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| Here's today's metaverse briefing: - Futureverse partners with Alibaba Cloud;
- Lobbying expenses of the leading internet companies in the U.S. in the first half of 2023;
- Reality Labs, Meta's mixed reality division, reported a loss of $11.4B in 2023
And much more! Thank you! Vildana
p/vildana-b | |
| 1 | | Futureverse has partnered with Alibaba Cloud, combining AI music solutions with secure, scalable cloud computing technology in the metaverse. This collaboration aims to develop high-performance AI infrastructure and robust security standards for the music and entertainment industry. More: - Futureverse's JEN-1 model, a high-fidelity text-to-music generation AI, was trained on Alibaba Cloud's Machine Learning Platform for AI (PAI).
- Alibaba Cloud's PAI offers tools to develop specific AI models across various industries.
- Futureverse recently published a research paper introducing JEN-1, which outperforms previous state-of-the-art baselines in the metaverse.
- Alibaba Cloud's secure and scalable cloud computing technology is crucial to this development.
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What the numbers say: Several prominent U.S. tech firms actively lobby to influence federal policies impacting their operations. In the first six months of 2023, Amazon.com led the internet sector in lobbying expenditures, allocating $9.81M to these efforts, while Meta followed closely, spending $9.5M on lobbying activities. Alphabet Inc. followed with $6.41M, while ByteDance (TikTok's Chinese parent company) allocated $4.28M to lobbying efforts. Relevance: In 2022, Apple increased its lobbying spending by 44% compared to 2021, totaling nearly $9.4M, just below Microsoft's $9.8M and Google's $10.9M. Amazon and Meta led the tech industry in lobbying expenditures, with $19.7M and $19.2M, respectively, contributing to the combined nearly $69M spent by the five tech giants, a 5% increase from the previous year. These companies faced potential legislative challenges, including antitrust bills that could disrupt their business models. Despite these threats, the bills did not reach a vote, partly attributed to the tech industry's aggressive lobbying efforts. Impact: Semiconductor firms significantly increased lobbying expenditures in response to the U.S. government's CHIPS and Science Act, which offers incentives for domestic chip production. ByteDance increased its lobbying spending by 4% to $4.9M in 2022, following a Congressional ban on the app on government devices. After a peak lobbying expenditure of over $2M in Q2, ByteDance reduced its spending to below $1M in the following two quarters of 2022. | | | |
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| 3 | | Reality Labs, Meta's mixed reality division, reported a loss of $11.4B in 2023, with $3.7B lost in Q3 alone, amidst declining sales of the Quest 2 headset. Reality Labs earned $210M in revenue during Q3, according to the company's fiscal report, marking a 20% year-over-year decline. More: - Lower sales of the Quest 2 headset significantly contributed to the revenue drop.
- Meta's CFO, Susan Li, cited in an earnings call that headcount, operating expenses, and product costs as major loss contributors.
- Despite losses, Meta plans to continue investing in next-gen VR/AR products.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg may increase short-term recruitment for specific roles.
- Meta aims to dominate the MR market with its ongoing investments.
- Meta is undergoing a restructuring plan, cutting over 20,000 jobs.
Zoom Out: - Statista offers valuable insights into the projected growth and future trends of VR/AR technology in the U.S. market.
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| 4 | | Researchers at Brown University and Cornell University have developed VRoxy, a VR software program that enables users to control a robot proxy through natural movements, facilitating remote collaboration in physical spaces. The software includes an innovative mapping technique that compresses larger physical spaces into smaller VR environments, allowing users to navigate and collaborate seamlessly. More: - VRoxy allows remote users to be virtually transported to a physical space, such as an office or laboratory.
- Users can interact with colleagues through gestures and facial expressions using the robot proxy.
- The software addresses the challenge of using robot proxies and AR for remote collaboration in spaces of different dimensions.
- The National Science Foundation and the Nakajima Foundation supported this work.
- The innovative mapping technique is a key feature of VRoxy, enabling seamless navigation and collaboration in VR environments.
Zoom Out: | | | |
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| 5 | | Animoca Brands has acquired Azarus, a Web3 streaming platform, to expand its metaverse gaming portfolio and solidify its presence in the Web3 arena. This move aims to establish a player-owned economy within the Web3 gaming space, granting creators, gamers, and streamers control over their digital property rights. More: - Metaverse and gaming venture capital firm Animoca Brands is committed to integrating innovative technology into its Web3 gaming portfolio.
- The collaboration aims to leverage Azarus' blockchain-powered game streaming expertise.
- Azarus enables gamers to unlock new revenue streams and reward their audience.
- Viewers can direct revenue toward their favorite creators, supporting content creation.
- The acquisition redefines the relationship between gamers, creators, and their audiences.
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| 6 | | Everdome, a UAE-based metaverse pioneer, has launched SPACES, a Metaverse-as-a-Service (MaaS) product line. This application combines Unreal Engine 5 with blockchain technology to offer easy-to-use metaverse templates for showcasing images, videos, streaming, and more in an interactive environment. More: - SPACES was launched following Everdome's Mars Landing experience, marking the completion of their alpha layer-one immersive metaverse destination.
- CEO Jeremy Lopez aims to improve metaverse engagement and provide a simple entry point for users to explore the Web3 world.
- SPACES is part of Everdome's wider MaaS product line, set to release gradually between Q3 2023 and Q1 2024.
- Everdome believes MaaS will become a standard for Web3 development, offering on-demand, subscription-based access to metaverse development.
- The application allows users to create engaging metaverse pop-up spaces in minutes, democratizing access to the metaverse.
Zoom Out: -
The "Defining and Building the Metaverse" initiative by the World Economic Forum (WEF) seeks to unite key players from various sectors to develop a safe, inclusive, and economically sustainable metaverse. | | | |
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- Meta's CTO predicts that eye tracking will become a standard feature in all Quest headsets.
- Fidelity, an Australian VR company, has launched the country's first virtual shopping experience in partnership with major retailers Cotton On Group and Linen House.
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