‘Who’s to say it’s not real?’ Street artist Kaws on creating Fortnite’s first exhibition
The New Yorker has made a virtual art show to take place within the smash-hit game – and a real-life one at London’s Serpentine with a touch of augmented reality. Can it get young gamers into galleries?
His desire to bring art to the masses is partly why his work spans collectable toys and streetwear collaborations, as well as paintings and sculptures that sell for millions. His new exhibition will allow him to connect with a large number of eyeballs in, he says, “a new and massive way”. The show, New Fiction, is at London’s Serpentine Gallery, and simultaneously on two free online platforms: the gaming behemoth Fortnite and the augmented-reality (AR) app Acute Art.
With more than 400m player accounts, Fortnite is massive, especially when compared with the estimated footfall of an average Serpentine show (around 35,000). While the uninitiated might dismiss Fortnite as just another shooting extravaganza, players are increasingly spending time in its more peaceful zones, such as creative mode, where they can mooch about the Fortnite metaverse without fear of elimination.
See the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jan/18/kaws-fortnite-serpentine-street-art-augmented-reality
Is the U.S. military’s futurism obsession hurting national security?
Four reasons why we are future obsessed
1. The Jetsons Effect: Prior expectations of the future were wrong or disappointing
2. The future is here-ish, but better technology is predicted to be right around the corner
3. Catastrophic risks are more apparent
4. Overcorrection is fueling our zeal
Four problems with future obsession
1. Not preparing for current crises
2. Kicking the can down the road
3. The drunkard’s search
4. Escapism over engagement
See the full story here: https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/is-the-u-s-militarys-futurism-obsession-hurting-national-security/
The best AR and VR news from CES 2022
Good compilation. We already picked many of them.
See the full story here: https://www.virtualrealitypulse.com/edition/weekly-apple-samsung-2022-01-08?open-article-id=20892105&article-title=the-best-ar-and-vr-news-from-ces-2022&blog-domain=skarredghost.com&blog-title=the-ghost-howls
The FTC is reportedly investigating Meta’s VR division for antitrust violations
Regulators have reportedly asked developers if the Oculus app store discriminates against third-party apps whose features overlap with its own offerings, and they’ve apparently questioned Meta’s strategy of selling the Meta Quest (formerly Oculus Quest) headset at a $299 price point that heavily undercuts the price of other VR headsets. The FTC declined to comment on Bloomberg’sreport.
See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/14/22884198/ftc-state-ag-investigating-meta-facebook-vr-oculus-antitrust
Second Life joins the metaverse discussion with the return of its founder — and some key patents
A strengthened “commitment to growing an innovative, inclusive, and diverse metaverse” includes Second Life founder Philip Rosedale rejoining the project as a strategic adviser. After launching Second Life, he’s been involved in a number of other efforts, popping up with a virtual marketplace for people to sell their skills and a neuroscience collaboration,
However, his VR project High Fidelity, a telepresence-focused experiment that took a step back from developing its tech for head-mounted displays, will invest in Second Lifeowner Linden Research with cash and “distributed computing patents.” Speaking to CNET, Rosedale said High Fidelity is shifting seven people to work on Second Life. The deal also includes patents, like two covering community moderation in decentralized environments. As we’ve seen with companies like TiVo and Nokia, an early presence in a space could include ownership over technology that becomes much more valuable later on.
...Besides skepticism of NFTs and pie-in-the-sky ideas about interoperable platforms, he suggests that making Second Life usable via phone or using your webcam to animate your avatar’s facial animation would help it grow more than anything that requires users to wear a virtual reality headset.
See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/13/22881864/metaverse-second-life-decentralized-moderation-patent-virtual-reality?fbclid=IwAR1Sgfup6W2xUWqSbO21J7LA1QGJuMcsiuFzCQt9QGOnj_UlRZZmy--xtUc
Reality Check: Looking Back at Augmented Reality in 2021
Tom Emrich's 2021 annual AR roundup.
See the full story here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reality-check-looking-back-augmented-2021-tom-emrich/?trk=eml-email_series_follow_newsletter_01-hero-1-title_link&midToken=AQG9gi1ZLqruRw&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=2RNYqyQrYWAq41
