philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

You can get a taste of virtual reality at Facebook pop-up stores

The stores are part of a virtual reality tour to introduce the tough-to-explain technology to the masses. They're available in several big cities across the country, including Denver, New York, Phoenix and San Diego, through the end of January.

"It's all about the first step," said Stephanie Llamas, director of research and insights at SuperData Research. "Once they take it, you open them to a world of possibilities they couldn't have imagined. It's a Matrix moment. But they can't know the possibilities without being proactive, so companies not only have to make consumers aware but also make them feel like trying it was their own idea."

See the full story here: http://www.11alive.com/news/nation-now/you-can-get-a-taste-of-virtual-reality-at-facebook-pop-up-stores/380829239

Sony Unveils Augmented Reality Display and Development Kit

Sony has this week unveiled its latest foray into augmented reality (AR), with the release of the LMX-001 holographic waveguide display and development kit.

According to the the company’s developers site, the unit will allow for “customised hardware and software solutions”, and “displays clear graphics and text directly in the field of view of the user”.

• Resolution : 419×138 pixels
• FOV : 19°×6° (20° diagonal)
• Color : 8 bit monochrome green
• Contrast : 200:1
• Brightness : 2000 cd/m²
• Virtual image distance: 8.0 m

See the full story here: http://powerupgaming.co.uk/2016/12/29/sony-unveils-augmented-reality-display-and-development-kit/

Episodic virtual reality content could transform consumer entertainment

Warrior9 is a Singapore‐based video and VR production house developing what it calls the first animated science-fiction VR series. Called 'The PhoenIX,' the show is set in space and employs a range of technologies such as motion-capture, the process of incorporating human movement into a three-dimensional model, to document mankind's race for survival against an unknown enemy.

Unlike conventional animation, motion-capture experienced in VR injects a stronger dose of realism by making viewers feel like they are actually in 'The PhoenIX,' floating in space or caught in the middle of a frenetic dogfight.

Jaunt China, a joint venture of Silicon Valley-based Jaunt, is also focused on episodic material. Launched this year in partnership with Shanghai Media Group and China Media Capital, two of China's largest media companies, it already has several projects in the pipeline but is unable to disclose any details.

Going forward, the element of interaction could take consumer experiences to a whole other level.

See the full story here: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/29/episodic-virtual-reality-content-could-transform-consumer-entertainment.html

VR Market Research data: 63% In U.S. Say They Are Not Aware Of Virtual Reality

Here is the ranking of VR brand familiarity within U.S. households:

1. Oculus Rift
2. Samsung Gear VR
3. PlayStation VR
4. Google Cardboard
5. HTC Vive
6. Microsoft HoloLens (mixed reality)

Of those who have tried virtual reality, almost all said they enjoyed the experience, while the resulting actions appear to be relatively fragmented.

See the full story here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/291992/63-in-us-say-they-are-not-aware-of-virtual-real.html

Virtual Reality, WordPress, & Web Design: What Does the Future Hold?

Virtual Reality and WordPress – What’s There?

Let’s start with the big news, it was just announced that all WordPress.com sites will now support virtual reality images and videos. That means the 409 million visitors to WordPress.com blogs every month now have a chance to be exposed to virtual reality images. I only hope this pushes virtual reality more into the mainstream.

And it’s not just limited to WordPress.com – some developers are already making it possible to add virtual reality to self-hosted WordPress via plugins. I did some digging around the plugin repository and I found two promising plugins:

VR Views

VR Views helps you embed 360-degree mono-and-stereoscopic images and videos into your WordPress site. It uses Google’s VR Views library, which makes it fully compatible with Google Cardboard.

To handle issues with responsive design, i.e. users who don’t have Google Cardboard, the plugin defaults to a “magic window” that will work on any desktop or mobile browser, regardless of hardware. The “magic window” allows readers to move their screen around to view the image in 360 degrees of glory but lacks true virtual reality.

