philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Job Simulator Creator OwlchemyLabs Reveals its Next VR Project, Cosmonious High

Cosmonious High is a high school for aliens that features a quirky cast of characters as well as various interactive features guaranteed to keep you busy throughout the game. You will play an alien that has crash-landed into the high school during the first days of class. You will be mastering how you can unlock and deploy special powers to help repair the school and return it to its previous state.

Cosmonious High will be the biggest VR world unveiled by Owlchemy Labs so far. The game features a dynamic set of characters capable of responding to natural gestures such as fist bumps and high-fives. The game has been designed as one big interactive playground with the school being filled with a number of mysterious malfunctions that need to be sorted out although you must also ensure that you attend class as you are a student in the game.

There is a lot happening in Cosmonious High including the crashing of meteorites via the walls, the random breaking out of fires, and even your hands magically adapting to a number of situations such as turning into water so as to put out the flames. The game is not all about work as players also have the freedom to explore the school and also chat with their students in the Grand Hall. They can also head to Chemosophy and do some experiments.

Cosmonious High is set to launch in Spring 2022 to Oculus Quest and SteamVR headsets.

See the full story here: https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2021/09/05/job-simulator-creator-owlchemylabs-reveals-its-next-vr-project-cosmonious-high/

The best virtual reality porn games, and how to play adult VR

See the full story here: https://mashable.com/article/best-vr-porn-games

seeing the invisible: ai weiwei, el anatsui + more exhibit AR works at gardens across the globe

See the full story here: https://www.designboom.com/art/seeing-the-invisible-ai-weiwei-el-anatsui-exhibit-ar-works-botanical-gardens-09-04-2021/

LionGaming CEO: “Our blockchain technology can be toggled on/off for each bettor”

Blockchain technology has become a buzzword that is thrown around frequently, not only in the context of cryptocurrency but in conversations about digital transactions in general. Most recently, DraftKings announced its NFT marketplace which breathed new life into the discussion regarding what role blockchain will play in fantasy sports and sports betting in the future. 

One company that has incorporated blockchain technlogy in its sports betting and casino solutions is Lion Gaming, a company based in Canada that caters for U.S. sportsbook and casino operators. We asked CEO Duncan McIntyre a few questions about their technology to learn about how Lion Gaming helps solve the most pressing issues the industry faces, and how they use blockchain to improve the betting experience and security for bettors here in the U.S. and overseas.

See the full story here: https://usbettingreport.com/interviews/liongaming/

Surveillance Towers set up along US-Mexico border

...

creating an invisible border wall.

The high-tech watch poles known as Autonomous Surveillance Towers are powered by solar energy and use artificial intelligence to detect movement along a two-mile radius, sending the information in real-time to agents patrolling the area.

And they’re now being installed at different points along the nearly 2,000 miles of the US-Mexico border.

... The ASTs were developed by Palmer Luckey, the 28-year-old founder and designer of Oculus VR and Oculus Rift.

... “Most of our [recent] apprehensions have come from this tower,” said Freeland, pointing at El Paso Sector’s newest AST, which sits on a high remote patch of scrub where the borders of Texas, New Mexico and the Mexican state of Chihuahua meet. The camera has been in operation for only the last two weeks.

... US Customs and Border Patrol, which plans to deploy 140 of the cameras to create a virtual wall along the border.

... Luckey, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, is marketing the towers that use a network of interconnected cameras and sensors through Anduril Industries, the defense technology startup he founded in 2017.

Anduril did not respond to messages seeking comment.

See the full story here: https://sportsgrindentertainment.com/surveillance-towers-set-up-along-us-mexico-border/

ABBA’s Virtual Concert, The Metaverse And The Future Of Entertainment

The quartet spent five weeks with A/V wizards at Industrial Light and Magic, who have used advanced motion capture techniques to create virtual copies of the band that behave accurately in every way, from their dancing to their eye movements. Artificial intelligence (AI) routines were then used to “de-age” the performers, similarly to how it has been done in movies such as Star Wars and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.  

The digital Abba performance – named Abba Voyage – will take place at a physical location in London, with the audience buying tickets to the show and taking their place in the audience just as if they were going to see the group perform in their 1970s heyday. But other performers have experimented with making their shows entirely digital. Boy band BTS attracted a world-record 1.33 million paying viewers to a live-streamed concert earlier this year. Then, Ariana Grande took the logical next step of closing the loop between a digital show in front of a live audience and a live show in front of a digital audience. During a performance in which she used the video game Fortnite as a venue, both the star herself and the audience were present as digital avatars.

While we know AI will be used to recreate a young-looking Abba, we can speculate that the next step could potentially go even further by recreating something of their personalities and behavior. It isn’t a huge leap to imagine they could use language processing and voice recognition to respond to song requests from the audience and, perhaps one day, even hold a conversation.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/09/06/abbas-virtual-concert-the-metaverse-and-the-future-of-entertainment/?sh=24f980d06844

Bustling Taiwanese Film Industry Ushers in VR-Led New Wave

Taiwanese cinema shows no signs of slowing down, and the country recently embarked on a new chapter in its film history. Since 2020, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, an intermediary organization supervised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, has invested in the nation’s future by encouraging artists to explore the use of extended reality (XR) innovations — such as augmented reality and virtual reality used to enhance our understanding of real or artificial environments around us — as well as mixed-reality technologies.

