Day: June 27, 2022

Ever since Facebook’s rebrand to Meta, the metaverse—loosely defined as an extensive online world where interactions happen via digital avatars—has gone mainstream as part of “web3,” the internet’s third act in which users move from consumers to creators to residents in online worlds.

The entertainment and gaming industries are at the forefront of today’s metaverse buzz, but all enterprises are realizing the need to move early and not cede competitive ground. “Every company needs to find a place in the metaverse,” says Julie Smithson, cofounder of MetaVRse, which helps businesses build extended reality capabilities. “If companies are not ready …

The term “smart cities” originated as a marketing strategy for large IT vendors. It has now become synonymous with urban uses of technology, particularly advanced and emerging technologies. But cities are more than 5G, big data, driverless vehicles, and AI. They are crucial drivers of opportunity, prosperity, and progress. They support those displaced by war and crisis and generate 80% of global GDP. More than 68% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050—2.5 billion more people than do now. And with over 90% of urban areas located on coasts, cities are on the front lines of climate …

NSO Group, the world’s most notorious hacking company, could soon cease to exist. The Israeli firm, still reeling from US sanctions, has been in talks about a possible acquisition by the American military contractor L3 Harris. 

The deal is far from certain—there is considerable opposition from both the White House and US intelligence—but if it goes through, it’s likely to involve the dismantling of NSO Group and the end of an era. The company and its technology would likely be folded into a unit within L3 Harris. The American firm already has its own offensive cyber division, known as Trenchant, …