To create your virtual reality content, you can use any device that is capable of capturing 360-degree videos or images. And once you have your content, implementing it is as easy as adding a shortcode to your WordPress site.

WP-VR-view

WP-VR-view is another plugin which lets you add Google Cardboard compatible virtual reality media to your WordPress site.

And just like VR Views, it degrades considerably for anyone who doesn’t have virtual reality hardware

Roadblocks to Widespread Implementation of VR and Web Design

Beyond the rather obvious roadblock of VR headset adoption, there are some other things standing in the way of virtual reality.

Responsive Design

How do you build a website that functions for both virtual reality headset wearers and regular users alike? That’s the major problem designers will need to cope with. Right now, most implementations involve a toggle to move between modes. But is that really the best virtual experience?

And how do you handle menus? Eye-tracking menus work great for wearable headsets but obviously not for desktop browsers.

I don’t have answers to these questions. But I do know that having to grab my headset and hit a toggle button isn’t a very immersive experience. And it probably would relegate virtual reality to “occasional treat” rather than “daily habit.” At least for me.

Bandwidth

We already know how massively important page speed is. Are visitors really going to be willing to wait for large 4K 360 degree videos to load? For special occasions, I think yes. But for everyday browsing? That’s a tougher question to answer.

See the full story here: https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/editorial/virtual-reality-wordpress-web-design-what-does-the-future-hold?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed

Microsoft Patent Describes Object Tracking for Future Augmented Reality Headsets

Object Tracking Concept

The technology would observe all objects in a user environment, using video data to process objects and identify them to the user. In the near future, augmented reality devices will be smaller and the object images would appear to the users via a see-through display headwear.

When the system detects and tracks an object, it could store characteristics and give the user an alert. Microsoft says the object data could be stored on the local device or uploaded to a remote service. The company also explains how the Object Tracking could be used by multiple users:

“Where multiple people utilize object-tracking devices as disclosed herein, each person may become aware of changes to objects made by other users via the sharing of object tracking information. In this manner, a user may be able to discover a most recent location of lost keys, may be provided with a reminder to buy more milk while browsing the dairy section at a grocery store, and/or may track and recall other object state information in any suitable manner.”

Jon Favreau Wants to Use Virtual Reality to Tell Stories Differently

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 04: CEO, The Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger (L) and director Jon Favreau attend The World Premiere of Disney's "THE JUNGLE BOOK" at the El Capitan Theatre on April 4, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

Let's talk about Gnomes and Goblins. People already have access to a demo of the game. As you dig deeper into VR, is that feedback impacting how you’re thinking about the technology?

We didn’t want the experience to feel like a game. We wanted everything to be intuitive. We didn’t want to have text bubbles instructing people what to do. We wanted somebody who wasn’t a gamer to be able to just throw on the HMD [head-mounted display] and lift the hand controllers and, once they learn how to interact with the world, freely explore. We felt that the naturalism of that experience would feel more like a simulation than a game, and that people would be accepting of it even though it didn’t feel like other VR games or other games. Other VR games tend to have their roots in 2-D gaming and console gaming. We kind of took a leap of faith. The reaction to it has been so strong that we feel that we can continue to explore that area. We didn’t have to back off of our initial goal and vision.

See the full story here: http://fortune.com/2016/12/28/jon-favreau-virtual-reality/

Chelsea Star John Terry Launches World’s First Virtual Reality Football Academy

Last week on Instagram, the 36-year-old Terry officially launched the first-of-its-kind VR academy, which will provide younger soccer players tutorials on training and nutrition along with exclusive updates and a further look into his life off the pitch. For downloading the app at £5.99 ($7.34), fans will receive new videos every six weeks, words of motivation from Terry and additional playing tips.

See the full story here: http://www.sporttechie.com/2016/12/29/sports/soccer/chelsea-star-john-terry-launches-worlds-first-virtual-reality-football-academy/

History of VR at CES

See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/history-of-vr-at-ces-2017-2016-2014-2013-vr-next-phase-begins/

Virtual reality improves brain surgery