philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Cannes Aims to Bring Web3 to the Film Industry With First-Ever NFTCannes Summit

The first-ever NFTCannes Summit will take place at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This annual event is designed to connect leading minds from the media and entertainment industry to innovators, creators and investors in web3.

Officially kicking off on May 23 at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc,  ...

The program will focus on topics spanning the future of current NFT applications in entertainment (including collectibles, financing and distribution), fan and community-building opportunities, as well as live events and experiences. The hosts of the first-ever summit are Mark Kimsey, co-founder and co-CEO of EMP; Sam Englebardt, co-founder of Galaxy Interactive and Galaxy Digital; and Jaeson Ma, co-founder of OP3N Studios. ...

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/nftcannes-summit-web3-1235269467/?fbclid=IwAR1f-8-qdyAhhmPeCCZ8iGGyung3j_pvY6Luhihhl6Jk2GF76sUJev4qp1s

Music NFT sales in 2021 – what we learned

• Average music NFT pricing remains expensive, but has fallen over time. Between February and December 2021, the average price per music NFT fell by 46%, from $18.8K to $10.2K per unit. The median fell by 27% over the same time frame, from $1,000 to $825 per unit.
• The most popular genre by share of revenue was Electronic (65%) followed by Hip-Hop (19%).
• Music NFT marketplace competition has increased significantly. Early in the year, Nifty Gateway dominated with over 60% share of primary music NFT revenue. By the end of the year, though, the leader (OpenSea) had only 28% share of primary revenue, facing competition from many new music NFT platforms like Sound, Pianity, and Nina.
• The use of non-Ethereum blockchain protocols also diversified significantly. In H1 2021, Ethereum had dominated with over 90% market share by drops, but only claimed about 50% of drops in H2, as alternatives including proof-of-stake chains like Tezos and L2 chains like Polygon, garnered more adoption. ...

Grimes and Steve Aoki both drove a lot of attention to NFTs in early 2021 thanks to their celebrity status and the high bids they garnered for their sales: Grimes earned over $6M last February across ten drops, and Steve Aoki raised nearly $5M on 13 drops (all on Nifty Gateway). Steve Aoki in particular has continued to be active and outspoken about the benefits of Web3 and NFTs for artists, and has also expanded his Web3 footprint with his Aok1verse project, launched in 2022. ...

• On-chain, i.e. built into an NFT’s smart contract, such as NFT revenue splits or on-chain music storage, or
• Off-chain, i.e. delivered and experienced outside of blockchain-specific environments, such as in-person events, physical merch, and general community-building

It’s important to note that the audio (and accompanying visual) portions of music NFTs are often not stored directly on-chain, but instead are linked from the metadata of an NFT’s smart contract and live on third-party sites such as IPFS or Arweave. ...

Perhaps due to more direct control over – and flexible approaches to – their IP, independent artists have led the charge in carrying out early experiments with royalty-based utility. ...

Opulous has tried to avoid potential securities risks by working with the SEC to develop Security Non-Fungible Tokens (S-NFTs), which they tout as meeting federal regulatory requirements. ...

A new crop of startups like Unlock, Temple, Highlight, and Medallion have recently emerged with the explicit focus on helping artists launch NFT-gated online communities, across multiple platforms including Discord, WordPress and Discourse, in addition to whitelabeled sites. Here again we see the trend of individual artists spearheading experiments, followed by dedicated companies emerging to scale those experiments into long-term software services. ...

 “VIP,” “festival,” “tickets,” “show,” “meet & greet,” “guestlist,” and “backstage” were among the “live experience” terms found in NFT offerings across all genres.  ...

See the full story here: https://www.waterandmusic.com/music-nft-sales-in-2021-what-we-learned/

Accenture co-develops augmented reality app for Marvel Stadium

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Professional services firm Accenture has partnered with Telstra and Google to develop an augmented reality wayfinding experience for footy fans attending Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.

Users of the mobile app will be able to access information such as seating directions via digital graphics superimposed on the real world environment, with Telstra and the Australian Football League (AFL) aiming to launch ahead of next season. ...

