philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

NuEyes, ThirdEye launch augmented reality glasses

NuEyes has partnered with ThirdEye to introduce the Pro 2 lightweight X2 MR Glasses for patients who have experienced visual impairment uncorrectable by traditional methods.

The product uses augmented reality to help patients’ whose vision cannot be corrected with conventional glasses or surgery due to conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa. The wearer can control magnification, contrast and optical character recognition, with a touch of a button or through voice command.

See the full story here: https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20200708/nueyes-thirdeye-launch-ar-glasses

A state-of-the-art, self-supervised framework for video understanding

As an important milestone in our work toward emulating this ability in AI systems, we are sharing a new framework called Generalized Data Transformations. It achieves unprecedented performance in understanding the content of videos — without using labeled training data.

Rather than using a single modality, we learn from the relationships between the sound and images in a video.

Why it matters

To build truly intelligent machines, we must enable them to learn directly from the world without needing explicit guidance every step of the way. Being able to learn from the sights and sounds in the world as they occur, without explicit supervision, is the hallmark of this kind of learning.

Read the full paper:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.04298.pdf

See this full story here: https://ai.facebook.com/blog/a-state-of-the-art-self-supervised-framework-for-video-understanding/

hhmhh

With mmhmm, you can bring yourself and your personality into your video chats. No more boring heads-in-a-box. No more fussing to share your screen for a presentation.

See the source clip here: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/mmhmm?utm_campaign=5706_2020-07-07&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Product+Hunt&utm_term=editorial&fbclid=IwAR2lB-FknGWmfi-EtORZ3P_LNYN-mBpgPTaTjD-8tDHH3hiOWFaj5RL-yp4

First HR Conference in Virtual Reality

In partnership with Genius Ventures Inc, BentoHR, Microsoft, and powered by Altspace in Virtual Reality, on July 28 & 29, the world's first-ever Global HR Summit will showcase immersive workplace (XR) technologies that enable digital transformation and make workplaces more human-centric. The alliance between these innovative, forward thinking organizations has laid the foundation for what is expected to be "THE HR conference of 2020 "

KEY TOPICS

• Digital Transformation: The Path to Human-Centricity
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Reimagined
• XR Deployed: What HR Organizations Are Doing Today
• Working Parents: Our New Normal
• XR Technologies in Recruitment, Performance & Learning

Press release - https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tom-furness-grandfather-of-vr-kicks-off-first-hr-conference-in-virtual-reality-301089741.html

Event site - http://globalhrsummit.com 

Augmented reality headset startup Magic Leap hires a top Microsoft executive as CEO

In December, Magic Leap announced plans to focus on selling technology to businesses rather than consumers, aligning more closely with Johnson’s experience at Microsoft.

On Monday, Johnson, 58, said she had reached out to Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap’s founder and chief executive, who had announced in May that he would step down. She said she saw opportunities in Magic Leap’s “spatial” technology, which projects digital images into the real world.

Johnson, a former executive at Qualcomm who joined Microsoft six years ago, compared the spatial technology’s promise to the early days of cellular technology and cloud computing.

See the full story here: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/augmented-reality-headset-startup-magic-leap-hires-a-top-microsoft-executive-as-ceo/

The New Normal

This is a nice collection of single-sentence quotes; some profound and some self-serving.

See them all here: https://qz.com/is/new-normal/#academia

Original and Licensed TV Shows Available on U.S. Streaming Services

https://blog.reelgood.com/original-and-licensed-tv-shows-available-on-u-s-streaming-services?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpKaVlqUmhOMlZqTlRNMiIsInQiOiJIcW4rQWdnT3Y5Q3lwNkpURFNtVitQWjdJNVFJc3J4QW5QOUx6OUhCazVBN05kSTd5Sk5pU0RHTWVqK29aMjB1Q1V5SnJqUDUyK0hQQ2s4T05MR2tQOGVSVW9RTmo0RXVONVgzM1BURldLTytBU1RZRWZIb1E4MEFlUXV2bDFBZCJ9

Discord is rebranding to shift away from gaming

"Games are what brought many of you on the platform, and we’ll always be grateful for that," the company said. "Today, many of you use Discord for day-to-day communication. You’re sharing thoughts about books, music and art, creating servers to just be yourself and share moments with friends."

Toward the end of the blog post, Discord offhandedly mentions "$100 million in additional funding." Before today, Discord's most recent funding round saw the company raise $150 million at a $2 billion valuation. ... A lot has changed since then, especially in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since the start of the year, the number of people using the app daily has increased by 50 percent in the US, doubled in Spain and France and tripled in Italy.

That also means that its investors, one of which is Riot Games owner Tencent, now expect more of Discord.

See the full story here: https://www.engadget.com/discord-rebranding-151953314.html

Study: Students work harder when they think they are being watched

During the experiment, more than 300 seventh and eighth graders in 18 classrooms spent a week using instructional math software that had performed well in previous studies. In some classes, the teachers were randomly assigned to use the smart glasses and, in others, they were told not to use them. At first, the results seem to confirm the usefulness of student data. Students in classrooms where teachers wore the glasses improved more on a math test than students in classrooms where teachers didn’t wear the glasses.

The researchers assigned some teachers to wear glasses with the data analytics turned off.

The students in classrooms with teachers wearing turned-off glasses learned a lot, too. Indeed, more than half the learning gains that the researchers documented from access to the data were achieved merely by the teachers wearing the functionally limited glasses.

But more importantly, Holstein thinks it would ultimately fail. “In terms of fostering a good classroom climate, I don’t think I would encourage the feeling of being policed by the teacher,” he said. “Although you might argue that the students already feel this, to some extent, these tools might amplify that.”

See the full story here: https://hechingerreport.org/the-psychological-impact-of-student-surveillance-on-learning/

A virtual reality: What Singapore’s social scene is like in the new normal

But in this challenging climate, luxury brands have come to the realisation that it is imperative to stay in touch with their customer base as much as possible.

Premium vodka label Belvedere, for example, worked with its brand ambassadors from different bars such as Jigger & Pony and Manhattan to stream a series of #CheerswithBelvedere cocktail classes on IGTV. Viewers then shared their own creative spin on the cocktails in a competition to win bottled drinks and Belvedere spirits.

Tina Lee, managing partner of Directions Group Inc, which represents Roger Vivier and Sulwhasoo, added: “Other brands have been communicating with their customers through regular messaging, personalised care packs, electronic direct mailers and incentives to shop, especially for the brands with online capabilities.”

“Do we miss physical shopping? Definitely! Along with the sensorial stimulation that brings endless delight to us, seeing familiar faces, catching up, indulging in a bit of retail escapism!” – Dr Adrian Ng and Dr Loh May-Han

Andrew Li, CEO of Zouk Group, said: “We thought about cloud clubbing quite early on as we saw the initiative in China when clubs were shut. And with teams all over the world we could create a lot of content and push it out on our different country channels. It is not so much a revenue stream as it is about staying connected with our audience.”

See the full story here: https://cnaluxury.channelnewsasia.com/experiences/virtual-events-singapore-social-scene-12897426