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Nvidia and Disney can breathe life into the metaverse By Techagents

While Netscape didn’t invent the Internet or HTML, it was the company that made the Internet real. Netscape went ahead with the creation of Tim Berners-Lee’s HTML and was instrumental in turning it into something that will change the world.

Last week at Siggraph, Nvidia’s opening keynote identified Universal Scene Description (USD), developed by Pixar, a Disney subsidiary, as the HTML equivalent for the Metaverse. Since Pixar wouldn’t exist without Steve Jobs, it’s like putting Pixar where Berners-Lee was, and Nvidia where Netscape was, but unlike Netscape, Nvidia is very well run and knows its battles. How to choose

Nvidia also talked about the future of the Metaverse, where avatars will become browser-like, creating a whole new level of human/machine interface. Nvidia also announced the concept of Neural Graphics, which is based heavily on AI to create more realistic Metaverse graphical elements with far less work.

This week let’s talk more about what happened at Siggraph — and how Nvidia and Disney can, and should, demonstrate their strengths at the forefront of the Metaverse.

Then we’ll close our product of the week, the HP Halo product, with an update on the Dragonfly laptop, which has just released its third edition. Halo products showcase the full capabilities of the seller and draw people to the brand, and it’s well positioned against the best of Apple.

Metaverse and Disney

I’m a former Disney employee and I can’t think of any other company on the content side that would be a better base for building the Metaverse.

Disney has always been about fantasy and trying to make magic real. While the firm has had problems maintaining its innovative leadership over the years, it still attracts all its peers, especially youth, across all age groups in terms of physical, magical places to see and film content.

It is tempting that the concept of the Multiverse, which could easily become a Metaverse creation, as illustrated by the Marvel Universe, which is also owned by Disney, suggests that as the Metaverse moved into the consumer market. Goes on, Disney could be even more powerful. The driver of this new technology for fun.

That’s a long way to say that given its relationship with the USD and entertainment, Disney may be the best-positioned media company to take advantage of this new paradigm and turn its version of the metaverse into something truly amazing. Imagine the potential of Metaverse Disney parks that kids can enjoy from their homes during extreme weather events, pandemics or wars.

Nvidia’s One Metaverse Movement

Right now, the metaverse is a mess. It appears that companies like Meta and Google are creating experiences that, like CompuServe and AOL, were done at the dawn of the Internet, which the market did not want.

The reason those wall-garden efforts didn’t survive is because no single company can meet the needs of each user. Once they gave way to the open Internet, the technology really took off, and AOL and CompuServe largely faded into history.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is a big believer in the metaverse. He refers to it as Web 3.0 – the successor to Web 2.0 (the Internet as we know it today, with changes to the cloud and user-generated content). This concept of a generic metaverse, with elements that you can move on seamlessly, requires a great deal of standardization and advancements in physical interfaces like VR goggles.

Huang addressed this during the keynote, speaking of the massive advances in headset technology that in the future will bring VR glasses much closer to the size and weight of reading glasses, making them less tedious and annoying. . However, recalling our problems with 3D glasses, the industry will still need to address the overwhelming dislike of consumers for prosthetic interfaces if the effort is to reach its full potential.

One of the most interesting parts of this presentation was the concept of neural graphics, or graphics enhanced significantly by AI, which reduce the cost and speed of scanning things in the real world and turning them into mirror images in the virtual world. increase. At the event, Nvidia presented about 16 papers on neural graphics, two of which won awards.

Building on Pixar’s concept of Universal Scene Description, Huang explained how, once these virtual elements were created, they would be linked via AI to ensure that they remain in sync with the real world, Enables complex digital twins that can be used effectively for extreme precision. Simulation for both business and entertainment purposes.

This made me wonder how long it would take before we had the incarnation of Huang, who was revealed to be the keynote speaker, was actually the keynote speaker. With Huang’s progress in terms of avatar realism and emotion, there will come a time when avatars will be far better at such presentations than humans.

Up to this point, Huang introduced a concept called Audio2Face which combines a voice track with an avatar that creates realistic facial expressions, conveys emotion and is often indistinguishable from an actor’s appearance.

To do this realistically, they mapped facial muscles and then allowed the AI ​​to learn how people manipulated those muscles for different emotions and the ability to edit those emotions after the fact. . I have no doubt that the kids of tomorrow will have a lot more fun than this and in the future will create some deeply murky issues that we will need to address.

With Audio2Face MDL, a new content definition language, and neural VDB that can reduce video file sizes by up to 99%, create a pattern of increased resolution and realism while reducing the overall cost of effort.

