Greytech

RTFKT makes shoes too, except these only exist digitally
One comparison I’ve heard repeatedly over the last year is that buying NFTs to “flex” on people in the metaverse is just like collecting sneakers, and now Nike is apparently trying to make sure it’s ready for the literal version of that possibility. The apparel giant just announced the acquisition of RTFKT Studios, which it calls “a leading brand that leverages cutting edge innovation to deliver next generation collectibles that merge culture and gaming.”

RTFKT claims that in February, a collaboration with teenage artist FEWOCiOUS to sell real sneakers paired with virtual ones managed to sell some 600 pairs/NFTs in just six minutes, netting over $3.1 million at the time. This was around the same early spring period when most of us were hearing about NFTs for the first time, as Grimes sold some $6 million worth of digital artwork on March 1st. It’s not clear if any of these digital items are worth as much now; looking at OpenSea and Nifty Gateway right now, I see a number of them are either listed for or have recently sold for less than their original prices.
But forget the past — and that time it photoshopped a pair of its sneakers onto Elon Musk — RTFKT is moving forward, and just yesterday the A16Z-backed startup launched the Clone X NFT collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, offering up a number of metaverse-ready digital avatars styled with various collectible traits.
The company’s website immediately asks visitors to link their Metamask wallets, which is one of the ways NFT owners can verify their purchases, with the idea that at some point in the future you’ll play games or enter other sorts of VR spaces where your items can materialize, once those spaces have read the blockchain to assess which items you own the rights to.

This is the kind of vision that Nike is buying into, crediting the company’s founder Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le, and Steven Vasilev with leveraging “the latest in game engines, NFTs, blockchain authentication and augmented reality to create one of a kind virtual products and experiences.”
While announcing the deal — without revealing how much it spent — Nike positioned RTFKT’s lightning bolt-style logo alongside its own iconic swoosh, Jumpman, and Converse marks. Those brands have decades of history, built on high-level athletic endorsements, distinctive designs, and a grassroots culture that actually exists in the real world. RTFKT, meanwhile, was founded in January 2020. It says that “the human development in consciousness has accelerated faster than anticipated. We are here to accelerate our digital future now.”

The amazingly-named “StanbyME” and the Objet are both coming next year.
CES 2022 is only a few short weeks away, and you can bet we’ll see a ton of news surrounding the latest, flashiest TVs with OLED, Mini LED, MicroLED, and more. But before we get there, LG is making an early announcement to put a spotlight on two unconventional TVs that are coming next year in addition to whatever the company has in store for CES.

To me, the standout is the LG StanbyME, a 27-inch TV that can operate wirelessly on battery power and be wheeled around on its height-adjustable stand. (You can also detach the screen from the stand if you want to plop that sucker onto your lap.) When attached to the stand, the display can swivel, tilt, or be rotated to portrait orientation.
LG says the StanbyME can last for up to three hours on a charge, so while it’ll handle a movie or two without issue, you’ll have to be mindful of runtimes and keep it plugged in for Titanic or Lord of the Rings marathons. LG doesn’t make 27-inch OLED panels, so we’re looking at an LCD screen here. The company isn’t yet sharing details on its resolution or other features like HDR.

The StanbyME has a touchscreen interface and will offer streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube. It will also support NFC for smartphone mirroring. As for connectivity, there’s a USB port and at least one HDMI input. And the back of the set has a fabric finish.

LG is also tonight announcing the Objet, a high-design OLED TV that’s meant to be leaned against a wall instead of mounted or put on a traditional stand. The fabric cover under the 65-inch screen can be raised or lowered with the remote. According to LG, it’s interchangeable and will come in three colors that are all the work of “Danish textile innovator, Kvadrat.”
Similar to the ultra-luxury rollable OLED, this gives the TV different modes including Full View, which is self-explanatory, and Line View, which shows widgets like the weather and music when part of the display is covered by the stylish fabric. The Objet feels like an attempt from LG to further take on Samsung’s “lifestyle” TVs like The Frame.

The Objet uses an OLED Evo panel, which first debuted in 2021’s G1 Series and offers higher peak brightness than LG’s older OLEDs. As for audio, there’s a 80-watt, 4.2-channel sound system built into the device.

LG isn’t announcing pricing or release details for either the StanbyME or Objet right now; we should hear more about them when they’re available to stand around in homes in the months to come.
courtesy: The Verge

It also gives creators access to the Reels Play bonus program

Facebook is rolling out professional mode for profiles, letting creators take advantage of additional monetization tools. The new mode also gives creators access to features that help track the growth of their audience, something that was previously only available with Pages.
Turning on professional mode allows creators to partake in the Reels Play bonus program. Reels, Instagram’s short-term video feature, became available on Facebook in September. The bonus program lets creators earn up to $35,000 / month, all depending on how many views their Reels rack up. However, all creators aren’t eligible for the program — it’s currently invite-only, and creators must comply with Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies to qualify.

Additionally, Facebook says it’s working on more advanced editing features for Reels, such as an easier way to create a Reel comprised of multiple clips, as well as the ability to save your Reel as a draft while you’re in the process of editing it. The platform is also considering extending the length limit of Reels from 30 seconds to one minute on Facebook, as only Instagram supports one-minute Reels at the moment.
Outside of Reels, professional mode also unlocks audience, post, and profile insights, which lets creators keep track of any activity on their profile. Creators can review the total number of shares, comments, and reactions that their posts have received and can also see how their follower count has changed over time.

