As Expected AI Is Making Everything More Expensive - Adobe Example

  AI has been shoved down our throats, offered as "unlimited" to lure us in, and now companies are pulling the carpet and are trying to lock us in higher fees. Unlimited gen on Adobe Creative Cloud is coming to an end on March 16.

 One thing for sure, AI is expensive!

 Currently Adobe gives you 4000 Premium Features credits per month on the regular Creative Cloud Pro plan ($69.99/month, currently on sale for $34.99 for the first 3 months.) CC Pro plan was $10 cheaper before the introduction of AI features.

 Most standard features cost 1 credit or more without a CC plan. They are still unlimited when you have a CC plan, which is good to have I guess. The Premium models cost credits. What's Premium or standard is likely subject to change in the future.

 According to Adobe, with 4000 credits you can generate up to 40 5 seconds videos, translate up to 13 minutes of audio, generate up to 400 sound effects. Not a lot of gen for an AI midweigth project in my opinion.

  If you want more credits, they are available in Firefly sub as follow: 2000 credits for $9.99; 7000 credits for $29.99; 50,000 credits for $199.99.

 Credits used for generations vary depending on the task, models, and many other variables, among them how close to what you have in mind the generation looks and feel... And we all know that it can be far from the envisioned result. Leading to multiple generation, trials and errors.

 As a result it's IMPOSSIBLE to budget in advance. And unfortunately the business model actually makes more money the more it fails at its tasks... Forcing you to consume more credits. We live in crazy times.

 At least Adobe flags the premium features in their apps, and users can select which they want to use. Here for example gen fill in Photoshop clearly shows what models are Premium (basically all partners models) and thus cost credits. Again, standard features are included in CC plan, and currently unlimited.

 For memo here is the current Adobe pricing table. 🤯

 The mentioned partners models table in the above linked page is in turn excruciating. 😥

At least Adobe is trying to be upfront with this mess. Good luck with the headache inducing information.

Tp-link Archer AX55 No Internet Connection Issue

 For some reason Tp-link Archer AX55 Wifi Router refuses to connect to the internet. All the cables are fine, the Modem is working fine, computers connected to the switch and then to the Modem are able to connect to the internet via Ethernet, no problem!

 Tp-link Archer AX55 is not happy and the internet led stays orange. In the Tp-link settings it says no internet connection. Not only, but I kept getting disconnections and now way to try any other config.

Simple solution in this forum:

https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/545762

As it happens, I have a cable Modem, and for convenience I had connected the Modem to the unmanaged switch, then from the switch to the Tp-link router. The switch also received my three other computers. So the Modem was seeing many different MAC addresses not just the Tp-link one.

As @paulrob mentionned in his post:

Not sure if applicable, but in the UK (I am on Virgin Media) and the ISP modem needs to also be rebooted after the router is replaced.

The ISP fibre modem looks at the Mac address of the device connected to it when first booted, if the router is changed (and the modem not rebooted) then it will refuse to authorise the device.

 

Try turning off your ISP modem and the AX55.

Turn on the Modem, wait for it to boot properly, then turn on the AX55.

 Ah! Exactly, so I guess on reboot the Modem locked onto one of the other computers instead of the Tp-link, and after that, no way to make it work.

 So I unplugged everything and only connected the Modem to the Tp-link WAN, rebooted the Modem. Rebooted the Tp-link, and... IT WORKED!

 I have reconnected everything, now going from the Tp-link to the switch via the 1st LAN, and then connected every other device to the switch. This way next time there is a power outage, the entire network should reconfigure itself automatically. 👍

DaVinci Resolve Version 20.3.2 Update!

 The People at BMD are relentless and that's a good thing! There is still a long way to go for Resolve, but it's making progress with each update. Keep up the good work!

From BMD:

What's new in DaVinci Resolve 20.3.2

The following features have been added or updated.

