philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Magic Leap & AT&T Team Up to Bring Fans ‘Fantastic Beasts’ AR Movie Experience in Chicago

The special experience, which is only available to the public at AT&T's Michigan Avenue store in Chicago, was revealed by Magic Leap on Sunday via Twitter.

Earlier this year, Magic Leap announced that it would begin giving the public a taste of the Magic Leap One in select AT&T stores in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This new experience appears to be the first of those public-facing demo stations.

Magic Leap hasn't indicated if or when the experience will come to other AT&T store locations, but if you're in the Chicago area, the store is usually open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the address to go to is: 600 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.

See the full story here: https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leap-at-t-team-up-bring-fans-fantastic-beasts-ar-movie-experience-chicago-0191790/

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALGORITHMS DESIGN A CONCERT HALL? THE STUNNING ELBPHILHARMONIE

Though Hamburg’s $843 million philharmonic is filled with stunning architectural gems, its most interesting feature is the central auditorium, a gleaming ivory cave built from 10,000 unique acoustic panels that line the ceiling, walls, and balustrades. The room looks almost organic—like a rippling, monochromatic coral reef—but bringing it to life was a technological feat.

The auditorium—the largest of three concert halls in the Elbphilharmonie—is a product of parametric design, a process by which designers use algorithms to develop an object’s form. Algorithms have helped design bridges, motorcycle parts, typefaces—even chairs. In the case of the Elbphilharmonie, Herzog and De Meuron used algorithms to generate a unique shape for each of the 10,000 gypsum fiber acoustic panels that line the auditorium's walls like the interlocking pieces of a giant, undulating puzzle.

On looks alone, the effect is stunning. The 10,000 panels coalesce into a billowy, off-white skin, punctuated only by 2,150 seats and 1,000 hand-blown glass light bulbs. But beauty was only part of the architects’ intention when they began designing the building more than 13 years ago. “Every panel has a function,” says Benjamin Koren, founder of One to One, the studio that worked with Herzog and De Meuron to design and fabricate the panels.

See the full story here; https://www.wired.com/2017/01/happens-algorithms-design-concert-hall-stunning-elbphilharmonie/

Dave & Busters Rolls Out New Dragonfrost VR Attraction

The winter fairy tale offers a journey “through the magical icy and wondrous land of Dragonfrost while battling orc encampments with goblins, orcs, trolls, plenty of explosives – and even Ice Hawks! The objective is to defeat the Ice Prince and his Army of Ice in order to restore peace and prosperity to the land of Dragonfrost,” according to VRstudios.

While Dave & Busters hasn’t released numbers to back it up, the Jurassic World attraction saw such a strong launch that Dave & Busters representatives say they will be working to increase capacity for the VR attraction in 2019. We consider the work to be a bright spot in the location-based VR market in the United States where efforts like IMAX VR struggled to find an audience.

See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/dave-busters-dragonfrost/

Augmented Reality Top 8 of 2018

2. Notable Women, by former Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios, Google Creative Lab, and Nexus Studios

See the full story here: http://www.virtualrealitypulse.com/edition/daily-oculus-htc-2018-12-21?open-article-id=9458470&article-title=augmented-reality-top-8-of-2018&blog-domain=vrscout.com&blog-title=vrscout

3 Ways You Can Use Virtual Reality to Boost Member Engagement in Your Facebook Groups

1. Meet outside of meatspace.

2. Create a virtual reality show.

3. Promote VR content exclusively in the group.

See the full story here: https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/3-Ways-You-Can-Use-Virtual-Reality-to-Boost-13484023.php

Aronofsky’s VR series ‘Spheres’ opens to the public in NYC

Spheres consists of three 15-minute chapters, which were originally shown at different film festivals throughout 2018.

Tickets are already available for purchase for $50 each, and some of the first screenings are nearly out of slots.

See the full story here: https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/22/spheres-nyc-virtual-reality/

The U.S. Challenges Iran’s Attempt to Develop a Cryptocurrency

Congress introduced a bill on December 17 called the “Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act” that threatens Iran with more sanctions in response to activity that could see Iran develop its own national cryptocurrency. The U.S. is worried that the development of such a cryptocurrency could allow Iran to launder money, thereby dodging U.S. sanctions.

A corresponding bill sponsored by Ted Cruz (R-TX) calls for additional sanctions against anybody who could be aiding Iran to develop such a digital currency, including sanctions against any foreign person that might facilitate transactions for the “sale, supply, or transfer” of such a currency.

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/us-congress-iran-sanctions-cryptocurrency

This Algorithm Can Create 3D Animations From A Single Still Image

Chung-Yi Weng, PhD student at the University of Washington, and some of his friends created something truly astonishing.

Their software called “Photo Wake-Up” allows character animations to simply “walk out” of a static image frame — without leaving a hole in the picture behind them. The results were published in a recently submitted paper.

Weng’s method identifies a 2D subject in a single photo as input, and creates a 3D animated version of that subject. The animation can then “walk out, run, sit, or jump in 3D.”

Researchers have tried to create a similar effect in the past, but the results have been a lot less impressive. Weng’s new approach adds an important new ability: it can identify different body parts like arms and legs, and warp each one individually in a way that matches the 2D cutout exactly.

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/algorithm-3d-animations-still-image

Year-In-Review: All of the companies Apple acquired in 2018, that we know of

Long list!

See the full story here: https://9to5mac.com/2018/12/22/year-in-review-all-of-the-companies-apple-acquired-in-2018-that-we-know-of/

The 5 Most Innovative Augmented Reality Products of 2018 (Spatial)

....nothing on the market is as impressive as Spatial, which includes the ability to use realistic avatars that look exactly like you, along with usable virtual arms and hands.

Currently, the software tool is only being made available to business customers, but as long as the small startup can keep its momentum, it's only a matter of time before this software reaches non-business users. In short, it's the closest thing to working with other people and their avatars in VR (something that happens more than many realize today), but without the limitations of being closed off in a virtual environment. Our hands-on review is just a taste of what's possible with Spatial.

The current version is only available for the HoloLens, but the team is working on a Magic Leap One version that will more than give Avatar Chat a run for its money.

See the full story here: https://next.reality.news/news/5-most-innovative-augmented-reality-products-2018-0191693/