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This Week in XR Podcast
This Week In XR August 16th, 2024 ft. Akash Nigam, CEO Genies
This week the three hosts are here in full force as Rony returns from vacation. Now that a federal judge ruled that Google is a monopolist, the question is what to do about it. Forbidding them from buying distribution is one thing, but now people are talking about forcing them to spin off their browser business. Speaking of Google, they've released new AI image generators, and they are quite good and totally free. Grok-2 is now available for X premium subscribers. It can also generate images. Starlink competitor AST is taking flight - on SpaceX. The other Groq (with a "q") is a semiconductor startup that raised $640M series D. Chips are expensive, but everyone is eyeing Nvidia's market share. This week our guest is Akash Nigam, CEO of Genies, which is focused on Avatars, which he sees as the full expression of AI and the Metaverse.
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This Week In XR October 4th, 2024 ft. Anthony Batt and Neville Spiteri, Co-Founders, Wevr
49:52|Ted and Charlie welcome Antony Batt, Neville Spiteri, co-founders of Wevr, creators of "The Blu," one of the first experiences created for the HTC Vive in 2016. Rony is off for the holiday (Happy New Year to those who celebrate). In the news, Future Trash, an LA creative studio, scores $5M to make experiences for Fortnite. Runware AI Raises $3M for super fast AI image generation. Infinite Realty buys Super League. Antony and Neville give a VR history lesson as they are also genuine VR OGs, having survived not one but two "VR winters." Today Wevr is thriving, and more focused on location-based VR. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrThis Week In XR September 27th, 2024 ft. Yonatan Raz-Fridman, CEO Supersocial
46:39|Charlie, Rony and Ted welcome Yonatan Tal, CEO of Supersocial. First up is the flurry of announcements from Meta Connect, including the unveiling of their see-through AR headset, dubbed Orion, and more broad updates about AI. Rony shares intimate details of his conversation with Mark Zuckerberg at the prestigious Allen & Company invitation-only in Sun Valley. Yonatan Tal shares details of his Metaverse construction studio, Supersocial, and how they make Roblox experiences. The company is a combination of an agency and a Roblox game developer, making it a sought-after partner for big brands seeking to reach that prized youth audience. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrThis Week In XR September 20th, 2024 ft. John Attanassio and Luisa Huang, Co-founders of Toonstar
50:27|Ted and Charlie are Rony-less but happily dive into a busy newsweek, which featured new headsets from Snap and HTC, a $230 M raise for World Labs, which is focused on generating 3D AI, for worlds and assets. Also in the news Palmer Lucky to the rescue, and a Neuralink breakthrough. John Attanassio and Luisa Huang, co-founders of Toonstar, join us to share their nine year journey to success as an AI-assisted animation company, specializing in YouTube and social media. Their series, Stephen and Parker, a collaboration with TikTok megastar Parker James, gets tens of millions views - and dollars - on YouTube. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrThis Week In XR September 13th, 2024 ft. Zhen Feng, head of international, Roblox
49:11|This week all three hosts are back in force with a great guest, Zhen Feng, Head of International for Roblox. Rony and Ted talk about a new hush-hush optics technology for XR which they believe is coming to headsets soon. It's a slow news week, but we did talk about iOs 18, Apple Intelligence (or lack thereof), and Google Shopping's virtual try-on. Zhen Fengs shares her unique journey from Microsoft to early Facebook, where she spent 13 years, and now her role at Roblox, which made us all want to go work there. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrThis Week In XR September 6th, 2024 ft. Liam Broza, CTO Infinite Reality
48:24|This week it's Ted's turn to be too busy, but Charlie and Rony are in fine form, welcoming Liam Broza, CTO of Infinite Reality. In the news, funding for AI startups big and small, including Magic AI, Story Protocol, Miris, and Gen-AI animation app, Viggle. Liam explains how Infinite Reality is turning the browser into a metaverse streaming platform. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrMore about Liam:Liam Broza is the Chief Technology Officer for Infinite Reality (iR), an innovation company powering the next generation of digital media and ecommerce through AI and immersive technologies. Liam leads the company’s platform team building iR Engine, a no-code cutting-edge spatial web platform that empowers creators and brands, regardless of technical ability, to build immersive web experiences with ease.Liam has spent the last 15 years working at the intersection of spatial computing, computer vision, and data sovereignty. Liam co-founded, expanded, and ultimately led Ethereal Engine, a creator of end-to-end frameworks for web-first, social immersive experiences, to its successful $75 million acquisition by Infinite Reality.Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/broza/ X (Twitter)https://x.com/LiamBroza Company Website www.theinfinitereality.comThis Week In XR August 23rd, 2024 ft. Ryan Chapman, CEO of Motive
55:33|This week we're joined by Ryan Chapman, CEO of Motive, focused on business applications of VR. We start with the state of the entertainment business, where Charlie throws around wildly inaccurate numbers to make the point that the music has stopped for the television networks and cable channels like MTV, which are about to be chopped up and sold for parts as they continue to hemorrhage viewers to Roblox, Fortnite, and TikTok. New AR glasses are coming from Meta and Snap next month. Oh, and there's not going to be a GTA VR game [cue: loud applause]. Ryan Chapman, CEO of Motive, breaks down their unique approach to developing VR applications for training workers. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrThis Week In XR August 9th, 2024 ft. Val Vacante, VP Solutions Innovation, Dentsu
33:31|Google's guilty of monopoly practices, but the result will be unclear for some time. Elon Musk continues to go bonkers while raking in trillions, nonetheless, he is suing people who don't like him, like former advertisers and others unhappy with the lack of moderation on their platform. Meta shuttered Echo Arena, and now they're shuttering the studio that makes it, Ready at Dawn, which they acquired in 2020. Our guest is Val Vacante, VP of Solutions Innovation for Dentsu Advertising. She is based in Austin and advises the SXSW festival on programming. Val shares Dentsu's innovative approaches to problematic categories like retail, where many companies are in desperate need of reinvention. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrThis Week In XR August 2nd, 2024 ft. Kerestell Smith, Creator of Gorilla Tag, CEO Another Axiom
51:36|This week our guest is Kerestell Smith, creator of Gorilla Tag VR and founder of Another Axiom. Rony is on a farm with no Internet. In the news Canva surprises no one with its acquisition of Gen-AI startup Leonardo.ai. Congrats to Hedra AI text-to-voice, which produces lip-synced short video; they raised $10M. Meta reported earnings Weds. Revenue is up a whopping 22%. Our guest Kerestell Smith shares his extraordinary journey, from being an early VR fan and Echo Arena champion to developing Gorilla Tag VR on Unity while he continued his 9-5 corporate job. Kerestell shares the secrets of Gorilla Tag's success: its revolutionary arm locomotion. It is the most popular game on Quest, earning over $100M. Kerestell digs into spatial design principles and his philosophy about virtual reality experiences.Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr