Heady Virtual Reality Helps Seniors Experience Another World
Brown says seniors love trying VR because it allows them to experience technology they may have previously viewed as mere science fiction. In using VR, they can experience locations, activities or events they’ve previously lived through, or immerse themselves in surreal fantasy worlds. Whatever they choose, it all brings a smile to Brown’s face.
Many seniors prefer less-complicated experiences, immersing in rides or scenes like the Apollo 11 simulation. Another woman, in her 70s, had a birthday party at Heady with two friends, who all had a blast riding a roller coaster simulator.
With around 125 titles, Heady has options to suit most any physical limitations someone might have.
See the full story here: http://www.whatcomtalk.com/2019/02/18/heady-virtual-reality-helps-seniors-experience-another-world/
Nonny de la Peña, the Godmother of VR, Wants to Bring Virtual Reality to the Masses
Not satisfied with just telling compelling stories, the Mexican-American creator wanted to put the tools that she has in her company in the hands of other VR users and enthusiasts. REACH, which just showed off its possibilities at the Sundance Film Festival’s expanding New Frontiers showcase, uses 3D captured video of a subject and places them in a volumetric online world where other VR users can see them talk. For instance, at Sundance, visitors could record themselves talking about their experience with one of the works at New Frontiers and then place themselves inside the work they’re describing, like VR criticism within a VR experience. The photos of REACH show a person walking through what looks like an art museum, like a guided tour of a place too far or too expensive to travel to, now available for whoever wants to watch the VR video online – no fancy VR glasses needed if you don’t have them.
There’s no elaborate training needed in order to play in REACH, just curiosity. “People can poke around the buttons and they can make stuff in 30 minutes or less, and then you publish it straight to the web. “I know how hard these tools can get, so I made these the simplest tools possible. It allows anybody to come and make volumetric, full walkaround virtual reality, not just 360 video.”
In addition to opening up the VR space to new creators, de la Peña is still creating immersive experiences with Emblematic Group. She has her sights on what’s happening on the border and has a new upcoming experience to share with audiences soon. “It’s the story of this young woman who comes to the U.S. from Mexico every day,” said de la Peña. “They had to cross these tracks and one day there was a train in the way. They knew if they went around, they would be late so they had to go under. She was going under and the train started moving.” In addition to this project, she has another one on the story of a survivor of one of the Japanese-American internment camps, a collaboration with Spectrum News and another with the company Scatter for their Depthkits that would allow users to film 3D images for REACH.
See the full story here: http://remezcla.com/features/film/nonny-de-la-pena-interview-reach-sundance/
Cornell Tech Aims to Assist the Visually and Hearing Impaired with Augmented Reality Software
According to Azenkot, there are no current tools to help the visually impaired with broad visual scanning tasks like visual search. This makes it difficult for impaired individuals to complete everyday tasks like shopping. As a solution, Azenkot and her team designed five different cues that help attract a user’s attention to where products are located in grocery stores.
“We designed visual cues based on principles from cognitive psychology and what is accessible to people with different visual conditions,” Azenkot said.
Azenkot is hopeful about applications of this research beyond grocery shopping. She is working on other accessibility projects, such as interactive 3D-printed learning tools for those who are visually impaired.
After interviewing people who are deaf or hard of hearing to identify needs, Caulfield and Bane created image and video prototypes to simulate the user experience of having a conversation with someone while reading captions of what they say.
See the full story here: https://cornellsun.com/2019/02/18/cornell-tech-aims-to-assist-the-visually-and-hearing-impaired-with-augmented-reality-software/
Explainer: What is quantum communication?
What is quantum key distribution?
QKD involves sending encrypted data as classical bits over networks, while the keys to decrypt the information are encoded and transmitted in a quantum state using qubits.
What is a quantum repeater?
Materials in cables can absorb photons, which means they can typically travel for no more than a few tens of kilometers. In a classical network, repeaters at various points along a cable are used to amplify the signal to compensate for this.
The Beijing-to-Shanghai network has 32 of them, for instance.
What is quantum teleportation?
This may sound like science fiction, but it’s a real method that involves transmitting data wholly in quantum form. The approach relies on a quantum phenomenon known as entanglement.
Iridescent Rainbows and Virtual-Reality Skies: Spring/Break Art Fair Debuts in L.A.
The fair’s first foray into Los Angeles opened with 40 largely L.A.-based exhibiting artists and curators occupying 1,000-square-foot stalls to stage their own exhibitions, all free of charge. The lineup, according to Gori, “came together spontaneously through a network of friends and word-of-mouth,” similar to the early days of Spring/Break as an upstart fair five years ago. Consequently, the lineup reads like a who’s who of emerging local spaces, many of them artist-run: Tin Flats, BBQLA, HILDE, and others.
Rain outside the stalls at Spring/Break in L.A.
JANELLE ZARA
In contrast to the grey skies, many of the stalls were filled with color. Desert Center’s presentation of “Nowhere Over the Rainbow” took up Spring/Break’s curatorial theme, “Fact or Fiction,” with a group show of artists who “employ the tropes and chromatics of gold, rainbows, hybrid identities and failed ideologies,” according to a statement by curator Michael Slenske.
See the full story here: http://www.artnews.com/2019/02/16/iridescent-rainbows-virtual-reality-skies-spring-break-art-fair-debuts-l/
Google’s AR tools make it easier for apps to apply face filters
While Apple is already pushing ahead with AR and packed an entire Kinect-like camera into the front of its iPhone X family to support it, Google is enhancing its softwareto work even without capabilities like the LG G8's depth-sensing hardware.
The latest release of ARCore, version 1.7, can create a 468-point 3D mesh of a user's face from just the front camera alone, good enough to apply slick filtering effects like the ones seen in this GIF. The key is making sure apps can track where to put everything, and avoid weird artifacting like you sometimes see with things like Snapchat filters. Also, 9to5Google points out the the list of devices that can run ARCore is expanding, with new additions like the Moto G7 family and Vivo Nex Dual Display Edition.
Beyond just the Augmented Face API, with "ARCore Elements." Those allow developers to easily implement technology that helps software detect surfaces to place virtual objects on, and then use gestures to manipulate or resize them. So far, many AR-powered experiences in apps have launched on iPhone first -- AR+ mode for Pokémon Go took almost a year to make the jump -- but with improving software development tools hopefully we'll see more feature available to owners of varying Android devices.
See the full story here; https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/16/arcore-android-augmented-reality-face-filter/
India Proposes Chinese-Style Internet Censorship
Under the proposed rules, Indian officials could demand that Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok and others remove posts or videos that they deem libelous, invasive of privacy, hateful or deceptive. Internet companies would also have to build automated screening tools to block Indians from seeing “unlawful information or content.” Another provision would weaken the privacy protections of messaging services like WhatsApp so that the authorities could trace messages back to their original senders.
The new rules could be imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government anytime after the public comment period ends on Thursday night. The administration has been eager to get them in place before the date is set for this spring’s national elections, which will prompt special pre-election rules limiting new policies.
Civil liberties groups and other critics said the changes would violate constitutional protections for free speech and privacy and put India in the same league as autocratic countries like China and Russia. Some of them suggested that the Modi administration was rushing to adopt the regulations so it could more easily pressure the tech platforms to remove social media posts by political opponents in the coming election.
See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/technology/india-internet-censorship.html