📔 Weekly Journal: Gaussian Splatting - The Future of 3D Graphics
[6 min read] Your weekend guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier. Learn what is revolutionising real-time photorealistic rendering.
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Journal 📔, your guide to the latest news & innovation in emerging technology, digital assets, and our exciting path to the Metaverse. This is week 113 of the 520 weeks of newsletters I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge. New subscribers are encouraged to check out the history & purpose of this newsletter as well as the archive.
- Ryan
🌐 Digital Assets Market Update
To me, the Metaverse is the convergence of physical & virtual lives. As we work, play and socialise in virtual worlds, we need virtual currencies & assets. These have now reached mainstream finance as a defined asset class:
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below, showing the current share of the market for the top cryptocurrencies, and their change in price over the last week.
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces.
🗞️ Interesting news from this week
Meta’s Investment in VR and Smart Glasses Surpasses $100 Billion. Meta’s cumulative investment in virtual and augmented reality technologies has exceeded $100 billion, with a record $19.9 billion allocated in 2024 alone. CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasizes that 2025 is pivotal for advancing smart glasses technology, envisioning it as a future computing platform that could potentially replace smartphones. Despite significant investments, Meta’s Reality Labs division reported a $17.7 billion operating loss in 2024, though revenue increased to $2.1 billion. These efforts aim to reduce dependency on platforms like Apple and Google.
Meta’s CTO Highlights Critical Year for Metaverse Initiatives. In a leaked internal memo, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, emphasised that 2025 could determine whether the company’s metaverse efforts are visionary or a “legendary misadventure.” He stressed the need to improve sales, retention, and engagement, particularly in mixed reality, and highlighted the importance of the Horizon Worlds mobile launch. Despite recent advancements, Reality Labs experienced a $4.97 billion operating loss in the latest quarter. Bosworth called for better results from more efficient teams and announced leadership changes within the division.
Advancements in 3D Capture Technology: A novel 3D capture technique called Gaussian splatting enables the creation of lifelike 3D models using standard smartphones. Developed in 2023, this method uses millions of fuzzy, translucent blobs to capture precise details of objects, resulting in photorealistic 3D reconstructions. Major tech companies like Niantic, Google, Snap, and Meta are exploring applications ranging from mapping and geospatial games to volumetric video capture and metaverse spaces. This technology could democratize 3D capture and lead to immersive experiences akin to a “photoreal holodeck.”
Silicon Valley’s Renewed Collaboration with the Pentagon: Silicon Valley companies, including Alphabet, Meta, and Anthropic, are increasingly collaborating with the Pentagon, reflecting a shift from previous hesitations about military partnerships. The rapid advancement of AI technologies and concerns over an AI arms race, particularly with China’s DeepSeek, have prompted tech giants to support national security efforts. This marks a significant cultural and strategic transformation in the tech industry.
AI’s Impact on Employment in Tech Companies. In 2025, major tech companies such as Salesforce, Google, and Meta are planning significant layoffs as artificial intelligence advances. Salesforce’s CEO Marc Benioff announced a halt on new engineering hires while cutting 1,000 jobs. Google discreetly asked 20,000 employees to voluntarily leave, and Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg projected that AI engineering would soon rival mid-level human coders. These moves signal AI’s growing role in the workforce.
👓 Read of the Week: Meta’s Metaverse Ambitions - A Pivotal Year Ahead
Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, has identified 2025 as a critical year for the company’s metaverse initiatives. In a recent internal memo, Bosworth emphasized the need to enhance sales, user retention, and engagement, particularly in the mixed reality segment. He highlighted the importance of the Horizon Worlds mobile launch and acknowledged that, despite recent advances, Reality Labs has yet to make a significant impact. Bosworth suggested that failure to achieve success within the year could lead to the metaverse being viewed as a “legendary misadventure.”
In line with these efforts, Meta has appointed former TikTok executive Shadi Nayyer to lead a team focused on building relationships with metaverse developers and creators. Nayyer’s initial focus will be on creators developing content for Horizon Worlds and other metaverse applications. She plans to expand her team to include developer advocates, community leaders, and program managers to support community engagement through events like hackathons and competitions.
Despite substantial investments, Reality Labs has reported significant losses, with a $17.7 billion operating loss in 2024. However, revenue from Reality Labs increased to $2.1 billion in 2024. Meta’s substantial investments are part of its efforts to reduce dependency on Apple and Google’s platforms. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses, featuring AI technology, aim to revolutionize augmented reality by overlaying digital content on the real world. Meta remains profitable overall, with a net income of $62.4 billion last year, driven by its advertising business.
As Meta navigates these challenges, the company’s leadership acknowledges the need for better results from smaller, more efficient teams. The success of Horizon Worlds on mobile is highlighted as a critical component for long-term plans. Bosworth emphasized the need for execution over new ideas and suggested that failure to succeed within the year would affirm his “legendary misadventure” sentiment.
These developments underscore Meta’s commitment to establishing a foothold in the metaverse, while also highlighting the challenges and uncertainties inherent in pioneering new digital frontiers.
🎥 Watch of the week: Gaussian Splatting
Gaussian Splatting is taking the world of 3D graphics by storm. Learn how this revolutionary technique can render photoreal scenes in real-time for cutting-edge applications. Discover how it works under the hood to optimise discrete gaussian "splats" instead of slow neural rendering.
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼:
In the Metaverse, AI will be critical for creating intelligent virtual environments and avatars that can understand and respond to users with human-like cognition and natural interactions:
In a significant development, Chinese startup DeepSeek has unveiled its R1 artificial intelligence model, demonstrating capabilities comparable to leading AI systems but at a fraction of the cost. The R1 model's efficiency has prompted global AI labs to attempt replication, potentially ushering in a new era of cost-effective AI development.
The release of R1 has had immediate market impacts, notably causing a decline in shares of major tech companies such as Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet. This reaction reflects concerns about the potential disruption of existing AI development paradigms and the competitive advantage R1's efficiency may confer.
DeepSeek's approach has also sparked discussions about the balance between open-source collaboration and national security in AI research. The company's success, achieved through openly shared research, has led to debates on whether certain aspects of AI development should remain confidential to maintain a competitive edge.
That’s all for the free version this week! If you have any organisations in mind that could benefit from learning about emerging technology, be sure to reach out. Educational workshops are one of many consulting services I offer.
DCA With Me 🤑
Dollar Cost Averaging is an investment strategy in which an investor regularly invests a fixed amount of money into a particular asset/asset class at regular intervals, regardless of its current market cycle. By doing so, the investor can reduce the impact of market volatility and potentially earn a better return over time. Motto = time IN the market beats trying to time the market
To experiment with this, I invest $50 NZD into a Digital Asset every week. Each week I will choose an asset that seems underpriced in the short term and has positive long-term potential. My timeframe is 3-5 years. I don’t give financial advice but if you want to follow along with me you can use my easycrypto.co.nz referral link to support this newsletter. Let’s dive into this week’s pick:
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