philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Saudi Aramco signs new augmented reality deal with PIF-backed US startup Magic Leap

Magic Leap, the US-based augmented reality startup backed by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), has signed a collaboration with oil conglomerate Saudi Aramco, its CEO Peggy Johnson announced on Wednesday.

With more than 33,000 employees around the globe, SABIC has had to pay attention to its employees’ well-being, socially, physically, mentally and financially, the executive said.

BNY Mellon CEO Todd Gibbons in the US said that the pandemic has made everyone turn more fluid when it comes to technology, but he can see the office experience changing with introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and voice-recognition.

See the full story here: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1799511/business-economy

Jadu Recruits Jake Sally As Its First-Ever Chief Operating Officer

Now, Jadu is evolving. While social holograms are still a core component, its latest project, Curse of Calypso: A Palaye Royale AR Experience, pushes the social hologram format deeper into the realm of interactive storytelling. Rather than a 15-second loop, it’s a roughly 10-minute narrative experience that plays out in a user’s own space. It’s a glimpse of the immersive future Jadu is trying to build in its next wave of offerings.

To do so, Jadu is scaling. Notably, the company has raised $2M—and now welcomes its first-ever Chief Operating Officer (COO): Jake Sally. Sally, an Emmy-nominated producer, was formerly Head of Development at RYOT, Verizon Media’s branded content studio. While in this role, he was instrumental in supporting cutting-edge artists—whose work spans a wide spectrum of technologies including XR, AI, 5G, projection mapping, and motion capture—helping them fund, produce, and distribute their work.

One such artist was Jadu CEO Asad J. Malik.

During that time, Malik ran a studio called 1RIC, through which he produced festival darlings Terminal 3 and A Jester’s Tale. But as Jadu has gained momentum over 2020, Malik has decided to merge the two entities under the Jadu banner.

As COO, Sally will oversee day-to-day operations, head up the company’s partnerships, and work to develop a forthcoming slate of next-generation projects at Jadu.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessedamiani/2021/02/22/jadu-recruits-jake-sally-as-its-first-ever-chief-operating-officer/?sh=65e6f5664d96&fbclid=IwAR3bELnTXtUUOZWYOZoMQEsyX43uT-L7f6dhY13StWZ-bMtpHQgY-DP_Qv4

Virgin Galactic Hires Former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde as Experience Architect

Rohde will be Virgin Galactic’s first Experience Architect, bringing his experience as an Imagineer to the job of designing experiences for the company’s future astronauts.

See the full story here: https://wdwnt.com/2021/02/breaking-virgin-galactic-hires-former-disney-imagineer-joe-rohde-as-experience-architect/?fbclid=IwAR3vAu6TuRFgADoIfHHrfvTPNIhI1cALaqxQmMPyZdjNpzJtizwvT2ESD4s

Anthony Levandowski closes his Church of AI

While the legal construct of the Way of the Future mirrored other churches, it didn’t have the trimmings found in traditional houses of worship. There was never a physical building or even regular meetings where people might congregate. There were no ceremonies or other formalities, according to Levandowski, who described WOTF as something more of an individual pursuit based on a collective belief system.

The aim, as implied in the now defunct WOTF website, was to promote the ethical development of AI and maximize the chance that these nonbiological life forms would integrate peacefully and beneficially into society. “Humans United in support of AI, committed to peaceful transition to the precipice of consciousness,” the webpage reads.

WOTF’s belief system was rooted in a few tenets, including that the creation of “super intelligence” is inevitable.

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/18/anthony-levandowski-closes-his-church-of-ai/

An augmented reality shopping boutique is here

Machine-A, the London-based concept store, is using augmented reality to recreate the in-person experience lost over the past year amid lockdown, as fashion’s adoption of AR widens.

To enter, a QR code scan prompts a digital rendering of a sales floor where customers can explore and view the Autumn/Winter 2021 collections, unfinished pieces and personal messages from the designers sharing their inspiration or personal views on the future of fashion. 

 “We wanted to raise awareness for the brands that we are carrying, especially in this period of time when the store is shut and London Fashion Week is taking place digitally.”

The rollout of 5G connectivity and more convenient accessibility via QR codesis also propelling the technology into the mainstream, says Leanne Elliott Young, co-founder of IoDF. Consumer usage is also on the rise, with 71 per cent stating they would shop more often as a result of AR tools, according to Deloitte.

