philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

How AI, VR, AR, 5G, and blockchain may converge to power the metaverse

Even at the current stage of development, Boeing has committed to designing its next-generation aircraftwithin the metaverse, using digital twins and Microsoft HoloLens headsets.

Kirby Winfield, Founding General Partner of VC firm Ascend, sees the metaverse as “the latest evolution of [an] ongoing shift to an increasingly digital life.” When it arrives in full, that shift will achieve the immersive sci-fi visions of many.

See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2021/12/26/how-ai-vr-ar-5g-and-blockchain-may-converge-to-power-the-metaverse/

Littlstar Is Now RAD With NFTs For Entertainment Industry

“The momentum in the NFT space is palpable, and we have a deep conviction that every piece of digital content in the world will eventually be an NFT,” said Tony Mugavero, CEO of Rad. “This, paired with our experience in VR and AR, translates into Rad building the first streaming metaverse. We’re the only streaming platform in the world built for the NFT community, leveraging NFTs for subscriptions, access to video, and live events on mainstream devices. We are taking Hollywood and the creator economy into web 3.0.”

... In 2018, the company built and launched an entire web 3 content marketplace and native token using Ethereum to power Rad, called ARA. The content types supported include video, live streams, 360-degree video, and volumetric video, and the supported devices include mobile, smart TVs, and Sony PlayStation. 

...When we started to play around with blockchain in 2017-2018, we saw the power of smart contracts and immediately thought they would solve a significant number of problems. We could make smart contracts mirror what was happening in the paper contracts to a large degree, and it would mean that everything was more open and accounting was immediate and global.

In combination with smart contracts, we started looking at ways that we could use peer-to-peer content delivery to offset our streaming bills because we're moving around gigantic pieces of VR content. This is how the ARA platform powering Rad was born. Smart contracts plus content delivery, identity, and rewards. ...

There is one big difference between the hype of blockchain versus VR though. With VR, you have different behaviors and habits that need to change, you have to put on a headset, you have to create all new content, and people get sick if they're wearing a headset for too long. But with blockchain and NFTs, it's really less about the underlying content type and less about the device, and more about the commerce model and the means of distribution. That means Rad can scale our business much faster. It doesn't matter about the content type, and it doesn't really matter about the hardware. We can mint a video as an NFT and put it on a TV, or we can mint a piece of VR content and deliver it to an XR device. ...

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charliefink/2021/12/29/littlstar-is-now-rad-with-nfts-for-entertainment-industry/?sh=7184cb9a73d6

The fungal mind: on the evidence for mushroom intelligence

PhilNote: Adaptation involves responding to the surrounding environment, but it's a stretch to leap from adaptation to consciousness.

... Given the magical reputation of the fungi, claiming that they might be conscious is dangerous territory for a credentialled scientist. But in recent years, a body of remarkable experiments have shown that fungi operate as individuals, engage in decision-making, are capable of learning, and possess short-term memory. These findings highlight the spectacular sensitivity of such ‘simple’ organisms, and situate the human version of the mind within a spectrum of consciousness that might well span the entire natural world. ...

Hyphae can detect ridges on surfaces, grow around obstacles, and deploy a patch-and-repair system if they’re damaged. These actions draw upon an array of protein sensors and signalling pathways that link the external physical or chemical inputs to cellular response. The electrical activity of the cell is also sensitive to changes in the environment. Oscillations in the voltage across the hyphal membrane have been likened to nerve impulses in animals, but their function in fungi is poorly understood. Hyphae react to confinement too, altering their growth rate, becoming narrower and branching less frequently. The fungus adapts to the texture of the soil and the anatomy of plant and animal tissues as it pushes ahead and forages for food. It’s not thinking in the sense that a brained animal thinks – but the fundamental mechanisms that allow a hypha to process information are the same as those at work in our bodies. ...

We tend to associate consciousness and intelligence with the appearance of wilfulness or intentionality – that is, decision-making that results in a particular behavioural outcome.  ...

See the full story here: https://psyche.co/ideas/the-fungal-mind-on-the-evidence-for-mushroom-intelligence?fbclid=IwAR2LFnhcMnVml82n-LO1DTQqUNYpHQL8X_u-M5-8hCaspu-rL-IjRHtre-c

Wolk: Why We Should Retire the Term ‘FAANG’ for 2022

My friend Evan Shapiro, whose maps of the media landscape have become industry standards, proposed an alternate acronym that makes much more sense: MAGMA: Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple.

See the full story here: https://www.nexttv.com/news/wolk-why-we-should-retire-the-term-faang-for-2022?fbclid=IwAR1psmOvFY5alJ6Xp0Ml3cDLQP_Q5Z2Ua4_AYfYfNKJl5tH39QKGJ20TS8A

CES 2022 will introduce HDMI 2.1a, another confusing new spec

The HDMI standards are a mess. HDMI 2.1, in particular, is a uniquely frustrating mess, with haphazard support among TV manufacturers, cable makers, and devices that make setting up, say 120Hz gaming on a PS5 or Xbox Series X a uniquely harrowing experience. ...

