I struggle with the constant stream of fad terminology, the latest being Metaverse and Web 3.0.
In some ways, Metaverse appears to be simply a new way of describing what we already have —- aren’t social networks themselves already metaverses? In others, the likes of FB and Apple are pushing technologies to enhance “Metaverse immersion” (made that up), none of which is gaining significant traction.
VR and AR headsets continue to improve, and yet still fail to extend beyond the realm of tech demos for most people. (I understand AR has decent uses in industry: hardly a metaverse.) This criticism is coming from someone who was an enthusiastic early adopter with Oculus, and who currently owns a Quest 2, which is excellent at gathering dust, and at occasionally wowing VR noobs (who are amazed but never end up buying one).
Then you have iOS AR, another technology devoid of practical and compelling uses. I love the Measure app with the LiDAR sensor —- is that a metaverse, an electronic tape measure? I guess so.
Maybe you don't like your VR but I actually know more and more people who use their headsets and looking at the stores and forums and so on it seems like it's gaining real traction.
Less so for AR but Pokemon Go still has users an I see ARish features integrated by default into my default Samsung camera, and ARish stuff into meeting software, streamers etc. It's not super advanced yet but hardly dead and I wouldn't be convinced something big won't come out of it.
>My take: the Metaverse is the new chatbot.
I'm not a fan of most chatbots but they've been very successful, improving and you see more of them. An apt comparison even if made for the wrong reasons.
Had the "knotted rope" moment with the term "Web3" the other day, came across about 6 different uses of the word in a 2 hour period; and every one was someone who was (being charitable) fully bought into and enthused about "cryptoeconomy".
They seemed to be using the term to mean "the web, but fully monetized on an NFT-like basis" but in some way that seemed to denote an ideological significance on par with the concept of the Trinity.
If I heard either term being used like this at a conference, I'd be wary of the kool aid.
I thoroughly enjoy mocking Web 3.0 for its particularly lame naming device, seeing as it's being borrowed from a failed attempt to utilize Web 3.0 a decade ago in relation to the Semantic Web. It's quite fitting that the clown show chose that name, again.
"Metaverse" used by anyone but a corporation implies data portability and open standards that allow hopping between servers owned by different companies and taking your stuff with you.
Well i agree. Chatbots seemed like they would be huge and at one point I knew a dozen+ companies that were just working on chatbot technology. Now I see them mostly used as the first line of defenses and data collection before a chat bot "user" is passed off to a human. Very widespread use for a specific use case.
Will Metaverses take over our lives? Probably not. Will they become wide spread for a specific use case? Probably.
In some ways, Metaverse appears to be simply a new way of describing what we already have —- aren’t social networks themselves already metaverses? In others, the likes of FB and Apple are pushing technologies to enhance “Metaverse immersion” (made that up), none of which is gaining significant traction.
VR and AR headsets continue to improve, and yet still fail to extend beyond the realm of tech demos for most people. (I understand AR has decent uses in industry: hardly a metaverse.) This criticism is coming from someone who was an enthusiastic early adopter with Oculus, and who currently owns a Quest 2, which is excellent at gathering dust, and at occasionally wowing VR noobs (who are amazed but never end up buying one).
Then you have iOS AR, another technology devoid of practical and compelling uses. I love the Measure app with the LiDAR sensor —- is that a metaverse, an electronic tape measure? I guess so.
My take: the Metaverse is the new chatbot.