Page 13 - Metaverse

PNB launches virtual branch in the Metaverse with immersive 3D experience

State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Thursday announced the launch of a virtual branch, PNB Metaverse. It is a virtual branch of the bank, which will deliver a unique experience of banking to existing and new customers who can now explore the bank's products and services such as bank deposits, retail/MSME loans, digital products, women/senior citizens, 'Do It Yourself' and government flagship schemes, PNB said in a statement. PNB has developed the Bank's Metaverse Branch, where its esteemed customers will get exclusive access to its virtual environment from the comfort of their home or office through their mobile phones and laptops, it said. In addition, the bank will offer an immersive 3D experience to the customers while performing traditional banking activities through their digital avatars, it said. In this new phase of the internet, which evolves from a disparate collection of sites and apps into a persistent 3D environment, where moving from work to a social platform is

Proptech startup OfficeBanao raises funds from ex-Meta MD, ex-Collier CEO

Real estate startup OfficeBanao, which raised USD 6 million from Lightspeed in April this year, on Thursday said it has raised funds from three angel investors, including former Meta India MD Ajit Mohan and former Colliers India CEO Ramesh Nair. The company did not disclose the amount raised. Gurugram-based OfficeBanao, which is a workspace interior platform, said in a statement that it has "raised an undisclosed amount of angel investment" from Ajit Mohan, founding CEO, Hotstar and former MD, Meta India, Ramesh Nair and Apurva Chamaria - Head of Partnership solutions, start-ups & venture capital, Google India. The startup seeks to disrupt the competitive workspace interior market with its comprehensive, end-to-end service.. With the additional funding, OfficeBanao plans to fuel its expansion. "The funds will be utilized to further enhance its technology-driven platform, accelerate product development, and expand its workforce," the statement said. The platform is for designers,

Twitter silently does away with the requirement to log in to see tweets

The micro-blogging platform prevented users from checking out a tweet if they were not logged in and prompted them to log in for the same

Threads: Meta's "Twitter killer" app puts Elon Musk under pressure

Users, on the whole, may care little about that. What they will care about, though, is a lack of control over what they see in their Threads feed

Instagram to launch text-based conversation app Threads to take on Twitter

A user has to have an Instagram account to sign up for Threads, where the Instagram username will be used on the Threads app

Home ministry to host 2-day G20 meet on crime, security in age of NFTs, AI

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs will organise the "G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the Age of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Metaverse" on July 13-14 in Gurugram, officials said on Monday. The two-day event is being organised in partnership with the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of External Affairs, National Security Council Secretariat and the Central Bureau of Investigation, they said. The Rashtriya Raksha University, National Forensic Science University, National Law School of India University, Interpol and UNODC are the event's organising partners. "The MHA will host the 'G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs, AI and Metaverse' on July 13-14. It will bring together G20 countries, nine special invitee countries and domain experts (from) around the world to delve into the challenges of advancing technologies," a Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spokesperson said. The conference wil

Generative AI to flexi batteries: Here's WEF's list of top 10 emerging tech

The technologies featured in the Top 10 Emerging Technologies Report 2023 have the greatest potential to positively impact the world

Meta introduces text-based 'world chat' feature for Horizon Worlds

Users will be able to connect with or follow others participating in the chat by simply clicking the person's name to view their profile and inviting them to connect

Traditional AI deployment of 70% companies has failed: BCG X executives

AI and GAI are beyond providing just efficiencies in data management, etc. It is about the transformation of business operations, said Sylvain Duranton, MD and senior partner, BCGX

Mark Zuckerberg announces WhatsApp Channels: What is it, how does it work

WhatsApp Channels will first be available in Colombia and Singapore. It will gradually be available in more countries, including India, over the coming months

Meta rolls out verified account service in India for Rs 699 per month

Social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has started verified service in India at a monthly subscription price of Rs 699 for mobile apps, the company said on Wednesday. Meta is planning to roll out verified service on the web in the coming months at a subscription price of Rs 599 per month. "Meta Verified is available for direct purchase on Instagram or Facebook in India starting today. People can purchase a monthly subscription for Rs 699 on iOS and Android. In the coming months, we'll also introduce a web purchase option for Rs 599 a month," the company said in a statement. For a verified account subscription, Facebook and Instagram users will need to verify their account with a government ID. The verified account will provide impersonation protections and account support. "We're expanding our test of Meta Verified to India after seeing good results from our early testing in several countries globally. We'll also continue honouring verified badges th

Metaverse, Web3 market to grow 40% annually to reach $200 bn by 2035

The Metaverse and Web3 market opportunity in India is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of nearly 40 per cent, with the potential to become a $200 billion industry by 2035, a new report said

Web3, Metaverse to be a $200 billion market in India by 2030: Report

Web3 and Metaverse market in India can reach USD 200 billion by 2035, a consultancy firm said on Thursday. To reach USD 200 billion, the Web3 and Metaverse market will grow at 40 per cent per annum till 2035, as per an official statement. "Content creators and gaming startups are leveraging Web3 to directly monetise users, bypassing intermediaries and corporates are building metaverses to engage more meaningfully with their employees and customers," managing partner of Arthur D Little India and South Asia, Barnik Chitran Maitra said. Maitra, however, said concerted action is needed by startups, investors, corporates, and the government to achieve the number. The consultancy firm termed Metaverse as the "future version of the internet", which will be blending the frontiers between reality and virtuality at the convergence of immersive spaces, social and collaborative experiences, and the creator economy. Globally, Web3 and Metaverse are pegged to become a USD 13 trillion opportunit

Now, you can edit sent messages on WhatsApp: How it works and other details

WhatsApp rivals like Telegram and Signal already have the 'edit' feature. On the other hand, Twitter rolled out this feature for select users last year

Has the correlation between the Nifty IT index and the NASDAQ ended?

The gain in NASDAQ thus far in CY23 was largely fueled by Google, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Meta Platforms - also known as the FAANG stocks.

WhatsApp tests 'edit button' for sent messages in beta: Here's how it works

It appears that there will be no upper limit on how many times a message can be edited. However, the option to edit a message may not be available after 15 minutes of a message being sent

WhatsApp working on broadcast channel conversation with 12 new features

The company is working on implementing numerous channel features in order to provide users with the best possible experience once channels are released

Demystifying the Indian metaverse techno-legal antitrust paradigm

The challenge is to strike a balance between potential anti-competitive conducts in the metaverse and seemingly pro-competitive justifications

Meta tests views-based creator payments to compete with rival TikTok

Meta forecasts it can close that monetization gap by the end of this year or early next year

Receiving dubious calls, messages on WhatsApp? Here's what you should know

Users receive both audio and video calls from these phone numbers which mostly carry country codes belonging to Ethiopia, Morocco, and Swaziland, among others