In our Issue 8-44 [the All Metaverse Issue] we talked about how consumers will migrate to virtual worlds for more and more of their on-line shopping. We now have the first research which confirms that statement. A recent report from CommerceNext, in partnership with Bizrate and The Commerce Experience Collective (CommX), explores whether consumers are really engaging with the metaverse, social commerce and livestream shopping.

Here’s what the research found:

As expected, almost half of those in the survey have never heard of the metaverse and only 5% are familiar with it. The remaining 47% have only a limited understanding of the new virtual worlds. Over 80% of respondents have never used virtual gaming worlds like Second Life or Fortnite. Those that are using virtual gaming represent only 26% of Generation Z respondents.

With the above generalities, it was remarkable that 41% of all respondents said they would like to be able to shop for real-life products in 3D or virtual worlds in the future.

Today, the biggest attraction to virtual commerce is through social platforms. Some 43% of online shoppers say they buy products promoted via social media and 19% purchase products featured on TikTok, Instagram or Talkshop Live.

Livestreams also provide a source of information and desired content in the virtual worlds. The survey found that 54% of shoppers haven’t heard of livestream shopping, 32% recognize the term and 4% have made purchases via the channel. Respondents that used livestreaming said that discovering new products and new facts about known products was a driving force in their use of livestreaming.

Even with the above positive feedback, the study reveals that the metaverse and livestream shopping are lagging behind the hype. It doesn’t, however, mean that retail planners and marketers shouldn’t prepare for eventual adoption.

“Get in early,” advises Raj De Datta, CEO at Bloomreach, which chairs The Commerce Experience Collective. “Initially it was thought that digital goods and services would make up the lion’s share of revenue in the metaverse. But what we’re actually seeing is a crossover from the digital world into the physical, with consumers spending real money on physical products.”

It's clear that while we are treading water waiting for metaverse adoption, we need to be testing alternative strategies to see which ones have the most potential.

“Whether we’re talking about traditional brick-and-mortar, e-comm or the metaverse, brands that focus on a personalized, tailored experience are the ones that will end up rising to the top,” De Datta said. 
He recommends testing ideas with your existing customer base. 
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“You might consider a digital pop-up shop that caters to a specific existing customer who has already exhibited certain preferences in your e-commerce environment,” he noted. “This kind of cross-pollination is a highly strategic way to engage in a test.” 

Most of us think of May 5th as “Cinco de Mayo” and look forward to an after-work margarita. But May 5th is also World Password Day and Apple, Google and Microsoft used this day to announce their support for the passwordless standard from the FIDO Alliance (fast identity online).

The three companies jointly announced that they have committed to building support for all the mobile, browser, and desktop platforms that they control in the coming twelve months. This means that passwordless authentication will come to iOS and Android mobile operating systems, Chrome, Edge and Safari browsers, and Windows and macOS desktop environments.

The FIDO Alliance announced that it won’t be long before users will be able to use a fingerprint reader, face scanner or even a mobile phone instead of passwords to conduct online business securely.

“Just as we design our products to be intuitive and capable, we also design them to be private and secure,” said Kurt Knight, senior director of platform product marketing at Apple. “Working with the industry to establish new, more secure sign-in methods that offer better protection and eliminate the vulnerabilities of passwords is central to our commitment to building products that offer maximum security and a transparent user experience — all with the goal of keeping users’ personal information safe.”

At Microsoft, Alex Simons, corporate vice president for identity program management, said that tomorrow’s digital products need to be safer and easier to use. "The complete shift to a passwordless world will begin with consumers making it a natural part of their lives," he said in a statement.
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FIDO said the three technology leaders will implement over the next year. We’ll likely hear many more details from all three, as each has their annual developer conferences this spring/summer. FIDO is already used by a wide variety of device makers and service providers. With Apple, Google and Microsoft supporting the interoperable standard, it will make a passwordless future much more attainable.

We all do everything we can to keep our phones charged, but the time will come when you’ve run the battery down to where you must charge it during the day rather than in the evening while you sleep. Everyone knows you can’t go from zero to full charge in 10 or 15 minutes. But following a few simple rules will help you charge your phone quicker.

Completely Turn Off the Phone. This will not work if you’re waiting for an important call, but when you can, shutting the phone off completely will provide the fastest charge. You may not think that anything is happening when you’re charging, but when the phone is still on, it’s constantly polling its cellular service and even potentially updating apps in the background. All that activity slows the charging process. 

Use a Wall Charger, Not Wireless Charging. Whenever possible, use a plug-in wall charger. We know you can plug a USB cable into your PC or laptop, but that will almost always result in longer charging time. Even if you’re using a charger with lower wattage, an outlet will usually charge faster most of the time. While wireless charging pads are perfect for overnight use, a gold old-fashioned cable plugged into the wall is always better when you have little time to spare.

Don’t Use Your Phone While It’s Charging. It’s so tempting to fire off an urgent text or scroll through Instagram, but leave it alone. It will charge faster.

Consider Getting a Fast Charger. Nowadays, Apple and most Android makers don’t provide a charger with their phones. If you are still using a charger from an earlier phone, it’s probably a slow 5W model. You’re going to need at least a 20W charger to fast charge most current models. Also remember that there is a limit on wattage. You can’t buy a 100W charger and expect a 10-minute recharge. As an example, the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a charging ceiling of 27W.

