VR Headsets of the Future Might Be Made With Mirrors?

Do you get headaches or feel nauseous while using VR headsets? About 20% of people do. Even if VR headsets don’t cause you physical discomfort, you might feel that your virtual worlds seem flat..That’s because they are flat. VR headsets using close-to-eye displays rely on lenses. While a lot of cool technology goes into them, they really work a lot like television or computer screens. Advancements like eye-tracking and autofocus try to fix these problems. But, they’ll never work. At least not according to Doug Magyari. Magyari and Immy, his company based in Troy, Michigan, believe that they have the solution: VR headsets that don’t use lenses.

Spotlight

Encompass Digital Media, Inc.

Encompass is a global technology services company focused on supporting TV networks, broadcasters, sports leagues and digital leaders with the delivery of their linear/nonlinear video content across television and digital platforms. We design, implement and operate reliable video solutions that capture, process and deliver clients’ video content from any source, in any format, to any destination in the most efficient and reliable way possible. Our global connectivity, scalable technology infrastructure and strategic partnerships create a single, synchronized content delivery environment. With our full suite of digital products including an extensive service bouquet of file-base services (VOD, live-to-VOD, content aggregation), we enable a complete OTT end-user experience. Daily, we service 1,200+ channels; capture, process and deliver 31,000+ hours of TV/OTT; stream 6,300 hours of TVE/OTT content; and acquire/distribute 275+ live events for our clients worldwide. Encompass operates bro

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Virtualization, Media and Broadcasting

How blockchain is transforming online gaming for players

Article | July 13, 2022

For online gamers, in-game purchases made to buy special swords, guns, or other add-ons to play their adventure, warfare, and other games are one-time, non-transferable investments that lock them into their pretend worlds. That's something companies like Polyient Games want to change by registering those purchases using blockchain and transforming the previously one-way transactions into liquid assets which are transferable for cash.

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Technologies, Business

The new chair of the FTC and antitrust 2.0

Article | July 20, 2022

The appointment of Lina Khan on June 15th to chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is poised to be a transformational one in the history of the world wide web. Khan came to prominence with an article in the Yale Law Journal, Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox, which identified the paradox of hegemonic tech service providers which bypass the US’ strict competition laws by offering lower prices to the end consumer. Under US antitrust law, the driving indicator of market monopolies are higher prices for the consumer – under this strict definition, none of the tech majors which dominate the digital economy are monopolistic. Indeed, some such as Alphabet and Facebook do not even directly charge the end user for their services. So, while both Google and Facebook dominate the global digital ad market, making an antitrust case against them under the current 20thcentury era regulatory framework is nigh on impossible. However, the absence of meaningful competitive challengers to these two incumbents in search and social advertising over the previous 15 years, despite the lucrative high margin business opportunities, implies that the competitive market is not performing according to classical economic theory. Khan has built a subsequent career on trying to square this circle, and now the Biden Administration has empowered her as the key instigator of the sweeping regulatory update required for a digital-first century.

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Business

UGC vs. Premium: Is the video valuation bubble big enough to burst?

Article | July 11, 2022

The market disconnect between the proliferation of independent content creators and the consolidation of brand IP into the hands of ever-fewer major players is growing increasingly stark. On the one hand, independent artists are the fastest-growing sector of the music market. User-generated content (UGC) has proved a huge success during lockdown for the likes of TikTok and Roblox. The traditional brand celebrity spokesperson has ceded ground to the influencer, and even they to the micro-influencer. Content proliferation has driven increasingly niche content to niche audiences, finding smaller fan bases to resonate with instead of attempting the now nigh-impossible cut-through to mainstream popularity. This is the paradox of small: the long tail accounts for a growing share of content consumption, but the fractional economics of on-demand environments means that those in the long tail earn too little to be economically sustainable. Access to the means of distribution may have been democratised, but access to meaningful rights income has not.

