UpLink is building a decentralized telco, tokenizing connectivity. We empower people to act as service providers and incentivize them to spread The Collective Network farther, faster, and cheaper.

Uplink Labs, Inc.

The Collaborative/Sharing Economy is now applied to satellites. Now you can “own” your very own satellite, for a fraction of the time and price. Just as Uber enabled anyone to access expensive town cars and chauffeurs and Airbnb enabled us to access beach-side mansions for a single night, this same business model is applying to expensive satellite technology. You don’t need to be a tech billionaire or a government agency to launch your own space fleet into orbit, you can simply rent some of theirs. Satellites as a Service: What is it? Key Terms to Know: Satellites as a Service: – You no longer need to own your own satellite, now you can have access with pay-as-you-go services, similar to Uber or Airbnb for orbiting technology. Satellites as a Service (SataaS) – The vital links on the ground that transmit data to and from orbiting satellites. Also called “earth stations.” Connects to the cloud providers. Ground Station – Miniature satellites that are approximately 4 in. x 4 in. x 4 in created by using off-the-shelf technologies; over 900 are in orbit. CubeSat – Downlink is the link from a satellite down to a ground station. Uplink is the link from a ground station up to a satellite. Downlink/Uplink – Radar frequencies being used by the satellites. X band is at a higher frequency and providers higher resolution images, where S band has a lower frequency, but is less affected by weather like fog. Many satellites carry transmitters with both frequencies as they are complementary. X band, S band You’re already familiar with this technology, but now, they are ingesting satellite-based service data, which all of us can soon access for a marginal fee. Cloud Services – This emerging trend really captured my attention for a few reasons: 1) Anyone can soon access data from space. 2) It’s the Collaborative/ Sharing Economy being applied to yet a new set of assets: in space. 3) The data that will be delivered is literally world changing, I’ll explain all of this, below. All of this is part of the bigger trend I’m seeing, as the , as we shift to off-world technologies. Satellites as a Service: Why will it Matter? sixth digital era Companies like Amazon and Planet are making satellites relevant to every business and soon regular ol’ consumers. There is so much data in space that has a number of different applications and these services are making it easier to access them. Just imagine, on-demand imagery of everything. How could you use it? Satellites as a Service: How will Companies Use It? Watch your house for intruders at night regardless of cloud cover or smoke for a nominal subscription fee and connect with your other security systems. Use Case (above image): Enable satellites to keep track of you during a long hike, which can see through vegetation. smoke. and where cell phone towers do not reach. Use Case: Check actual traffic patterns and analyze your commute. Use Case: Access crop health and actual sourcing of goods from the farm where you’re consuming your own food and beverages. Use Case: Look and analyze infrastructure quality like bridges, during normal usage and during storms. Use Case (Above image): Look for survivors and emergency crews during fires, these satellites peer through smoke. Similarly, look for which manufacturing building or forest or downed power line is producing the emissions or smoke. Use Case: Look at actual traffic to your store, and that of competitors; validate or refute market rumors and drive better decisions with new visibility Use Case: In video games, there’s a birds eye view to see an entire map and all the players which is called “God View.” Satellites as a service gives all of us mortals god view, the implications are as vast as your imagination can take you. Our new reality is taking us to outer space. New business models will emerge, as this industry takes off. Get the big picture of our little planet; change your business. Donald Giannatti via (Images courtesy of Planet Labs, Inc. and Unsplash )