Here are two of the better fast chargers:

• ArcStation Pro 40W Dual Charger from Spigen. If you have multiple phones in your household and fight for the charger, this dual charger will solve your problems. At 40W, you can fast-charge two phones at once. If one port is being used on its own, it can provide up to 30W for charging larger devices.
• Anker 725 Charger (Nano II 65W). This charger is a multi-tasker. The top port gives 20W of power for phone charging while the bottom can hit 45W. When every device you own is hitting that low power range, this is the charger you want around. Despite its power capabilities versus lower-wattage chargers, it’s still a very small adapter.
  
  

Last December’s Issue 8-25 had an article about the first tests of the SpinLaunch system for substituting a centrifuge spinning mechanism to hurl light-weight satellites into sub-orbit.

Now, NASA has said they are going to test SpinLaunch’s unusual launch technology. Rather than use a first stage rocket to get the launch vehicle out of our atmosphere, SpinLaunch uses an electric centrifuge to hurl the payload like a discus.

While the company’s kinetic launch system is unusual, it has the potential to affect positively both the environment and the cost. But it isn’t for all launches. Obviously, no one is suggesting its use for manned missions or super-heavy payloads.

The company says that SpinLaunch is ideal for any launch vehicle weighing in at under 440 pounds. The key is ruggedizing the packaging so it can take the punishment of 10,000 G force and being released at a speed of over six times the speed of sound (around 5,000 mph.) Once the vehicle is released, a second-stage rocket can take over and provide the power to get the package into orbit.

To quantify the benefits of the SpinLaunch approach, the company says that they can save up to 70% of the fuel by eliminating the first-stage rocket and that also means no need for the expensive launch structures needed with traditional launches. In essence, hurling the vehicle will use a quarter of the fuel at a tenth of the price!

NASA’s interest has led them to sign a Space Act agreement with SpinLaunch to develop and integrate a NASA payload for a slower sub-orbital launch. The payload will take measurements which will be analyzed by both NASA and the company. They are planning this first test for later this year. SpinLaunch is working on a timetable for a first orbital launch in 2025.

“SpinLaunch is offering a unique suborbital flight and high-speed testing service, and the recent launch agreement with NASA marks a key inflection point as SpinLaunch shifts focus from technology development to commercial offerings,” said SpinLaunch Founder and CEO Jonathan Yaney in a press release. “What started as an innovative idea to make space more accessible has materialized into a technically mature and game-changing approach to launch. We look forward to announcing more partners and customers soon and greatly appreciate NASA’s continued interest and support in SpinLaunch.”
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SpinLaunch has developed a render video on YouTube showing how this remarkable system will work.

Physicists from the University of Arkansas have successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene's thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

“An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors,” said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery.

The findings, titled "Fluctuation-induced current from freestanding graphene," and published in the journal Physical Review E, are proof of a theory the physicists developed at the U of A three years ago that freestanding graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms—ripples and buckles in a way that holds promise for energy harvesting.

The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman’s well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado’s team found that, at room temperature, the thermal motion of graphene does, in fact, induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible. 

In the 1950s, physicist Léon Brillouin published a landmark paper refuting the idea that adding a single diode, a one-way electrical gate, to a circuit solves harvesting energy from Brownian motion. Knowing this, Thibado’s group built their circuit with two diodes for converting AC into a direct current (DC). With the diodes in opposition allowing the current to flow both ways, they provide separate paths through the circuit, producing a pulsing DC current that performs work on a load resistor.

They also discovered that their design increased the amount of power delivered. “We also found that the on-off, switch-like behavior of the diodes actually amplifies the power delivered, rather than reducing it, as previously thought,” said Thibado. “The rate of change in resistance provided by the diodes adds an extra factor to the power.” 

The team used a relatively new field of physics to prove the diodes increased the circuit’s power. “In proving this power enhancement, we drew from the emergent field of stochastic thermodynamics and extended the nearly century-old, celebrated theory of Nyquist,” said coauthor Pradeep Kumar, associate professor of physics and coauthor. 

According to Kumar, the graphene and circuit share a symbiotic relationship. Though the thermal environment is performing work on the load resistor, the graphene and circuit are at the same temperature and heat does not flow between the two.

That’s an important distinction, said Thibado, because a temperature difference between the graphene and circuit, in a circuit producing power, would contradict the second law of thermodynamics. “This means that the second law of thermodynamics is not violated, nor is there any need to argue that ‘Maxwell’s Demon’ is separating hot and cold electrons,” Thibado said.

The team also discovered that the relatively slow motion of graphene induces current in the circuit at low frequencies, which is important from a technological perspective because electronics function more efficiently at lower frequencies. 

“People may think that current flowing in a resistor causes it to heat up, but the Brownian current does not. In fact, if no current was flowing, the resistor would cool down,” Thibado explained. “What we did was reroute the current in the circuit and transform it into something useful.” 
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The team’s next objective is to determine if the DC current can be stored in a capacitor for later use, a goal that requires miniaturizing the circuit and patterning it on a silicon wafer, or chip. If millions of these tiny circuits could be built on a 1-millimeter by 1-millimeter chip, they could serve as a low-power battery replacement.