philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

TESLA FULL SELF-DRIVING CODE CONTAINS SECRET “AUGMENTED REALITY VIEW”

While digging through the code of their Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature, a noted Tesla hacker-owner who goes by the handle “green” found an augmented reality view of everything the vehicle is capable of seeing in vivid detail, Teslarati reports.

The Elon Musk-led company began rolling out its Full Self-Driving beta in October, allowing a select group of Tesla owners to test the feature.

Dead Code

In several videos posted to Twitter, the hacker showed off “the much coveted augmented reality view.” They also spotted “tons of dead code” including snippets that may hint at possible features to be released later down the road including “coast2coast” and “map selection.”

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-full-self-driving-code-secret-augmented-reality-view

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

See the full story here: https://www.bbntimes.com/society/artificial-intelligence-in-media-entertainment-industry

BehaVR launches ‘CenteredVR’ Virtual Reality program to help reduce chronic workforce stress

“While chronic stress has always been a challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven significant increases in stress and workforce burnout,” said Aaron Gani, founder and CEO of BehaVR. “We developed CenteredVR with the team at Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions as a new option for employers seeking to help their workforce better cope with stress. It is a powerful addition to the other supportive services and tools many companies are providing their teams, teaching people skills that will help them better manage all of the stressors they face and, ultimately, help them lead healthier lives.”

See the full story here: https://www.auganix.org/behavr-launches-centeredvr-virtual-reality-program-to-help-reduce-chronic-workforce-stress/

Chinese military using virtual reality to boost their combat readiness

• Training forms part of PLA’s plans to switch from a Russian model to American-style methods
• New recruits using VR for parachuting training because youngsters are more receptive to the technology

See the full story here: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3113922/chinese-military-using-virtual-reality-boost-their-combat

Australia’s first ‘live’ 3D virtual reality streaming platform brings the opera to residents

They will experience a 60-minute live VR opera recital, staring Melba Opera Trust alumni Stacey Alleaume, Nathan Lay, Michael Petruccelli, internationally-renowned pianist Amir Farid, and hosted by the host of the ABC’s The Opera Show Mairi Nicolson.

See the full story here: https://insideageing.com.au/australias-first-live-3d-virtual-reality-streaming-platform-brings-the-opera-to-residents/

HOW VIRTUAL REALITY CAN UNLOCK AN ELUSIVE DREAM STATE

WHAT THEY DID — In their trial, the researchers compared the benefits of a virtual-reality training program, traditional lucid-dream training, and zero training to see what effect the different approaches would have on one's ability to lucid dream.

The researchers divided 39 participants into three trial groups, one for each style of training being evaluated. 

WHAT THEY DISCOVERED — The research team found participants who underwent virtual-reality training were able to have lucid dreams more often than non-trained dreamers, suggesting virtual reality may provide an ideal environment for training the brain to access this elusive kind of dreaming. 

But importantly, traditional training appeared to be just as effective as the virtual-reality training, according to the study.

Essentially, "VR sickness" made participants more likely to question their reality anyway, which may have made their deliberate self-questioning more effective. 

See the full story here: https://www.inverse.com/innovation/virtual-reality-unlock-elusive-dream-state

OpenAI Turns Five: Take a Look Back

Biggest milestone? 

Developing and launching the GPT-3 model and API this past summer. 

The flip side: Large language models like GPT-3 hold a lot of promise but, by their very nature, they can also propagate existing biases. 

One top obstacle? 

[Not making GPT-3 publicly available.] “There’s no undo button for open source.” 

https://www.morningbrew.com/emerging-tech/stories/2020/12/14/openai-turns-five-take-look-back

Facebook Building Cameo-Inspired Tool to Let Fans Pay Celebrities for Face Time

Facebook Inc. is building a new video product that will let people pay content creators or celebrities for the chance to interact with them during a live broadcast.

The tool, called Super, will let creators, entrepreneurs or celebrities host live, interactive video events. Viewers can tip creators by buying them digital gifts, or pay to “appear” alongside a creator during the livestream to ask a question or take a selfie, according to a person familiar with the new feature, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the product hasn’t been announced publicly. Creators will also be able to sell merchandise or other products alongside the livestream.

Super is being developed within Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team, an internal group that builds standalone apps and other products. Super is still unreleased, but the company is testing it internally, a Facebook spokeswoman confirmed.

The concept behind Super could gain importance as more public figures look to connect with fans digitally during the pandemic. Cameo, an app that lets people pay celebrities to send a friend or family member a personalized video message, was valued at $300 million in mid-2019, according to Axios. 

See the full story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-15/facebook-building-tool-to-let-fans-pay-celebrities-for-face-time

‘Namoo’: Baobab Studios Reveals New Virtual Reality Film From ‘Heart’ Director Erick Oh

Baobab Studios has announced a new virtual reality experience film directed and written by Heart and How to Eat Your Apple director Erick Oh. Namoo, which means “tree” in Korean, is a virtual reality narrative that features hand-painted props, characters and environments and will come to Oculus platforms in 2021.

Created in Facebook’s VR animation tool, Quill, Namoo is a narrative poem brought to life via VR film that celebrates a grandfather’s passing and follows the journey of a budding artist – and his tree of life– from start to end.

Tech Giants Face New Rules in Europe, Backed by Huge Fines

European officials want new powers to oversee internal workings at large technology companies such as Facebook Inc., FB -0.25% backed by threats of multibillion-dollar fines, as they seek to expand their role as global tech enforcers.

The European Union’s executive arm proposed two bills Tuesday—one focused on illegal content, the other on anticompetitive behavior—that would empower regulators in some cases to levy fines of up to 6% or 10% of annual world-wide revenue, or break up big tech companies to stop certain competitive abuses.

The bills don’t mention any specific company but, as drafted, one or both would likely apply to several large U.S. tech companies includingAlphabet Inc.’s GOOG +0.29% Google, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +0.13%Apple Inc. and Facebook.

The EU’s pair of proposals will now begin months or years of haggling over their scope and details, similar to the four years of debate before the EU passed its privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, in 2016. Each bill must be approved by both the European Council, representing the bloc’s 27 national governments, and the directly elected European Parliament to become law.

“We hope the future negotiations will seek to make the EU a leader in digital innovation, not just in digital regulation,” said Christian Borggreen, vice president and head of the Brussels office at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents companies including Amazon, Facebook and Google.

“We will never say that we believe that this company or that company is too big,” said Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market said Tuesday. “But we will say that the bigger they are, the more obligations they have to fulfill.”

See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-giants-face-new-rules-in-europe-backed-by-huge-fines-11608046500