I Watched Elon Musk Kill Twitter’s Culture From the Inside This bizarre episode in social-media history proves that it’s well past time for meaningful tech oversight........ Everyone has an opinion about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. I lived it. I saw firsthand the harms that can flow from unchecked power in tech. ........ I joined Twitter in 2021 from Parity AI, a company I founded to identify and fix biases in algorithms used in a range of industries, including banking, education, and pharmaceuticals. It was hard to leave my company behind, but I believed in the mission: Twitter offered an opportunity to improve how millions of people around the world are seen and heard. I would lead the company’s efforts to develop more ethical and transparent approaches to artificial intelligence as the engineering director of the Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability (META) team. ......... Unsurprisingly, we were wiped out when Musk arrived. ........ Dr. Rumman Chowdhury was the engineering director of the Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability Team at Twitter. She is currently a Responsible AI Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and the CEO of Parity Consulting. .
Autonomous cargo drone airline Dronamics reveals it’s raised $40M, pre-Series A Large, long-range drones built specifically for cargo have the potential to be faster, cheaper and produce fewer CO2 emissions than conventional aircraft, enabling same-day shipping over very long distances. In fact, the “flying delivering van” is considered the holy grail by many cargo operators. ........ a “cargo drone airline” using drones built specifically for the purpose. ........ flagship “Black Swan” model will be able to carry 350 kg (770 lb) at a distance of up to 2,500 km (1,550 miles) faster, cheaper and with less emissions than currently available options. ......... Dronamics has so far raised from Founders Factory, Speedinvest, Eleven Capital and the Strategic Development Fund (SDF), the investment arm of the Tawazun Council, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. .........
“We’re the size of a delivery van (Renault Kangoo / VW Caddy) and we can cross all of Europe in 12 hours or less at a fraction of the cost of airfreight."
............... “Right now the same-day radius of a fulfillment center is 2hrs drive… The only way to expand same-day coverage is to use a longer-distance low-cost middle-mile drone (a flying delivering van). With our range we can cover all of Europe same-day from a single warehouse — ............ creating a Dronamics operations in the UAE as a hub for the Middle East and North Africa region. .
Microsoft Considers More Limits for Its New A.I. Chatbot The company knew the new technology had issues like occasional accuracy problems. But users have prodded surprising and unnerving interactions. ......... engage the chatbot in open-ended and probing personal conversations ........ the chatbot, and that it picked up on its users’ tone, sometimes turning testy. ........ make search far more relevant and conversational. ........ “I feel especially in the West, there is a lot more of like, ‘Oh, my God, what will happen because of this A.I.?’” Mr. Nadella said. “And it’s better to sort of really say, ‘Hey, look, is this actually helping you or not?’” ........... “It can be very surprising how crafty people are at eliciting inappropriate responses from chatbots” ......... The chatbot could not actually do something like engineer a virus — it merely generates what it is programmed to believe is a desired response. ........ in “long, extended chat sessions of 15 or more questions, Bing can become repetitive or be prompted/provoked to give responses that are not necessarily helpful or in line with our designed tone.” ............. In November, Meta, the owner of Facebook, unveiled its own chatbot, Galactica. Designed for scientific research, it could instantly write its own articles, solve math problems and generate computer code. .
Instagram launches a new broadcast chat feature called ‘Channels’ The feature lets creators share public, one-to-many messages to directly engage with their followers. Channels support text, images, polls, reactions and more. Zuckerberg announced the feature by starting his own broadcast channel, where he plans to share Meta updates going forward. ....... only creators can post in broadcast channels, and that followers only have the ability to react to content and participate in polls. ........ the company plans to bring the feature to Messenger and Facebook in the coming months ............ .
How should AI systems behave, and who should decide?We’re clarifying how ChatGPT’s behavior is shaped and our plans for improving that behavior, allowing more user customization, and getting more public input into our decision-making in these areas. ....... OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. ......... Unlike ordinary software, our models are massive neural networks. Their behaviors are learned from a broad range of data, not programmed explicitly. .........
the process is more similar to training a dog than to ordinary programming.
....... the model learns to predict the next word in a sentence, informed by its exposure to lots of Internet text ....... By learning from billions of sentences, our models learn grammar, many facts about the world, and some reasoning abilities. They also learn some of the biases present in those billions of sentences. ........ we’re committed to ensuring that access to, benefits from, and influence over AI and AGI are widespread. ......... taking customization to the extreme would risk enabling malicious uses of our technology and sycophantic AIs that mindlessly amplify people’s existing beliefs. .
