From Pokémon Go to the Parker solar probe

Did you know that around 63% of Zoom video conferencing platform users prefer to take calls with their camera on? This was just one of many interesting findings from a survey conducted by Zoom last year. If that’s news to you, read on to find out about other developments in the world of science and technology, including an amazing announcement from NASA about the Parker solar probe.

Fly near the sun

An astonishing announcement fell from NASA this week when the US Space Agency revealed that its Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft that flies closer to the Sun than any mission in history, has hit the atmosphere outside the Sun. Sun, or crown. The actual event, which took place in April, occurred during the spacecraft’s eighth close approach to the Sun. Scientists said it took a few months to get the data and several more months to confirm it. Parker was eight million miles from the center of the Sun when he first crossed the jagged, uneven border between the solar atmosphere and the outgoing solar wind. The spacecraft has dived in and out of the crown at least three times; it was a smooth transition every time, according to the scientists. “Mankind has touched the Sun,” said Nicola Fox, director of NASA’s heliophysics division.

How to be a tech influencer

Everyone has now heard of Kat Norton aka Miss Excel, the Instagram and TikTok influencer who was profiled by The edge November 30 as “Excel Tiktoker who demonstrated their way of doing six digits a day.” This week the story suddenly gained popularity and broke the internet. Norton isn’t the only one, however. It looks like it’s been a good year for tech vloggers, YouTubers, and influencers.

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If you’re looking to find the next biggest influencer, you can start by following the work of creators like Canadian YouTuber Linus Sebastian (Linus Tech Tips), American YouTubers Marques Brownlee (@mkbhd on Instagram) and Sara Dietschy (@saradietschy on Instagram), and the ever-popular Lewis George Hilsenteger, known professionally as Unbox Therapy, a Canadian unboxing and tech YouTuber. Start looking if you want to be the next Miss Excel.

Hybrid shopping centers by 2030?

Your nearest shopping center of the future could be a hybrid center, with everything from a hybrid gym, which combines treadmills with virtual reality, to restaurants that will allow consumers to virtually eat with friends in other points of sale. These are some of the interesting survey results from the latest Ericsson ConsumerLab Insight report, released this week, which focuses on some of the hottest consumer trends for 2030. For the report, the early adopters of augmented reality (AR) , virtual reality (VR) and digital assistants from 14 major cities around the world, including Delhi, were invited to review 15 hybrid shopping center installations that extend the physical experience of consumers through digital technology. Almost 79% of respondents believe concepts like an AR / VR zoo, immersive beauty salons, and outlet stores that recycle their old products while selling new ones will be a reality by 2030.

For a recap of the year, Zoom surveyed some of its global customer base in November and collected responses from nearly 1,700 people to understand how they were using the platform.
(Courtesy: Zoom)

Zoom on that

Did you know that around 63% of Zoom video conferencing platform users prefer to take calls with their camera on? For a recap of the year, Zoom surveyed some of its global customer base in November and collected responses from nearly 1,700 people to understand how they were using the platform. About 47% of those surveyed said it was never okay to eat during meetings, while 26% never, or almost never, showered before taking a call. Additionally, usage data over a 12-month period (November 15, 2020 to November 15, 2021) revealed that Zoom was used in 200 countries and territories. While the average meeting length was 54 minutes, the average meeting size was 10 participants.

FILE PHOTO: John Hanke, creator of Pokemon Go and CEO of Niantic gestures during his opening speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​Spain, February 28, 2017.
(REUTERS)

Pokémon on the go

Niantic, the US company behind the ultra-popular Pokémon Go AR mobile game, recently announced that it is encouraging users to digitize the real-world physical landmarks around them to create its “real-world metaverse.” – a clear dig at the Meta (formerly Facebook) announces that it is building a digital metaverse. In fact, Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke has called the metaverse, which will presumably allow users to be immersed in an imaginary world through VR headsets, a “dystopian nightmare.” Niantic believes that AR tech should bring people closer to the physical world rather than disconnecting them from it, and this new feature, which will create user-generated data that will help improve PokéStops and gyms in the game, is pushing for in fact users do. “Now scanning a PokéStop will cause it to ‘light up’, providing better in-game rewards for any player who visits the shutdown before said power-up runs out,” the tech news site TechCrunch reported. .

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