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Media and Broadcasting

The crowd still matters for live sports broadcasting

Article | June 17, 2021

At opposite sides of the globe, two top-flight international football events have kicked off over the last week. In semi-vaccinated Europe the month-long Euro 2020 tournament began on Friday June 11th, with 11 countries hosting the competition across Europe. On Sunday June 13th in Brazil (a country which had now lost nearly half a million lives to COVID-19) the 2021 Copa America kicked off, with the final taking place on July 10th2021. While Euro 2020 is taking place in front of reduced capacity crowds of fans in stadiums, the Copa America is being played behind closed doors with entire participating national delegations required to be vaccinated, and delegations limited to 65 members. Euro 2020’s official motto ‘Live it. For Real’ can be taken as a declaration of intent to host a top-flight mass sporting event as close to pre-pandemic conditions as feasibly possible. The criteria for live spectator participation for UEFA (the event organisers) was key to this. UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin confirmed the importance of live spectators at matches in an interview back in March where he stated "We have several scenarios, but the one guarantee we can make is that the option of playing any Euro 2020 match in an empty stadium is off the table. Every host must guarantee there will be fans at their games."

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Spotlight

Encompass Digital Media, Inc.

Encompass is a global technology services company focused on supporting TV networks, broadcasters, sports leagues and digital leaders with the delivery of their linear/nonlinear video content across television and digital platforms. We design, implement and operate reliable video solutions that capture, process and deliver clients’ video content from any source, in any format, to any destination in the most efficient and reliable way possible. Our global connectivity, scalable technology infrastructure and strategic partnerships create a single, synchronized content delivery environment. With our full suite of digital products including an extensive service bouquet of file-base services (VOD, live-to-VOD, content aggregation), we enable a complete OTT end-user experience. Daily, we service 1,200+ channels; capture, process and deliver 31,000+ hours of TV/OTT; stream 6,300 hours of TVE/OTT content; and acquire/distribute 275+ live events for our clients worldwide. Encompass operates bro

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Applications

MayaMD & LG Electronics Offer New AI Healthcare at Home Program Via Smart TV

MayaMD | February 14, 2022

MayaMD, one of LG NOVA's Proto Challenge first winners, will offer its AI health assistant via LG Smart TVs, creating an exciting new opportunity in the fast-growing home healthcare market. This partnership between MayaMD and LG Electronics kicked off last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and is open to interested healthcare providers. Multiple studies have shown that home healthcare solutions offer patients and providers more convenient and less costly care options. These findings have become all the more relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many patients to delay necessary care. This new offering from MayaMD and LG Electronics allows patients and providers the ability to collaborate at a distance without missing a beat. Initial pilots will integrate MayaMD's state of the art conversational AI health assistant with LG Smart TVs in order to provide care to patients with heart disease. The objective of these pilots will be to measure the impact of this technology on patient engagement and health outcomes. According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death for adults in the US, accounting for 650,000 deaths annually. Since adults with heart disease tend to be more sedentary, and over 70% of adults spend 3+ hours per day using a smart TV, it makes sense that patient engagement would increase via this new delivery channel. "There is so much room for growth here, and we welcome healthcare providers that want to take part in this exciting journey. First come, first serve!", says Dr. Vipindas Chengat, cofounder of MayaMD. A recent study in a peer-reviewed medical journal with researchers and medical faculty from the University of Michigan, UCLA, and University of Utah found that MayaMD's AI health assistant performed at par or better than individual clinicians when providing triage advice, illustrating just how powerful AI can be. We are grateful for the support from LG and encourage providers to reach out to us if interested in participating. This is a phenomenal opportunity," Christian Habermann, cofounder & CMO. About MayaMD MayaMD creates digital tools powered by AI to deliver relevant health and medical information for patients, insurers and providers.