In addition to navigation, with personal seating directions given upon scanning one’s ticket barcode, the app will also include pre-match augmented reality (AR) shows and multi-user AR games, along with enhanced player analytics and performance stats among other exclusive content. However, Krogh Andersen also points to the potential future use cases in settings such as hospitals, shopping centres and airports to improve customer experience. ...

See the full story here: https://www.consultancy.com.au/news/5456/accenture-co-develops-augmented-reality-app-for-marvel-stadium

Meta tests end-to-end encryption for Quest’s virtual reality Messenger app

With the new v40 software update, Meta is testing optional E2EE for Messenger's one-on-one messages and calls in VR

"Keeping your information secure is one of our top priorities, not just in VR but across Meta apps and technologies. When people trust that their conversations are truly private, they feel safe to express themselves and build stronger online connections.," Meta said in a statement late on Monday.

See the full story here: https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/meta-tests-end-to-end-encryption-for-quest-s-virtual-reality-messenger-app-122051700502_1.html

MIT, Harvard scientists find AI can recognize race from X-rays — and nobody knows how

A doctor can’t tell if somebody is Black, Asian, or white, just by looking at their X-rays. But a computer can, according to a surprising new paper by an international team of scientists, including researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.

The study found that an artificial intelligence program trained to read X-rays and CT scans could predict a person’s race with 90 percent accuracy. But the scientists who conducted the study say they have no idea how the computer figures it out. ...

At a time when AI software is increasingly used to help doctors make diagnostic decisions, the research raises the unsettling prospect that AI-based diagnostic systems could unintentionally generate racially biased results. For example, an AI (with access to X-rays) could automatically recommend a particular course of treatment for all Black patients, whether or not it’s best for a specific person. Meanwhile, the patient’s human physician wouldn’t know that the AI based its diagnosis on racial data. ...

Perhaps X-rays and CT scanners detect the higher melanin content of darker skin, and embed this information in the digital image in some fashion that human users have never noticed before. It’ll take a lot more research to be sure. ...

In other words, an AI might be able to determine from an X-ray that one person’s ancestors were from northern Europe, another’s from central Africa, and a third person’s from Japan. “You call this race. I call this geographical variation,” said Goodman. ...

See the full story here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/13/business/mit-harvard-scientists-find-ai-can-recognize-race-x-rays-nobody-knows-how/

‘Godmother of the Metaverse’ Cathy Hackl to work with Orlando on new tech strategy. Here’s why.

Today, she leads metaverse consultancy Futures Intelligence Group, through which she will work with the Orlando Economic Partnership and other local partners on an initiative to establish the area from Orlando to Miami as the MetaCenter, a hub for technologies that power the metaverse. ...

How familiar were you with Orlando’s tech scene before the MetaCenter initiative? I have had a really good relationship with Full Sail University for a couple years. I’m very familiar with everything that's happening with training and simulation. I worked with Magic Leap for a couple of years as their enterprise strategist. A lot of the training simulation and things like that went through Orlando, so we have a close relationship there. I've been engaging with Orlando as a tech ecosystem for several years now. ...

See the full story here: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/inno/stories/profiles/2022/05/13/orlando-florida-tech-strategy-metaverse.html

‘We cannot stem progress’ – Ireland’s first artificial intelligence ambassador chosen

Ireland's first ambassador for artificial intelligence (AI) has been appointed. 

Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy TD, yesterday (Tuesday May 10) appointed Dr Patricia Scanlon to the role. 

The doctor will lead a national conversation on the role of AI in Irish lives, emphasising Ireland's commitment to an ethical approach in the use of the technology.  ...

