Meta's AR lead departs 🚶‍♂️, Snap adds ChatGPT 🤖, Roblox's growth plan 📈

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📈 Markets & Business

Meta's head of augmented reality software stepping down (estimated read-time: 4 min)

Meta's head of augmented reality software, Don Box, is stepping down, stirring questions about the company's progress in AR technology, essential for their planned AR glasses. Despite this setback, Meta continues to forge ahead with its ambitious AR glasses project, slated for consumer release in 2027​​​​​​.

Failed $175M Metaverse Real Estate Startup Draws Ire of Texas Regulators (estimated read-time: 3 min)

The Texas State Securities Board has taken action against a German-based network of companies under the “GS” brand for fraudulent activities in the metaverse. This action follows a failed attempt to raise $175 million through metaverse property sales, where investors were misled about the value of tokens representing ownership in the G999 Tower metaverse. The dramatic devaluation of these tokens and the unregistered nature of various investment products led to regulatory scrutiny and emergency enforcement actions​​​​.

🕴️ Big Tech

Meta Strikes Deal with Tencent to Sell VR Headset in China (Read Time: 3 min)

Meta Platforms has inked a preliminary agreement with Tencent Holdings to introduce a new, affordable VR headset in China, marking Meta's re-entry into the Chinese market after a 14-year absence. The deal, reported by the Wall Street Journal, will see Tencent as the exclusive Chinese seller, with sales starting in late 2024. This strategic move positions Meta to challenge Bytedance's Pico VR headset. The agreement emerges amidst ongoing U.S.-China tech tensions and as Meta prepares to compete against Apple's upcoming Vision Pro headset. Details on the headset's pricing were not disclosed.

Snap Adds ChatGPT to Its AR Glasses with Focus on AI at Lens Fest (estimated read-time: 2 min)

During Lens Fest 2023, Snap unveiled the integration of ChatGPT into its AR glasses, marking a significant advancement in its AI capabilities. This development, part of the Lens Studio 5.0 beta for AR, showcases Snap's commitment to enhancing the interactivity and functionality of its AR ecosystem. The addition of advanced AI features like ChatGPT is expected to revolutionize user experience in AR environments, aligning with Snap's broader strategy to innovate and lead in AR technology​​.

📱 Tech Innovation

Qualcomm Unveils VIP Garage Tour VR Experience at F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix (estimated read-time: 2 min)

Qualcomm, in partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, introduced an immersive VR experience titled "VIP Garage Tour" for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. This VR experience represents a unique blend of sports and technology, offering racing fans an unprecedented virtual behind-the-scenes look at one of the most prestigious motorsport events. This initiative by Qualcomm showcases how VR technology can enhance fan engagement and provide immersive experiences in sports events​​.

Veyond Metaverse's AI Breakthrough: World's First Digital Surgery (estimated read-time: 3 min)

Veyond Metaverse, a leader in extended reality (XR) technology, recently achieved a groundbreaking feat by performing the world's first digital surgery. This was soon followed by the successful testing of an AI-powered real-time translation system. These innovations are part of a broader vision to democratize healthcare by overcoming geographic and linguistic barriers. Veyond Metaverse's upcoming launch of an XR operating room in Yangon exemplifies this commitment, enabling collaborative digital simulations and international medical cooperation​​​​.

🚀 Launches

Roblox’s Growth Plan Includes More Partnerships with Brands (estimated read-time: 3 min)

Roblox's strategy for growth involves expanding partnerships with major brands such as Nike and Ralph Lauren. Targeting a broader user base, including older demographics, the company aims to reach one billion daily users and become profitable. Despite its substantial user base growth during the pandemic, Roblox has faced financial challenges, with significant losses in recent years. The company's emphasis on collaborations and direct shopping experiences in its metaverse platform is a key part of its plan to increase user engagement and diversify revenue streams​​.

e.l.f. Launches Its First-Ever Experience on Roblox (estimated read-time: 5 min)

e.l.f. Cosmetics launches e.l.f. UP! on Roblox, a unique experience empowering entrepreneurs and cultural changemakers. This initiative aligns with the increasing trend of Gen Z's interest in entrepreneurship and provides a digital sandbox for creativity and business skills development​​.

Crate&Barrel teamed up with Obsess to create its first-ever virtual flagship store (immersive experience)

Crate&Barrel unveils its first-ever virtual flagship store—inspired by their new physical flagship in New York City’s Flatiron neighborhood. Featuring over 450 shoppable products and eight dynamic, animated rooms—from dining, kitchen and living rooms, to botanicals and Crate & Kids areas—the virtual store invites shoppers to find furniture and homeware inspiration rooted in exquisite detail and luxe customization. Visitors can visualize their perfect living room set up through a sofa customizer, and build a bespoke bouquet using the brand’s curated selection of vases and botanicals.

🦄 Startups & Fund Raises

• Polycam releases its 3D Gaussian Splatting feature that allows anyone to create a splat by uploading a video

• 3D generative AI platform Atlas emerges from stealth with $6M to accelerate virtual worldbuilding

• Bezi raises $13M to enable user-generated and collaborative 3D design

 🥼 Research

Drivable 3D Gaussian Avatars

We present Drivable 3D Gaussian Avatars (D3GA), the first 3D controllable model for human bodies rendered with Gaussian splats. Current photorealistic drivable avatars require either accurate 3D registrations during training, dense input images during testing, or both. The ones based on neural radiance fields also tend to be prohibitively slow for telepresence applications. This work uses the recently presented 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) technique to render realistic humans at real-time framerates, using dense calibrated multi-view videos as input. To deform those primitives, we depart from the commonly used point deformation method of linear blend skinning (LBS) and use a classic volumetric deformation method: cage deformations. Given their smaller size, we drive these deformations with joint angles and keypoints, which are more suitable for communication applications. Our experiments on nine subjects with varied body shapes, clothes, and motions obtain higher-quality results than state-of-the-art methods when using the same training and test data.

⚡️ Quick Bytes

• New video tutorial showing Persona Enrollment for Apple Vision Pro added in visionOS beta 6 (above)

• Immersed Says Visor Will Have A Standalone Mode As Preorder Price Rises To $950

• Will Life Be Better in the Metaverse?

• Quest 2 Price Cut To $250 For The Rest Of The Year

• Unity opens call for Unity for Humanity grant applications

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