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Products

Polygon Studios Invests in GameOn, Strategically Partners to Bring NFT Games to the Masses

GameOn | December 03, 2021

GameOn Entertainment Technologies Inc. (CSE: GET) (OTCQB: GMETF), a leading game technology provider to media, sports and entertainment companies, is pleased today to announce a strategic partnership with Polygon ($MATIC) & Polygon Studios to build NFT-Based games on their Ethereum-based scaling platform. The deal will see Polygon Studios provide non-dilutive funding for 50% of GameOn's ongoing product development costs. GameOn's product team is spearheaded by Santi Jaramillo, former Head of Sports at Dapper Labs and creator of NBA Top Shot. Polygon, a pioneering blockchain that has onboarded millions to the Web3 ecosystem, recently announced Polygon Studios and plans to commit USD$100 million to projects leading the transition to Web3. Investments include DraftKings, DeFine and now GameOn. MATIC, the native cryptocurrency of Polygon, recently outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum. Blockchain-based game companies such as Forte have surpassed $1 billion valuations. The Polygon blockchain boasts investors that include Mark Cuban. GameOn continues to deepen its relationship with the lucrative Indian market that is nascent and primed for NFT and blockchain adoption, including a recent expanded partnership with entertainment super app MX Player, and a $6 million investment from its parent company, Times Internet. The Polygon Studios investment allows GameOn to offer the full stack of capabilities from the creation, minting and selling of NFTs, to the game layers it already deploys for white label customers such as prediction and fantasy games, like the Chibi Dinos partnership. For GameOn shareholders, this collaboration provides an opportunity to participate in the upside of the burgeoning crypto and NFT spaces, while accelerating GameOn's product development in a non-dilutive manner. Leveraging Polygon's technology, GameOn continues to lean into blockchain and NFTs, bringing innovative gamification to the rapidly growing Web3 and metaverse economies. Through resource-driving partnerships and M&A, we'll continue to double down on being the one-stop shop for gamification, including NFT-based games." Matt Bailey, GameOn CEO. "Polygon is dedicated to supporting companies that usher in the future of Web3," said Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon Co-Founder. "GameOn is one of the fastest-growing game technology providers in the blockchain space. We're excited to support their development of NFT-based games on Polygon." ABOUT GAMEON ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. GameOn (CSE: GET) (OTCQB: GMETF) powers the biggest sports, media and entertainment companies with the most innovative white label game technologies. GameOn provides broadcasters, TV networks, streaming platforms, leagues, tournaments, sportsbooks and NFT projects with white label prediction games, fantasy games and NFT-based games. Since completing the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator powered by Techstars in 2018, GameOn has secured revenue-generating partnerships with global companies including NBCUniversal, Bravo and MX Player. GameOn has a dynamic and experienced management team led by CEO, Matt Bailey (Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center), Chief Product Officer, Santiago Jaramillo (Dapper Labs, NBA Top Shot, EA Sports) and VP of Partnerships, Ryan Nowack (Madison Square Garden, New York Knicks, New York Rangers), as well as its Directors, J Moses (Take-Two Interactive), Shafin Tejani (Victory Square Technologies), Liz Schimel (Apple, Comcast, Meredith) and Carey Dillen (YYOGA, FIFA, IOC). ABOUT POLYGON Polygon is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building and connecting Secured Chains like Optimistic Rollups, zkRollups, Validium, etc, and Standalone Chains like Polygon POS, designed for flexibility and independence. Polygon's scaling solutions have seen widespread adoption with 500+ Dapps, ~567M+ txns, and ~6M+ daily txns. If you're an Ethereum Developer, you're already a Polygon developer! Leverage Polygon's fast and secure txns for your Dapp, get started here. ABOUT POLYGON STUDIOS Polygon Studios is the Gaming and NFT arm of Polygon focused on growing the global Blockchain Gaming and NFT Industry and bridging the gap between Web 2 and Web 3 gaming through investment, marketing and developer support. The Polygon Studios ecosystem comprises highly loved games and NFT projects like OpenSea, Upshot, Aavegotchi, Zed Run, Skyweaver by Horizon Games, Decentraland, Megacryptopolis, Neon District, Cometh, and Decentral Games. If you're a game developer, builder or NFT creator looking to join the Polygon Studios ecosystem, get started here.