The Other SaaS: Satellites as a Service

Satellite OSINT: Space-Based Intelligence in Aerospace Cybersecurity

Have you thought of building an app for your business? If so, this is the smartest business decision you can make. In today’s mobile-first world, you have to target potential customers on mobile. According to Techjury, there are around the world.  The same report says 77% of Americans have smartphones. The time spent per user with digital media on mobile in the US daily in .  This shows latent potential for your business in the digital market. A report says the total number of mobile app downloads in 2017 was 197 billion. This highlights the importance of mobile apps as a business tool. If your business doesn’t have an app yet, you risk losing out on this customer-rich market. It is important, however, to note that not every mobile app works. There are millions of apps on Google’s Android Play Store and the Apple app store.  The competition is stiff, and for your app to stand out, you need the highest converting landing page. 2.7 billion smartphone users 2017 was 2.3 hours by Statista Tips To Build the Highest Converting Landing Page There are your business needs a mobile app.  For a start, a good mobile app strengthens customer engagement and improves business accessibility. With the best mobile app, you can deliver value for customers by digitising your loyalty program. You will also revolutionise their shopping experience and grow your brand’s recognition. A mobile app is also a smart way to cultivate customer loyalty and build trust among your customers. To boost conversion rates and grow your brand, building a mobile app should top your list of priorities. With the best app landing page, you’ve got the edge over the competition. This is because your app enjoys more downloads. It also gets you more leads for your business and hence higher ROI. According to an , mobile apps account for over 90% of internet time on smartphones and 77% of internet time on tablets. Here are tips for building app landing pages that convert: myriad reasons eMarketer survey Add Crucial Page Features Some of the essential features you need for your app include: Images: Images captivate users’ attention. They highlight the most important aspects of your app. You can use images and graphics to tell the visitor what your app entails instantly. App benefits: You’ve to convince users about the importance of your app on the page.Features: List or show the features that allow app users to benefit from the app. Video: Video content is king in the digital landscape. You can use a video to show and explain the benefits of your app. Killer headline: The best headline guarantees interest, attention, and understanding. It compels a visitor to linger on the page and convert. Pain point and pain relief: Show visitors what causes them pain in their lives. Propose your app as the best way to relieve such suffering. Convince users that your app makes things easier, which in turn makes life better. Call to action (CTA): Any guide on how to make a good landing page that converts emphasises powerful smart CTAs. You have to tell visitors what you want them to do next.  You can invite visitors to sign up, link to the product page, and learn more among other things. Optimise the Page for Search Engines When composing copy for landing pages, you’ve to consider search engine optimisation (SEO). Carry out keyword research to ensure you target the right audience. Incentives with Irresistible Offers If you want to close the deal and get more leads, you’ve to offer users something irresistible.  Internet users are in search of the best deals online. This is one of the main reasons they go online. The best app landing pages have a screaming offer which improves buy-in by visitors. Such offers show the value a visitor gets when using your app. Perform A/B Tests Many business owners are in a rush to launch their apps on Google or Apple app store. However, this is counterproductive if the app has flaws. This is why performing A/B tests is a crucial step in building a good mobile app. In an A/B test, you can check the functionality of the headlines, images, backlinks, form fields, page copy, and call to action buttons, among other things. The idea is to ensure you refine all aspects of the page before a full launch. Competitor Analysis The digital marketing landscape is fast-paced. For your business to survive, you’ve to keep learning what others are up to in your niche. Competitor research is a critical step in the app building process. It is important to look at other best apps on the market. Look at the most popular apps in your niche and check what makes them click. Your goal is to see what the competitors have gotten right. At the same time, learn from their mistakes and refine your app page. Keep the Landing Page Simple Internet users have an infamously short attention span. They want to find something quickly, and this is why you should keep your app landing page clean. Offer a few choices and make navigation on the app page simple.  You don’t want to confuse a visitor with multiple choices as they might defer their decision. If you want to close the deal and get more leads, keep things simple. This is the best secret to high converting app landing pages. Use an Experienced App Developer It is advisable to leverage the technical expertise of an app developer for your business app. These experts offer tailored to suit specific businesses. A professional app developer will evaluate your business needs and develop the best app concept. These experts also help create the landing pages that covert. They have the experience and tools to know what works in this industry. app development services Wrapping Up A mobile app is an essential asset in today’s digital market landscape. It is your trump card to build wider audiences, grow brand awareness, increase sales, and boost customer experience. While there are millions of apps on Google and Apple app stores, many of these don’t give any returns. To avoid this pitfall, you need the highest converting landing page. It is not an easy task to create such a page, but at Tart Labs, we’ve got your back. We work with you from app design to app deployment and beyond. Our highly experienced team builds high-performance apps and any digital product that interacts with users. Contact us today for reliable, tailored app development solutions. We commit to leveraging our expertise to revolutionise your business.

