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apple

Apple Unveils Augmented-Reality Headset, ‘Vision Pro’ 

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Apple unveiled a new augmented-reality headset known as the Apple Vision Pro at its annual software developer conference this Monday. This marks the first new product category since the company introduced the Apple Watch nine years ago. 

At the event, CEO Tim Cook described the device as a “spatial computing tool” controlled by the user’s eyes, hands, and voice. 

Cook said: “It’s the first Apple product you look through, not at.”

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Apple revealed that the Vision Pro utilizes a three-dimensional camera and microphone system to capture videos and pictures that can be viewed in 3D later. 

Alan Dye, Apple’s human interface chief, stated that users will select content inside the goggles with their eyes, tap their fingers together to click something, and gently flick to scroll. 

The device includes an exterior display that shows the user’s eyes to people on the outside. When a user is fully immersed in a virtual world, the exterior screen goes black. However, when a person approaches a user who is utilizing the full virtual world, the headset will show the user and the outside person to each other. 

“You’re never isolated from people around you. You can see them, and they can see you,” Dye stated. 

Apple also showed that the headset can be used with a trackpad and keyboard so that it can be used for work, and in general like a traditional computer with multiple displays. 

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The launch of the headset will be interesting for the tech world, as it’s entering a market that has yet to gain a lot of traction, especially among the average tech user, as the high price point has steered many people away. 

For Apple’s Vision Pro, the starting price will be $3,499, and launch early 2024, starting with sales in the US market, with more international releases coming later in the year. 

More specs for the Vision Pro include a glass front with an aluminum back, five sensors, 12 cameras, a 4K display for each eye, and an internal computer that’s cooled with a fan. The headband itself that goes around the head is cloth-lined and modular to fit every user comfortably. 

For individuals who wear glasses, Apple will offer custom optical inserts that magnetically attach to the lenses of the users glasses. 

The headset itself has been in the works for years now, and has supposedly gone through multiple changes and delays to keep up with the current market, but also to ensure the product was fully ready for release.

music

AI Rapper FN Meka Dropped From Capitol Records After Being Called Out For Racial Stereotyping 

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Capitol Records has dropped AI rapper FN Meka and offered its “deepest apologies to the Black community,” after the virtual celebrity was criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes. This comes just 10 days after the record label signed FN Meka. 

FN Meka is an AI (Artificially Intelligent) rapper who was given the appearance of a Black Male cyborg. He was initially created in 2019 by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le, co founders of Factory New, a “first of its kind, next-generation music company, specializing in virtual beings” as performers. 

According to Martini, the rapper’s songs are performed by an anonymous Black man, but the music and lyrics are generated by an AI that analyzes popular music. Capitol Records boasted about how he was “the world’s first AR [Augmented Reality] artist to sign with a major label.” 

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However, within the 10 days that FN Meka was signed to the label, backlash against Capitol Records and the creators of the AI rapper grew due to his use of the N-word in his 2019 song ‘Moonwalkin,’ and an Instagram post that showed FN Meka being beaten by a police officer in prison. 

Capitol Records announced on Tuesday that it had “severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately.” 

Just hours before Capitol’s statement Industry Blackout, “a unified body of Black people in the industry committed to changing the community,” released their own statement on FN Meka. 

“FN Meka is offensive and a direct insult to the Black community and our culture. An amalgamation of gross stereotypes, appropriative mannerisms that derive from Black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics.” 

“This digital effigy is a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life,” Industry Blackout wrote in their statement to Capitol. 

“For example, Gunna, a Black artist who is featured on a song with FN Meka, is currently incarcerated for rapping the same type of lyrics this robot mimics. The difference is, your artificial rapper will not be subject to federal charges for such,” the group explained. 

 

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“Some of the early content, now if you take it out of context, it obviously looks worse or different than it was intended,” Martini said when he was asked about the image of FN Meka being beaten by a police officer.

“We offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it.”

“We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past couple of days – your input was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our association with the project,” the statement read. 

