Mark Zuckerberg injects another dose of realism into the metaverse, Internet Explorer is laid to rest and LinkedIn makes it easier to manage your business

Shopping spree in the Metaverse?

Meta announced this weekend that it is opening a digital clothing store in the Metaverse. The ‘Meta Avatars Store’ (zero points for creativity) will be a digital designer fashion store from which users can buy outfits to style their avatars.  “Digital goods will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver of the creative economy. I’m excited to add more brands and bring this to VR soon too,” Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. Launching on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, the store will initially offer feature clothes from Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne. In time, Meta hopes to allow digital creators to launch their own collections for the store, providing new monetisation options for both established brands and individual developers/artists. The announcement is part of a series of developments which have seen the company enhance the functionality and reliability of avatars as a way to develop Metaverse and, significantly, give users greater control over their self expression. Zuckerberg has always blurred the lines between idealised and authentic self expression and the Metaverse is shaping up to be his greatest conquest yet.

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RIP Internet Explorer: 1995 - 2022

Today, we pay our respects to Jung Ki-young; a South Korean software engineer who laid Internet Explorer to rest this weekend. The engineer went viral after he decided to commemorate the end of his quarter-century relationship with a memorial. But it was his specially designed tombstone which won the award for grand gestures. Jung designed a 430,000 ($330) headstone for the occasion, with the Explorer’s ‘e’ logo and the English epitaph; ‘He was a good tool to download other browsers’. “It was a pain in the ass, but I would call it a love-hate relationship because Explorer itself once dominated an era,” he said, adding that he had mixed feelings for the software which had played such a big part in his working life.  Microsoft recently announced that it would be scaling down support for Internet Explorer so it could focus on its fast browser, Microsoft Edge, ending a 27 year run on top. So this one’s for you, Internet Explorer. Sort of gone, but never forgotten. 

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LinkedIn Business Manager is coming

LinkedIn is taking care of business for its B2B customers. The platform is launching a new ‘Business Manager’ feature, designed to make it easier for those who work at large enterprises and agencies to manage the people, ad accounts, Pages and businesses they work with. The new feature will allow users to view and manage everything they need from one place, freeing up their time to focus on campaign performance, increasing visibility and reaching other businesses. It will also give them a centralised view of all of their marketing efforts, which the platform hopes will simplify their entire marketing and advertising experience. “We know how tough it can be to juggle the day-to-day realities of your jobs. And it’s only getting harder as you’re tasked to optimise your campaigns to produce the best results. We understand the challenges you face and we want to make your jobs a little easier,” it said in a statement. Business Manager is still in its beta stages but will be launched to the public soon.

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