Amazon enters the NFT race

Google’s 1,000-language AI model, Spain’s €8M metaverse funding, plus more top stories

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Amazon is reportedly gearing up to launch its own NFT platform, allowing customers to purchase digital items tied to real-world assets.

Here’s how it will work:

Let’s say you buy a fashion-oriented NFT from their marketplace.

  • You will buy it with a credit card in the same way you would normally on Amazon.

  • That NFT will be tied to clothing in the Amazon marketplace.

They are basically leaning into the same phygital trend kicked off by Nike and RTFKT but at Amazon scale.

They are even mulling over using an email blast to contact all 167 million US-based Prime subscribers to promote their digital collectibles drive.

Although the actual blockchain facilitating the platform’s backend isn’t clear, its likely the approach similar to the Polygon-powered Starbucks loyalty program as one source said:

“They can onboard millions of users without educating people about self-custody, without educating people how to [set up] a MetaMask wallet.”

Expect this apparent email blast around late April or early May.

Amid the ongoing battle for AI supremacy, Google appears to be on track building an AI language model that supports 1,000 different languages. It disclosed more details about the Universal Speech Model (USM), hailed as a “critical first step” in realizing its goals.

USM supports over 100 languages and is already used by YouTube to generate closed captioning. It will serve as the basis for an even more expansive system. One use for the upgraded USM technology could be inside AR glasses, able to detect and provide real-time translations that appear right before the user’s eyes.

The USM model, first announced in November, is “a family of state-of-the-art speech models” with 2 billion parameters trained on 12 million hours of speech and 28 billion sentences across more than 300 languages.

Google’s AI team is absolutely cranking. They are expected to show off more than 20 AI-powered products during the annual I/O event this year.

Meta doesn’t shy away from talking about an interoperable and open metaverse, yet it shares little about hosting the platform on a blockchain or utilizing NFTs from different chains to make the vision happen. Could this actually mean a centralized open metaverse in reality? A few concerns on Meta’s approach from Punk6529 and other web3 leaders include:

  • Potential privacy concerns, mainly on the VR headset. Meta’s ability to record audio comes to the fore: It is only sent to the company in the case of a report but otherwise stored on the headset. There’s a consent form and users can choose not to accept, but declining means the user will not be able to talk on the platform.

  • The latest update to the brand’s VR headset - additional sensors - is said to allow for more accurate facial expressions, eye contact, and deeper connection when inside the metaverse. Yet could this be a potential area of compromise when it comes to biometric data?

There’s so much hype around the metaverse and European carriers' lobbying efforts at the Mobile World Congress 2023, including the following:

  • European carriers are seeking more support from EU lawmakers to fund the infrastructure necessary to bring the metaverse to life.

  • They are pushing for a new business model in which they can charge tech giants for data piping to popular apps, on top of billing consumers for internet access.

The concept of the metaverse has captured the attention of many, but its actual implementation is still in the works and predictions of its potential worth by 2030 vary widely, highlighting uncertainty. It remains to be seen how the metaverse will ultimately take shape and what role it will play in the future of technology.

The Spanish government's recent decision to invest €8M in the video gaming and metaverse industry is set to transform the local gaming market, a fresh funding boost for the digital creation sector, which includes video games and the metaverse.

The Spanish gaming market had revenues of close to €1.8M in 2021, expected to reach €2.3B by 2024. This investment from the Spanish Ministry of Culture will help to drive this growth even further, allowing for more resources to be allocated toward game development and other projects.

