philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Apple CEO Tim Cook Promotes New Statue of Liberty Augmented Reality App

According to the Vogue article on the app, it was created by the Statue of Liberty Foundation and Yap Studio. Its creation took more than a year of scanning and photography, and it offers up a time-lapse view from the statue's eyes, a look inside of it, and a time-lapse of how the color changed over time.

"I met Tim Cook from Apple, and discovered first of all that he had never been to Liberty Island, so I arranged for him to go," DvF revealed. "Not even knowing what I was talking about, I said, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to give people an Apple experience when they go on the Island?' I met the people who do apps and we started, not knowing where it would all end up. The foundation created this app that will reach hundreds of millions of people. It will be the biggest opening of a museum ever!"

See the full story here: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/05/14/statue-of-liberty-ar-ios-app/

Stanford scholar Jeremy Bailenson and other researchers found that people’s interactions with a virtual person in augmented reality, or AR, influenced how they behaved and acted in the physical world.

Mark Miller works with lab manager Talia Weiss to run through the experiment during a testing phase.

For example, people avoided sitting on a chair they had just seen a virtual person sit on. Researchers also found that participants appeared to be influenced by the presence of a virtual person in a similar way they would be if a real person were next to them. These findings are set to publish May 14 in PLOS ONE.

“We’ve discovered that using augmented reality technology can change where you walk, how you turn your head, how well you do on tasks, and how you connect socially with other physical people in the room,” said Bailenson, who co-authored the paper with graduate students Mark Roman Miller, Hanseul Jun and Fernanda Herrera, who are the lead authors.

In recent years, many technology companies have focused on developing augmented reality goggles and other products, shifting away from their previous emphasis on virtual reality, Bailenson said.

To examine how AR affected the way people behaved in social situations, researchers recruited 218 participants and conducted three studies. In the first two experiments, each participant interacted with a virtual avatar named Chris who would sit on a real chair in front of them.

“The fact that not a single one of the subjects with headsets took the seat where the avatar sat was a bit of a surprise,” Bailenson said. “These results highlight how AR content integrates with your physical space, affecting the way you interact with it. The presence of AR content also appears to linger after the goggles are taken off.”

In the third study, researchers examined how AR affects the social connection between two people who are having a conversation while one of them wears an AR headset. Researchers found that those wearing AR goggles reported feeling less socially connected to their conversation partner.

See the full story here: https://news.stanford.edu/2019/05/14/augmented-reality-affects-peoples-behavior-real-world/

Market Research – High-End VR Activity Increased Significantly in 2018

According to a new report from research firm IDC, consumer interest has waned recently for smartphone-dependent VR devices, while tethered and standalone models are growing more popular. IDC surveyed 1,643 VR users across France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and learned that the number of “high-performance” VR headsets increased 60 percent from 2017 to 3.9 million devices in 2018. The study identified different categories of users, based on their amount of time spent with VR devices, including a “hardcore” group (12 percent) that spent 16 or more hours monthly with VR.

“As Facebook has suggested, multi-user VR appears to be a major potential selling point for headsets,” notes VB. “In France, a high of 62 percent of VR gamers preferred multiplayer experiences, with the U.S. close behind at 58 percent.”

“France was also the leader in non-gaming VR uses — between a quarter and a third of surveyed French users also tried VR creative apps, social apps, and shopping or browsing apps, even though the numbers were markedly lower in other countries.”

See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/study-high-end-vr-activity-increased-significantly-in-2018/

Adding audio data helps AI navigate 3D mazes

“The use of only visual provides average success rate of 43%. But, the augmentation of visual with raw audio, and visual with pitch provides average success rates of 87% and 86%, respectively,” wrote the researchers. “Similarly, the average required number of steps to reach the target using only visual information is 1420. But, the addition of complementary raw audio and pitch to the visual reduces the number of steps to 751 and 614, respectively.”

The team leaves to future work experiments in different environments and tests other than video games.

See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/13/adding-audio-data-helps-ai-navigate-3d-mazes/

AI: More than Human invites you to explore our relationship with artificial intelligence.

This major centre-wide ‘festival-style’ exhibition explores creative and scientific developments in AI, demonstrating its potential to revolutionise our lives. Bringing together artists, scientists and researchers, this interactive exhibition offers an unprecedented survey of AI with which you are invited to engage head-on.

Experience the capabilities of AI in the form of cutting-edge research projects by DeepMind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Neri Oxman; and interact directly with exhibits and installations from artists including Mario Klingemann, Massive Attack, Es Devlin and teamLab to experience the possibilities first-hand.

