- Horizon AI
- Posts
- Bring blurry, old, or low-res photos back to life with Nano Banana 2 🍌
Bring blurry, old, or low-res photos back to life with Nano Banana 2 🍌
Meta Tests AI Shopping Tool to Compete With ChatGPT and Gemini 🛒
Gina Acosta
March 03, 2026
In partnership with
Welcome to another edition of Horizon AI,
Some of our most important moments are captured in photos that don't always do them justice, whether taken poorly or degraded over time. Blurry, faded, old, or low resolution, Nano Banana 2 can restore and perfect them in just seconds. In today's issue, we show you how.
Let’s jump into it!
Read Time: 4.5 min
Here's what's new today in the Horizon AI
Meta Tests AI Shopping Research Feature in Its Chatbot
Apple Introduces New $599 iPhone 17e With AI Smarts
AI Tutorial: How to Repair and Enhance Any Photo with Nano Banana 2
AI Tools to check out
AI Findings/Resources
The Latest in AI and Tech 💡
AI News
META
Meta Tests AI Shopping Research Feature in Its Chatbot
The tech giant is currently testing a new AI-powered shopping research feature within its Meta AI chatbot, aiming to compete with similar tools offered by OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.
Details:
The new feature is being tested with some U.S. users of the Meta AI web app.
It lets people ask for product recommendations in plain language and, instead of just answering with text, the chatbot responds with a scrollable set of product images, along with brand names, pricing details, and links to buy.
It also offers a brief explanation of its recommendations in bullet point form.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the shopping tool is being tested, but didn't share further details on whether the company gets referral commissions for its chatbot's recommendations or whether Meta AI prioritizes brands that already advertise on its social media platforms.
TOGETHER WITH NEXTIVA
Your AI Stack Has a $50K Blind Spot
You automated your email. Your content. Your workflows. But your phone still goes to voicemail.
XBert by Nextiva is an AI that answers your business calls, texts, and chats 24/7. It handles unlimited conversations at once. Books appointments. Qualifies leads. Answers questions.
One business pulled in $401K in new revenue in a single quarter from previously missed calls.
Over 100,000 businesses already trust Nextiva. Setup takes 3 minutes. No code needed.
APPLE
Apple Introduces New $599 iPhone 17e With AI Smarts
Apple officially introduced the iPhone 17e, the latest version of its budget-friendly iPhone line, with some solid upgrades, including support for Apple Intelligence AI tools.
Details:
The iPhone 17e addresses several long-standing limitations of previous budget models. For example, it now comes with 256GB of entry storage, double that of the previous generation.
The new phone is powered by the A19 chip, which features an upgraded 16-core Neural Engine and "Neural Accelerators" in the GPU that together enable Apple Intelligence and other AI models to run faster than ever.
The company also announced a new, updated iPad Air, which keeps the same design and price but moves from the M3 to the M4 chip. Apple says the new iPad Air is designed to be faster, thanks to an updated neural engine and more memory, making it a more powerful device for AI.
Both devices will be available for pre-order on March 4 and will hit stores on March 11, with their entry-level models starting at $599.
AI Tutorial
How to Repair and Enhance Any Photo with Nano Banana 2
Go to gemini.google.com.
Click on "Tools", select "🍌 Create image", then choose the "Thinking" model.
Upload your photo and paste one of the prompts below.
Restore old and damaged photos
Prompt: “A professional 4k super-resolution restoration of the provided vintage photograph in black and white. Meticulously remove all physical damage including scratches, dust, creases, and tears. Aggressively deblur and upscale the image to eliminate pixelation and jpeg compression artifacts. Enhance fine details, sharpen textures, and clarify facial features to photographic quality. Correct contrast and exposure to reveal depth in shadows and highlights. The result should be a crisp, clean, and high-definition reproduction that looks like a pristine original print.”
Restore and colorize black and white photos
Prompt: “A lifelike, high-fidelity colorization of the provided image, upscaled to 4k resolution. Apply natural, complex coloring to the entire scene, focusing on realistic skin tones, authentic material textures, and environmental lighting. Remove any remaining grain or noise while retaining sharpness. Bring the image to life by enhancing micro-details and dynamic range, making the subject matter look as if it were photographed today with a modern high-end camera.”
Upscale low resolution photos
Prompt: "Upscale this image to 4K" (or any other higher resolution you want, such as 2K or 1080p)
Sharpen blurry photos
Prompt: “Take the provided blurred photo and deblur it into a sharp, realistic image. Do not change the composition, objects, or any elements of the original. Be as faithful to the original as possible.”
AI Tools to check out
🎨 Lovart: The leading AI design agent. Automate your entire creative workflow—from logos & social media graphics to full marketing campaigns.
🚀 Claude in PowerPoint: An add-in that integrates Claude into your PowerPoint workflow.
📱 Rork Max: Build mobile apps by chatting with AI.
🎥 Adobe Quick Cut: A new Firefly tool that uses AI to help video editors and content creators find a starting point in their raw footage.
👠 Higgsfield Soul 2.0: Photo model designed for creative, fashion-aware, culture-native generation.
TOGETHER WITH ADD WISPR FLOW
4x faster communication. Zero quality tradeoff.
Most people spend hours every day typing messages they could say in minutes. Wispr Flow fixes that.
Flow turns your voice into clean, polished text inside any app. Speak like you would to a colleague - tangents and all - and get professional output ready to send. 89% of messages go out with zero edits.
Use it for:
Email and Slack responses in seconds
Meeting follow-ups and project updates
Client communication on the go
Long-form writing without staring at a blank page
Millions of people use Flow daily, including teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay. Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and now Android -- free and unlimited on Android during launch.
AI Findings/Resources
🧠 AI agents are ‘aeroplanes for the mind’: five ways to ensure that scientists are responsible pilots
The latest in AI and Tech
The startup has added memory to Claude's free tier, allowing users to reference past conversations and pause or delete saved memories.
It is also offering a new migration tool for users to bring their preferences and context from rival AI providers to Claude.
The AI coding assistant Cursor has surpassed $2 billion in annualized revenue, according to a Bloomberg source, with the four year old startup said to have doubled its revenue run rate over the past three months.
Sam Altman said Monday that the company has added further protections to its agreement with the Defense Department to bring its AI models to the military’s classified network.
Mark Cuban is set to headline the Forge AI Prize on April 22, a premier startup competition held at Carnegie Mellon University on the eve of the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
Targeting innovators at the intersection of AI, robotics, and sports, the event offers a massive prize pool including $1 million in AWS credits and $275,000 in capital from Magarac Venture Partners.
The virtual care platform built on the Epic EHR, has secured a $27.4 million investment in a round led by HealthX Ventures, bringing its total raise to more than $55 million.
That’s a wrap!
We'd love to hear your thoughts on today's email!Your feedback helps us improve our content |
Not subscribed yet? Sign up here and send it to a colleague or friend!
See you in our next edition!
Gina 👩🏻💻