Kent Bye (Voices of VR) Profile picture
Voices of VR Podcast host: Insatiably curious, XR oral historian, & aspiring philosopher. @kentbye@mastodon.social Patreon at https://t.co/BHfUTQQrd8
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Oct 11, 2022 119 tweets 89 min read
1/ THREAD covering @Meta's #MetaConnect, which is starting now.

I'll be covering all of the announcements, watching all new videos, & reading all of their press releases. They usually dump a ton of new info

Follow here: facebook.com/events/6307993…
Or here: 2/ Zuckerberg saying we're going to be taking another big step forward with VR after walking through a history of VR tech since the Oculus acquisition.
Sep 22, 2022 33 tweets 29 min read
1/ @PICOXR officially announced the Pico 4 today.

Pico was acquired by Bytedance (aka @tiktok_us) & they’re taking on Meta as the best standalone VR competitor to the Quest (but only in Europe & Asia to start).

Thread 🧵👇 to digest the livestream & news
ImageImageImageImage 2/ My sources of @PICOXR news are the official livestream👆

@CasandChary have the most comprehensive & digest & hands on:


@vr_oasis did a hands-on analysis


@RtoVR has the best specs breakdown here:
roadtovr.com/pico-4-announc… Image
Sep 14, 2022 70 tweets 52 min read
1/ Starting now is the #ARVRPolicyConf22 led by @XRAssociation & @ITIFdc.


I'll be tuning in & covering the talks in thread🧵👇

I expect the framing will be business-friendly as XRA is a trade organization representing Meta, Unity, MSFT, Sony, & Google. 2/ @XRAssociation's Liz Hyman opens the #ARVRPolicyConf22 & mentions they just launch a 4-page #HowXRWorks infographic yesterday called “Into the Digital World: XRA’s Guide to Immersive Technology”
xra.org/howxrworks/
Sep 13, 2022 28 tweets 22 min read
1/ I recorded an epic recap & reviews of the 30 immersive stories in competition at #VeniceImmersive with @vrgeschichten.

We chat about each experience for ~5 min, & so it's a comprehensive break down of this year's selection.
voicesofvr.com/1121-venice-im…

20+ interviews coming soon Image 2/ I'm about to release other 20 podcasts from #VeniceImmersive, and here's a sneak peak of the 26 episodes, which total just over 24 hours worth of coverage. Image
Aug 29, 2022 46 tweets 26 min read
1/ Venice Immersive features 75 immersive stories.
I got a preview of highlights by co-curators @LizRosenthal & @michelreilhac (includes links to 30+ #VRChat experiences)
voicesofvr.com/1119-venice-im…

I'll be onsite at #VeniceImmersive covering the fest & this is will be my THREAD🧵👇 Image 2/ There will be 10 hours of different #VRChat world hops during #VeniceImmersive spanning 30 different worlds.
The guided tours are only available on site, but the worlds are public.
I link to all of the @VRChat worlds by genre at the bottom of this post:
voicesofvr.com/1119-venice-im… Image
Aug 23, 2022 6 tweets 5 min read
Meta is rolling out their Meta accounts today.

They’re introducing a follower model option, which will be interesting to see how that works with a medium that is primarily synchronous.

Blog overview
oculus.com/blog/getting-s…

You can still use Oculus acct on Quest 1 until 2023. ImageImage 2/ I migrated my account and made it “Open to everyone” to follow + “Anyone can see this profile.”

Friends are now called “Mutuals” and folks who you’d don’t follow but follow you are followers who can track your activities.

See
store.facebook.com/help/accounts/…

store.facebook.com/help/quest/art… ImageImageImageImage
Jul 6, 2022 15 tweets 15 min read
1/ Here’s my thread of 13 Voices of VR podcast interviews I did at @Tribeca Immersive unpacking the latest structures & forms of Immersive Storytelling featuring:
10 experiences
1 panel discussion I moderated
2 XR start-up visits

Support this work here:
patreon.com/voicesofvr 2/ My 1st Tribeca interview is IAGO: THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER, an AR rock operetta & Shakespeare-villain origin story.
Some interesting experiments with AR storytelling.
Check out the app & listen to a detailed breakdown with @jnelsonyoussef & @marythechief.
voicesofvr.com/1101-tribeca-x…
Jun 8, 2022 26 tweets 16 min read
1/ THREAD of my coverage of the @Tribeca Immersive 2022 in NYC this next week.

