Starbucks and Pokémon Go Bring Augmented Reality to 7,800 Cafes
As of December 8, 7,800 company-owned Starbucks locations have become a PokeStop or a Gym ─ significantly increasing the density of PokeStops and Gyms in just about every town and city across the United States.
Proving dedication to the augmented reality world, the app developer, Niantic, continues to grow its list of corporate partners – this announcement on the heels of another vital partnership with Sprint that was revealed just a day prior. The Sprint and Starbucks partnerships combined will create almost 20,000 additional PokeStops and Gyms around the country by the end of 2016.
See the full story here: http://risnews.edgl.com/retail-news/Starbucks-and-Pokemon-Go-Bring-Augmented-Reality-to-7,800-Cafes108124
AR for the blind thru vibrations and sounds
The Indra-Adecco Foundation Chair of Research into Accessible Technologies at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) is developing an augmented reality application which will give people with visual handicaps information about their surroundings,via vibrations and sounds on their smartphone.
The UPM’s Centre of Biomedical Technology is responsible for carrying out this e-Glance project, and sources at the university say it is a tool to help people with sight problems actively explore what is around them as if it were ‘an extended walking stick,” directing their attention to specific areas outside their reach. It will also be useful for those whose hearing or memory are inadequate.
Harmon invests in Navdy
Harman has acquired exclusive rights to sell Navdy's 'augmented reality' head-up display system to automotive OEMs.
Silicon Valley startup Navdy currently sells its HUD system as an $800 aftermarket accessory, projecting a user interface transparently on a transparent screen that mounts in front of the windshield.
The device appears to be primarily geared toward navigation, but it also presents other smartphone features such as messages, notifications and music. A camera enables users to accept calls via hand gesture.
See the full story here: http://www.leftlanenews.com/harman-partners-with-navdy-for-93492.html
AxonVR Secures $5.8M Funding Round for Haptics in Virtual Reality
HaptX is a haptic textile that simulates lifelike touch, allowing users to feel the physical properties of virtual objects. HaptX can bring the sense of touch to any surface. The lightweight, flexible material can be applied to wearables and other form factors. HaptX technology has broad enterprise uses in location-based entertainment, training and simulation, and design and manufacturing.
Additional participants in AxonVR’s seed round included The Virtual Reality Company, Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering Jon Snoddy, Keeler Investment Group, and Digital Kitchen Founder and Chairman Paul Matthaeus. These investments add to a $1.2M friends and family round completed in 2014, bringing AxonVR’s total funding to $7M.
See the full story here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207005434/en/AxonVR-Secures-Largest-Funding-Haptics-Virtual-Reality
HaptX™ is a thin, flexible haptic textile made up of an array of microfluidic actuators. By varying pressure and temperature at each actuator, HaptX creates sensations ranging from the brush of a butterfly's wings to the impact of a punch. From the warmth of a cup of coffee to the chill of a snowball. HaptX can bring the sense of touch to any surface. We can apply it to a wide range of products across a variety of form factors.
HaptX Skeleton extends HaptX's immersive capabilities by delivering force feedback. HaptX Skeleton moves with you through your full range of motion. It senses body position and applies forces to represent the shape or weight of virtual objects. HaptX Skeleton can be programmed to assist or resist motion. Master the perfect golf swing as your body is guided through every detail of the swing in real time. You move the exoskeleton, and the exoskeleton can move you.
HaptX SDK is a software toolkit that empowers developers to create touch-enabled experiences. At the heart of HaptX SDK is a framework for physical simulation of haptic interactions. HaptX SDK works seamlessly with leading game engines, making it easy for developers to create VR experiences that leverage advanced haptic capabilities.
Why this venture capitalist doesn’t see opportunity in virtual reality
[philip lelyveld comment; This is proof that being a venture capitalist is not the same as being a visionary.]
“There are no VC opportunities in AR/VR in the near term,” said Benson, speaking Thursday at the third annual Lane Powell Startups Seminar in Seattle.
