A giant corporation is preparing to let loose an army of walking and talking A.I. characters called "hosts," [which might have you questioning the nature of your reality.](http://pcmag.com/feature/360323/inside-sumerian-amazon-s-big-bet-on-augmented-and-virtual-re)
No, it's not the plot of season two of "Westworld."
Amazon is expected to launch Sumerian, its augmented and virtual reality development platform, next month. [Unlike Microsoft, Sony, and Google before it, the e-commerce giant's A.I. plans do not include any headsets or special devices.]((https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2496299,00.asp)
Built on the Amazon Web Services cloud, Sumerian is a web-based drag-and-drop interface designed to make AR and VR app development easy for experienced developers and those with no coding experience. It's also platform-agnostic, allowing creators to make AR apps for Android and iOS, and to create VR programs that can be integrated with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive.
"If they're going to make a big bet on AR/VR this is definitely a safer way to do it," said Rob Marvin, the associate features editor at PCMag. He recently got an exclusive look at the platform ahead of its wide release.
Marvin was able to demo two apps built on the platform: a virtual meteorologist's weather forecast from WeatherBug and a new program from Electronic Caregiver that helps elderly patients assess their risk of falling. Both examples make use of Sumerian's A.I.-enabled hosts. The characters are meant to add a human-ish element to the virtual and augmented reality scenes.
Marvin said Amazon also sees great potential in Sumerian for the Internet of Things, interactive display advertising, online retail, and virtual training.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/amazons-vr-ar-strategy-throws-out-the-headset).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
