It is no longer a story of the future, a sci-fi fiction we fear but cannot visualize. Two of the nine islands of Tuvalu are on the verge of disappearing.
The microstate Tuvalu, an island country in the Pacific, is feeling some of the worst effects of climate change. They are not losing a species or dealing with an increase in carbon footprint: the nation of Tuvalu is sinking under the rising sea levels, and it seems to be a matter of time before it is lost entirely. Researchers estimate that more than 50% of the capital, Funafuti, could be flooded by 2050. While its land may be engulfed, its people’s determination to keep their home alive is stronger than ever. The nation’s efforts are symbolic — Tuvalu is planning to create a twin version of its entirety on the metaverse. This digital response was provoked by the existential threat of rising sea levels. Simon Kofe, Tuvalu’s minister for justice, communication and foreign affairs, conveyed this message through a digital address to leaders at COP27, saying “Our land, our ocean, our culture are the most precious assets of our people and to keep them safe from harm,” he stated, “no matter what happens in the physical world, we will move them to the cloud.” (...) Kofe stated that the plan would essentially create a digital (and identical) twin version of Tuvalu in the metaverse. This model would act to replicate the beautiful islands of this nation and preserve its deep history and unique culture. (...) Source
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Cumulus Encrypted Storage System (CESS), a leading blockchain-powered decentralized storage and CDN infrastructure for Web3, has announced a highly successful close to its Series A funding round, having secured $8 million in capital. Notable investors include HTX Venture, Infinity Ventures Crypto, DWF Labs, Mentha Partners, Vespertine Capital , Web3 Foundation, Singchain Investment, 7 O'Clock Capital, SolrDAO, FishDAO, OneBlock+, Winkrypto, and Polkadot Ecology Research Institute.
This significant investment highlights CESS's commitment to creating a secure, efficient, and transparent decentralized value network. The funds will drive technological advancements, expand global operations, and strengthen CESS's position in the decentralized infrastructure sector, empowering data creators and owners in redefining value distribution in data asset circulation. “This funding will enable us to continue our mission of providing the next-gen of global decentralized data services for Web3, which includes support for large-scale commercial use cases that require high-end security, performance, storage, CDN, high-frequency trading and millisecond data retrieval. We are grateful to our investors for their trust and support in our vision, and we look forward to delivering innovative solutions that create value, lower costs, improve outcomes and experiences, and deliver user-focused solutions that are fast, performant, cost-effective, and secure,” said Nicholas Zaldastani, Co-Founder and Chairman of CESS. (...) CESS supports use cases such as Metaverse, NFT, DeFi, Streaming media, Social media, Gaming,RWA (real world assets) and all Web2 and Web3 storage, helping to build a diverse and robust ecosystem where transactions are secured by encryption and data ownership is returned to its rightful owners. (...) Source DUBAI, UAE / ACCESSWIRE / December 29, 2023 / A global private investment fund/bank based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), MADA Capital, announced its partnership with Creta, a massive Web3 metaverse gaming platform, through participation in the Creta Ecosystem growth fund.
MADA Capital, headquartered in the UAE, operates as a major financial institution in private banking, securities, asset management, and investment business in global markets. Notable limited partners (LP) include regional and international sovereign wealth funds, MADA Capital has a track record of successfully managing numerous global venture projects, particularly in key international cities, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The company has primarily focused its business on asset management and corporate advisory services. Ever since its establishment, MADA Capital has managed assets of hundreds of millions, led more than 15 IPOs worldwide, and established over 30 funds. Many companies and government entities in the Middle East currently show significant interest in developing the IT and gaming industries and consider it as crucial sectors responsible for shaping the nation's future. In this environment, Mada Capital has actively participated in the fund at an early stage, being deeply impressed by Creta's vision and technological prowess, which outshine competitors. In the future, Creta, alongside Mada Capital, will collaboratively lead the advancement of the web3 and gaming metaverse industries in the global market. Together, they aim to grow the fund, discover and support outstanding producers and content, and expand Creta's ecosystem by fostering cooperation and nurturing technology. The ultimate goal of CRETA is to form a coalition of world-class developers, creators, and producers, where numerous creators join and contribute their high-level creations. The company is building a new comprehensive gaming entertainment platform that will lead the next generation game/metaverse content industry. (...) Source Sotheby’s, the renowned auction house with a rich history spanning 279 years, has made a significant impact on the digital art market in the current year. Fine arts auction house Sotheby’s reported making “close to $35 million” in digital art sales in 2023, marking it as a standout year for the emerging sector.