How to Create an App Landing Page that Converts

240 Stories To Learn About Startups Of The Year

Flow is a permissionless layer-1 blockchain built to support the high-scale use cases of games, virtual worlds, and the digital assets that power them. The blockchain was created by the team behind Cryptokitties, Dapper Labs, and NBA Top Shot. One core attribute that differentiates flow from the other blockchains is its usage of capability-based access control. At its core, capability-based access control creates tokens of authority to give stakeholders selective access to certain resources without sharing everything. But why is this important for you as a Flow developer? With capabilities, you can define a user’s granular-level access privileges. So, if you’re building a music app and want to give the capability to access top playlists to only premium users, you can control that very easily with the built-in capabilities functionality of Flow. ( ) Source What is Blockchain authorization? Blockchain authorization is the methodology by which access to information and execution permissions are granted on a blockchain system. Several operations that a user may need to perform within a blockchain may include the following: Creating new smart contracts Updating smart contract code Executing smart contract functions Being a validator node Updating smart contract data If the methodology used to manage the execute permissions of the above operations is not fault-tolerant, then it could be a huge security risk for the application. There are several major types of authorization that have the same objectives but slightly different implementations. Access Control Lists (ACLs) Access Control Lists (ACLs) refer to the authentication mechanism that works on maintaining individual lists for managing access to different objects. ACLs are like guest lists for a resource. Those participants that are on the guest list of a certain object are allowed to access, and others are not. Role-based access control (RBAC) Role-based access control refers to the idea of assigning permissions to network participants on the basis of their role within an organization. The access rules are mapped to the roles rather than the individual identities. This is the most common form of authorization used in popular products like AWS. Capability-based authorization A capability is an unforgeable token of authority. In Capability-based authorization, your identity does not matter. If you receive an access token from the owner/admin that grants you the capability to access a resource, and you are able to execute that capability, then you will have access. At runtime, the application does not check what your identity is but only that you have the capability to access the requested resource. ACLs versus Capability-based authorization There are certain drawbacks to implementing ACLs, especially in the context of decentralization, which we’ll discuss below. Ambient Authority problem Let’s say that, as a user, you have received several different types of access and privileges to an app on your operating system. At some point, you request the app to fetch certain data for you. You would want to make sure that the app fetches only the data that’s absolutely necessary and doesn’t access anything else. However, in the case of ACL systems, there is no way to make sure this happens since the app has “ambient” authority. This can only be solved by using capability-based security systems. Watch to learn more. this video Confused Deputy problem Let’s say there’s a program A requesting a program B to perform certain actions. There might be instances where only program B has access to perform some of those actions, but program A does not. Program B still performs them because it didn’t double-check. In this case, program B was tricked into misusing its privileges by program A. This can be solved by using capabilities. Watch to learn more. Here’s how the company 25 years ago. this video Tymshare faced this problem ACL attack vector Because ACL lists are usually maintained with a centralized owner, it is prone to malicious updates at any time. Using capabilities takes away the power of performing malicious updates from a centralized owner and hence makes the system secure from the large ACL attack vector. ( ) Source About Capabilities A capability (also known as the ‘key’) is a hash that designates both the resource and access to it. This is also the model implemented in Bitcoin, where “your key is your money,” and in Ethereum, where “your key is gas for EVM computations.” In the Flow blockchain, “your keys are your data,” and hence, data access is controlled directly by keys instead of identities. By tying access to the key, capability-based models push security to the edge, decentralizing large attack vectors. Capabilities also make it very easy to write code that defines security privileges in a granular fashion. There are two major types of capabilities in Flow blockchain: Public capabilities Public capabilities are created using public paths and hence have the domain “public”. After creation, users can access them with authorized accounts (“AuthAccount”) and public accounts (“PublicAccount”). Private capabilities Private capabilities are created using private paths and hence have the domain “private”. After creation, they can only be accessed by authorized accounts (“AuthAccount”) and not by public accounts (“PublicAccount”). 3 Tenets of Capability-based Security — Capability-based security always has an unforgeable key to go with a particular access. This means that just the identity of a participant is not enough to get access. Encryption-based — Capability-based security is totally decentralized. This means that the success of the security system is not dependent on a single owner. Decentralized — It is easier to define fine-grained access to data and resources using capability-based security. Granular Creating a capability in Cadence Cadence is the programming language used to create Flow contracts. Below, we’ll talk about the code used to create capabilities in Cadence. Creating capability using a link function The link function of an authorized account (“AuthAccount”) is used to create a capability. fun link<T: &Any>(_ newCapabilityPath: CapabilityPath, target: Path): Capability<T>? is the public or private path identifying the capability newCapabilityPath is any public, private, or storage path that leads to the object that will provide the function defined by this capability target is the type parameter for the capability type T The above function will: return nil if the link for a given capability path already exists return the capability link if the link doesn’t already exist Removing capability using the unlink function The unlink function of an authorized account (“AuthAccount”) is used to remove a capability. fun unlink(_ path: CapabilityPath) is the public or private path of the capability that should be removed path Other important functions getLinkTarget This function can be used to get the target path of a capability. fun getLinkTarget(_ path: CapabilityPath): Path? getCapability This function can be used to get the link to existing capabilities. fun getCapability<T>(_ at: CapabilityPath): Capability<T> check This function is used to check if the target currently exists and can be borrowed. fun check<T: &Any>(): Bool borrow This function is used to borrow the capability and get a reference to a stored object. fun borrow<T: &Any>(): T? Code examples of creating a capability with Cadence We will follow a simple example where: Step 1: We will create a smart contract with a function as a resource. Step 2: We will access the resource. Create a capability to access the resource in that smart contract. Create a reference to that capability using the borrow function. Execute the function resource. Step 1: Creating a car smart contract Explanations are in the comments below: pub contract Car {
    // Declare a resource that only includes one function.
    pub resource CarAsset {
        // A transaction can call this function to get the "Honk Honk!"
        // message from the resource.
        pub fun honkHorn(): String {
            return "Honk Horn!"
        }
    }
    // We're going to use the built-in create function to create a new instance
    // of the Car resource
    pub fun createCarAsset(): @CarAsset {
        return <-create CarAsset()
    }
    init() {
        log("Creating CarAsset")
    }
} Step 2: Accessing the honkHorn() function in the CarAsset resource of Car smart contract The code below includes all three steps: Creating the capability to access the resource from CarAsset Creating a reference by borrowing the capability Executing the HonkHorn function Explanations are in the comments below: import Car from 0x01