Prepare for your preconceptions of AI to be challenged by this timely exhibition, that reflects on how this technology impacts our very existence.

See the full story here: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2019/event/ai-more-than-human?fbclid=IwAR13wH6D2wR0RXUeHXq1qcrDvms7RD8vXzoqD0_DXpFd9Pm39KsYeXmIgIM

Virtual Reality is the Latest Tactic The Army is Using to Recruit

To appeal to today's youth, the Army launched "In Our Boots".

The program uses virtual reality to take recruits onto the battlefield. The visuals are from real people, and the scenarios are actual missions.

Some people feel the app may glamorize the Army because it doesn't portray extreme violence that could come with combat.

See the full story here: https://www.wlns.com/news/virtual-reality-is-the-latest-tactic-the-army-is-using-to-recruit/1999800132

Virtual reality project gauges citizens’ faith in law enforcement in the face of gang violence

While investigating the impact of gang violence on Lagos, Nigeria, the sixth-year political science doctoral candidate came up with an innovative research tool: immersive, virtual reality (VR) videos.

Virtual reality: How will it change the way you make music?

One of the best of these has to be LyraVR, which places you in a virtual environment with a palette of samples, sounds and instruments along with various controllers – a keyboard, drum pads, and the like. These tools allow you to create and record hits, notes and chords, which appear as colourful gem-like objects that hang in the air around you, and that you can move around in space to change their characteristics.

Sequences are built by drawing links between these objects, with a visible time pulse running through the linkages. It’s an absorbing and unique music-making experience, although at this stage, the lack of DAW integration may deter many professional music-makers, who’ll miss their professional synths and sample libraries.

However, The Music Room from Melbourne-based developer Chroma Coda can fulfil this wish: it provides a collection of instruments that you play in VR, and which act as MIDI controllers that can be used in conjunction with any DAW, or with a built-in, 8-track version of Bitwig Studio.

If you prefer to play decks rather than instruments, then Tribe XR is going to be of interest. Its virtual CDJ decks and mixer are conventional enough, as is the way it works with your library of tracks and tunes, and in this sense alone it’s a very inexpensive and accessible way to play with such hardware (if you already have the VR hardware, that is). It provides access to various learning tools, too, such as video and interactive tutorials, community support, and even one-on-one live instruction from professional DJs.

See the full story here: https://www.musictech.net/features/trends/vr-music-making/

EON Reality to Open a Virtual Reality Interactive Center in Morocco

EON Reality, a world leader in Augmented and Virtual Reality (AVR), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and five other partners have signed an agreement to open the first Virtual Reality Interactive Digital Center in Morocco.

The center will be located at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University campus in Ben Guerir, a town one hour north of Marrakech. It will include a showroom, a development lab, and a research and development hub.

On May 10, at a launch ceremony at the Sofitel in Rabat, EON Reality signed a memorandum of understanding with USAID, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, the Agency for Digital Development, Mohammed V University of Rabat, the Moroccan Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, and the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The center will train teachers and develop curricula in AVR, in fields such as aerospace and agronomy, as well as set up the world’s largest library of AVR material. It will train up to 100 students per year in AVR skills, and develop a 3D classroom model to benefit over 5000 students. It will also upskill workers in targeted industries. The project aims to increase the employability of Moroccan youth, and build entrepreneurship.

See the full story here; https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/05/272841/eon-reality-to-open-a-virtual-reality-interactive-center-in-morocco/

‘PLACE ENGAGE’ BRINGS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL TO LIFE VIA AUGMENTED REALITY IN DUBLIN’S FIRST 3D CITY DATA

The winning concept was based on an augmented reality app which would help citizens of Dublin city understand new developments in the city whilst in conception phase and help to understand and visualise these ideas in real time.

“The winning concept, Place Engage, is one that the judging panel found to be the most creative and interesting and more importantly is one that we believe will be viable, and have a social impact on the city”, commented Jamie Cudden, Judge and Smart City Programme Manager for Dublin City Council.

The winning team was Michael McCabe, CEO Virtual Technology, Carol Tallon, CEO Property District, Charl Best, Developer, Ronan Kenny, Innovation Consultant, Jamie Cudden, Smart City Programme Manager Dublin City Council.

See the full story here: https://irishtechnews.ie/place-engage-brings-virtual-town-hall-to-life-via-augmented-reality-in-dublins-first-3d-city-data-hackathon/