• Preferences option to enable dynamic trim for trim editor in edit.
• More consistent kerning for subtitles.
• Magic mask cache is now retained when pasting node attributes.
• Improved render speeds for side-by-side stereoscopic 3D renders.
• Up to 2.5x faster SuperScale Enhanced with Apple Neural Engine.
• Progressive renders for interlaced timelines with same frame rate.
• Addressed issue with lens correction of vertical clips.
• Addressed incorrect ILPD used with disabled clip on higher tracks.
• Addressed incorrect aivu when rendering marked timeline ranges.
• Addressed incorrect ImmersivePatcher behavior with proxy media.
• Addressed timecode issue for proxies from stereoscopic 3D EXRs.
• Addressed issue localizing media pool column headers.
• Addressed slow media management start up for larger projects.
• Addressed ProRes RAW decode issue when using ACES.
• Addressed issue with editing effects on a locked node stack layer.
• Analog Damage disabling CRT scan no longer disables restless foot.
• Addressed potential flicker in face refinement eyebag removal.
• Addressed retention of MaxCLL from XML when exporting IMF.
• Addressed issues with Dolby Atmos external renderers.
• Addressed ADC reverb delay compensation issue in some projects.
• Addressed incorrect pass through behavior for Sony XAVC renders.
• Addressed issue decoding some Sony ARW clips.
• Addressed incorrect render size estimates for some MXF clips.
• Support for Fujifilm F-Gamut C colorspace and F-Log2 C gamma.
• Support for Dolby headphone personalization of binaural monitoring.
• General performance and stability improvements.

Cannot delete or rename Documents folder on iCloud - Solution

 I am not syncing my Desktop & Documents Folders on iCloud, nevertheless Apple thinks the Documents folder should live forever on my iCloud Drive. I could not rename it, I could not delete it.

 Until some clever user pointed out the solution on Apple forum: If you are not able to delete the Documents folder on iCloud, try to drag it first to the desktop, and then delete it from there.

 It works! Thank you!

Use Blender To Import .FBX And Export .USDZ

 Use Blender to import .FBX 3D files, and export them to .usdz to use in Apple Motion.

 Many 3D models are available in the .FBX Autodesk's format. Unfortunately Apple Motion only accepts .usdz files.

 It's easy to use Blender as a converter:

• In Blender, File, Import, FBX (.fbx)
• The model will load in Blender with its Materials/Textures.
• Then File, Export, Universal Scene Description (.usd*)
• In the filename export, use ".usdz" extension. In the export settings, under Materials, Select "512" in the USDZ Texture Downsampling.
• Export USD.

 The resulting .usdz file imports fine into Motion with its Materials/Textures attached.

 Thanks to this Lightcraft documentation for the tip.

Apple iCloud Drive, What Works, What Doesn't - Part 1

 Apple iCloud is a defacto candidate for Cloud service if you own a Mac or other Apple devices. After signing up on your Mac with your Apple ID you get 1GB of space. After 2 steps verification on a second device you get 5GB of space.

 iCloud is shown as a destination in the Finder sidebar. If it's not showing up, go to Finder, Settings, and check the iCloud Drive and Shared options under iCloud items.

 When iCloud shows up, it is available like another folder onto your Mac. You can create new subfolders, rename, re-organize, add items by dragging or copy/pasting just like you would in any other folder on your Mac.

 If you go to iCloud on the web and log-in with the same AppleID, you will see whatever you do on your Mac iCloud folder being synced up and mirrored on the web, and vice versa.

 All is nice and dandy. Now for some details.

SETTINGS (on macOS Sequoia):

• As it's been the case lately, the Apple iCloud settings are arcane, difficult to navigate, and even more difficult to understand. When you click on "Save to iCloud / See All", you get served with a long list of apps and are able to toggle saving to iCloud on/off. These apps include iCloud Drive, which is the main thing of interest here if you want to have manual control over what goes to your iCloud.

• For my part I only turn on iCloud Drive, Passwords, Keychain, and Find My Mac. Everything else is OFF. I will see if I turn any other app on at some point but for now that'll do.

• That's not all... If you go to "Manage..." You will see again "iCloud Drive", and also "Siri", and "Backups". I did turn iCloud Siri OFF, but there is no indication that it stays off... No checkbox that's on or off, which is very bad UI feedback. As for Backups, even more arcane, there is nothing to  turn on or off.

• But that's not all... If you go to "iCloud Drive", you get "Sync this Mac on/off", OK, didn't we just do that? "Desktop and Documents Folders" on/off, "Optimize Mac Storage" on/off, and "Apps syncing to iCloud Drive"... AGAIN, but this time with a DIFFERENT LIST OF APPS, 13 instead of 18 previously. I guess "SYNCING TO iCLOUD" is different from "SAVED TO iCLOUD", but HOW? Seriously whomever green lit this mess should be publicly shamed.

