Race to the metaverse: The fight to shape the future of the internet

Published

2 years ago

November 18, 2022

admin

Last week, I was invited to get my hair done in the metaverse.

In what was the strangest PR email I’d received for some time, a leading haircare manufacturer offered up a seat in a virtual salon, where my avatar would get a luxury treatment the real me could only dream of.

Blurring the lines between the physical and the digital, the idea is that this will become a way for people to “test run” new looks on themselves before perhaps choosing to go ahead with it. While I don’t foresee myself ever asking a hairdresser for anything more extravagant than a two round the back and sides and a bit off the top, thanks, the metaverse offers a risk-free opportunity to experiment.

And in this instance, all without ever strapping on a bulky headset.

Like me, there’s a good chance that when you think metaverse, the first thing you associate with it is virtual or augmented reality. But in a week when Mark Zuckerberg’s relentless bid to put his stamp on the concept was brought into stark relief by thousands of job cuts at Meta, this bizarre invitation was a timely reminder that it’s much more than that.

Meta’s place in the metaverse

When Zuckerberg talks about the metaverse, he’s predominately talking about Horizon, which is the virtual world his company has created to host various experiences – from chatting with friends, to collaborating with work colleagues – while you wear a Meta Quest headset. Since the release last month of its $1,500 “Pro” headset, you’ll likely have seen Meta adverts and billboards pitching the metaverse as the perfect home for those exact kinds of experiences.

And there are certainly believers.

Nicky Danino, principal lecturer in computer science at the University of Central Lancashire, counts herself as one of those already on board, saying the metaverse offers “amazing opportunities and possibilities” in educational and training settings in particular. The university already uses virtual spaces to place students inside situations and environments they would never normally be able to, while institutions like the RAF have showcased how augmented reality can enhance the work of their fighter jet maintenance crews.

But just like rebranding Facebook as Internet Inc wouldn’t indicate ownership of the web at large, don’t let Zuckerberg renaming it Meta make you think his vision is all there is when it comes to the metaverse. What Meta is building should really be seen as a platform within the metaverse, although admittedly one with an astonishingly large amount of money (tens of billions of dollars already) being thrown at it.

But there are plenty of others making moves into the space – and you’ve probably heard of quite a few of them.

For example, there’s Fortnite from Epic Games. No longer is it purely a space for 100 players to parachute on to an island and kill one another, it also allows them to create their own games and even attend concerts – among those who’ve performed are real megastars like Ariana Grande and Travis Scott, taking to the stage in a fever dream of brand synergy which sees millions of fans able to appear as anyone from Princess Leia to Neymar.

Speaking of brands, that’s where you’ll find some of the metaverse’s greatest advocates. Last December, sportswear giant Nike bought a company called RTFKT, which was launched to create digital goods like virtual clothes, collectibles, and NFTs. Its first post-acquisition product were the Nike Cryptokicks, a pair of digital trainers designed to be customised and shown off online.

And then there are virtual spaces like Decentraland, one of the biggest slices of the metaverse pie thus far, which is probably the closest you get right now to living an entirely separate life to your real one. As Sky News found out earlier this year, people in Decentraland are spending thousands of pounds on plots of land to call their own.

It is in some ways the ultimate utopian vision of a decentralised metaverse, where people own what’s theirs and can monetise it all themselves, taking it with them wherever they go – no strings or corporate overlords attached. It’s a vision that wouldn’t allow any one company – not even one named after the metaverse itself – to hold sway over the entire court.

Indeed, for Tom Ffiske of Immersive Wire, the idea of “interoperability” between metaverse platforms is absolutely key to its viability – there can be no one metaverse to rule them all.

‘The race for the future of the internet’

Now, all of this probably sounds absolutely bonkers to a lot of people born before the turn of the millennium. What makes Horizon different to Second Life (an online virtual chatroom inhabited by avatars) from 20 years ago? Why would Ariana Grande want to perform inside a video game? You may be perplexed as to why people are excited enough to queue for trainers in real life, let alone buy pairs they can’t even put on their actual feet.

You might be right to think it’s utterly mad – the truth is we just do not know yet. The only thing that’s certain is that these possibly brilliant, possibly baffling ideas are here to stay.