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Business

Esports.net Partners Up with PandaScore to Boost User Experiences

Esports.net | December 02, 2021

Esports.net, one of Catena Media's top esports products, has partnered with PandaScore to offer users stats and real-time data powered by AI technology. With Esports.net, PandaScore has established a wide range of relationships with esports betting operators, esports organizations, news sites, and iGaming affiliate portals. The PandaScore tech team has built a reputation for offering myriad real-time odds and other valuable information for esports bettors. The list of games that are part of this service includes League of Legends, CS:GO, Dota 2, and Valorant. On Esports.net, the PandaScore team will be able to provide crucial data that will reach more than 250,000 users per month. "This is an exciting partnership that will greatly enhance our user experience," said Gianfranco Capozzi, head of esports at Catena Media and product owner for Esports.net. "The PandaScore team has enormous experience in the esports industry, offering robust service and a treasure trove of relevant features for both beginners and advanced users. I am also a great believer in artificial intelligence technology and PandaScore can help us provide our users with an even more immersive experience." We have six years of hard work behind our AI and modeling, delivering high-quality data and statistics to all our clients. Our stats and widgets are key to enriching the services of our partners and the experiences of their audiences. We're really excited to be part of what will make Esports.net one of the most advanced esports service providers on the market." Flavien Guillocheau, CEO at PandaScore Following the recent redesign of Esports.net and infusion of fresh features, the new capabilities are expected to provide an improved user experience for esports fans and casual gamers. Esports.net is the top portal for esports news, events, teams, players and streamers, providing information through its own editorial team as well as other premium content providers in the industry. About Esports.net: Esports.net is a news-focused website that provides users with esports news, wiki guides, daily fantasy and esports betting tips. Esports.net is an official product of Catena Media, one of the leading international providers of media services for online gaming operators. A flagship product in a growing portfolio counting over 10 esports products, Esports.net is dedicated to the esports community and is supported by a number of premium content providers, independent authors and industry experts. Their objective is to fill the gap between the iGaming industry and the emerging esports & gaming audience. About PandaScore: Founded in 2015, PandaScore is the world's AI-powered hub of esports data, whose odds feed is the leading esports product serving the betting industry. The company's combination of innovative data models, artificial intelligence and dedicated esports traders empowers bookmakers with the best esports data and odds to deliver quality ROI, the best uptime and deepest in-play markets in the flourishing, high-growth esports betting sector. PandaScore is a trusted esports data and odds supplier with distribution partnerships including Scientific Games, as well as high profile clients including Entain Australia which runs the Ladbrokes and Neds brands, Betcris, Favbet, FortuneJack, LOOT.BET and more. PandaScore has offices in France, Malta and the UK.

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Applications

MayaMD & LG Electronics Offer New AI Healthcare at Home Program Via Smart TV

MayaMD | February 14, 2022

MayaMD, one of LG NOVA's Proto Challenge first winners, will offer its AI health assistant via LG Smart TVs, creating an exciting new opportunity in the fast-growing home healthcare market. This partnership between MayaMD and LG Electronics kicked off last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and is open to interested healthcare providers. Multiple studies have shown that home healthcare solutions offer patients and providers more convenient and less costly care options. These findings have become all the more relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many patients to delay necessary care. This new offering from MayaMD and LG Electronics allows patients and providers the ability to collaborate at a distance without missing a beat. Initial pilots will integrate MayaMD's state of the art conversational AI health assistant with LG Smart TVs in order to provide care to patients with heart disease. The objective of these pilots will be to measure the impact of this technology on patient engagement and health outcomes. According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death for adults in the US, accounting for 650,000 deaths annually. Since adults with heart disease tend to be more sedentary, and over 70% of adults spend 3+ hours per day using a smart TV, it makes sense that patient engagement would increase via this new delivery channel. "There is so much room for growth here, and we welcome healthcare providers that want to take part in this exciting journey. First come, first serve!", says Dr. Vipindas Chengat, cofounder of MayaMD. A recent study in a peer-reviewed medical journal with researchers and medical faculty from the University of Michigan, UCLA, and University of Utah found that MayaMD's AI health assistant performed at par or better than individual clinicians when providing triage advice, illustrating just how powerful AI can be. We are grateful for the support from LG and encourage providers to reach out to us if interested in participating. This is a phenomenal opportunity," Christian Habermann, cofounder & CMO. About MayaMD MayaMD creates digital tools powered by AI to deliver relevant health and medical information for patients, insurers and providers.