• "iCloud Drive sync this Mac" obviously needs to be turned on. Then your iCloud Drive location becomes live. Why call it Sync this Mac though? Another bad choice by Apple.
• "Desktop & Documents Folders" I keep tuned OFF because I do not want my device desktop and Documents folders to be iCloud only, which is what happens if you do turn this on. The actual Desktop and Documents Folders that use to live under your user account are migrated to the cloud, no go for me.
• "Optimize Mac Storage" is even more incomprehensible. "The full content of iCloud Drive will be stored on this Mac if you have enough space. Older documents will be stored only in iCloud when space is needed." I cannot comprehend this sentence, even less what kind of functionality it gets me, so for me it's OFF.
• Finally "Apps syncing to iCloud Drive", click on it and another list of apps show up, shorter than the list under previously discussed Saved to iCloud / See All settings. God gracious.

FUNCTIONALITIES ON DEVICE:

• If you move an item by clicking and dragging it from your Mac internal drive to iCloud, it disappears from your internal drive and now lives in the Cloud only.
• If you copy and paste (or option/drag) an item on the other end, you now have two different files, one on your internal drive and another in iCloud. The original file that's not in iCloud will not be synced.
• You get status graphics in the form of hourglass and little clouds next to files folders which are convenient:

• If you remove an item by dragging it to your device, you get a warning message:

Are you sure you want to remove "your file" from iCloud Drive? 

And you must conform the move.

FUNCTIONALITIES WEB:

• There is NO SEARCH FUNCTION!? What is this Apple?

No Search? Really?? (List view)

• Even OneDrive has a search function, with some preset filtering:

• iCloud does not display files extensions, but instead has a column for files "Kind" which is meh. Again OneDrive is better and shows files extensions:

• The columns on iCloud web are: "Name", "Kind", "Size", "Date" (of upload) and "Shared". You cannot resize columns and you cannot customize them unlike what is possible in the Finder. That is if you are in List view, the other option is Grid view, unfortunately the size is not adjustable.

Grid view. Still no search.

• Not all file types have a preview. WAV audio files, RTF files have NONE. PDFs or Numbers files do. MOV weirdly only has a still image preview, using spacebar doesn't playback the file.
• On the other end, double clicking on a MOV file will open it in a new browser window, if the codec is compatible. The playback quality is good, compared to the abysmal video playback quality of OneDrive. Microsoft you should be ashamed.

TALKING SHOP:

 You won't get far with the free 5GB of space. Apple as of Dec 2025 has the following pricing space tiers (that you can share with up to 5 family members.) Prices are for the USA, per month, auto renew:

• 50 GB: $0.99
• 200 GB: $2.99
• 2 TB: $9.99
• 6 TB: $29.99
• 12 TB: $59.99

 Not exactly cheap, not too expensive either. One will very quickly overgrow the 50GB plan (laughable this one), and the 200GB plan. 2TB seems like a good plan, but 6TB and 12TB should be discounted.

One sure thing is that you probably do not want to sync everything from your device(s) to iCloud because at least as far as I am concerned, it won't fit. Hence why you should fully understand and manually able to select what goes to iCloud and what doesn't.

It's obvious that Apple is willfully confusing the user with over simplification, bad UI, and god awful confusing settings. By default, too much crap is being uploaded to iCloud and will saturate whatever plan you're on.

HDDs 2025 Prices Rip-Off

 We're in a very fucked up moment with hard disks data storage prices right now.

 It's due to many factors, one being that manufacturers are way too concentrated: Seagate, Western Digital and to a lesser degree Toshiba control the entire market.

 Being the only payers in town, S-WD-T can turn the faucet on and off, and set the prices as they wish.

 Then in the US we have tariffs of 25% on imported goods from Asia if I understand that right. Even though Seagate and WD are both US companies... That's jacking up the prices big time. 

 The ssd market which is expected to grow three time faster than the hdd market in the next decade appears more segmented. Although Kingston, (another US company), has the lion share, followed by Samsung, and WD again. We're being ripped off with sdds prices as well in the US, but competition helps.

 Look at this chart of 8TB Seagate IronWolf hdd from camelcamelcamel.com:

 The drive was initially sold for around $230 in April of 2020.

 A year later in April of 2021 the price was down to around $180.

 Then the Covid crisis shot the prices up to $240. But in April of 2022, the price was back down to $170.

 April 2023 it was "rock bottom" down to $130. And in 2024-2025 the price oscillated between $150 and $180.

 Now after a fake Black Friday / Cyber Monday where the $180 Sale price was in fact the same as the high price during the entire year of 2025, it shoots up to $220!

 What? Almost as expensive as when it was introduced almost 6 years ago! R&D and initial investments are all paid for at this point.

 Notice that $180 (all of last year high price) x 1.25 (25% tariffs)  = $225. Which is the new set price, give or take $5, comes December.

 Everything is more expensive leading to Christmas so between now and I assume probably at least January next year, we're being ripped off.