Published in Metaverses·Jun 8Ready Layer OneI really wasn’t looking for a job. I had just left my gig at Unity to take a breath, take a look around, and take my sweet time finding the next way stop on a path to building the open Metaverse. But apparently the Metaverse has other plans for me. …Snow Crash2 min read
Published in Metaverses·May 9Built to LastStandards for the Metaverse aren’t just about interoperability; they’re about creating content that stands the test of time. Creators, how many times has this happened to you: your content stops working because the software company that makes the tool you used to create it went out of business? …Metaverse5 min read
Published in Metaverses·Apr 25Take the Power BackFrom painters to songwriters, creators are taking control of their destiny with web3 — and shaping the Metaverse to come We are inching ever closer to achieving a decades-long dream of an open Metaverse: a global network of shared 3D virtual worlds destined to become the next Internet. But there…Web 311 min read
Published in Metaverses·Apr 1Into the MetaverseMoving on… and coming full circle. Today is my last day at Unity. After five and half years I have decided to join the Great Resignation. It’s time to go back into the wild. I signed on at Unity in 2016 to help accelerate the company’s expansion beyond its core…Web 34 min read
Published in Near Future of Retail·Mar 29What the Metaverse Means for Retail, Part 2The Time is Now to Prepare for the Coming Immersive Reality In Part 1 of our two-part exploration, Neil laid out his vision of what the Metaverse will be from an experiential standpoint and what that will mean for retail. Neil’s Metaverse is a place to be, and to be…Brands9 min read
Published in Metaverses·Mar 27Sometimes a Great NotionMaking the Metaverse, Chapter One San Francisco. Winter, 1993 In late December, Marina and I completed our cross-country drive and posted up at our favorite bed and breakfast in the Mission District, while we scoured listings at an SF apartment-hunting service headquartered in the Castro. …Metaverse4 min read
Published in Metaverses·Mar 27Making the MetaverseA personal history Prologue Boston. Summer, 1993 Go west, young man. Marina and I had pretty much decided we were moving to the west coast. She told me in no uncertain terms, “I’m not turning 25 in Boston.” The clock was ticking. I was working in a Cambridge-based tech startup. My…Metaverse3 min read
Published in Metaverses·Oct 22, 2021The Seven Rules of the MetaverseA framework for the coming immersive reality Preamble The Metaverse is the next significant development in global communications. The strangeness and novelty of this new digital capability is generating confusion. Ideas abound, unmoored from practice and practical reality. Well-intentioned but naive seekers are grasping for a conceptual foundation on which to…Internet17 min read
Published in Metaverses·Oct 1, 2021The Third WaveIt’s Metaverse time. But are we ready? After decades of fiction, friction and failure, it appears that we are finally poised to realize a collective dream of that shared, immersive virtual reality known as The Metaverse. I’ve been working on the Metaverse since 1994. Arguably, I…Metaverse13 min read
Sep 13, 2021Twenty Years AfterHow the day that changed everything changed me forever I woke up Saturday morning, grabbed my iPad and started scrolling Twitter to discover that a lot of people were, of course, posting their recollections of where they were and what they were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001…9 11 Attacks4 min read