11th January 2023 > > Headsets and the metaverse.

tl;dr

Recent and potential developments for headsets used to access the metaverse.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

March futures for BTC on the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) are at a premium to spot for the first time since the fraudulent FTX fiasco. Though this is undoubtedly a positive sign of market sentiment, the backwardation of later dated contracts indicates we are not yet out of the woods.

Which might perhaps explain the leveraged BTC bears ongoing enthusiasm. Overnight that is a huge drop to see in perpetual futures funding rates accompanied by a 10% increase in outstanding notional.

Bring on that short squeeze.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary — Headsets and the metaverse

After McKinsey & Co.’s recent report predicting revenues of $4-5 TRILION by 2030 for the metaverse (see CCC 9th January 2023) exhibitors at the annual CES (Consumer Electronics Show) held in Vegas last week agree.

The CES is much like some of the annual car shows, where companies get to display concepts and ideas as much as live products for sale today.

In the latter category, HTC launched its new Vive XR Elite AR (augmented reality) headset. The Vive XR Elite is a “gateway” to the metaverse, but just one small part of it – the Viverse, much like Meta’s Quest Pro headset is a gateway to Meta’s metaverse.

Other headsets include the next-gen PlayStation PSVR2, and Apple claims to be developing one that will include – much to Meta’s dismay – legs and the ability to walk, not just float. OVR Technology are planning to release a headset later this year which will include eight primary aromas that can be combined to create a range of different smells.

The one that caught my eye is Brelyon’s which looks like this:

Billed as the headset that wears you, but still 3-4 years away from production, Barmak Heshmat, CEO and founder of Brelyon, explains:

“Brelyon Fusion allows the blending of light to scale field of view in a new way that achieves multiples of resolution. This kind of new light-field expansion innovation really allows us to think of light as pieces of LEGO blocks that can computationally be built to create a more immersive screen.”

Looking further ahead, Planet Theta (https://planet-theta.com/) is a virtual dating world building the killer app – a sense of touch. Bring that product to market and you will soon retire a multi-billionaire.

…

It’s not all frivolous.

Neurosurgeons at John Hopkins used AR to perform several complex operations involving different patients’ spines, a body part for which surgical precision comes in handy.

AR glasses are used by fighter pilots and underwater welders according to David Goldman, vice president of marketing at Lumus, a manufacturer of such products.

…

Like it or not, the metaverse in both centralised and decentralised forms is heading our way. I am feeling very excited about that, and its obvious potential for empowering crypto use.