London’s National Theatre Helps Deaf People Watch Shows Using New Techniques

 Attendee Wei Rongjie wears a working prototype of his HoloSeer AR/VR all-in-one agumented reality and virtual reality headseat, Jan 6, 2016 at the CES 2016. Photo: AFP
Attendee Wei Rongjie wears a working prototype of his HoloSeer AR/VR all-in-one agumented reality and virtual reality headseat, Jan 6, 2016 at the CES 2016. Photo: AFP
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London’s National Theatre Helps Deaf People Watch Shows Using New Techniques

 Attendee Wei Rongjie wears a working prototype of his HoloSeer AR/VR all-in-one agumented reality and virtual reality headseat, Jan 6, 2016 at the CES 2016. Photo: AFP
Attendee Wei Rongjie wears a working prototype of his HoloSeer AR/VR all-in-one agumented reality and virtual reality headseat, Jan 6, 2016 at the CES 2016. Photo: AFP

To help people with hearing disabilities watch theatrical shows, London’s National theater began using the "augmented reality" technology. Epson has developed smart glasses to help people with deafness or hearing impairment to watch theatrical performances. The eyewear displays subtitles in their field of vision wherever they're sitting.

The CNET website quoted Jonathan Suffolk, the theater's technical director, saying: “the problem we're aiming to solve is the lack of choice and customer experience. It’s twofold.” He said, "The smart glass tech gives customers the chance to come anytime they want, matinee or evening, and sit anywhere they want in any size theater."

The trial will run for a year with the support of tech consultancy Accenture and is part of the National's wider vision of ensuring theater access for all. The always-on service will run in all three of the organization's theaters, starting with the Dorfman this month, followed shortly by the Olivier and the Lyttelton.

It will be supplemented by always-on audio description for visually impaired customers by April 2019.

The National Theatre's experiment marks yet another way augmented reality (AR) is beginning to infiltrate the everyday life.

Unlike virtual reality, in which a headset envelops a viewer in a computer-generated world, AR acts as an intermediary, showing digitally rendered images, think Pokemon Go critters or Snapchat filters.

In contrast with VR headsets, Epson's augmented reality smart glasses are light and discreet enough to be comfortable throughout a performance. Wearers have the option of changing the positioning, size, and color of the captions to suit their own preferences.



Google Hires Windsurf Execs in $2.4 Billion Deal to Advance AI Coding Ambitions

FILE PHOTO: A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, US, May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, US, May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
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Google Hires Windsurf Execs in $2.4 Billion Deal to Advance AI Coding Ambitions

FILE PHOTO: A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, US, May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, US, May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Alphabet's Google has hired several key staff members from AI code generation startup Windsurf, the companies announced on Friday, in a surprise move following an attempt by its rival OpenAI to acquire the startup.

Google is paying $2.4 billion in license fees as part of the deal to use some of Windsurf's technology under non-exclusive terms, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. Google will not take a stake or any controlling interest in Windsurf, the person added.

Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some members of the coding tool's research and development team will join Google's DeepMind AI division, Reuters reported.

The deal followed months of discussions Windsurf was having with OpenAI to sell itself in a deal that could value it at $3 billion, highlighting the interest in the code-generation space which has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI applications, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June.

OpenAI could not be immediately reached for a comment.

The former Windsurf team will focus on agentic coding initiatives at Google DeepMind, primarily working on the Gemini project.

"We're excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf's team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding," Google said in a statement.

The unusual deal structure marks a win for backers for Windsurf, which has raised $243 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks and General Catalyst, and was last valued at $1.25 billion one year ago, according to PitchBook.

Windsurf investors will receive liquidity through the license fee and retain their stakes in the company, sources told Reuters.

'ACQUIHIRE' DEALS

Google's surprise swoop mirrors its deal in August 2024 to hire key employees from chatbot startup Character.AI.

Big Tech peers, including Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, have similarly taken to these so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticized as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny.

Microsoft struck a $650 million deal with Inflection AI in March 2024, to use the AI startup's models and hire its staff, while Amazon hired AI firm Adept's co-founders and some of its team last June.

Meta took a 49% stake in Scale AI in June in the biggest test yet of this increasing form of business partnerships.

Unlike acquisitions that would give the buyer a controlling stake, these deals do not require a review by US antitrust regulators. However, they could probe the deal if they believe it was structured to avoid those requirements or harm competition. Many of the deals have since become the subject of regulatory probes.

The development comes as tech giants, including Alphabet and Meta, aggressively chase high-profile acquisitions and offer multi-million-dollar pay packages to attract top talent in the race to lead the next wave of AI.

Windsurf's head of business, Jeff Wang, has been appointed its interim CEO, and Graham Moreno, vice president of global sales, will be president, effective immediately.

The majority of Windsurf's roughly 250 employees will remain with the company, which has announced plans to prioritize innovation for its enterprise clients.