Two United States senators have penned a letter asking Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to halt a plan to allow young adults to access the firm’s metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds. In a March 1 letter, Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal said that Meta’s reported plan to “invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms” should not be implemented if the strategy was driven by profit. According to the two lawmakers, allowing teenagers between 13 and 17 years old access to the virtual environment posed “serious risks”, citing privacy concerns, eye strain, and online bullying. “Meta’s plan to …

For computer programs and mobile applications, programmers must develop code. In order to keep things working properly, they are also involved in maintaining, debugging and troubleshooting software and systems. Here is a brief overview of the top 10 most famous computer programmers of all time. Alan Turing Alan Turing was a British mathematician and computer scientist who contributed significantly to the growth of artificial intelligence, cryptography and computer science. He helped decipher the Enigma code during World War II and introduced the idea of the Turing Machine, a theoretical representation of a computer. Turing also contributed to the creation of …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company has no plans to change its long-term strategy for the Metaverse, despite operating losses for its Reality Labs business peaking in 2022. Meta’s Q4 earnings released on Feb. 1 show Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022 — the largest ever yearly losses recorded for its metaverse-building division. The fourth quarter was particularly costly, with the division losing nearly $4.3 billion, which was also the largest quarterly loss within the department since financials for the business were first published. On a Feb. 1 earnings call, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was steadfast …

A federal judge in the United States has reportedly given approval for tech giant Meta to move forward on acquiring a virtual reality company. According to a Feb. 1 report from Bloomberg, Judge Edward Davila in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied an injunction by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, as part of an effort to block Meta from purchasing VR firm Within. However, he also reportedly issued a temporary restraining order preventing Meta from closing the deal for at least a week. The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed by the FTC against …

The metaverse hype that began in 2021 dissolved almost entirely by the end of 2022 as the top projects in the space, Decentraland, and The Sandbox, lost 95% of their market capitalization. The most prominent reason for the fall was lack of usage growth. Still, the metaverse narrative is far from dead and will grow in the future. Reportedly, Apple will launch its VR gear sometime in spring 2023. The announcement was a positive catalyst for MANA and SAND, causing a double-digit price surge. While there’s evidence of positive buying volume supporting the pump, the weak fundamentals of metaverse platforms …

Last year the crypto and Web3 saw a dichotomy between extremely turbulent markets, yet high prospects for the future of the space. Both users and investors alike have continued to pile into the industry, especially in areas concerned with the metaverse. A new survey from CoinWire, which surveyed over 10,000 investors in the crypto space in December 2022, found that user sentiment towards the metaverse has digital reality poised to influence all areas of social life. 69% of respondents have placed their bet on the metaverse to reshape social lifestyle with a new approach to entertainment, while 65% believed in …

The Metaverse and Virtual Reality (VR) go hand in hand in the public’s imagination and platforms including Somnium Space, Crypto Voxels, and Meta’s Horizon Worlds already support the technology. But despite describing itself as a “decentralized virtual reality platform” on its website, the browser-based 3D metaverse platform Decentraland still lacks VR. Sean Ong, founder of extended reality specialists XR Dev Studio, sits on a team that has developed an “alpha” version of the VR platform. He explained that while “VR has always been part of Decentraland’s vision,” the Decentraland Foundation has been prioritizing the implementation of core features ahead of …

2022 appears to have been a torrid year for investors, and not just those in crypto, with United States (U.S.) bonds experiencing their worst year in centuries and U.S. stocks pulling back nearly 20% since the year began. As of Nov. 30, a Financial Times report noted that a traditional portfolio consisting of 60% stocks and 40% bonds will have seen its worst performance since 1932 when the U.S. was in the midst of the Great Depression. Meanwhile, tech stocks, which some theorize have a correlation with cryptocurrency prices, haven’t had a great year either. An index tracking the performance …

Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard — a move originally aimed toward building Metaverse initiatives — hit a roadblock after an intervention by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC sought to block Microsoft from acquiring the gaming giant as a way to promote fair competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services. However, Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella had previously stated that acquisition would “play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.” #BREAKING: FTC seeks to block Microsoft Corp.’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc.: https://t.co/ukewjn6MUX /1 — FTC (@FTC) December 8, 2022 In a …

In this week’s newsletter, read about how the word “metaverse” placed second in Oxford’s Word of the Year. Check out how Meta is pushing forward its metaverse plans amid doubts and how the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden announced a tool to enforce royalties. In other news, find out how the Opera Crypto Browser is integrating NFT minting. And, don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring a new all-time high for Reddit avatar minting. Metaverse comes in second place as Oxford’s word of the year The term “metaverse” have gotten second place in Oxford University’s Word of the Year …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is still hopeful about the company’s Metaverse plans regardless of the billions of dollars it’s sucking up from the company, claiming “someone has to build that.” Appearing remotely for an interview at the Nov. 30 DealBook Summit in New York, Zuckerberg was asked his thoughts on whether the tech giants’ Metaverse play was still viable given its cost and the doubts cast over the platform, answering: “I think things look very different on a ten-year time horizon than the zone that we're in for the next few years [...] I'm still completely optimistic about all the …

In changing the name of its parent company to Meta, Facebook put a stake in the ground: It would be the symbol of the evolution of the internet, the metaverse. Whether we liked it or not. According to Meta, the metaverse is “a set of digital spaces to socialize, learn, play and more.” Its first true attempt came in the form of Horizon Worlds, a virtual reality universe so lifeless and devoid of content that it has people asking if the metaverse is a step forward or backward. Thankfully, it won’t matter. The metaverse, a term from long before Facebook …