Mark Zuckerberg faces a long and painful road to metaverse success

Mark Zuckerberg has recently faced significant criticism for his all-in metaverse aspirations, especially in light of the recent lay-offs at Meta. While specialists are optimistic about the benefits and potential of the future metaverse, investors are faced with uncertainty when confronted with investing substantial sums in an entirely new and unknown platform. Despite this criticism, Zuckerberg seems to be confident that the metaverse will happen, even if the road ahead is long and difficult. > Read more

Amazon Fashion Europe adds virtual try-on for shoes

Amazon Fashion has extended its European Virtual Try-On service to footwear. The service has been available for sunglasses since this summer and will gradually be extended to various types of footwear. Customers will thus be able to visualise themselves wearing items from hundreds of different brands. The company has designed its own Computer Vision Machine Learning (CVML) tech and also used 3D models of shoes to produce this augmented reality experience. > Read more

FTX Files for Bankruptcy in Wake of Binance Halting Acquisition, CEO Resigns

Cryptocurrency platform FTX has filed for bankruptcy protection after Binance, a rival crypto firm, backed out of plans to acquire the company. CEO Bankman-Fried allegedly told investors he needs $8 billion to avoid a shortfall from withdrawal requests by customers, however the amount need to rescue the exchange appears to be closer to $9.4 billion. The price of bitcoin has also dropped to the lowest rate since late 2020 following this financial crisis of the second-biggest crypto exchange. > Read more

Instagram wants creators to normalise NFTs

Instagram wants creators to normalise NFTsAfter recently rolling out NFT features to Instagram, Meta is hoping that Instagramers and their followers will inspire the mainstream adoption of Web3 technologies. New updates, which are currently in the trial phase, will enable creators to make and sell NFT artworks, or launch and sell their own tokens that unlock access to perks for followers such as Close Friends stories, exclusive in-person events and even limited-edition products. Instagram could also eventually charge a percentage of each NFT sale, thus providing a lucrative alternative source of revenue for many individual creators. The move could also contribute to Meta’s metaverse ambitions, which have so far failed to attract a mass number of users. > Read more

Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Acquires Beeple’s WENEW, 10KTF NFT Project

After having acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits in March of this year, Yuga Labs has expanded once again by purchasing the NFT start-up WENEW. WENEW has famously collaborated with brand such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton since its foundation in 2021 and is also known for 10KTF, an Ethereum NFT project built around a fictional tailor that creates digital apparel for various high-value profile picture (PFP) projects—including Bored Apes. > Read more

Nike is still trying to make NFTs happen with .Swoosh

Nike has announced the launch of a new Web3 platform called .Swoosh that will let users buy, sell and trade virtual shoes and clothes on 18 November. Although the first collections will not be released until January, it has been suggested that these assets may eventually be able to be used as wearable items in digital games and other online immersive experiences. There will also supposedly be a community challenge which will give creators the opportunity to co-create virtual products with Nike and even earn royalties on sales. > Read more