On December 23, Michael Bouhanna, the company’s Vice President and Head of Digital Art, concluded Sotheby’s year results regarding digital art on X as “one of the most exciting years for digital art.” Notably, Sotheby’s conducted its first live digital art auction with 300 attendees, generating $12 million in sales. The auction house also set a new record for an individual digital artwork by selling Dmitry Chernyak’s non-fungible token (NFT) ‘Ringers #879’ for an impressive $6.2 million. In total, Sotheby’s conducted over 25 auctions focused exclusively on digital art or including it in contemporary art sales. The company launched its on-chain marketplace for the secondary trade of NFTs called Sotheby’s Metaverse. Furthermore, Sotheby’s partnered with 99-year-old artist Vera Molnar and Martin Grasser to launch the highly successful NFT collection “Themes and Variations.” This collaboration bridged the gap between generations and artistic mediums, proving that digital art can resonate with everyone. Earlier this year, Sotheby’s made history by auctioning the manuscript of Neal Stephenson’s cult novel “Avalanche,” believed to contain the first-ever use of the term “metaverse.” Looking ahead, Sotheby plans to refine its strategies in the primary market and continue supporting creators. (...) Source While 2022 proved to be a strong year for the virtual realm and its definitive metaverse platforms, the existence of such digital worlds were brought into question at the beginning of the year when the sector’s biggest players – namely Meta and Microsoft – began initiating U-turns in their adoption of the technology.
Despite this, open-world games like Roblox and Fortnite continued to remain influential, as evidenced in the financial results of metaverse game developer Gamefam, which reported its “most successful year yet” for FY23 in its first ‘State of Brands in Metaverse Gaming’ report. The firm saw a 35 percent year-on-year revenue increase, bringing it to 16 consecutive quarters of such growth, while it also upped its owned and operated network to 30 games, ultimately surpassing 29 billion gameplay sessions to date. Alongside a series of achievements in the company’s portfolio, including the launch of Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon and Roblox games for the NFL, this year confirmed the importance of virtual merchandise for Gamefam, with the likes of Hugo Boss’ NFL hoodies and looks for digital concerts by Saweetie and Bebe Rexha being among the highlights. In total, Gamefam sold more than 2.3 million virtual merchandise items throughout the year, a 100 percent increase YoY, and a proven means of pushing brand exposure and fan engagement on these platforms. (...) Source Metaverse platform The Sandbox is aiming to make India its largest market within the next 2 years after entering the nation earlier this year through a joint venture with a local entity, a first for the subsidiary of metaverse gaming and venture capital giant Animoca Brands.
“We want to build a diverse and inclusive world with no borders, bringing different regions of the world together, and with that vision in mind, a year ago, we started out in India to establish a joint venture,” Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget told CoinDesk in an interview in India’s southern city of Bengaluru earlier this month. The joint venture between Brinc, a global venture accelerator and The Sandbox was announced in Feb. 2023 and led to the creation of BharatBox, a cultural metaverse hub for India that encompasses Bollywood, India’s famous Hindi cinema industry too. “The Indian entity of The Sandbox is BharatBox,” said Karan Keswani, CEO of BharatBox. “BharatVerse is the Indian land on The Sandbox map.” Its ambitions for India come at a time when lawmakers have asked the Web3 industry to decouple itself from crypto. India’s crypto industry has been in survival mode after the nation imposed stiff taxes in 2022. For a Web3 gaming giant to foray into India despite the regulatory clouds is reflective of the interest in the nation’s gaming and developer promise. (...) Most of the partnerships are contract and land partner agreements that will allow the company to use its acquired Land NFTs in the open metaverse to build gamified experiences in The Sandbox dedicated to India, such as a recent one to bring India’s epic Mahabharat to the Metaverse. (...) Source South Korea-based social media platform LINE NEXT has announced the completion of a $140 million raise earmarked to expand its reach within the Web3 ecosystem.
