philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Seeing the Invisible: AR art at San Diego Botanical Garden (Sept. 2021)

Seeing the Invisible features 13 augmented reality (AR) works of art by both established and emerging artists from around the world. Setting these digital experiences inside botanical gardens of different countries, without disturbing the preservations, and keeping the carbon footprint to the minimum, the exhibition addresses themes pertaining to nature, environment, and sustainability and explores the boundaries and connections between art, technology, and nature. In doing so, it invites viewers to contemplate contemporary ideas relating to site and non-site, physical and digital realms.

See the full story here: http://seeingtheinvisible.art/menu/

Peabody Awards Adds Immersive Media Category For VR & AR

Established roughly 80 years ago by the National Association of Broadcasters, the Peabody Awards was originally created in order to celebrate the very best in radio broadcasting. Since then, the program has expanded to include additional categories such as news, entertainment, documentaries, children’s programming, education, and public service.

This week the prestigious organization expanded its awards categories even further to honor achievements in digital and interactive storytelling. Composed of ten newly appointed jurors—industry experts from across interactive, immersive, and new media—the Peabody Interactive Board will honor a wide range of digital formats. This includes AR, Gaming, Interactive Documentary, Interactive Journalism, Social Video, Transmedia Storytelling, and VR.

See the full story here: https://www.virtualrealitypulse.com/edition/daily-apple-google-2021-06-30?open-article-id=16440179&article-title=peabody-awards-adds-immersive-media-category-for-vr---ar&blog-domain=vrscout.com&blog-title=vrscout

Pinscreen’s new single-photo avatar construction tech

Introducing Pinscreen' latest #virtualavatar digitization technology from a single input photo, published at CVPR 2021. After year's of development, our brilliant team of researchers and engineers have come up with an approach that can generate so called #normalizedavatars using an approach based on StyleGAN and Perceptual refinement. The idea is that a 3D parametric model of a neutral avatar can be reconstructed robustly from extremely challenging input photos (random expressions, lighting conditions, head poses) without directly fitting to the input photo, but through a deep neural network that can extract and synthesize the likeness from the input. This technology will be incorporated soon into our next Pinscreen #avatarsdk with several additions including #superresolution and full body integration and improved #hairdigitization. For early access contact us at info@pinscreen.com. #cvpr2021#pinscreen#ucberkeley#virtualavatar#styleGAN Here is the paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.11423And here is our paper video: https://youtu.be/V9r_jOiGX84 Stay tuned and visit: www.pinscreen.com to learn more.

TikTok is rolling out longer videos to everyone

TikToks are about to get longer. The app is now rolling out the ability for everyone to publish videos up to three minutes in length, three times the existing one-minute limit.

TikTok didn’t say how longer clips might affect its much-loved recommendation algorithm. But it’s worth considering the possible parallels to YouTube: as the platform grew, YouTube biased its algorithm toward viewer retention, which meant longer and longer videos — it’s why just about everything on YouTube is over 10 minutes long now. TikTok may not take the same approach, but if it turns out that longer videos = longer TikTok usage, we might see less of the app’s short, snappy, and strange viral clips.

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/1/22558856/tiktok-videos-three-minutes-length

The future of interactive characters, part 1/4: Twelve basic principles of behavior

Principle 1: Behavior is observable

Principle 2: Behavior is continuous

Principle 3: Behavior is interactive

Principle 4: Behavior is constrained

Principle 5: Behavior is sequenced

Principle 6: Behavior is interruptible

Principle 7: Behavior shows patterned variation

Principle 8: Behavior is hierarchical

Principle 9: Behavior is parallel

Principles 10-12: Behavior is cognitively caused, monitored, and readable

See the full story here: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WendelinReich/20210629/384202/The_future_of_interactive_characters_part_14_Twelve_basic_principles_of_behavior.php

What Neuralink and other BCIs can and can’t do

...the prospect of using BCIs to not only heal injuries back to full functionality but to actively enhance human performance and cognition leads — as nearly all cutting edge technologies do — to a morass of ethical issues. Who gets access to the technology and when? Will having computers in our heads exacerbate existing societal inequality? How do we keep these machines secure from hacking attempts, and build public trust in a radically new form of biotechnology such as this?

See the full story here: https://www.engadget.com/what-neuralink-and-other-bc-is-can-and-cant-do-140014162.htmlhttps://www.engadget.com/what-neuralink-and-other-bc-is-can-and-cant-do-140014162.html

Stanford VR experiment library

 Explore highlights of nearly two decades of research from Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab and discover how we can use this medium to enhance our everyday lives.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1658530/Virtual_Becomes_Reality_A_Stanford_VR_Experience/?fbclid=IwAR0FQ762Jujfcq1XmIbSqNyG1FeCJIdiEKx7rWDqidzJWNKkYodS571x8Tc

Developing a User-Centered Accessible Virtual Reality Video Environment for Severe Visual Disabilities

We address a timely issue of accessibility for visual information through the means of videos. Using emerging technologies (Head Mounted Virtual Reality Displays) and a user-centred design approach, we provide people with severe visual disabilities with a bespoke platform for accessing and viewing videos. We report on newly created test methods for measuring acuity within virtual spaces and reactions of impaired individuals, which informed our platform's design, to inform similar designs and allow testing and refinement for ecological and external validity. A prototype software for accessible virtual reality video viewing is presented, with a subsequent user evaluation to test the software, and a newer virtual reality head mounted display to determine usability while measuring how visually impaired users utilize elements in a virtual environment. We give guidance, based on empirical evidence, and advocate that although VR technologies are currently primarily targeted at a generic audience (gaming and entertainment), they can and should be further developed as assistive tools that enable independent living and increase the quality of life for those with disabilities, and specifically severe visual impairments.

See the full story here: https://scholarworks.csun.edu/handle/10211.3/219934

Napster Group Embraces Heritage With New Brand and Membership Growth Campaign

Napster Group, which is live across 33 countries, was formed after Napster was acquired last year for $70 million by U.K. virtual reality company MelodyVR, which partners with music promoters such as Live Nation to stream concerts in 360-degree high definition virtual reality (VR). 

According to its year-end figures, Napster Group, despite making an operating loss of more than $36 million (26 million pounds) for its last financial year alone, aims to launch a new brand identity and media campaign to grow its user base.

https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/napster-group-embraces-heritage-with-new-brand-and-membership-growth-campaign/

A beginner’s guide to AI: Policy

Artificial intelligence has traditionally been swept in with other technologies when it comes to policy and regulation.

That worked well in the days when algorithm-based tech was mostly used for data processing and crunching numbers. But the deep learning explosion that began around 2014 changed everything.

In the years since, we’ve seen the inception and mass adoption of privacy-smashing technologies such as virtual assistants, facial recognition, and online trackers.

Just a decade ago our biggest privacy concerns, as citizens, involved worrying about the government tracking us through our cell phone signals or snooping on our email.

Today, we know that AI trackers are following our every move online. Cameras record everything we do in public, even in our own neighborhoods, and there were at least 40 million smart speakers sold in Q4 of 2020 alone.

...

Putin, speaking to Russian students in 2017, said “whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

...

The PRC intends on being the global leader in AI technology by 2030. It’s program to achieve this goal includes massive investments from the private sector, academia, and the government.

...

See the full article here: https://thenextweb.com/news/beginners-guide-to-artificial-intelligence-policy