Author: Karrie McLellan

Enlarge Images Easily Without Quality Loss

Have you ever tried to use an image online that looked pixelated or otherwise low-quality when enlarged? Most of the buzz in using online images is how to make the file sizes of the images smaller, but that often results in a quality loss that can leave you disappointed. The good news is that there are several AI-backed tools available to assist you in enlarging your images without losing quality.

There are a number of tools that can accomplish this, such as:

They all work similarly, though their free plans have different limitations. For the purposes of this demo, we are going to use https://bigjpg.com.

Upscaling an Image

The main page contains a standard upload window that allows you to choose an image on your device to upscale.

Screen shot of the home page with a "select images" button in the center

When your image has finished uploading, select “start.”

Screenshot showing the uploaded image with buttons to start or delete

The configuration window will appear. First, select the type of image you are using. Then, pick a factor by which to increase the image. For this tool, the free version is capped at 4x.

Screen shot of the configuration window with options for image type (artwork or photo), upscaling (2x, 4x, 8x - paid, and 16x - paid), and noise reduction (none, low, medium, high, highest)

In testing, I tried a few different images. I found that photos best showed the power of the noise reduction aspect of the tool. For this, I used one of our stock photos of a young man at the library. Here is the original:

Man in his 20s sitting between bookshelves with a stack of books

First, I enlarged the image 4x, and didn’t apply any noise reduction. Click/tap on the image below to make it full size. Depending on the size of your screen, you may be able to see how fuzzy the image looks in his face and his shoulders. That’s the “noise.”

Same image, but larger and lower quality.

I started from the original image and enlarged it 4x again, this time also opting for the highest noise reduction. Click/tap on the image below to make it full size, and note that this image has all of the “noise” smoothed out to make the picture quality appear better.

Same image at 4x, but the rough edges from before are gone

You may wonder why they offer different levels of noise reduction. To see the answer, compare the last image with the original. Where the AI has reduced the noise, it has also “guessed” at how to edit the image and left it looking a bit like a soft filter has been applied. In some cases, you may want to balance that effect with the noise for a better outcome.

Summary

Now that AI technology has become available to the consumer market, free image editing tools have gotten much more sophisticated. There are several sites that will allow you to upscale and enhance your images without a pricey software product. Have you used any of the tools we listed? Do you have another image upscaling tool you love? Let us know about it in the comments.

Avatarify: Make that Picture Sing!

Today we are highlighting Avatarify, a face animator app backed by artificial intelligence that is able to take an image and a song and make the person (or animal!) in the image sing that song. Then you can share the video with friends. The app is free and available from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. Keep in mind that while this is called a “deep fake” video, you aren’t likely to fool anyone with the resulting video.

Using the App

After installing the app on your device, the initial screen makes it appear that a subscription is required to use the app. Note that it is easily dismissed by tapping the x in the corner of the screen.

Pick a song from the Avatarify library.

Screenshot of the phone screen showing thumbnail images of songs in the library.

Next, tap “add photo” to select an image from your gallery.

Screenshot of the preview showing selected song with "add photo" and "continue" buttons under it.

The first time, you’ll be prompted to enable access to your gallery. This is required unless you want to use a demo image. For the first round, I chose a picture of my kittens. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make the mouth land in the right place, giving the cat a monstrous look in the video. I gave up and tried a demo image of Elon Musk.

If you’re using your own image, it might detect the face(s) automatically. If not, the next screen shows a shadow face over the image (the part I had trouble with in the cat picture). Move it over a face and save. You can select multiple faces in the image to animate.

Screenshot of the shadow face on a cat image, showing the features do not line up.

When I didn’t have to aim the “shadow face” over the image, it was really easy! This is how mine turned out:

The quality of the initial video was higher, but I compressed the file to lighten the file load on this page.

After the video is created, you have the option to save it to your device or share it using any method available on your phone.

Would You Use It?

This was a fun little tool, and the demos on their webpage suggest a variety of use cases: https://avatarify.ai/. Is this a tool you would use to share videos with your friends? Let us know in the comments.

Enlist Rytr to Help Improve Your Writing Easily

If you struggle with writing content for your blog, social media, website, ads, emails, or other online platforms, Rytr may be able to help. Rytr is an AI that can help you save time, improve SEO rankings, boost ad/call-to-action conversions, and overcome writer’s block. Here are a few of the other use cases they list on their website:

  • Come up with catchy names for your brand or business
  • Write a business idea pitch
  • Prepare interview questions
  • Create job or product descriptions
  • Generate post/video ideas
  • Craft replies to reviews and messages
  • Write song lyrics
  • Story plots
  • Reviews
  • Headlines/taglines

As a bonus, Rytr checks for plagiarism automatically. Pretty much, if you need to write, Rytr can help.

You will need to create an account to use this service. There is a free version that allows you to generate 5000 characters per month. Depending on how you use the service, that may be enough for you. The paid tiers offer more characters per month, the ability to create custom use cases, and more support.

