An L.A. Real Estate First: Houses Accept Buyers’ Bitcoin and Display NFT Art
As a collector of NFT art, Braunstein sees enormous benefits in integrating NFTs into real estate portfolios. Not only is their provenance authenticated on blockchain, they also cut out some of the hassle of maintaining traditional artworks.
In another sign of changing times, both Palazzo di Vista and 1108 Wallace Ridge (listed at $65 million by Kirman and Michael Chen of the design-development firm Luxford Group) are accepting Bitcoin cryptocurrency at the rate equivalent to the asking price. “It’s just an additional way of us trying to make it easy on potential buyers, because there are so many multimillionaires and billionaires invested in using crypto,” Umansky says.
See the full story here: http://An L.A. Real Estate First: Houses Accept Buyers’ Bitcoin and Display NFT Art
Corning’s new Gorilla Glass protects smartphone cameras while letting in more light
Having conquered phone displays, Corning is bringing Gorilla Glass to handset cameras. The company's DX and DX+ range of damage-resistant glass will next be available for mobile camera lens covers, starting with Samsung devices. Alongside the added protection, Corning claims its tech can improve the optical performance of smartphone cameras.
According to the company, DX glass essentially results in less light being reflected by the camera cover lens. Currently, even with the use of an anti-reflective coating, around 92 percent of transmitted light enters a smartphone camera. Corning says that with DX/DX+ on the outside a camera lens can capture 98 percent of light, helping to reduce optical issues like ghosting. These reflections are usually caused by a bright light source during daylight or in low-light conditions. Lens hoods and coatings applied to lens surfaces can help to suppress ghosting, also known as ghost reflections.
...Recognizing its integral role as a supplier, Apple poured $450 million into the company as part of two separate investments in 2017 and 2019.
See the full story here: https://www.engadget.com/corning-gorilla-glass-smartphone-cameras-091722946.html
NBCUniversal Creates Chief Data Officer Role as It Streamlines Data Operations
The company named John Lee as its chief data officer as it builds out a central data function for all its units, including TV, theme parks and brand marketing.
Mr. Lee, previously global chief corporate strategy officer at Dentsu Group Inc.’s data-marketing agency Merkle, will be tasked with overseeing NBCU’s data operations, including collection, storage and matching capabilities meant to help marketers target ads on the company’s media properties, as well as inform corporate efforts such as product development, said Krishan Bhatia, president and chief business officer for NBCU Advertising and Partnerships.
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nbcuniversal-creates-chief-data-officer-role-as-it-streamlines-data-operations-11626949861
The Infinite, the world’s largest virtual reality experience, has opened in Montreal (PHOTOS)
It's a chance to see the view that only astronauts can experience: The Infinite, the world's largest virtual reality experience to date, has opened in Montreal at the Arsenal Contemporary Art gallery in Griffintown.
Told through a combination of virtual reality, augmented reality and projections, the experience takes users on an immersive, hour-long trip aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
All told, it's an hour-long experience that includes 35 minutes of free-roaming VR—where you can physically walk through the space with a VR headset on—spread out over 12,500 square feet of rooms. That's a big deal, as most virtual reality means standing in one place or sitting in a chair; walking around makes it that much more unique.
Starting with a blast off sequence room, people equip themselves with VR headsets and are able to freely roam a room with other people in the same room. A huge 3D rendering of the space station can be explored, and users can choose to touch orbs in VR that activate stories from astronauts. You won't be bumping into anyone as you walk; people actually show up on your headset.
Afterwards, they're guided into a room—still wearing a VR headset—to sit and look at the Earth from orbit with footage that was taken from the ISS. "People will feel like they are walking in Space, seeing the planet and finally having that experience of the overview effect in a very physical and emotional way," says Felix Lajeunesse, co-Founder of Felix & Paul Studios, which was a contributor to collecting the 250 hours of footage that make up the whole experience.
Walking through mirrored corridors, user will 'land' in a room showing a trippy, digital room-sized artwork formed by an LED ceiling and mirrored floor by Ryoji Ikeda called The Universe within the Universe, a piece that was created exclusively for the experience.
See the full story here: https://www.timeout.com/montreal/news/the-infinite-the-worlds-largest-virtual-reality-experience-has-opened-in-montreal-photos-072121
Teleport Anywhere in the World With PORTL’s High-Tech Hologram Machine
The device is a sleek rectangular box featuring a high-resolution flat-screen monitor. From across the room, a studio kit features a camera, lighting, and white backdrop setup. Appearing in front of the camera holoports a person — in this demonstration, across the room — rendering their 7-foot telepresence on the PORTL Epic.
“There’s an audience-facing camera that’s embedded in every single PORTL that sees the audience you’re being beamed in front of so that the person being beamed in who is being materialized will be able to see through the return-feed camera,” Nussbaum said.
The company also has PORTL Mini in the works, a device for home use that’s one-fifth the size of the Epic model.
“It should be for everybody, so that’s what my purpose was when I developed these,” Nussbaum said. “Eventually, PORTLs are going in the home. This is the future of broadcast and communication.”
See the full story here: https://hypebeast.com/2021/7/portl-hologram-teleportation-machine-how-it-works-watch
Snap Spectacles Used to Turn Spoken Word Poetry into an Augmented Reality Experience
New York-based poet and computer programmer Zach Lieberman managed to get his hands on a pair of Spectacles and decided to translate his words into immersive elements using Lens Studio.
The results of the experiment can be seen in a new video posted on Monday which shows Lieberman walking around New York City as his Spectacles smartglasses simultaneously deliver audio and visual presentations of his poetry.
See the full story here: https://next.reality.news/news/snap-spectacles-used-turn-spoken-word-poetry-into-augmented-reality-experience-0384810/
Snap buys another company to make AR shopping a reality
Snap is making a big bet on AR shopping.
The parent company of Snapchat has bought Vertebrae, a company that lets brands create and manage 3D versions of their goods. Vertebrae’s 50-person team will keep developing the platform for existing and new clients, according to a Snap spokesperson. The idea is that a company can easily upload visuals and other information about an item into Vertebrae and have a 3D version made for shoppers to access, and potentially buy directly, within Snapchat.
When you piece together Vertebrae with Snap’s other shopping-related acquisitions and features, including Fit Analytics and Screenshop, it’s easier to get a sense of its ambitions to be a shopping destination. For brands, the company is setting up a self-service system to easily upload and manage AR versions of their goods that people can discover in Snapchat. For Snapchat users, imagine being able to scan just about anything in the real world and turn it into a virtual object that you can manipulate, resize, and then buy without leaving the app.
See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/19/22583827/snap-vertebrae-snapchat-ar-shopping-startup-3d-assets
HaptX raises another $12M for high-tech gloves, relocates HQ back to Seattle
The company just landed $12 million from existing investors including Verizon Ventures, Mason Avenue Investments, Taylor Frigon Capital Partners, and Upheaval Investments. Total funding to date is $31 million.
Founded in 2012 and previously known as AxonVR, the company’s tech promises to deliver realistic touch feedback to users reaching out for objects in VR, thanks to microfluidics in the glove system that physically and precisely displace the skin on a user’s hands and fingers.
The gloves work with a VR headset and tracker, connected to a central control box, and let users move through virtual environments and feel virtual objects with their hands.
The company is also moving its headquarters to back the Seattle area, where it originally launched before moving to California and will open a new 15,000 square-foot space. The 25-person operation will maintain two offices in Redmond, Wash., and San Luis Obispo, Calif.
See the full story here: https://www.geekwire.com/2021/haptx-raises-another-12m-high-tech-gloves-relocates-hq-back-seattle/
