Sensorium Galaxy: Metaverse

The EDM music pioneer will transcend the confines of reality to deliver a ground-breaking virtual performance in the Sensorium Galaxy.

The legendary British electronic music icon, Carl Cox, will treat fans worldwide on Friday to a mesmerising 30-minute DJ set as part of a free show called "Intermundium."

But here's the twist – he won't actually physically be there.  READ MORE...

Instead, an astonishingly lifelike digital avatar of Cox, crafted by Sensorium Galaxy, will take centre stage for a pioneering metaverse experience.

Three Stage Authentication

In recent years, many computer scientists have been exploring the notion of metaverse, an online space in which users can access different virtual environments and immersive experiences, using VR and AR headsets. While navigating the metaverse, users might also share personal data, whether to purchase goods, connect with other users, or for other purposes.

Past studies have consistently highlighted the limitations of password authentication systems, as there are now many cyber-attacks and strategies for cracking them. To increase the security of users navigating the metaverse, therefore, password-based authentication would be far from ideal.

This inspired a team of researchers at VIT-AP University in India to create MetaSecure, a password-less authentication system for the metaverse. This system, introduced in a paper pre-published on arXiv, combines three different authentication techniques, namely device attestation, facial recognition and physical security keys.

"The concept of metaverse promotes the sustainable growth of human civilizations, enhancing communication on a virtual platform," Sibi Chakkaravarthy, Aditya Mitra and Anisha Ghosh, three of the researchers who carried out the study, told Tech Xplore. "In such a scenario, security of one's digital identity is a main concern. Thus, we came up with MetaSecure, a novel authentication system."

MetaSecure was designed to significantly increase the security of the metaverse, protecting users as they engage in a range of virtual activities. The authentication system can secure a wide range of personal data and possessions, including digital assets, online identities, avatars, and financial information.   TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Mr. Clean to the Metaverse

While the world debates exactly what the metaverse will and ought to be, two multinationals made a game out of cleaning it up as they seek to determine their place in the internet of the future.

Retail giant Carrefour and consumer-products behemoth Procter & GamblePG -1.2% (P&G) invited wannabe metazens to a virtual party chez Mr. Clean (M. Propre in French) last week. The three-day experiment saw users log into P&G’s LifeLab, where they could help the bald-headed mascot tidy various parts of his home while exploring different P&G products. The goal? Clean as much as you can in two minutes. Users were then also entered in a giveaway with the chance to win a €40 coupon for use on the companies’ websites.

The house looks spotless upon entrance, yet each room has a special task: surf through kitchen counters on a sponge and clean up food splatters or dance while sweeping the bedroom floor.

While retail metaverse initiatives have largely come from the luxury and fashion industries, with Gucci, Prada and NikeNKE -0.4% taking the lead, the more prosaic pairing last week showed the technology could be used for immersive marketing to audiences beyond crypto fanatics and the ultra rich.

“We think that the metaverse is not only for a few people or for luxury brands, it can enter our everyday life and be accessible to all,” says Denise Rodrigues-Vielliard, press manager at Carrefour.  READ MORE...

Metaverse Education

The term Metaverse was invented by Neal Stephenson in a science fiction novel, almost 30 years ago. He envisioned lifelike avatars who met in 3D buildings and other virtual reality environments. Over the past couple of years, the metaverse has begun representing a progressive convergence of digital experiences. This upcoming domain is perceived as a graphically rich virtual space, with some degree of multi-dimensional aspect that will allow people to work, play, shop, socialize, and bring humans back together in this virtual world.

Big tech companies are building metaverse projects to utilize the benefits of the metaverse. Companies like the Meta Platforms build in the metaverse by using its world-leading software and solutions. Other big tech companies are building blocks with the help of advanced technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. The digital world is garnering millions of dollars worth of investment to foresee the future of the internet.  SOURCE:  AnalyticsInsights.net

According to Loma Linda University, the best way to achieve student knowledge retention is to teach what you know to someone else, followed by learning by doing...  However, most instructors and college professors still teach via lecture notes, PowerPoint, and teaching assistants who help themselves more than they are helping their students...

