Clippity-clipp-clipp, fellow nerds!

This is Vixus, the weekly brief covering cool things happening in mediatech, from generative Ai to VR and beyond.

Microsoft, time to bring back Clippy! ChatClippy.

What's (Tim) Cookin' today:

• ChatGPT as a crime writer
• Apple shaking up the VR space
• Ryan Reynolds making mogul moves. Again. (Sighs in love)
  ‍

Although AI is all the rage nowadays, there’s another technological miracle that’s been bubbling for decades.

It got its start in the 1960s (similar to AI). And by the 1970s, it was already in military use.
‍

And now *it* might also get its chance to enter the big boys league and “change the world.”‍

The thing is VR.

Numerous big-tech players have been dabbling in this field for a decade now. Facebook is betting so hard on it; it became Meta.

Microsoft has been developing its HoloLens for ages. There are also HTC, HP, Sony, and Chinese no-name brands.

‍‍‍But now the sexiest brand of them all, Apple, is rumored to release its XR set in 2023 (March?)

(XR - extended reality, combination of AR & VR)

And it will have a B.I.G. impact on the evolution of the VR space.

Because there are a couple of things they’ll do differently. ‍

The main thing, they'll be B2B focused.

Others are making sets for gamers. Yes, they offer productivity tools, and the sets can be used for work.  

But it isn’t built for that. Not their key focus. And the ecosystem isn’t that great for these use cases.

Apple, however, is making it for designers and engineers. Who can use it to make their everyday work easier. ‍

Also, there’s a not-so-secret secret agenda behind that.

They want those designers and engineers to get a grip on this technology. And on weekends, when they are 2 beers deep, produce apps and content for VR & AR.

So that when they launch their commercial XR/VR/AR glasses, they already have a supporting ecosystem.

Imagine Apple launching iPhone in 2007 with an app store that’s already full of useful apps. Not just peeing in the toilet bowl or virtual lighter apps.

‍It’s also rumored that they think of their avatar-based video calling as a killer feature.

It can display the participant’s facial expressions, and it will mirror your face on the external screen so that when you sit at a cafe, you won’t look like an idiot.

This will be an “office must-have” for remote workers. ‍

(Makes you wonder whether they are soo keen on developing it because their workers don’t want to return to the office)

‍Going more B2B makes sense.

• Because companies have more money(they can even purchase these as a tax write-off) and VR is still expensive for consumers.
  ‍
• There are a lot of use cases for all sorts of companies, not just tech companies, like immersive sales training for Tupperware neighborhood queens.
  ‍
• And this is how tech very often goes, military--> B2B --> consumer. (Sometimes p*rn and/or gaming are there just in front of B2B.)
  ‍
• Apple can use all that experience as leverage to build the consumer infrastructure for their cheaper consumer devices.
  ‍
• Apple can and will brute force software companies to make amazingly VR-compatible software if they want into their ecosystem. Making it even more useful for professionals.  

‍So a couple of cool feature shoutouts for you gadget nerds.

• For security checks, it won't use some lame fingerprint or facial scanning. It will use eye-iris scanning. That’s some spy movie shit.
  ‍
• You might be able to control it with smart rings. (Apple has a patent for smart rings.). So you can sit at a Starbucks and wave around with your arms to send DMs on Instagram.

• It will have an “instant connection” with your iPhone or Mac. So you can use that for computing to save the set’s battery and weight.
  ‍
• And you can forget carrying your laptop around.
  ‍

If you want some feature p*rn, go read here.

The price is rumored to be at least $3000. But for a true Apple fan, that’s nothing.

‍We expect it to have a profound impact on the space.

Apple knows how to create cultural impact, manipulate society, design impactful products and create supporting ecosystems.

And they simply have a tendency to make things, that everyone else has been sloppily puzzling on, work. Examples: iPod, iPad, iPhone.

They should fix the US healthcare system next. As a contractor or something.

Best catches from Twitter

Wof-wof, my dog

As someone who is also studying computer science, I can vouch for that. ChatGPT is an amazing teacher.

Not only can you ask it to debug the code. But it can also explain to you why things are the way they are.

Yes and no. Can't imagine Chevrolet or Budweiser running ads with MrBeast though. But one thing is for sure, "creator advertising" is just getting started.

We asked ChatGPT to write a new Sherlock Holmes story. Here's what happened.

Last week we wrote about how Sherlock Holmes is now copyright free.

And as the creator economy is booming, everyone can and will create "creations" starring Sherlock.

Well, over the weekend, we got together with our friend ChatGPT and asked it to write a 1000-world Sherlock Holmes mystery.

If you want to know what happened and how did it perform, go read from this post

Slappin you more with lil' somethin'-somethin.'

• Lenovo to launch a Thinkpad phone. Can't imagine which business person would want to switch their iPhone to that.
  ‍
• Microsoft wants to dominate search. In any form. Microsoft is looking to acquire 49% of OpenAI
  ‍
• Ryan Reynolds asked ChatGPT to write an ad for Mint Mobile and now T-Mobile wants to buy it. Okay-okay, two separate storylines, but both are true.
  ‍
• Oh no, Donald Trump Jr to become a podcaster. He sealed a 7-figure podcast deal with Rumble.

Keep it real, my liege. (That's me greeting you)

That's a wrap.

-----------------------------------------See ya next week------------------------------------------

‍