Simplified Cryptocurrency Exchange Offers Mass Market Take-Up
08 April 2019, London: The crypto market is often seen as complex and difficult to access, however one way to remove this complexity is to lower the entry level for new players to the industry. That is why we focussed on both the new and experienced crypto enthusiasts alike when developing new products.
The XCOEX mission is to deliver the simplest, fully equipped, functional and technically advanced platform to our users.
See the full story here: https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2019/04/simplified-cryptocurrency-exchange-offers-mass-market-take-up/
China’s virtual reality arcades aim for real-world success
- China had an estimated 3,000 such places in 2016 and the market was forecast to grow 13-fold between then and 2021 to US$782 million
- Expansion in next five years could see country dominate AR/VR long term, report says
See the full story here: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3005014/chinas-virtual-reality-arcades-aim-real-world-success
New app using augmented reality to highlight Paphos attractions
On Wednesday, Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos signed a contract with Pyramind Services Ltd for the creation of a digital tourism, culture and entrepreneurship platform, as well as augmented reality and e-democracy application, totaling €122,570.
The mayor said that using such apps the municipality offers a great way of using technology directly into the hands of 1.7 million tourists that visit Paphos every year, and not only for foreign tourists, but also for local residents to get to know the area.
Buildings and places of interest will include the archaeological park in Kato Paphos, the Tomb of the Kings, all sorts pf places in Paphos centre such as the town hall’ library and schools, the Markideio Theatre and Ibrahim’s Khan.
See the full story here: https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/04/07/new-app-using-augmented-reality-to-highlight-paphos-attractions/
Aerosmith’s Las Vegas Residency Opens With Inventive Use of Immersive Sound
The show is presented with live THX certified L-Acoustics’ L-ISA immersive sound, thanks to a partnership with THX and L-Acoustics. The object-based sound is mixed live during the performance and can support up to 96 individual objects (sound or musical elements) that can be played in 64 different directions. The 5,400-seat theater uses 230 speakers (for comparison, Dixon added that a typical stadium tour might use 40 to 50) positioned 360-degrees around the venue and across the ceiling, as with immersive sound in a cinema. It uses up to 300,000 watts of power.
The show also features a 100-seat THX-certified onstage VIP section, where each guest will have access to "studio-quality" (the monitor mix) audio direct from the Aerosmith mixing board using audio technology from MIXhalo (a young company co-founded by Incubus guitarist Michael Einziger) and a pair of THX-certified 1More triple driver in-ear headphones.
See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/aerosmith-deuces-are-wild-opens-inventive-use-immersive-sound-1199982
Bose AR shows off augmented reality audio games
An indie game studio in Boston, Worthing & Moncrief, made a game called Overherd to work with the glasses. Eric Hamel, one of the developers, told me how it worked. The game was a comic take on the opening scene of Monty Python & the Holy Grail, where a French knight in a castle taunts King Arthur.
Your job is to listen to the French knight’s voice and figure out where he is in a circle around you. You turn to face him, double tap your glasses, and let loose a catapult throw a cow at his castle. If you hear a crash, you’ve hit his castle with the flying cow. If I moved my chin up or down, I could change the elevation of the targeting.
I had to listen closely, but Hamel put some noise-canceling headphones on my ears to block out the convention noise. My hearing isn’t the best. But I was able to send the cows crashing into the castles, eliminating the French guy as he taunted me.
See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/06/bose-ar-shows-off-augmented-reality-audio-games/
The Royal Academy of Arts has unveiled a series of installations that show how virtualand augmented reality technologies can change the experience of buildings and spaces.
The four installations were created by architect Gilles Retsin, 3D-scanning studio ScanLAB, designer Keiichi Matsuda and design studio Soft Bodies.
Together they form the third and final instalment of Invisible Landscapes, a project by RA curator Gonzalo Herrero Delicado exploring how digital technologies are changing the world.
See the full story here; https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/04/virtual-reality-installations-invisible-landscapes-royal-academy/
Believing virtual reality is a promising tool for learning languages, companies, colleges invest
After two years of lessons and little progress, he enrolled in an Arabic-immersion program in Jordan where he hung out with a Bedouin woman six hours a day. And then he moved into a house in a Syrian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon with six men who didn’t speak English.
“And guess what happened? I learned Arabic,” he says. “Because I’d go to a hookah bar and practice. I’d go play soccer and practice.”
Mark Warschauer, the director of UC Irvine's Digital Learning Lab who founded the journal Language Learning and Technology in 1997, says studies show that effective language learning involves a combination of structured instruction and immersive practice.
As an academic, Warschauer once advised a study looking at how users could improve their Spanish playing Spanish-language versions “World of Warcraft.” There has also been research on language-learning in 3D virtual worlds like “Second Life.”
“Virtual reality is the only type of technology that truly allows immersion,” says Dylan Walch, Immerse’s VR engineer. “In VR, if we put you in a conference room and ask you to give a presentation onstage, it simulates the emotions and anxiety you feel for public speaking. And because we can simulate that in a safe environment with a tutor that’s patient, that’s such a powerful thing.”
Because Mandarin-language speakers who want to learn English form the biggest language market by far, Immerse launched in Taiwan, targeting international companies that want their employees to be able to do business in English. Current clients include a management consulting firm, a semiconductor production company, and an accounting firm.
Users are sent VR headsets. Each English teacher, who can be based anywhere in the world, can instruct up to five students at a time, and once they (and their avatars) enter virtual reality for their lesson, the teacher takes them on an adventure.
“If you’re going on a business trip, I can take you to the airport and we can practice ordering a ticket, checking out the flight time,” says Walch. “And if you say something incorrectly, I can type in front of you and show you in real time.”
The reality is that virtual reality is not quite mainstream yet.
Most people who own their own VR headsets are still gamers, says Taber, and none of his clients had used the technology before.
See the full story here: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/tn-wknd-et-virtual-reality-language-20190404-story.html