Organized by the student-run Virtual Reality Club at UC San Diego with support from the Qualcomm Institute-based Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability (CCAS), the Cyber-Archaeology VR hackathon invites participation by graduate and undergraduate students from CSE and other departments on campus.
The VR Hackathon is set to take place April 7-9, 2017 from 5pm on Friday to noon on Sunday.
Participants will have 36 hours to create a Virtual Reality experience with applications for at-risk archaeological sites from the eastern Mediterranean region. CCAS will provide all attendees with a wealth of archaeological data, including point-cloud LIDAR scans, photos, and 3D models of cultural heritage sites and artifacts, as well as VR equipment for their hacks.
The team with the best overall project will receive a cash prize of $1,000.
See the full story here: https://cse.ucsd.edu/about/news/cyber-archaeology-virtual-reality-hackathon
During a recent demonstration at the company's office-slash-warehouse space in San Rafael, California, Nomadic's staff handed me an Oculus Rift VR headset connected to a portable backpack that housed the computer capable of rendering the company's VR experience without the need for any additional wires. Also essential to explore the demo: A real-life, bulky flashlight with a real button, which in turn triggered the same flashlight in the virtual world.
That flashlight wasn't the only physical object incorporated into the VR experience, which one could explore by walking around just like in the real world. A set of leaky pipes let off some real hot air, a file cabinet actually had to be opened to retrieve a real-feeling gun replica, a virtual reality door could only be operated with an actual doorknob. All the while, all of these objects were rendered perfectly in the virtual world, where shooting drones were flying above and city lights were shining in the background.
Instead of building and operating its own VR locations, Nomadic wants to partner with bigger players that already have a lot of real estate at their disposal and are now looking for the next big thing to retain and monetize audiences. Think mall operators, theater chains and the likes.
To make operating VR experiences easier for these companies, Nomadic is looking to build completely modular sets that can be reconfigured within a few hours based on simple instructions. The idea is that a theater or mall space runs an experience for two to three months, and then simply downloads the next one to its computers, completely with an instruction set on where to place doors, furniture, levers, heaters, fans and other physical cues.
However, Nomadic doesn't want to build all of these experiences itself. Instead, it wants to cooperate with both VR studios and traditional content creators to adapt their stories for this new world, in which VR headsets play as much a role as flashlights and wooden planks.
See the full story here: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/virtual-reality-you-can-touch-nomadic-wants-to-bring-vr-experiences-to-malls-movie-theaters-cm764796
While these advanced capabilities of augmented and virtual reality have the potential to revolutionize many industries in positive ways, they also introduce new threats. The implementation of augmented reality in a highly classified environment, industrial control facility, nuclear power station, military base, or any research and development lab that supports defense research could lead to disaster in the wrong hands.
An adversary capable of compromising the application program interface (API) that connects augmented reality software to an automobile’s heads-up display could remotely crash the car. A threat actor could also breach augmented reality glasses to access what amounts to a livestream of personal data without the wearer’s knowledge.
In addition, a malicious insider could wear augmented reality glasses to work to gather intelligence, commit industrial espionage or upload anything the device picks up to a personal cloud. Commercial sector customers might accidentally upload data collected through an augmented reality device to a public cloud. Furthermore, mobile apps designed for integration with augmented reality are susceptible to bad coding practices, insufficient security controls, bad updates, zero-day exploits and malware, just like any other type of software.
Augmented reality is going to be a very unique technology for information security professionals to contend with because of its significant potential to be both helpful and extremely harmful. This technology could solve one problem while simultaneously introducing one or more new ones. Individuals experimenting with the technology, groups developing standards for it, companies creating software and APIs, and organizations deploying augmented reality in one way or another should think very carefully about the direction this technology should move in.
See the full post here: https://securityintelligence.com/virtual-reality-augmented-reality-and-futuristic-threat-modeling/
Dotty began as a 3D printing insole company in the same vein as Sols, and was trying to beat that company at its own game. In 2014, the company signed an agreement in Oakley and began its pivot from 3D printing to 3D visualization.
As augmented reality continues its march into the workplace, new tools are emerging to integrate collaboration and visualization tools into virtual and augmented reality.
One application, which recently launched on both iOS and Android, is DOTTY, which provides three-dimensional visualization tools for augmented reality viewers.
Recently accepted into the Plug and Play [Internet of Things] accelerator, Dotty is in talks with several retailers about use cases for its visualization tools for augmented reality platforms.
See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/23/new-augmented-reality-visualization-app-dotty-has-launched-in-the-app-store/
The group is composed of employees who have worked on similar cutting-edge technology at competitors, such as Microsoft Corporation's (MSFT) Hololens and Facebook, Inc.'s (FB) Oculus. Notable employees in the group include Mike Rockwell, who headed hardware and new technologies at audio and video pioneer Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (DLB), and engineers selected from different Apple divisions, such as iPhone camera and Apple Watch. A series of acquisitions in the augmented reality space have further bolstered the group's capacity. The report does not mention products that the company may have planned for the platform. However, Apple recently released Clips – a social video editing tool that enables users to make multimedia clips and overlay them with effects.
