History of VR – 8 virtual reality milestones that took it from sci-fi to your living room
Until fairly recently, the dream of donning a headset and dropping into a virtual world belonged purely in the realms of science fiction, like Star Trek‘s Holodeck or The Lawnmower Man. Thanks to the work of companies like Oculus, HTC, and others, that’s no longer the case. But virtual reality’s history goes back a whole lot further than that — so without further ado, here are our picks for eight of the major landmarks in tech history that made the VR dream a virtual reality.
See the full story with pictures and videos here: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/history-of-virtual-reality/
Vuzix Wins 4 CES 2018 Innovations Awards for the Blade Augmented Reality Smart Glasses
Vuzix Blade (PRNewsfoto/Vuzix Corporation)
The Vuzix Blade leverages our intellectual property patent portfolio and leadership position in the area of optics, head mounted displays and smart glasses, which allows Vuzix to bring to market the world's smallest and most sleek pair of AR smart glasses ever developed. The Blade weighs in at less than 2.8 oz. and is expected to ship in early 2018. The Vuzix Blade represents the first pair of smart glasses that allows individuals to leave their phone in their pocket while presenting location aware content connected through the user's phone - among numerous other things.
See the full story here: https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwgeeks/article/Vuzix-Wins-4-CES-2018-Innovations-Awards-for-the-Blade-Augmented-Reality-Smart-Glasses-20171110
From the Vuzix site: https://www.vuzix.com/Products/Series-3000-Smart-Glasses
The AR3000 will connect wirelessly via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interfacing directly to the cloud or your mobile devices including smartphones, tablets and PCs. It is driven by a small tethered electronics and rechargeable battery pack that can be worn or stored in your pocket or purse.
Insights: What Does Entertainment Look Like In An Augmented Reality Version 2.0 World? or: The iPhone X Animojis Are Pretty Cool
Long-time tech journalist/sensei Steven Levy, in fact, suggested the best feature right now to show off iPhone X capabilities was Animojis, which use the phones sophisticate facial-recognition technologies to map your expressions and speech to animated emojis.
Members of an AR/VR panel I moderated at the recent Digital Hollywood conference suggest that all those prosaic business uses will drive AR for the next few years while technology catches up, perhaps with smaller, cooler, more powerful glasses than those we’ve seen from Snap and Google.
In fact, said Shannon Norrell, a virtual-reality evangelist for HP, creative types should focus on enterprise-focused AR projects while the enterprise market develops. The production skills are the same, he said, and eventually entertainment AR will Become a Thing. When it does, AR should be a far, far bigger opportunity than VR.
What happens with Musical.ly and Live.ly, two thriving sites whose tweener audiences will certainly embrace cool AR content if it’s offered? Will they construct AR karaoke//singalong/live performances opportunities for their users? Virtual rooms filled with other fans singing along could take the notion on digital tipping to a whole new level.
See the full story here: http://www.tubefilter.com/2017/11/10/insights-augmented-reality-version-20-iphone-x/
A Cute Augmented Reality Angel Became the Face of Arcona’s ICO Campaign
Arcona integrates the virtual and real worlds, providing a link between an augmented reality layer called the Digital Land and natural landmarks on the Earth’s surface. The project will allow users to position and manage content remotely. Arcona’s ICO is scheduled to take place from January 25 – February 25 with pieces of Digital Land starting at just $1 per square meter.
The first digitized zones will appear next year in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Rome, Mexico City, St. Petersburg, Istanbul and Barcelona. It is planned that a layer of AR will cover the Earth’s surface by 2019.
Arcona will operate as a peer-to-peer network and an open marketplace, where producers and consumers of AR will exchange resources and pay for services using the platform’s internal tokens. Users will be able to sell content, software and the AR Digital Land layer via Arcona’s online platform.
The project is based on blockchain technology to increase transparency and identify who owns what, as well as who controls transfer rights. Through Arcona, Piligrim XXI will make its unique remote positioning algorithms and other technologies available to owners of the AR layer free of charge.
See the full story here: https://coinidol.com/a-cute-augmented-reality-angel-became-the-face-of-arcona-s-ico-campaign/
First Ever Blockchain Protected Virtual Land Auction
However, a new Blockchain based platform has made its way onto the market, and is using Blockchain technology to secure virtual land ownership, so that users can actually own the platform itself. The company is also using a proprietary cryptocurrency as a means of internal monetization. The first ever land auction for the company will go live in December, as the company sells the ‘Genesis City’ with coordinates (0,0).
By utilizing the protective aspects of Blockchain technology, the platform is able to both protect the ownership aspect, as well as secure the rights to each parcel. Within each parcel, users are able to create and monetize any type of content they choose. Many have long believed it only a matter of time before the Blockchain was used to record real property, though others have warned against the practice. It should be no surprise the virtual world is taking the same concept and running with it.
See the full story here: https://cointelegraph.com/news/first-ever-blockchain-protected-virtual-land-auction
The Other Side Of Singles’ Day: Alibaba’s Virtual Reality Testing Ground
In an augmented reality game, similar to a lo-fi PokemonGo, consumers follow a cartoon cat around the real world to unlock virtual items that they still have to pay for with real money.
