philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Does Piracy Create Online Word-of-Mouth? An Empirical Analysis in Movie Industry

Anecdotal evidence suggests that counterfeiting/piracy can help create online word-of-mouth (WOM) and through this boost demand but how powerful is such WOM? To answer this question, we conduct a descriptive study with some attempts to establish near causality. We estimate the impact of piracy on WOM and ultimately revenue by applying a panel data method to all movies widely released in the U.S. from 2015 to 2017.... Our findings suggest approaches to target scarce anti-piracy resources, such as focusing on tackling damaging pre-release piracy.

See the full story here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3308905

Warby Parker uses augmented reality to allow customers to virtually try-on glasses

Online glasses and sunglasses retailer, Warby Parker, has launched a new “virtual try-on” feature that allows customers to preview glasses using augmented reality (AR).

The New York City-based firm said that its "placement algorithm mimics the real-life process of placing a pair of frames on your face, taking into account how your unique facial features interact with the frame”.

This means that the glasses will stay fixed in place if you tilt your head and will even show the way the light filters through a pair of acetate frames, for example.

Warby Parker is a direct-to-consumer eyeglass brand which allows customers to try on glasses at home. Customers can choose five frames from Warby Parker's website and the company posts them for free, allowing customers to wear the loaned glasses briefly before committing to a purchase.

King Children, a startup that makes custom eyewear, also uses Apple's TrueDepth technology to let customers preview a pair of glasses and take fit measurements to personalize things like the lens height and width, the nose bridge, and the nose pad position. Each pair of glasses sells for $125, a price similar to Warby Parker's frames. San Francisco-based brand Topology also uses the measurements from the TrueDepth camera to deliver custom eyewear.

See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/story/warby-parker-augmented-reality-app/

Cher from Clueless’s iconic computerised wardrobe could soon become a reality

By using images from your social media it is believed that the mirror will be able to give you an exact depiction of what you will look like in a garment, as well as developing an algorithm for what you are likely to look for.

“The combination of free delivery and returns, and no fitting software being good enough has previously prevented a breakthrough in this area, but Amazon is probably one of a few companies that has the data and resources to succeed," says Gustav Gisseldahl, founder of influencer driven commerce platform APPRL. “However, when it comes to suggesting clothing based on image recognition, your calendar and other products in your home, I think consumers will prefer inspiration from influencers and magazines for a few more years.”

See the full story here: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a26128356/amazon-cher-clueless-ar-wardrobe/

UX design: It takes a village

It’s not UX/UI. UX is a much broader discipline than UI,” said Jason Wong, research VP at Gartner. “UI looks at how the user interacts with a given application. UX includes user research, content, performance and back-end so you need a team to help execute that.”

Beyond graphics, UX designers and testers must contemplate conversational interfaces, immersive experiences, and the IoT.

“It’s not just about graphics, it’s about tones,” said Wong. “We’ve seen companies hire copywriters from the movies and TV to help script responses for chatbots and hone what that voice response should sound like in terms of a voice interaction. Very complex things like that are still emerging which UX is still trying to grasp because they’re so new and they’re constantly changing.”

Instead, they think about the tasks they want to accomplish. For example, noisy airports aren’t the best settings for phone calls or voice interfaces, so an individual might choose to check a credit card balance using a smartphone or laptop. However, while driving, the same person might call the credit card company and check her balance using an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

An emerging role is the UX architect, who considers the digital landscape beyond the UI level, such as performance requirements and the services that will be necessary to deliver experiences across multiple touch points.

See the full story here: https://sdtimes.com/softwaredev/ux-design-it-takes-a-village/

How Spatial and augmented reality could change work

Spatial is a collaborative prototype environment where people can appear to be in the same room even if they are thousands of miles apart.

When combined with an augmented reality headset like Microsoft’s HoloLens, it allows people to share the same images, videos and even 3D models which appear to float in the space around them.

See the full story here: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-47090955/how-spatial-and-augmented-reality-could-change-work

Loess Hills first-graders create a ‘virtual reality’ zoo

Virtual Reality Show Tours Saudi Arabia With Kickstart From Jeddah

“Marvel Experience KSA” will be the first time iconic superheroes like Captain America and the Hulk have appeared in virtual reality in the Middle East, when the show debuts at the Jeddah Waterfront on Sunday.

Rick Licht, CEO of Hero Ventures, said: “Having Marvel break new ground in Saudi Arabia is absolutely fantastic! Fans in this region will be overwhelmed by our show, as they will be able to witness and experience technological advances in entertainment that are practically beyond imagination.”

