The reason virtual reality still hasn’t taken off
Virtual reality has existed for nearly two decades, but it still hasn’t proven to be “the future of technology” as most were expecting.
HBO Max will get a cheaper, ad-supported tier in June
This June, HBO Max will get a cheaper, ad-supported subscription plan, parent company AT&T told investors today. However, a specific price and launch date have not been announced.
Source: HBO Max will get a cheaper, ad-supported tier in June
Facebook’s New AI Teaches Itself to See With Less Human Help
Image recognition may be more easily integrated into enterprise and commercial settings if it can learn more without expensive human input.
Sony Animation’s Next Hero Team Is a K-Pop Group
Get ready for a kaleidoscopic monster hunting adventure. They’re also demon hunters. Singing demon hunters. So…where do we sign up? Sony Pictures Animation has revealed that The Lego Ninjago Movie ’s Maggie Kang and Wish Dragon ’s Chris Appelhans will direct K-Pop: Demon Hunters , which is, well, exactly what it says it is.
Apple to Launch Mixed Reality Headset in Mid 2022 and Augmented Reality Glasses by 2025
Apple plans to release a mixed reality headset “in mid-2022,” followed by augmented reality glasses type by 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in a research note with TF International Securities, obtained by MacRumors. “We predict that Apple’s MR/AR product roadmap includes three phases: helmet type by 2022, glasses type by 2025, and contact lens type by 2030–2040,” wrote Kuo.
Source: Kuo: Apple to Launch Mixed Reality Headset in Mid 2022 and Augmented Reality Glasses by 2025
Why the future of work will look like a video game
Work should be about the human experience of information. You’ll hardly find a better place where this occurs than in a video game.
YouTube will expand parental controls for tweens and teens
YouTube has announced expanded parental controls f or tweens and teens. The upcoming feature is aimed at those who’ve perhaps outgrown the confines of YouTube Kids . YouTube will open a public beta for the supervised accounts feature in the coming months.
Source: YouTube will expand parental controls for tweens and teens
Why we want tech copycats to fail
We’ve seen before that big leaps forward in technology can bring down industry titans, like the cellphone pioneer Nokia. But boy, it sure feels like the tech giants today are so entrenched, so good at what they do — and, perhaps, skilled at tilting the game to their advantage — that they simply can’t be beaten. It would be better for all of us if Big Tech wasn’t an absolute and invulnerable force. I’ll see the wobbles of TikTok’s clones as a sign that it’s still possible for Big Tech to fail.
Americans are consuming more foreign content than ever
Content from abroad is boosting its share of the American entertainment diet, thanks in large part to streaming, the pandemic and the creator economy . Why it matters: “As ‘American exceptionalism’ has become less of a truth geopolitically, the same goes for entertainment,” says Brad Grossman, founder and CEO of ZEITGUIDE.
Source: Americans are consuming more foreign content than ever
Here’s a Way to Learn if Facial Recognition Systems Used Your Photos
An online tool targets only a small slice of what’s out there, but may open some eyes to how widely artificial intelligence research fed on personal images.
Source: Here’s a Way to Learn if Facial Recognition Systems Used Your Photos
Why Your TV Spies on You
Selling consumer electronics is hard, forcing companies to resort to shady tactics to make money.
Source: Why Your TV Spies on You
Is 2021 finally the year for smart glasses? Here’s why some experts still say no
Tech companies including Facebook, Google and Lenovo are designing smart glasses consumers will buy, but experts say this isn’t the year of mass adoption.
Source: Is 2021 finally the year for smart glasses? Here’s why some experts still say no
Bridgerton: The Musical? Fans of Netflix hit take tunes to TikTok
@jer24601#duet with @abigailbarlowww Submitting to be the Dukes understudy #bridgerton #bridgertonmusical
Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury in the show, admires the creativity, zest and collective spirit of tribute songs Bridgerton, the Regency-era TV smash that sparked a virtual water-cooler moment for period drama fans, is now firing the imaginations of musical theatre devotees on TikTok.
