Facebook is now rebranded as Meta – Here is everything you need to know about the new company looking into a virtual future.
Facebook has now adopted a new company brand to encompass everything that they do, reflect who they are and what they hope to build. Facebook Inc. has announced a name change and is now called Meta, a name the company says reflects new VR and AR technologies it is developing for the future. However, their mission – bringing people together – remains the same.
Today, we will be talking about Facebook's Metaverse, starting with the most important experience of all – connecting with people.
Privacy and Safety
With this new brand, you'll get to decide when you want to be with other people, when you want to block someone from appearing in your space, or when you want to take a break and teleport to a private bubble to be alone. You'll be able to bring things from the physical world into the Metaverse.
Almost any type of media that can be represented digitally – photos, videos, art, music, movies, books, games, etc. are applicable. A lot of material things today, like screens, will turn into holograms in the future.
Horizon Home
This is an early vision for a home space in the Metaverse. Horizon Home, formally known as 'Home' on Facebook, is the first thing you'll see when you put on your quest headset. Today, there are already many options to choose from, but in the future, anyone will be able to create one.
It's been simply called 'Home' until now because it's been missing something significant – people. Soon, a social version of the home where you can invite your friends to join you as avatars, you'll be able to hang out and watch videos together.
Work in the Metaverse
Over the last year and a half, many people who work in offices have gone remote, and while many people miss their co-workers, remote working in the Metaverse is here to stay. Imagine if you could be in the office without the commute, where you're able to have that sense of presence, physical space, and those interactions with your colleagues that make your day all accessible from anywhere.
From the last couple of years, it's been established that some specific set of people can work effectively from anywhere in the world, but being hybrid will be a lot more complex when some people are together and others are still remote. Metaverse will give everyone the tools the presence to be present no matter where they are. Whether it's a hologram sitting next to you in a physical meeting, or a discussion taking place in the Metaverse, I believe it's going to be a game-changer.
According to Facebook's CEO – Mark Zuckerberg, "I think this is going to be very positive for our society and economy. Giving people access to jobs in more places no matter where they live, will be a big deal for spreading opportunities to more people. Dropping our daily commutes will mean less time stuck in traffic and more time doing things that matter."
Developer Services/Fees
Meta plans to either subsidize their devices or sell them at costs to make them available to more people. They aim to offer developer and creator services with low fees and as many cases as possible to maximize the overall creator economy.
"To invest in this future, we'll need to keep some fees higher for some period, to make sure that we don't lose too much money on this program overall. After all, while a growing number of developers are already profitable, we expect to invest many billions of dollars for years to come before the Metaverse reaches scale," Mark Zuckerberg said.
Presence Platform
This broad range of machine perception and AI capabilities empowers developers to build mixed reality experiences on Quest 2 of the Metaverse. The only key to feeling present in the Metaverse is a real presence, and the platform's capabilities are what's going to deliver on that promise.
According to one of Metaverse designers, things like "environmental understanding, content placement and existence, voice interaction and standardized hand interactions" are what would open a real presence on the future digital technology.
Project Cambria
This is a newly developed product that will push the boundaries of VR further. Among Cambria's numerous features, your desired avatar will be able to make natural eye contact and reflect your facial expressions in real-time. This way, people you're interacting with will have a real sense of how you're feeling.
"In Cambria, more sensors are built into a form factor that's comfortable to wear for a while," a Project Cambria co- engineer said. "Because we want VR to be for everyone, we also have to make sure avatars represent a diverse set of human facial features and skin tones, as well as paying attention to things like glasses and beards that might get in the way of some of the sensors". This is going to be a big step for social presence.
Nazare Glasses
Not much was revealed about this, but it's said to be the code name for Metaverse's first full augmented reality glasses, and a lot of technical work is required to get this form factor experience right.
Holograms, displays, projectors, batteries, radios, custom silicon chips, cameras, speakers, sensors to map the world around you and more, have to fit into glasses that are five are about five millimetres thick.