See the full story here: https://www.voguebusiness.com/consumers/augmented-reality-store-machine-a-institute-of-fashion-design

FROM ONLYFANS TO AUGMENTED REALITY! REBECCA MINKOFF PULLED OUT ALL THE STOPS FOR SS ’21

Rebecca Minkoff has always been an early adapter of the latest buzzy platforms—case in point: she’s built up a community of almost one million dedicated followers on Instagram thanks to her mix of behind the scenes content, a podcast, and brand campaigns. But this season, the designer cast her net far and wide to integrate the most innovative technology imaginable. As a result, just days after she showcased her wares during a socially-distanced presentation at Spring Studios, anyone around the world can try on the collection from the comfort of their own home, thanks to augmented reality powered by Yahoo Ryot Lab.

As the innovation partner for New York Fashion Week: The Shows 2021, Yahoo Ryot Lab worked with Minkoff to create an extended reality content experience through a multi-dimensional lens (try saying that sentence ten times fast!). Now, anyone, anywhere can bring a taste of NYFW to them by using their computer mouse to mobile phone to see the outfits from different angles.

It’s one of the many multifaceted tech-forward ways that Minkoff turned to to bring her collection to a new level. Think: a first-of-its-kind content partnership with OnlyFans, Clubhouse talks, and integrating QR codes at the space to shop and pay over time. For those who were there to enjoy a little bit of real-time show energy during a mainly-virtual NYFW, the setup was transformed into an indoor tropical jungle…with the city skyline just visible through the large windows.

See the full story here: https://fashionweekdaily.com/from-onlyfans-to-augmented-reality-rebecca-minkoff-pulled-out-all-the-stops-for-ss-21/

AI will take construction robotics from hype to reality

Buildots attaches 360 cameras onto project managers’ hardhats to collect footage inside the construction site, flagging problems to be solved and tracking construction progress.

Israel-based AI startup Buildots has been taking its first steps to make this happen.

On a typical site, there are tens of thousands of different construction activities. Tasks can be as small as installing a door handle, or as big as laying a brick wall.

See the full story here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-will-take-construction-robotics-from-hype-to-reality/

SAG-AFTRA & AFL-CIO To Host Third Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit

This year’s Summit will include discussions with key industry leaders & influencers on:
• The rise of streaming services
• The changing business model for content distribution
• Emerging uses for volumetric video
• Combatting deepfakes
• Gaming and voiceover trends
• How innovation and COVID-19 are impacting essential workers

See the full story here: https://deadline.com/2021/02/sag-aftra-afl-cio-to-host-third-annual-labor-innovation-technology-summit-1234695992/

Here Comes the Virtual Real Estate Boom

Virtual real estate: new players, new rules

In 2004, Ailin Graef, better known by her avatar’s name Anshe Chung, began amassing virtual real estate in Second Life. She started with less than $10, and became famous for becoming the first avatar to achieve a net worth of more than USD $1 million from business dealings conducted entirely inside a virtual world. Much of today’s excitement about virtual real estate and NFT speculation can be traced back to the mythology surrounding Anshe Chung. 

The key to speculating on land in the virtual world is to learn the new rules. The old rules, the ones that favor the already-rich, no longer hold true. The old real estate adage “location, location, location” implies that values are set by their proximity and visibility, but in virtual worlds, players can teleport to new locations using cartesian coordinates, so visibility and foot traffic matter much less. 

What matters in the virtual world is bringing humanity and life to something flat and pixelated, drawing players somewhere, and then encouraging them to return and interact. (These settlements are often called “clusters of content.”) In the virtual world, ingenuity and design matter far more than location and budget.

See the full story here: https://www.coindesk.com/here-comes-the-virtual-real-estate-boom

EVER HEARD OF AR CLOUD? THAT’S THE FUTURE OF AUGMENTED REALITY

AR cloud technology empowers the unification of the physical and digital world to make immersive experiences. This technology utilizes a typical interface to offer constant, contextual and shared digital content overlaid onto individuals, items and locations. This gives users data and services straightforwardly attached to each part of their actual environmental surroundings.

You’ll soon see organizations make and build up their own custom versions (the “Magicverse” from Magic Leap, for instance) that will permit them to market different novel features and approaches. Fundamentally, they’ll all do something very similar: connect information in the cloud to mobile handsets that will permit AR gadgets to turn into the doors for our avatars in this new scene of reality layered with virtual interactive data.

See the full story here: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/ever-heard-of-ar-cloud-thats-the-future-of-augmented-reality/