issue 191
Hello! I’m thrilled to share a project I helped produce, Polae, is now live at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s an interactive science fiction for your phone that employs AR and AI to elaborate a near-future technotopia in crisis.
The experience implicates you, the user, into the middle of the event where you interact with the world’s most trusted artificial intelligence tasked with the deconstruction, and recreation, of our reality. Our identity. Our nature. Society.
This is what we consider the “comic book” version of the narrative as we intend to expand the story-world in its current form, and for more mediums and wearable devices yet to be released. Think of the spatial web: sandbox-style games, maps, XR, TV, and more. That’s an invitation to reach out directly if you’re so inclined :)
The app is about 10mins long and runs through the end of this week, Sunday. All you need is decent wifi and an iPhone 10+.
You can register for free here at the Polae site.
Funnily enough, we’re running similar AI models to the app that’s currently trending top of the AppStore around digital avateering - though we’re focused on using technology to drive plot forward.
I must sincerely congratulate my dear friend, the creator of Polae, Steven Schardt. This project is the brainchild of his, and I’m so fortunate that he brought me into the mix. Appreciate you. And to everyone else on the team, thank you. It takes an army, and an independent one at that. This is just the beginning.
Give it a go, and, please, let’s try not to crash the Amazon servers ;)
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Sorry for your imminent loss.
Tech
Zuck plans to take no fees of creator payment for the next year ZuckFB
Niantic tried to sell itself to Microsoft, plans Transformers AR game Bberg Verge
Morning Consult, polling and research, raised $60m Advance, Lupa Axios
ShopShops, commerce driven livestreams, raised $15m BW
Tracer, ad tech, raised $10m CNBC
AI Foundation acq Lifekind, AI personas (met both years ago, still waiting) AIF
Liteboxer, Peloton but for boxing, raised $20m TC
FB/Oculus acq BigBoxVR, game creator of Population One Ocblog
FB AI for real-time translation, plans for AR (future) MStwtr
Electric Gamebox, plans immersive gaming exhibits inside retailers, raised $11m VB
Mythical Games, NFTs and games, raised $75m TC
Poised, personalized comms coaching, raised $4.5m BW
Solana, faster blockchain for defi, raised $314m WSJ
Monogoto, cellular network over IoT, raised $11m Evo
Shopify acq AR home design team Primer TC
TikTok launches game, garden for good HITC
Verbit, ai transcription, raised $157m VB
Loupe, sports card collectibles, raised $12m CB
Photopea is literally Photoshop recreated on the web (woah) PP
Classpass, digital learning in India, raised 300m TC
Voila, top app right now, uses AI to turn your face into a cartoon avatar CNET
Reddit’s (and Serena’s) Ohanian closes $150m fund, plans Cerebro to be additive AOtwtr
Collective Retreats, outdoor travel experiences and hotels, raised $23m Fins
Nvidia acq DeepMap, autonomous vehicle mapping TC
SketchAR makes it easy to turn artworks into NFTs VB
Ohio wants Google to be considered a public utility Reut
Adam Mosseri on how the IG algo works Verge
Media
Netflix debuts online store, merch shop Nflx
Chernin raises $1b fund, adds new partners Axios
FB plans smartwatch Verge
Libsyn, podcast hosting, acq AdvertiseCast for $30m BW
Discovery sells American Country to GAC Media THR
YouTube Shorts to allow users to sample music Verge
TikTok charges adverts $2m/day for prime spots Bberg
Loop Media and Braun’s Ithaca acq EON Media in Singapore, Asia focused radio Loop
Twitter brings Revue newsletter sign ups to profiles Engadget
Bob Marley catalogue gets $375m injection from Oaktree Bberg
Liquid Media acq Filmocracy, festival streaming platform BW
Liquid Media acq iGemsTV for content recommendation (ok what is this co) BW
TGS Esports to acq Even Matchup Gaming, Super Smash tourney Cision
Trebel, free music streaming, goes public Axios
Amazon scored Ligue 1 rights in France Dead
CVC looking to invest $600m in tennis entity Reut
Starlink hopes to power in-flight wifi Verge
Ikonic plans NFTs for Universal Music’s Bravado, merch unit Var
Substack hopes to get more into serialized fiction SSblog
Sinclair hires Liontree to raise $250m for new sports streamer NYP
Microsoft / Xbox ditching the gaming console wars NYT
Drahi acq 12% of British telco BT Group for $3b Bberg
Ssence, culture pub, raised at 5b val from Sequoia Cision
Signa Sports, e-comm and more, get Spac’d by Burkle in $3.2b deal BW
Roblox sued by music pubs for $200m Var
All3 acq NENT Studios UK THR
Loud Robot (Bad Robot’s music division) partners w/ RCA Var
Olympic virtual series for esports potentially Verge
SportRadar and Boehly’s Horizon SPAC call off $10b deal Yahoo
Drake and Live Nation open concert venue in Toronto Var
EA hacked, game source code stolen NYT
Lil Dicky plans to sell royalties as NFTs Bboard
Entertainment
Moore, Portman in Todd Hayne’s upcoming May December (shopped at Cannes) Var
