philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Deloitte, USGA Develop Augmented Reality App for the 2019 U.S. Open Championship

New for this year, a U.S. Open Augmented Reality (AR) App by Deloitte will provide golf fans with an engaging and innovative digital experience for the 119th U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links, June 10-16.

Available in the Apple App and Google Play Stores, U.S. Open AR offers fans – watching on-site at Pebble Beach or from elsewhere – exclusive insights into player performance on the iconic 6th, 7th and 18th holes, in 3-dimensional augmented reality. Pebble Beach will come to life on users’ mobile devices through a virtual map of the course, allowing fans to follow the action in real-time, compare player performance and see how competitors performed on signature holes. Additionally, golf fans can re-live historic shots by the five previous U.S. Open champions, including Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and Tiger Woods in 2000. To activate the experience, users aim their phones at the AR image, available on-site in the tee times guide and for download HERE.

“We are excited to continue to work closely with the USGA to develop experiences that transform the way fans engage with the championship,” says Allan Cook, managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “We are bridging the gap between the human experience and the digital to heighten fan enjoyment, create conversations and community, and allow more people to connect to the game they love.”

See the full story here: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/06/07/deloitte-usga-develop-augmented-reality-app-for-the-2019-u-s-open-championship/

War of the Worlds – VR on stage

War of the Worlds has been re-imagined for a new generation, 40 years after it was first adapted for stage.

The new experience, which opened in London, combines augmented reality and virtual reality with immersive theatre – allowing visitors to interact with actors and their virtual counterparts.

Jeff Wayne has also adapted his award-winning original soundtrack for the experience.

See the full story here: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-48535299/why-jeff-wayne-changed-the-war-of-the-worlds-soundtrack

From augmented reality to fake news: Five glimpses of the future from sci-fi author Neal Stephenson

Augmented reality: “Part of this book takes place 20 years or so in the future, and I think it’d be silly to write a book 20 years in the future where people are still running around staring at little glowing rectangles in their hands,” he said (at 31:00 in the YouTube clip below).

Quantum computing:  In “Fall,” they’re essential to reconstructing consciousness — but Stephenson acknowledged that he doesn’t know a lot about the technical details. “I’m sort of waving a magic wand” to address a narrative need, he said. “Don’t take any of that too seriously.” (48:14).

Fake news:  Stephenson said fact-based discourse was one of the key concepts to emerge in the 16th century, as documented in “A Culture of Fact” by Barbara Shapiro. “It turned out to be an incredibly valuable and useful thing to have in a society, and now it’s being destroyed,” he said. The good news is that Shapiro’s account “gives us hope that there’s a way to rebuild the culture of fact going forward” (41:20 in the clip).

Amistics:  “Amistics,” the idea that segments of society can voluntarily forswear types of technology to preserve their own well-being. The word’s origin goes back to observations about Amish sect members, who avoid using electricity and automobiles for religious reasons. In “Seveneves,” society decides to swear off high-frequency social media tools because of their ill effects. For more about Amistics, check out “Amish Hackers” by Kevin Kelly, and “The Art of Amistics” by Tom Chatfield. (43:45).

 See the full story here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/augmented-reality-fake-news-five-022225089.html

Virtual Reality Comes To Broadway In A Big Way

Soon viewers around the globe will be able to experience entire Broadway shows using VR technology. They will have the option to choose from a selection of vantage points, (or, in VR lingo, “jump spots”), from stage to orchestra pit to front row and beyond. For people who do not have access Broadway shows, this platform could be a game changer. What’s more, for VR lovers who have never experienced Broadway or live theater, it’s an alluring shiny new toy.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerylbrunner/2019/06/07/virtual-reality-comes-to-broadway-in-a-big-way/#22eda69e1367

Snap’s 180% surge since Dec. aided by more teens loving augmented reality

From a growth in users to augmented reality driving engagement, Pivotal Research Group’s Michael Levine says there are "increasing signs of momentum in the business on multiple fronts." The equity research firm upgraded Snap to buy from hold on Thursday, and raised its price target to US$17.25 a share from US$13.25.

Still "there is a healthy amount of remaining skepticism about the business among investors," Levine admits, but "a turn in usage and revenues could translate into a meaningful re-rating higher."

See the full story here: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/snap-s-180-surge-aided-by-more-teens-loving-augmented-reality-1.1269790

Coalition of Banks Launches Bitcoin for Cross-Border Trade

Led by UBS Group, 14 financial firms including banks in the United States, Europe and Japan are using blockchain technology to settle cross-border trades. The group, which spent the last four years developing this project, invested £50 million ($63.2 million) to establish Fnality International, a company to control the bitcoin token, dubbed the utility settlement coin (USC). Trades can take a long time to clear and failed trades are common; the USC token would both carry all the information to complete a trade and be payment for it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the project’s launch “may herald a new phase in the banking sector’s adoption of blockchain.” “A number of blockchain projects are moving out of the experimental phase and into production, a sign that the technology is becoming more integrated in the global financial infrastructure,” it adds.