For more on science and technology, explore the future with Sky News at Big Ideas Live 2022.
Find out more and book tickets here

“The race for the metaverse is about the race for the future of the internet,” says Professor Yu Xiong, the director of Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications at the University of Surrey.

“The areas of virtual/augmented reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain all require a skill-maturing process which takes significant time. Currently, the metaverse is facing problems with battery constraints, slow internet connections and the demise of the unstable blockchain.

“However, In 10 years’ time, once we have made battery breakthroughs, are using 6G for data transmission, and blockchain has matured, I have absolutely no doubt that the metaverse will be the future. As a result, these companies need to understand that their billion-dollar investments will have little-to-no returns until such time.”

That last comment is a pointed barb towards Meta, which has seen its metaverse strategy eviscerated by financial analysts as it tries to brute force its way to the front of what stands to be a long-term sea change in how we engage with the internet.

Gen Z are key to all this

Even advocates of the metaverse agree that when it comes to Zuckerberg’s go big or go home approach, it’s an extremely risky case of trying to run before it can walk. He appeared to think of the pandemic as an accelerator – a time-skip that would see us embrace a decade’s worth of technological change in the blink of an eye, and expanded Meta’s ambitions accordingly. Our willingness to return to pre-COVID comforts caught him by surprise.

“They’ve piled in more quickly and spent more than any other metaverse and probably not got more traction,” is the blunt assessment of Cudo founder Matt Hawkins, and yet he believes the metaverse is “the natural next stage” of a transition that’s seen younger generations grow into an increasingly digital world.

“The Gen Zs have grown purely into a digital world and quite often value digital assets more than real world assets. The idea is you can take it with you, and you can show it off to the world, so, if you spend £1,000 on a picture and put it on your bedroom wall, nobody will see it. If you buy a digital version, you can show it to the world.”

Again, this is not a particularly new phenomenon. Online games like World Of Warcraft had players showing off their exotic pets and epic armour to one another as long ago as 2004. One of Fortnite’s trump cards is that people love being able to dress up as Star Wars characters, Marvel superheroes and global sports stars, and then hang out with their friends to compare looks.

The promise of the metaverse is to blur the lines between our digital and real lives, to the point where the former may be the one we take more pride in. The same generation which fears never having enough money to get on the housing ladder may decide the money’s better spent on a digital home to call their own.

After all, £5,000 will go a darn bit further on Decentraland’s housing market than it will on Rightmove (although, somewhat ironically, Spitfire Homes just became the first UK homebuilder to create a show home in the metaverse).

John Needham is the president of esports at gaming giant Riot Games, and before that oversaw a Microsoft augmented reality project called Hololens, which blends the meta and physical worlds via a headset which overlays digital effects and items into a real space.

“Millennials and Gen Z are on their phones all day, their presence is defined by their digital presence,” he said.

“Gaming has been scratching at what [the metaverse] will look like for a long time, with MMOs (massively multiplayer online games) with games like The Sims. I think doing that, at a human race scale, is going to require much better technology than we have now.

“But you see all the signs that your digital persona is becoming more and more important, it will evolve into being the primary important thing. I don’t know if it’s this generation or next generation, but I think it’s inevitable.”

Whether it be education, industry, or just dancing with friends at an online gig, it’s clear that increasingly we’re dipping our collective toe into the possibilities that the metaverse might offer.

For Cudo’s Matt Hawkins, all that’s missing is a eureka moment. Like access to information and ecommerce drove people towards the internet, and connections drove us to social media, what takes us en masse to the metaverse?

Zuckerberg seems determined to make it him, and appears ready to make or break Meta to find out.

World

China’s premier air show wows spectators – but the West won’t have liked seeing Russia’s jets

Published

21 hours ago

November 16, 2024

admin

China's premier air show wows spectators - but the West won't have liked seeing Russia's jets

Outgoing US President Joe Biden is set to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping today for what is likely to be his last time as US president.

The two leaders are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in the Peruvian capital, Lima.

It comes against the backdrop of increasing tension in the US-China relationship with a potential trade war looming under a Trump presidency, several China hawks tapped for US cabinet positions and China’s growing status among global south countries as an emerging leader of an alternative world order.