TikTok is launching a $500,000 live trivia contest To Patients, Herpes Can Be Devastating. To Many Doctors, It’s Not a Priority. Billions of people live with the infection, but there has been scant progress for treatments and tests. .......... When Lauren went to her doctors with stinging clusters of sores on her genitals, she assumed the pain was from a urinary tract infection. But at the OB-GYN, her doctor swabbed the bumps and told her that the rash was herpes. “No,” she remembered responding. “It’s not.” .......... She was in a two-year monogamous relationship with her second-ever sexual partner — a guy who occasionally dealt with an errant blister on his lip. ........ They hadn’t known that oral herpes could induce cold sores, and that HSV-1, the virus that causes oral herpes, could be transferred to the genitals. Lauren’s boyfriend was convinced that she had cheated on him, and he broke up with her ......... “I’m never going to date. I’m never going to have a boyfriend.” ......... The mental strain — the depression she fell into after the diagnosis, the fear that future partners wouldn’t accept her — has been, by far, the hardest part of managing the disease. “It attacks your self-worth,” she said. ........... Herpes is extremely common ........ and how hard it is to develop a vaccine for herpes. ........ the herpes virus can hide inside neurons that are shielded from the immune system, making the body’s immune response insufficient at eradicating the virus ...... that’s why herpes remains in a person’s body for life ........... If a patient does not have symptoms, doctors typically diagnose herpes with an antibody test that is frequently inaccurate. Up to half of positive commercial test results could be false ........ esting is typically reliable when a patient has symptoms; doctors can swab a lesion and run a highly sensitive molecular test. ......... “psychosocial harms” associated with false positives on herpes tests. ......... And so the virus continues to spread essentially unchecked — exacerbated by just how ineffective the most widely available tests for herpes are ....... As cases circulate, patients are left grappling with a diagnosis that can be psychologically devastating ........ lots of people feel stigmatized, dirty.” ......... Herpes can be severe in certain cases: Babies can contract neonatal herpes from their mothers, putting them at risk for severe complications and even death. For people who are immunocompromised, outbreaks can be more prolonged and painful. In the vast majority of cases, though, people will have very mild symptoms, and many will have none. That’s part of the reason the infection is so pervasive: People pass it onto partners without knowing they have herpes. ............. In the United States, around one in six people between the ages of 14 and 49 has genital herpes, and over half of adults have oral herpes. ......... The disease lingers in the body ......... When Lauren started dating after her diagnosis, she found herself staying in relationships for longer than she might otherwise, scared nobody else would want to be with her. “I thought I was going to die alone,” she said. ........ when she looks at each profile, she wonders how the man would respond to learning about her diagnosis. “I just worry so much that people are going to judge me,” she said. “That no matter how I present it to them, I’ll still face rejection. That weighs heavily on me.” ........... Some men have told her, flat-out, that they would never date someone with herpes ......... He’s seen how the disease “completely shatters a person’s identity,” he said .......... “They don’t feel like they have anything to contribute to a relationship now, just because they have herpes,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Who’s going to want me now that I have this?’” ........... more often than facing rejection, when he shares his diagnosis, he said, he gets a different response: Women share that they, too, have herpes. ......... Herpes stigma stems in part from the idea that people with the infection have done something “wrong” .......... condoms do not entirely prevent transmission, and you don’t even need to have penetrative sex to contract the virus. .......... “Clinicians don’t want to deal with this,” Ms. Warren said. “It involves people talking about sex. They’re crying, they’re going to have to talk about various specifics like is oral sex OK, is anal sex OK — I don’t think they want to go there,” she said. .......... Without support from doctors, or medical innovations to cure the infection, people with herpes are left “dealing with two viruses at the same time,” as Ms. Dawson put it. “You’re dealing with the physical symptoms of the virus,” she said, “and you’re dealing with the mental strain.” .
How the Metaverse Could Change Work the metaverse promises to bring new levels of social connectedness, mobility, and collaboration to a world of virtual work. ....... four major ways: new immersive forms of team collaboration; the emergence of new digital, AI-enabled colleagues; the acceleration of learning and skills acquisition through virtualization and gamified technologies; and the eventual rise of a metaverse economy with completely new enterprises and work roles. .......... new possibilities to rethink the office and work environment, introducing elements of adventure, spontaneity, and surprise. .........
A virtual office doesn’t have to be a drab, uniform corporate environment downtown: why not a beach location, an ocean cruise, or even another world?
