Ever wondered why some of your Instagram videos tend to look blurry, while others are crisp and sharp? It’s because, on Instagram, the quality of your video apparently depends on how many views it’s getting. That’s according to a video AMA from Instagram head Adam Mosseri, in which he explained why some videos are lower-quality than others.

Here’s part of Mosseri’s explanation, from the video, which was reposted by a Threads user today:

In general, we want to show the highest-quality video we can … But if something isn’t watched for a long time — because the vast majority of views are in the beginning — we will move to a lower quality video. And then if it’s watched again a lot then we’ll re-render the higher quality video.

He continues, adding that the platform does this in order to “show people the highest-quality content we can.”

Instagram devotes more resources to videos from “creators who drive more views,” Mosseri wrote later in response to the Threads post containing the clip.

The shift in quality “isn’t huge,” Mosseri said in response to another Threads user, who’d asked if that approach disadvantaged smaller creators. That’s “the right concern,” he told them, but said people interact with videos based on its content, not its quality.

That’s consistent with how Meta has described its approach before. In 2021, the company projected it wouldn’t be able to keep up with the increasing number of videos uploaded to the platform. (Meta estimated last year that it served 4 billion video streams per day on Facebook.)

Meta wrote in a blog that in order to conserve computing resources for the relatively few, most watched videos, it gives fresh uploads the fastest, most basic encoding. After a video “gets sufficiently high watch time,” it receives a more robust encoding pass. Once it gets popular enough, Meta applies its most advanced (read: slowest, most computationally costly) processing to the video. The result, of course, is that the most popular creators tend to have the best-looking videos.

Japan is often seen as a global leader in cutting-edge technology, known for innovations in robotics, electronics, and high-speed trains – however, the country is also known for its tendency to hold onto older technology long after it has been abandoned elsewhere.

Only recently has Japan begun to phase out floppy disks in government offices, and far too many of its laptops and devices still come equipped with legacy features like VGA connectors. Most recently, we covered a PCI Express adapter that adds a parallel port to modern PCs, allowing buyers to connect long-forgotten devices like HP LaserJet or dot matrix printers. For bonus nostalgia points, the driver for it comes on a CD, and it’s compatible with Windows XP and newer.

Coral bleaching has been gaining notoriety as one of the most severe threats to oceans globally. Experts worry 2024 could be the worst year yet with the fourth global coral bleaching event on record impacting reefs in at least 62 countries and territories worldwide.

These warm water anomalies, driven by climate change, threaten the survival of these vital marine ecosystems. Unless significant efforts are made the walk into the future will be slippery.

The coral reefs play a very important role as far as fisheries and tourism are concerned. They safeguard the coast and keep the coastline in check. The coral reefs form the foundation of the marine ecosystem and have their own ecosystem as well. So, if they are bleached then the economy of regions relying on such practices will degrade.

What is coral bleaching?

Corals are invertebrate animals that harbor algae cells called ‘zooxanthellae’ in their tissues. They share a symbiotic relationship and give corals their color. Coral bleaching is a defense mechanism for corals from external stressors.

“Most of the reefs in the Andamans are dying. 2024 might be the worst year in history for the marine ecosystem. The last time coral bleaching was seen as a huge threat was in 2010,” Diksha Dikshit, a marine biologist from the Andamans, told THE WEEK.

When the corals try to conserve their energy there is an expulsion of algae. When these algae are absent from the corals, they lose their color and appear white, this phenomenon is termed as coral bleaching.

A bleached coral is not necessarily dead, if conditions improve the algae will come back into the limestone structure and give back its color. Also, if water temperatures are regulated with enough sunlight to perform photosynthesis, the algae can survive.

A devastating chain reaction

A warming planet means a warming ocean. Coral bleaching impacts people’s livelihoods and food security. Coral reefs and natural barriers keep the coastal communities safe by absorbing the force of waves and storm surges. Without them, manmade seawalls will have to be made which damage the environment and are not cost-efficient.

