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

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed after Beirut airstrikes, Israeli army says

Published

4 hours ago

September 28, 2024

admin

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed after Beirut airstrikes, Israeli army says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed after airstrikes in Beirut, the Israeli army has said.

Recent weeks have seen Israel unleash a barrage of strikes against Lebanon after it turned its attention to the conflict at its northern border.

On Friday, Israel targeted the capital Beirut with a series of attacks claiming to have struck the headquarters of Hezbollah.

Israel-Hezbollah latest

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it carried out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s “central headquarters”, which it claimed was “embedded under residential buildings in the heart of the Dahieh in Beirut”.

The first wave of attacks shook windows across the city and sent thick clouds of smoke billowing into the air.

While Israel stressed it had been a “precise” strike, preliminary figures from Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed at least six other people were killed and 91 were wounded.

Israel said Nasrallah was the intended target and initially there were claims he had survived.

However, after several hours of confusion, his death was confirmed by Israel.

“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the IDF said.

Hours later, a defiant Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death but vowed their fight with Israel would continue after confirming they had fired upon sites in northern Israel.

“The leadership of Hezbollah pledges to the highest, holiest, and most precious martyr in our path full of sacrifices and martyrs to continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, supporting Gaza and Palestine, and defending Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people,” they said.

Alongside claiming to have killed Nasrallah, the IDF said it had killed a number of other commanders, including Ali Karaki, the commander of the southern front.

The country’s military said the strike was carried out while Hezbollah leadership met at their underground headquarters in Dahieh.

In the aftermath of the most recent attacks, an Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on whether US-made Mark 84 heavy bombs were used in the strike against Nasrallah.

“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a media briefing.

He continued: “We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions.”

He added the number of civilian casualties was unclear but blamed Hezbollah for positioning itself in residential areas.

“We’ve seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It’s safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iran said it was in constant contact with Hezbollah and other allies to determine its “next step”, but Reuters reported the country’s supreme leader was transferred to a secure location in light of the latest attack.

Speaking after the attack, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah” and said: “The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” state media reported.

Nasrallah’s death will be a blow to Hezbollah as it continues to reel from a campaign of escalating Israeli attacks.

Nasrallah is latest Hezbollah leader to fall

While Nasrallah’s death is certainly the most high-profile of recent attacks, it continues a trend of Israel targeting Hezbollah’s leadership structure.

Also on Saturday, in the early hours of the morning, the commander of the group’s missile unit and his deputy were killed in another Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.

👉 Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Then, in a separate strike overnight on Friday, the IDF said it killed the head of Hamas’s network in southern Syria.

This followed the deaths of other senior commanders, including Muhammad Qabisi, earlier in the month.

World

Muriel Furrer: Swiss teenage cyclist dies after crash at world championships

Published

4 hours ago

September 28, 2024

admin

Muriel Furrer: Swiss teenage cyclist dies after crash at world championships

A Swiss teenage cyclist with “a bright future ahead of her” has died a day after suffering a serious head injury at the world championships.

Muriel Furrer crashed while competing on rain-slicked roads in the junior women’s road race in her home country.

The 18-year-old rider fell heavily on Thursday in a forest area south of the city of Zurich and was airlifted to hospital by helicopter, reportedly in a critical condition.

Race organisers announced on Friday she had died.

They said in a statement: “Muriel Furrer sadly passed away today at Zurich University Hospital.”

The UCI governing body for world cycling paid tribute to her in a statement on its website, entitled “The cycling world mourns the loss of Muriel Furrer”.

It read: “It is with great sadness that the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Organising Committee of the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships today learned the tragic news of the death of young Swiss cyclist Muriel Furrer.

“With the passing of Muriel Furrer, the international cycling community loses a rider with a bright future ahead of her. We offer sincere condolences to Muriel Furrer’s family, friends and her Federation Swiss Cycling.”

Swiss Cycling said in a post on X: “Our hearts are broken, we have no words. It is with a heavy heart and infinite sadness that we have to say goodbye to Muriel Furrer today.

“We are losing a warm-hearted and wonderful young woman who always had a smile on her face. There is no understanding, only pain and sadness.”

At a news conference, a director of the Swiss organising committee Olivier Senn said he could not confirm exactly where the crash happened.

Police and the public prosecutor’s office were investigating the incident, Mr Senn said.

Furrer had finished in 44th position in the junior women’s time trial earlier in the week.

The rider’s family has asked for the championships – which last for nine days – to continue, said UCI sports director Peter van den Abeele.

The women’s and men’s elite races, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday respectively, will use the same stretch of road where the fatal crash happened.

A UCI gala event scheduled for Saturday evening has been cancelled, along with public events to mark races planned for Friday.

Second Swiss cyclist death

Furrer is the second Swiss cyclist to die in just over a year after crashing on home roads.

At the Tour de Suisse in June 2023, Gino Mader went off the road and down a ravine during a descent. The 26-year-old died from his injuries the next day.

“Obviously it is another tragic death,” Mr Senn said. “There are a lot of similarities, similar feelings. Today is about Muriel.”

