philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

What’s Next for Virtual Reality? An Insider Weighs In – Jesse Schell, CEO of Schell Games, shares some insight.

Schell Games is the studio behind popular VR software including I Expect You to Die, a game that sees players assume the role of a secret agent trying to escape from a variety of traps -- and a title that many critics have hailed as one of the standout exclusive virtual reality experiences.

Technologies that exist outside your pocket tend to diverge and diversify over time. Technologies that live in your pocket (phones, Swiss-army knives), tend to converge over time. Using a phone for VR (which phones were never designed for) is a kind of hack to do VR on the cheap. The three key factors for a successful VR system are low price point, hand tracking, and convenience. So far, phone-based VR only checks the low price point box, and I believe we will look back on it as a short-lived stopgap solution.

See the full story here: https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/02/23/whats-next-for-virtual-reality-an-insider-weighs-i.aspx

Top 5 Haptic VR Devices Set to Launch in 2020

Dexmo Haptic Gloves

BeBop Haptic Gloves

Teslasuit Full Body Haptic VR Suit

bHaptics Tactot Vest

Plexus Haptic Gloves

See the full story here: https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2020/02/23/top-5-haptic-vr-devices-set-to-launch-in-2020/

Meet the Saatchi heir building ‘virtual friends’ to combat loneliness

Nobody could accuse Edward Saatchi of lacking ambition. The 35-year-old Brit, the son of advertising mogul Maurice, has mapped out his small start-up’s route to being the world’s most valuable and important technology company.

His inspiration for that journey isn’t Apple, Google or Saatchi’s former employer Facebook, but a hologram in a Hollywood film. More specifically, Joi, Ryan Gosling’s virtual girlfriend in Denis Villeneuve’sscience fiction sequel Blade Runner 2049. 

See the full story here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/02/23/meet-saatchi-heir-building-virtual-friends-combat-loneliness/

Mapping Wikipedia

Wikipedia matters. In a time of extreme political polarization, algorithmically enforced filter bubbles, and fact patterns dismissed as fake news, Wikipedia has become one of the few places where we can meet to write a shared reality. We treat it like a utility, and the U.S. and U.K. trust it about as much as the news.

 

But we know very little about who is writing the world’s encyclopedia. We do know that just because anyone can edit, doesn’t mean that everyone does: The site’s editors are disproportionately cis white men from the global North. We also know that, as with most of the internet, a small number of the editors do a large amount of the editing. But that’s basically it: In the interest of improving retention, the Wikimedia Foundation’s own research focuses on the motivations of people who do edit, not on those who don’t. The media, meanwhile, frequently focus on Wikipedia’s personalitystories, even when covering the bigger questions. And Wikipedia’s own culture pushes back against granular data harvesting: The Wikimedia Foundation’s strong data-privacy rules guarantee users’ anonymity and limit the modes and duration of their own use of editor data.

See the full story here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/02/where-wikipedias-editors-are-where-they-arent-and-why/605023/

Cannes Film Festival Plots Major Expansion to VR Program

Cannes XR, the Marché du Film’s program dedicated to immersive and augmented reality content, is set to expand.

For its second edition, Cannes XR has partnered with tech creator Positron and Brogent Technologies to introduce a new VR theater, dedicated space and competition.

While keeping its 700-square meter exhibition space in the basement of Cannes’ Palais des Festivals, the program will also set up a second front at The Palm Beach, a former casino on the other side of the Croisette. The venue will offer 1600 square meters of exhibition space, as well as outdoor reception areas with a beachfront view.

Reachable by shuttles from the Palais, the new space will also house a series of conferences and development showcases, as well as a multi-seat theater equipped with Positron’s patented Voyager VR chairs, which are full-motion platforms designed to showcase cinematic VR.

Instead, Cannes XR has positioned itself as an accelerator and development lab for promising projects that could shape the market in years to come.

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2020/biz/festivals/cannes-film-festival-expands-vr-program-1203512031/

Robosen Robotics (Shenzen) Showcases T9 at Toy Fair New York – The World’s Most Advanced and Programmable Robot

[PhilNote: For $499 you can own and program a Transformer.]

Robosen Robotics' visionary craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology in artificial joint driving algorithms and digital electric drive technology, provide T9's artificial intelligence (AI) - Easy to remember voice commands, complex animations completed with precision control, captivating dance performances and innovative stunts.

These animations are created and customized with three intuitive and easy-to-use programming platforms (Manual, Visual and 3D Graphics*) and T9's massive storage has enough memory to store tens of thousands of them.

*A summary of each of three programming platforms:

• Manual Programming: Unleash the fun and your creative ideas by manually programming the T9's actions by hand. Manual programming is easy to execute and turns playtime into an opportunity to enhance thoughtful and logic-based thinking skills.
• Visual Programming: Converting obscure and sophisticated programming codes into simple and easy-to-understand graphical blocks. Simply drag and drop blocks together to program the T9 to act out your creations. Visual Programming is based on Scratch, a programming language developed by MIT Media Lab and used by millions of people around the world.
• 3D Graphic Programming: Take imagination and inspiration to the next level by programming the T9 via PC. 3D Graphic Programming allows the user to create more complex, precise and interactive moments.

World’s First 5G Forest Set Up with Technology-Friendly Features

The world’s first 5G forest is being built in Sherwood Forest, located in Nottinghamshire, England. In the 5G forest to be built in Nottinghamshire, people will enjoy nature with augmented reality and autonomous vehicles thanks to the 5G connection.

With the project, which will be implemented with a total budget of 10 million pounds, people will be able to experience the forest with augmented reality applications and autonomous vehicles using the 5G network.

In the 5G forest project to be performed in Sherwood Forest, people will be able to benefit from the virtual reality experience, including the famous novel hero Robin Hood.

See the full story here: https://www.somagnews.com/worlds-first-5g-forest-set-technology-friendly-features/

HPA Tech Retreat: ETC Immersive Media Challenge Explained

By Debra Kaufman
February 20, 2020

ETC’s immersive media head Phil Lelyveld presented a session describing the organization’s third Immersive Media Challenge — this one with a 5G twist. “The challenge is to ask students and recent graduates to come up with an idea for an engaging experience that is impossible to build now that should be possible to build in three to five years,” he said. “It’s not a hackathon. If you can build it in three to five years, you should probably start building it now. If it’s longer than five years, it’s Fantasyland.”

Lelyveld said that he asks potential entrants to consider what happens when technology catches up to an idea that resonates with people, giving Facebook, “Fortnite,” global K-Pop, and eSports as examples. He also asks them to think about what happens when an idea out of the blue — like the iPhone or digital influencers — is suddenly possible.

Entrants can come up with an idea that falls under four categories: City Play (city as location-based entertainment); For Good (social good, education); For Fun (dramatic, but with a twist that advances the art form) or For Health (medical resource for doctor or patient). Given the imminence of 5G, added Lelyveld, he also asks potential entrants to consider how their idea will be impacted by unlimited bandwidth and near-zero latency.

Students/recent graduates have to answer a six-question sequence and create a three-minute pitch video. “Narrative excellence about the idea matters,” explained Lelyveld. The six questions include the title of the idea; a detailed description of the experience; what the creator is trying to achieve, which of the four categories it fits into and why it’s worthwhile; why the experience will capture the imagination of audiences; what about the idea is unique and/or different from others available; what about the idea will make it likely to be able to created in three to five years and how the 5G rollout impact the idea; and, lastly, why the assumptions are reasonable.

“Why is it Tomorrowland and not Fantasyland,” noted Lelyveld, who added that students and recent grads who submit to the program come out of varied academic backgrounds, including cinema, architecture, business, engineering and journalism.

Lelyveld explained that students have one week to come up with the idea and ETC member companies can decide whether they want to mentor one of the projects. With more than 50 ideas generated from three challenges, Lelyveld said ETC is “looking for mentors, resources and sponsors to spur new thinking.”

He also played the pitch videos for two projects that were chosen. USC Marshall School of Business MBA student Tucker Elliott pitched Flight of Persephone, which creates AI-enabled reuseable escape rooms. Engineering student Tracy Keys proposed AuVive, contextualized descriptive audio for video for the visually impaired, relying on deep learning and neural net narration. Creators of the four chosen ideas get money to create a previsualization and are paired with ETC member industry mentors.

The source post is here: https://www.etcentric.org/hpa-tech-retreat-etc-immersive-media-challenge-explained/#more-148151

Kickstarter unionizes

The decision, which was formalized by a vote count at the National Labor Relations Board, came down to a narrow margin, with 46 employees voting in favor of the move and 37 opposing it. The debate over a union — and whether such representation was appropriate for highly paid tech workers — had been a source of tension at the company for many months.

The pro-union vote is significant for the technology industry, where workers have become increasingly activist in recent years over issues as varied as sexual harassment and climate change. Behemoth companies such as Google and Amazon have struggled to get a handle on their employees, who have staged walkouts and demanded that their companies not work with government entitiesand others.

Veena Dubal, an associate professor of employment law at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, called the Kickstarter vote “a hugely important step” that “signals to workers across the tech industry that it is both desirable and possible to build collective structures to influence wages, working conditions and even business decisions.”

Kickstarter’s employees will be affiliated with the Office and Professional Employees International Union and begin negotiating a contract with management over equal pay and inclusive hiring practices. The bargaining committee will include employees who opposed the union as well as those who supported it.

The privately held company, which is based in Brooklyn and has 145 employees, has long positioned itself as altruistic. In 2015, it reincorporated as a public benefit corporation, meaning it also focused on providing a benefit to society rather than merely on generating profits for shareholders.

Its employees’ unionization drive began in earnest last year, after Kickstarter found itself embroiled in a debate over whether to cancel a fund-raising effort on its site for a comic book that included images of people punching Nazis. Workers pushed the company to allow the project to continue, which it did. The episode sparked discussions among employees about formalizing their voice in the workplace.

See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/technology/kickstarter-union.html

A Fed Governor And Watchdog Boss Made A Serious Bitcoin And Crypto Warning

Many governments and central banks around the world have expressed concerns that Facebook's libra, a so-called stablecoin that will be pegged to a basket of traditional currencies, could undermine state control of economies if it becomes a widely used payment method.

"Financial Stability Board members recognize the speed of innovation in the area of digital payments, including so-called 'stablecoins," Quarles said, referring to Facebook's planned libra cryptocurrency, scheduled for launch later this year and aimed at bringing digital finance to the developing world. "We are resolved to quicken the pace of developing the necessary regulatory and supervisory responses to these new instruments."

Earlier this week, the U.S. admitted bitcoin and cryptocurrency could undermine the dollar's status as the world’s reserve currency and the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence is looking for two researchers to evaluate the impact of the U.S. dollar losing its status as the world reserve currency.

Last year, U.S. president Donald Trump slammed bitcoin as based on "thin air," following Facebook's announcement it will launch libra in 2020, while his Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin branded bitcoin a "national security threat."

Meanwhile, calls for the U.S. to begin development of a so-called digital dollar have been growing louder over recent months.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2020/02/22/a-fed-governor-and-watchdog-boss-made-a-serious-bitcoin-and-crypto-warning/#29faac27303d