LINE disclosed that the funds will be deployed toward global business expansion and boosting Web3 adoption across Southeast Asia. The company has sights on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), wrapping up plans to introduce a digital market for collectibles, called DOSI, in early 2024. As stated in the report, DOSI will operate as a mobile app for users and support the purchase and sale of digital collectibles for a global market. Outside of NFTs, the company is mulling the launch of a social app to support communication between characters launched via artificial intelligence (AI). LINE’s statement indicates the launch of a suite of Web3 games designed to reach a wider audience. LINE says it will provide Web3 solutions for firms seeking to confer full ownership of digital products to their customer, leveraging publicly distributed ledger Finschia as its architectural base layer. The raise, led by Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners, has been described as Asia’s largest Web3 funding round for 2023. The technology-focused private equity firm has considerable experience investing in Web3 projects globally, supporting fledgling firms with assets under management surpassing the $1.3 billion mark. “It is significant that we were able to secure this funding in the context of a globally contracting investment environment,” said LINE CEO Youngsu Ko. “We plan to use this opportunity to further popularize Web3 and develop a new service ecosystem where users own the value of their digital goods.” (...) Source Europe Is Introducing The New Digital Identity Wallets - The Details Have Been Finally Revealed!12/28/2023 The agreement represents a significant stride toward the EU's 2030 goal of providing every European citizen with the opportunity to utilize a secure and privacy-preserving digital identity. The EU Digital Identity Wallet will empower citizens, giving them control over their data and bolstering security as they interact with online services.
What precisely is the digital identity wallet ? EU Digital Identity Wallets are personal digital wallets, in the form of apps allowing citizens to digitally identify themselves, store and manage identity data and official documents in digital form. What is the legal background behind this? The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have jointly announced the successful conclusion of a pivotal agreement pertaining to the regulation introducing European Digital Identity Wallets. This significant achievement signifies the culmination of collaborative endeavors by co-legislators who have been implementing the provisions outlined in the provisional political agreement reached on June 29, 2023.The agreement establishes a legal framework for an EU digital identity, marking the inception of the first-ever reliable and secure digital identity framework tailored for all Europeans. What changes for European citizens? In the near future, EU citizens will have the opportunity to acquire an EU Digital Identity Wallet, providing access to public and private online services with robust security measures and the guarantee of personal data protection across Europe. Will private services accept the EU Digital Identity Wallets? Private services with a legal obligation to authenticate users will also need to integrate the EU Digital Identity Wallet, unlocking new business prospects. This requirement is evident in various scenarios, including but not limited to payment transactions, opening bank accounts, filing tax returns and specific use cases within the realms of transportation, energy, social security, etc. The obligation to acknowledge the digital wallet for authentication is also applicable to Very Large Online Platforms designated under the Digital Services Act (DSA). (...) Source TAINAN, Taiwan, Dec. 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Himax Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIMX) (“Himax” or “Company”), a leading supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, today announced the Company will feature live showcases of its next generation proprietary ultra luminous Color Sequential Front-Lit LCoS and agile 3D Sensing technologies in a range of immersive AR applications at CES 2024, the largest consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, U.S.A. from January 9 – 12, 2024.
