs and spices? To maintain the secrecy of the recipe, half of it is produced by Griffith Laboratories before it is given to McCormick, who add the second half. [source]

Now please enjoy these random fried chicken gifs:

In an ongoing series of cinemagraphs, artist Armand Dijcks has teamed up with award-winning photographer Ray Collins (featured previously) to bring his incredible wave photography to life.

Dijcks, a cinematographer and photographer from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has made a name for himself as a creator of cinemagraphs. For those unfamiliar, cinemagraphs are still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs, forming a video clip. They are published as an animated GIF or in other video formats, and can give the illusion that the viewer is watching an animation. [source]

To see more from Ray and Armand check them out at the respective links below.

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!

A Lowe’s shopper named Nala sounded off against the home improvement mega-chain and told TikTok viewers about a most unusual experience she had at one of their stores.

Nala’s video shows her talking to a Lowe’s worker about the moldy lumber in the store.

The text overlay on the video reads, “These were covered in black mold and thick white mold. Worker said to pressure wash it off.”

She added, “They refused to let me buy the clean non-moldy wood.”

Nala told viewers, “So I went to buy wood at Lowe’s, it’s all covered in black mold and there’s some that’s not covered in black mold, but they refuse to give me that one because it’s up high.”

She continued, “So basically, Lowe’s is making so you have to buy wood with black mold on it for your projects or you don’t buy it at all. That’s dumb and it’s a health hazard.”

Nala decided to go to Home Depot instead and wrote in another text overaly, “Home Depot had a ton of non moldy wood in stock! This was what was outside they had over 300 more of these inside all clean no mold.”

Nala added, “They’re same price as Lowe’s.”

Take a look at the video.

@thisisnalasworld

#thisisnalasworld #fyp #lowes #homedepot #mold #badwood #blackmold

♬ original sound – Nala

Here’s how people reacted on TikTok.

This person is fed up.

Another viewer chimed in.

And this individual asked a question.

This is ridiculous!