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Forbes
Forbes
27 Apr 2023


Except for the editorial introduction to the week’s top stories and what it may mean at the top of the roundup, the summaries below were 30% written by ChatGPT and 70% me. Much better than last week, but still has not really saved preparation time or made a qualatative difference in quality.

Hannover Messe Industrial Trade Fair 2023

HANOVER, GERMANY - APRIL 17: The logo of Google Cloud is seen at the 2023 Hannover Messe industrial ... [+] trade fair on April 17, 2023 in Hanover, Germany. Over 4,000 companies, primarily from the energy and engineering sectors, are exhibiting at the fair, with an emphasis on digitalization, connectivity and climate neutrality. (Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)

Getty Images

It’s quarterly earnings season, when companies have to explain themselves with numbers. While 2022 has led us to expect the worst, there was actually some enthusiasm about this week’s results that led to rewards from investors. Google and Microsoft profits were boosted by AI and its thirst for cloud computers, with 2% and 5% stock bumps respectively. Meta exceeded expectations, citing the performance of Instagram reels. Investors rewarded Zuck with a 10% bump in share price for tamping down the metaverse talk in favor of AI and efficiency. Meta asserted its commitment to the Meverse for the umpteen-hundredth time despite Reality Lab’s multi billion dollar quarterly loss. Reuters says they are all hiding poor results under AI hype.

Illustration: Meta

SUQIAN, CHINA - APRIL 13, 2023 - Illustration: Meta, April 13, 2023, Suqian, Jiangsu Province, ... [+] China. So far, Meta has conducted two rounds of layoffs in six months, and will conduct two more rounds of layoffs in the near future, totaling more than 21,000 jobs. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Future Publishing via Getty Images

Meta’s Cost-Cutting Did Not Spare its loss-leading XR division, Reality Labs. Captive VR studios Ready at Dawn, whose popular free multiplayer game Echo Arena was shut down recently, laid off forty people, including studio head Mark Almeida. Downpour Interactive, the company behind the military simulation “Onward” was similarly affected. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in March that 10,000 employees would be laid off as part of the company's "year of efficiency."

US-IT-LIFESTYLE-GAMES-COURT-APPLE-FORTNITE

This illustration picture shows a person waiting for an update of Epic Games' Fortnite on their ... [+] smartphone in Los Angeles on August 14, 2020. - Apple and Google on August 13, 2020 pulled video game sensation Fortnite from their mobile app shops after its maker Epic Games released an update that dodges revenue sharing with the tech giants. (Photo by Chris DELMAS / AFP) (Photo by CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Apple emerged victorious in a closely-watched case involving Epic Games over its app store policies. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that found Apple is not a monopolist in the distribution of iOS apps and did not violate antitrust laws by requiring app developers to use its proprietary in-app payment systems. However, the court also held that Apple violated California’s unfair competition law when it forbade Epic from informing iOS users about other ways to pay for in-game virtual currency besides using Apple’s in-app payment system. Both sides have several weeks to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. Because of the EU’s earlier ruling, the app store has to open up overseas.

Britain Microsoft Activision Blizzard

FILE - Visitors passing an advertisement for the video game 'Call of Duty' at the Gamescom fair for ... [+] computer games in Cologne, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017. British regulators have blocked Microsoft's $69 billion deal to buy videogame maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

UK Regulators Block Microsoft-Activision Deal. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal on fears Microsoft would be motivated to make Activision’s games exclusive to its cloud gaming service.

Katmai kitchen

Employees hanging out in an office kitchen in a Katmai enterprise virtual world for business. The ... [+] company wants to make the conferencing spatial, persistent, and human.

Katmai

3D Virtual Office Katmai Scores $22M Series A. The company emerged from stealth mode today with a browser-based app to enable video conferencing with a real-time 3D engine, bringing people together within immersive, customized, photorealistic environments that fosters authentic human interactions. Being web based, with one click invitation and screen sharing, is an advantage over other competitors in this space, which has lots of room for growth

Sheffield has launched an augmented reality art trail that enables users to scan QR codes and view digital artworks that appear on the roofs of iconic buildings in the city center. The trail, called "Look Up!", features four buildings, each with a QR code on the pavement below. Viewers can scan the code using a free app to follow animated arrows that lead their gaze upwards, where they can watch a variety of visual presentations through their phone screens. The initiative was created by local firms Megaverse, Universal Everything and Human Studio, and aims to boost residents' engagement with their city. The John Lewis department store, which was bought by the council as part of a regeneration project, was the inspiration for the project.

Felix & Paul, the VR studio, will launch the first episode of its new VR trilogy called Space Explorers – Blue Marble, shot from the International Space Station (ISS), which offers stunning views of Earth from low orbit. The trilogy will be available for free on Meta Quest and Quest 2 headsets, aiming to give viewers a deeper understanding of our planet's place in the universe and the importance of protecting it. The first episode will offer an unobstructed 360-degree view of Earth, filmed at the nadir of the ISS, where viewers can experience a profound shift in their perspective and understanding of the planet. The immersive film series is set to launch on Earth Day, April 22nd.

fidelity in roblox

It's financial literacy month and giant Fidelity investments wants to teach kids how to handle ... [+] money.

Fidelity

Fidelity Investments has announced two new Metaverse efforts designed to teach kids financial skills. Pancake Empire Tower Tycoon on Roblox and Fidelity's Bloom-o-rama in Decentraland were created to help young investors grow their financial knowledge and develop healthier money habits. Pancake Empire Tower Tycoon is an educational experience on Roblox that combines financial education with entertaining gameplay, allowing users to practice spending, saving, and investing using pancakes. Fidelity's Bloom-o-rama is a new metaverse experience in Decentraland guiding users through quests and challenges to cultivate a more mindful approach to money. Visitors to Bloom-o-rama will navigate a hedge maze to gather saving, spending, and investing tips and learn helpful money mantras from bull and bear topiaries, while successfully completing all the tasks will earn them a chance to win $25,000 in a Fidelity Bloom Save account through an exclusive sweepstakes.

This Week in XR is also a podcast hosted by the author of this column, Ted Schilowitz, Futurist, Paramount Global, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week our guest is Anand Agarawala, CEO and co-founder of Spatial. We can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.

What We’re Reading

Snapchat's Invisible AR Moves Hint at Where We're All Heading (Scott Stein/Cnet)

The Owner’s Guide to the Future (Rob Tercek/Substack)

Customers use an iPad for an augmented reality (AR) tour to...

CUPERTINO, UNITED STATES - 2020/02/23: Customers use an iPad for an augmented reality (AR) tour to ... [+] see a virtual version of the Apple Park campus at the Apple Park Visitor Center in Cupertino. (Photo by Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Bobbing for Apples

With Its Headset, Apple Can Singlehandedly Turn VR Into a Thing (Will Greenwald/PC Mag)

Apple Will Take Scattershot Approach to Pitching AR/VR Headset (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Apple’s mixed reality headset could connect to a battery pack that looks like the iPhone’s (Jon Porter/The Verge)