Here’s my interview with Immersive curator @anapetersdottir previewing the selection:
voicesofvr.com/1095-preview-o…

Some of the Immersive Storytelling experiences are available NOW on @MuseumOR as a DLC. Image 2/I've seen all but 2 experiences at @Tribeca Immersive now, & I wanted to share my first impressions of the 20+ Immersive Storytelling experiences whether you're here or at home (details below)

Hear a larger context from curator @anapetersdottir here:
voicesofvr.com/1095-preview-o… Image
Jun 6, 2022 11 tweets 12 min read
🎉THREAD of an 8-part Voices of VR podcast series on XR Ethics covering the white papers produced by @IEEESA's Global Initiative on the Ethics of Extended Reality.

1st ep is on VR Harassment & Trolling with @theextendedmind & @ellecortese
voicesofvr.com/1089-ieee-glob…

Video Overview 2/ Links to PDFs of 1st four IEEE XR Ethics White Papers.

Trolling, Harassment, & Online Safety:
standards.ieee.org/wp-content/upl…

Diversity, Inclusion, & Accessibility in XR:
standards.ieee.org/wp-content/upl…

XR Privacy:
standards.ieee.org/wp-content/upl…

Virtual Clones & Identity:
standards.ieee.org/wp-content/upl… Image
May 9, 2022 32 tweets 29 min read
1/ @king__deluxe's THE CORE club in #VRChat has some of the best explorations of spatial VR art mixed with chill indie music I've seen.

Here's a photo thread unpacking moments from their release party for @LLLLTOKYO's RAIN yesterday + why I found it so compelling. 2/ THE CORE was founded by PK, who has an indie label called @king__deluxe.
He started an event series called "Break" in VRChat on Dec 11, 2021.
THE CORE is a theatre-in-the-round space with a DJ & VJ in the middle, but transmutes as walls disappear to become a sphere for VR art
Apr 19, 2022 14 tweets 9 min read
The CDC's mask mandates were vacated against the advice of public health folks because Federalist judge Mizelle is a textualist who concluded "sanitation" only meant "cleaning" from 1830-1844 when the PHSA passed in 1944.
USG argued 2022's def #2
Decision: documentcloud.org/documents/2163… 2/ I went down a rabbit hole of trying to figure how & why the mandate was lifted, especially as public health professions generally agree that lifting mask mandates on flights is not a great idea.

See this thread by @SaskiaPopescu for more on that 👇
Mar 9, 2022 58 tweets 39 min read
I got an overview of XR at #SXSW 2022 including the XR Competition & Spotlight program from lead programmer @jblakeneyk + special XR music events in @VRChat worlds.
I'll be @sxsw Mar 11-16 serving on the XR Jury.
Reply below with XR events I didn't mention
voicesofvr.com/1059-overview-… Image 2/ Breonna’s Garden VR installation will be available remotely in @AltspaceVR starting March 12th at 10am CST until March 15th at 6pm CDT.
Use AltSpaceVR Hub event Code: JJI844
More details: mailchi.mp/4979ee9a6b46/b…

I added to the list of #SXSW XR events:
voicesofvr.com/1059-overview-… Image
Feb 23, 2022 42 tweets 35 min read
1/ Brief THREAD to unpack @MetaAI's new Project CAIRaoke AI self-supervised learning model announced this morning.

Launch video: facebook.com/zuck/videos/67…

Zuckerberg showed a demo of a Builder Bot conversational VR worldbuilding tool within Horizon Worlds that's featured below. 2/ Horizon World has terrible graphics, but Self-Supervised Learning is foundational AI tech that'll allow multi-modal training beyond labeled data, making speech-to-3D object creation in immersive worlds a reality. Will this yield good world design? TBD.
Feb 22, 2022 19 tweets 24 min read
1/ THREAD to cover some of the highlights of @gatherverse Summit by @vrleader, which is starting now.
4-day event on XR Ethics & humanity-first approach to the Metaverse with over 100 speakers. Free:
gatherversesummit.com

