By Gordon Midwood, CEO of Anything World.

Now that I have your attention (or mild disgust depending on your predilections) there is a big issue around any notion of Metaverse that we urgently need to address. In true optimise an article for SEO style, however, I won’t be telling you what that urgent need is in the second paragraph though. That would be amateurish .

Of course, the notion of what the Metaverse could be is currently in its formational stage and is the subject of much debate. So why not throw our own definition onto the pile?

There is a big issue around any notion of Metaverse that we urgently need to address
Share on X

The Metaverse is a series of persistent 3D worlds that accompany every aspect of our lives.

Property development is full of sharks

The Metaverse is a series of persistent 3D worlds that accompany every aspect of our lives
Share on X

The Metaverse would ideally just be one massive 3D environment, but I think we are a long way off singing that communal chorus just yet. Interoperability is the best we can hope for at the moment whilst the big players jostle for power in their big power jostling pants. In any case, I digress.

There are many excellent toolmakers and service providers in a great position to connect, empower and enable the growth of many aspects of the Metaverse, many of whom are good friends of ours, for example:

• ReadyPlayerMe — A cross-game avatar platform for the Metaverse
• Volograms — Easy volumetric video capture
• Oorbit — Publish and play interactive worlds
• Crucible — Tools for the creation of the open metaverse
• Volta XR — Design mixed reality experiences

Interoperability is the best we can hope for at the moment in the Metaverse whilst the big players jostle for power
Share on X

However, the Metaverse need that we feel most urgently at Anything World and have been grappling with for a couple of years is where all the content for these rich 3D worlds is going to come from.

Or, tenuous link and cheap play on words though it is undoubtedly is:

Who will write the chorus for the Metaverse?

We, in our entirely impartial and unbiased view, would strongly argue that A.I. smart services like Anything World are going to power a revolution in content creation, one in which anybody can be a 3D content creator.

There are many toolmakers and service providers in a position to connect, empower and enable the growth of many aspects of the Metaverse
Share on X

A.I. smart services like Anything World are going to power a revolution in content creation, one in which anybody can be a 3D content creator
Share on X

Thanks to the Machine Learning expertise that squarely resides in members of the team not called Gordon, we can empower anyone to create living 3D worlds with no technical knowledge. We have 7 proprietary ML steps that can turn any static 3D model into a living object with behaviours and animations applied. We automate the sourcing and bringing to life of models from the likes of Free3D and in particular Sketchfab and have ingested all the models from Google Poly. From next month you’ll be able to add your own private collections to our animation systems too.

So do whatever you want: create animated objects and living worlds and build out apps, add them to the Metaverse platform of your choice, or even mint them on a chain of blocks if you want some NFT freshness.

We are available in Unity right now so come and join the ~4,500 others creating with us! If Roblox is more your thing get in touch with us straight away, we have something top secret in the works! Well, it was top secret.

Gordon Midwood is the co-founder & CEO at Anything World, a service that uses Machine Learning to empower everyone to be a living 3D content creator. In his spare time he likes to think about why he doesn’t have enough spare time. Hit him on Discord, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Facebook 

The post Metaverse: But Where’s The Chorus? appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Caspar Thykier, Co-founder and CEO of Zappar

It’s been a week now since the end of AWE, which is enough time to reflect and get a healthy sense of perspective after the euphoria of the first large in-person gathering for the XR community in some time. And I have to say that the afterglow still lingers and the cynicism hasn’t kicked in!

Now I should say that the folks in and around XR are an endlessly positive bunch which you would expect for people pioneering a new computing platform: panhandling for digital gold comes with a degree of optimism generally, but with that comes a sense of camaraderie and a collegiate approach to problem solving where, although we might be competitive, the amount of blue ocean is so vast that in our group endeavour the tide rises for all (to continue the water-based analogy).

Folks in and around XR are an endlessly positive bunch which you would expect for people pioneering a new computing platform: panhandling for digital gold comes with a degree of optimism generally @ZapparApp
Share on X

An Open Forum

This means that AWE is an incredibly open forum for discussion around new product developments and software solutions, best practice, creating standards from every aspect of the ecosystem from top to bottom.

The tone is undoubtedly set up by the ever ebullient personality of Ori Inbar who always kicks off AWE with his special brand of positive energy and off-beat humour. It immediately takes the shackles off and opens up the room and event to informal discussion.

John Hanke’s keynote from Niantic and launch of Lightship brought so many important themes together of how AR can play a positive benefit in our lives and deliver those missing elements for immersion from accurate location mapping, occlusion, and collaboration to deliver heightened experiences. His words about the time for AR being now certainly resonated with our sense at Zappar of where the market is for mobile AR after ten years of foundation building.

What crystallised in my mind during the event and countless conversations with both old and new voices across the industry, was a sense that we are at a point where the stars have somewhat aligned for AR @ZapparApp
Share on X

In many ways what crystallised in my mind over the two and a half days of the event and countless conversations with both old and new voices across the industry, was a sense that we are at a point where the stars have somewhat aligned for AR: when it comes to the performance of devices; the speed of networks; the capability of the software and developer tools; and the greater understanding, amongst the business and brand community, of the power of AR to drive positive results for different use cases.

AR Coming of Age

There are of course many exciting new developments still to come but we’re now at a level of maturity in AR with enough data points to see that spatial computing really delivers a level of engagement, positive brand experience, and conversion to sale that many other media cannot provide. Sure, buy your usual digital media if you want reach, but what is reach without engagement? And how real are those impressions? Spatial computing and AR deliver a digital content experience that is active, lean-in, and commands attention with levels of engagement that other channels can only dream of. Looking at the level of creativity on display at the Auggie Awards you can see why. (And OK, yes we did win the Best Campaign Award for our work with Countdown in New Zealand alongside their shopper marketing agency Craze so I might be a bit biased!).

