Mayflower boarding reconstructed using virtual reality
A virtual reality reconstruction of the Mayflower has been created to mark the 400th anniversary of the ship sailing the first English Puritans to the “New World”.
The project to recreate the Barbican Harbour area in Plymouth in the 1620s launches online today at www.1620mayflower.co.uk. Created over the past six years by the University of Birmingham, it uses virtual reality and augmented reality to enable users to board a small boat at the original site of the Mayflower Steps before taking a short journey out to the ship to experience passengers and crew preparing to set sail.
The Mayflower’s 102 colonist passengers founded the settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the land mass now known as the United States.
See the full story here: https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2020/09/mayflower-boarding-reconstructed-using-virtual-reality/#
‘Myst’ in VR: Classic game to get a modern reboot with virtual reality debut on Oculus Quest
The original Myst was the #1 best-selling video game in the world from 1993 to 2002, a “killer app” that contributed to widespread adoption of CD-ROM drives for home computers.
Could a remake have the same effect for virtual reality? That’s a stretch, but the announcement of a new virtual reality edition of Myst is a milestone years in the making for Cyan Worlds, the Spokane, Wash.-based company behind the landmark puzzle game. Remade from the ground up in the Unreal Engine, the new version of Myst will initially be released for the Oculus Quest later this year, with a non-VR PC edition coming at an unspecified later date.
Myst puts the player in the role of an unnamed person who is accidentally transported via a magical book to an isolated, seemingly uninhabited island. With no way back, the player is forced to explore the area and solve a variety of puzzles. In so doing, they discover the history of the island and the people who once lived there, as well as the secrets behind the “linking books” that join the island with a number of other disparate worlds.
Notably, Myst features no depictions of violence, time limits, failure conditions, or verbal storytelling to speak of, all of which was nearly unprecedented in 1993. It’s had a significant influence on video games as a medium, and arguably pop culture in general, to this day.
See the full story here: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/myst-vr-classic-game-get-modern-reboot-virtual-reality-debut-oculus-quest/
How XpertVR Is Changing the Face of Traditional Research With Virtual Reality
PhilNote: What XpertVR does is definitely not unique, but the story gives a good description of the service.
Using Virtual Reality for Market Research
One of the biggest challenges in traditional market research is creating realistic test environments. Due to budget and time constraints, companies often fail to deliver ideal testing scenarios, which leads to less than accurate data.
That’s where virtual reality comes in.
XpertVR uses immersive solutions to simulate stores, retailers, and many other user experiences, without having to build physical assets. From consumer behavior research to product A/B testing, the startup can create a variety of simulations to fit the needs of their clients.
“VR has made the data research traditionally collected much more abundant as well as less cost-prohibitive,” Sitler said in an interview. “Because of this and the far wider range of ideas that can be tested in VR, researchers are starting to focus more on the consumer’s experience.”
Pushing the Limits of Research With Virtual Reality
XpertVR builds custom applications, which are compatible with different VR headsets and software platforms. For example, they made an immersive environment in Unity to test custom furniture models. They allow data collection using eye and hand tracking, audio and video capture, and other VR accessories. Moreover, they can help clients look for the most suitable hardware for any research endeavor.
See the full story here: https://arpost.co/2020/09/15/xpertvr-traditional-research-virtual-reality/
We’re closer to holographic meetings than you think
Still, experiencing Spatial on a $400 Oculus Quest headset brought me slightly closer to the concept of hanging out with holographic friends while wearing smart glasses. What’s still missing, aside from the actual glasses, is fast-enough internet connectivity to make this kind of tech work. 5G networks would change that.
Managing AI risks and reducing methane from cows
(USC = University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia)
Professor Paul Salmon was awarded $460,522 over three years to lead the delivery of a framework for the management of safe artificial intelligence (AI) systems and Associate Professor Scott Cummins was awarded $425,766 to determine the key genes in seaweed that help reduce methane emissions by livestock.
Professor Salmon said that while AI offered far-reaching benefits, it also still posed a threat to society if not properly managed.
“It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) could have catastrophic consequences including, in the worst case, the extinction of the human race,” he said.
“Our research aims to forecast the risks associated with Artificial General Intelligence systems and identify the controls require to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised.
See the full story here: https://www.usc.edu.au/about/usc-news/news-archive/2019/december/managing-ai-risks-and-reducing-methane-from-cows
Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm strengthens its ecosystem, brings economies of scale to the cloud, expansion to the edge
Nvidia is after a double bottom line in the AI chip market: Better performance and better economics. Arm's acquisition helps with the economies of scale in the data center and expands Nvidia's footprint to the edge.
This is the second high-profile acquisition for Nvidia in 2020, following the acquisition of Mellanox in April. The two are complementary, as they are both fundamental for Nvidia's plan to acquire and maintain a leading role in AI workloads in the data center and beyond.
See the full story here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/nvidias-acquisition-of-arm-strengthens-its-ecosystem-brings-economy-of-scale-to-the-cloud-expansion-to-the-edge/
Renowned artist Jenny Holzer to debut project at UChicago using augmented reality
YOU BE MY ALLY will feature 29 excerpts from historically significant readings from the Core curriculum, selected in collaboration with UChicago students and faculty, including works by distinguished writers W. E. B. Du Bois, Helen Keller, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf.
Text selections from the Core Curriculum also will be featured on LED trucks driving throughout the UChicago campus, South Side and downtown communities on Oct. 5-6, bringing the experience to a diverse public audience in an unexpected manner.
YOU BE MY ALLY operates at the edge of arts and technology, responding to the challenges of participation in the arts during a pandemic. It enables a broad audience to engage these historic texts, and to consider the impact of public speech in a democracy in the weeks and days leading up to the 2020 election.
See the full story here: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/renowned-artist-jenny-holzer-debut-project-uchicago-using-augmented-reality