Pokémon maker Niantic takes big leap in 3D-mapping tech by buying 6D.ai startup

Niantic’s 2016 hit game Pokémon Go let players see digital things carefully placed within the real world as seen through their smartphone camera. The game introduced many people to the concept of augmented reality. Now Niantic is buying 6D.ai, a small company with a vaunted technology for mapping the digital world to the real world for AR developers.

Niantic has been working on its own 3D-mapping technology, but the addition of 6D.ai’s technology and people could push its efforts far down the road in terms of accuracy and completeness.

6D.ai’s mapping technology crowdsources the views of smartphone cameras in the wild to form its 3D map of the world. Using 6D.ai’s map, developers can build apps containing digital images that are persistent—that is, linked to the same spots in the real world from one AR app session to the next, and for all users of the same app. The 6D.ai map also captures the depth of the camera’s view, allowing app developers to create digital content that can be hidden by aspects of the real world.

Now, that technology and visual data will be folded into Niantic’s 3D map of the world, called the Niantic Real World Platform.

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MLB Champions mobile game gets big 2.0 update

Lucid Sight has launched a big 2.0 update for its MLB Champions mobile game, which takes a big swing at using blockchain technology to entice gamers.

The Los Angeles company hopes that those who miss the physical Major League Baseball season will get their fix with virtual ball games instead.

lockchain is a secure and transparent ledger technology that serves as the underpinning of cryptocurrencies, and Lucid Sight uses blockchain to identify rare items for its collectible games.

The update also introduces updated MLB player rosters reflecting offseason moves, new rewards, updated MLB digital collectible figures, and an updated web marketplace for players to transact with each other.

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Coterie raises $8.5 million to build "commercial insurance as a service"

Ohio-based Coterie, a startup working on in the commercial insurance space, has announced today it has raised $8.5 million Series A. The company had previously raised a little over $3 million in early investments, bringing its equity capital raised to nearly $12 million to date; the firm also told TechCrunch that it has raised $2.5 million in available venture debt as part of its current round.In an uncertain market, Coterie  is better capitalized than it ever has been, thanks to Intercept, and The Hartford, and RPM Ventures , which led its latest round.

Coterie  operates in insurtech, a space we’ve covered extensively in recent months. But it’s not MetroMile or Lemonade, both of which selling consumer insurance. Nor is it akin to The Zebra, Policygenius, Gabi, or Insurify, helping consumers link to third-party insurance products. It’s closest private market comp, looking at our recent coverage, is Briza, which produces APIs linking small businesses to small business insurance products.

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Industry, Montreal Airport In Year-Long Drone Security Trial

A year-long trial to monitor for drone activity to gather data, increase situational awareness and improve response actions is underway at a major international airport in Montreal and includes the airport authority and several companies.

“The safety of facilities and the traveling public is an ongoing priority of all the stakeholders at YUL and, in the coming months, we will be exploring various ways to facilitate the proactive management of threats that we may eventually be faced with,” Stephane Lapierre, vice president, Airport Operations and Air Services Development at ADM Aeroports de Montreal, said in a statement last week. ADM is the authority that oversees YUL Montreal-Trudeau International Airport.

Airports are faced with myriad drone-related concerns including not being able to verify visual sightings, operational disruptions, status of ongoing drone activity, whether the activity is a threat to operations, and limited response capabilities, Luke Fox, the founder and CEO of WhiteFox, said in a Jan. 10 n interview with Defense Daily.

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Seattle startup Mystery creates ‘Night In’ boxes for those who still want to date and support businesses

Mystery has built a business around getting people out. The coronavirus is doing its best to keep us all in.

Now the Seattle startup, which normally helps facilitate a surprise night on the town for couples, is offering a new feature, called “Night In,” to cater to people stuck at home while also helping businesses hurt by the outbreak in Seattle.

It’s the Mystery date for our social-distancing times.

A traditional Mystery excursion is built around an activity, dinner, drinks, dessert and transportation for people who set preferences and communicate with the company through its app. The startup launched last September, has raised $1.3 million and plans and executes hundreds of mysteries per month at varying price points with a wide range of partners.

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