See the full story here: https://www.donegallive.ie/news/national-news/809483/we-cannot-stem-progress-ireland-s-first-artificial-intelligence-ambassador-chosen.html

Security Considerations for Virtual Reality Systems

There is a growing need for authentication methodology in virtual reality applications. Current systems assume that the immersive experience technology is a collection of peripheral devices connected to a personal computer or mobile device. Hence there is a complete reliance on the computing device with traditional authentication mechanisms to handle the authentication and authorization decisions. Using the virtual reality controllers and headset poses a different set of challenges as it is subject to unauthorized observation, unannounced to the user given the fact that the headset completely covers the field of vision in order to provide an immersive experience. As the need for virtual reality experiences in the commercial world increases, there is a need to provide other alternative mechanisms for secure authentication. In this paper, we analyze a few proposed authentication systems and reached a conclusion that a multidimensional approach to authentication is needed to address the granular nature of authentication and authorization needs of a commercial virtual reality applications in the commercial world.

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A. Knowledge Driven Biometric authentication

This methodology involves the application of known hu- man behaviors when conducting the process of biometric authentication. ...

B. RubikAuth

Another experimental authentication software is the Ru- bikAuth. Taking its name from the inventor of the iconic Rubik’s Cube, the RubikAuth essentially acts as a 9-digit pin input overlayed over each face of a multicolored cube but the rear. ...

C. OcuLock

Human Visual System (HVS) includes not just the eyeball, but eyelids, nerves around the eye, extraocular muscles, cells etc.  ...

D. BioMove

An international group produced a biometric identification process known as BioMove, which prompts the user to per- form certain simple tasks while reading their motion. Based on the user’s unique manner of motion, the software then verifies their identity.  ...

See the full paper here: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022arXiv220102563V/abstract

What Is WebAR and Will it Boost Mass AR Adoption?

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How Does WebAR Work?

WebAR makes use of the sensors on a mobile phone to allow the placement and tracking of digital material inside the physical world. AR technology may enable animated 3D content, target recognition, and interactive experiences through a combination of these sensors and computer vision technologies present on smartphones. WebAR can also operate on desktop devices, with limitations as PCs are tethered to one location.

WebAR experiences will become increasingly more sophisticated as mobile browsers add supportive capabilities. Allowing AR to access the device’s RGB camera, gyroscope, accelerometer, orientation, and magnetometer, or linking WebAR on mobile to smart wearables are several ways to achieve this.

Current Web AR experiences leverage five key technologies:

• Media streaming from mobile cameras – WebAR technology synchronizes virtual and physical worlds via camera streaming access. To add AR experience to real-world scenes, it utilizes an RGB camera for perspective and range of vision.
• A content management system – Users may access AR experiences using a cloud-based content management system (CMS) that responds to a variety of triggers such as QR codes or hyperlinks. Users can access WebAR with simple camera lens captures to place interactive information virtually anywhere.
• Scene understanding – To position 3D items in a physical environment, WebAR requires scene understanding, or the ability of mobile devices to map a surface and estimate the amount of light present in surrounding environments.
• A compatible browser – The browser must be designed for rich visuals and interactive experiences, which involve high volumes of data processing, as well as the ability to operate efficiently and with a low bandwidth footprint to avoid slowing down the smartphone’s operations.
• Application programming interfaces (APIs) – APIs convert Web AR into a truly connected application, where users can complete a variety of different tasks with a single virtual experience. For example, APIs can allow online shoppers to try products in WebAR to make a purchase.

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See the full story here: https://www.xrtoday.com/augmented-reality/what-is-webar-and-will-it-boost-mass-ar-adoption/

FaceCake Introduces Stunningly Realistic Augmented Reality Lash Experience with Its Groundbreaking Virtual “Try and Book” Option for Deka Lash Studios

FaceCake’s AI-driven AR platform delivers next level Augmented Reality visualization, offering consumers an online way to preview Deka Lash’s unique lash extensions before booking their service at a DL lash studio. Exemplifying the evolving way that people shop for products and services, Deka Lash customers are able to virtually Try-On each lash style on a live video feed, instantly at dekalash.com, via desktop and mobile. Expanding AR “Try and Buy” to AR “Try and Book”, FaceCake gives the consumer the confidence to set an appointment for their preferred lash style, saving time for themselves and the Lash Artist. ...

See the full story here: https://martechseries.com/predictive-ai/augmented-reality/facecake-introduces-stunningly-realistic-augmented-reality-lash-experience-with-its-groundbreaking-virtual-try-and-book-option-for-deka-lash-studios/