Here's the Slides for my talk:
slideshare.net/kentbye/sensem… Image 2/ The @gatherverse is starting off with a panel discussion on "Advancing a Disability-Inclusive Metaverse" featuring @reg_inee @cdpatnoe @pzaragoza and moderated by @BCurtisDavidson:
awe.live/session/121779

Glad to see this put at the top of the conference. Image
Feb 14, 2022 28 tweets 20 min read
1/ THREAD covering the @Meta Quest Foo Fighters concert in VR, which had a horrible onboarding experience, the lobby crashed, & LOTS of people could not get in (see responses below).
This pre-recorded concert started at 8:05p but Horizon Venues didn’t even open until 8p & crashed 2/ They advertised Foo Fighters everywhere, but clicking on the Events app, you could only declare your interest in the event with no way to join an instance until after 8p.
The advertised a 8p concert but don’t even add a join link until 8p, which was super confusing & stressful
Feb 12, 2022 24 tweets 35 min read
1/ THREAD covering @webxrawards Polys Awards honoring #WebXR experiences, platforms, & creators.
I'll be highlighting the winners + links to experiences.

You can see all of the nominees here:
thepolys.com

Watch party links here:
thepolys.com/metaverse/ 2/ @vrhermit talking about his curation of #WebXR experiences at the @ExtendedColl: extendedcollection.com

3D version coming soon.

Here's another livestream:
Feb 11, 2022 8 tweets 7 min read
1/ @ebakerwhite's had 19 unanswered questions on @Meta's VR content moderation policies, so @BuzzFeedNews built a Horizon World containing content that got banned on FB & Instagram.
They reported it, but wasn't removed.
Then asked Comms & Meta removed it:
buzzfeednews.com/article/emilyb… 2/ Here's the 19 unanswered questions from @ebakerwhite about the VR content moderation policy in Horizon Worlds.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2120…
Feb 10, 2022 5 tweets 6 min read
Odd update by @Frooxius: "any statements by [co-founder & CEO @karelhulec] or the official [@neos_vr] Twitter during this period do not reflect my views, or the views of the rest of my team, regarding the values & future of this platform"
Could be related to some crypto/$$$ diffs The neos-discussions & neos-credits-ncr
channels on @Neos_vr Discord have the latest speculation from community members with many puzzled as to what's up.
discord.com/channels/40215…

Here's 1D, 1M, 3M, & 1Y charts on the $NCR crypto coin that's been tanking:
coinmarketcap.com/currencies/neo…
Feb 10, 2022 14 tweets 12 min read
1/ I interviewed @TenderClaws creators of VIRTUAL VIRTUAL REALITY 2 on their creative process, many immersive storytelling innovations, unique structure, weird indie art aesthetic, amazing music, & ability to manufacture serendipity.
voicesofvr.com/1056-virtual-v…

THREAD of reviews👇 Image 2/ I really, really quite enjoyed my 15-20 hours of playthrough. There were a number of game-breaking bugs that extended my play time, which hopefully many will be addressed in future updates in 2 weeks.

Some more context here in my write-up & take aways:
voicesofvr.com/1056-virtual-v… Image
Feb 2, 2022 16 tweets 12 min read
1/ @Meta's Earnings call is just getting under way.
investor.fb.com/investor-event…

This is the first time that they're breaking out their XR costs with Reality Labs Operating Loss, which looks like it's been around $12.293B over the last 5 quarters.

I'll try to capture other XR news👇 2/ The $FB stock is getting hit hard in after hours market trading dropping 22% for missing earnings projections.
marketwatch.com/story/meta-sha…
Dec 30, 2021 30 tweets 34 min read
1/ I agree with @washingtonpost tech journalist @WillOremus that we haven't achieved an interoperable Metaverse yet, but I disagree with his assessment that we won't anytime soon as it depends on how you define a minimal viable Metaverse.

TREAD comparing Metaverse frameworks 👇 2/ Probably the most widely cited series of essays on the Metaverse are from @ballmatthew.
matthewball.vc/all/forwardtot…

It's one of the more comprehensive mappings, although it lacks a comprehensive ethical framework as a part of the Design Guidelines or human rights in the Law.