Spatial computing and AR deliver a digital content experience that is active, lean-in, and commands attention with levels of engagement that other channels can only dream of @ZapparApp
Share on X

Now it would be hard to write a piece on AWE without mentioning the Metaverse given how soon after the Facebook (sorry, Meta!) announcement the event fell. I can’t speak for everyone but my sense was that overall people see the ambition of Meta as being positive in terms of the firepower it will put behind the exploration of the next computing platform but probably don’t thank it for the level of confusion and misunderstanding it now brings.

Déjà Vu?

The late noughties and early teens saw a lot of work trying to explain what AR isn’t as much as what is and its potential benefits for brands, businesses, and end-users. Back then, as now with the Metaverse, there was a fairly clear consensus on the direction of travel required for AR to become more everyday and useful to people, and over time that came to pass (from tech to tool). The Metaverse is in a similar position of becoming a reality in time, as long as we don’t confuse people, make it overly complex and ensure the community works together to deliver the right safeguards, security, interoperability and standards that everyone will benefit from and learn the lessons and mistakes from the web. I think Tony Parisi’s Seven Rules is a pretty great start point if you want to get into the weeds of it. I look forward to seeing how it all lands at AWE in 2030.

My sense was that overall, people appreciate the ambition of Meta as being positive in terms of the firepower it will put behind the exploration of the next computing platform but not the confusion and misunderstanding it brings
Share on X

Raising the Bar

Finally, I must also give the bar at the Hyatt a special mention. The hotel is pretty unassuming and the bar is too but for two days and nights, it becomes its own microcosm. If you happened to be passing through and not attending AWE as a guest, the array of headsets people were wearing and the snippets of conversation you’d pick up would make you feel as if you’d landed on another planet! But it’s here, as always with events, that the real connections get made and new opportunities germinate and partnerships formed.

What the bar at the Hyatt Santa Clara lacks in character and color it provides as a blank canvas that is painted on in glorious technicolour by this wonderfully eclectic assortment of coders, creatives and clients at AWE 2021
Share on X

There is no Zoom call or virtual lobby that can get you down these weird and wonderful rabbit holes created by organised serendipity and unconstructed conversations. What the bar itself lacks in character and color it provides as a blank canvas that is painted on in glorious technicolour by this wonderfully eclectic assortment of coders, creatives and clients at AWE. It’s a rare thing but luckily we will be back again before we know it in June ‘22 as AWE hopefully returns to its original slot in our calendars.

A big thank you to the organisers and all the attendees for making AWE a singularly special event.

The post Building the Metaverse Community appeared first on Tech Trends.

Looking back at the past week it feels surreal to think that I was sharing indoor spaces with hundreds of people. Let’s just say it’s been a while since I’ve interacted with this many (responsibly vaccinated and masked) folks IRL.

At #AWE2021, everywhere you looked there were familiar faces behind the masks. It really felt like coming home to family, and there just weren’t enough hours in the day to catch up with them all
Share on X

But this wasn’t just any old bunch of people. This crowd was a heady mix of up-and-coming start-ups mingled with Fortune 500 companies. Artists and coders swapped notes with the pioneers that brought us to a place where the average person on the street now (sort of ) knows what you mean when you talk about the Metaverse. In fact, the Tweet below marks what might well become a historical moment in the industry, where one said legend – Unity’s Head of AR/VR Ads and E-Commerce and Metaverse OG Tony Parisi – started using “Metaversing” as a verb.

https://t.co/bJQr8m88FJ

— Tony Parisi Il Padrino Metaversale (@auradeluxe) November 11, 2021

Everywhere you looked there were familiar faces behind the masks. It really felt like coming home to family, and there just weren’t enough hours in the day to catch up with them all.

It’s been a while since I’ve interacted with this many (responsibly vaccinated and masked) folks IRL #AWE2021
Share on X

“The most exciting thing about AWE isn’t the technology, it’s the people,” says Alan Smithson, CEO of Metavrse (not to be confused with the lesser-known CEO of Meta).

Smithson believes this is the last year when the event will feel so intimate. “The cat is out of the bag now, and this is going to blow up in a big way,” he says, adding that we’re going to look back on this as a very special conference, and something of a tipping point for immersive tech.

“What we can do now with XR is truly amazing, and it works!” adds Caspar Thykier, CEO and Co-Founder of Zappar, an Augmented Reality company that has been around almost as long as AWE itself.

The best thing about #AWE is not the technology, it's the people
Share on X

“AWE is 12 years old now and what I think is really interesting is this incremental joining of the dots we’ve seen every year of all the constituent parts of immersive technology, of hardware and software that are just beginning to mesh beautifully together and I think what’s really exciting – apart from the fact we’re all in the same space together – is the richness of the experience we’re starting to get.”

Zappar – which aims to democratize access to Augmented Reality through its WebAR platform ZapWorks also won the “Best Campaign” award at this year’s Auggies for their “Countdown Super Insects” retail loyalty campaign that helped children learn about New Zealand’s native insect world.

What we can do now with XR is truly amazing, and it works
Share on X

Nobody really knows what the Metaverse will look like, and that's a good thing
Share on X

To see these veterans enthused about where we are – and what is to come – is exciting, because for those who know where to look, there is real substance behind the hype, as real use cases for the technology build-up, in turn uncovering even more possibilities. As Thykier sums up when asked about his vision for the Metaverse:

“I think that nobody really knows what that will look like, and I mean that in the most positive way,” he says. “There are so many possibilities and that’s why AWE is so great, because that’s where the conversation starts. This is where we start joining the next set of dots like we have done over the past decade in AR, and to understand what those dots look like for the Metaverse.”

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals, and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Wrapping Up #AWE2021 appeared first on Tech Trends.