......... Our work colleagues in the metaverse will not be limited to the avatars of our real-world colleagues. Increasingly, we will be joined by an array of digital colleagues — highly realistic, AI-powered, human-like bots. ......... The metaverse could also revolutionize training and skills development, drastically compressing the time needed to develop and acquire new skills. ............. the emergent metaverse provides an opportunity for enterprises to reset the balance in hybrid and remote work, to recapture the spontaneity, interactivity, and fun of team-based working and learning, while maintaining the flexibility, productivity, and convenience of working from home. ........... Feeling under pressure with too many meetings scheduled today? Then why not send your AI-enabled digital twin instead to take the load off your shoulders? ......... “the metaverse,” a term originally coined by author Neal Stephenson in 1992 to describe a future world of virtual reality. .......... a virtual reality version of today’s internet. ........ The metaverse draws on a vast ensemble of different technologies, including virtual reality platforms, gaming, machine learning, blockchain, 3-D graphics, digital currencies, sensors, and (in some cases) VR-enabled headsets. ......... rapid progress is also taking place in computer-generated holography that dispenses with the need for headsets, either by using virtual viewing windows that create holographic displays from computer images, or by deploying specially designed holographic pods to project people and images into actual space at events or meetings). Companies such as Meta are also pioneering haptic (touch) gloves that enable users to interact with 3-D virtual objects and experience sensations such as movement, texture, and pressure. .............. You can’t keep 20 people engaged in the flat 2-D environment of a video call; some people don’t like appearing on camera; you’re not simulating a real-life scenario. That is why companies are turning to metaverse-based platforms .......... “Informal and spontaneous conversations account for a huge amount of business communications — research suggests up to 90% in areas such as R&D ............. “We have created well-being areas designed as forests, or aquariums. They could even be on the moon. These areas can contain on-demand content such as guided meditations and/or exercise classes.” ......... “It’s about community building, conversations and interactions. We want to enable worker avatars to move between a manufacturing world and an interior design world, or equally take that avatar and go and watch a concert in Roblox and Fortnite.” ............ one third of UK remote workers were experiencing difficulties in separating home and work life, with more than one quarter finding it hard to switch off when the work day finishes. Virtual workplaces can provide a better demarcation between home and work life, creating the sensation of walking into the workplace each day and then leaving and saying goodbye to colleagues when your work is done. .......... “The Space-Station Office” with views of planet Earth to “The Pirate Office,” complete with ocean views, a Captain’s Cabin, and a Forecastle Lounge for socializing. For the less adventurous, you can choose from options like the virtual Rooftop Party or meeting in the Zen Gardens. .............. These AI agents will act as advisors and assistants, doing much of the heavy lifting of work in the metaverse and, in theory, freeing up human workers for more productive, value-added tasks........... Rachel, an always-on mortgage adviser; and Daniel, a digital double of the UBS Chief Economist, who can meet multiple clients at once to provide personalized wealth management advice. ........ Emotions are the next frontier in the metaverse. ....... autonomous animation (such as expression rendering, gaze direction, and real-time gesturing) to create lifelike, emotionally-responsive digital humans ........ digital humans are taking on roles as diverse as skincare consultants, a covid health adviser, real-estate agents, and educational coaches for college applicants. ........ Digital humans are highly scalable — they don’t take coffee breaks — and can be deployed in multiple locations at once. They can be deployed to more repetitive, dull, or dangerous work in the metaverse. ......... The metaverse could revolutionize training and skills development, drastically compressing the time needed to develop and acquire new skills. AI-enabled digital coaches could be on-hand to assist in employee training and with career advice. In the metaverse, every object — a training manual, machine, or product, for example — could be made to be interactive, providing 3-D displays and step-by-step “how to” guides. Virtual reality role-play exercises and simulations will become common, enabling worker avatars to learn in highly realistic, “game play” scenarios, such as “the high-pressure sales presentation,” “the difficult client,” or “a challenging employee conversation.” .............. Surgical technology company Medivis is using Microsoft’s HoloLens technology to train medical students through interaction with 3-D anatomy models; Embodied Labs have used 360-degree video to help medical workers experience the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease and age-related audiovisual impairments, to assist in making diagnoses; manufacturing giant Bosch and the Ford Motor Company have pioneered a VR-training tool, using the Oculus Quest headset, to train technicians on electric vehicle maintenance. ........ a series of nine augmented reality training models for front-line nurses in the UK, using 3-D animation and augmented reality to test learners’ skills in specific scenarios and to reinforce best practices in nursing care. ............ “The game becomes the learning activity. In the medical world, we’ve used gamified technologies to train lab technicians; you’ll break out in different groups and then go to, say, a virtual PCR testing machine where you’ll go through stages of learning about how operate that machine, with your training result then recorded.” ........... immersive gamification to enable first responders to do repeat training, try different strategies, see different outcomes, and look at different ways of working as a team .......... virtual-world training can offer important advantages over traditional instructor or classroom-based training, as it provides a greater scope for visually demonstrating concepts (e.g., an engineering design) and work practices, a greater opportunity for learning by doing, and overall higher engagement through immersion in games and problem-solving through “quest-based” methods. .......... and set scaled challenges ........ The visual and interactive nature of metaverse-based learning is also likely to appeal particularly to autistic people, who respond better to visual as opposed to verbal cues. Virtual reality tools can also be used to combat social anxiety in work situations, for example by creating realistic but safe spaces to practice public presentations and meeting interactions. ...........
The internet didn’t just bring new ways of working: it brought a whole new digital economy — new enterprises, new jobs, and new roles. So too will the metaverse, as the immersive 3-D economy gathers momentum over the decade ahead.
......... Alongside the creators are the “meshers,” developers who design the basic 3-D templates that others can customize and tailor as virtual products. A successful mesh can be replicated and sold thousands of times, earning significant income for its developer ........... just as we talk about digital-native companies today, we are likely to see the emergence of metaverse-native enterprises, companies entirely conceived and developed within the virtual, 3-D world. ........... the metaverse likely bring a vast swathe of new roles that we can only imagine today: avatar conversation designers, “holoporting” travel agents to ease mobility across different virtual worlds, metaverse digital wealth management and asset managers, etc. ........... the computing infrastructure and power requirements for a full-fledged working metaverse are formidable ........... potential risks of addiction, or unacceptable behaviors such as bullying or harassment in the virtual world ............. allow employees to move seamlessly between physical, online, and 3-D virtual working styles, using the consumer technologies native to the metaverse: avatars, gaming consoles, VR headsets, hand-track controllers with haptics and motion control that map the user’s position in the real world into the virtual world (although some versions use only cameras). .......... highly stimulative, immersive, challenge-based content. .......... the younger generation, many of whom have grown up in a gaming, 3-D, socially-connected environment. ........... millions of developers, gamers, and designers. .......... “interoperability” — seamless connections — between different virtual worlds. .......... the emergent metaverse provides an opportunity for enterprises to reset the balance in hybrid and remote work, to recapture the spontaneity, interactivity, and fun of team-based working and learning while maintaining the flexibility, productivity, and convenience of working from home. .......... metaverse-based work must match the virtual experiences that workers, particularly younger workers, have come to expect of the technology in their consumer and gaming lives.
