Automating Media Asset Creation with Cloudinary’s GenAI Transformations

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I’ve been happily using Cloudinary on my blog for a few years now, but it’s been quite some time since I’ve blogged about them. For folks who don’t know, CLoudinary provides media APIs (image, video) that work via URLs. So for example, I can craft a Cloudinary URL that transforms a picture to resize it to a particular size. Or add text. Or compress it. Pretty much anything you can imagine doing with an image or a video, and probably a lot of things you can’t think of, are all possible, and literally enabled by crafting a particular URL. It’s shockingly powerful and easy at the same time. More recently, they announced a set of AI capabilities, including – Generative... more →
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Generative AI Images with Gemini and Imagen – an Introduction

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I’ve been waiting for this to launch for a few days now, and while technically this isn’t quite yet available in Gemini, only Vertex, it should be testable in Gemini in the very short term. You can now use Google’s APIs to generate really high quality images via their Imagen 3 technology. I’ve got a few blog posts planned that will demonstrate these features (and from what I’ve been told, even more powerful stuff is coming), but I thought I’d start off today with a simple short example. To begin, and remember this may not available just yet, take a look at the docs, Imagen 3 in the Gemini API. First, let’s consider the sample code, that I’m going... more →
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The USA is Closing for Business

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This animated map from the Lowy Institute shows whether the USA or China was the larger trading partner for countries around the world each year this century (up to 2023). The map provides a stark visualization of the economic shift away from the United States and toward China in the 21st century.According to the Lowy Institute, around “70 per cent of economies trade more with China than Maps Mania… more →
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Using Generative AI to Help in Customer Service

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Ok, before I begin, let me be absolutely clear. I do not think AI can replace customer support. I do think it can supplement and help customer support however, and I’d like to share an example of what this could look like. Imagine your service has a customer service form or email address. Typically, you type in your question, send it off, and wait. But what if you could provide an AI generated answer immediately while the person waits? At worse it doesn’t help. At best, it could be exactly what they need and the request could be terminated saving everyone time. Let’s consider an example of this. Setting up the AI/RAG System Let’s start with the most complex part, the AI/RAG... more →
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The MAGA Plugin for Maplibre

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The MAGA plug-in for the Maplibre mapping library must now be used to ensure that all maps comply with the geographical dictats of the Orange Overlord.To conform to the new geographical proclamations of the Trump Ministry of Geographical Truth, please ensure that you follow the steps below before publishing any new maps:Step 1: Include maga.js in Your ProjectDownload the maga.js file Maps Mania… more →
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Testing Cloudinary Image Enhancements

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Last week I took a look at Cloudinary GenAI transformations to demonstrate quickly creating different versions of media, including multiple sizes and text copy. While taking a look at other parts of the Cloudinary docs I discovered that they had not one, but four different ways to enhance images. These include: Generative restore Upscaling (reminds me of CSI) Enhance Improve Looking at this list, it may be difficult to differentiate one from the other, luckily they provide a nice tabular list with specifics and use cases. Today I want to shine a light on two of them – enhance and improve. From the docs, enhance is described as: "Enhances the overall appeal of images without altering... more →
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Links For You (1/25/25)

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Greetings, programs. I’m writing this from the deep, deep south where my kids were all off school this week because of… snow. I kid you not. On Tuesday we got around ten inches of snow, more than the area’s ever seen in recorded history I believe. I grew up in Saint Louis so I’ve seen snow before, but in the nearly twenty-five years I’ve been here there’s never been anything like it. The snow is pretty much gone already (I think the high today will be near 70), but I’m so happy the kids got a chance to play in the snow, just like I did, many many years ago. JavaScript Import Maps This is a pretty cool article. Victorio Lo demonstrates how to implement... more →
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An Extremely Distorted Map of the US Election

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Following the publication of its Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Election, the New York Times was widely criticized for visually misrepresenting the election results. Despite this backlash, the newspaper chose to repeat the error after the 2020 election – and has now done so again!The New York Times recently released its Extremely Detailed Map of the 2024 Election. According to the NYT, Maps Mania… more →
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