S3E36: Vax Records, there’s an app for that

News

Microsoft is making sure your default browser is Edge whether you like it or not in Windows 11. While Microsoft doesn’t say it this way, basically consumers have no clue what they should do based on Microsoft’s actions.

As proof this an app called EdgeDeflector is being blocked by Microsoft in the next update. What did EdgeDeflector do? It made it possible to use your favorite browser to return search results from Microsoft’s search box. 

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/15/22782802/microsoft-block-edgedeflector-windows-11

Digital Vaccine Card

This is the standard many states are adopting but many states are baring their offices from creating such barcodes.

https://smarthealth.cards/

So with travel and events starting to require proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test, many software companies are trying to create “the app” that consumers will use to store not only their Covid 19 vaccination or test records, but also perhaps other digital health and vaccination records. Who can we trust when there are no formalized standards supported by any specific government? In the US, health care is very decentralized and no one governing body controls how this is handled.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2021/11/15/digital-proof-of-vaccination-testing-smart-health-card-bindle/?sh=5f17ac1837fc

https://www.geekwire.com/2021/mandate-effect-clear-app-gets-official-ok-seattle-area-vaccine-verification-method/

Here is how to add your Covid 19 vaccination in Google Wallet on Android

https://support.google.com/googlepay/answer/10890261

Here is how to add your Covid 19 vaccination record on iPhone if it is running at least iOS 15.1 and has Apple Health app.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212752

An Ahhhh moment

15 years ago the makers of Call of Duty (pre-Activision mind you) teamed up with one gamer to learn ways to add accessibility to the controls of their game. This gamer, who went by the name NOM4D agreed to share his knowledge in exchange for his name being listed in the credits of the game. With internal squabbles between the programmers and the parent company this never happened and The controller layout named after him, NOM4D never got his name in the credits until now. When Raven Software who developed the latest edition of Call Of Duty wanted to know who developed these controls they found Randy Fitzgerald who gave them the entire story of how this all came to be. They offered him money but instead he simply wanted a wrong righted and so he was sent a free copy of the game and they asked him to watch the credits. There it was, NOM4D. 

https://kotaku.com/15-years-later-call-of-duty-fan-gets-credit-for-game-c-1848061829

S3E33: What is the Facebook Metaverse?

Facebook is changing its name and we will all get to live in the Metaverse. 

What is the Metaverse you may ask?

According to Definition.com it is,

Metaverse
The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet. The word metaverse is a portmanteau of the prefix “meta” and “universe” and is typically used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe. The term was coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional space that uses the metaphor of the real world. Stephenson coined the term to describe a virtual reality-based successor to the Internet. Concepts similar to the Metaverse have appeared under a variety of names in the cyberpunk genre of fiction as far back as 1981 in the novella True Names.”

Wow, what a long definition. 

Basically think of it as being like the movie “Ready Player One”. Facebook wants us to all live in a virtual world and they are the interstate highway that allows us to get to everywhere and everywhere is right. Retailers are working to build their virtual world so you can buy real things in a virtual store and have it shipped to your house. Video game companies will have gateways that you can “gather” up with your friends and you all “walk” together through Epic’s Fortnite portal to go play together. 

Facebook wants to be at the forefront of that. So it has announced a new API (Application Programming Interface) that they are calling OpenXR. Previously all of the virtual reality headset makers developed proprietary standards and games they made would only work on their headset. The same with Facebook’s $19 Billion (US) purchase of Oculus a few years back. The investment hasn’t paid for itself yet but with this move to an open standard, Facebook is wanting other headset vendors to join their plans. But do we want Facebook to be the gateway to the future? 

Facebook has pushed the ideas of virtual workspaces such as Horizon Workrooms, where you and your co-workers avatars can join to meet and collaborate, or Horizon Worlds which is essentially Facebook’s portal for gaming and watching concerts. Facebook is paying $10 billion (US) this year to keep building out the world. 

Are you ready for a virtual world? Facebook thinks anyone 30 years old and under will be. Let’s see.

Facebook is also renaming themselves, or actually they are going to create a parent company and put all of their other entities underneath this. I joked that Facebook should call their parent company, The Oasis (from Ready Player One) or buy out Second Life and use it. 

Here are links to the news that added to this article.

https://www.definitions.net/definition/METAVERSE

https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/10/facebook-encourages-creators-to-horizon-with-10m-fund/

Oh, and Amazon Alexa makes a play for your next hospital stay. It could work.

https://hitconsultant.net/2019/02/25/cedars-sinai-smart-hospital-room-pilot-alexa/#.YXmX4NbMKCd

https://zephyrnet.com/facebook-to-create-10000-european-jobs-to-build-its-metaverse/

https://www.khronos.org/api/index_2017/openxr

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/20/tech/facebook-name-change/index.html

https://www.ksl.com/article/50268561/what-is-the-metaverse-how-the-internet-in-3d-will-work–maybe