philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

29Oct/18Off

Bitcoin & Crypto Cult Followers Cannot Accept Truth w/ Blockchain Inventor Kelce Wilson

Dr-Kelce-Wilson_Guest_4440_photo_200x250Dr. Kelce Wilson, inventor of Blockchain, joins the program to discuss the hard time Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have accepting him as the inventor of blockchain, despite the patent evidence. We also discuss the security issues found in all Cryptocurrencies. Even though cryptocurrencies are vastly more secure than standard currency, Kelce explains that cryptocurrencies still have some significant security holes.

Listen to the show to hear what blockchain inventor Kelce Wilson has to say about this issue and many other issues regarding blockchain.

See the full story here: https://audioboom.com/posts/6335140-bitcoin-crypto-cult-followers-cannot-accept-truth-w-blockchain-inventor-kelce-wilson?fbclid=IwAR1mpeeyRnKg4m6x7GjNRu9YXph2NLKH41WX2Yprh31_j04dq9Cg4kG5Q_o

28Oct/18Off

Immersive Media, Networks, and Imagining Our Future (Phil Lelyveld presentation deck)

Immersive Media, Networks, and Imagining Our Future, a talk I gave to the Cisco NAG retreat in Monterrey, CA on Oct. 23, 2018, is here 181023 Cisco Website copy

26Oct/18Off

Glimpse: Truly Useful Augmented Reality is Coming. We’re Not Ready.

Soon we'll be using augmented reality more seamlessly than ever before. And that means we need ground rules for how to not be creeps.

Analog Boy, an episode of Glimpse, a new original sci-fi series from Futurism Studios (a division of Futurism LLC) and DUST, shows one potential version of a future world full of augmented reality wearables.

Before the technology truly becomes ubiquitous, we need to have a serious look at how we want to shape AR — and the ethical lines we don’t want it to cross.

But there’s a dark side to it, too — bringing AR into a world dominated by tech companies that collect ever-growing amounts of our personal data means being comfortable with the fact that other people will be able to interact with us in new ways, probably without us ever knowing.

Congress has recently held Facebook and Twitter accountable for their role in the 2016 presidential election. It’s not a stretch to think the companies that might be bringing AR into maturity might find themselves in a new age of intense scrutiny.

See the full story here: https://futurism.com/glimpse-augmented-reality

26Oct/18Off

Naughty America Uses Augmented Reality to Put Porn Stars in Your Living Room

naughtyamericaar-e1540488861237Naughty America AR, as the app is aptly being called, makes use of Google’s ARCore technology to scan a room, and then place digital objects atop of a camera-view of that room.

In the case of the Naughty America AR app, these characters are decidedly not safe for work. A free version of the app features female and male porn performers in their underwear. Paying users get to download completely nude characters. Each performer does a few moves, and some address the viewer directly with some choice dirty words.

Each of these AR clips is just about three to four seconds long, which helped to keep the app and any additional downloads reasonably small. Hronopoulos said the company also planned to experiment with longer content if users requested it. “We didn’t really know what people want,” he said.

Naughty America has long been a studio that has embraced cutting-edge technologies. The company was among the first to distribute VR porn, and more recently began to use artificial intelligence to offer custom-made Deepfake porn, which allows consumers to superimpose their own faces onto the bodies of porn stars.

Google and Apple both have policies against distributing adult content on their app stores, which is why Naughty America is distributing its AR app directly via is website(link not safe for work).

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/ar-porn-android-naughty-america-1202994200/

26Oct/18Off

A controversial payday for an AI artwork

A portrait created using an AI program has fetched $435,000 in auction at Christie’s, blowing the expected $7,000 to $10,000 price out of the water.
Record-breaking: It’s the first ever auction for an AI-generated portrait, sold to an anonymous bidder. It signals “the arrival of AI art on the world auction stage,” Christie’s said. The artwork, named the “Portrait of Edmond Belamy,” was created using a type of AI software called generative adversarial networks (GANs).
Credit where it’s due: The three members of the French art collective behind it, Obvious, have been accused of failing to credit the creator of the algorithms used to create it—Robbie Barrat, an artist and programmer who shared his algorithms on GitHub via an open-source license.
Questions: Who should be recognized for the artwork? And when an algorithm is used to a piece of art, who owns it—the person who created the algorithm, or the person who put it to that specific purpose?

See the full story here: https://mailchi.mp/technologyreview/ai-art-fetches-435000?e=cf24d7da5b

and  here: https://www.christies.com/features/A-collaboration-between-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx

25Oct/18Off

Terrence Malick’s New VR Project Has Music by Jonny Greenwood, Explores Human Life From Birth to Death

Screen-Shot-2018-10-23-at-4.28.35-PMCinephiles will probably want to sit down for this news: Terrence Malick and Jonny Greenwood are teaming up. The director is executive producing the virtual reality project “Evolver,” which is set to feature original music from Greenwood. The project was originally announced to be included at the upcoming VR Days Europe, in collaboration with the Rotterdam International Film Festival (via ScreenDaily), but it has since been confirmed not to be heading there next year.

