... US copyright laws do not automatically grant buyers of artwork (both traditional and digital works) the right to reproduce, adapt, or even publicly display the artwork. Without a license or assignment of the copyright from the NFT creator, the buyer cannot exercise any of the rights under copyright (such as reproduction, adaptation, and public display) except through copyright exceptions such as “fair use” which are narrow and uncertain. ...
Applying the “Can’t Be Evil” principle to NFT licenses
“Can’t Be Evil” is a guiding principle in web3 (and a riff on the “don’t be evil” slogan popularized by Google) arising from a new computational paradigm: blockchains are computers that can make strong commitments and that are not controlled by people. ...
Instead, built-in mechanisms like cryptographic proofs distribute trust across participants and the rules of systems are baked into (and enforced by) code. As a result, no single person can manipulate these systems for their own benefit or affect them with a moral judgment. So, instead of trusting people or corporations to not be evil, we can ensure through code that they “can’t be evil.” ...
Clear and understandable ...
Broadly applicable ...
Irrevocable by creators ...
Respectful of modifications and adaptations ...
Supportive of transparent sublicensing ...
Respectful of third-party content ...
Clarity of license ownership in the event of loss ...
On-chain ...
To add a “Can’t Be Evil” license to your project, or innovate on them to meet the needs of your community, start with our GitHub repo. ...
... If you buy into the premise that we are about to see changes in the technologies that go into robots – the AI, the electric motors, the sensor arrays, and in how, even, humans are living – then you will accept that the person who is interacting with the robot will change that person from deciding on the brand of soap used in the home, for instance, to letting the robot decide. In our research we’ve found that humans will accept these kinds of changes faster than most consumer products companies believe they will. ...
The robot brings other robots. (The autonomous vehicle, er, a robot, will bring the humanoid robot to your home, which will bring other, more specialized robots in. This turns everything into a service).
That statement alone brings radical shifts to the economy. ...
The autonomous vehicle unlocks a new business model of turning everything into a service and sharing the robot’s cost amongst many homes. ...
Why now? Because Tesla is updating the status of their Optimus humanoid robot and possibly demonstrating an early version of it on September 30, 2022. ...
Would you trust a robot that just did what you told it with no personality? Not as much as if it talked to you in a human way, and, even, entertained you. Adrian Kaehler discovered this while running the Giant AI company (now out of business, but it was working with factory owners to build a humanoid robot run by AI, just like Tesla is). He discovered that when they made their robot look, and act, more like a human that people accepted it more readily than their earlier prototypes that just looked like a machine with hands. ...
Once the robot gets access to the home it can start optimizing it. Looking for things that could be improved. It also is paying attention to the humans in the home, and is building an internal database of things it learns about you as it watches you. ...
Our thesis is that the biggest dataset wins a lot. ...
PhilNote: My comment on this post: Excellent piece. I don't think you realize that buried inside piece of internalized Silicon Valley boosterism is a true horror story. "Optimizing" the home and the humans in it is marketing-speak for extending the current echo chambers into every aspect of life, while friendly relatable robots being better able to convince consumers to transition away from the old and toward the new products and services is potentially the next gen marketing communications channel. In this future you don't know what you are not being told even more than we are unaware today. As we have seen many times in the past, at some future date after deployment of 'life-improving' technology someone will discover that the tech implementation isn't as neutral as it was originally advertised to be.
... The paper was published online August 8, 2022, by Light: Science & Applications. ...
Nonlocal metasurfaces
Yu's team invented a "nonlocal metasurface" that can manipulate light waves in distinct ways at distinct targeted wavelengths, while leaving light at untargeted wavelengths unaffected. The new devices exert both spatial and spectral control over light by selecting a color (spectral) and focusing it (spatial) not just at a single wavelength but also independently at multiple different wavelengths.
For example, one demonstrated device functions both as a converging lens that focuses light at one color, and as a concave lens that disperses light at a second color, while staying transparent, like an unpatterned slab of glass, when illuminated with light at colors over the rest of the spectrum. ...
Google Maps loves augmented reality. After launching augmented reality walking navigation in 2019 and indoor AR navigation in 2021, it's now showing off augmented reality search results.
Augmented reality search results will put markers in your video feed, positioned in 3D space. It's a dream interface for augmented reality goggles, but for now, it will only work on a phone.
As usual for Maps AR features, this will be powered by Google Maps VPS or "Visual Positioning System." This is a camera-powered location system: You fire up the camera, point it at the world, and your camera feed is compared against Google's huge collection of street view data to determine your location. This is an extremely data-intensive way of determining location, but it's a lot more accurate at orientation and street-level location than a phone compass and GPS, which are both prone to interference.
Like Google said in that original post, "the accuracy of localization through VPS is greatly affected by the quality of both the imagery and the location associated with it." So this AR feature is getting a limited rollout to only a few cities: London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo. Google says it will be out on Android and iOS "in the coming months."