Source: Bridgerton: The Musical? Fans of Netflix hit take tunes to TikTok
Critics Like ‘WandaVision’ Better Than ‘The Mandalorian,’ Audiences Don’t
Critics and audiences are split on WandaVision in a way they weren’t for The Mandalorian on Disney Plus.
Source: Critics Like ‘WandaVision’ Better Than ‘The Mandalorian,’ Audiences Don’t
Data shows 62% of Apple TV+ subscribers are on a trial, most don’t plan to renew
The majority of Apple TV+ subscribers are currently on a free promotional trial and most don’t plan to renew their subscriptions, a new survey claims. Credit: Apple In the fourth quarter of 2020, 62% of Apple TV+ users were on a promotional plan, according to MoffetNathan’s Q4 SVOD Tracker report ( via Variety ). Those promotional plans have been given to buyers of new Apple products since Apple TV+ launched in 2019.
Source: Data shows 62% of Apple TV+ subscribers are on a trial, most don’t plan to renew
How EA is taking esports to the masses
What if you took a video game with an obsessively cultish following and made it the basis for a reality TV show? That’s what Electronic Arts, the video game publishing behemoth, recently did with one of its most popular titles, The Sims, a game that first became a phenomenon over 20 years ago when it gave players the ability to build and personalize worlds and populate them with characters who act and behave much like we do.
The result was The Sims Spark’d, which debuted on TBS’s Eleague Friday night lineup and BuzzFeed‘s Multiplayer YouTube channel last month in a four-episode series. The show felt much like Lego Masters or The Great British Baking Show, complete with a host—American Idol finalist Rayvon Owen—a set of judges, and Sims fanatics and YouTube influencers (an ethnically diverse mix of mostly females) who were divvied up into groups and forced to come up with story lines and create characters and worlds under extreme time constraints and other limitations. (And, of course, get along with each other.)
Source: Fast Company
A guide to Instagram Reels: How to make your first video
Instagram has rolled out its Reels feature to everyone. Now you can make your own music videos within Instagram itself. Here’s how to get started.
Source: TRW
Which Consumer Attitudes Will Shape the Streaming Wars?
Content creators and platforms battling for audiences will be happy to know that consumers are willing to crown multiple champions. According to a special Streaming Wars edition of the Nielsen Total Audience Report, which serves as the industry’s premiere source of media truth across platforms, people and devices, consumers in OTT-capable homes are spending nearly one-fifth (19%) of their TV time streaming content, be it through ad-supported or paid subscription models. That’s a hefty amount of the already large media diet of audiences today, especially considering that the medium has only existed for a relatively short period of time. Not to mention, it’s a prime opportunity to easily reach consumers in the digital age, using interfaces that feel familiar and comfortable to them.
Source: Nielsen
YouTube is a $15 billion-a-year business, Google reveals for the first time
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YouTube generated nearly $5 billion in ad revenue in the last three months, Google revealed today as part of parent company Alphabet’s fourth quarter earnings report. This is the first report under newly instated Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who took over as the chief executive of the entire company late last year after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back from day-to-day duties and promoted Pichai, formerly Google CEO, to the top spot. The announcement marks the first time in YouTube’s nearly 15 years as a Google-owned platform, since Google bought the website in 2006 for $1.65 billion, that the company has revealed how much money YouTube-hosted ads contribute to the search giant’s bottom line.
Source: The Verge
Doctors on TikTok Try to Go Viral
Here’s your evidence based sex ed TikTok for the day….let’s spread reliable info. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/nTHJyxUTum
— Mama Doctor Jones | Danielle Jones, MD (@MamaDoctorJones) January 14, 2020
Although medical professionals have long taken to social media to share healthy messages or promote their work, TikTok poses a new set of challenges, even for the internet adept. Popular posts on the app tend to be short, musical and humorous, complicating the task of physicians hoping to share nuanced lessons on health issues like vaping, coronavirus, nutrition and things you shouldn’t dip in soy sauce. And some physicians who are using the platform to spread credible information have found themselves the targets of harassment.
Source: New York Times