Apple Developers Join The WebVR Community Group
Today, Brandon Jones from Google (who is one of the chairs in the official WebVR Community Group,) noticed that developers from Apple have officially joined the group. With their inclusion this now means that every major web browser vendor (Apple = Safari for example) has input into WebVR’s development. In the Community Group there are 147 non-Chair participants as of the time of this writing.
From Apple there are now three members: long-time Multimedia and Software Standards representative Dave Singer, Senior Front-End Developer Brandel Zachernuk, and WebGL Spec Editor Dean Jackson. Notably Jones was quick to point out on Twitter that “group participation does not necessarily imply a commitment to implement” but it’s still a step in the right direction.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/apple-webvr-community-group/
VRstudios Announces Eight Player Warehouse-Scale VR Platform VRcade Arena
VRcade Arena is a new platform that supports warehouse-scale VR for up to eight players in a location-based environment. Using the company’s Attraction Management Platform (AMP), facilities will be able to set up either own VR installations offering full-motion VR experiences. AMP provides support for customers including easy installation and help with maintaining the platform.
VRcade Arena has a shot at making an impact on the steadily growing VR arcade scene, though the space is becoming hotly contested. HTC, for example, has its own Viveport Arcade scheme which allows locations with Vive units to rent out software for use in arcades for a certain amount of time.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/vrstudios-announces-eight-player-warehouse-scale-vr-platform-vrcade-arena/
Clay Brings Gesture Tracking To Apple’s ARKit With No Extra Hardware
Developers may already be familiar with Clay, it’s an SDK that allows smartphone apps to track the user’s hand in 3D with just the phone’s camera. It can recognize more than 30 gestures users make with their hands, allowing for controller-free navigation of experiences.
After Apple introduced ARKit to the world last month the Clay team set about integrating functionality into the SDK, and the company tells us that it will be ready within the next week or two.
On paper, that means ARKit could get simple, accessible control options when it launches in full with iOS 11.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/clay-brings-gesture-tracking-to-apples-arkit-with-no-extra-hardware/
FRIGHTENINGLY ACCURATE ‘MIND READING’ AI READS BRAIN SCANS TO GUESS WHAT YOU’RE THINKING
What CMU scientists have been working on is a system that can apparently read complex thoughts based on brain scans, possibly even interpreting complete sentences.
This involved gathering data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, and then using AI machine learning algorithms to pinpoint — and sometimes reverse-engineer — the building blocks the brain uses to construct complex thoughts.
The discovery of this correspondence between thoughts and brain activation patterns tells us what the thoughts are built of.”
After training the algorithm on 239 of the 240 sentences and their corresponding brain scans, the researchers were able to predict the final sentence based only on the brain data. It was able to do this with an impressive 87 percent accuracy, as well as doing the opposite: being given sentence information and then outputting an accurate image of how the brain would be activated during that sentence.
See the full story here: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ai-predicts-what-youre-thinking/
VR World NYC Offers an Open Buffet of 50+ VR Experiences
Kent Bye covers location-based VR operations, pricing structures, crowd management and throughput, and reaching the mass audience in this 30-minute Voices of VR podcast interview with the founders of VR World NYC. The new midtown Manhattan portal, which opened June 24th, features over 50 VR experiences spread over three floors in a 20,000 square foot space near the Empire State Building. Visitors pay $39 in the afternoon and $49 in the evening for unlimited stay and play.
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/vr-world-nyc-offers-an-open-buffet-of-50-vr-experiences/
sansar is coming this summer… (with video)
let us not kid ourselves: at the moment the vr business is a bit of an elitist's game. yes, the hardware is pricey too but frankly that is not what the core issue is, at least in my mind: in order to produce a visually and narratively compelling vr experience today you need to have acquired a lot of different digital skills.
yes, you can learn unity but you need time and many people don't have that luxury.
sansar already in closed beta has a functioning marketplace where transactions are are super simple. the concurrency of avatars, the realism in visual and aural rendering is crazy good. the editing ui is solid and plug and play. the performance is spectacular.
no: i am not getting paid to say all this [as is alleged by a certain sl centric tabloid blog out there...]
and just like second life i am convinced that over time linden lab with sansar has the potential to level the playing field in the arena of world building like they did 14 years ago already. ultimately though it will depend on the people making those worlds and those people are out there waiting to be told "yes, you can!" ...
