Metaverse

The F.D.A. has cleared a path for hearing aids to be sold over the counter. Today, buying a hearing aid requires a trip to an audiologist, hearing tests, and a prescription, followed by a huge expense not covered by insurance. This is set to change as soon as October. Continue Reading →

Want to know how fast virtual worlds are going to appear? TikTok recently added a new effect called "AI greenscreen." Users type a description, then the AI does its best to interpret the prose and output an image that can be used as a background for a TikTok video. Continue Reading →

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has successfully tested the "Merge," which is now planned for mid-September 2022. The Merge is what engineers are calling the transition of the Ethereum blockchain's Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Continue Reading →

The headline says, "Apple Will Ship 1.5 Million AR/VR Headsets in 2023 at $2,000." Wait. What? $2,000? Yep, we all read it right. Continue Reading →

Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) has confirmed that it is inflating the price of Quest 2 VR headsets by $100 on August 1. As far as I can tell, you can still find both models at the lower prices, but time is running out and the price to enter the observable Zuckerverse will soon inflate. Continue Reading →

You just purchased your first NFT. Where is it? Is it sitting in your account on the marketplace you purchased it from? Do they have custody of your digital asset or do you? Did you transfer your NFT to your crypto wallet? If so, do you believe your new NFT is actually in your wallet? It isn't. That's not how this works. Here's what is really in your wallet. Continue Reading →

Epic Games CEO and co-founder Tim Sweeney said the company "definitely won’t" follow Minecraft’s lead and ban NFTs. Continue Reading →

Generally speaking, technology is neither good nor bad; that distinction is for people. Technology is simply a fancy word for tools; generally speaking, banning tools is a way for central authorities to demonstrate and maintain power. Minecraft is a central authority clearly afraid of decentralized technologies (such as blockchain and NFTs) and how Web3 tech might empower its users. Continue Reading →

Otherside, the much-anticipated metaverse gaming platform from the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), is open for business. Over the weekend, 4,300 "Voyagers" were invited for a demo and tour of the immersive, ape avatar-navigated online platform. Continue Reading →

OpenSea, the world's largest NFT marketplace, announced that it will lay off 20% of its staff. This is not a surprise. Cryptocurrencies, the main driver of value for NFT speculators, are trading 50%-70% below their all-time highs, and NFT trading volume on OpenSea has tumbled as well. Then, there's the overarching problem: while OpenSea continually evolves, NFTs continuously evolve. Continue Reading →