World

Hassan Nasrallah killed: Decapitated and in disarray, Hezbollah and Iran must now decide to fight or backdown

Published

4 hours ago

September 28, 2024

admin

Hassan Nasrallah killed: Decapitated and in disarray, Hezbollah and Iran must now decide to fight or backdown

The leader of Hezbollah is dead.

This is a very big moment, not just in this conflict but for the future of the Middle East.

In 2006, the last Lebanon War, Israel tried and failed to kill him.

Last night, in a huge series of strikes on southern Beirut, they finally hit their target.

Over the past 18 years Nasrallah has grown Hezbollah in his image, expanding its forces, building its infrastructure and significantly expanding its arsenal.

He wasn’t just the leader of Hezbollah, he was a global figurehead of anti-Israel resistance.

With Iran’s help, Hezbollah became one of the best armed non-state militaries in the world.

It is now decapitated and in disarray.

During the past decades Israel has also been at work, steadily gathering intelligence on Nasrallah and Hezbollah, building a vast database of information, an effort which arguably distracted them from better understanding the intentions of Hamas.

The intelligence successes of the past days have helped restore Israel’s reputation after the stunning failures on October 7.

Iran and Hezbollah must choose

This is a pivotal moment.

Iran and Hezbollah must now decide how to respond: fight, or backdown.

The strike also killed Ali Karaqi, commander of Hezbollah’s southern front and labelled as the second most wanted by the IDF.

It is still unclear who else died in the strike, but given the location and the presence of top officials, it seems likely that other senior figures would have been eliminated too.

Nasrallah will be replaced.

The assassination of enemy leaders can prove to be a short-term victory because they are often succeeded by someone more formidable than before, as witnessed by the killing of the former Hezbollah leader Abbas al Moussawi in 1992.

He was succeeded by Nasrallah.

The working assumption is that the group will respond with barrages of missiles into Israel, probably targeting Tel Aviv.

But Hezbollah’s command structure has been severely degraded by Israel.

Nasrallah had become isolated as the IDF had steadily killed commanders over a fortnight of scything airstrikes on their compounds in Beirut and elsewhere.

It will probably take time to co-ordinate a response and it will probably be done with Iranian guidance.

Nasrallah might be dead, but Hezbollah isn’t

Hezbollah is badly wounded, not just as a paramilitary force but in the eyes of the Lebanese people, many of whom are angry their country is now facing another period of devastating violence.

This might be a moment for more moderate voices within Lebanon, including the national armed forces, to step in.

As the war escalated over recent weeks, noticeable divisions emerged between Tehran and Nasrallah.

He remained an important ally, however, a trusted advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, and this will come as a personal blow to him.

Having resisted the opportunity to get involved so far, Iran might decide the time has come to take the gloves off and deploy what is left of the thousands of missiles they’ve provided Hezbollah with.

Alternatively, after such a difficult ten days, Tehran might conclude that this round of fighting needs to end and pull back with its main proxy still in some shape to rebuild and fight another day.

With such momentum behind Israel, Iran will also be concerned about its own fate and that of its smaller proxies in Iraq and Syria.

Ultimately, the reason for Hezbollah’s existence – to act as insurance against an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities – hasn’t changed, but if Tehran calculates its proxies can no longer act as that shield it might try to accelerate its nuclear programme.

Could a ground invasion follow?

The Israeli government has choices of its own: order a ground invasion of southern Lebanon or continue with an air campaign that has delivered such dramatic successes.

There will be strong and compelling voices in Netanyahu’s cabinet urging him to take advantage of the situation and send troops in, but Hezbollah is not defeated, thousands of its soldiers remain and they are likely hiding in the vast tunnel network under the hills across the border.

Even a limited ground invasion risks large loss of life, on both sides, and the potential Israel will be lured into something more prolonged than it intended.

Nasrallah’s death might change the dynamic in Gaza too.

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, has clung on and rejected ceasefire attempts in the hope that Hezbollah and Iran would go to war with Israel, dragging its enemy into a multi-front and unwinnable conflict.

That might still happen, but just as Nasrallah became isolated, so too is Sinwar.

The much trumpeted “unity of arenas” has failed to join up.

The Middle East might often look chaotic to outsiders, but there are unspoken rules generally acknowledged and followed by belligerents.

For years Hezbollah and Israel acted within the unwritten but understood parameters of a shadow war.

Then, eleven months ago on 8 October, Hezbollah attacked Israel out of solidarity with Hamas.

Nasrallah tied Lebanon’s fate to Hamas, insisting that Hezbollah would only stop when the fighting ended in Gaza.

That ceasefire never came.

The rules shifted as the crossfire escalated, but it remained broadly contained within boundaries understood by both sides.

Until two weeks ago, 17 September, when thousands of pagers started exploding across Beirut and Lebanon.

It is possible Nasrallah had concluded that Israel was war-weary, and he overestimated the domestic and international pressure Netanyahu was under to end the fighting.

He might have believed that Netanyahu had neither the will nor the support to open up another front.

He, like so many of us, maybe assumed US influence on Israel would prevail.

Those miscalculations cost him his life.