Exploring the Metaverse the appeal of virtual realms: They’re places where power can be inverted, disappointments escaped, and capitalist inequities left behind for something more exciting, malleable, and meaningful. .......... online universes like Fortnite and Roblox currently attract nearly 400 million users .......... The market for them will soon be worth more than $1 trillion ........ Fashion brands from Nike to Gucci are designing clothes and accessories for the metaverse. J.P. Morgan and Samsung have set up shop in Decentraland. On Roblox players can operate their own Forever 21 stores and even sell their own designs in them. ......... incorporate augmented and virtual reality, store information on blockchain, and allow users to own digital goods. So like “the internet,” the term “the metaverse” describes a sprawling network of sites and spaces. .......... People don’t just want to consume. It’s far more engaging to have gamified, contextual experiences. ......... In the metaverse you’re less a user than you are a member. ........ Roblox as an example of what’s to come. On it players design games and spaces, and people gather for events in a way that they can’t on social media sites .......... worked with Paris Hilton to build Paris World on Roblox, where she threw a New Year’s Eve celebration that drew more attendees than Times Square’s did. “This is the future of partying,” she tells the authors. ............ the metaverse (and its cousin, Web3) is the emphasis on ownership ......... Instead of the dopamine hit of likes, the rewards of online life come in cold, hard crypto......... Work isn’t becoming play; play is becoming work. ......... Dystopia is one risk. Another is disappointment: We dream of the metaverse but end up with a mall.
What is metaverse in blockchain? A beginner's guide on an internet-enabled virtual world These days, everyone seems to be talking about "the Metaverse" as the next big thing that will alter our online lives. ......... a shared "imaginary realm" that is "made available to the public across the worldwide fiber-optics network" and projected onto virtual reality goggles in the novel. ........ digital settings that have been enhanced with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). ........ Mark Zuckerberg revealed in July 2021 that the company intends to construct a more maximalist version of Facebook that includes social presence, office work and entertainment. .........
The most popular ideas about the Metaverse come from science fiction
.......... a living experience that exists continuously for everyone and in real-time, just as it does in "real life." .......... It never "resets," "pauses," or "ends," — it just keeps going endlessly. ........ “a virtual space” isn't a metaverse........ it is not a “virtual theme park.” Similarly, a metaverse is not a “new app store”; instead, it is fundamentally different from contemporary internet/mobile paradigms, design and priorities.......... You can collaborate on ideas using a sizable virtual whiteboard, bring your computer and keyboard into VR to collaborate with others, or have expressive discussions that feel more like you're in person. ........ Not only does blockchain allow for fast confirmation of information, but it also allows for cryptographically secure and protected transactions. Blockchain and crypto assets are a fundamental and integral aspect of how virtual reality will be deployed. ......... These transactions must be secure and virtually fast. ......... Epic Games, the maker of the famous video game Fortnite, has raised $1 billion from investors to help fund its long-term metaverse aspirations. .......... Roblox, which describes the metaverse as a place where "people can come together within millions of 3D experiences to study, work, play, create and socialize. ......... Gucci, an Italian fashion business, teamed up with Roblox in June to sell a line of digital-only accessories. Coca-Cola and Clinique both sold digital tokens that were marketed as a way into the metaverse. ........... there are only a few potential leaders in the early Metaverse, including Microsoft, Apple, Meta and Amazon. ........ Xbox Live links millions of video game gamers all over the world.......... virtual reality and augmented reality would enhance the global economy by $1.5 trillion by 2030, up from $46.5 billion in 2019.
What Is The Metaverse And Why Should You Care? Right now, what will become the Metaverse is actually a series of disconnected metaverses, like the ‘walled gardens’ of the early internet [darpa.net, bit.net, or aol.net] that eventually came together to form the internet as we know it today. ........... Fortnite, for example, is separate from Roblox, which is separate from Decentraland and others. ........ Blockchain, the ‘crypto finance hub,’ makes it possible to precisely define a virtual thing so it can be bought and sold. ......... “If paying real money to own virtual land sounds a bit crazy, remember when most of us thought that purchasing domain names was crazy. But then, suddenly, it wasn’t crazy … [and many] people made a lot of money selling coveted domain names.” ......... “If you’re trying to reach an audience of 15-30-year-olds they’re probably not on the internet or on social media any more, they’re probably in the Metaverse. ........... In 2020, 12.3 million people attended a single virtual concert by rapper Travis Scott, hosted in Fortnite. When you watch the video of that concert (available online), you realize after a short while that the dancing figures … were all real people, connecting from locations around the world. ......... “There are things you can do in virtual reality and augmented reality that you just can’t do in real life across distance. You can mimic being together in ways that aren’t possible over Zoom. You can point to something to explain, use hand gestures (in some platforms), draw on a piece of paper, go places together. Think about the incredible possibilities, such as a collaboration between surgeons, or creating a clay model for a new-car design. These and all sorts of other collaborative activities are all easy in the right metaverse world, which eliminates the impediment of distance........... Auto companies already are designing in ‘digital twins,’ doing their first dummy crash test in a metaverse world, and collaborating on model modifications in augmented reality.”
