philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

How virtual reality can help seniors

An event held at AARP innovation lab The Hatchery as part ofTechweek showcased various companies that use virtual reality to help seniors out in various ways.

Outside of their formal event at The Hatchery, AARP and Booz Allen Hamilton set up a BetaBox that showcased various virtual reality and mixed reality demos for guests to try, while also introducing the pillars of brain health mentioned above.

Inside the Hatchery, one of the startups, VRHealth, operated on a similar premise. Founder Eran Orr was onhand with an environment that allowed users to pop balloons with a sword.

While the BetaBox demo and VRHealth obviously focus primarily on the “move” pillar of brain health, Boston-based startup Rendever and cofounder Kyle Rand are aiming at to fulfull the “discover” and “connect” pillars of brain health. Their product can show virtual versions of famous landmarks and places, or offer more personalized versions of places like childhood homes and marriage locations. Rendever is intended to be used in groups, to give seniors something to talk about even after the discovery of the virtual experience has ended.

See the full story here: https://technical.ly/dc/2017/10/06/virtual-mixed-reality-offer-varied-benefits-retirees/

The Validation of a Novel Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy Virtual Reality Module.

To perform the first validation of a full procedural virtual reality robotic training module and analysis of novice surgeon's learning curves.

Participants completed the bladder neck dissection task and urethrovesical anastomosis task (UVA) as part of the prostatectomy module. Surgeons completed feedback questionnaires assessing the realism, content, acceptability and feasibility of the module. Novice surgeons completed a 5.5-hour training programme using both tasks.

King's College London, London.

13 novice, 24 intermediate and 8 expert surgeons completed the validation study.

See the full story here: https://www.urotoday.com/recent-abstracts/endourology-urolithiasis/minimally-invasive-procedures/98986-the-validation-of-a-novel-robot-assisted-radical-prostatectomy-virtual-reality-module.html

Bentley Advances the Power, Accessibility, and Pervasiveness of Visualization and Virtual Reality for Infrastructure Projects

Using immersive VR, users can:

• Navigate and explore models in immersive 3D
• Teleport to any point of view
• Touch objects to view BIM information
• Create immersive walk-thru training videos

MicroStation and Bentley LumenRT also provide native support for scalable meshes. Users can leverage Bentley’s ProjectWise ContextShare service to share and stream reality meshes for use in design and visualization workflows.

See the full story here: https://www.bentley.com/en/about-us/news/2017/october/09/pna-06-microstation-lumenrt

VR in healthcare: 3 developments pushing boundaries in 2017

1. Surgery 

One of many promising elements XR brings to the medical field is that of 3D models that surgeons can use to prepare and plan operations. These models are created by merging MRI’s, CAT-scans, and ultrasounds.

2. Medical Training

Six out of ten physicians in the US already use virtual reality to gain expertise in surgical techniques that use endoscopic tools.

Companies such as 3D Systems, Level Ex and Osso VR make it possible for today’s training to happen in a VR operating room.

Training or preparations might be virtual, but the tools used don’t have to be: ImmersiveTouch, for example, offers equipment that provides force feedback.

3. Patient Treatment

Some of the most spectacular breakthrough cases of XR in healthcare have come from the use cases for patient treatment and care. Some of these, like Isobar’s Common Ground VR, are even built for caretakers instead of patients. Common Ground VR simulates what it must be like to have a visual disability, like macular degeneration or glaucoma.

On the front of treatment, the company MindMaze uses VR to treat Parkinson’s patients, amputees, and stroke victims.

Another such company leveraging VR is Brain Power, which helps patients with autism. A demo by Brain Power’s CMO psychiatrist Dr. Arshya Vahbzadeh showed a young child making eye contact with his mother, recognizing her emotions and with that bringing his mother to tears: never before she was able to make eye contact in this way with her child.

If you’re interested in learning more about the developments of XR in healthcare, join me at the VR Days 2017 in Amsterdam on October 25-27. A dedicated track of healthcare VR-specialists will be speaking on the newest developments.

See the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/virtual-reality/2017/10/09/vr-healthcare-3-developments-pushing-boundaries-2017/

Virtual reality could be popular at theme park industry’s big expo

Often the latest inventions are kept under secrecy before being unveiled during the expo, IAAPA spokesman David Mandt said.

But IAAPA, which has 5,300 members in about 100 countries, is expecting some companies to show off VR “in new and different ways” based on what’s been happening recently in the industry, Mandt said.

The trade show is not open to the public.

Learning opportunities for industry members also take place as part of the show. For instance, SeaWorld Orlando will invite people to a behind-the-scenes tour for its Christmas show while the creators for the new “Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon” will also talk about how they created it. Disney will also share how it opened Pandora — The World of Avatar.