MacFarlane sets Ted show at Peacock Var
MGM takes NA rights to Penn’s Flag Day ahead of Cannes Var
WarnerBros plans LOTR anime film (Amazon for the free marketing) Var
Jonah Hill, Kenya Barris team on comedy film for Nflx THR
IFC Films takes NA rights to Dating & New York Var
A24 sets feature The Inspection from Elegance Bratton, Gabrielle Union (yes ZVS!) Dead
Bryan Fuller to write/direct Steven King’s Christine for Sony Var
Westbrook and Freddie Wexler team on musical Soul Superhero Var
Jaboucki Young White sets Gangs All Queer w/ Issa Rae/HBO Max Var
Will Packer and Kinetic team to option romance novel Seven Days in June Var
Made Up Stories options The Change for tv THR
Ronan Farrow and HBO team on Catch and Kill book THR
Sony Pics takes WW rights to Immortal Var
Monica Lewinsky inks pod with 20th TV THR
Greenland sequel in the works THR
Decal takes US rights to comedy Recovery Var
Tyler Perry plans 12th Madea film, this one for Netflix Var
John Legend working on a Bernie Mac biopic THR
Nflx sets Far Cry anime series Var
Jacinda Arden speaks out against Christchurch massacre film package at Cannes Dead
Garcetti and Reynolds/Lively merge Group Effort and Evolve Dead
Jumpcut is a sort of tech collective for film/tv writers (bon chance) JC
Collaborative
Pulitzer Prize winners NYT
Australia and FBI collab on app, take down druglords (tv show pls) BBC
Creator economy market map CBI
Wong Kar-Wai’s Blossoms Shanghai trailer LiFtwtr
Eddy Cue big fan of spatial audio (same) Bboard
Leanne Leeds on using AI to help her write LLblog
A look at Secret Cinema and their embrace of crowdfunding Var
FBI cracks password on hacker pipeline crypto wallet Elliptic
Direct fan engagement is now more crucial than ever (just ask me for my phone number) MBW
NatGeo says new, sixth Southern Ocean around Antarctic Guard
Animal survived 25000 years in Siberian permafrost (Jurassic Park, but cold) CNN
Connected TV advertising (good stuff to know) Nielsen
US media universe market map Drive
Avatar game trailer Ubisoft YT
The psychological benefits of the commute (does writer live around LA?) Atlantic
Riz Ahmed sponsored study of Muslim representation in film/tv IW
A look at Chinese streamer’s entertainment spend Nikkei
Sailboat that collects and recycles plastic (rad) Fastco
Profile on Lebron’s agent Rich Paul NewYorker
How to stop AI/Clearview from recognizing your face MIT
Deepfakes and speech synthesis on the rise in Hollywood podcast Spot
Intl TikTokers becoming English tutors (this a big part of creator econ) ROW
Packy McCormick on the co-op economy (I just wrote about this) PMss
The new anti-social photo apps FT
Daniel Liss on Dispo v2 post Dobrick and Spark DLss
Profile on Durant and the Nets NYT
IRS forms for richest Americans (hmmmm) ProP
Senate approves $250b (!) bill to advance scientific research, China competition Washpo
Venture capital no longer subsidizing CAC (sure about that?) NYT
Rob McElhenney and Ilana Glazer Interview
Trek to Yomi game trailer from Devolver Dtwtr
The accidental billionaires behind Databricks Forbes
Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht speaks out first time since prison BTC
Jenny Anderson on rethinking k-12 education Kappan
Democracy and bipartisanship dying in the states (is this a DAO?) Atlantic
Sneak peak BTS of The Sandman for Nflx YT
Dave Eggers novel to be more indie, wants to stick it to Amazon (mmk) NYT
Rex Woodbury on TikTok trends RWss
Fear Street film trilogy trailer YT
Profile on Faze Clan SI
A look at Kitty Hawk, Google founder’s air taxi pet project Forbes
Podcasting hype house from hell (put dynamite in my ears pls) Verge
Times Up pod w/ Latasha Gillepsie, Diversity Head Amzn Studios, and Miki Woodard, Good Robot Spot
Stationhead, app for social audio listening, grew after Kpop fans started using Bboard
US Space Force rocket cargo transport program SF
NBA superfan makes it into the hall of fame Vice
Taco Bell has been subsidizing traveling bands for years Vice
Ackman retweets vulgar sock puppet that explains the UMG deal (too good, must be an inside job) BAtwtr
Podcaster Ethan Klein sued by Triller/Ryan Kavanaugh over boxing bout and Paul Bros DStwtr
El Salvador plans to use volcanic activity to energize Bitcoin ops (the country has bigger problems on their hands, I’ve visited and saw hectic things) NPR
Goldman’s CEO song Learn to Love Me, ppl joke it’s about going back to office DailyMail
Potential biohackers in space Neolife
Quantum enhanced imaging Nature
Gillian Anderson and Helena Bonham Carter Interview
History of Netflix personalization Marker
Cancel culture cancelling fictional characters in books Slate
Fed explores how to remake US dollar Politico
Julia Angwin on how privacy and misinformation are related, and on emails with tracking pixels to be banned by Apple Markup
Israel bans the sell of fur Beet
Free books and filmmaking tools top posts on Reddit thread
A look at nuclear fusion energy Nana
Listen: Pop Up Mag on experimental, live storytelling Digiday
Read: The ties btwn Disney and space exploration SuperC
Watch: AI for LipSync 3D from videos (this is the future) YT