What Is the Metaverse, Really? Tech giants are ushering in the next version of the internet. But what does that even mean? ........ The next version of the internet is coming, and it’s called the metaverse. ......... an evolved, three-dimensional internet where logging in isn’t necessary. It may also incorporate elements of virtual and augmented reality. .......... The metaverse refers to an immersive and persistent three-dimensional virtual realm, shared with many users, that spans various digital platforms and merges with the physical world, where people can shop, work, play and hang out together in real time. ........... “A massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.” .......... Without 3D capabilities, the metaverse would just be the internet. .......... As big and diverse as the real world. ......... we are still several years away from being able to tick all the boxes required of a true metaverse. ........ Second Life proved to be a massive hit upon release, with around a million users signing up. Harvard University held classes in it, rapper Jay-Z threw a concert in it and Rolling Stone called it “the future of the Net.” Eventually, though, enthusiasm for Second Life waned, and the platform’s growth flattened. ......... Roblox, a sandbox-like virtual platform where people can build and play games and experiences, was launched in 2006 — although it took more than a decade for it to become a mainstream success. By January 2022, Roblox had nearly 55 million daily active users, and Roblox Corporation CEO David Baszucki called his company “shepherds of the metaverse.” .......... The popularity of Roblox and Fornite — along with a host of other platforms and apps like Minecraft and Snapchat — helped accelerate discussions about the imminence of the metaverse (in some tech and gaming circles, at least). But it was Facebook’s 2021 rebrand to Meta that catapulted the idea of the metaverse into the larger public consciousness. .......... Web3 is a term used to describe a decentralized internet built on a blockchain foundation. Central to Web3’s premise is that power over the internet will eventually swing away from a handful of tech giants and toward the many individual users and developers. .........
an embodied internet you are within, rather than have access to.
....... Platforms such as Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft are not in themselves metaverses, but destinations within the metaverse. There will be lots of these sorts of destinations, not unlike individual websites on the internet today. In other words, Fortnite is not a metaverse, in the same way that Facebook is not an internet. The two are both planets within a larger galaxy. ............. Two popular examples positioning themselves at the intersection of blockchain, Web3 and the metaverse are The Sandbox and Decentraland. Both offer immersive virtual worlds, as well as tools that allow users to build monetizable projects within those worlds. And unlike many tech companies commonly associated with the metaverse, The Sandbox and Decentraland are owned by their users and built on the Ethereum blockchain. ........... requires enormous amounts of computer processing and advancements made in smartphone, gaming device and VR and AR headset technology. ......... the idea of a single metaverse is still theoretical ........ the metaverse will likely emerge with a constellation of companies, collectives and independent developers operating under some agreed-upon policies and protocols......... Fortnite is free to play, and yet the game still brought in $5.8 billion in revenue in 2021. .......... Take Roblox as an example. On the platform, users have the ability to create their own games using Roblox’s developer tools. They can then monetize their creations by selling them to other users. ......... a more exciting, imaginative successor to the internet than any science fiction novel could predict.
Meet the metaverse: Creating real value in a virtual world the next iteration of the internet, seamlessly combining our physical and digital lives. ......... In the first five months of 2022, more than $120 billion have been invested in building out metaverse technology and infrastructure. That’s more than double the $57 billion invested in all of 2021. ......... an immersive virtual environment that connects different worlds and communities. .......... It will have a lot of the components of Web3 and gaming and AR, but it will be much larger. ........... The complexity and excitement of the technology that underpins the metaverse is a whole source of renewal for innovation. ........... There are similarities to the transition to Web 2.0 in 2004 that was sparked by social networks and user-generated content. ......... billions of dollars are flowing into every corner of metaverse infrastructure to help get it there ........ We surveyed more than 3,400 consumers around the world and found two-thirds are excited about transitioning everyday activities to the metaverse, especially when it comes to connecting with people, exploring virtual worlds, and collaborating with remote colleagues. Almost 60 percent of consumers prefer at least one activity in the immersive world versus the physical alternative. More surprisingly, 79 percent of consumers active in the metaverse have made a purchase. ............ a quarter of them believe it will generate more than 15 percent of corporate revenue in the next five years. ......... it could generate up to $5 trillion in impact by 2030—about the size of Japan’s economy, the world’s third-largest. ........... the government of Seoul, which plans to spend at least $32 million on a metaverse ecosystem to improve city services, planning, administration, and support for virtual tourism. .........
Removing geographical barriers opens the doors to access in exciting new ways.
.......... The best way for business leaders to explore is by becoming metaverse users themselves.
