Last week review 47-2025
Weekly Review 47-2025: At the end of the week, we’re finally experiencing our first nights of frost, which is unusual for mid-November 🙁
This week, comparing upscaling functions was once again a topic of discussion. ON1 Photo RAW 2026 has included an upscale or resize function since this version, which I then compared with the corresponding functions in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and Luminar NEO.
In ON1 Photo RAW 2026, the implementation is generally good, as you can freely choose whether the finished image is saved as a PSD or a 16-bit TIFF for further editing. This isn’t the case with Luminar NEO, for example.
While Luminar NEO offers magnifications greater than 2x, the result is saved as a JPEG, which limits post-processing options. On the other hand, ON1 Photo RAW takes a very long time to upscale an image. This is especially true when selecting the highest quality setting. You might have to wait up to 10 minutes for the result.
The winner of the comparison is Lightroom Classic, primarily because it works quite quickly. It also no longer creates an additional file, and the results are impressive in terms of detail sharpness without appearing oversharpened.
The bombshell of the week was undoubtedly the massive data breach of user data at WhatsApp, or rather, Meta. Researchers from Vienna were apparently able to access user data from 3.5 billion users more or less unhindered. This alone is a scandal of the highest order. When the company then claims that the data was not misused, it completely shatters any remaining trust in such corporations. It remains to be seen whether this will have any consequences for Meta.
It has long been the case that Intel CPUs can decode the HEVC codec on the CPU itself. This allows for performance improvements. However, there are now several reports that this option has been disabled on certain Dell and HP laptop models. This likely involves… License fees for the codec are increasing. According to another source, this involves a rise in the license fees from 20 to 24 cents per unit. Of course, that adds up to a considerable sum when you consider how many notebooks Dell and HP sell. Nevertheless, I find it downright ridiculous.
All in all, another very eventful week. I hope you enjoyed the articles and look forward to your questions and comments.
ciao tuxoche
