philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

SeeingVR, a New Toolkit from Microsoft will improve the Virtual Reality Experience for People with Low Vision

Every person has its own vision preferences, therefore a tool kit has been worked on by the researcher so each player can customize it to their convenience. The kit has 14 tools consisting of magnifier, bifocal lens, edge enhancement, depth measurement and controls that let players adjust the brightness and contrast level. It also facilitates players by providing an option that will describe the objects in a scene or read it aloud.

In a testing process, 11 people with a vision problem were asked to use SeeingVR, a new toolkit. This resulted in participants completing their tasks quickly using the toolkit rather than with the default mode. The kit is accessible to Unity VR developers only, but because it is the biggest VR development platform, the technology is likely to be widely adopted by the public soon.

Paper titled as "SeeingVR: A Set of Tools to Make Virtual Reality More Accessible to People with Low Vision" is a joint effort of Microsoft Researchers Ed Cutrell, Christian Holz, Eyal Ofek, Andrew Wilson and Meredith Ringel Morris, whose results with be presented by Microsoft intern Yuhang Zhao at the CHI the conference, to be held this year in Glasgow.

See the full story here: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2019/04/microsoft-seeing-vr-advancing-accessibility-on-the-web-in-virtual-reality-and-in-the-classroom.html

The Best 360 Cameras You Can Get For Under $200

After all, the world isn’t flat – why should your videos be?

1. Samsung Gear 360

2. Ricoh Theta SC 360° Video and Still Camera

3. YI 360 VR Camera

4. Insta360 ONE 360 Video Action Camera

See the full story here: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/best-360-cameras-affordable-825036/

AI IS SMART. CAN WE MAKE IT KIND?

“Even though AIs can do amazing feats, they do what they’ve been trained to do, and they don’t understand what it is that they’re doing.”

This disregard for humans is taken to an extreme in a famous thought experiment dreamt up by Nick Bostrom, the University of Oxford philosopher. The “paperclip maximizer” scenario starts innocently enough, with a hyperintelligent AI assigned to teach itself to maximize a factory’s production of paperclips. But things turn dark when the AI goes on to pursue its assigned task with such single-minded devotion that its factory robots end up converting humanity, the world, “and then increasingly large chunks of the observable universe into paperclips.” That future machine didn’t mean to eradicate humanity, but that wouldn’t matter much to us.

Scheutz and his group are focused more on problems that could arise in the foreseeable future, when we’ll be living and working with robots that may not be able to recognize the consequences of their actions.

For more than fifteen years now, the HRI lab has been working on a solution that sounds like something out of science fiction but is becoming more real every day: Equip AI and AI robots with a core of ethics and awareness about the world. Program machines with a sense of empathy, and right and wrong and socially appropriate, so they can reason their way through a sticky situation. In short, the lab is trying to teach robots to be more like humans. And accomplishing that, it turns out, is just as difficult as it sounds.

DIARC uses some machine learning, too, but what makes it different is that it was designed from the start to fundamentally interact with—and account for—humans. Everything the lab does includes a dissection of the consequences that could follow when robots and humans interact.

More likely, they’d wind up hurting us because they’re not designed to understand the consequences of their actions.

Harms don’t have to be physical, either—they could be psychological. Scheutz often points to the emotional risks posed by a future elder-care robot. If it’s unequipped to show compassion or make small talk when its lonely charge tries to connect—as humans invariably do—hurt feelings could result.

. The two robots didn’t need to issue verbal commands, because they’re operating with a hive mind: one DIARC, two bodies. Some people, according to the lab’s research, may find robots silently communicating a little creepy, but Scheutz hasn’t ruled it out as a useful function, given how efficient it could be during complicated and stressful missions spanning many robots working in multiple locations.

Graduate student Daniel Kasenberg, EG18, is in the beginning stages of studying how to represent moral and social norms—the often unspoken rules we live by—in a language machines can understand and learn. This means reducing actions and effects into algorithmic equations and symbols. “What we have right now are small components of this architecture at a very rudimentary level,” Kasenberg cautioned. “But the ultimate goal is to develop a system that can represent these moral and social norms, and evaluate potential courses of action based on [them].”

See the full story here: https://tuftsmagazine.com/issues/magazine/2019/spring/ai-smart-can-we-make-it-kind?utm_source=email&utm_medium=university&utm_campaign=news_alumni_04202019_1164_(MAG)(AS)

Despite cuts, White House looks to agencies to advance AI priorities

Parker said that while overall research and development budgets have been cut, "AI was protected."

On the civilian side, the White House's budget does specifically propose $850 million for AI funding between the Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation -- all agencies that face overall and R&D cuts.

Parker also pointed out that the administration wants to see agencies reporting their investments in AI because tracking AI projects is "so hard" right now. "We can begin to get a better holistic view of what our agencies are spending in this area."

See the full story here: https://fcw.com/articles/2019/04/18/ai-workforce-gunter.aspx

This Pop-Up Uses AI to Make Perfect KitKat and Sake Pairings

When you try to think of two great tastes that taste great together, what comes to mind? Peanut butter and chocolate? How about a KitKat bar and a nice glass of sake?

