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Google Pixel’s Camera Genius, Marc Levoy to Join Forces with Adobe to Build Super Camera App

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A lot of fans were shocked when the researcher who led Google Pixel’s camera division left the company. However, much to their delight, Marc Levoy has joined Adobe to help them with the development of a universal camera application. As per the announcement today, the partnership will help the company create an amazing high-power camera application that will revolutionise mobile photography. Here’s a look at everything you need to know about this partnership.

Leaving Google

March was a bag full of surprises for everyone, with two top Pixel executives leaving Google. Both General Manager for the Pixel project, Mario Queiroz, and photography expert Marc Levoy bid farewell this year. Later reports stated that the manager had already moved on before the release of the Pixel 4, following which he left Google to join Palo Alto Networks. While no one was sure why such measures were taken, a few people believe that it was due to the Pixel 4 underperforming. The Pixel 4 did not do as well as its predecessors, with Google only shipping out 2 million devices as per The Information. In comparison, Google had shipped over 3.5 million and 3 million worth of Pixel 3 and Pixel 3A. 

Google Pixel Legacy

Levoy is best known for heading the camera team for the Google Pixel. Pixel smartphones have an awe-inspiring camera thanks to the use of computational photography technology. The camera on the smartphone boasts of features like HDR+ capability and Night Sight. In fact, Levoy helped devise a system by which the camera took better photos without requiring more expensive hardware. While the Apple iPhones used multiple cameras, the Pixel line-up competed with them with only a single camera. Later on, a desire for sharper zooming led to Google adding a telephoto lens to the Pixel 4. In comparison, the first iPhone to make use of a second lens was the iPhone 7 Plus, which came out in 2016.

Levoy’s Profile

Before leaving Google in March, he worked for them for over six years, within which he was a part of several large projects. Even before joining the tech giant, he was working on the camera of the Google Glass Explorer, which cost around $1,500. He was a visiting faculty at Moonshot division, which went by the name Google X. In 2002, he helped launch a Google research project, while at Standford, which later became Google Map’s Street View. He played an important role in piquing the world’s interest in light field photography. Furthermore, he worked as a researcher in computer graphics at Stanford. 

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Soaring Reputation

Marc Levoy’s reputation inspired the other companies, including Samsung and Apple, to improve their computational photography technology. At Adobe, Levoy will try to do the same, by revolutionising their camera technology. Levoy’s work at Adobe, however, will benefit more than just Pixel users, helping anyone who owns a smartphone. Reports state that he will work on computational technology for cameras across Adobe. Also, his efforts will primarily focus on the development of a camera application that will trump everything on the market now. However, the company has not specified what that means. In the fast, social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat have used the term to indicate a camera application for themselves. Others have used the name to refer to an app that works across devices, from larger mobile cameras to DSLRs.

Adobe’s Efforts

Adobe already has a camera app by the name Photoshop Camera, and they have a separate camera app in their Adobe Lightroom app. However, the recruiting of Levoy suggests that the company has bigger plans in store. Levoy will also assist in making Photoshop Camera, Sensei AI and Adobe Research better. This indicates that Photoshop Camera might play a bigger role in Adobe’s future. Levoy will be working under Abhay Parasnis, who is the Chief Technical Officer at Adobe. 

Marc Levoy built himself a legacy while at Google due to his association with the Pixel smartphone. The device was Google’s most competitive release with regard to mobile photography. Levoy’s brings with him the experience of working on projects as diverse as the 360-degree VR Jump and burst mode on Google Glass. Without a doubt, this will help him while at Adobe. It will be exciting to see how the photography maverick comes out with next, and how that will change the way we view mobile photography, all over again.

Adobe : The Software Giant Transforming the Way You Look at the World

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Technology, today, has grown to such level that it has changed the way you look at the world. Not only the world, but it has changed the way you look at yourself! Shocking, isn’t it? There are many powerful tools available in the software market that people can use to make you believe in the things that can’t even exist. The creativity, the risks, the hard work, the growing power of multimedia, the inspirations and the motivations, when all were put together, the greatest software of all time, ‘Adobe’, became a reality. Great as it might seem, the story of the success of Adobe was not an easy one, but is the best one you can get inspiration from.

Adobe is an American Multinational computer software company. The headquarter of the company is located in San Jose, California, United States. The foundation of the company is purely based on creating software that enhances the creation of median and intensifies creativity.

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Adobe was founded by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, in December 1982. The company’s first office was the Warnock’s garage. It all started when both of the computer geniuses developed a programming language that was specially designed to describe position, shape and size of objects on a computer-generated page. The software was known as ‘Postscript’. But the company, Xerox, they were working in, refused to take the product to the market. Both John and Charles resigned and started working on their own on the same project.

‘Adobe’ name was inspired by Adobe Creek, Los Altos, California, a location near to their homes. The logo (A creative and stylized “A”) was designed by John’s wife, Marva Warnock.

The first product that Adobe launched in the market was a ‘PostScript’ software. It was a powerful computer language, the same that they had designed while working in Xerox. It described to a printer the whole layout of an electronic page. The product surprisingly made a breakthrough, and by 1985, Adobe had $1.9 million in sales. By 1986, the revenue that the company was generating was around $16 million, out of which, $4 million were income based.
Steve Jobs wanted to buy the company, but both of the creators refused. However, after giving second thoughts to the idea, and having words with their investors, John and Charles agreed to sell 19% of the company’s shares to him. For that, Jobs paid at least five times of their company’s value at that time. This deal made it the first company to gain such a profit in its first year only.