Similar to Pages, enabling professional mode makes all the content you post public and means that anyone can view your profile and start following you. Meta says that you can still choose to make certain posts visible to friends only, however. Professional mode is only available in the US for now, but Meta says it’ll be coming to more countries “in the coming months.”

Just yesterday, Facebook introduced the Stars store, a dedicated website for purchasing Stars — otherwise known as the virtual currency that users can buy with real money and use to tip creators. While Stars are available for purchase within the Facebook app, the Stars on Facebook’s new store are offered at a discounted price. The platform may be trying to entice users to purchase Stars on the web-based Stars store, likely to skirt the 30 percent commission that Apple takes for purchases made in third-party apps on iOS.

Spaces become more like podcasts

Twitter is now letting all users across iOS, Android, and web listen to recordings of Spaces, which can come in handy for listeners who are late to a live broadcast. This comes after Clubhouse rolled out recordings for its audio-only chatrooms in September.

Twitter is also giving “some” hosts the ability to record Spaces on iOS and Android. Previously, only iOS users could listen to and record Spaces.
Hosts can start recording a Space by toggling on the “Record Space” option. When recording is enabled, a (REC) icon will appear for the host and participants — listeners will see the icon, too, although they won’t be displayed in the recording. After the Space ends, hosts can see how many people were in the Space and tweet out a link to the recording. Hosts can choose the time that the Space starts playing as well, allowing hosts to edit out any silence at the beginning of the recording.

On Twitter’s help center, the platform notes that recordings will be publicly available when a recording-enabled Space ends. The only way to make a recording private is to delete it. Keep in mind that Twitter holds onto recordings for 30 to 120 days to check for rule violations.

Twitter has been continually expanding its audio-only chatrooms since the feature’s launch in 2020. In September, Twitter started letting hosts add up to three Topics to their Spaces, such as Music, Gaming, and Entertainment, giving listeners the ability to find Spaces that align with their interests. It also started launching Ticketed Spaces on iOS for hosts to charge listeners for entry and later began offering a Spaces accelerator program that provides creators with resources to promote their Spaces.

Rolling out on iOS and Android
One-on-one voice and video calls are now rolling out for Google Chat inside the Gmail app on iOS and Android, Google has announced. The feature was first announced in September, but as of December 6th it’s started rolling out for anyone with Google Workspace, G Suite, or personal Google accounts.

It’s previously been possible to start calls from within the Gmail app, but until now it’s involved sending an invite to a Google Meet video conferencing call, which feels excessive for a one-on-one conversation. Going forward, however, there’ll be simple phone and video icons in the top right of every one-on-one chat which can be used for calls.

It’s a simple addition, but it’s one that furthers Google’s goal of making Gmail the central hub for all its communication services. In fact, Google’s post says you’ll be redirected to the Gmail app, even if you start a call from within the Google Chat app. As my colleague Dieter Bohn pointed out in September, emails now take up just one of the four tabs in the current Gmail app, alongside Chat, Spaces (Google’s Slack-style messaging service), and Meet (its video conferencing service).

Uber is also releasing audible seat belt alerts and enhancing RideCheck

Uber is releasing its audio-recording feature to three US cities later this month, Uber said in its press release.

At the beginning of a trip, riders and drivers can enable this feature by clicking the shield icon in the app’s Safety Toolkit and selecting “Record Audio.” While both riders and drivers can record individual trips, drivers have the option to leave the feature on while they’re actively seeking rides. The app will notify the rider if the driver is using the feature. Uber first launched audio recording in Latin America in 2019.

The move is the first in-app feature that provides audio documentation of rides. Uber allows drivers to use their own dashcams to record rides on their own if local laws permit it.

As for audio file privacy, the file is encrypted and stored on rider and driver’s devices, but no one can listen to the audio, even Uber. If either the rider or driver decides to submit a safety report, they can attach the audio file, and a trained Uber safety agent will decrypt and review the recording.

Along with audio recording, Uber is releasing audible seat belt alerts soon, according to the press release. The seat belt alert will come from the driver’s phone, and the rider will receive a push notification reminding them to put on their seat belt. Uber said that this feature will be available in the US in early 2022.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — or NHTSA — reported that in 2020, the national seat belt use rate was 90.3 percent. NHTSA also reported that of the 22,415 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, 47 percent were not wearing seat belts. NHTSA said they found no significant changes in seat belt use from 2019 to 2020.
Uber also announced enhancements for its RideCheck feature, first launched in 2019 to detect accidents and unusual long stops. Now, RideCheck can now detect when Uber drivers take an unexpected route or when a trip ends abruptly before the final destination. If detected, riders and drivers will receive a notification to make sure everything is safe.
Uber first published a safety report in 2019 looking at data between 2017 and 2018 following increased complaints from occupants regarding its safety practices. Ultimately, these observations included the safety of drivers who have also complained to the company about rider behavior.

Uber has been steadily releasing new safety features in response to both riders and drivers experiencing unsafe conditions during their trips, including allegations of sexual assault. In March, Uber, along with its competitor Lyft, announced that it would share information about drivers who were deactivated for committing serious offenses.