// This transaction creates a new capability
// for the CarAsset resource in storage
// and adds it to the account's public area.
//
// Other accounts and scripts can use this capability
// to create a reference to the private object to be able to
// access its fields and call its methods.

transaction {
  prepare(account: AuthAccount) {

    // Create a public capability by linking the capability to
    // a `target` object in account storage.
    // The capability allows access to the object through an
    // interface defined by the owner.
    // This does not check if the link is valid or if the target exists.
    // It just creates the capability.
    // The capability is created and stored at /public/CarAssetTutorial, and is
    // also returned from the function.
    let capability = account.link<&Car.CarAsset>(/public/CarAssetTutorial, target: /storage/CarAssetTutorial)

    // Use the capability's borrow method to create a new reference
    // to the object that the capability links to
    // We use optional chaining "??" to get the value because
    // result of the borrow could fail, so it is an optional.
    // If the optional is nil,
    // the panic will happen with a descriptive error message
    let CarReference = capability.borrow()
      ?? panic("Could not borrow a reference to the Car capability")

    // Call the honkHorn function using the reference
    // to the CarAsset resource.
    //
    log(CarReference.honkHorn())
  }
} If you execute the above function, you should see the message “Honk Honk!” in your console. Refer to to learn how to deploy a contract and execute Cadence code. this tutorial Conclusion In this article, we learned the types of blockchain authorization and the added advantage of using capabilities over other methods of authorization. We also learned how to create, execute, and transfer capabilities in Cadence, the smart contract language of Flow blockchain. These learnings will help you as a developer to write highly secure code when building on Flow. In essence, capabilities open up a new paradigm of blockchain authorization, making it very easy for developers to define access at a granular level. The fact that Flow blockchain uses this paradigm for data access makes it one of the most secure blockchain options out there. And as you probably noticed, it is super easy to create capabilities in Flow. I hope that you enjoyed this deep dive into capability-based security in Flow blockchain. You can refer to the on Capabilities to learn more. I also recommend that you get your hands dirty by going through and this . official docs page Flow Docs tutorial on Capabilities Also published . here

Moving to Capability-Based Security with Flow: A Critical Evolution in Blockchain Security

