Sunday, March 3, 2024

A profile of Lanny Smoot, Disney's only research fellow, who holds 100+ patents and has built an omnidirectional HoloTile Floor to allow users to walk in VR (Marah Eakin/Wired)

Marah Eakin / Wired:
A profile of Lanny Smoot, Disney's only research fellow, who holds 100+ patents and has built an omnidirectional HoloTile Floor to allow users to walk in VR  —  If you've ever seen a lightsaber at a Disney park or marveled at BB-8, you've seen Lanny Smoot's work.



Some users turn to AI therapist chatbots, finding them cheap, quick, available 24/7, and easy to talk to, but experts warn about a lack of emotional connection (Alice Robb/The Guardian)

Alice Robb / The Guardian:
Some users turn to AI therapist chatbots, finding them cheap, quick, available 24/7, and easy to talk to, but experts warn about a lack of emotional connection  —  It's cheap, quick and available 24/7, but is a chatbot therapist really the right tool to tackle complex emotional needs?



A look at Apple's hubris that doomed the electric car project, spring hardware updates without a dedicated event, and Dan Riccio's retirement plans (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A look at Apple's hubris that doomed the electric car project, spring hardware updates without a dedicated event, and Dan Riccio's retirement plans  —  Apple's belief that it could create a better car than Tesla and the rest of the automotive industry ultimately led to the downfall of the project.



As music from Universal Music Group artists disappears from TikTok, creators turn to royalty-free, almost-contextless sound clips (Reece Rogers/Wired)

Reece Rogers / Wired:
As music from Universal Music Group artists disappears from TikTok, creators turn to royalty-free, almost-contextless sound clips  —  More Universal Music songs are disappearing from TikTok as the two companies fail to reach new agreements.  Sound clips are ready for their big break.



Sources: private capital giant Apollo Global has shorted loans and rapidly cut exposure to the enterprise software sector in 2025 amid concerns over AI threat (Financial Times)

Financial Times : Sources: private capital giant Apollo Global has shorted loans and rapidly cut exposure to the enterprise software sect...