Let’s start with the good: HDMI 2.1a is an upcoming revision to the HDMI 2.1 stack and adds a major new feature, Source-Based Tone Mapping, or SBTM. SBTM is a new HDR feature that offloads some of the HDR tone mapping to the content source (like your computer or set-top box) alongside the tone mapping that your TV or monitor is doing. ...

Now here’s the bad: like every other unique HDMI 2.1 feature, including variable refresh rates, automatic low latency connections, and the bandwidth necessary to offer things like 10K resolution or 120Hz refresh rates, SBTM will be an optional feature that manufacturers can support — but not something that they’re required to support. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/29/22856103/hdmi-2-1a-spec-standard-mess-cables-source-based-tone-mapping-ces-2022

Introducing the World’s First A.I. Woman of Color

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Create Lab Ventures has made history with the creation of the first artificial intelligence Afro-Latina, bilingual A.I. which is now available in various school systems across the country, Afrotech reported. 

C.L.Ai.R.A., the first artificial intelligence woman of color, recently debuted as the “sharpest brain in the A.I world.”  Create Lab Ventures, which seeks to provide underserved communities with the necessary skills, resources, and networks needed to excel in media and tech, teamed up with Trill or Not Trill for C.L.Ai.R.A’s debut.

Powered by the Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), C.L.Ai.R.A utilizes an autoregressive language design that produces human-like text through the use of deep learning. ...

Lenny Williams, co-founder of Trill or Not Trill, hopes that C.L.Ai.R.A will help bridge the technology opportunity gap by allowing students, particularly underrepresented students, to see themselves in the future of technology.” ...

See the full story here: https://www.ebony.com/lifestyle/introducing-the-worlds-first-a-i-woman-of-color/

Sensorium Sets Fire to the Metaverse by Burning 1 Bln SENSO Tokens

... Founded in 2018, Sensorium Galaxy has been named as one of the leading contenders in the metaverse race, alongside tech giants like Facebook and Epic Games’ Fortnite.

Once launched, Sensorium Galaxy users will be able to explore different virtual worlds, each dedicated to a particular form of entertainment. Top attractions will include exclusive concerts by world-renowned DJs like David Guetta and Armin van Buuren, as well as mindfulness and meditation activities led by reputed practitioners.

See the full story here: https://bitcoinist.com/sensorium-sets-fire-to-the-metaverse-by-burning-1-bln-senso-tokens/

Vuzix announces agreement with Verizon to deliver Augmented Reality experience for sports and gaming

According to Vuzix, the agreement between the two companies will focus on the technology advancement and commercialization aspects of delivering immersive augmented reality training experiences powered by Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband service and edge compute platform and Vuzix Shield smart glasses (pictured above). The agreement will leverage a proof-of-concept program that was completed earlier this year, which demonstrated the power of Verizon’s 5G and edge computing platform to run applications at the edge of the network using Vuzix smart glasses to deliver improved response time, longer battery life and increased computing capacity. 

“By leveraging Verizon’s 5G Edge and ultra-light weight AR smart glasses from Vuzix, we are delivering immersive technology in the field of sports training and fan experience,” said Brian Mecum, Vice President of Device Technology at Verizon.

See the full story here: https://www.auganix.org/vuzix-announces-agreement-with-verizon-to-deliver-augmented-reality-experience-for-sports-and-gaming/

Foreign investors, mature startups redraw New Zealand’s VC funding landscape

... This boost in access to capital can be attributed to a few things. Even as a small country, New Zealand has a reputation for producing global companies, with notable exits like Vend, Seequent, Rocket Lab, Pushpay, Aroa Biosurgery, LanzaTech and Xero garnering the attention of foreign investors — like Founders Fund, Sequoia, Horizons and Aspect Venture Partners — who are either investing into local VC funds or directly into startup rounds. Those exits are providing returns, which investors are putting into other early-stage New Zealand startups to keep the ecosystem healthy and churning. ...

One of the biggest catalysts of the increase in VC investments, however, has been the Elevate NZ Venture Fund, a $300 million fund of funds program that will invest capital into VC firms over the next five years. ...

New Zealand’s government established the New Zealand Capital Growth Partners (NZGCP) in 2002 as an initiative to stimulate the early-stage startup ecosystem. After about 18 years of smaller-scale projects, the entity came up with the Elevate fund, and that might just be what gets today’s New Zealand early-stage startups into the next phase. ...

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/26/new-zealands-maturing-vc-funding-landscape-piques-interest-of-foreign-investors/?utm_medium=TCnewsletter&tpcc=TCdailynewsletter

Remembering the startups we lost in 2021

A look back at startups large and small that didn't make it

... 2021 also largely lacked the kind of blockbuster crashes we saw last year, courtesy of names like Quibi and Essential. But even in a non-pandemic year, keeping a startup afloat is still an enormously difficult task, ...

Loon (2015-2021) ...

Houseparty (2015-2021) ...

Fry’s Electronics ...

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/27/remembering-the-startups-we-lost-in-2021/?utm_medium=TCnewsletter&tpcc=TCdailynewsletter