A few months ago, Media Arts + Practice undergrad Danielle Takahashi ('23) knew next to nothing about bees, mycelium or kelp. But she's a quick learner as evidenced by recent projects on those topics that earned Takahashi a Hedy Lamarr Achievement Award for Emerging Leaders in Entertainment Technology. Named after the Hollywood actress/scientist whose inventions paved the way for wifi technology, the prize, including $10,000 cash, will be handed out this fall by a consortium of media and tech companies called Digital Entertainment Group. ...
You're on track to graduate from SCA next spring. Then what? My current plan is to be a 3D generalist for games, doing 3D modeling, character sculpting and visual effects. I've just finished an internship at the Concept Art House, which makes art for games and NFT stuff. I also hope to continue in bio design. ...
By joining the board, the RoninX Foundation will provide valuable feedback from Japanese camera manufacturers, broadcasters, studios, game companies, anime companies and represent these companies in ETC’s exploration of open, interoperable multiverse standards. ...
Three working groups underway:
Glass-to-Glass 8K Live Streaming Working Group: This group is working with Streamonix, ASTRODESIGN and Tata Communications (RoninX’s preferred telecommunications partner) to develop a pilot network project for real-time 8K (and beyond) glass-to-glass streaming that maximizes performance and security while reducing cost (opex and capex) and carbon footprint.
Camera Metadata Interoperability Working Group: This group is working with Videogram and Japanese camera manufacturers to agree on an open universal metadata container (for lens data, color lookup table, and video frame metadata auto-extracted using AI) to be carried by the open source Integrated Real-time Protocol (IRP). RoninX is working on the embedding of IRP into 8K cameras as the transport protocol and media container for metadata, audio, video and other digital media payloads.
Japan Open Multiverse Working Group: This group is working with Sento to build partnerships with Japanese anime companies, game developers, broadcasters, media brands and advertisers for the Japanese open multiverse for Osaka Expo 2025 and beyond. ...
... By including general AI, the group say the Act would subject low-risk AI systems to heavy scrutiny, simply because there is no clear definition of how they will be used.
“As a result, the AI Act would no longer regulate specific high-risk scenarios, but a whole technology regardless of its risk classification,” the group wrote in a paper on the issue. ...
That same developer would also have to continuously monitor the operation of the tool, creating possible GDPR conflicts as it could also be used to extract personal data. ...
However, not everyone agrees with the group’s assessment. Adam Leon Smith from Dragonfly, a UK industry representative to the EU AI standards group, said general purpose systems need to be included in the legislation due to potential unintended consequences.
“Such components can be the cause of the harm the AI Act is intended to prevent,” Leon Smith said. “In fact, the risk is arguably greater if the AI component is being used in a way that the developers did not envisage. ...
“The latest draft proposals include a get-out clause for developers, they simply need to include a usage limitation in the instructions for use. Frankly, it would be unusual to download open source software without legal documentation already being included – so this is an extra line or two in there – not a huge burden upon developers.”
77% of our electronic devices already use artificial intelligence (AI). By 2025, the global market of AI is estimated to grow to 60 billion US dollars. By 2030, AI may even boost global GDP by 15.7 trillion US dollars. And, at some point thereafter, AI may come to be the last human invention, provided it optimises itself and takes over research and innovation, leading to what some have termed an ‘intelligence explosion’. In the grand scheme of things, as Google CEO Sundar Pichai thinks, AI will then have a greater impact on humanity than electricity and fire did.
... we may face a ‘responsibility gap’, a situation in which no one is responsible for the harm caused by AI. Responsibility gaps may arise because current AI systems themselves cannot be morally responsible for what they do, and the humans involved may no longer satisfy key conditions of moral responsibility, ...
... “The fact is that we are not a theater exhibitor, but a technology licensing company,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said in an interview with Deadline. The executive has for some time been referencing IMAX 3.0 in investor presentations, including one this month for SSIMWAVE.
“SSIMWAVE boasts a brilliant team of engineers, technologists, and academics obsessed with image quality and on the leading edge; the similarities between this company and IMAX when we acquired it nearly 30 years ago are uncanny,” Gelfond expounded in the company announcement.
In addition to nearly 1,700 IMAX theater systems in 80 countries, the company markets a content library of more than 200 IMAX Enhanced titles across global streaming platforms, including Disney+. There are more than 10 million IMAX Enhanced certified devices in the market worldwide, according to the firm.
“In the near-term, SSIMWAVE brings to IMAX new, SaaS-based revenue and a world-class client roster that tightly aligns with some of our strongest, most successful content partnerships,” said Gelfond. ...
... Noting that Web3 is just a “new iteration of the worldwide web,” she explained: “Basically at the heart, it’s the next version of everything and what it’s really about is decentralization.”
Along with blockchain-based technologies,” it’s also about “artificial intelligence (AI) helping to empower more intelligence and more adaptive applications; it’s all these things that are happening in our world right now, 5g as well – all these behaviors.”
She added: “Everything that’s being driven is all coming under this umbrella of Web3. And I want to just say right now that the metaverse, NFTs and all these other buzzwords are tactics inside of this larger Web3 environment.” ...