“XR is a new medium, everyone is exploring its creative possibilities,” says TAICCA chairperson Ting Hsiao-ching. “There are ways to produce and present new and innovative art forms in XR. And today it’s accessible to everyone. In Taiwan we have a lot of technological advantages due to our national hardware and software resources, creative studios and artists… We have a freedom of creation that helps us promote immersive projects.”

With the launch of commercial 5G high-speed mobile networks, Taiwan’s heavyweight status in the IT hardware supply chain, plus the emergence of progressive young filmmakers within its borders, Taiwan is undoubtedly well-positioned to lead the latest generation of tech-based creativity. 

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2021/biz/news/taiwanese-film-industry-vr-new-wave-1235055844/

Van Eyck Was A Precursor Of Augmented Reality

Using digital technology, a researcher has unravelled the secrets of the use of perspective by the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck, a technique previously believed to be specific to the Italian Renaissance artists.

The history of lines is anything but linear. The importance of proportions and depth in artistic representation has fluctuated widely from one century and culture to the next. During the Renaissance, the geometric precision of perspective became an essential feature of painting and fresco work, not to mention sculpture and architecture. 

While Brunelleschi was already using a wooden panel with an eyehole by about 1420, Van Eyck nonetheless remains one of the pioneers in the use of optical systems to depict perspective and take human stereoscopic vision into account. This approach can be considered a forerunner of augmented reality, and would be simplified 70 years later by Leonardo da Vinci.

See the full story here: https://scienceblog.com/525184/van-eyck-was-a-precursor-of-augmented-reality/

Newhouse Professor Wins Facebook Reality Labs Research Grant to Study Impacts of Augmented and Virtual Reality

Makana Chock, David J. Levidow Professor of Communications in the Newhouse School, has been awarded a $75,000 research grant from Facebook Reality Labs to explore the impacts of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) on bystander privacy.

Chock will work with Se Jung Kim, a doctoral student in Newhouse’s mass communications program. They will focus on two countries with disparate cultural norms—the U.S. and South Korea—to examine the impact of cultural differences on privacy concerns and ultimately inform the design of AR/VR technology.

Chock developed her proposal, “AR/VR recording: Cultural differences in perceptions of bystander privacy,” in response to Facebook’s request for proposals on responsible innovation in AR/VR: “Consider Everyone.”

Chock says the “ubiquitous and covert nature” of AR/VR recording poses the threat of serious privacy violations as bystanders are captured without permission. At the same time, different societies often have different concepts of bystander privacy, and those differences are reflected in the way image recording is regulated.

The three-part study will begin with an online survey conducted in both countries to assess potential differences in bystanders’ privacy perceptions and concerns and identify additional concerns of targeted immigrant groups. The team will then conduct a series of in-depth interviews with a subset of survey participants to provide additional qualitative data about cultural differences in bystander privacy concerns. Finally, they will facilitate a series of focus groups comprised of U.S. and South Korean users in a multi-user social VR environment in order to determine if the cultural differences seen in “real world” public spaces also apply in social VR spaces.

See the full story here: https://news.syr.edu/blog/2021/09/03/newhouse-professor-wins-facebook-reality-labs-research-grant-to-study-impacts-of-augmented-and-virtual-reality/

What’s it like to really live in a virtual world?

There are, in fact, several metaverses out there. These are virtual worlds such as Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and The Sandbox. Accessed through VR (virtual reality) headsets, these platforms are made not only for exploring but for spending money and making a living. 

Rowell discovered the NFT (non-fungible tokens or unique digital artefacts verified by blockchain technology) art scene early this year and was soon putting her work on platforms like Open Sea, which she says is great for beginners, and Foundation, which is invite-only.

Rowell submitted a piece of art to imnotArt, a gallery that also has space in both Cryptovoxels and real-world Chicago.

Visit

This writer paid a visit to the imnotArt gallery on Cryptovoxels. It’s located in the popular Vibes neighbourhood on the corner of Popular Avenue and Ideal Close. A good place to invest? Only if you have a bulging digital wallet. No 3 Truthful Gardens, for example, is prime real estate but it will set you back 5.5 Ethereum or $18,336.62.

“To understand the economics of the metaverse you need to begin by understanding why people would want to spend their time in these virtual spaces. The Celts didn’t arrive in Ireland and think ‘we’d love an art gallery here’. It’s better to figure out what would make people enjoy being in these worlds and build an economy around that,” reflects Dowling.

But one needs to be cautious of a money-first mindset: ...

“If you visit the Decentraland homepage the first thing you see is messaging all about their currency, Manna. But when you visit, say, the tourist website for Barbados the selling point isn’t ‘come for our currency, the Barbados dollar’.”

Metaverse

He suspects that Gen Z will be more willing to spend time and money in the metaverse given that they are growing up with Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite, all of which The Sandbox has elements. Investing in these items and experiences in these worlds might seem like a frippery to many adults but not to a younger generation.

“Our vision is that we deliver the types of spaces needed for specific tasks rather than pushing people towards spending all their time in VR spaces,” he adds.

“I don’t think we should get caught up too much in the concept of the metaverse and what it means for the future. We’re more concerned with what value our tech can offer right now, today,” says Cosgrove.

See the full story here: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/what-s-it-like-to-really-live-in-a-virtual-world-1.4660958