Canva acquires Affinity, takes aim at Adobe's design dominance

Affinity Designer 2 (Image: Affinity)

Canva, the popular web-based design platform, made a strategic move to challenge Adobe's stronghold on the design software market by acquiring the well-regarded Affinity suite. Announced in March 2024, the deal brings Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher—powerful design applications for desktop and iPad—under Canva's umbrella. These applications offer functionalities similar to Adobe's industry-standard Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, respectively.

While financial details remain undisclosed, Bloomberg estimates the acquisition to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. This move strengthens Canva's position, particularly in attracting professional designers. While boasting 170 million monthly users, many likely aren't utilizing Adobe's professional offerings. However, Canva previously lacked design applications specifically catering to creative professionals like photographers, illustrators, and video editors.

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YouTube Music now lets you download songs for offline listening on web

YouTube Music now lets you download songs for offline listening on web

Image: Android Authority

YouTube Music, Google’s dedicated music streaming service, is making offline listening more accessible with the rollout of offline downloads for its web app. This welcome feature brings the website in line with its mobile app counterpart, allowing users to save songs and playlists for enjoyment even without an internet connection.

YouTube has been testing this feature for a while now, but it seems to have gained wider availability as of March 29. While the feature isn’t showing for everyone yet, some users are being greeted with a “New! Download music to listen offline” message beside their Library tab.

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Google confirms older Nest cameras are coming to the Home app

Photo: Google

During a Reddit AMA, Google addressed a major user concern for Nest camera owners: support for older Nest cameras in the Google Home app. While the Nest app seems to be phased out, Google is actively bringing Nest cameras over to the Home app. This effort includes the Nest Cam Indoor and Outdoor, with Nest Cam IQ and Nest Hello Video Doorbell planned for future integration.

An engineering manager at Google confirmed ongoing work on porting these cameras. The biggest challenge seems to be the age of the products, but it looks like Google remains committed to full Nest camera integration within the Home app.

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