Himax next generation proprietary Color Sequential Front-Lit LCoS Microdisplay significantly enhances brightness when compared to the previous generation design, delivering industry-leading performance with up to 180K nits brightness. The impressive compact form factor, with total volume as small as 0.5 c.c., delivers the most distinguished and vibrate color performance exceeding 140% sRGB color gamut. These outstanding characteristics make the LCoS microdisplay the perfect fit to meet the rigorous requirements to support next generation see-through goggles deploying 2D exit pupil expansion waveguides. A live demonstration with goggles will be on display, incorporating Himax LCoS microdisplay and a 40 degrees field-of-view waveguide design, with brightness of up to 500 nits, along with an industry-leading contrast ratio exceeding 200:1. Notably, Himax has long held a leadership position in the field of LCoS technology with rich design and high-volume-production experience spanning well over a decade. The Color Sequential Front-Lit LCoS technology demonstrates unparalleled performance and has swiftly drawn the attention of several tech giants shifting their focus away from micro-LED for their new generation AR goggle designs. During CES 2024, Himax will also exhibit a series of 3D depth sensing solutions applied to various AR/VR applications. One live demonstration will feature a groundbreaking vivid 3D naked-eye laptop that embodies Himax’s proprietary structured light vision AI module for advanced, real time 3D eye and hand gesture tracking. For eye tracking, the AI module reports out the position of the viewer’s eyes, presenting it in a 3D coordinate system with extremely low latency, as fast as 7 milliseconds. The laptop display can then be based on 3D coordination for a real-time 3D image disposition of the naked-eye display, ensuring alignment with viewer's perspective. The results in vibrant, 3D stereoscopic visual effects, providing users with an immersive and advanced glasses-free 3D display experience, while avoiding 3D dizziness. Simultaneously, during eye tracking, the module will engage in hand gesture tracking for controller-free laptop operation, providing an intuitive and user-friendly human-machine interaction. Himax latest generation Time-of-Flight (“TOF”) 3D vision processor, HE-2, will also be on display at the event. The HE-2 features industrial-leading CPU and NPU cores. Paired with TOF image inputs, it is capable of rapidly executing 3D and AI operations on image content at high speed, outputting 3D data at 60 fps, nearly twice the speed of prevailing software. The HE-2 significantly reduces data latency, alleviates the main central processor’s computational burden, and enhances overall system efficiency. This characteristic makes it a good fit for various edge applications, such as TV, Kiosk, IoT devices among others. During the exhibition, Himax will showcase the latest TOF 3D vision technology illustrating long-distance multi-face detection, along with 3D gesture control. (...) Source SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Health On Cloud, an innovator in advanced healthcare solutions, is excited to announce the global expansion of its revolutionary metaverse medical consultation platform, CURISALL, along with its medical education platform, MEDTIS. This expansion is scheduled to launch in Kazakhstan, Colombia, and several other Latin American countries in 2024, marking a strategic move that underscores the company's commitment to harnessing metaverse technology for remote medical and educational services.
Mike Dowding, Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of Health On Cloud, expressed enthusiasm for the initiative, stating, "Leveraging metaverse technology for remote medical and educational services holds tremendous potential, particularly in rural communities of developing countries with limited access to high-quality healthcare services." Health On Cloud is focused on deploying a globally connected Virtual University Hospital consisting of (i) Meta-Versity; and (ii) Cloud Hospital. In line with WHO's vision, Health On Cloud envisions creating a world where no one is excluded from medical services. To achieve this goal, HOC is utilizing its technologies to introduce state-of-the-art digital healthcare solutions to several countries, notably Colombia. HOC intends to sequentially introduce the CLOUD HOSPITAL and META-VERSITY in Colombia as part of a collaborative Feasibility Study involving local leading medical institutions and global industry partners. The aim is to ensure the health of the country's citizens and enhance its healthcare capabilities, thereby contributing to the country's long-term well-being. Additionally, by collecting medical data through remote consultations, Health On Cloud aims to contribute to the latest advancements in healthcare technology. (...) "Beyond remote consultations, personalized medical advice, and innovative educational initiatives, Health On Cloud is committed to supporting transformative projects in simulation centers, advancing research in tropical disease genomics, and pioneering early cancer detection. This underscores our dedication to fostering a healthier and more connected world," concluded Tim Jheon. Source |