“It was around 2010 and 3-D television came around and people were like: ‘Oh my god, this is so great.’ And people went out and bought their 3-D televisions and they had their little glasses. But, guess what? When you have those 3-D glasses on and you are watching your 3-D television, you can’t work on your iPhone; you can’t work on your laptop; you can’t talk to your kids. ...
If you want to be in a VR experience — that is completely isolating. I am not sure how many people have actually been in an Oculus … but you are submersed in that experience. And that is great if you are Valve Software, if you are Gabe Newell and you are building a $1 billion or $2 billion gaming empire. Or if you are Sony or Sony Playstation, or Nintendo. But it is not great for pretty much any other experience. I can’t really see any VR applications outside of gaming.”
Gulati countered that there are big opportunities when it comes to implementing augmented reality technologies in industrial applications, noting that augmented reality could be used by a technician to help fix an elevator or working on a manufacturing line.
“But I don’t think AR is really going to be that interesting until they figure out how to implant it inside your head, because nobody wants to be seen with Google Glass on.
Other VC funds are betting big on VR and AR, even with failures such as Google Glass. There were 94 virtual reality venture deals recorded last year, up from just 24 in 2014, according to CB Insights. And during the first half of 2016, $1.3 billion had been invested in 76 deals, a growth rate of 85 percent over last year’s total.
See the full story here: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/venture-capitalist-doesnt-see-opportunity-virtual-reality/
‘I Expect You to Die’ is One of Virtual Reality’s Best Games Yet
I Expect You to Die, currently only available for Oculus and PlayStation VR, has players fumbling around as a secret agent in a variety of scenarios designed to quickly kill you. Dying is part of the fun, though; poking around the puzzle rooms and figuring out what you can pull off what makes I Expect You to Die so charming. "Oh, maybe I should think about what chemicals I'm mixing together next time," you might say, as a canister full of explosive gas suddenly blows up in front of you.
But a fancy controller doesn't mean very much without meaningful interactions, and that's where I Expect You to Die's deployment of smart, funny puzzles inspired by old spy films come into play.
Hopefully, games like I Expect You to Die are a sign of things to come, as developers create new verbs in VR.
See the full story here: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/i-expect-you-to-die-is-one-of-virtual-realitys-best-games-yet
Intel Announces First VOKE Virtual Reality Broadcast of Critics’ Choice Awards
At New York Fashion Week, 13 designers will utilize Intels immersive runway experience powered by VOKEs TrueVR platform and Intel data center technologies to live-broadcast their runway shows in full stereoscopic virtual reality. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
This weekend viewers will be treated to a front row seat at the Critics’ Choice Awardsthanks to Intel’s virtual reality technology, VOKE VR. It will be the first time a prominent awards show has been broadcast live with VOKE VR and made available to fans on multiple headsets and mobile operating systems.
See the full story here: https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-announces-first-voke-virtual-reality-broadcast-of-critics-choice-awards/
Occipital AR/VR headset for iPhone
The startup Occipital created its Structure Sensor iPad accessory specifically to take detailed, real-time scans of a room. It occurred to the creators that if they built the sensor into a VR headset, that headset would have room-scale VR powers along the lines of the HTC Vive, where virtual objects are not only mixed with the real world, but can also interact with the viewer and the environment on the fly.
Enter the Bridge. ...Then you see the oblong sensor array protruding from the front. That, of course, is the Structure Sensor, which powers the augmented-reality experience. I got a chance to try out the Bridge at Mashable's offices, and it was definitely the best AR/VR headset demo I've ever seen on an iPhone.
Occipital has created a robot character, named Bridget that can interact with you and the room. Tell Bridget to fetch a virtual object and she'll go get it, avoiding real-world furniture along the way. You can tell her to seek out a power outlet for recharging (she doesn't really recharge, of course), and she'll get sad if physical objects get in her way.
One of the more thrilling things to do with the Bridge is go full virtual. If you click on Bridget, she'll display a menu of five 3D objects, and if you pick the one that looks like a person escaping, a huge virtual doorway will open in front of you. Step through it and you'll suddenly be in a fully virtual environment; the one I was in looked like a futuristic observation deck.
See the full story here: http://mashable.com/2016/12/09/occipital-bridge-vr-iphone/#99VmpfMfJaqa