Coral reefs are home to reef fish that hide in corals from predators or depend on corals for food and predatory fish come to the reef to hunt. Bleached corals alter the food web, breaking links between the food chain. Reef tourism is a major source of revenue and supports thousands of jobs. Bleached coral reefs, devoid of magnificent marine species, jeopardize it all.

Beyond temperature: A multifaceted problem

Corals can also bleach for other reasons like extremely low tides, pollution and lack of sunlight. Increases in intensity of cyclones, ocean acidification, extreme weather events, water pollution, overfishing and coastal development are also taking a toll on coral reefs.

Carbon pollution threatens reefs worldwide and remains their biggest threat. This has led to mass coral bleaching on The Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs globally. Even Chemicals in sunscreens have been proven to be harmful to corals.

“If we continue burning fossil fuels at the current rate then severe bleaching events are likely to hit reefs annually by the middle of the century,” says the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Beyond the reef: global impacts

There is a significant boom in the diving industry and tourism. Since profitability is considered more important than a degrading environment. Employing individuals who are not trained or educated about the marine ecosystem while hoping to cut costs will cause more harm than good in the long run.

“Divers directly and indirectly have a role to play in bleached corals. Touching or kicking it during dives or equipment being mishandled by people who are not trained professionally can stress the algae on corals,” says Sahil a scuba diving instructor at DIVEIndia since 2012.

The power of change: sustainable practices in tourism and fishing

If we want to find a balance between coral reefs and economic development, we must bring back age-old practices and create a sustainable practice.

Although the profits generated might not be as much as using machinery, they will be healthier and more sustainable for the ecosystem. The fishing practices used currently are not species specific leading to overexploitation.

Exploring artificial reefs as a solution

Human greed must be put to an end if conservation methods must be effective.  “Assisted evolution, wherein more resistant corals are created and genetically modified makes corals adaptable to changing environmental conditions, making artificially modified corals more efficient” says Diksha Dikshit. According to her, although this might be effective, its implementation is not feasible. Considering how it cannot be executed everywhere.

“We thoroughly cleaned paint, oil and other hazardous pollutants from an old scooter and sunk it to the bottom of the ocean in the Andaman Islands. This artificial reef enabled the growth of corals,” Sahil told THE WEEK. 

DIVEIndia is India’s largest dive center, with operations in the Andamans and training centers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. Andamans marine biodiversity and warm water make it the perfect dive destination They offer dive trips to some of the leading dive destinations across the world. 

They work similarly to ships sunken due to shipwrecks. Corals can settle on these ships and other artificially planted objects and serve as homes to fish and other species.

On June 18, 2011, Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources sank the ship off the coast of Koh Tao with the idea of forming a new artificial reef.

“The science behind genetically engineered drought-resistant crops serves as a blueprint for enhancing heat resistant coral reefs,” says a report by storymaps.com”

A beacon of hope: Success stories in coral conservation

A beach in Andaman, home to the Dugongs or sea cows were debated on being open to water sports. Diksha Dikshit was able to gather enough support to ensure that human intervention did not destroy another region in these Islands. Currently without funds or permits conservation efforts in real time are difficult. Wenzel, a marine researcher at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) has been following a pattern on the archipelago by conducting research on corals through photography in Lakshadweep. The reef ecosystems are photographed and studied in depth through the images. 

Although monsoon showers are a temporary solution, they decrease the water temperature which in turn prevents the corals from bleaching.

“10 days ago, in the Andamans, we experienced a heavy storm. The rain has cooled the water temperature down which has enabled bleached corals to slowly recover. Nature is doing its part, why aren’t we?” A question that leaves Sahil pondering.

With Amazon Prime Video’s new monthly content, even anime fans have plenty of shows and movies to pick from. Fans have even more options since the streamer added Crunchyroll as an optional premium channel. This addition expands Prime’s catalog exponentially, giving users access to both platforms’ anime content in one package.

