Metaverse for
Work and Education

Apple believes that AR is fundamentally a software application that will require specific skills from people with engineering and design backgrounds. Such people might want to participate and contribute to developing tools and applications. Although Apple’s products will be AR-compatible, the first products will be based on hardware that works within existing software and mobile apps. The aim is to introduce new products with entirely different profiles and capabilities in the coming years. The technical requirements for someone to create such software are not very hard. Soon, the technical specifications for AR hardware are much less than the requirements for cameras and digital cameras. Some concepts of AR require computational capabilities, but it will not be necessary to have those on devices on the market right now. To be clear, this statement does not mean that we will be seeing digital cameras integrated with AR devices in the next two years. It means that today’s applications can efficiently operate within the AR ecosystem. Anyone who creates software that integrates hardware into a given environment should have specialized skills in computer engineering, software engineering, and hardware engineering. One option for the software developer who will start working on such hardware is working with a firm specializing in such hardware. Such firms are already emerging, such as Apple’s “Team Root” in Santa Clara. “Team Root” is a tech and engineering company that creates and supports Apple products like the iPhone. For example, they have been working on the advanced sensor and display technologies of the iPhone and other devices that have already been launched. As a team, they research Apple, develop advanced technologies in semiconductor and display processing, and build new products like Apple’s MFI, the 3D sensor technology that powers the new iPhone X. To work in this environment, a person needs extensive knowledge about hardware engineering. To work in such an environment, a person needs advanced digital and hardware engineering skills. There are other possibilities, too. Software developers working on hardware designs for future products could, for example, start working with Google. That company recently introduced AR devices with a 3D camera and one of the first hardware products designed for AR. A team of researchers in Canada announced a breakthrough in computer graphics last month. The team used advanced software-based hardware components to create a device based on AR. The device, called “SKARLS,” is designed for use in the new augmented reality platform created by Microsoft, called “Project XR” (for augmented reality graphics). A team of computer scientists at the University of Alberta created an educational device with a multi-touch screen and a camera. The device is a miniaturized, lightweight computer designed for use in classrooms. The researchers built the hardware and software to display images into the air using micro-projectors and cameras. By turning the device, users can make their images appear more significant and manipulate them. There is a chance that these devices will not be in the market for years. This time is needed for the developers to build robust, specialized applications and for consumers to learn and use them.

Blockchain uses cryptographic techniques to create a continuously growing list of events, digital or physical, connected to each other and forming a chain. As the list of events is added, every party to the chain can verify the integrity and uniqueness of the connected events. This makes it possible for users to directly and securely share virtual objects and experiences without relying on a central authority." As we hear more about the blockchain-based virtual reality utopia, blockchain will have to prove itself to be not just a fad. After all, though the first Star Wars film is probably the most memorable story of the genre, its release in 1977 was beaten by even more hyped events like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. And the arc of the series has been a tale of firsts: first ever asteroid-harvesting spaceship, first animated droid, and so on. Beyond movies and games, blockchain is attracting a number of projects that could benefit from it. For example, one area of interest is in solving the problem of counterfeit money. A blockchain-based currency, for example, could be distinguished from the real thing, and would be secure enough to encourage ordinary people to switch away from the coins currently circulating in the economy. In some cases, blockchains could eliminate many of the inefficiencies inherent in other processes, and help streamline and simplify almost everything, even the way a smartphone charges itself.

If you want to live in a virtual world, you can call it GID or Gay’s Playing Dress Up, but let’s call it the metaverse. It’s a web of apps, websites, social media platforms, games and multiplayer tools that we’re going to build with the power of the World Wide Web and computer networks.