See the full story here: http://www.investopedia.com/news/apple-forms-group-augmented-reality-aapl-msft/
When guests board the coaster and don their Samsung Gear VR headsets, they will be introduced to the device’s pass-through camera functionality, instantly making riders aware of their surroundings, by allowing them to see the “real world,” including the person seated next to them— along with virtual content. As they get settled into the ride, a heads up display overlay on the pass-through camera view will show data like current status of weaponry, time codes, fuel cells, and a countdown clock. Cresting the lift hill, a massive, swirling wormhole comes into view. As riders drop at high speeds, the mixed reality view changes to a completely immersive, virtual reality environment and a fighter spaceship cockpit materializes and envelops the riders into a tunnel of light. At the bottom of the first hill, riders are launched into the middle of a space battle, coming under attack from flying drones firing lasers and missiles. After swinging through tight channels, narrowly dodging drones and artillery fire, riders are brought into one of three drone bays, each of which offer a completely different gaming experience and three different endings.
Galactic Attack will be open exclusively to Season Pass holders opening weekend, April 1 & 2, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The ride opens to all guests at 1:00 p.m. Galactic Attack will be available this spring for a limited time only.
See the full story here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/galactic-attack-world-first-mixed-131200507.html
Wayfair Inc. (NYSE:W), one of the world’s largest online destinations for home furnishings and décor, today announced that its augmented reality app, WayfairView, is now available on the Asus Tango enabled ZenFone AR. Wayfair has also added thousands of 3-D product models to the app, allowing shoppers to visualize an even greater selection of furniture and décor in their homes before making a purchase. WayfairView was developed by the company’s in-house research and development team, Wayfair Next, leveraging Google’s robust technology.
See the full post here: http://investor.wayfair.com/investor-relations/press-releases/press-releases-details/2017/Wayfairs-Augmented-Reality-App-Now-Available-on-the-Asus-Tango-Enabled-ZenFone-AR/default.aspx
To explore the mathematical possibilities of alternative geometries, mathematicians imagine such ‘non-Euclidean’ spaces, where parallel lines can intersect or veer apart. Now, with the help of relatively affordable VR devices, researchers are making curved spaces — a counter-intuitive concept with implications for Einstein’s theory underlying gravity and also for seismology — more accessible. They may even uncover new mathematics in the process.
Visualization here: https://gfycat.com/ifr/FirmSpicyGull
See the full story here: http://www.nature.com/news/mathematicians-create-warped-worlds-in-virtual-reality-1.21689
[Philip Lelyveld comment - this is a nice way for a startup to deploy a qualified workforce. Barely minimum wage, though.]
About The Role:
- The position is remote with support from our Denver headquarters
- Once selected you're flown to our headquarters in Denver for training and flown back
- You'll be given all of the equipment you need
- You'll interact with people on a daily basis (think like working @ Starbucks or Wholefoods)
- Super detail oriented (making sure everything is clean and tidy when taking photos)
What you'll be doing:
- Physically able to be on your feet and moving around throughout the day
- Depending on the size of the houses, you may be traveling to 2-5 homes daily.
- At the end of the day you'll upload photos to dropbox on your home computer which is accessed back at headquarters for photo processing
The Perks:
- Salary of $27,000/year
- 2 weeks paid vacation every year
- We cover half of your health Insurance after 3 months of employment
- Build a professional photography portfolio
- Ability to get drone pilot certification and earn $30,000/year
- Can use our professional camera & drone equipment anytime for personal use
- You get to tour some of the most amazing homes that are worth more than $22 Million.
See the full story with video at the link here: https://denver.craigslist.org/csr/6054448249.html
CityConnect, a program dedicated to improving cycle facilities across West Yorkshire, is collaborating with the University of Bradford’s Digital Media Working Academy to build an augmented reality (AR) app for cyclists.
Taking inspiration from the viral success of last year’s Pokemon Go, the project will incorporate AR and elements of gamification to explore ways in which safe and responsible cycling can be encouraged. The first prototype of the app will be based on the Cycle Superhighway linking Bradford and Leeds.
“By developing the proof of concept for the AR cycling app, we will have the perfect opportunity to engage with groups who traditionally don’t tend to cycle. With the help from the CityConnect cycling engagement team, we will work with groups such as young professionals or older members of the Asian community to find out how an AR cycling app could encourage them to cycle more, especially on the Cycle Superhighway.”
Plans for the app include explorable features on the Leeds to Bradford Superhighway, highlighting the signs used and the shared safety conventions cyclists, motorists and pedestrians are bound by. Cyclists will be rewarded for being safe and responsible, while points will be deducted for reckless riding.
See the full story here: https://internetofbusiness.com/augmented-reality-cycling/
Dotty began as a 3D printing insole company in the same vein as Sols, and was trying to beat that company at its own game. In 2014, the company signed an agreement in Oakley and began its pivot from 3D printing to 3D visualization.
CityConnect, a program dedicated to improving cycle facilities across West Yorkshire, is collaborating with the University of Bradford’s Digital Media Working Academy to build an augmented reality (AR) app for cyclists.