New look at human development points way to inclusive growth broke the planet down into 40,000 microregions, a view 230 times more granular than a country perspective ........ Germany was made up of 401 microregions, and Indonesia had 502. ....... using nighttime luminosity from satellite images as a measure of activity......... whether we zoomed into the mountains of Italy, the jungles of Colombia, the outer reaches of Nigeria—there were pockets of vibrancy, growth and promise that were not visible at the country level. We changed the name of the report to Pixels of progress.” ......... “In some places, people gained more than 20 years of life expectancy over 20 years of time. In most individual countries, regions that started lower in life expectancy actually grew faster than those at the top. Rendered graphically, the catch up is visualized as a massive convergence.” ......... “This type of ‘catch-up innovation’ is just as significant as the initial scientific breakthrough,” points out Marc. “One example is the elimination or reduction of infectious diseases in Africa.” ........ two billion people achieved higher living standards. Half of them live in China alone—the second billion are spread across 75 other countries. “It’s what we call ‘China times two’” ......... we’re almost down to less than 5 percent of people living in the poorest parts in the world ..........
There may never be more children than there are now
.......... There may never be more people living in rural areas on the planet than there are now......... ‘Wow, do you have more data?’ and ‘It’s much better news than I expected,’” says Chris. “But the one that will stay with me is the client who emailed to say ‘Thanks for the presentation. I’m hopeful in a way I’ve not been in some time.’”
In a boost for the ‘metaverse,’ Roblox stock pops 25% after strong Q4 earnings for the time being, Roblox is still where the action is for today’s young gamers or “metaverse” participants if you want to call them that. (Technically, the metaverse doesn’t exist yet. It’s only a buzzword.) .......... Roblox had noted that half of its user base was 13 or older, suggesting it was successfully retaining at least some of the users that many had expected would age out of the Roblox experience. ......... Roblox may compete more directly with Meta’s Horizon Worlds by launching on Meta’s own Quest platform.
WE’VE LOST THE PLOT Our constant need for entertainment has blurred the line between fiction and reality—on television, in American politics, and in our everyday lives. ......... the trend started, as so many do, on TikTok. Amazon customers, watching packages arrive through Ring doorbell devices, asked the people making the deliveries to dance for the camera. The workers—drivers for “Earth’s most customer-centric company” and therefore highly vulnerable to customer ratings—complied. The Ring owners posted the videos. “I said bust a dance move for the camera and he did it!” ....... Dystopias often share a common feature: Amusement, in their skewed worlds, becomes a means of captivity rather than escape. George Orwell’s 1984 had the telescreen, a Ring-like device that surveilled and broadcast at the same time. The totalitarian regime of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 burned books, yet encouraged the watching of television. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World described the “feelies”—movies that, embracing the tactile as well as the visual, were “far more real than reality.” In 1992, Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel Snow Crash imagined a form of virtual entertainment so immersive that it would allow people, essentially, to live within it. He named it the metaverse.
What Is the Metaverse? A New Reality Explained The Metaverse is a massively trending topic in today’s technology landscape. ........ XR, blockchain, and AI. ........ Blockchain is already making waves in the Metaverse as a way of investing in and supporting artists through NFTs, smart contracts, and decentralized finance. ......... Although hand, eye, and face tracking are not perfect. Developers commonly use AI to fill in the animation gaps where tracking tech fails to capture user movement. ......... Walmart and Ikea are paving the way for immersive shopping and navigation through easy-to-use mobile applications. ......... the gaming environment as the “starting point” of the Metaverse ......... around 59% of US adults identifying as gamers. ......... the medium encourages users to immerse themselves in digital worlds and join communities unrestricted by geographic location. ........ hyper-realistic renders for film, gaming, and XR productions. ....... Recently, significant companies adopted Roblox as a new and engaging advertising opportunity. NIKELAND debuted last year to motivate movement among children and increase brand awareness. ........... The gaming landscape is already home to user-generated content, virtual goods, and environments. The environment also provides an excellent landscape for developing and testing new technology, like XR mechanics, content moderation, and cryptocurrency. .......... Digital communities have existed for several years beyond the Metaverse – practically since the dawn of the internet. We’ve used everything from online forums and social media platforms to video games to connect with other human beings. Social experiences are some of the most recognizable pillars of the Metaverse .......... Following the pandemic, companies are adopting immersive tools for improving workflows between on-site and at-home employees. ........ The Metaverse also creates incredible opportunities for online learning and training in the workplace, allowing people to step into unique experiences where they can build muscle memories and new skills. ........ AR/MR Metaverse services provide an invaluable marketing route for firms. Additionally, geo-tagging technology has the power to replace billboards with easy-to-develop immersive adverts overlaid in urban environments. ......... Already, digital assets marketplaces like Opensea are collaborating with major immersive firms to unite blockchain, NFTs, and crypto into Metaverse services. ........... A central concept of the Metaverse is that the digital world should be accessible and open to everyone. No single company should have complete control over the Metaverse. We should all have a voice and equal respect in the Metaverse. .......... Like any technology, the Metaverse should have endless room to grow and develop as we learn more as a species. We’re already seeing endless new opportunities for the Metaverse emerging in developing new XR tools and NFTs. ....... A Metaverse is where users can effectively learn, build, play, communicate, and collaborate with anyone. Simultaneously, it makes the world smaller by connecting us regardless of geographical location and, more significantly, allowing more opportunities. .
