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Virtual reality in 2016: Launch year challenges

11 March 2016
Access report

Virtual Reality (VR) is hitting the high street as the first premium headsets with mass-market appeal become available for developers and consumers

Core gamers are the initial focus of content developers for the new VR platforms served on top-end PCs and Sony’s PS4 console

The VR ecosystems of Facebook and Google are focused on user-generated 360 degree video content, whereas professional creation tools, workflows, and delivery infrastrucure will likely take several years of experiments to mature

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Privacy delayed: Google shelves plans to deprecate Chrome cookies

25 July 2024

Google has permanently shelved the 2025 deadline for removing all third-party cookies from Chrome, but publishers should prepare for much higher rates of users blocking cookies. 

The online economy is still moving towards more privacy and user controls on the major platforms, with Android the next target for the Privacy Sandbox. 

Regulators are increasingly setting the terms online, limiting Google's freedom of movement, and with the conflict between competition and user privacy protections defining the next phase of the internet.

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OpenAI: Still leading the AI race?

23 July 2024

The next generation of the largest and most powerful 'frontier' AI models will be a key test for the pace of AI progress, with OpenAI's upcoming GPT-5 the most highly anticipated.

For OpenAI, the stakes are high, facing a growing assortment of rivals and with huge spend on training and running models to recoup. Staying at the cutting edge is key to justifying itself to the big tech backers on which it depends.

If OpenAI can deliver technology that matches its ambitious vision for what AI can be, it will be transformative for its own prospects, but also the economy more broadly. Falling short could be fatal.

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DAZN in preliminary deal for fourth major market: Ligue 1 rights value drops 14%

22 July 2024

After an arduous ten-month process, France’s Ligue 1 has reached a tentative deal to license its 2024-29 broadcasting rights at a price 14% down on the previous cycle.

Adding France (for €400 million p.a.), DAZN now has prominent positions in four out of the five big European markets. With a weekly top pick (for €100m p.a.), beIN consolidates its model.

Attention turns to distribution, and whether DAZN will patch up its partnership with Canal+.

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