Snap uses augmented reality to offer a new shopping experience
US-based camera company Snap has added new features which augment the shopping experience for brands and consumers.
The augmented reality (AR) experience has become available. Users will be able to see prices, descriptions and given URLs to purchase. It also gives the ability to ‘try on’ products with new Lens Product Cards.
The company also gives an opportunity for brands to sell more product as well as track trends. The new lenses are ‘catalogue-supported’, meaning it links directly to the item. This gives users the ability to purchase in the app and provides the brands with real time analytics.
Being able to watch analytics live can help the brand to track consumer trends and product engagement. These insights will allow marketers to make informed decisions. Marketers can also leverage Snapchat’s AR try-on as an early indication on which products the users are engaging with.
See the full story here: https://thepaypers.com/ecommerce/snap-uses-augmented-reality-to-offer-a-new-shopping-experience--1254201
Tesla AI director says Tesla AI bot is on track to have most powerful AI developments
Karpathy suggested that applicants watch the Tesla AI Day presentation to get an idea of what Tesla is trying to accomplish with AI. Furthermore, in Karpathy’s words about the AI development platform is stated, “There is no other organization that vertically integrates, develops, and deploys cutting-edge robotics AI at this scale. Our goal is to improve the safety and comfort of driving along the way to automating transportation with Full Self-Driving. We are also applying everything we’ve learned to our humanoid robot “Tesla Bot”, which I believe is on track to become the most powerful AI development platform.”
See the full story here: https://techstory.in/tesla-ai-directory-says-tesla-ai-bot-is-on-track-to-have-most-powerful-ai/
See Tesla AI Day (3 hour) video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0z4FweCy4M
The pandemic revolutionized theater and the performing arts. Get used to seeing plays with a VR headset on.
In March of last year, for instance, the famous Royal Shakespeare Company co-produced Dream, an immersive theater experience inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that featured actors using motion capture technology. They were transformed into digital avatars, and their performance was streamed to an audience watching on smartphones or computers.
It’s one of several shows, along with “Wallace and Gromit: The Big Fix Up,” “Robots and Dinosaurs/Lost Origin” and “Weavr,” which received funding from a £16 million British government initiative called The Future Demonstrators Programme, dedicated to “funding major projects exploring the future of large-scale immersive experiences.” That itself is part of a larger £39.3 million governmental fund, Audience of the Future, which began before the pandemic, and invested in new immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality from 2018 to 2021. ...
Tony-nominated director Robert O’Hara is bringing the classic “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” to New York City’s Off-Broadway circuit, and he told The New York Times that he struck a deal with Audible to secure the rights. The catch? He’s directing an audio presentation of the production at an undisclosed post-February date this year.
“What’s amazing about this turn to streaming and digital is the democratization of theater, so more people will be able to access it,” actor Ato Blankson-Wood told the Times.
See the full story here: https://fortune.com/2022/01/24/pandemic-theater-performing-arts-virtual-reality/
Meta’s supercomputer is being used for research purposes, said Mr. Pesenti, with products not likely arising from it for years. The objective is to ingest troves of data to build AI models that can think like a human brain, with multiple inputs—such as voice and visual recognition—and can deliver contextual understanding of situations. ...
Eventually the supercomputer will help Meta’s researchers build AI models that can work across hundreds of languages, analyze text, images and video together and develop augmented reality tools, the company said. The technology also will help Meta more easily identify harmful content and will aim to help Meta researchers develop artificial-intelligence models that think like the human brain and support rich, multidimensional experiences in the metaverse.
“In the metaverse, it’s one hundred percent of the time, a 3-D multi-sensorial experience, and you need to create artificial-intelligence agents in that environment that are relevant to you,” said Mr. Pesenti.
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/meta-unveils-new-ai-supercomputer-11643043601

K-Pop Boy Group SHINee Minho’s Version of “AI Guide” Will Guide Gwanghwamun Tourism, Using DeepBrain AI’s AI Human Technology
DeepBrain AI applied AI human technology to "Gwanghwa-in", a newly created Gwanghwamun Era project in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, and recreated K-Pop group SHINee's Minho as an "AI guide". This AI version of SHINee Minho is capable of delivering accurate information through AI Human solution that allows real-time conversation. It will provide information on palaces, cultural heritages, tourist attractions and many more including today's weather.
The models use core technologies that combine DeepBrain AI's speech, video synthesis, natural language processing, and voice recognition.
The AI guide serves to provide information on major tourist attractions and cultural heritages in Seoul and travel information such as restaurants and cafes in Gwanghwamun to domestic and foreign tourists who visit the center.
See the full story here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/k-pop-boy-group-shinee-minhos-version-of-ai-guide-will-guide-gwanghwamun-tourism-using-deepbrain-ais-ai-human-technology-301465647.html

