philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Spatial launches augmented reality workspaces app for mobile

Spatial Systems Inc., a holographic collaboration platform for augmented reality and virtual reality, today announced a native AR app for iOS and Android that runs on almost any current generation of mobile device.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in Spatial’s platform has exploded as an alternative to tools such as Zoom, with usage up over 130 times from before 2019, and now more than a million meetings have been joined. With hundreds of hours spent in Spatial each day, this trend is accelerating, but remote access to AR/VR headsets remains a barrier to many consumers because of expense and availability.

However, billions of AR-enabled smartphones are on the market today, and Spatial makes use of advances in ARKit and ARCore on iOS and Android to take advantage of this to make AR and VR more accessible to everyday people.

In that time, Spatial launched on the Oculus Quest store and introduced an auditorium environment, a VR space that can seat more than 40 people at once for collaboration as if they were in a lecture hall.

Spatial is now live for iOS and Android.

See the full story here: https://siliconangle.com/2020/12/15/spatial-launches-augmented-reality-workspaces-app-mobile/

[MIT Sloan] What Is a Minimum Viable AI Product?

For any organization pursuing AI, then, it’s important to understand what constitutes a successful MVP. It’s equally important to a venture capital firm that invests primarily in AI companies — like Glasswing Ventures, with which we are both involved — to understand AI MVPs and what it takes to improve them. 

...— early AI products have some unique requirements in terms of what qualifies them for MVP status.

Data and the MVP

Intelligence Beyond Data and an Algorithm

1. AI MVPs may require complex hybrid models.

2. AI MVP pilots need to show integration potential. 

3. AI MVPs must exhibit evidence of domain knowledge.

4. AI MVPs need to provide Day Zero value. 

A Minimum Viable Product Requires Minimum Viable Performance

See the full story here: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-is-a-minimum-viable-ai-product/

Augmented reality visor makes cake taste moister, more delicious

Researchers have developed an augmented reality (AR) visor system that enables them to manipulate the light coming off food in such a way as to 'trick' people consuming the food into experiencing it as more or less moist, watery, or even delicious. The findings not only reveal how human taste is experienced in a multisensorial way—through a combination of visual perception, smell and even sound—but the technique could be used in hospitals to improve the palatability of food, or as a design development tool in the food industry.

The findings were published in Scientific Reports on September 30, 2020.

Underlying that visual experience is the way that light bounces off an object, or—to put it in more scientific terms—the distribution of luminance. 

The researchers developed an augmented reality (AR) system that allows them to manipulate the standard deviation of luminance distribution. 

The AR manipulation was most effective in moistness (of the cake) and wateriness (of the ketchup), while the effect of the system on perception of sweetness was relatively modest

See the full story here: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-augmented-reality-visor-cake-moister.html

TESLA FULL SELF-DRIVING CODE CONTAINS SECRET “AUGMENTED REALITY VIEW”

While digging through the code of their Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature, a noted Tesla hacker-owner who goes by the handle “green” found an augmented reality view of everything the vehicle is capable of seeing in vivid detail, Teslarati reports.

The Elon Musk-led company began rolling out its Full Self-Driving beta in October, allowing a select group of Tesla owners to test the feature.

Dead Code

In several videos posted to Twitter, the hacker showed off “the much coveted augmented reality view.” They also spotted “tons of dead code” including snippets that may hint at possible features to be released later down the road including “coast2coast” and “map selection.”

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-full-self-driving-code-secret-augmented-reality-view

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

See the full story here: https://www.bbntimes.com/society/artificial-intelligence-in-media-entertainment-industry

BehaVR launches ‘CenteredVR’ Virtual Reality program to help reduce chronic workforce stress

“While chronic stress has always been a challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven significant increases in stress and workforce burnout,” said Aaron Gani, founder and CEO of BehaVR. “We developed CenteredVR with the team at Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions as a new option for employers seeking to help their workforce better cope with stress. It is a powerful addition to the other supportive services and tools many companies are providing their teams, teaching people skills that will help them better manage all of the stressors they face and, ultimately, help them lead healthier lives.”

See the full story here: https://www.auganix.org/behavr-launches-centeredvr-virtual-reality-program-to-help-reduce-chronic-workforce-stress/

Chinese military using virtual reality to boost their combat readiness

• Training forms part of PLA’s plans to switch from a Russian model to American-style methods
• New recruits using VR for parachuting training because youngsters are more receptive to the technology

See the full story here: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3113922/chinese-military-using-virtual-reality-boost-their-combat

Australia’s first ‘live’ 3D virtual reality streaming platform brings the opera to residents

They will experience a 60-minute live VR opera recital, staring Melba Opera Trust alumni Stacey Alleaume, Nathan Lay, Michael Petruccelli, internationally-renowned pianist Amir Farid, and hosted by the host of the ABC’s The Opera Show Mairi Nicolson.

See the full story here: https://insideageing.com.au/australias-first-live-3d-virtual-reality-streaming-platform-brings-the-opera-to-residents/

HOW VIRTUAL REALITY CAN UNLOCK AN ELUSIVE DREAM STATE

WHAT THEY DID — In their trial, the researchers compared the benefits of a virtual-reality training program, traditional lucid-dream training, and zero training to see what effect the different approaches would have on one's ability to lucid dream.

The researchers divided 39 participants into three trial groups, one for each style of training being evaluated. 

WHAT THEY DISCOVERED — The research team found participants who underwent virtual-reality training were able to have lucid dreams more often than non-trained dreamers, suggesting virtual reality may provide an ideal environment for training the brain to access this elusive kind of dreaming. 

But importantly, traditional training appeared to be just as effective as the virtual-reality training, according to the study.

Essentially, "VR sickness" made participants more likely to question their reality anyway, which may have made their deliberate self-questioning more effective. 

See the full story here: https://www.inverse.com/innovation/virtual-reality-unlock-elusive-dream-state

OpenAI Turns Five: Take a Look Back

Biggest milestone? 

Developing and launching the GPT-3 model and API this past summer. 

The flip side: Large language models like GPT-3 hold a lot of promise but, by their very nature, they can also propagate existing biases. 

One top obstacle? 

[Not making GPT-3 publicly available.] “There’s no undo button for open source.” 

https://www.morningbrew.com/emerging-tech/stories/2020/12/14/openai-turns-five-take-look-back