This was just a start for the company. Next, it launched a second product which was a type-1 interface. The interface provided digital type fonts that could be printed in any resolution. Subsequently, the company launched the marvellous ‘Adobe Illustrator’, which produced high-quality drawings that can be printed and published very easily. The product stood out brilliantly and generated approximately $85 million as revenues. This was a clear sign that with each product, Adobe was growing and that too on a rapid pace. The company, soon, became one of the best software manufacturers over the world. The quality of the work was very high which made the two founders of the company sit and relax, on the ‘top’.

Their next release, ‘Adobe Photoshop’, still stands best in the market. The software is a photo editor, which became the best seller in the market in no time. In the year 1990, the company had more than $170 million in revenue, including the $40 million total income. Within a period of 4 years, the revenue reached $670 million.

Every story has a point of downfall, and in 1998, such point arrived for Adobe, too. In 1998, Hewlett Packard (HP) made a similar PostScript software. Due to which, Adobe saw a reduction in sales by a massive 40 per cent. The company experienced a setback but was quick to react. Soon, it started rebuilding strategies, restructuring plans and started cutting down on employees.

In 1999, for a comeback, Adobe decided to launch a publishing tool, ‘InDesign’, with a risk of a similar tool already running in the market, sold by Quark. So, Adobe was not expecting much from it. However, when released, InDesign did the impossible. The product became a huge success, gaining Adobe more than $ 1 billion as revenues, over the time, reshaping and reviving the company.

Since then, Adobe has not looked back. Some of the software that they have in the market right now, are Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash player, Adobe Dreamweaver, Page maker, Adobe Scan, Adobe Premiere Clip, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Capture CC, Adobe creative cloud, Adobe connect and the ever-lasting Adobe Photoshop, which carries many more versions of it further.

Adobe has also been involved in social welfare activities. The company works to make its employees’ life more and more convenient by creating a healthy work environment. It has given cash grants and many contributions like volunteer support, software training, donated software to a non-profit organization. The company also supports the environmental stewardship.

As of now, Adobe is ranked number 10 by Forbes on the list of ‘Top 100 Digital Companies’. The company has more than $ 7.7 Billion sales in the market and a market cap of $ 119.1 Billion.

Adobe’s story gives us a glimpse of how something unique can create a spark among consumers. Also, that when you are walking on a path, where nothing goes right, it just requires a proper plan to get back on the track. One should never leave the creative ideas in their head, and the story of Adobe shows that and helps us get them out with the versatility of the software they offer.

Pallav Nadhani-How this teenager’s extra pocket money effort is now a multi-million dollar company?

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What started as an attempt to suffice the monetary requirements of a teenager, is now a multi-million dollar company whose customer list includes Google, Facebook, Microsoft and the federal government of United States. When Nadhanis moved to Kolkata, Pallav Nadhani was admitted in the La Martiniere for Boys School.

‘Here I got the aspiration that I want to be like them. And for me to be like them, I really need to work hard. I need to be on top of the game in whatever I am working on,’ he says.

It wasn’t feasible for him to be like them with a measly pocket money of Rs. 1,000. He was reluctant to ask his father for extra pocket money. Thus emerged the necessity of finding a way to make some fortune of his own.

His first endeavor was in the field of writing. He came across Wrox Press’ website ASPtoday.com, which paid a generous amount for innovative articles. Pallav Nadhani made an impressive amount of $2,000 by writing two articles. The third article he wrote turned out to be a life changing milestone in his journey.

Nadhanis owned a computer, which was a luxury in those days(2001-02). His father owned a web design company where Pallav initially worked. His share of work included preparing charts on Microsoft Excel. He found those charts extremely dull and boring. Along with this, he was also working with Macromedia Flash player (Adobe Flash now) for making designs for senior Nadhani’s company. He began exploring ways in which he could combine both to create better charts. He wrote an article on this idea for ASPtoday and made $1,500 from the article, which was the primal investment for his entrepreneurial journey.pallav-11Image Credit: http://www.fusioncharts.com

Still in his school, Pallav, who calls himself an accidental entrepreneur, started his company Infosoft Global, based on the very idea of making interactive charts for business world. For the first three years, he did the work of designing, marketing, making and receiving calls, all by himself.

The company started growing and things were never the same again. The growth was so stupendous that in the year 2005, senior Nadhani, who according to Pallav is a sucker for growth and adventure, shut down his company and joined his son’s venture.  Currently, he holds the position of CFO in the company. They also hired 20 employees and acquired office space in Bangur, Kolkata.

But Pallav Nadhani isn’t someone whose thirst is quenched easily. Expanding his company’s profile, he moved to Bangalore in the year 2010. In Bangalore he set up a company which excelled not only in the quality of the product it delivered, but also in the management and organizational aspect. The next year FusionCharts earned a revenue of 4.5 million USD.

Unlike his father, whose business ventures ranged from selling bicycles to writing books and running a computer training center, Pallav believes in a focused approach. Even after being a millionaire, he is still stuck with the idea he believed in when he was just a teenager.

‘I wish I could be like him (senior Nadhani). Being multi-faceted helps you have a very nice perspective of life. But if you have to really excel at something, you need focus,’ he said in an interview with Forbes magazine. In the same interview he talks about his plan for the next ten years, ‘I know that for the next 10 years, I want to do just one thing. Build software products and build the software product industry in India.’

Today, FusionChart’s client list includes 50,000 clients spread over 118 countries. In 2010, US president Barack Obama selected FusionCharts to design digital dashboard for the federal administration, the Federal IT Dashboard. It became the first Indian start-up to gain the attention of the Obama administration.