Gateway to the metaverse: Top AR glasses and VR headsets you can buy right now
CBSN
It can be hard to wrap your head around the "metaverse," the expanding galaxy of online experiences that companies like Apple, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and Microsoft envision as the next stage for the internet. Fortunately, the curious don't merely have to imagine this emerging digital domain — you can start to explore it today.
Your ticket: One of the interconnected augmented and virtual reality devices that are now on the market and that allow you to tap into a growing class of immersive video games, workplace collaboration tools, non-fungible tokens and other applications that seek to meld the physical and digital worlds.
"The metaverse is not just a virtual reality that we opt into instead of real life," said Michael Pachter, a tech and gaming analyst with investment firm Wedbush. "It'll be a diverse experience for everyone, a lot like today's internet. When you work, you might sit at a traditional desktop, and on the go you use a phone. One does not replace the other. Instead, different devices enhance and extend your experience. The metaverse will be similar."
A cybercriminal group claims it stole personal data belonging to more than 500 million Ticketmaster customers. Although the event ticketing service, owned by Live Nation Entertainment, hasn't confirmed the attack, security experts warn that it could put users of the platform at risk for a range of scams.
Two climbers were waiting to be rescued near the peak of Denali, a colossal mountain that towers over miles of vast tundra in southern Alaska, officials said Wednesday. Originally part of a three-person team that became stranded near the top of the mountain, the climbers put out a distress call more than 30 hours earlier suggesting they were hypothermic and unable to descend on their own, according to the National Park Service.