See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/coalition-of-banks-launches-bitcoin-for-cross-border-trade/

ePlay and 8i Announce Augmented Reality Partnership and L.A. AR Studio

ePlay Digital Inc. (CSE:EPY) today announced its partnership with 8i, a leading volumetric video company with facilities in Los Angeles, Seoul, Tokyo, Wellington, and Seattle. ePlay will integrate 8i hardware and content used for creating and publishing 3D avatars into ePlay’s sports, esports, and entertainment mobile game platform and Fan Zones. The collaboration increases ePlay’s presence in Los Angeles, dramatically decreases development time for adding celebrities and athletes into Big Shot games, and creates new sponsorship and advertising revenues for the two companies.  ePlay recently announced that Big Shot is expected to generate an average esports, and in-app purchase revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) of USD$1.46. The new features, advertising, and sponsorship revenues from this partnership are expected to add USD$0.03 ARPDAU in 2019 and drive ePlay’s gross margin rate to over 80% in 2020.

See the full story here: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/06/05/1864890/0/en/ePlay-and-8i-Announce-Augmented-Reality-Partnership-and-L-A-AR-Studio.html

Google invests in augmented reality tech startup Hello TeamSolar

Hello TeamSolar has partnered with Google to create augmented reality (AR) technology focused on customized experiences in specific locations. As part of the deal, Google has invested in Hello TeamSolar.

The funding will primarily go toward developing a platform for branded custom AR experiences to be played in large-scale settings across multiple devices in real time. The team will also be working with Google to create applications that support AR location-based services. The startup is creating a platform to deliver content via multiple devices with Google Cloud Anchors.

Archie Prakash, who is on the faculty of University of Southern California’s Interactive Games & Media department, founded Hello TeamSolar along with Nick Fortugno, creator of Diner Dash and CEO of Playmatics, and Linda Franke, a former lecturer at UDK Berlin (Berlin Arts University).

Google will own roughly 5% of Hello TeamSolar, which has a post valuation of $10 million.

Hello TeamSolar’s advisers include Samuel Roberts of USC Cinematic Arts and Maria Essig of Google.

See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/05/google-invests-in-augmented-reality-tech-startup-hello-teamsolar/

Forget Augmented and Virtual Reality, Genuine Reality is Making a Comeback

Video analytics is a seldom-used term, however, its impact is game-changing. Picture this familiar scenario: a fashion retailer has a physical store on the high street and an online e-commerce website for the same product ranges. People enter the store to try on the products and browse the items that they are interested in, but the majority of people leave without buying anything at all. Often, when this is the case, those who do not buy are never registered as having existed in the company’s data understanding (apart from perhaps as a contributor to footfall).

The online store, on the other hand, sees more sales due to the convenient nature of the service. All data that is collected from the website automatically from cookies and tracking links are analysed and inputted into the online feedback loop, whether a person bought made a purchase or not. However, this feedback loop does not exist for the physical store. Detailed pre-purchase data simply hasn’t existed until now. This is the way that the industry has always worked and will always work, right…? Perhaps not, anymore…

Technology has now reached the stage where similar kinds of data can be collected from the physical store as already from online activity. Video analytics is the medium which enables this to happen. By having one or a set of analytics-enabled cameras in the store, data is collected from how people interact with the physical space around them. Once collected this is run through an artificial intelligence system that can identify, categorise and rank different behaviours. No annoying feedback forms upon checkout. No emails asking how people’s in-store experience was. Nothing. By utilising smart, analytics-enabled cameras, business intelligence data can be collected and used to inform an important business decision on a regular basis. This leads to a more intelligent model of operation and, quite simply, a more successful business.

See the full story here: https://www.technative.io/forget-augmented-and-virtual-reality-genuine-reality-is-making-a-comeback/

TO FIGHT DEEPFAKES, RESEARCHERS BUILT A SMARTER CAMERA

But what if that tamper-resistant seal originated from the camera itself? The NYU team demonstrates that you could adapt the signal processors inside—whether it's a fancy DSLR or a regular smartphone camera—so they essentially place watermarks in each photo's code. The researchers propose training a neural network to power the photo development process that happens inside cameras, so as the sensors are interpreting the light hitting the lens and turning it into a high quality image, the neural network is also trained to mark the file with indelible indicators that can be checked later, if needed, by forensic analysts.

"People are still not thinking about security—you have to go close to the source where the image is captured," says Nasir Memon, one of the project researchers from NYU Tandon who specializes in multimedia security and forensics. "So what we’re doing in this work is we are creating an image which is forensics-friendly, which will allow better forensic analysis than a typical image. It's a proactive approach rather than just creating images for their visual quality and then hoping that forensics techniques work after the fact."

The main thing consumers expect from cameras is ever-improving image quality and fidelity. So one main focus of the project was showing that incorporating machine learning into the image signal processing that goes on inside of a camera doesn't visibly detract from photo quality as it paves the way for tamper-resistant elements. And adding these features within the image-generation hardware itself means that by the time files are being stored in the camera's SD card or other memory—where they're potentially at risk of manipulation—they are already imbued with their tamper-evident seals.

The researchers mainly insert their watermarks into certain color frequencies, so they will persist through typical post-processing—like compression or brightness adjustments—but show modification if the content of an image is altered. Overall, the forensic-friendly additions improved image manipulation detection accuracy from about 45 percent to more than 90 percent.

"As the research and industrial communities consider this technology, I do think they should be wary of potential risks posed by anti-forensic attacks and adversarial machine learning," says Matthew Stamm, an information forensics researcher at Drexel University. " ... But it’s feasible that an attacker might be able to create a deep learning network to remove these security artifacts, allow an image to be modified or falsified, then re-insert the security artifacts afterward."

For forensic watermarking to really make an impact on curbing deepfakes it would need to work on video also, something the researchers say they haven't broached yet, but that would be theoretically possible.

See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/story/detect-deepfakes-camera-watermark/