In 2013, Apple bought PrimeSense, which developed motion-sensing technology in Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect gaming system. Purchases of software startups in the field, Metaio Inc. and Flyby Media Inc., followed in 2015 and 2016.
“AR can be really great, and we have been and continue to invest a lot in this,” Cook said in a July 26 conference call with analysts. “We are high on AR for the long run. We think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.”
argeted advertising based on an individual’s religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity is banned. Minors cannot be subject to targeted advertising either.
“Dark patterns” — confusing or deceptive user interfaces designed to steer users into making certain choices — will be prohibited. The EU says that, as a rule, canceling subscriptions should be as easy as signing up for them.
Large online platforms like Facebook will have to make the working of their recommender algorithms (used for sorting content on the News Feed or suggesting TV shows on Netflix) transparent to users. Users should also be offered a recommender system “not based on profiling.” In the case of Instagram, for example, this would mean a chronological feed (as it introduced recently).
Hosting services and online platforms will have to explain clearly why they have removed illegal content as well as give users the ability to appeal such takedowns. The DSA itself does not define what content is illegal, though, and leaves this up to individual countries.
The largest online platforms will have to provide key data to researchers to “provide more insight into how online risks evolve.”
Online marketplaces must keep basic information about traders on their platform to track down individuals selling illegal goods or services.
Large platforms will also have to introduce new strategies for dealing with misinformation during crises (a provision inspired by the recent invasion of Ukraine).
hese tech companies have lobbied hard to water down the requirements in the DSA, particularly those concerning targeted advertising and handing over data to outside researchers.
To help educators leverage the power of AR wherever learning takes place, Discovery Education has made the Sandbox AR iPad app available for free in the Apple App Store.
In the simplest explanation, the metaverse is just a sexy, aspirational name for some kind of virtual or augmented-reality play. Facebook owns a company called Oculus, which manufactures and sells VR computers and headsets. Oculus is also making a 3-D, virtual platform called Horizon—think Minecraft with avatars, but without the blocks. Facebook, Apple, and others have also invested heavily in augmented reality, a kind of computer graphics that uses goggles to overlay interactive elements onto a live view of the world. So far, the most viable applications of VR and AR can be found in medicine, architecture, and manufacturing, but dreams of its widespread consumer appeal persist. If those dreams become realized, you’ll probably end up buying crap and yelling at people through a head-mounted display, instead of through your smartphone.
In actuality, Facebook is basically spending $10 billion on a prayer that, in the short run, it might change the conversation. It gives them an opportunity to talk about the metaverse instead of insurrection and teen depression. It gives Mark Zuckerberg a chance to talk about the metaverse instead of saying, “Hi, I’m the CEO of Facebook, I’m ruining the world.”
The people with the most options in the world, specifically Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, either want to be off the planet or they want to create a different universe on this planet. It feels like the mother of all abdications. “We don’t want to improve the world, we want to go to a different world.” It seems somewhat nihilistic and strange.
Oculus sells like 2 or 3 million units a year? Apple sold 110 million AirPods last year.
While he once said it was hard to see the appeal of Google Glass, the AR wearable that proved unpopular with consumers, he’s held a consistently positive opinion on AR since at least 2016.
AR features are already available on the iPhone and iPad. And while hope is starting to fade that Apple will release a mixed reality device in 2022, the latest rumors suggest the company is still forging ahead with some kind of AR / VR headset to be released in the not-distant future.
Xu said he welcomes the competition from these titans. “I think the best product will win,” he said.
Nreal has its own operating system called Nebula that runs on its headsets. Like Apple with iOS on iPhones, developers can make apps for Nebula which people can then use via Nreal headsets.
Having compelling apps on AR headsets will be key to their success and Nreal is trying to lure developers onto Nebula. The company currently has 8,000 developers on the platform.
Talespin, a workplace training company specializing in VR, released a bizarre workplace simulator wherein you are tasked with firing virtual workers in order to teach you leadership skills and emotional intelligence.
Founded in 2012 and previously known as AxonVR, the company’s tech promises to deliver realistic touch feedback to users reaching out for objects in VR, thanks to microfluidics in the glove system that physically and precisely displace the skin on a user’s hands and fingers.
Virtual and augmented reality have not yet reached mainstream consumers as some predicted but enterprise-focused startups such as HaptX have found traction. Large tech companies such as Facebook and Apple also continue investing in the technology, and investors keep making bets.