Need to Know
21 : 03 : 23

US – A new app, Wist, promises to turn all videos shot on a smartphone into dystopian memories that anyone with a headset can jump into and relive in the metaverse.

Andrew R McHugh, CEO and co-founder of Wist, is revolutionising the digital picture frame and good old family slideshows with an immersive experience taking people on a meta-trip down memory lane. By collecting data from the initial video, including depth, colour and audio information, the app can transform any video content into 3D – available in augmented or virtual reality. McHugh used the technology to record the moment his pregnant partner was getting an ultrasound scan. He told VIce: ‘I captured the moment [and] was able to bring my mother into the experience [from] halfway across the country.’

In Five Future Home Scenarios For 2050, we previously looked at how an AI grandparent lookalike can pop on the tv and prompt household members to take medicine or check in on their wellbeing. Wist takes this innovation further by making experiential family memories accessible to all generations beyond death.

Switzerland – Hublot and Daniel Arsham have created a striking 20-metre wide sundial in the Alps to celebrate the connection between watchmaking, art and time.

Luxury watchmaker Hublot has enlisted the contemporary artist Daniel Arsham as a brand ambassador. To ‘start the clock on the new collaboration’, the artist created the Light & Time installation, an ephemeral mountain clock located in the snowscape of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps. The 20-metre sundial was carved from natural materials available in the surrounding landscape: snow and ice. Besides its spectacular appearance and symbolic meaning, the installation is functional and indicates the time for viewers as they ascend the mountain in the ski lift. But the timepiece is intentionally temporary to reflect time passing by and will gradually disappear as the sun melts the sundial.

Recently, luxury brands such as Burberry have resorted to Activist OOH Advertising to express their commitment to creating products that last without causing a lasting impact on the environment.

Global – TikTok is applying a new daily screen time limit to make its platform healthier for young users. After 60 minutes on TikTok, users aged 13–18 will be asked to enter a passcode to continue watching. They can disable the feature, but if they do so and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok a day, they’ll be prompted to set a new limit.

TikTok claims these prompts increased the use of its screen time management tools by 234% during the feature’s first month of testing.

Teens will also be sent an inbox notification each week that recaps their screen time, helping younger users to be aware of how much time they spend on the app and requiring that they make active decisions to extend the recommended screen time. TikTok says it consulted academic researchers and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital when deciding how long the time restriction should be.

In Anti-provocation Platforms we talked about how consumers are looking to social media platforms to become more responsible spaces and are seeking creators to build healthy ideals into the functionality of their platforms.