I attended the OnePlus press conference… in augmented reality
I turned into a photographer halfway through a press event that took place somewhere above my desk. OnePlus' new wireless OnePlus Buds were hovering in front of me, seen through my phone screen using augmented reality tech. I could turn and look at them from different angles. I got super close. And I started taking product shots. Screenshots, yes, but I could lean in and see details that I would normally want to discover at an in-person event
More useful were the breakout sections, where the new OnePlus Nord phone was detailed, the phone splitting apart in 3D, allowing me an enhanced view of the parts inside.
I'd rather watch an unveiling while seated than hold up my phone the whole time. But most of all I'd rather wear smartglasses that could allow me to sit back for a whole virtual briefing. I had a virtual briefing in VR for Qualcomm's upcoming headsets, via an app by Spatial... but that required having a VR headset.
I don't think I've seen an AR-at-home presentation as ambitious as what OnePlus just attempted. And in a few years, maybe this is the model for how virtual events can actually take place, because I still can't picture going to a crowded in-person tech event anytime soon.
See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/news/i-attended-the-oneplus-press-conference-in-augmented-reality/
OpenAI’s new language generator GPT-3 is shockingly good—and completely mindless
For now, OpenAI wants outside developers to help it explore what GPT-3 can do, but it plans to turn the tool into a commercial product later this year, offering businesses a paid-for subscription to the AI via the cloud.
GPT-3 is the most powerful language model ever. Its predecessor, GPT-2, released last year, was already able to spit out convincing streams of text in a range of different styles when prompted with an opening sentence. But GPT-3 is a big leap forward. The model has 175 billion parameters (the values that a neural network tries to optimize during training), compared with GPT-2’s already vast 1.5 billion. And with language models, size really does matter.
GPT-3 can also produce pastiches of particular writers.
Others have found that GPT-3 can generate any kind of text, including guitar tabs or computer code.
Yet despite its new tricks, GPT-3 is still prone to spewing hateful sexist and racist language. Fine-tuning the model helped limit this kind of output in GPT-2.
For one thing, the AI still makes ridiculous howlers that reveal a total lack of common sense. But even its successes have a lack of depth to them, reading more like cut-and-paste jobs than original compositions.
Exactly what’s going on inside GPT-3 isn’t clear. But what it seems to be good at is synthesizing text it has found elsewhere on the internet, making it a kind of vast, eclectic scrapbook created from millions and millions of snippets of text that it then glues together in weird and wonderful ways on demand.
Intel’s PRTI at 100 Days: In Los Angeles, Online Classes that Inspire
3d rendering of virtual human silhouette on laptop screen,concept of online education
One hundred days since Intel launched its $50 million Pandemic Response Technology Initiative in April, Intel and ViacomCBS are close to rolling out a series of pre-recorded online classes unlike anything most L.A. kids have seen before in their classrooms.
“We are passionate about helping schools tackle the challenges of remote learning — which in the future may play a much bigger role in education,” says Intel’s Rick Hack.
The two companies are partnering with L.A. schoolteachers to create a series of “What I Do for a Living” online classes and videos aimed at inspiring students with career opportunities in media and entertainment.
See the full story here: https://newsroom.intel.com/news/prti-100-days-los-angeles-online-classes/#gs.be32wu
Fully Autonomous, Highly Interactive Cat Robot
Created by Elephant Robotics, MarsCat is the world’s first ever bionic pet cat. MarsCat is a fully responsive robotic pet that acts like a real cat. The robot is fully automated & autonomous and does not need any instructions for anything. The robot is fully interactive. MarsCat can even play with toys like real cats. It walks, runs, sleeps, sits, stretches, bites nails, kneads and does everything else what you expect from a real cat. It also meows at different tones and makes gestures like a cat does. However, the actions are autonomous and unpredictable. The robot does everything at random, you can never know what it is going to do next.
The robot can feel your touch. When you touch its head or scratch its back it can feel it and then respond to it. MarsCat can hear your voice and follow your commands. The robot can recognize various voice commands like “Hello”, “How Are You?”, “Run”, “Walk”, “Come Here” etc. The robot can actually see things and react to them. For example it can see toys and then play with them. The robot has moving object recognition and it can play with toys with precision.
MarsCat works on a quad-core Raspberry Pi which is easy to program for custom functions.
MarsCat’s personality and character can be altered according to preferences. It has 6 different personality traits that can be changed ; enthusiastic or aloof, energetic or lazy, social or shy. The robot develops her personality over time with the help of machine learning depending on how you treat her.
See the full story here: https://poptimesuk.com/fully-autonomous-highly-interactive-cat-robot/32870/
Ringo Starr’s Big Birthday Show Comes To CEEK Virtual Reality
CEEK Virtual Reality has announced that Ringo’s Big Birthday Show, the all-star
special broadcast on his YouTube channel on his 80th birthday on 7 July, is available to watch from today on www.ceek.com and on the Ceek Virtual Reality App. It now includes unbroadcast performances and birthday wishes from the former Beatle’s family and friends.
The 360VR experience will be exclusively available on the CEEK platform, which can be downloaded on such platforms as iOS, Android, Facebook Oculus and HTC and viewed through CEEK’s mobile Virtual Reality headset. CEEK’s content can also be viewed on desktops, laptops, and tablets via www.ceek.com. From today (21), an exclusive, one-week-only stream in virtual reality is broadcast on the CEEK VR app and on www.ceek.com.
See the full story here: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/ringo-starr-birthday-show-ceek-virtual-reality/
Weta Digital Launches Paradigm-Shifting LED-Stage Virtual Production
Weta Digital partners with Avalon and Streamliner to bring LED-stage virtual production to New Zealand.
Similar in concept to Industrial Light & Magic’s LED-screen StageCraft platform, launched for “The Mandalorian” series, Weta’s system also relies on the real-time Unreal engine from Epic Games in accelerating a paradigm shift for the industry, offering social distancing and smaller crews, while reducing the size and scope of location shoots, set builds, and crowd scenes for the foreseeable future.
In the short term, we are probably more likely to see shots moving to full CG to help reduce shoot days or replace entire location shoots. For us and many facilities, these workflows offer stability and predictability, two things currently in short supply.”
Gary Watkins, CEO, Avalon Studios, is looking to provide “the safest work environment possible as productions look to ramp back up. This new setup allows producers to think strategically about what they shoot and limit the number of actors and onset crew required, changing post-production requirements. Avalon has four main stages of varying sizes and dedicated spaces to house additional departments, making it a perfect hub for local and international productions.”
See the full story here: https://www.indiewire.com/2020/07/weta-digital-led-stage-virtual-production-service-1234574877/?fbclid=IwAR1N7sk4xnqbVqaAdGKVFR_W74C4ZzO32iDCNQbT0hpO12puPgC3K6ktaQA
Tesseract: The company behind the JioGlass
One of the biggest unveilings by the Ambanis at Reliance's Annual General meet was the JioGlass, a virtual reality eyewear that allows people to connect with each other in real time. At RIL's 43rd AGM, the JioGlass was demonstrated by heir Isha Amban...
The JioGlass was designed and built by Tesseract — a five-year old deep-tech startup that was acquired by RIL in 2019. Founded by Kshitij Marwah at a Mumbai warehouse, the startup is a subsidiary of RIL but is run independently, it told BloombergQuin...
https://tesseract.in
See the full story here: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/tesseract-the-company-behind-the-jioglass-863500.html