Welcome to our ‘News In Brief’ column in which we digest all the news releases for you in no more than five paragraphs.
Below are snippets of all the media releases we received from July 14 till the end of the week.
This article updates throughout the week.
UniSuper Tops Again
Sydney, July 14: UniSuper has been named the leading super fund for retirement preparedness in CoreData’s 2025 Best Possible Retirement report—for the third year in a row.
The fund achieved a preparedness score of 62.8, outperforming the industry average of 50.4.
The report also showed 77 per cent of retired UniSuper members felt financially able to do what they wanted in retirement, compared to 42 per cent of the broader market.
Pre-retirees who received advice from UniSuper reported stronger financial confidence, and 83 per cent of members want broader guidance beyond super, including on tax and estate planning.
Elastic Named Observability Leader
Sydney, July 15: Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms for the second year running. The recognition highlights Elastic’s Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute, particularly for its AI-driven Elastic Observability offering. Key strengths include native OpenTelemetry integration, zero-config AIOps, advanced analytics via ES|QL, and the scalable Search AI Lake. Elastic’s solution is noted for enabling real-time investigations while reducing costs. The platform is powered by Elastic’s Search AI Platform and supports monitoring across infrastructure, application performance, and user experience.
Firefly Adds Video Tools
Sydney, July 18: Adobe has unveiled a major update to its Firefly platform, introducing enhanced video capabilities, industry-leading AI models, and two new beta features: Generate Sound Effects and Text to Avatar.
The newly upgraded Firefly Video Model now offers improved motion fidelity, enabling smoother transitions and more lifelike animations. These enhancements support a wide range of video elements — from natural and urban landscapes to atmospheric effects, animal motion, and both 2D and 3D animations.
Alongside internal model improvements, Adobe has expanded its AI model offerings within Firefly. The platform now includes Runway’s Gen-4 Video and Google’s Veo3 with Audio, with additional models such as Topaz Labs’ upscalers and Moonvalley’s Marey launching soon. Luma AI’s Ray 2 and Pika 2.2, already available in Firefly Boards, will soon be added to the Generate Video feature.
Firefly’s advanced video tools now allow creators to tailor content for different formats with selectable aspect ratios, and access new features designed for efficiency and control. These include Composition Reference for Video, which lets users match visual flow from reference clips; Style Presets for quick visual tone-setting; and Keyframe Cropping, which simplifies framing adjustments between key scenes.
Two beta features further extend Firefly’s creative potential. Generate Sound Effects enables users to create custom audio from text prompts or voice input, ensuring precise timing and dynamic intensity. Text to Avatar allows creators to convert scripts into avatar-led videos, with options to customize avatars, backgrounds, and accents, streamlining the creation of educational, promotional, and social media content.
Both new features are designed to enhance storytelling, providing creators with more ways to deliver engaging, high-quality video content directly from the Firefly platform.
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