Back to Disney: This technology could allow the company to create more compelling streaming and movie theater content while reducing its production budget, which would be huge for its top and bottom tiers.

Finally, Huang talked about a cloud publishing service for Avatars called Omniverse ACE. This could potentially open up a market for avatar creation, which in itself could be a highly profitable new tech industry.

wrapping up

With tremendous gains in USD and multi-age group content, Disney is in a unique position to benefit from our move into the metaverse.

However, the technology company to watch in this space is Nvidia which is at the forefront of creating this Web 3.0 metaverse creation that will be fast-forward to the Internet as we know it and provide us with amazing new experiences – and undoubtedly new ones. Problems we plague haven’t identified yet – much like the Internet.

In their respective fields, both Nvidia and Disney are forces of nature, and betting against either company has proven unwise. Together, they are creating a metaverse that will surprise, entertain and help solve global problems like climate change.

What is being built for the metaverse is simply amazing. For another example, look at this:

We are at the forefront of another technological revolution. Once done, the world will become a mixture of the real and the virtual and will be forever changed again.

Technical Product of the Week

HP Elite Dragonfly G3

Halo products are expensive and somewhat exclusive offerings that often show what a company can do, regardless of price.

The HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is the third generation of this Halo product, and it’s a relatively affordable showcase of HP’s laptop capabilities.

Lighter than most of its competitors, including the MacBook, sporting the latest 12th Gen Intel Core processors, and promising up to 22 hours of battery life (video), this 2.2-pound laptop is an impressive piece of kit.

HP Elite Dragonfly G3 Notebook

HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | image credit: HP

Some interesting features include a mechanical privacy shade for the 5MP front-facing camera that is activated electronically from the keyboard.

The laptop comes in a unique Slate Blue finish which I think looks awesome. This latest generation was designed for the new hybrid world many of us now live in, where we both work from home but sometimes have to go to the office.

It has Wi-Fi 6e for better wireless connectivity and supports 5G WAN for times when Wi-Fi is either too insecure or too unrealistic.

The Elite Dragonfly G3 has a unique 3:2 aspect ratio instead of the more typical panoramic display. The latter may be better for films but 3:2 is better for work. Laptops in this class are expected to focus more on content creation than on entertainment. This high screen also enabled a large touchpad that includes a fingerprint reader for security.

The ports on this unit, which has a 13.5-inch display, are surprisingly complete for one of the thinnest laptops I’ve tested. In addition to two USB-C Thunderbolt ports, it has a full-size USB port and a full-size HDMI port, both of which are unusual but unheard of in a laptop this small and light.

hp elite dragonfly g3 port

HP Elite Dragonfly G3 Right-Side Ports | image credit: HP

The product is relatively durable, using a magnesium/aluminum frame that is largely from recycled metals and designed to be recycled again as the laptop gets older.

In conclusion, it is potentially one of the most secure laptops in its class with the Wolf Pro security option for those who want extra security. Interestingly, starting at just $2,000, the Wolf Security Edition is also one of the most affordable.

I was at the launch of HP’s first Dragonfly laptop and I am very impressed with this offering which is my product of the week. I’m going to hate giving this laptop back.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

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Internet

Denmark tops in digital quality of life, US at fifth By Techagents

If you are looking for the best digital quality of life in the world, Denmark seems to be the place to go.

Hamlet’s homeland ranked first among 110 countries based on five “pillars” of measurement: Internet affordability, Internet quality, infrastructure, security and government, according to a study released Monday by VPN provider Surfshark.

Within the pillars are 14 “indicators” that further refine the quality of life measurement. For example, there are two indicators within the infrastructure column: the number of people using the Internet and the readiness of the network.

Countries were classified based on index points with the best possible value equal to one. Denmark had the top score with 0.83, followed by South Korea (0.76), Finland (0.76), Israel (0.74), USA (0.74) and Singapore (0.72).

2021 Digital Quality of Life Index (Source: Surfshark)

“The methodology of the study seems pretty solid,” said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm in Hayward, Calif.

“Since its launch in 2019 Surfshark has improved the study, both the areas examined and the number of countries and regions covered,” he told TechNewsWorld.

early internet adapter

Roslyn Layton, senior vice president of Strand Consult, a technology consultancy in Copenhagen, Denmark, said the findings of the Surfshark study are similar to reports from the International Telecommunication Union. “Denmark consistently scores at the top,” she told TechNewsWorld.