🏃‍♂️ Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

  • Home improvement giant Home Depot is building a metaverse experience for kids on Roblox. (Link)

  • Might Meta be racing away from the games that drive its VR business? (Link)

  • Decentraland and Sandbox whales and investors are eyeing metaverse P2E game Pikamoon with its Pikaverse. (Link)

  • New Jersey-based NFT Gaming has acquired the AI assets of Voxpow to integrate into its proprietary game portfolio. (Link)

  • Japanese indoor mapping tech firm Mapxus partners with HK-based BaaS NOIZ to create Honio, the world's first indoor location-based Game-Fi metaverse. (Link)

  • Gaming - with P2E games like Axie Infinity becoming household names during the pandemic - is driving the Philippines’ bid to be a global blockchain hub. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

  • Maybelline launches its new mascara with the help of digital avatar May and global ambassador Gigi Hadid. (Link)

  • Phoenix-based Metaxfashion is developing what it dubs the first NFT ecosystem for fashion brands and designers. (Link)

  • Tokens.com is hosting the 2023 Metaverse Fashion Week in its Luxury District in Decentraland, featuring top brands like Dolce & Gabbana. (Link)

  • Adidas, Gucci, Prada, and other big brands are pivoting to web3 for a reason: a “first-mover advantage” in getting exposure to early adopters. (Link)

  • In Japan, Ruby Groupe taps into the Cavrnus platform to power metaverse activations for luxury brands. (Link)

  • India’s VOSMOS is out to offer an immersive shopping experience in the metaverse via data analytics. (Link)

🏀 Sports

  • LootMogul launches a new ownership model allowing sports fans to own a piece of the company through equity crowdfunding. (Link)

  • Global lifestyle brand Roots targets Gen Z with its virtual store The Sports Metaverse. (Link)

  • Move-to-earn platform raises $5M in ICO as 7-day price increase is announced. (Link)

  • Four VR startups are creating customizable workout experiences with games on a stationary exercise bike, cable resistance machine, and more. (Link)

  • Gamifly partners with SKALE to bring sports to the metaverse, touting low-cost entry and gaming. (Link)

  • Metaverse Essentials: Building the Future, a free course from Meta, dives deep into the ever-evolving connection between sports and the metaverse. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

  • A Yahoo study has found 66% of APAC and 59% of Australian millennials and Gen Z look forward to the metaverse. (Link)

  • US senators don’t want teens to access Facebook’s metaverse, citing Meta’s record of failing to protect kids from inappropriate content. (Link)

  • The tech job apocalypse could be undermining the development of VR, AR, and MR as post-pandemic entertainment bounces back. (Link)

  • EU’s antitrust chief sets sights on metaverse competition issues as the European Commission prepares to publish a strategy for online virtual worlds in May. (Link)

  • Immersive media disrupts traditional entertainment as it covers gaming, virtual goods, and digital advertising, becoming Gen Z’s choice. (Link)

  • Discover what this VR pole dancer has to say about the metaverse - Mark Zuckerberg could take some cues. (Link)

🖼 Art

  • Yuga Labs' Bitcoin NFT collection fetches top bid of nearly $160K and generates $16.5M from its TwelveFold auction as it comes to a close. (Link)

  • NFT marketplace Magic Eden rolls out Mint Madness with free web3 gaming mints, releasing over a dozen games on three blockchains. (Link)

  • Hermes isn’t done with MetaBirkins yet: It’s asking the judge to force the NFTs offline for good. (Link)

  • Paris Blockchain Week will be hosted at the Carrousel du LOUVRE in the heart of Paris from March 20-24. (Link)

  • Navigate the metaverse with this handy Decentraland map guide. (Link)

  • Unity helps developers integrate digital identity, tokens, NFTs, and other blockchain features in their creations. (Link)

🤖 AI

  • OpenAI’s API expansion could lead to a boom in AI integration, from social media to online grocery shopping. (Link)

  • AI software could detect breast cancer that doctors miss. (Link)

  • The Chinese tech minister gets candid: ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence is “difficult to achieve.” (Link)

  • Astrobiologists are training an AI to find life on Mars. (Link)

  • Can AI chatbots help prevent suicide? (Link)

  • AI helps solve networking problems, with management, SD-WAN, SASE, and 5G benefiting from lightened enterprise-networking tasks. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

  • Media brand Rebel Girls raises $8M in a Penguin Random House-led funding round to expand to television, theater, and the metaverse and reach 50 million girls by 2025. (Link)

  • LG NOVA incubator invests in innovative tech startups in fields like digital health, metaverse, and gaming, offering up to $100,000 and additional investments. (Link)

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

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