Back in 1996 Jamiroquai, an English funk and jazz band from London released a song titled “Virtual Insanity”. Today, after Facebook’s (Meta) recent Metaverse announcement, this song seems more relevant than ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeTFAiYbR9o From the lyrics: There will always be cause for concern, as expressed by this band so many years ago when technology steps into “virtual” and not “real” reality territory. Elon Musk recently mentioned that “he doesn’t get Virtual Reality” because as children we were always told not to sit too close to a TV (or any screen), and now we will be placing our mobile phone into a VR headset right on top of our eyes? Of course, he does have a point in relation to the hardware in question, but it will always depend on the user profile and what it is being used for (from gaming to a VR-enabled e-shop: more on that below). But Elon Musk’s concern is elsewhere as he has cofounded which hopes to start implanting its brain chips directly into human brains this year. But that is another story. Is it all “virtual insanity”? Before an attempt at an answer, let’s get some Metaverse 101 definitions out of the way. Futures made of virtual insanity now Always seem to be governed by this love we have For useless, twisting our new technology Oh, now there is no sound, for we all live underground Neural Link What is the/a Metaverse? In his 1992 science fiction novel “Snow Crash” author Neal Stephenson first coined the term “Metaverse” in which lifelike Avatars (an icon or figure representing a particular person) interacted in realistic 3D environments. Very simply, a Metaverse is: ·a shared, interactive, intelligent, and immersive virtual world · built with Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools · implemented as an online software platform There are more than one “Metaverses” and various Metaverse “flavors”. For example, there is the Meta (Facebook) metaverse (Horizon Home and Horizon Work Rooms), and other approaches from companies like Niantic (Pokémon Go) who is building a Metaverse where AR images are overlaid onto the real world, as opposed to a separate virtual reality experience on top of the real world. Most probably, a handful of Metaverses will prevail, just like with today’s social networks where Facebook is personal, Twitter is business and Pinterest is concept-based. Then there is the Open Metaverse where proposes an open-source Metaverse Operating System, a completely decentralized set of tools and technologies operating through standards and APIs rather than a proprietary platform. In all cases many new tools and technologies will emerge including in relation to Computer Graphics, XR = (VR + AR + MR=mixed reality), payment gateways, NLP, ML, Compute (workload), and many more. Outlier Ventures What Can You Do in the Metaverse? Among other things, it will be possible to carry out activities such as: · attending virtual concerts · traveling · shopping · going to the movies · trying on clothes · 3D vs 2D work video calls · gaming Blockchain can provide digital proof of ownership for assets in the Metaverse, providing a robust and highly secure method for establishing proof of ownership and digital identity. Very simply, Blockchain is: · a system of recording information · a digital log of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain · impossible to hack or cheat Within the context of Blockchain, “Tokens” are a key concept, available in different forms and used for a variety of reasons. Very simply, a Token is: · any digital asset that is stored securely on the Blockchain · an example is a given cryptocurrency · tokens represent anything from ownership of a song or artwork to a software license A special type of token is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). Fungible means replaceable, so it is apparent that an NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable token. In the Metaverses, Blockchain overall and NFTs in particular guarantee the uniqueness and authenticity of virtual assets, but can also provide an ideal representation of ownership of physical assets. The latter is significant in relation to the road ahead. Ownership is not limited to any single Metaverse platform. NFTs might be anything from a song, to an avatar’s clothing to digital art, to an AI/ML learning model. They can be continuously traded and possibly gain in value with each trade. Now let’s go back to the “virtual insanity” theme. Doing Business and Proof of Ownership in the Metaverse What is Blockchain? What is a Token? Retail and the Metaverse Just a few days ago Nike Inc acquired , a startup founded in January 2020 that makes sneakers: but they are digital and available only on the Metaverse. Has Nike gone crazy? No, Nike wants to make sure that every Avatar in the Metaverse is wearing digital Nike shoes. Rather than waiting to see what their competitors will be doing, they have understood the underlying dynamics and have opted to move quickly and decisively. But it is not only Nike. Gamers these days might run into Avatars wearing Gucci handbags or glasses. Gucci entered the Metaverse by providing a limited Gucci collection for a popular online gaming platform, so “exploring” their future customer base (Gen Z born 1990+ to 2010). A couple of months ago rapper Snoop Dogg announced that he bought land in the blockchain-based virtual metaverse “The Sandbox” in order to create his digital mansion. Want to own a house near Snoop’s? Earlier this month The Sandbox held a “Snoopverse Land Sale” to allow buyers to acquire “land” next to the famous hip hop star. The price? $450K in Ethereum. Additionally, the famed rapper’s ‘Snoopverse’ also began selling early access passes which include access to NFT artworks. RTFKT Real Estate and the Metaverse Metaverse Adoption: Big Tech Given the importance of Facebook and following all the related publicity, most non-tech people I know are scratching their heads probably thinking that they have finally gotten too old to keep up with all this technology. But as Facebook stumbles into the Metaverse, it may have triggered a VR tsunami. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has now become the standard-bearer of the metaverse. Facebook’s vision for the Metaverse can be summarized as follows: · Creating a feeling of presence Facebook · Owning Avatar(s) to represent ourselves. What is an Avatar? A 3D representation of yourself instead of a picture. You can have many Avatars designed by different creators: one for work, one for gaming, and so on. · Creating a virtual home space (FB Horizon Home) where you can put up pictures, videos, digital products, or even a home office. You can invite people over or teleport somewhere else. · Attending virtual workspaces (Horizon Work) (i.e. 3D zoom calls) · Teleporting to a room, concert, or a game: replaces todays URL link · Instead of typing use gestures · Devices like TV’s won’t be needed anymore · VR Messenger calls · Horizon marketplace — create and share 3D digital items Microsoft recently announced , an Azure-based Mixed Reality platform. Envision meeting people from all over the world using 3D Avatar holograms through different devices like HoloLens 2, any VR headset, smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Apple is really a hardware business with services built on top so this is an important Metaverse head start. Reportedly to be released at the end of this year and given that Apple is pretty good with hardware, the Apple VR Headset will be more compact and lightweight and could make Apple the real Metaverse leader. Many other companies are already developing and/or using Metaverse technology including: · Sony PlayStation: VR helmets · Epic Games (Fortnite) · Alibaba: Ali Metaverse · Tik-Tok · Zara (Zepeto) Indirectly, AI will drive many metaverse features, including hyper-personalization, automatic language translation, image-video recognition, and much more. But more directly, AI will be used to create “virtual characters”. Think of inviting an intelligent assistant to your 3D meeting. Startups like Inworld aim to provide a solid framework for developers to build virtual characters that can respond in natural language, perceive the environment and offer meaningful interactions for users. And the potential is endless: virtual movie actors? Another application could be a 3D highly immersive combination of a book and a movie, implemented as a sharable, intelligent knowledge object. You wouldn’t just read or view it, you would step into it. As an NFT, this (I)ntelligent (M)ovie (B)ook object (IMB — just coined a new term!) would be hyper-personalized to present and behave differently to different users (i.e. children, adults, male, female, and so on). A digital twin is a virtual 3D model of a physical object or process and in fact, is a fundamental Metaverse building block. Streamlining design, improving efficiency through better energy and structural modeling, creating lab twins or even human digital twins, the benefits are clear. These models can be used to test various machines and systems, facilitating the detection of possible failures before they reach the physical world while improving efficiency, reliability, flexibility, and overall, creating better products. Some companies are now offering this technology as a (Platform as a service). Digital modeling can be used to create entire environments like buildings, factories, farms, energy networks, railways, stadiums, or even a whole city. You finally ticked “Kenya Safari” off your bucket list, but you really want to share your experience with your friends and family. Instead of uploading videos or pictures and waiting for the FB “like” tsunami, there is a way for them to join you through a VR headset, online and in real-time. With you, they would be watching what you are seeing in 3D (but it would be the definition of “so close and yet so far”). The same goes for concerts, the Soccer World Cup Final, the Super Bowl, and so on. Additionally, there are now quite a few AI-powered image recognition mobile travel apps offering on-screen information about what the camera is aimed at, like places of interest, museums, galleries, landmarks, parks, coffee shops, train stations, and any other sight in the view of the traveler. You get it. Using MS MESH (mentioned above) picture avatars of medical students gathered around a human body hologram learning by examination of what is inside. With your VR Headset, sitting on a high-end massage chair, how about escaping to a holiday island and feeling the heat of the sun along with a light breeze? is a US-based company that provides virtual reality experiences in various flavors like “Heavenly Garden“, “Sauna“ and “Desert Spa“ among more. AR-enabled edge device mobile apps can assess your exercises or yoga poses and provide valuable training and related insights. Once you get to mainstream Metaverses, you can see from the list above that the potential is huge for all verticals. For those decision-makers that consider this too farfetched to spend time and resources on, beware of some of the most unfortunate anti-prophetic statements. February 1995, Newsweek, Clifford Stoll: May 2007, Microsoft, Steve Ballmer: On a different vertical: October 1929: Bernard Baruch: Microsoft MESH Apple The AI-Powered Metaverse The Metaverse’s Potential Use Cases Manufacturing Industry PaaS Travel Industry Porn Industry Healthcare Industry Wellness Industry Esqapes Immersive Relaxation Fitness and Yoga Conclusion “The truth is in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works. How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we will soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure” “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance” “The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.” Takeaway It will be some time yet until your Virtual Reality website surpasses in sales your conventional website, but in the meantime, the Metaverse will serve as a good business activity niche. At this point, it must be seen as a place to experiment, collaborate and explore rather than to aggressively market, but in all cases do not ignore it, it is on the way. Update Jan 23: Just a few days after writing this article, Microsoft made a bolder move into the Metaverse: Founder Fortuitapps: Building the NFT 3D version of this article Mircosoft acquires Activision for $68.7Billion About the Author Nicolas Fekos Also published here.