Getting Started

Upon logging in, you are presented with a writing window. Options on the left allow you to select the language, tone, and use case (purpose of the writing). The center is empty for a new account, but will eventually contain a list of your creations. You can use the menu on the upper left to mark favorites, create a new folder, or create a new document. For this example, I have chosen to write an informative email in English.

Screenshot of the starting screen with a menu on the left and two menus on the top.

After choosing your option, enter the key points of your email. This is what I entered:

  • We have a new service.
  • Read the Times Union online
  • https://bit.ly/EGTimesUnion
  • Must be a resident cardholder.

I left the settings at 2 variants (creates two options) and optimal creativity level.

This was the result:

Two sample emails using my points with added information the AI gathered online.

It came up with two decent options, aside from the fact that it picked up a link for a coupon that has nothing to do with this and put it in the first option. The second variant was definitely more like the tone we use in our library emails. All of the text in this window, including the suggested subject, are editable and can be formatted.

Fine Tuning the Result

When I click on a phrase, additional editing options pop up. Select a large chunk of text and click “more” to access the plagiarism checker.

Screenshot of selected phrase with the character count and options: command, improve, rephrase, paragraph, and more.

After some manual edits, I dropped in an image. If you do this, be sure to use an image of high quality, because it will be stretched to fit the page width. I couldn’t find a way to format it to stay in its original size or form a column in the email. Images may be more easily handled by adding them later in your email editor. Here is the finished product:

Screenshot showing the times union logo at the top of the email and body text that has been altered from the initial suggestion.

By default, all creations are saved and listed on your account home page. To reveal additional options for the project, click the three-dot menu icon in the upper right of the page.

Screenshot of menu options to download as .docx, download as .html, clear all content, delete the document, or pin it to your profile.

Returning to the account home page, we see my document and a folder created for it. To move a file into a folder, click the three-dot menu for the document and select move. Select the folder from the popup and click “move here.”

Screenshot showing document and folder list with the document's menu activated. Options include rename, move, delete, and pin to profile.

If you decide you want to go back to the original variants that were created, click on history in the upper left of the screen and select an item.

Screenshot of "history" in the menu with the first item in the history showing below it.

The original information is all there, along with the number of credits used and the date and time of creation. If you’re really pleased with the outcome, click the orange button to “Ryte more like this.” If you are unhappy with the outcome, click “report poor output quality.”

Screenshot of the document with original settings and suggested text. Also shows credits used and buttons for options at the bottom.

If you need help, click the question mark icon in the upper right of the screen. Links to tutorials, resources, community, chat, and email are available.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes writing even the simplest copy can take more time than you have. Rytr can help ease the burden and free up your time for other things.

Find Quick Answers to Common Tech Questions with Tech-Talk

Tech-Talk.com is an online resource available to patrons of the East Greenbush Community Library. This resource comes in several formats.

  • A website full of articles and videos to help you learn what you need to know to be successful with everyday technology
  • An app to help you get the above resources on-the-go
  • A weekly newsletter containing a quick technology tip
  • Access to live webinars that end up as videos on the website
  • The opportunity to request an article or webinar on a topic of your choosing

The Website

In part one of our series about the Tech-Talk website, we showed you how to find novice-level help for using email, the internet, and documents. This time, we will highlight three collections on the website with access to quick answers.

The first collection is a new page they’ve started, called One Tip, One Minute Videos. The aim of this page is to offer cool tips you may not have been looking for, but may be useful. I know the format painter tip is one I use all the time since I watched the video.

The second collection, Popular Problems, can be useful to users of any level. This page contains a list of frequently requested topics, broken down by user level. Click on a subject to find the best 5 related articles.

The last page I want to show you today is the Quick Reference Guide collection. Each reference guide represents an overarching subject (for example, Word) and it contains links to articles and videos on that subject. Save or print the PDF guide for future reference, if desired. Please note that the website navigation has changed since the Quick Reference Guides were created, so some of the navigation tips in the PDFS for finding the articles are outdated. However, the links to the pages within the PDF still work.

Do You Use Tech-Talk?

If you have tried Tech-Talk, let us know what you think! Did they have the answers you were looking for?

Windows Update Does It Again

Yesterday, Microsoft put out a warning that the latest update for Windows 11 is causing some apps that use the .NET 3.5 framework to crash. [citation] If you have installed KB5012643 and are experiencing crashing apps, Microsoft advises that you uninstall it to restore app performance.

Some users are also experiencing issues with Start, the taskbar, and USB connections in addition to app crashes. If you have problems with those functions but your apps are fine, uninstalling the update may also clear up those issues.

Manually Uninstalling the Update

To uninstall the update:

  • Click on the Start button and search Windows Update Settings.
  • Windows Update settings window, select View Update History.
  • Select Uninstall Update.
  • Find KB5012643 in the list.
  • Select the patch and click on Uninstall.

Summary

Because this update is optional and not all apps require .NET 3.5 to function, we’re hoping you were able to avoid this issue. If not, try uninstalling the update and let us know if it helped in the comments.