philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Improbable developed simulation technology for video games that’s turned out to be just as useful in real-world scenarios.

Improbable uses the combined power of thousands of public servers to create real-time simulations of vast and detailed virtual worlds.

In the past 12 months, Improbable has scaled up its operation, increasing the number of public cloud infrastructure services that any one simulation can draw upon. This enables finely detailed simulations including, for example, the creation of a digital 1:1 replica of a real-world city, including all of its roads, buildings, and power and Web networks.

It has allowed Immense Simulations to create a full simulation of Manchester, a city in the north of England with more than 100,000 residents and a spaghetti tangle of roads.

“Improbable’s technology allows us to run city-scale scenario simulations with a level of detail not previously possible,” says Robin North, CEO of Immense Simulations. “We can represent individual travelers and vehicle operations and their interactions within a living city.”

The model of Manchester is based on licensed real-world data.

See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601663/highly-detailed-city-simulation-is-the-new-autonomous-taxi-dispatch/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=33455d1353-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-33455d1353-153894145

Jaunt And OmniVirt Are Partnering To Put More Ads Into VR

Jaunt has continued to develop new hardware for VR video, but now it seems ready to diversity its revenue potential through a new advertising strategy formed in conjunction with its partner, OmniVirt.

Founded by former Google employees, OmniVirt is a 360 advertisement platform. OmniVirt’s bread and butter is an immersive ad distribution platform and analytics system. The team has already built VR campaigns for companies such as Toyota, Samsung, and Universal Pictures.

According to a joint release from the two companies, Jaunt and OmniVirt will now begin to “extend the reach of campaigns that Jaunt has been providing to its brand clients by ensuring increased distribution and viewership across OmniVirt’s premium publisher network.”

Advertising in VR is still experimental and deals like this one indicate that we may be seeing a good deal more experiments very soon.

See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/jaunt-omnivirt/

Universal Plans Massive ‘Mummy’ Sarcophagus for Hollywood Event

The studio has revealed it will bring a 75-foot, seven-ton sarcophagus to the Hollywood and Highland gateway in Los Angeles on May 20 for The Mummy Day. According to the studio, this will be the largest single vertical structure that has ever been assembled at the gateway. The sarcophagus requires eight weeks to construct and more than 160 hours to install.

Fans who attend will be invited to try The Mummy VR Zero Gravity Stunt Experience — showcasing the much touted zero-g plane stunt from the film — and The Mummy Escape Game, an immersive game in which guests will be recruited as security guards who must solve interactive puzzles to save mankind.

see the full story here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/mummy-75-ft-sarcophagus-take-hollywood-celebration-1002701

Disney’s projection tech turns actors’ faces into nightmare fuel

Makeup Lamps tracks an actor's movements without using the facial markers common in motion capture, then it displays any color or texture the actor wants by adjusting the lighting. It can make someone appear older by creating "wrinkles" on their face, for example, or it can paint their face in creepy clown makeup, à la Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. And all of it is done in real-time.

A similar technology was used earlier this year during Lady Gaga's performance at the Superbowl.

See the full story here: https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/24/disney-makeup-lamps/ 

Chip maker Nvidia leads the race to power the machine-learning gold rush, but competition is coming from tech giants and startups.

Nvidia’s new competitors argue that they can make hardware faster and more efficient at running AI software by designing chips tuned for the purpose from scratch instead of adapting graphics chip technology.

For example, Intel promises to release a chip for deep learning later this year built on top of technology acquired with startup Nervana in 2016 (see “Intel Outside as Other Companies Prosper from Graphics Chips”).

Meanwhile, Google disclosed last summer that it was already using a chip customized for AI, developed in-house, called a Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU.

Several engineers that built Google’s chip have since left the company to form a startup with $10 million in funding called Groq that is building a specialized machine-learning chip. Other startups working on similar projects include Wave Computing, which says it is already letting customers test its hardware.

See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607818/battle-to-provide-chips-for-the-ai-boom-heats-up/?set=607847&utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=d6d373ba99-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-d6d373ba99-153894145

Augmented and Virtual Reality Tracking Technology from uSens Now Needs Only One Stereo Camera Module

The uSens Fingo module provides advanced 3D human-computer interaction capability on PC-based VR systems as well as mobile AR and VR platforms. (PRNewsfoto/uSens, Inc.)

At the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Silicon Valley May 31-June 2, uSens will demonstrate its new combined inside-out 6DOF (degrees of freedom) head tracking and 26DOF hand-tracking technology. This is an industry-first achievement in that it uses only a single camera module with an embedded dual-lens (stereo) camera.

Until now, making both inside-out 6DOF head tracking and 3D hand tracking a reality has required three or even four cameras: one depth-sensing camera or two IR cameras for hand tracking, and one or two mono cameras for head tracking. With uSens' new technology (see video), only one stereo camera module is needed, reducing the system size, complexity, power consumption and, as a result, overall cost.

See the full story here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/augmented-and-virtual-reality-tracking-technology-from-usens-now-needs-only-one-stereo-camera-module-300454915.html

New Salix virtual reality film gives doctors an ‘insider’ tour of the human GI tract

Ready for a 3D tour of the human gastrointestinal tract? Valeant's Salix Pharmaceuticals has a new virtual reality tool that aims to offer doctors who diagnose irritable bowel syndrome not only a new perspective, but also an educational experience.

The virtual reality film is viewed through a VR headset as a 3D tour through the human digestive system. Along the way, the possible causes of IBS—such as food intolerance, history of gastrointestinal infections, and altered microbiomes—are discussed.

Primary care doctors are second only to gastroenterologists in discovery of the condition. Salix-funded research—a survey that will be published in next month’s issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology—found that 45% of IBS patients were diagnosed by a gastroenterologist, while 42% were diagnosed by a primary care physician.

Salix sales reps will now begin to take the VR film on office visits.

See the full story here: http://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/salix-new-virtual-reality-film-gives-literal-insider-tour-human-gi-tract

Dreamworld (China) Is Making AR Glasses That Connect To Your Phone For Under $350

Dreamworld Vision has 10 employees say raised only $2 million in funding — a pittance when compared to the cash that the big name AR companies like Magic Leap, Microsoft and Meta have. And yet, despite these limited resources, the Dreamworld team created something aimed at rattling the cages of its biggest competitors: a pair of AR glasses with abilities that compare to these $1000 + units that will be sold for less than $350.  (No pictures of the glasses were allowed)

The Glass we demoed came in two form factors. The first was a smaller, lighter model that was used primarily to show off the headset’s large field of view and basic head tracking. The second was significantly larger and was outfitted with “over the counter” depth sensors and cameras to achieve basic positional tracking. A Dreamworld representative explained that the final version will be comprised of custom-designed components and will be much more similar to the form factor of the smaller unit.

Yes and no. On certain fronts the Glass was more impressive than its big name rivals, but there was one area where it really struggled: Tracking.

See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/thes-ar-glasses-connect-smartphones-keep-prices-350/

High Fidelity is Architecting for VR Privacy with Self-sovereign Identity – Voices of VR Podcast – Episode #533

His new metaverse venture, High Fidelity, is taking a much more distributed approach with how it’s being developed openly in open source using Worklist.net contractors, how it plans on distributing hosting and compute resources to user’s computers, as well as using a decentralized identity based upon blockchain technology. Rather than having a centralized authority for tracking and data mining an individual’s identity, they’re planning on using what’s called “Self-sovereign Identity”, which Christopher Allen explains in great detail in his comprehensive essay titled A Path to Self-Sovereign Identity.

See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/high-fidelity-architecting-vr-privacy-self-sovereign-identity/

31% Of Developers Are Involved In Virtual Reality Projects

A quarterly report by developer-focused analyst VisionMobile said the vast majority of people working in the virtual and augmented reality space approach it as a hobby rather than a full-time job. According to VisionMobile’s State of the Developer Nation Q1 2017 report, around one in three developers have some level of involvement in the “realities,” but only 21% considered themselves to be professional VR or AR developers.

Out of the 31% of people in the global developer community that were working in virtual and augmented reality, 80% said they were “VR hobbyists.” The number was similar for augmented reality, with 78% identifying themselves non-professional.

Bearing in mind that VisionMobile interviewed over 21,200 developers for its latest quarterly report, the number of people involved in the sector is tempered by the fact that most see it as something fun to do on the side.

See the full story here: https://arc.applause.com/2017/05/08/virtual-reality-hobby-developers-vision-mobile/