🕶️ Metaverse Assault Investigated by UK Police

Good morning!

Qualcomm's promises a revolution in virtual experiences with its new chipset, while a troubling incident in the UK Metaverse underscores the urgent need for safety and ethics in these spaces. What do we prioritise: privacy or safety?

Today’s Topics:

• 🚨 NPCC Investigating Sexual Assault Within the Metaverse

• 💾 Qualcomm has a New Chipset to Compete With Apple

Reading time: 4min

 🚨 NPCC Investigating Sexual Assault Within the Metaverse

The Metaverse, is facing intense scrutiny following a reported sexual assault involving a young UK woman. The police have launched a major investigation into this incident, highlighting the need for stricter oversight in virtual spaces.

The Details:

• The alleged assault involved multiple unknown assailants in a VR setting. The victim, an underage woman, reportedly suffered significant psychological trauma, raising concerns about the impacts of virtual crimes.

• UK authorities, led by Ian Critchley of the NPCC, emphasized the need for tech companies to make their platforms safer 🛡️, acknowledging the serious emotional and mental impacts of such crimes on victims.

• The incident highlights the complexities in legislating and policing the metaverse ⚖️. There's a growing call for legal action against perpetrators of virtual sexual assaults.

• Following a similar attack on its Horizon Platforms in 2021, Meta implemented Personal Boundary features to prevent unwanted interactions in VR. This move, while a step forward, also points to the ongoing challenge of ensuring safety 🔒 in digital spaces.

• The UK's Online Safety Bill 📜, passed in October 2023, is a response to such incidents, aiming to regulate and monitor activities in virtual environments more stringently.

Our Thoughts: The recent metaverse incident spotlights a pivotal dilemma: how do we balance privacy with safety in virtual spaces? It's a digital tightrope walk. Ensuring user safety, especially for minors, is crucial, but this often means more monitoring, potentially clashing with privacy. It's a complex dance between protection and privacy, and getting it right is key to shaping the future of our digital experiences.

For more information check the full Daily Mail report here:

💾 Qualcomm has a New Chipset to Compete With Apple

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chipset is making waves in the XR and Metaverse realms. This high-performance chip, designed as an upgrade from the XR2 Gen 2 found in Meta’s Quest 3, is setting its sights on high-resolution, immersive experiences, directly competing with Apple's Vision Pro.

The Details:

• The XR2 Plus Gen 2 supports a stunning 4.3K resolution at 90fps per eye, surpassing its predecessor’s 3K-per-eye capabilities.

• Boasting support for 12 concurrent cameras 📸, it offers advanced passthrough video, body, and face tracking capabilities.

• Qualcomm reports a 15% increase in GPU frequency and 20% greater CPU frequency compared to the standard XR2 Gen 2, aiming for seamless 4K spatial computing 📈.

• Qualcomm is not alone in this venture. They're teaming up 🤝 with at least five hardware makers, including HTC, and have notable partnerships with Samsung and Google.

Our Thoughts: Qualcomm's leap into higher realms of XR technology is thrilling. The Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 could be a cornerstone for next-gen XR devices, offering an enriched, more immersive experience. It's a promising development, especially with heavyweight collaborators like Samsung and Google. However, the success hinges on how it stacks up against Apple's offerings and whether the partnership can navigate through industry challenges.