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Products

Polygon Studios Invests in GameOn, Strategically Partners to Bring NFT Games to the Masses

GameOn | December 03, 2021

GameOn Entertainment Technologies Inc. (CSE: GET) (OTCQB: GMETF), a leading game technology provider to media, sports and entertainment companies, is pleased today to announce a strategic partnership with Polygon ($MATIC) & Polygon Studios to build NFT-Based games on their Ethereum-based scaling platform. The deal will see Polygon Studios provide non-dilutive funding for 50% of GameOn's ongoing product development costs. GameOn's product team is spearheaded by Santi Jaramillo, former Head of Sports at Dapper Labs and creator of NBA Top Shot. Polygon, a pioneering blockchain that has onboarded millions to the Web3 ecosystem, recently announced Polygon Studios and plans to commit USD$100 million to projects leading the transition to Web3. Investments include DraftKings, DeFine and now GameOn. MATIC, the native cryptocurrency of Polygon, recently outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum. Blockchain-based game companies such as Forte have surpassed $1 billion valuations. The Polygon blockchain boasts investors that include Mark Cuban. GameOn continues to deepen its relationship with the lucrative Indian market that is nascent and primed for NFT and blockchain adoption, including a recent expanded partnership with entertainment super app MX Player, and a $6 million investment from its parent company, Times Internet. The Polygon Studios investment allows GameOn to offer the full stack of capabilities from the creation, minting and selling of NFTs, to the game layers it already deploys for white label customers such as prediction and fantasy games, like the Chibi Dinos partnership. For GameOn shareholders, this collaboration provides an opportunity to participate in the upside of the burgeoning crypto and NFT spaces, while accelerating GameOn's product development in a non-dilutive manner. Leveraging Polygon's technology, GameOn continues to lean into blockchain and NFTs, bringing innovative gamification to the rapidly growing Web3 and metaverse economies. Through resource-driving partnerships and M&A, we'll continue to double down on being the one-stop shop for gamification, including NFT-based games." Matt Bailey, GameOn CEO. "Polygon is dedicated to supporting companies that usher in the future of Web3," said Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon Co-Founder. "GameOn is one of the fastest-growing game technology providers in the blockchain space. We're excited to support their development of NFT-based games on Polygon." ABOUT GAMEON ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. GameOn (CSE: GET) (OTCQB: GMETF) powers the biggest sports, media and entertainment companies with the most innovative white label game technologies. GameOn provides broadcasters, TV networks, streaming platforms, leagues, tournaments, sportsbooks and NFT projects with white label prediction games, fantasy games and NFT-based games. Since completing the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator powered by Techstars in 2018, GameOn has secured revenue-generating partnerships with global companies including NBCUniversal, Bravo and MX Player. GameOn has a dynamic and experienced management team led by CEO, Matt Bailey (Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center), Chief Product Officer, Santiago Jaramillo (Dapper Labs, NBA Top Shot, EA Sports) and VP of Partnerships, Ryan Nowack (Madison Square Garden, New York Knicks, New York Rangers), as well as its Directors, J Moses (Take-Two Interactive), Shafin Tejani (Victory Square Technologies), Liz Schimel (Apple, Comcast, Meredith) and Carey Dillen (YYOGA, FIFA, IOC). ABOUT POLYGON Polygon is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building and connecting Secured Chains like Optimistic Rollups, zkRollups, Validium, etc, and Standalone Chains like Polygon POS, designed for flexibility and independence. Polygon's scaling solutions have seen widespread adoption with 500+ Dapps, ~567M+ txns, and ~6M+ daily txns. If you're an Ethereum Developer, you're already a Polygon developer! Leverage Polygon's fast and secure txns for your Dapp, get started here. ABOUT POLYGON STUDIOS Polygon Studios is the Gaming and NFT arm of Polygon focused on growing the global Blockchain Gaming and NFT Industry and bridging the gap between Web 2 and Web 3 gaming through investment, marketing and developer support. The Polygon Studios ecosystem comprises highly loved games and NFT projects like OpenSea, Upshot, Aavegotchi, Zed Run, Skyweaver by Horizon Games, Decentraland, Megacryptopolis, Neon District, Cometh, and Decentral Games. If you're a game developer, builder or NFT creator looking to join the Polygon Studios ecosystem, get started here.