See the full story here: http://www.draxtor.com/blog/2017/7/6/sansar-is-coming-this-summer
The BBC is shelling out $44 million to turn kids away from YouTube and Netflix
The BBC announced today that it plans to spend about $44 million (£34 million) in online children’s content across the next three years, responding to the rise of Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon. The plan goes into effect immediately.
The funding will go into making personalized online programs for kids, including video, live online program clips, vlogs, podcasts, quizzes, games and apps. According to the network, the programs will be made out of “bespoke commissioned content, re-purposed BBC Archive and third-party content from education/cultural bodies.” These features will go alongside traditional BBC kids television channels like BBC Bitesize, for education, and the hilariously named CBeebies, for ages six and under.
This new shift in company policy comes about as YouTube has become the favorite brand of 70% of kids aged 6-12, according to the BBC annual report, and as the BBC fights to remain relevant in an increasingly digital landscape.
See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/4/15918912/bbc-spends-34-million-44-youtube-netflix
The South Park Commons Fills a Hole in the Tech Landscape
Ruchi Sanghvi was the first female engineer at Facebook, where she helped create the news feed that now serves as the primary window into the world’s largest social network.
At 32, she wanted a better way of deciding where her career would go.
Her next project became an effort to help people find their next project.
The result is South Park Commons. Housed in an old townhouse on the oval park at the heart of the San Francisco tech scene, the Commons is a selected community of entrepreneurs, engineers, researchers and others. Ms. Sanghvi describes it as tech’s answer to the Bloomsbury Set or Benjamin Franklin’s Junto club, a means of shaping new ideas through conversation and shared experience.
It’s also a way of preparing for the future.
“You get a couple of shots in life to do something meaningful and impactful. Why not take the time to identify that?”
Silicon Valley is a place in transition, thanks to a shifting economic landscape, the rise of artificial intelligence and other technologies, and new pressure to embrace a more diverse range of people.
But she also sets limits. Anyone who builds a company that grows to more than five people graduates. She does not want the Commons to become just another accelerator.
The trick lies in keeping the current vibe going and, better yet, mimicking its approach across the Valley. For the Commons, that means more independence from Ms. Sanghvi, a way for the group to attract members and raise funds on its own.
See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/business/tech-scene-south-park-commons-san-francisco.html
New Asus phone highlights augmented reality
...the ZenFone AR’s capabilities, which include support for both Google Tango and Daydream.
Tango is an AR technology while Daydream offers immersive virtual reality or VR.
The ZenFone AR has a TriCam system that lets the phone track a user’s location as he/she moves through space.
It also has depth-sensing, as Santos demonstrated through an augmented reality tour of a BMW vehicle.
Using the phone, Santos showed to reporters and bloggers the car’s features — from the engine to its interior — and made it look as if they were checking the actual vehicle.
See the full story here: http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/138457/new-asus-phone-highlights-augmented-reality
The cofounders who sold augmented reality app Layar to Blippar want to buy it back
Layar was an important buy for Blippar, which had been relying on AR technology built by Qualcomm called Vuforia. Layar gave Blippar its own in-house AR tech, and user numbers.
There are several reasons that Mitra likely rejected Layar's cofounders. One is that it may be technically impossible to uncouple the two firms. A second is that, according to multiple sources, Layar has historically provided the bulk of Blippar's active users. Another is that Mitra remains convinced that Blippar can establish itself as a platform business.
The competition is growing, however. Google Lens, like Blippar's visual browser, identifies what it can see through a phone's camera. Apple's ARKit lets developers build amazing augmented reality on iOS. And Samsung's Bixby Vision similarly has augmented reality functionality baked directly into the camera of its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S8.
See the full story here; http://www.businessinsider.com/layar-founders-want-to-buy-their-company-back-from-blippar-2017-7?r=UK&IR=T