Linked List: November 10, 2021

Wednesday, 10 November 2021

Unity Is Buying Weta Digital for $1.6 Billion ★

Marc Whitten, writing for the Unity blog:

Today, Unity announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Weta Digital, specifically its artist tools, core pipeline, intellectual property, and award-winning engineering talent. The Academy Award-Winning VFX service teams of Weta Digital will continue as a standalone entity known as WetaFX and will become Unity’s largest customer in the Media and Entertainment space. By combining the industry leading VFX tools and technical talent from the incredible team at Weta, plus the deep development and real-time knowledge within Unity, we aim to deliver tools to unlock the full potential of the metaverse.

This is, to me, a wow it’s really happened moment. Even just a few years ago, if you told me Unity and Weta were merging, I’d have assumed Weta was the buyer and Unity the acquisition. But it’s the other way around — and that represents the fact that gaming is now a bigger industry than movies. (As a friend notes, gaming is bigger than movies + sports combined.)

I don’t think this is a big deal for the movie/TV VFX industry. WetaFX continues as it was. But it could be a huge deal for gaming, because Unity now has access to Weta’s apparently excellent toolchain for 3D world building and character creation and animation. Basically, I think Unity wanted to catch up to Unreal in terms of content production tools, and with this acquisition, maybe they do that and more.

There’s Actually an Apple Angle From the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial ★

Put aside breaking down in tears on the witness stand — when your lawyer doesn’t understand the difference between algorithms and logarithms, you’re in bad shape.

Apple Business Essentials ★

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced Apple Business Essentials, an all-new service that brings together device management, 24/7 Apple Support, and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans for small businesses with up to 500 employees. The company also unveiled a new Apple Business Essentials app that enables employees to install apps for work and request support. […]

In addition to streamlined setup and onboarding, Apple Business Essentials provides a dedicated iCloud account for work, providing simple and secure storage, backup, and collaboration on files and documents. Business data in iCloud is automatically stored and backed up, making it easy to move between devices or upgrade to a new device.

Fascinating. Unless I’m misreading this, Apple is entering the same market as Jamf and Kandji (editor’s note: both are previous sponsors at DF) and the other MDM companies that specialize in Apple devices. I’m curious what they mean by “backup” here, because iCloud only does backup for iOS devices. Does this program somehow back up Macs to iCloud, or is Apple just pretending that’s not a problem?

Update: Nothing magic here. It’s just like consumer iCloud, where iPhones and iPads can be backed up, and for the Mac, it’s just iCloud Drive (which, of course, can include your Desktop and Documents folders).

WSJ: Apple Plans Car Crash Detection for iPhone and Watch ★

Rolfe Winkler, reporting for The Wall Street Journal:

Beginning next year, iPhone users who are in a car accident could have their phone dial 911 automatically. Apple Inc. plans next year to roll out a product feature called “crash detection” for iPhones and Apple Watches, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the feature.

Crash detection uses data from sensors built into Apple devices including the accelerometer to detect car accidents as they occur, for instance by measuring a sudden spike in gravity, or “g,” forces on impact.

Almost enough to make you think Apple sees health as a major new frontier.

Johnson & Johnson Honcho Alex Gorsky Joins Apple’s Board of Directors ★

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, has been elected to Apple’s board of directors. Gorsky will bring decades of experience in corporate leadership and health technologies, and a long track record of leading innovative and diverse teams around the world.

Almost enough to make you think Apple sees health as a major new frontier.