This week China was focused on events in the southern city of Zhuhai.

First there was a car ramming attack at Zhuhai’s sports stadium which left 25 people dead. A shocking event that was heavily censored in China.

Less than an hour’s drive away the country was holding its premier air show.

It was a military enthusiast’s dream, and not even intermittent rain could keep the crowds of tens of thousands of people away from relishing in the roar of jets in the skies above Zhuhai.

China’s fighter jet fleet

One of the main drawcards was China’s newest stealth fighter the J-35A. It will join the country’s J-20 in service for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

The J-10C was China’s aerobatics star of the show. There were daily displays of its prowess in sky-high manoeuvres and formations that impressed onlookers, leaving a streak of colours across the cloudy rain-clogged sky.

China’s military modernsiation programme is continuing apace

It boasts the largest navy in the world and the largest armed forces by active-duty personnel.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Airforce is developing fast too.

Dr Nicole Leveringhaus, a China security expert from King’s College London, says: “China started with very little. It was devastated by wars on many fronts in the 30s and 40s. Its defence industry was depleted. In 70-plus years it’s built itself up and now we’re seeing the results.

“It’s an impressive feat to go from a bloated land-based peasant guerrilla army to what it has to today.”

Chinese pride and nationalism on display

Enjoying the air show spectacle, military fan Liu Liansong said: “I think the air show is great. It is a firm manifestation of the air force’s development from scratch. We as Chinese people feel very proud.”

The air show included massive exhibition halls of military hardware, from drones to robotics, firearms and mock missiles. Merely getting from one end of the venue to the other through densely packed crowds was a mission.

Russia in the air

The other crowd puller this week was Russia’s aerobatic air force unit, performing daily theatrics at dizzying speeds.

It is another sign of the deepening ties between China and Russia.

One Russian tourist and recreational pilot, Yulia, told Sky News: “Both sides are looking for good communication in business, aviation and in many spheres including tourism.”

The secretary of Russia’s security council and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu also visited the air show, viewing both Chinese and Russian-made jets.

In Beijing, secretary Shoigu was quoted by Russian state media as saying: “I see the most important task as countering the policy of ‘dual containment’ of Russia and China pursued by the United States and its satellites.”

The West is increasingly frustrated by China’s support of Russia. The US has sanctioned two Chinese companies, accusing them of being involved in the production of Russian aerial drones used on the battlefield.

China insists it is not supplying weapons to Russia.

One of the companies, Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Co, had a small stand in one of the exhibition halls. Its representatives declined Sky News’ request for an interview.

Tariff war brewing

Despite the raw military might on display in Zhuhai, in China there is uncertainty and unease about what an impending Donald Trump presidency will mean for global trade.

President-elect Trump has threatened blanket tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese products exported to the US.

This would be a serious blow to China’s target GDP growth and comes at a time when the country’s economy faces deep-set challenges.

At the other end of the country, in Beijing analysts are weighing up the impact of possible tariffs and the Chinese government’s options to respond.

Senior Asia analyst Chim Lee, from The Economist Intelligence Unit, is not optimistic that a US-China agreement to minimise the damage can be reached.

“I think both sides have recognised that the era of making deals is passed,” Mr Lee said.

“We’re going to see China starting with some targeted measures, tariffs it feels more comfortable to impose,” he explained. “But there are also areas where China is starting to be a bit more aggressive.”

This action could include export controls on China’s production of critical minerals and retaliatory tariffs on US agriculture exports.

Trade competition, military posturing and complicated geo-political alliances have set the stage for a challenging next phase in US-China relations.

World

Pictures show moment Israeli bomb exploded at Beirut apartment block

Published

1 day ago

November 15, 2024

admin

Pictures show moment Israeli bomb exploded at Beirut apartment block

New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.

The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.

Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.

Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.

“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.

Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up

Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.

The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.

Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.

Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.

More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.

About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.

Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.

Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.

On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.

The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.

World

Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for ‘high-IQ revolutionaries’ will be unpaid

Published

1 day ago

November 15, 2024

admin

Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for 'high-IQ revolutionaries' will be unpaid

“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.

The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.

The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.

“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.

“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.

“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”

In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.

“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.

“What a great deal!”

When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”