Corning Expands High-Index Glass Portfolio to Help Accelerate Mass Adoption of Augmented Reality Technology
Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) announced today the launch of a new glass composition to advance the development of augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) diffractive waveguides for wearable devices. ...
Corning Advanced Optics’ new 2.0 high-refractive index glass will enable a wider field of view (FOV) and enhanced optical clarity, including best-in-class light transmission for blue wavelength in AR/MR wearable devices. Compared with glass compositions with lower refractive index values, OEMs can achieve a greater FOV with fewer pieces of glass, allowing for lighter, sleeker, and more cost-effective headset designs. Corning’s 2.0 glass composition, as well as its comprehensive solutions for flatness metrology and precision laser glass cutting, will further enable the AR/MR industry, bringing mass consumer adoption one step closer. Corning’s 2.0 glass is available in wafer diameters of 150 mm, 200 mm, and 300 mm and a range of thicknesses with leading geometric tolerances.
See the full story here: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/01/24/2371853/0/en/Corning-Expands-High-Index-Glass-Portfolio-to-Help-Accelerate-Mass-Adoption-of-Augmented-Reality-Technology.html
A.I. Has Changed Poker, and Maybe Killed Its ‘Soul’
Some of the top poker players today make moves that would have been seen as foolish even 15 years ago. Back then, they would been seen as "fish," or weak players, and invited to games every night. Today, those unorthodox moves are a good sign that the player has adopted strategies from artificial intelligence, which has revolutionized the game, writes Keith Romer in the New York Times Magazine. In fact, "conquered" is the word used in the headline of the in-depth look at the changes. Players now have access to computer programs such as PioSOLVER, which run through the nearly innumerable possible outcomes of a particular hand in a particular game and suggest the strategy—when to bluff or check, how much to raise and when, etc.—that is most likely to pay off over time. The answers are sometimes surprising to traditional players, but the algorithms don't lie.
Players can't use such tools during an in-person tournament, of course—online games are another story—but they can replay hands on the computer afterward to see whether they did the right thing. ...
Piotrek Lopusiewicz, the programmer behind PioSOLVER, counters by arguing that the new generation of A.I. tools is merely a continuation of a longer pattern of technological innovation in poker. Before the advent of solvers, top online players like Polk used software to collect data about their opponents’ past play and analyze it for potential weaknesses. “So now someone brought a bigger firearm to the arms race,” Lopusiewicz says, “and suddenly those guys who weren’t in a position to profit were like: ‘Oh, yeah, but we don’t really mean that arms race. We just want our tools, not the better tools.’”
Besides, for Lopusiewicz, solvers haven’t so much changed poker as revealed its essence. ...
See the full story here: https://www.newser.com/story/315904/ai-has-changed-poker-and-maybe-killed-its-soul.html

Some Predictions for How the Metaverse Will Impact Our Lives
We will become a more accepting and tolerant work culture
Work will feel like play
We will create our collaborative work environment
We will invite people into our imagination
We may experience dissonance between reality and the metaverse
Our mental health will be impacted
Our virtual worlds will become augmented reality
See the full story here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/404209
The Metaverse Is The Web3 Wave That Democratizes Buying And Building Real Estate, Hosting Fashion Shows, And Monetizing Video Gaming
Kiguel’s $2.5 million investment in space at Decentraland, one of the largest developed land in the metaverse, sets the stage for commerce of all types. Kiguel is confident that his investment will pay off in the long run. As millions, and perhaps billions, of people join in on the metaverse, he plans to host a lavish fashion show on 24th to the 27th of March, highlighting premiere fashion brands that could include Gucci, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton. There will be avatar models, catwalks, pop-up shops, and pre and post parties.
His company may sell advertising to these other brands and try other means to monetize his real estate holdings..../
Kiguel is also excited about the growing rise of play-to-earn games that are powered by cryptocurrencies. Gaming worlds like Axie Infinity enables and empowers people to make money from playing games. Many of these gamers never even had a bank account, and now they’re earning more money than they ever imagined. ...
See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/01/23/the-metaverse-is-the-web3-wave-that-democratizes-buying-and-building-real-estate-hosting-fashion-shows-and-monetizing-video-gaming/?sh=480e7643751f
8 big threats to human stability and even existence in 2022
PhilNote - if you've spent too much time in your happy place...
1- Economic collapse in China
2- More COVID-19 mutants
...
See the full story here: https://www.ameinfo.com/life/8-big-threats-to-human-stability-and-even-existence-in-2022/
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