Disney executives met this week to discuss the company's foray into Web3 and the metaverse. Mike White, who is leading the charge, described the intended move to Web3 as "next-generation storytelling." The first meeting of Disney's potential metaverse "task force" included Mike White, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution Chair Kareem Daniel, Parks, Experiences and Products Chair Josh D’Amaro, and several other high-ranking executives and creatives. More: - No specific strategy has been announced.
- It is unlikely the company is looking to compete with industry leaders like Meta. Disney is not necessarily working on developing VR headsets or other hardware.
- As Chief Executive Bob Chapek explained, Disney conceptualizes the metaverse as the "third dimension of the canvas."
- Chapek continued, "we have something that no one else has, and that’s the physical world, a world of our parks. And so, if the metaverse is the blending of the physical and the digital in one environment, who can do it better than Disney?"
- Disney has already experimented with NFTs in a collection titled "Golden Moments."
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 OneFootball Labs raised $300M Series D. The company wants to center fan engagement by encouraging participants to buy and collect digital assets. Liberty City Ventures led the round. More: - OneFootball Labs grew out of a partnership between the German application One Football and the NFT-focused Animoca Brands.
- The new Web3 platform will use blockchain technology to host fan-based experiences with their favorite clubs, leagues, federations, and players.
- According to Lucas Von Cranach, "We believe the future of football away from the stands and off the pitch will be decentralized and built on Web3, giving back the ownership of data and digital assets to the fans.”
- Dapper Labs co-founder and COO Mik Naayem believes the venture could bring "100 million users to relevant NFTs for the first time."
- Several blockchain and venture capital firms also joined the round, including Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, DAH Beteiligungs GmbH, Quiet Capital, RIT Capital Partners, Senator Investment Group, and Alsara Investment Group.
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A leader in AR technologies and already testing a smart glasses prototype, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel distinguishes himself and his company from Meta in putting the "real world" first. In a recent interview with the Guardian, Siegel remained reticent about the "metaverse" because the concept remains "pretty ambiguous and hypothetical." More: - Spiegel told the Verge earlier this week that the metaverse "doesn't exist yet." Instead, he is interested in the "250 million people engaging with AR every day in just the Snapchat application."
- Spiegel and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg agree that glasses are the future of AR.
- Snap is already testing a prototype of its forthcoming smartglasses.
- Considered the "happiest" social platform, Snapchat hosts 332 million daily users with a market cap of $46.95B.
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 The Illinois Museum and USC's Shoah Foundation have partnered to preserve the world's few remaining Holocaust survivors' stories in VR. Visitors to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center can interact with holographic doubles of survivors or use VR headsets to move through concentration camps in tours led by survivors. More: - The exhibition has two parts: "The Journey Back: A VR Experience" and "The Abe & Ida Cooper Survivor Stories Experience."
- Using VR headsets, visitors to "The Journey Back" sit in swivel chairs while survivors lead tours through modern-day Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and Ebensee concentration camps.
- "The Abe & Ida Cooper Survivor Stories Experience" allows visitors to ask holographic duplicates of survivors questions that the hologram answers in real-time based on ~40 hours of interview materials.
- One VR "tour guide," the holocaust survivor George Brent (who has since passed), described the experience as "so realistic."
- According to the museum, approximately 250,000 to 400,000 Holocaust survivors still live today.
- The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center CEO, Susan Abrams, said, “Technology will make [sharing these stories] scalable, too, so that ultimately millions can have these experiences.”
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 VR is increasingly growing in popularity amongst educators, especially in health education. This week professors at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and Texas A&M College of Nursing celebrated the introduction of virtual learning technologies. More: - At Texas A&M, nursing students use VR to simulate patient care, forensic nursing, breathing interventions, referrals, etc.
- Using VR headsets, the student "gain hours of experience," and, according to Clinical Assistant Professor Elizabeth Wells-Beede, "it really helps increase [students'] confidence levels."
- The VR simulations were built in concert with Texas A&M's Schools of Visualization and Architecture.
- Twenty nursing students at Texas Tech are participating in a VR pilot program.
- Students use Oculus headsets to engage with virtual patients in 20-minute sessions.
- At Vanderbilt, one Psychological Sciences Ph.D. candidate Noah Robinson is growing the VR program that he and his colleagues hope will become the future of medical education at Vanderbilt.
- Robinson's startup, Very Real Help, Inc., has raised $2M.
- Robinson's foray into virtual education has also spurred a pilot program called SparkleVille at Vanderbilt.
- Currently, students are using VR to engage with peer-led relaxation groups that the students believe could be "used for therapy, chronic pain management, working through fears, and offering unique experiences to people in nursing homes or hospice care."
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Yesterday, the open-blockchain metaverse RFOX VALT launched its MVP (minimal viable product) and opened basic features to select members. The metaverse intends to become a viable digital economy where visitors can socialize, shop, and game. More: - RFOX VALT integrates blockchains and VR, beginning with the WAX blockchain.
- Users can access the RFOX VALT via its Oculus store app.
- The MVP launch coincides with the metaverse's rollout of essential features.
- Select users can create avatars, socialize, browse and purchase NFTs, and customize shops.
- RFOX CEO and Co-Founder Ben Fairbank described the platform's launch: “The RFOX VALT MVP is a chance for our users, community, and partners to test basic functionality ahead of significant changes in form."
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 |  | Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History. While working toward her Ph.D., Courtney has developed an interest in the language and history of the tech industry, especially regarding metaverse technologies, streaming, and podcasting. In fact, she hosted her own podcast Low Culture Boil! You can find her on Twitter: @ckayerawlings Email: courtney@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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