While big tech is looking at the metaverse as a way to generate profits, teaching and training organizations should look at the universe as a way to not just accelerate the teaching of employees but increase their retention of knowledge abilities.

A student surgeon can practice surgeries in the metaverse for as long as is needed in order to perfect a procedure...  so, would not the same concept apply to a supervisor who has to talk with disruptive employees...  or take classes during their lunch hour?

A NASCAR team can use the metaverse to help perfect their tire-changing abilities as can a Broadway actor use the metaverse to help learn their lines and perfect their body language.

The metaverse is not just a tool for Mark Zuckerberg to increase his wealth.

Working in a Metaverse

Facebook’s metaverse was always intended to be more than another virtual reality application. It would provide users with infinite space and infinite possibilities, to move around, interact, engage, and even earn in a VR world. One of the key use cases the company has factored in is work.

“By 2030, the new generations of Oculus will allow users to teleport from one place to another without moving from their couch — not only for gaming and entertainment but also for work,” Mark Zuckerberg said in a March podcast. Then, in August, the company introduced a VR collaboration solution called Horizon Workrooms. And now, Facebook has completely rebranded as Meta, with a clear vision for a VR-enabled metaverse.

The notion of the metaverse contains within it several elements: multiple VR worlds, interactive and near-real digital assets, the ability to move around and teleport without restrictions, and problem-solving in 3D. All of these are extremely conducive to work-related use cases.

What Is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is defined as a three-dimensional internet powered by virtual reality and augmented reality. It is persistent (exists regardless of the user’s presence), real-time (users can experience live events), infinite (supports unlimited concurrent users and VR worlds), self-sustaining (users can work for and pay for things in the metaverse), and interoperable (there’s only one metaverse and everything is integrated within it).

Importantly, this definition of the metaverse exists independent of Facebook (now rebranded as Meta). The term was coined in the 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash and there have been several attempts to build the metaverse since then. However, early attempts like Second Life, Roblox, and NeosVR were all limited gaming applications. The new metaverses put forward by Facebook and also Microsoft are geared for work-related use cases – i.e., communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.

Working in the Metaverse: Key Advantages
What are the advantages of working in the metaverse? In 2019, this question might have been slightly harder to answer. But now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions around the world were forced to switch to digital-only modes of communication and some kind of a virtual workspace. Working in the metaverse takes this a step further to bring you all the capabilities of the real world, with very little of its challenges or limitations.
Overcome the challenges of remote work

This is the biggest advantage of working in the metaverse. When telecommuting, users often complain that they are unable to read body language and communicate effectively. Managers struggle to maintain visibility over team productivity. And, due to the prolonged absence of in-person interactions, there is risk of disengagement. The metaverse creates an immersive virtual workplace where 3D avatars of employees can work together just like in the real world.  READ MORE...

The Metaverse

Silicon Valley has been anticipating virtual reality for more than three decades, and keeps running into the same problem: people mostly like actual reality

Maybe this will be my Paul Krugman moment. The Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist was famously the winner of a study to establish which op-ed commentator was most consistently correct. 

In 1998, he also famously claimed, “By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.” 

I am not nearly so storied in accomplishments as Krugman. But I do make my living offering predictions and forecasts. 

So I might as well say it: I predict that the metaverse won’t happen.

The “metaverse,” for those who don’t know, is a still-mostly-hypothetical virtual world accessed by special virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology. 

The idea is to create a sort of next-level Internet overlaid on our physical world. People plugged into the metaverse exist in our physical world like everyone else but can see and interact with things that others can’t. 

Think The Matrix or the Star Trek Holodeck or the Fortnite-esque brandscapes of Ready Player One.  READ MORE