Mike Evans, president of Alibaba group, explained in 2016 that the technology is intended to "move the relationship with the consumers beyond a highly transnational one." The entire process, none the less, funnels towards purchase. On the Buy+ platform, that action is performed by looking at a product and then nodding in assent.
Virtual and augmented reality will also "allow the brand to create a stronger bond" with those consumers, said Evans. That means fewer traditional efforts at community outreach. There is no longer a need, if a corporation wants to access a community, to be present in its area or employing its people. Nor would efforts at embodied visibility, like working with charities, schools, or NGOs, be as relevant.
See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/augustrick/2017/11/12/the-other-side-of-singles-day-alibabas-virtual-reality-testing-ground/#422e556e1c81
Snapchat launches a new feature that transforms its lenses and filters into an opportunity to shop from the app
The Los-Angeles based photo sharing app has added a touch of Hollywood glamour to the debut of its Context Cards for sponsored lenses and filters.
Entertainment firm Lionsgate is the first brand to trial the new technology, running a promotion of its upcoming film Wonder, in cinemas on Friday.
Users can see themselves in an astronaut's helmet by using the lens, which celebrates World Kindness Day.
See the full story here; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5077351/Augmented-reality-Snapchat-ads-link-product-s-URL.html
The Inevitability Of Augmented Reality HMDs
It is strange to see the old movies and TV shows where characters use landline phones, especially pay phones. It reminds us that so much more than fashion has changed. Time and space are different.
In eight generations we have gone from cavemen to star-traveling magicians. In the context of the 125,000 generations that came before us, that is astounding. It is the ultimate hockey stick.
We are constantly shifting between the world in our hands and the physical world. Tens of thousands of people die every year because of this incredibly bad form factor, and the need to change it is urgent. It took 15 years to dig this hole, and it will take 15 years to dig out, but when we do, it's going to be a very different world because augmentation is happening at many other levels, AI, the blockchain, cloud computing, are also rapidly changing computing. And then there are the unintended consequences of our greatest inventions, like Facebook, which may better connect us, but also make us less free.
Pattie Maes of the Media Lab really influenced my thinking about AR and how this tool is going change humankind. Well known for her compelling TED talks, at the “AR in Action” conference at MIT January 17, 2017, she gave a mesmerizing big picture presentation on the state of modern life: living simultaneously, imperfectly and superficially in the real and digital worlds, multitasking, continually interrupting ourselves by checking our smartphones 100+ times a day.
“Tech has become part of us,” she said, “and we all know there is no going back. Instead, we need to make our integration with technology more seamless. In the short term, our technology is making us less mindful and attentive, but in the long term, it will make us much, much better. Better learners, better workers, better able to reach our potential. We will become augmented. Cyborgs.”
The goal is to get this information into the brain. Right now, the eyes and the ears are the only ways into the brain. “Computing interfaces will become more and more invisible to the user/wearer" says Will Schumaker, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University whose focus is optics. "But going beyond HMDs will be tricky and require quantum leaps in optics or biotech, which might take some time.”
Neuralink Corp. is a startup co-founded earlier this year by billionaire Elon Musk, who runs Tesla and Space X. Musk disclosed he has invested 27M in Neuralink, a company that implants electrodes into the brain in order to create a "neural lace", the ultimate man-machine interface. It may be decades away, but it's not as crazy as it sounds.
See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charliefink/2017/11/13/the-inevitability-of-augmented-reality-hmds/#40416cff42f8
Podcast: The World of Virtual Reality with China Regional President Vive HTC
Alvin Wang Graylin is the China Regional President of Vive (VIVE.com) at HTC, leading all aspects of the Vive/VR business in the region. He is also currently Vice-Chairman of the 300-member company Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance (IVRA.com), President of the $18B Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA.com) and oversees the Vive X VR accelerator (VIVEX.co) in Asia. Alvin spoke to ATP at length about how Virtual Reality will literally impact every aspect of our lives…while most people think of gaming and entertainment when considering VR, Alvin was passionate about how Virtual Reality tools could radically change the way we educate and get educated. Listen very carefully as Alvin explains how immersive VR experiences, tested in real classrooms in China, can completely recalibrate a student 's ability to learn even the most difficult subjects.
Listen to the podcast here: http://www.asiatechpodcast.com/alvin-wang-graylin-world-virtual-reality-china-regional-president-vive-htc/
PTC’s Jim Heppelmann Talks Augmented Reality in HBR
Heppelmann, MassTLC’s 2015 CEO of the Year and a globally recognized thought leader in AR and IoT, recently co-authored with Harvard Business School Professor, Michael Porter, a comprehensive report on navigating AR for business. The report, which appears in the November/December issue of Harvard Business Review, is titled A Manager’s Guide to Augmented Reality: Why Every Organization Needs an Augmented Reality Strategy.
See the full story here: http://www.masstlc.org/ptcs-jim-heppelmann-talks-augmented-reality-hbr/