You might not know where to begin, but that’s no big deal. The folks at Nestle Japan have just unveiled a pop-up “bar” that utilizes the power of artificial intelligence to determine the perfect KitKat and Sake pairing for customers.

See the full story here: https://www.geek.com/culture/this-pop-up-uses-ai-to-make-perfect-kitkat-and-sake-pairings-1783666/

Groove Jones Builds Virtual Reality Fighting Game for UFC and Modelo

Creative technology company Groove Jones has partnered with the UFC to create a virtual reality game. The Modelo UFC Fighting Spirit VR Challenge has been rolled out at bars and events during UFC Fight Nights this spring.

Users face a fictitious 6’2”, 172-pound opponent in a virtual Octagon in the Groove Jonescampaign. Russian fighter Blatov Brosovich leaps across the ring to begin each fight. Players use a handheld wireless controller designed by Steelseries to throw virtual punches and kicks with hopes of knocking out Brosovich. They can see the action through an Oculus VR headset, and must swiftly twist out of the way to avoid being hit by Brosovich’s incoming punches and kicks.

The VR challenge iPad app also collects each user’s name, email, and phone number. When the experience is over, a 360-degree panoramic image from the center of the Octagon ring is sent to the user, which he or she can share to their social media.

See the full story here: https://www.sporttechie.com/groove-jones-virtual-reality-fighting-game-ufc-modelo/

GYMNASIA Virtual Reality Experience by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Felix & Paul Studios to Premiere at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival

GYMNASIA is a groundbreaking cinematic VR experience that is a collaboration between Felix & Paul Studios, the National Film Board of Canada and Oscar®-nominated Clyde Henry Productions. The six-minute experience flawlessly blends 3D 360-degree video, stop motion, miniatures and computer-generated graphics (CGI), and pushes the art of puppet animation into uncharted territory. GYMNASIA will be available for download on the Oculus Store beginning April 26, 2019.

GYMNASIA is a dark dream—unsettling and weirdly wonderful. It is the first stop motion VR experience to induce the elusive anxiety that occurs when the lines between “real” and “unreal” are blurred beyond belief. In GYMNASIA , viewers step into the stillness of an abandoned school and enter a place where the ghostly ephemera of a lost childhood await them. The immersive experience recalls the sights and sounds of a child’s world through the echoes of ball games, school lessons and choir recitals.

See the full story here: https://www.apnews.com/Globe%20Newswire/5263185fb1d0c408354aeddf1b627590

Top 10 Future UX Trends Adopted By Google

Simplicity and Clarity in UI

Well-Curated and Appealing Content

Faster Loading Speed

Personalized Customer Experiences

Data-Oriented Design

Voice Activation

Cross-Functional Capabilities

Easier Payment Systems

Focus on New Tech and PWA (progressive web apps)

Authentication through Biometrics

See the full story here: https://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/top-10-future-ux-trends-adopted-by-google-02192757

A futuristic simulation of a Chinese Mars mission has opened in the Gobi Desert

Recently opened in Gansu province, and set among the orange backdrop of the Gobi Desert, C-Space Project Mars simulates a speculative Chinese-led mission to the red planet.

C-Space seems to be more in the realm of speculative science fiction, aimed at the imaginations of school groups and tourists.

Reuters visited the site of the project, which currently occupies a plot about the size of a football field. The developers have lofty goals, to the tune of a multibillion-yuan investment, with the plan of it occupying 26 sq miles (67 sq km), Reuters reports.

See the full story here: https://qz.com/1597863/inside-chinas-mars-simulator-camp-in-the-gobi-desert/?fbclid=IwAR38xdDAXmEyIEoFdCqbwtkL07WdRks_Fe0a5jbs26CeGiW-7TNp9jfvrZk

Augmented reality game designed to attract next generation of techs

Studio apartment living room with a large comfortable sofa standing next to a coffee table. Panoramic windows. 3d rendering mock up

The game is called TMCSuperTech.

“We made the decision to create this game with Design Interactive for two primary reasons,” said Robert Braswell TMC executive director. “To promote awareness of the vocation among middle and high school students who make up the next generation of vehicle maintenance personnel and to help technicians prepare for the TMCSuperTech competition by providing a hands-on training experience for the skills challenges.”

Available on Android and Apple smartphones and tablets, Design Interactive’s gamified TMCSuperTech skills challenge uses AR technology to project a fictional city with a fleet of moving trucks. As the vehicles require service, they are brought into a virtual garage where the game will ask users playing the role of a technician to execute tasks inspired by TMCSuperTech events. Points are awarded for the time trucks are repaired and for the longer they remain in service.

TMC is seeking sponsors to help support the adoption of its next-generation-workforce-focused product —TMCSuperTech: The Game. There are four levels of sponsorships available. TMCSuperTech is an annual two-day event organized by TMC’s Professional Technician Development Committee. The premier skills competition for professional commercial vehicle technicians from all segments of the trucking industry will be held September 15-19, 2019, at the Raleigh Convention Center in conjunction with TMC’s Fall Meeting.

See the full story here: https://www.thetrucker.com/augmented-reality-game-designed-to-attract-next-generation-of-techs/