Is the Metaverse Virtual Insanity or a Virtual Gold Mine?

Our future conundrums today — social media, data, laws and drone swarms — have a queasy and ominous feel to them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our future conundrums today Everything is terrible: an explanation — “Facebook is a breeding ground for and polarized outrage, accused of and…[Twitter] has become a seething battleground of widespread, targeted abuse…[while] YouTube videos are messing with the minds of … decided to pass the buck to Wikipedia, …. fake news corrupting democracy children without telling them ?….[3] somewhat related theories… What the hell is going on …. Uncanny Social Valley Theory ’Social media is poison’…[because] online interactions…[reduce] people to awful caricatures of themselves… in the form of hastily constructed, low-context text…amplified by the outrage…algorithms which think that ‘engagement’ is the highest goal …. …. [But] this isn’t just a story of lack of compassion…[rather] genuinely awful people doing truly, genuinely awful things ….[ …. 2. Intransigent Asshole Theory…. Internet was always full of awful Now] the assholes are more organized, their victims are often knowingly and strategically targeted, and many seem to have calcified from assholedom into actual evil [So] if only 3% of the online population really wants [it]…to be horrible, ultimately they can force it to be, because the other 97% can …live with a world in which the Internet is often basically a cesspool, whereas those 3% apparently cannot live with a world in which it is not…. . 3. Outrage Machine Money Maker Outrage equals engagement equals profit…[since] days of yellow journalism and ‘if it bleeds, it leads ’ This is explicit for the politically motivated, for Russian trolls and…hate groups, …[and] for Facebook and Twitter and YouTube [who]…rake in huge amounts of money…. [Since] the social costs are immense … they have to be externalized…[thus] YouTube deciding that Wikipedia is the solution…[which] simply doesn’t scale …. ?” [T]he actual solution…is to stop optimizing for ever-higher engagement …[is] anathema… and instead claim ‘ we don’t know what to do ’….[It’s] not like things can get much worse than they already are. Right? Right https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/18/everything-is-terrible-an-explanation/ _As most everyone knows, the Hawaiian Islands are a beautiful and magical place. In spending most of my life there I…_medium.com The Future By Default When an AI finally kills someone, who will be responsible? — …but what laws should apply….[and] whether an AI system could be held criminally liable for its actions…. “[Now] self-driving car…has hit and killed a pedestrian, with huge media coverage …. Criminal liability usually requires an action and a mental intent…[and] three scenarios that could apply ….[ …. perpetrator via another, applies when an offense has been committed by a mentally deficient person or animal…deemed to be innocent. But anybody who has instructed the…person or animal can be held criminally liable So] ‘AI program could be…an innocent agent, with either…programmer or the user…held to be the perpetrator-via-another’ …. …. natural probable consequence, occurs when the ordinary actions of an AI system might be used inappropriately to perform a criminal act…[like] intelligent robot in a…factory that killed a human worker The key question here is whether the programmer…[knew] this outcome was a probable consequence of its use . …. direct liability…requires both an action and an intent An action is straightforward to prove if the AI system [action]… results in a criminal act or fails to take an action when there is a duty to act. The intent is much harder to determine Then there is the issue of defense…. …. Could a program that is malfunctioning claim…defense of insanity? Could an AI infected by…virus claim defenses similar to coercion or intoxication? [Finally] issue of punishment. Who or what would be punished for an offense for which an AI system was directly liable, and what form would this punishment take? …. For the moment, there are no answers to these questions [Might] have to be settled with civil law. Then a crucial question will be whether an AI system is a service or a product_…._ [ If] product, then product design legislation would apply based on a warranty, for example…. . [If] service, then the tort of negligence applies…[and] plaintiff would usually have to demonstrate three elements to prove negligence…[First, if] defendant had a duty of care …. [Second] defendant breached that duty….