See the full story here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-iaapa-2017-november-20171009-story.html

Indoor Bike Powered By App Lets You Ride In Virtual Reality

Imagine working out on a stationary bike, winding your way through courses based on real roads while your bike adjusts to your speed, gear, and resistance. Then imagine racing against fellow riders in virtual reality.

VirchyBike LITE, available on Kickstarter, promises to deliver those experiences and more.

The Virchy Studio platform offers a number of live, virtual classes similar to those offered by Peloton. If your instructor says to increase the bike’s resistance, the bike can do that automatically. If you want a measure of your performance, you can compare yourself against your instructor. A fan that can be purchased separately also creates a wind effect.

VirchyBike LITE can be pre-ordered on Kickstarter for $399, a mere fraction of the price of other, similar indoor bikes.

See the full story here: https://www.sporttechie.com/indoor-bike-powered-artificial-intelligence-lets-ride-virtual-reality/

VR Mark Zuckerberg discusses how Facebook is using AI to aid the Red Cross in Puerto Rico

“We use artificial intelligence to build what we call ‘population maps’ so you can look at satellite imagery of an area and get a sense of where it is that people actually live and the density of different places and where’s there’s infrastructure going to in those places,” Zuckerberg said. “That’s going to help the Red Cross figure out where people are who need help.”

See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/09/vr-zuckerberg-shares-details-on-some-of-facebooks-ai-aid-to-the-red-cross-in-puerto-rico/?utm_medium=TCnewsletter

Nokia’s fancy VR Ozo camera is no more

It marks a huge shift for the company, which could mean laying off staff as it reduces investments in virtual reality and redirects efforts into other projects. The Finnish company said it will now be focusing on becoming a leader in the health tech space following its buyout of Withings last year.

"Nokia Technologies is at a point where, with the right focus and investments, we can meaningfully grow our footprint in the digital health market, and we must seize that opportunity," said the company's president, Gregory Lee, in a statement.

Nokia unveiled the $40,000 camera (initially priced at $60,000) back in the summer of 2015 to meet demand for high-quality VR content for headsets made by the likes of Oculus, Sony, Google and HTC.

Nokia expects up to 310 out of its 1,090 employees in Finland, the US and the UK to be affected by the decision, although no layoffs have been confirmed.

This change in focus will not impact Nokia's patent licensing division or its efforts in 5G and the internet of things.

See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/news/nokias-fancy-vr-ozo-camera-is-no-more/

How ARKit will make more money than ARCore and Camera Effects (for now)

See the full story here: https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2017/10/how-arkit-will-make-more-money-than-arcore-and-camera-effects-for-now/#.WdwCaEyZNPM

also see https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2017/10/two-speed-arvr-market-after-arkitarcore-ar-upgrade-vr-downgrade/#.WdwEiUyZNPM

Disney’s Big Bet on Streaming Relies on Little-Known Tech Company

Cord cutting was accelerating much faster than expected. Live viewing for some children’s programming was in free fall. At the same time, streaming services like Netflix were experiencing explosive growth.

With Disney’s board exhorting speedy action, Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive and chairman, proposed a legacy-defining move. It was time for Disney to double down on streaming.

In August, Disney announced that it would introduce two subscription streaming services, both built by BamTech. One, focused on sports programming and made available through the ESPN app, would arrive in the spring. The other, centered on movies and television shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, would debut in late 2019.

“We’re going to launch big, and we’re going to launch hot,” Mr. Iger promised at a subsequent investor conference.

But Mr. Iger was impressed with BamTech. Based in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, a former factory for the National Biscuit Company, the 850-employee company has a strong track record — no serious glitches, even when delivering tens of millions of live streams at a time. BamTech also has impressive advertising technology (inserting ads in video based on viewer location) and a strong reputation for attracting and keeping viewers, not to mention billing them.

Mr. Paull, a Harvard M.B.A. with experience at Sony Music, will report to Mr. Mayer, who joined Disney in 1993 before leaving in 2000 to run Playboy.com. He soon returned to Disney to work on Go.com, a web portal that eventually failed, and other Disney websites, including ESPN.com, before moving to strategic planning.

Though BamTech has proved its streaming bona fides, it still lacks the algorithms and the personalization skills that have helped propel Netflix to success. To fill that gap, Mr. Paull recently hired the former chief technology officer of the F.B.I. to be the head of analytics.

The level of engineering required for that enormous volume of content is no small matter. Each bit of streamable content has to be made to fit a dizzying number of requirements. Start with web browsers, ranging from Safari to Chrome or Explorer, all of which have slightly different demands. It also has to fit every iPhone and Android phone. And then there are connected living room devices like Apple TV.

See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/08/business/media/bamtech-disney-streaming.html