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Business

Esports.net Partners Up with PandaScore to Boost User Experiences

Esports.net | December 02, 2021

Esports.net, one of Catena Media's top esports products, has partnered with PandaScore to offer users stats and real-time data powered by AI technology. With Esports.net, PandaScore has established a wide range of relationships with esports betting operators, esports organizations, news sites, and iGaming affiliate portals. The PandaScore tech team has built a reputation for offering myriad real-time odds and other valuable information for esports bettors. The list of games that are part of this service includes League of Legends, CS:GO, Dota 2, and Valorant. On Esports.net, the PandaScore team will be able to provide crucial data that will reach more than 250,000 users per month. "This is an exciting partnership that will greatly enhance our user experience," said Gianfranco Capozzi, head of esports at Catena Media and product owner for Esports.net. "The PandaScore team has enormous experience in the esports industry, offering robust service and a treasure trove of relevant features for both beginners and advanced users. I am also a great believer in artificial intelligence technology and PandaScore can help us provide our users with an even more immersive experience." We have six years of hard work behind our AI and modeling, delivering high-quality data and statistics to all our clients. Our stats and widgets are key to enriching the services of our partners and the experiences of their audiences. We're really excited to be part of what will make Esports.net one of the most advanced esports service providers on the market." Flavien Guillocheau, CEO at PandaScore Following the recent redesign of Esports.net and infusion of fresh features, the new capabilities are expected to provide an improved user experience for esports fans and casual gamers. Esports.net is the top portal for esports news, events, teams, players and streamers, providing information through its own editorial team as well as other premium content providers in the industry. About Esports.net: Esports.net is a news-focused website that provides users with esports news, wiki guides, daily fantasy and esports betting tips. Esports.net is an official product of Catena Media, one of the leading international providers of media services for online gaming operators. A flagship product in a growing portfolio counting over 10 esports products, Esports.net is dedicated to the esports community and is supported by a number of premium content providers, independent authors and industry experts. Their objective is to fill the gap between the iGaming industry and the emerging esports & gaming audience. About PandaScore: Founded in 2015, PandaScore is the world's AI-powered hub of esports data, whose odds feed is the leading esports product serving the betting industry. The company's combination of innovative data models, artificial intelligence and dedicated esports traders empowers bookmakers with the best esports data and odds to deliver quality ROI, the best uptime and deepest in-play markets in the flourishing, high-growth esports betting sector. PandaScore is a trusted esports data and odds supplier with distribution partnerships including Scientific Games, as well as high profile clients including Entain Australia which runs the Ladbrokes and Neds brands, Betcris, Favbet, FortuneJack, LOOT.BET and more. PandaScore has offices in France, Malta and the UK.

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Events