Google’s Project Starline Wants to Turn You Into a Hologram

Image may contain Furniture Human Person Sitting Flooring Table Wood and ReceptionVideo: Google Over the past several years, Google has been working hard to craft software experiences that make you feel like you’re present with another human being, even if they’re several time zones away. On one end of the spectrum is boring Google Meet , the company’s Zoom competitor.

But nothing within that gamut was cutting it for Clay Bavor, the high-energy Googler who heads up the company’s augmented- and virtual-reality efforts. He wanted full-on photo-realistic, volumetric video meetings that make it look, sound, and feel like the other person is sitting across the table from you—no headset required.

Source: Google’s Project Starline Wants to Turn You Into a Hologram

Zuckerberg Announces Fantasy World Where Facebook Is Not a Horrible Company

Moments before announcing Facebook is changing its name to “Meta” and detailing the company’s “metaverse” plans during a Facebook Connect presentation on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg said “some people will say this isn’t a time to focus on the future,” referring to the massive, ongoing scandal plaguing his company relating to the myriad ways Facebook has made the world worse. “I believe technology can make our lives better.”

Source: Zuckerberg Announces Fantasy World Where Facebook Is Not a Horrible Company

The grand unified theory of aesthetic vlogging 

AESTHETIC VLOG || 1 - YouTubeWhile we all occasionally note the way information and images are presented, most people tend to prioritize function over aesthetic value. But not aesthetic vloggers. Viewing and evaluating the internet as chiefly an aesthetic object — how aesthetically pleasing, beautiful or cute something is displayed/presented — is what unifies them.

Gone are the days of endless customizability (Myspace, Tumblr, Neopets, Live Journal), so aesthetes are tasked with creatively filling the content void left by mid-to-late aughts fashion bloggers (Lookbook.nu, The Sartorialist, Style Bubble, etc.) and 2010s beauty gurus.

Source: The grand unified theory of aesthetic vlogging – TechCrunch

Kat Norton’s spiritual journey to becoming a Microsoft Excel influencer

Kat Norton is dancing her way to internet fame—but not in the way you’re probably thinking. On TikTok, where Norton has about 650,000 followers , she has an ulterior motive when she busts a move. To Gary Lee Clark Jr.’s cover of “Come Together” by The Beatles, Norton gyrates as she shows her followers how to combine two separate columns on a spreadsheet.

Source: Kat Norton’s spiritual journey to becoming a Microsoft Excel influencer

How Netflix affects what we watch and who we are — and it’s not just the algorithm

The possibilities of streaming have inspired a new “classificatory imagination”. I coined this term to describe how viewing the world through genres, labels and categories helps shape our own identities and sense of place in the world.

While 50 years ago, you might have discovered a handful of music genres through friends or by going to the record shop, the advent of streaming has brought classification and genre to our media consumption on a grand scale. Spotify alone has over five thousand music genres. Listeners also come up with their own genre labels when creating playlists. We are constantly fed new labels and categories as we consume music, films and television.

Source: How Netflix affects what we watch and who we are — and it’s not just the algorithm

Do Streaming Release Strategies Even Matter?

The TV industry has been debating the wisdom of Netflix’s binge release model since that Super Bowl weekend back in 2013 when the streamer dropped the entire first season of House of Cards all at once. Netflix argues its approach is best because it prioritizes customers, and that younger audiences in particular want to feast on big batches of content all at once rather than have episodes spoonfed to them over a few months. Hollywood’s old guard makes the case that tossing out a full season in one day dramatically shortens a show’s pop-culture half-life and makes their art feel disposable. 

Source: Do Streaming Release Strategies Even Matter?

Squid Game: the real debt crisis shaking South Korea that inspired the hit TV show

Squid Game adds to other recent South Korean screen productions, most notably the 2020 Oscar-winning film Parasite, in providing a sharp critique of the socio-economic inequality that plagues the lives of many in South Korea. More specifically, it speaks to the deepening household debt crisis affecting the lower and middle classes.

Source: Squid Game: the real debt crisis shaking South Korea that inspired the hit TV show

Every book featured in HBO’s hit satire The White Lotus.

The White Lotus - Césaire

The White Lotus may feel sympathy for some of its characters, but that doesn’t mean it excuses their faults. And while a show’s wardrobe can provide meaningful insight into a character’s personality and inner psyche, so can reading choices. The books that characters are seen reading act as an extension of their characters, speaking to relationship dynamics. An obvious example is college friends Olivia (Sydney Sweeney) and Paula (Brittany O’Grady), who carry books around like badges of honor and have a habit of reading Camille Paglia and Frantz Fanon by the pool. In the third episode, Shane (Jake Lacy) attempts to flirt with Olivia and Paula by teasing them about the books they’re reading. Olivia wryly replies, “No, they’re just props.”

Source: Every book featured in HBO’s hit satire The White Lotus.

Italian Arts and Music Events Streamer ITsART Set to Roll Out in Europe, U.S.

ITsArt , a new streaming platform dubbed the ‘Netflix of Italian Culture,’ is set to roll out across Europe in October and in the U.S. next year. Commissioned by Italy’s culture ministry, the ad-supported and transactional-VoD service providing access to Italian culture was conceived during the pandemic when Italy’s cultural institutions suffered from a drop in physical visitors and tried to react with various disparate forms of digital distribution.

Source: Italian Arts and Music Events Streamer ITsART Set to Roll Out in Europe, U.S. (EXCLUSIVE)

Netflix in-app gaming initiative starts in Poland with ‘Stranger Things’

NetflixNetflix on Thursday sent up a trial balloon for its fledgling push into the mobile gaming market with the rollout of two Android games based on its popular “Stranger Things” series. Announced in a tweet from the official Netflix Poland account, the titles, “Stranger Things: 1984” and “Stranger Things 3,” are available to access within the official Netflix app for Android.”It’s very, very early days and we’ve got a lot of work to do in the months ahead, but this is the first step,” Netflix Geeked said in a follow-up tweet referencing the launch.

Source: Netflix in-app gaming initiative starts in Poland with ‘Stranger Things’

Trailers Use Slower and Moodier New Versions of Classic Songs to Lure Viewers

Says Brian Monaco, president and global chief marketing officer at Sony Music Publishing: “It’s called ‘trailerizing’ a song. That means changing every aspect of the song but leaving the lyrics. People know the lyrics. The goal is to catch people’s attention. Maybe they’re not paying as much attention to the trailer, and they start to hear the chorus of the song, and they go, ‘Wait, I know this song.’ They start paying attention, and now they’re watching the trailer.” 

Source: Trailers Use Slower and Moodier New Versions of Classic Songs to Lure Viewers

Do you ever think … that maybe the virtual-reality office is stupid?

Facebook launches VR remote work app, calling it a step to the ‘metaverse’” — NBC News headline, Aug. 19, 2021

 

“Do you ever think …” a voice said from what sounded like Greg’s right. Greg turned his cartoon avatar to look in the direction of the voice, “ … that maybe the Metaverse is a stupid waste of everyone’s time?

Source: Opinion | Do you ever think … that maybe the virtual-reality office is stupid?