[Third if] breach caused an injury to the plaintiff .” And if all this weren’t murky enough, the legal standing of AI systems could change as their capabilities become more human-like https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610459/when-an-ai-finally-kills-someone-who-will-be-responsible/ Trump-Linked Political Data Firm Offered to Entrap Politicians — “Alexander Nix, who [ran]…Cambridge Analytica, had a few ideas for a…client looking for help in a foreign election [like]…send an attractive woman to seduce a rival candidate and secretly videotape…or send someone posing as a wealthy land developer to pass a bribe…[but] client, though, was actually a reporter…. [ …. Firm] was founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer, a wealthy Republican donor…[with] psychographic modeling techniques…built in part with the data harvested from Facebook [and]…work for the Trump campaign Cambridge Analytica…parent company, the SCL Group…[has] clients that don’t want to be seen to be working with a foreign company…[so] set up fake IDs and …employs front companies and former spies on behalf of political clients. The information that is uncovered through such clandestine work is then put ‘into the bloodstream to the internet….’Then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again, over time, to watch it take shape…. ’” [Must] happen without anyone thinking, ‘That’s propaganda.’ Because the moment you think ‘that’s propaganda’…question is, ‘Who’s put that out? https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/trump-linked-political-data-firm-offered-to-entrap-politicians/ar-BBKrr9G?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp _What’s Yours is Mine and What’s Mine is Mine_medium.com My Data Is My Property — Pay Me If You Use It Think One Military Drone is Bad? Drone Swarms Are Terrifyingly Difficult to Stop — “[Use] of military drones… has already had a major impact on the future of warfare planning…[and] Pentagon has…program to build a new artificial intelligence for controlling its own drone efforts …. …. A simple drone built out of plywood can carry and drop a hand grenade. Russian drones…destroyed two Ukrainian ammo depots last year…[and] swarm of primitive drones struck Russian forces in Syria…[by] militias and guerilla organizations working with minimal tools [ As] drones become more proficient at making decisions on their own, the need for a remote uplink could vanish altogether…[and] simply shooting at…drones isn’t a great option for stopping them…[because] overwhelm most existing kinetic countermeasures’…. . [U.S.] is working on…drone swarms, including a recent test of…100 robin-sized micro-drones…with a distributed intelligence…. It’s not clear yet what an effective response to this attack strategy will look like . The military still grapples with fighting guerilla and insurgent forces [so]…advent of cheap, easily assembled drone swarms serving as a micro-bombing fleet could make such situations worse ” How do you identify and strike military centers when the “air force” attacking…can be assembled largely from scrap…components, powered by a “brain” equivalent to…[smartphone] launched from a parking lot? https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/265216-think-one-military-drone-bad-drone-swarms-terrifyingly-difficult-stop _Beyond accumulated scientific knowledge. art and magical technological artifacts, we humans remain primates with…_medium.com Our Human Stain Find more of my ideas on Medium at, . A Passion to Evolve Or click the Follow button below to add me to your feed. Prefer a weekly email newsletter — no ads, no spam, & never sell the list — email me with dochuston1@gmail.com “add me” in the subject line. May you live long and prosper!Doc Huston

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