“Evolver” allows users to experience the lifespan of the human condition, from birth to death. The project is produced by House of Secrets, an animation and VR studio located in the Netherlands, and features new music not only from Greenwood but also from Wu-Tang Clan and more. Greenwood earned an Oscar nomination earlier this year for his work on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,”...

Malick is no stranger to virtual reality. The filmmaker’s first virtual reality project, “Together,” played at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. The six-minute, 360 degree experience, made in partnership with Facebook and Movement Art Is co-founders Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, featured two dancers performing in front of flowing white sheets that projected images of nature and the cosmos. Malick is producing “Evolver” along with  Ed Pressman, Sam Pressman, and Daniëlle de Jonge.

See the full story here: https://www.indiewire.com/2018/10/terrence-malick-virtual-reality-vr-jonny-greenwood-evolver-1202014728/

25Oct/18Off

Perot Museum leaders, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger unveil Dinaledi virtual reality app

184002_webFree virtual reality experience explores a South African cave where some of history's most famous ancient human fossils were discovered; app provides global access to researchers, students and amateur explorers to a place few have visited.

Berger - who recently dominated world science headlines with his discovery of Homo naledi, a new species of human relative - was joined by Perot Museum CEO Dr. Linda Silver and Perot Museum research scientist and Director of the Center for the Exploration of the Human Journey Dr. Becca Peixotto for a Facebook Live news conference watched by journalists and academics from across the world.

The free app, which is optimized for Google cardboard but compatible with any headset, allows people all over the globe to virtually tour the cave that very few people - including "underground astronaut" Dr. Peixotto - have visited in person (due to the extremely narrow, 8-inch "chute" through which it is accessed).

See the full story here: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/pmon-pm102318.php

25Oct/18Off

Sony Patents New System For Local Multiplayer VR

Sony-Patent-Multiplayer-3Sony might be looking to make VR less isolating by allowing multiple people to join in on the fun.

As reported by Android Headlines, the company recently had a patent published that details a means of allowing multiple VR headsets within the same proximity to communicate with one device. The system uses a data processing device and a means of wirelessly interconnecting headsets to allow VR users in the same room to see each other in the same virtual environment and explore it together.

See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/sony-patents-new-system-for-local-multiplayer-vr/?utm_source=VentureBeat&utm_campaign=f8ca0760c1-arvr_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89d8059242-f8ca0760c1-33364459

25Oct/18Off

Vuzix will sell Blade AR glasses in November, retail bundle in 2019

Having originally planned to sell its lightweight Blade AR smart glasses in 2017, VR/AR headset maker Vuzix has announced separate 2018 and 2019 ship dates for two versions of the product. The initial commercial version — called Blade Edge — will begin shipping in the first week of November, followed by a January 2019 release of Blade General with retail packaging and accessories.

The Blade smart glasses are a significant development for the AR industry because they’re the closest thing yet to a standard pair of sunglasses — their styling, thick frames, and thin lenses would sit comfortably in the mid-2000s lineup of a company like Oakley. Yet using a full color waveguide optical system, Blade pairs with a smartphone to overlap anything from map directions and weather to patient data, restaurant menus, and notifications directly in your right eye’s field of vision.

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But at just under $1,000, it’s one-third the starting price of HoloLens and less than half the price of Magic Leap One, which could make it much more viable for wide enterprise adoption.

See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2018/10/19/vuzix-will-sell-blade-ar-glasses-in-november-retail-bundle-in-2019/?utm_source=VentureBeat&utm_campaign=f8ca0760c1-arvr_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89d8059242-f8ca0760c1-33364459

25Oct/18Off

The sickening truth about virtual reality

A new study has proven that cybersickness, which is caused by exposure to virtual reality (VR), may be the same clinical condition as ‘classic’ motion sickness caused by travelling.

Virtual reality headset

Up until now, motion sickness and cybersickness have been considered different problems, however, research from University of Newcastle has revealed the two conditions share many of the same symptoms, including nausea, sweating, dizziness and fatigue.

Associate Professor Eugene Nalivaiko* said motion sickness was a common consequence of sensory mismatch that occurs when what a person sees, feels and senses doesn’t match up.

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“Until now, cybersickness has been thought to be a sub-type of motion sickness because it does not involve the vestibular system and is triggered only by visual stimuli, but our conclusion contradicts these previously published results.”

See the full story here: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/featured-news/the-sickening-truth-about-virtual-reality