The cost is ultimately the same as subscribing to both individually, but it undoubtedly makes Prime’s anime library more accessible to new and longtime fans. Convenient as it is, this library can overwhelm uninitiated audiences. That’s where this guide comes in, as the list is updated monthly and focuses on the best anime on Prime Video right now. This includes Prime’s native library and the premium Crunchyroll channel.

For those who might be feeling a little overwhelmed, but are still intrigued by the genre, we also have worthwhile guides on the best anime on Netflix and the best anime on Hulu to help fans get the most value out of their subscriptions. Also, check out our guides for the best new shows to stream and the best shows on Amazon Prime.

When it comes to AI Google has its hands in several different projects, including one called Project Jarvis which is said to have the capability to control your browser and make purchases for you.

Google spent a little bit of time earlier this year talking about how this sort of artificial intelligence would work. At Google I/O 2024, Google gave the public a glimpse at “agents” in its Gemini AI model that would be able to perform tasks for you. Google said it would “work across software and systems.” As well as “think multiple steps ahead” and have reasoning, planning, and memory. With these capabilities, it could remember things for or about you. Allowing it to perform tasks on your behalf. Such as purchasing a plane ticket or buying a pair of shoes online (or even returning them).

Google hasn’t talked much about these AI features since that panel at I/O back in May. However, a new report says Google has made some decent headway on this project. We know from a report earlier this week that Google is planning to announce and launch Gemini 2.0 in December. And it’s at that time that we may learn more about the AI features that Google is calling Project Jarvis.

Google Project Jarvis AI can take over your browser and automate everyday tasks

According to a new report from The Information, Project Jarvis is moving ahead at a swift pace. Google will reveal more about Project Jarvis in December alongside Gemini 2.0, the report says. It’s said to be similar to Anthropic’s Claude AI model, though it will surely differ in some ways.

Jarvis would work inside Chrome to take care of these smaller everyday tasks, but the report doesn’t mention if this would be for Chrome on desktop or mobile. That being said, Google’s demo at I/O earlier this year showed off returning a pair of shoes on the mobile version of Chrome. At the same time, Google followed that up with another potential use case that appeared to be represented by a desktop version of the Chrome browser. So it’s possible that Google has plans for Jarvis to work on both platforms.

Jarvis works slowly because it has to think for a few seconds before taking each action

In addition to Google’s plans to reveal more about Jarvis in December, the report also mentions a little about how far along Jarvis is. Not specifically in reference to how far Google is in its development cycle, but how efficiently Jarvis works. This may hint at how much longer it will be before users start to see these features available in Chrome.

According to the report, Jarvis still works slowly because it has to think for a few seconds before taking each action. This could mean that Google is still operating Jarvis in the cloud. At Google IO, Sundar Pichai said that Google was working on these AI features with security and privacy in mind. And that everything would be under the user’s supervision. So it’s likely that Google plans for Jarvis features to work on-device when they’re ready for user access.

On-device AI also works faster because it doesn’t have to reach out to the cloud and get the answers or information it needs before providing a solution. So it’s also likely that Jarvis features in Gemini will be faster by the time Google rolls these out.

Google may be close to unveiling an AI agent that can operate a web browser to help users automate everyday tasks. reports that the company is working on a “computer-using agent” under the codename Project Jarvis, and it may be ready to be previewed as soon as December. According to sources that spoke to The Information, Jarvis “responds to a person’s commands by capturing frequent screenshots of what’s on their computer screen, and interpreting the shots before taking actions like clicking on a button or typing into a text field.”

Jarvis is reportedly made to work only with web browsers — particularly Chrome — to assist with common tasks like research, shopping and booking flights. It comes as Google continues to expand the capabilities of its Gemini AI, the next-gen model of which is expected to be revealed in December, as reported by . Gemini Live, Google’s AI chatbot, this month, and Gemini integration has recently made it to , and other applications.

The news of Jarvis comes days after but seemingly more expansive feature for its Claude AI, which it says has been equipped with computer skills so it can “use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people.” That’s available now in a public beta.