“Denmark was an early internet adopter, and it quickly put all its government online,” explained Layton, a naturalized Danish citizen. “It created tools that allow individuals and businesses to interact with the government.”

“In the United States, there is a lot of paperwork involved when dealing with the government,” she continued. “Denmark immediately digitized it. It was a way to encourage universal adoption of the Internet.”

“As a result, government systems are very useful, integrated, seamless and secure,” she said. “That’s what’s been happening for the last 20 years.”

However, in the Surfshark study, the United States ranked first in the electronic government category, while Denmark ranked sixth.

Most and least developed countries in the e-government category

Least and least developed countries in the e-government category (Image credit: Surfshark)

Joe Kane, director of spectrum and broadband policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said, “This may warrant relative to other countries, but our research has found that the US still has much to do in improving the delivery of electronic government services.” There is space.” ITIF), a science and technology think tank in Washington, DC

need more competition

Kane stressed that Denmark has some other advantages over the United States when it comes to cultivating a digital life there.

“Denmark is a rich, dense country,” he told TechNewsWorld. “This makes it relatively easy to connect entire counties at affordable prices and provide high quality government services.”

Countries with the Most and Least Affordable Internet

Denmark ranks first among the countries with the most affordable internet. At the other end of the spectrum, the five least affordable internet countries are all in the continent of Africa. (image credit: surfshark)

Layton said Denmark also has a program in place to keep the cost of network deployment down. “The permissions to create the network are streamlined,” she explained. “Providers are encouraged to compete and invest.”

This is in stark contrast to the competitive scene in the United States. “There’s no competition in a lot of places in the US, so there’s not a lot of incentive for providers to upgrade,” said Jack E. Gould, founder and principal analyst at IT consulting firm J.Gold Associates. Northborough, Mass.

“This is changing and changing quickly,” he told TechNewsWorld, “due to 5G and fixed wireless access in many regions.”

However, he said the United States could be more competitive with other countries if it had a comprehensive broadband policy. “Many European countries are making policies that say, ‘You will do this, and we will fund it.’ It benefits some countries,” he explained. “In America, it’s all about private enterprise.”

doing well despite the challenges

King said that while the US is a leading market in both technology development and products, the federal government’s business-friendly approach has resulted in wide disparities in the quality, availability and cost of the Internet. “The ‘digital divide’ continues to be widespread, especially in rural and small communities,” he said.

“There are people in the United States without digital skills,” Layton said. “They lack education. Not many people have an interest in being online, although that has certainly changed with Covid – and because the United States is a huge country, you have the cost of getting the network into rural areas. ,

“America has done well given its challenges,” she continued, “but it is still an issue with the people not trusting the government.”

When comparing the United States to other countries in the Surfshark study, it is important to note how much the US ranks above it in the rankings, said Bruce Leachman, president, principal and analyst with Leachman Research Group in Durham, NH. Maintained.

The US has about 125 million households, compared to 2.7 million in Denmark, 21.5 million in South Korea, 1.5 million in Finland and 2.1 million in Israel. “So, one could say that given the size of the US, it is performing particularly well,” he told TechNewsWorld.

subjective subject

Although South Korea ranked second in the overall ranking, it took the top spot in both internet quality and broadband and mobile speed growth.

“One of the reasons there is a lot of bandwidth in South Korea is that gaming is so popular there,” Gold explained. He said that the government has made a policy to provide high-speed broadband to all in the next few years.

Best and worst countries for internet quality

Best and worst countries for internet quality (Image credit: Surfshark)

“South Korea has long been proactive in supporting the development and deployment of leading Internet-based services and solutions,” King said. “Add in major tech companies including Samsung, SK and LG, and South Korea’s ranking is no surprise.”

Much of South Korea’s digital infrastructure is relatively new, unlike the United States. “A lot of the infrastructure we have in the US is 30, 40 years old and hasn’t been upgraded,” Gold said. “A lot of new, high-growth countries have been adding new things or upgrading over the years. It makes a big difference.”

While Surfshark’s study may surprise some, Gould warns that digital quality of life can be a very subjective thing. “What you need and what I need may be very different from what our children need,” he said.

Furthermore, Surfshark’s findings may be more interesting than those from outside the countries involved in the study. “Users in every country are generally happy with what they have, whether they have it better or worse than other countries,” said technology analyst Jeff Kagan.

“While some countries are faster than others, users don’t know or care,” he told TechNewsWorld. “So, while it’s always fun to think about and talk about these studies, I don’t think they make any difference to users’ satisfaction.”

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