For the metaverse to work, people need to own their virtual bodies and possessions and be able to spend money. The same cryptographic technology behind bitcoin will make that possible.
Facebook’s parent company is now called Meta, as part if its move to embrace the metaverse - the blurring of the online and real worlds via virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Smart glasses like Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories could be used to record you surreptitiously. If the company adds facial recognition, you could be even more exposed.
Facebook is adamant its new “smart glasses” won’t be a privacy nightmare. But it is clearly bidding to normalise the use of wearable tech. And if video Ray-Bans go mainstream, what comes next?
Researchers are using mixed reality technologies to investigate how people behave in in emergency situations. The findings are helping shape disaster responses.
Augmented reality has largely enjoyed cover from critique by being taken as a benign gaming technology. But recent developments suggest we need to get serious about it.