Tipton ahead of the game with virtual reality lab
Robertson cut the ribbon Monday in the official public grand opening of Tipton High School’s 12-computer virtual reality and esports lab. It’s the first dedicated VR and esports arena in a high school in the state, and possibly the country, according to Robertson.
See the full story here: http://www.kokomotribune.com/news/tipton-ahead-of-the-game-with-virtual-reality-lab/article_c855d8a0-02f3-11e9-a867-130e0d37c22a.html
New Alliance Formed to Steer Blockchain Adoption in the Entertainment Industry
Industry participants in the newly formed alliance include Millennium Media, FilmTrack, Capstone Group, RightsTrade, Purely.Capital, Home Box Office Singapore, Portugal’s CineMundo, Berkley Media Group, PlayArte Pictures, Havoc TV, Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana Studios, Sweden's Cinezen, Germany's Cinemarket, and Scandinavia's Scanbox Entertainment and Take One.
Asked about the potential involvement of Hollywood studios and Netflix, Ovtcharoff responded, “I believe they will all join. It might take time because of their size. The idea to organize the BGEA was born last month and I have not spoken to any of them yet. My initial outreach was to international distributors.”
Ovtcharoff said that the alliance aims to complete a report explaining blockchain technology and how it relates to entertainment by early January. The alliance is also looking to hosting an event focused on blockchain, possibly as soon as late January or February.
See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/blockchain-alliance-formed-entertainment-industry-1170527
A Toaster on Wheels to Deliver Groceries? Self-Driving Tech Tests Practical Uses
Not even half the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, the toylike vehicle had no driver and no passengers. Instead, it held six bags of groceries from the Fry’s Food Store down the road. One observer oohed and aahed over how cute the car seemed.
Designed by a start-up called Nuro, the vehicle was making a test run as part of a partnership with Fry’s on an autonomous delivery service. Starting this week, Nuro said, two of these small, electric cars will chug along local streets at no faster than 25 miles an hour to deliver groceries to nearby homes.
See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/driverless-mini-car-deliver-grocerieshtml
Coty Inc. launches VR experience for its perfume portfolio
To take part in the virtual reality experience, in-store shoppers at Julieraque, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, are prompted to wear a virtual reality headset and pick up seven scented stones within the virtual setting in order to activate an eight-second unique video. Each stone is tied to a broad fragrance concept, like “citrus-watery,” “floral-fruity,” or “oriental-spicy,” rather than a particular perfume or brand. Before people try out the experience they are asked to input information on an iPad, including their name and email addresses, as well as what scents they are drawn to and what perfume they currently wear. At the end of the video, and based on their top three favorite fragrance concepts, consumers can receive up to six recommendations from the eight Coty luxury brands available in Argentina, such as Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein and Gucci. Customers then receive a follow-up email, asking if the experience helped them discover a new fragrance or led them to purchase one.
See the full story here: https://www.glossy.co/fashion/coty-inc-launches-vr-experience-for-its-perfume-portfolio
Space-age VR ‘SEX HELMET’ lets lovers film their bonking sessions in 8K virtual reality
The original VRB Head Rig was literally a mannequin head stuffed with microphones and cameras.
This made life difficult for male actors, who would have to lie underneath the creepy mannequin head.
But the new VRB Head Rig 2.0 can be worn just like a helmet, which should make life more comfortable for everyone involved.
The device is equipped with seven hi-def cameras, which capture images that can be stitched together into a virtual reality scene.
The sex helmet also includes two binaural microphones, to capture sound in full 360 degrees.
See the full story here: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/8019521/vr-sex-helmet-virtual-reality-porn/
Computer chip will sniff your armpits and tell you when you have BO
The idea is that the chips will be small and cheap enough to be built into clothing, allowing an AI to keep tabs on your BO throughout the day. Arm also wants to add the chips to food packaging to monitor freshness.
The e-noses are part of a project called PlasticArmPit, in which Arm is developing smart chips made from thin sheets of plastic. Each chip will have eight different sensors and a built-in machine learning circuit.
It will look like a piece of cling-film with bits stuck to it, says James Myers at Arm. “PlasticArmPit will be the first application of machine learning in plastic electronics.”
Smells are made up of different combinations and concentrations of gases. The sensors on the chip will detect different chemicals in the air and the AI will take that complex data and identify it as a particular whiff.
The chip will then score the smell. If it is in the armpit of your shirt, it will tell you the strength of your body odour from 1 to 5, says Myers. “It’s the job of the machine learning to collect and interpret all the data and then alert the user if action is needed.”
E-noses are not new. Julian Gardner, who pioneered the technology at the University of Warwick, UK, has been building them for three decades. In 1993 he co-founded a company called Alpha MOS that sells e-noses to the food industry.
The trouble is that these devices cost around $20,000, says Gardner.
An AI-powered nose could also be tuned to pick up different types of smell. “Flexibility is important because beef doesn’t spoil in the same way as fish,” Bond says. “And a pork loin may be classed as spoiled, but still be suitable to be turned into sausage.”
See the full story here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24032095-000-computer-chip-will-sniff-your-armpits-and-tell-you-when-you-have-bo/
Magic Leap’s Luna Moondust Garden points to an augmented future
Luna Moondust Garden, a simple point-and-click narrative in which one creates a garden, made of different elements, is already available on virtual reality platforms as Luna, but in AR it’s a very different proposition. Magic Leap allows me to see my surroundings while I play.
Luna Moondust Garden is a nice, little piece of entertainment, but its role is to encourage other creatives to play it, and to decide that AR needs something different.
It’s a modular piece of fun, which feels like the basic genesis of something much bigger and better, maybe three years in the future.
“We’re doing something that’s important for games as a whole,” Hunicke says. “Maybe we can design something that’s better, that’s more human.”
See the full story here: https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/18/18145613/magic-leap-luna-moondust-garden-ar-game
Do you like Strategy Games and Augmented Reality? Coin Billionaire AR Brings you the Best of Both Worlds
When you first boot up Coin Billionaire AR, you will be tasked with finding a flat space for the AR to place the game board upon. After finding a flat space, the game board will begin to emerge, with coins popping up with a chime and creatures and other things happening, too.
Developed and published by RiseAngle, Inc., Coin Billionaire AR is available for iOS devices and is specifically compatible with iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, SE, 8, 8 Plus, X, 9, XS.
In its purest form, the gameplay is like growing coins using the environment around you. The story places you as a coin farmer and asks you to make as much money as possible. How this is accomplished is both organic and intuitive. Think Farmville meets a tap game. Of course, the tower defense aspect adds a unique touch to it all, but we think players will be mostly consumed by the growing of coins.
See the full story here: https://foreignpolicyi.org/do-you-like-strategy-games-and-augmented-reality-coin-billionaire-ar-brings-you-the-best-of-both-worlds/
Dubai Municipality launches training centre using Virtual Reality Environment
Dawoud Al Hajiri, Director-General of the Dubai Municipality, on Monday launched a smart training centre, which offers hands-on training using the Virtual Reality Environment.
The Smart Training Hub, supervised by the municipality’s Geographic Information Systems Centre, is considered the first-of-a-kind in the Middle East for the city planning and engineering industry.
With the Smart Training Hub, the municipality aims to enable trainees to learn the techniques and mechanisms used in urban planning and the methods of building supervision and control. The techniques of the centre will also enable the trainees to implement the urban planning rules and the setting up of building regulations as well as performing the land surveying tasks while they are inside the training room.
See the full story here: http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302727827