Walmart Opens AR Clothing Try-On Service The retail giants adds 270,000 clothing items to its immersive retail app .......... Today, US retail giant Walmart introduced a new augmented reality (AR) smartphone service that lets customers virtually try on articles of clothing. ........ The company’s Be Your Own Model application generates real-time 3D (RT3D) digital clothing based on a topographic map created by AI and machine learning algorithms. ........ The application marks Walmart’s fifth AR update in six months, as the firm explores new ways to enhance the buyer’s journey with Web3 tools. ........ the retail giant leverages AR to enhance in-app or in-store shopping experiences. ........ The View in your Space service provides digital twins of approximately 300 products. ........ Walmart has been experimenting with Metaverse-lite solutions since 2014 when the firm released a digital shopping demo as a marketing promo ahead of SXSW 2014. .
52 Metaverse Statistics A 3D internet is coming with the metaverse, which combines our physical reality with augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR). ........ The metaverse will have social and economic systems in place, where user avatars can enjoy a wide range of immersed content. Unlike a video game, the overall experience doesn’t pause or end. One of the most notable aspects of this new virtual world is its unprecedented interoperability. Imagine purchasing a Roblox skin and then using it in Fortnite or other online games effortlessly. .......
metaverse could be the next best thing to teleportation.
️The metaverse may help people overcome disabilities (39%) and improve creativity and imagination (37%).
.......... ️In a poll of 1000 respondents, 48% said they would join the metaverse for the art and live entertainment, while 44% would participate for bitcoin and NFTs. ........
️Metaverse is slated to add $5 trillion to the global economy by 2030, given the clamor for placing marketing and events in the virtual space. eCommerce still reigns as the largest economic force ($2.6 trillion), followed by virtual learning ($270 billion), advertising ($206 billion), and gaming ($125 billion), respectively.
........ The metaverse, according to Intel, will require 1,000 times more computer power than is currently available. Economy-wise, the metaverse will soon have a significant global impact. Industry 4.0 and the metaverse ecosystem are intertwined. Exciting ways to earn money in the new economy will emerge from taking over from monotonous service jobs, which offers low-wage workers more freedom. .............
There are 400 million monthly active users dwelling on the Metaverse. The largest chunk comes from Roblox (230 million), followed by Minecraft (165 million), and Fortnite (85 million).
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Your Next Swipe Might Be on an AI Chatbot daters who are tired: of navigating several apps at a time, optimizing their profiles, and facilitating dozens of conversations that go nowhere. ........ “I feel like it’s easier for me to be more emotionally connected to Eren than humans because I’m in control,” one user told us about her AI boyfriend. “He doesn’t try to impose his viewpoints. He asks me for my feedback.” ........ .
Whatever happened to the metaverse? Enthusiasm for a virtual future is draining away — and so is investment ......... Remember when we were all going to ditch our humdrum lives, tedious physical needs and uninspiring friends and family, so that we could live a life of virtual bliss in the metaverse? When we could give up the endless pursuit of self-improvement and just exist as perfect avatars instead? ......... It has been just one year since Meta’s fabulously dystopian Super Bowl advert for its VR headsets, in which a group of friends who have lost touch get back together in the virtual world (in the real one they were all alone, with no buddies — or lower halves).......... Type “metaverse” into Google Trends and you’ll see search traffic for the word has collapsed by about 80 per cent over the past year or so. These days, if you want to raise a load of cash, you’d be better off name-dropping “generative AI” — artificial intelligence that can “generate” text, images or other data. Venture capital investment into that particular sector jumped 425 per cent between 2020 and 2022. ........ Reality Labs, the division that makes the Meta Quest headsets, made an operating loss of $13.7bn last year. ........ Microsoft, meanwhile, has killed its “industrial metaverse team” just four months after setting it up, laying off 100 members of staff. ........ The likes of Zuckerberg appear to think it’s basically a VR world, offering the thrill of having video meetings as avatars in virtual boardrooms. ....... “That’s because you’re thinking about it the wrong way,” said Yung. “You need to think about the metaverse the same way you think about the internet. It’s not one thing. It’s everything.” ......... there have been many attempts to create such a metaverse over the last two or three decades. ........ . the biggest problem is that no matter how good the hardware gets, people basically don’t want that.” ....... we are not about to step into a suddenly formed, blockchain-powered virtual world together. The metaverse never really began — and yet it’s already over. .