Back in 2021 Martini, who is white, and Le, who is Asian, explained how they were working on making FN Meka fully AI, meaning he would no longer need a human as a voice. 

“As of now, a human voice performs the vocals, but we are working towards the ability to have a computer come up with and perform its own words – and even collaborate with other computers as ‘co-writers’,” Martini said. 

 

virtualrealty

The Newest VR Headset To Be Released In October From Meta

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On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the latest addition to his line of virtual reality headsets will be making their debut in October.

The new product from Meta is expected to be fully revealed at the Meta’s annual Connect event which usually takes place sometime within the month of October.

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The codenamed “Project Cambria” is set to contain features that will help users experience the feeling of social presence and have them feel more connected with other users.

Some of the features that will be included with the new VR headset will be more eye- and facial- tracking features. These new features will allow digital avatars to smile and frown within the virtual reality. 

“For me, this stuff is all about, like, helping people connect… I just started thinking about… what would be the ultimate expression of, basically, people using technology to feel present with each other, right? It’s not phones, it’s not computers.”

The new VR headset is supposed to contain a high-resolution color screen, internal sensor for the eye tracking and sophisticated augmented reality. 

The name of the VR headset has yet to be revealed but the cost of the headset is projected to cost around $800. This is a significant price jump up from the popular Quest 2 headset which costed $399 to $499 depending on the model. 

“In the previous version eye contact was all just AI simulated, we didn’t actually know when you were making eye contact because we weren’t tracking the eyes. Now for this version, and hopefully a lot of the different ones we build going forward, you’ll be able to have realistic facial expressions and more transmitted directly to your avatar,” said Zuckerberg. 

In a recent interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Rogan was allowed to be one of the first people who got to try out the new VR headset. He stated that he was impressed with all the features and how well his avatar was able to match his facial expression and eyes. 

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“It’s getting to the point where it’s mimicking human patterns in kind of a creepy way,” said Rogan. 

Over the last few years, Meta has been putting a lot of their effort and money into VR and augmented reality to keep expanding and evolving the world of computers and how people interact with them. 

According to Digital Trends, VR players usually identify themselves and have a strong connection to their alternates in virtual reality where real connections can be formed. 

With the increase of the technology, it could become a huge stepping stone in the world of virtual reality.

Online Shopping

How 3D Technology Will Help Increase Online Home Goods Sales

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Wayfair, a popular online retailer for home goods, recently had their co-founder discuss how they believe the implementation of 3D technology will help improve the customer experience when it comes to buying new pieces of furniture for their homes. 

Steven Conine, co-founder and co-chairman of Wayfair, discussed how the company has been experimenting and investing in 3D and AR (augmented reality) technology to make it easier for customers to see how a certain product would look inside their space without having to leave. 

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“AR/VR is certainly a space we’ve been playing with for quite a while now, and we do believe that over time it can have a meaningful impact in terms of making it easier to shop for your home from your home.”

The company also believes eventually that this technology can be used at actual retail locations around the country. While Wayfair doesn’t currently have any physical locations, they’ve already begun experimenting with brick-and-mortar pop-up shops which feature design service teams that can help customers furnish their spaces. 

“Ideally, I think at some point in the future every home in the U.S. will have a 3D model associated with it,” Conine said. 

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“We could have a design services team in our store who could give you a very personalized experience and actually help you visualize products in your space, help guarantee that it will fit, it will flow well and it’s the look and style you want.”

Throughout the pandemic, Wayfair saw a major surge in sales, as many other online retailers selling home goods saw because more people are investing in their spaces. Conine claimed that office furniture and home accessories were among the most popular purchases, so the idea to invest in this new advanced technology seemed like a no brainer.  

VR and AR technology would allow customers to see how a certain chair would look with their desk, or painting above their fireplace, basically they can literally see what their space would look like without the commitment of buying a product and having to wait to see how it looks when it arrives.

“I’m not worried about seeing a decline in sales because of the nature of home improvement. There’s a never-ending list of projects or products you want for your home. There is always something you are in the market for,” Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah said, in response to the decline in sales with the nation reopening.