See the full story here: https://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/virtual-reality-show-tours-saudi-arabia-kickstart-jeddah-1247182

‘Groundhog Day’ Sequel in Works — But It’s a VR Game, Not a Movie

“Groundhog Day: Like Father, Like Son,” drops players into a reoccurring day in the life of Phil Connors Jr., the son of the eventually affable Phil Connors and Rita Hanson from the 1993 film. As with the movie, the game has the player stuck in a single day, trapped in Connors’ home in Punxsutawney until the son, like the father did before him, learns the value of friends and family.

The game is Sony Pictures Virtual Reality’s first foray into branching narratives and interactive storytelling in a VR game. What it isn’t is some sort of preamble or marketing ploy for a film sequel.

“We are not developing a new ‘Groundhog Day’ movie,” Jake Zim, senior vice president of the Sony Pictures VR group, told Variety. “This is us expanding the storyline into a new format. We’ve taken ‘Groundhog Day’ and put it into a musical, now we’re putting it into an immersive experience.”

The conceit behind Sony Pictures VR is to build out a profitable business around immersive entertainment, Zim said.

“When we launched this business three years ago, we thought we would build small bite-sized games with movie IPs and see what price point we could get up to,” Zim said. “But we learned that wasn’t what the audience wanted.

“‘Groundhog Day’ is a real attempt to make a real game.”

Tequila Works, based in Madrid, Spain, is an indie studio with a solid reputation that had already worked on a virtual reality game with a complex intertwined narrative.

Zim said the full playthrough will likely be about eight hours.

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2019/film/news/groundhog-day-sequel-game-1203126479/

Super Bowl 2019 high-tech broadcast will razzle-dazzle your retinas (AR and 8K)

...the brand-new Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta, which is hosting the championship, is embedded with over 4,000 miles of fiber to support a network that includes plenty of internet-of-things sensors throughout the building. The dome also has 90 miles of audio cabling and nearly 2,000 Wi-Fi access points.

On top of all that digital infrastructure, CBS Sports, which will broadcast the biggest event in American television, will also be using 2,000 strands of additional fiber and 330 recording channels. It's required to support the 115 total cameras and five sets around the stadium that'll be used to catch all the angles of each play, as well as the halftime show featuring Maroon 5, not to mention the pre- and postgame festivities. (Disclosure: CBS is CNET's parent company.)

This year, six of the network's cameras will also be outfitted with augmented-reality sensors from ncam that let them track AR graphics.

Integrating AR into a broadcast isn't new. Watch enough NFL games and you're bound to notice the graphics, animations, lines and other various markers on the field that aren't really there. But this year, Cohen says, CBS is experimenting with pushing the technology to new levels.

Traditional cameras, the skycam, a Techno-jib and an AVS wireless handheld Steadicam on the field will hopefully all be able to combine to project imagery into the stadium that's just for the enjoyment of the massive worldwide audience at home.

"You're really going to experience AR in a more theatrical manner," Cohen said.

Pulling it off will require the flawless coordination of the data from the ncam sensors, transmission of wireless signals and video from the field and then running it all through a graphics engine developed by the Future Group to generate what's seen on screens at home.

Look out for the enhanced visual effects during the pregame show, before kickoff and coming out of halftime, as well as during the game, when AR will be used to show statistics and other info in slick new ways.

Another big first for the broadcast will be the use of multiple 8K cameras. CBS will have three around the stadium to help an enthusiastic minority justify the purchase of some seriously high-resolution home screenage. That's in addition to 16 cameras with 4K capabilities, including nine that are zoom-capable with slow motion.

See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/news/super-bowl-2019-high-tech-broadcast-will-razzle-dazzle-your-retinas/

Virtual Reality Takes Center Stage At Super Bowl Experience

“You’re at my favorite of the stadium right now, we’re at level 8 Champions Plaza,” Demoff said. “And if you look off to your right and walk around, you could do it, you can see the ocean, turn around and look to your right, you’ll be able to see Palos Verdes, Manhattan Beach, the South Bay.”

The tour of the future stadium isn’t the only virtual reality experience available to football fans. CBS Sports’ Virtual Skydiving Experience gives fans a chance to skydive into the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The exhibit drew long lines of fans at the Super Bowl Experience.

Before donning the VR headset, people strap in to a simulator. The experience starts in a plane over Atlanta, and the viewer jumps into the stadium as the Super Bowl crowd cheers before handing a football to the virtual referee.

See the full story here: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/01/31/virtual-reality-super-bowl-experience/