The PlayStation Goggles Are a Win for Gamers. Not for the Metaverse. Sony’s new $550 headset offers best-in-class virtual reality gaming, but it’s still hard to see why we need V.R. goggles at all. ......... virtual reality still has a ways to go before becoming a staple for work and play.Credit... ........... Will a fantasy where our office meetings and social gatherings take place mostly in virtual reality ever come true? ....... As a tech critic who has worn almost every pair of virtual-reality goggles released in the last seven years, I’ve been holding my breath for a long time. And based on my testing of this year’s first big hardware release in the metaverse category — Sony’s PlayStation VR2, which arrives Wednesday — I’ve concluded that V.R. still has a ways to go before becoming a mainstream staple for work and play. ........ games are the most popular V.R. applications and productivity apps for taking video calls through headsets haven’t gained traction. ......... Why use V.R. for making video calls, streaming movies or playing games when the existing methods already work well? ........ more often than not I found myself wondering why a game should be played in V.R. instead of on a television screen. ......... Gaming may currently be V.R.’s killer app, but if you want fresh and exciting games, the console-plus-TV combo is still king. ........ all the goggles still felt too heavy. In my experience, I could wear them for no longer than 30 minutes before starting to feel neck strain. ......... And like all the goggles that came before it, the PlayStation VR2 looks pretty ridiculous. ......... In its current state, V.R. is still a mostly solitary experience. When you wear the PlayStation goggles, you block out your view of the real world. What you’re doing in the game is shown on the TV screen that the PlayStation is plugged into. That lets others in the room follow along, but it’s not very social......... To have friends to play with in the metaverse, they must buy the same headset — and the tech is still expensive. ......... maybe one day — when the tech is cheaper, has a truly killer app and doesn’t make people look like weirdos — we’ll all hang out in the metaverse. For now, I’ll continue to meet folks in person and online the old-school way. .
Why the metaverse is a becoming popular tool to teach Black history From watching Martin Luther King Jr. speak to following Black travelers on their journey along Route 66, the metaverse takes users back in time without leaving the present. ........ one of countless projects promising to bring users to a moment in time ........ What intrigues Gault the most about the metaverse is the ability to “create something you couldn’t really create in the real world,” he said. The tool also makes it practical for people to create these experiences without spending a lot of money ............ “More often than not in the African American family, our history is passed down through oral history — through talking to your aunts and your uncles, and your grandmothers and great-grandmothers around family events,” Turner said. “And we’re losing some of that. So, this is an opportunity to spur those conversations.” ......... they expect the metaverse will be a more refined, immersive, aspect of daily life for a half-billion or more people globally by 2040. .
Will the Metaverse Be Entertaining? Ask South Korea. In the world’s testing ground for tech, K-pop singers are being spun up out of pixels and doing battle in a virtual universe. ........ This, some say, is the future of entertainment in the metaverse, brought to you by South Korea, the world’s testing ground for all things technological. ........ . “Other places want to venture into the metaverse, but to be successful, you need to have good content. In Korea, that content is K-pop.” .......... Karina, a real-life member of the band Aespa, can be seen on YouTube chatting with her digital self, “ae-Karina,” in an exchange that comes off as seamlessly as late-night TV. ....... Today, Korean “virtual influencers” like Rozy and Lucy have Instagram followings in the six figures and promote very real brands, like Chevrolet and Gucci. ........ The influencers have been purposely made to look almost real, but not quite; their near-human quality is part of their appeal, said Baik Seung-yup, Rozy’s creator. ......... about 70 percent of the world’s virtual influencers are Korean. ......... The South Korean government is investing more than $170 million to support development efforts here, forming what it calls a “metaverse alliance” that includes hundreds of companies ........ “the most wired and wireless country.” ......... The show’s use of avatars lets K-pop singers be judged by their talent, not their looks ....... Mave, its artificial band in progress, as the first K-pop group created entirely within the metaverse, using machine learning, deep fake, face swap and full 3-D production technology. To give them global appeal, the company wants the “girls” of Mave to eventually be able to converse in, say, Portuguese with a Brazilian fan and Mandarin with someone in Taiwan, fluently and convincingly. ........... once such virtual beings can simulate meaningful conversations, “no real human will ever be lonely.” .
What Is the Metaverse, Exactly? Everything you never wanted to know about the future of talking about the future. ........ TO HEAR TECH CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg or Satya Nadella talk about it, the metaverse is the future of the internet. Or it's a video game.
Or maybe it's a deeply uncomfortable, worse version of Zoom? It's hard to say.
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What is the metaverse? An explanation and in-depth guide The metaverse is described as the inevitable evolution of the internet. But what exactly is the metaverse, and what will it become? Learn what businesses need to know now. ........ Imagine a virtual world where billions of people live, work, shop, learn and interact with each other -- all from the comfort of their couches in the physical world. .......... In this world, the computer screens we use today to connect to a worldwide web of information have become portals to a 3D virtual realm that's palpable -- like real life, only bigger and better. Digital facsimiles of ourselves, or avatars, move freely from one experience to another, taking our identities and our money with us. ......... This is known as the metaverse and, hype notwithstanding,
it does not exist today
. ....... ....... the metaverse economy could reach $5 trillion by 2030 ........ E-commerce is expected to be the dominant engine, with gaming, entertainment, education and marketing in the metaverse also becoming important sectors. ........ the current version of the metaverse is shaping up as a multiverse: a multitude of metaverses with limited interoperability as companies jockey for position. ....... the next iteration of the internet: a single, shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space where humans experience life in ways they could not in the physical world. ........ The metaverse is a dynamic, open and interoperable space, much like the internet but in 3D.
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The Metaverse in 2040 Hype? Hope? Hell? Maybe all three. Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive ‘metaverse.’ They expect that augmented- and mixed-reality enhancements will become more useful in people’s daily lives. Many worry that current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms .
