We've known for a while that Plex, a company best known for helping people organize their own media collection, is getting into streaming. In September, it announced that it had teamed up with Warner Bros. to deliver ad-supported content by the end of 2019, with the promise of more partnerships to come. That has now come to pass, as from today, thousands of "free movies, TV shows, extreme sports films, music documentaries, Bollywood musicals" have been unlocked inside the Plex app.
9Dec/19Off
Top 10 Predictions For Media & Entertainment In 2020
PREDICTION #9 – Real, not virtual, live “experiences” also increasingly find their way into multi-platform media strategies, driven by a growing counter-movement to digital’s frequently heads down isolation. Live experiences, and their more lasting “soul” (not to mention selfie-worthy moments) deepen brand engagement and monetization. They also drive ever grander “offline” experiments and M&A.
Think of Madison Square Garden’s audacious Sphere project here, a $1.2 billion project that aims to reinvent the venue experience. The first MSG Sphere is rising up from the desert floor in Las Vegas right now to blow minds. At smaller scale, but equal mind-blowing impact, Woolf & The Wondershow’s Cages music experience in downtown Los Angeles’s Arts District demonstrates how technology can expand and enhance the possibilities without overpowering the underlying story. It is a “must.”
PREDICTION #10 – “Fake news” (including AI-driven “deepfakes”) overrun 2020’s U.S. elections and cause unprecedented societal disruption. The White House hangs its hat on disinformation campaigns actively promoted by major media and social media players, and claims victory no matter what the actual outcome.
The country is divided and threatened like never before in generations. Hacking headlines add to an increasing sense of mass insecurity. But in the face of daunting forces, optimism survives and social activism rises up. 2020’s fear transitions to 2021’s brave new redemptive possibilities.
7Dec/19Off
Brace for the Digital-Money Wars
The digital yuan China is planning is in fact a complete inversion of the bitcoin model. All of the data created would be centrally housed and become part of China’s surveillance state.
...it’s an example of the leverage China would have over every transaction on its system. The only question is how heavy-handed the Chinese would be in using it.
While the Chinese model might be the far end of the spectrum, cryptocurrency has been moving in that direction. While bitcoin was designed to mimic the anonymity of cash in a digital setting, all its transactions are public, and therefore trackable. And Facebook’s libra would log transaction data, while recording user identities in a separate database. A central concern in Congress is what Facebook would do with that information.
Say the Federal Reserve digitized the U.S. currency. It could track how every dollar in circulation is spent. That might give it a great advantage in trying to figure out how the economy is growing, and where stimulus efforts would best be directed. But say people in government wanted to lock down some group or activity.
People need to start thinking about this now, Harvard’s Ms. Kumar said. China’s digital yuan will be a real-world proof of concept. The West will need to respond in some way. “Are we prepared for that?” she said. “Not just technically, but legally? Can we protect privacy in this new world?”
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/brace-for-the-digital-money-wars-11575694806
7Dec/19Off
Wanted: Virtual reality headsets that aren’t made in China
The U.S. Air Force wants to tap into the augmented and virtual reality technologies that are proliferating in the commercial market, but the service has run into a problem: Many have parts from China, limiting their ability to be used by the U.S. military in operational environments.
“Can we not have an AR [augmented reality] solution that’s made in China? I don’t think that’s good for us,” Col. Gerard Ryan, chief of the Air Force’s operational training infrastructure division, said during a panel discussion Tuesday at the Interservice/Industry, Training, Simulation and Education Conference.
“I don’t think the security policy is going to pass. And I say that sarcastically, but it’s true. If we’re going to use a gaming engine, let’s make sure it’s not made by a foreign country that we don’t like,” he added.
An unclassified environment like basic pilot training is a perfect place for the Air Force to use the augmented and virtual reality devices currently on the market. But for such products to ever see use by fighter and bomber pilots — or any operator that deals with secure information — the service must be sure that no part of the device is made by China, or any other foreign entity that could insert technology that allows for data collection.
See the full story here: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/itsec/2019/12/06/wanted-virtual-reality-headsets-that-arent-made-in-china/
6Dec/19Off
China Announces New Regulations To Combat Fake News Created Using Deepfake Technology
In an effort to deter the rampant spread of “fake news,” Chinese regulators working on behalf of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) have announced new rules that will ban the use of “deepfake” technology to produce and distribute fictional news stories. The upcoming regulations will also require any video and audio content created using VR or AI technology to be marked.
In September, face-swapping app Zao went viral in China, establishing itself as the #1 free app on the App Store and sparking the CAC’s initial anxiety over deepfakes. The worry is that deepfake technology could be used to create hyper-realistic renditions of established figureheads, which could then be used to spread potentially harmful misinformation. According to the transcript published to the CAC website, deepfake technology could “endanger national security, disrupt social stability, disrupt social order, and infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of others.”
These new regulations, published by three Chinese government agencies, will take effect beginning January 1st, 2020; failure to adhere to the rules will be considered a criminal offense.
Just a month-and-a-half ago, California legislatures introduced their own system for combating deepfake news, banning the distribution of any deepfakes of established political figures within 60 days of an election.
6Dec/19Off
PhD student working with virtual reality artwork collections in Australia
Arran has been undertaking research into ACMI’s growing virtual reality artwork collection, mapping out how the museum has been acquiring the works and exploring the ongoing digital preservation challenges for the institution.
Arran has published a short blog piece through the ACMI Labs blog on some of the findings of his work.
The article is available here. https://labs.acmi.net.au/acquisition-processes-for-vr-works-at-acmi-36ebddf7cda2
See the full story here: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/news/article/1449/phd-student-working-with-virtual-reality-artwork-collections-in-australia
6Dec/19Off
Brenda Romero breaks down Empire of Sin’s complex relationship system
[PhilNote: not being a gamer, I don't know if this is news or not. It arrived in my Autonomous Character news feed.]
The main idea that sets Empire of Sin apart from other management sims is a deep and autonomous character interaction system. Throughout lengthy campaigns, you can recruit NPCs to help guard stash houses, fight alongside you, and carry out hits. These NPCs can suffer and benefit from a long list of passive and active effects throughout a run.
"I would hope that players become attached to their characters, that they do develop favorites. That they know that these two characters are sort of uniquely suited to each other and if they're left together, odds are that they might fall in love," Brenda Romero told Gamasutra. "But I also love the idea of surprising players with the stories that are told. If you play a game and say with Maria Rodriguez that by the end of the game your Maria Rodriguez is different than my Maria Rodriguez."
Units can become alcoholics, fall in love with someone else, go insane from continuous violence, and even get a sexually transmitted disease. Each effect has different impacts on characters, ...
"You can't have human-on-human conflict at scale without a system," she added. The system in Empire of Sin is completely built off the player's choices -- how they choose to build their empire will influence what their soldiers do. Own too many brothels and you could contract more STDs, put someone in work at a brewery for too long and they could become an alcoholic.
Romero doesn't know how many traits and effects she'll have in the game as she wants to "get as many as she can fit in" up until the game ships in 2020.
See the full story here: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/354810/Brenda_Romero_breaks_down_Empire_of_Sins_complex_relationship_system.php
6Dec/19Off
Disney’s Rise of the Resistance Ride Review: The Most Transportive Ride Of All Time
Take the primary ride vehicle. Like many new attractions, Rise of the Resistance uses an autonomous trackless vehicle. Think of it this way: A typical tracked ride moves along the same predictable path each and every time. A trackless ride can sweep a space like a drone, interacting with its environment and other ride vehicles, backtracking, and moving in almost any which way.
Still, many new rides that feature trackless tech don’t really use it to accomplish anything new or exciting. With Rise of the Resistance, your ride vehicle literally goes up an enormous elevator, seems to fall from the sky with a sudden Tower of Terror-esque freefall, and “clicks” into place on Star Tours-like simulator. This ride simply couldn’t exist on a track.
“Traditionally in an attraction, we settle on one ride system and that might become the main drive,” says Cory Rouse, Creative Director for Walt Disney Imagineering. “We have four different ride systems in Rise of the Resistance, and we had to tie them all together to serve the story.”
The trackless tech is also used to create a real character: A scared droid who has been tasked with piloting your vehicle. Its movements are frantic and skittish as it races to get you (and itself) to safety. Through it all, your route feels improvised and uncertain—a feeling made by the lack of a physical track to telegraph your next move.