Kerestell Smith, the creative genius behind Gorilla Tag VR and founder of Another Axiom, shares his inspiring journey from VR enthusiast to game developer. He reveals the groundbreaking arm locomotion mechanics that propelled Gorilla Tag to popularity, earning over $100M. The discussion dives into spatial design principles and the importance of immersive experiences in VR. Kerestell also reflects on the challenges of game development and the emotional impact of virtual interactions, emphasizing the transformative power of technology in building connections.

This week our guest is neuroscientist Dr. Cody Rall. Rony's working his super-secret day job (an AI startup). Top of the news is OpenAI's Search GPT, which is now a close beta (you can sign up); AI start-up Cohere valued at $5.5 B in their latest round. There are more than 20 AI unicorns - startups valued at more than $1B. Elon Musk has a supercomputer cluster in Memphis, and no idea (yet) where the power is coming from. Meta is in the news (constantly). This week their biggie is the release of powerful open source Llama 3.1 AI LLM. Both Reality Labs and Magic Leap saw layoffs. Dr. Rall joins us to talk about psychiatric treatments with BCI, and other methods for healing, and even augment, the brain. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Nagy, founder and CEO of Seek AI, discusses funding for 3D company Jigspace and AI NPCs. They explore the future impact of AI in gaming and software development, XR Vision Pro, and video editing technology. The podcast also touches on the undervaluation of quants and the role of LLMs in automation for companies.

The CEO of Arismd, known for X-Ray vision technology, discusses advancements in AI, medical imaging, and AR. Topics include AI startup acquisitions, 3D imaging for animals, AR contact lenses, and Microsoft HoloLens in universities. Insights on growth strategies, collaborations, and UCLA's medical innovation hub at a former Google campus.

Tony Parisi, AWE XR Hall of Fame inductee, discusses AI in music, Hollywood issues, and American company responsibilities. The podcast covers AI music generators, AI chips funding, AWE reflections, and the use of AI tools for content creation. It also explores ethics in music production, NFTs in the entertainment industry, and the impact of technology on art and music.

This 200th episode of "This Week in XR" is recorded with a live audience on AWE's Expo Stage on June 20, 2024. This is the 15th edition of the largest XR conference and expo in the world. We invited five guests who have never been on our show, AWE Program director Sonya Haskins, developer and blogger, Tony Vitillo, Cosmo Scharf, founder of VRLA, and Jenni Ogden, founder of Eye-Q Productions, which specializes in volumetric capture. We shared TWIXR's 2020 origin story, our views of the 15th show, our personal XR journeys, which included Sonya's touching and dramatic tale of self-discovery. We are joined midway by the very first guest, Sarah Hill, founder and CEO of Healium. She's a former broadcaster with an air of professionalism we hoped would rub off on us. Then Andrea Lowery of AWE brought us a cake! Be sure to listen to the end to hear our predictions for AWE 2028. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week is show #199. Our guest is Jeri Ellsworth, CEO and Co-Founder of Tilt Five. Next week we'll record show #200 in front of a live audience at AWE in Long Beach, CA. This week we review Apple AI (Apple Intelligence), their cross-platform AI implementation. Also in the news, Mistral raises $600 M to compete with OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic. Sandbox metaverse raises $20M, and achieves unicorn status while unicorn VR Chat lays off 30% of its staff. Jeri Ellsworth is co-founder of the AR tabletop game hardware company Tilt Five, which creates PC-based 3D AR board games that play on a reflective mat. Hardware is hard. Harder when it also needs great software. With Nintendo as its guiding light, against the odds, Tilt Five is building momentum. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ted and Charlie welcome Ori Inbar, who is celebrating AWE's 15th anniversary by moving the June 18 - 20 show from Silicon Valley to Long Beach. In the news, big raises for Pika Labs ($80M) and Twelve Labs ($50M) that can understand video. Wevr, maker of the seminal VR experience The Blu, raises $3.5M. The CEO of Sony Pictures says he is "all in" on cinematic AI. Amidst layoffs in Microsoft mixed reality, Micrososft admits the fate of the HoloLens is in the hands of the US Army. With Ori, we discussed the move to Long Beach, which will draw more of an LA crowd, his famous keynotes and tech tricks, the vision pro, the AWE Hall of Fame, and the best of AWE over the years. Palmer Lucky says he is making a new VR headset, to be revealed at the show. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest is XR consultant and thought leader, Amy Peck, CEO of EndeavorXR, but first, it's Ted's birthday, and yes, we sing (sorry). After a brief celebration, we talked about Elon's monumental $6B raise for xAI, and Google's new partnership with Magic Leap, renewing a love affair that began in 2014, when Google made a whopping $500M bet on the nascent company. As Amy joins us, Rony gives us an insider look at Magic Leap's early days. Amy's focus on enterprise applications of XR, wearables and AI, led us to a state of the industry conversation, and some thoughts about the upcoming Augmented World Expo June 18 - 20 in Long Beach, CA.Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxrAmy's Social links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypeckxr/YouTube: http://bit.ly/PeckYouTubeTwitter: https://twitter.com/amypeckxrInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amypeck_xrFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/amypeckXR Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our guest is Jon Vlassopulos, CEO of Napster, which is now a streaming platform with 170 M + tracks. In the news Scarjo v. OpenAI, data-tagging Scale AI snared another Billion dollar round, Series F, at a 13B valuation. Suno, the text-to-music generator, raised $125 M. A dying man is trying to clone himself in AI. Jon brings a wealth of experience in the music business, where he started as a DJ turned-Bertelsmann. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.