Microsoft’s HoloLens Now On Preorder In Six Additional Markets, As Augmented Reality Gets Global
Microsoft is opening up preorders for its HoloLens augmented reality headgear to six new markets around the globe. As of Oct. 12, potential buyers from France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, New Zealand and Australia can get the headset.
Six and a half months ago, Microsoft released the Development edition of HoloLens for Canada and the U.S, and 18 months ago the company showcased the device for the first time.
The standard price for HoloLens is $3,000 in the U.S., and regional price tags will be based on it, with minor differences because of exchange rates. Shipping of Microsoft's headset is scheduled to start in November for those who have the cash to afford it.
The headset is strong in specs, but its caveat comes from another direction: the only language available for HoloLens, at least for the moment, is English.
See the full story here: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/182014/20161013/microsoft-s-hololens-now-on-preorder-in-six-additional-markets-as-augmented-reality-gets-global.htm
New Augmented Reality Collective group powers up on campus
The club's gear was donated by Microsoft and they offer students opportunities to learn more about the future of technology.
The Augmented Reality Collective (ARC), which first met Monday night, is where students got a chance to see the $3,000 headset in action. As they gathered to watch demos of the gear, ARC President Dan Yao told the group augmented reality is the future, and this was their chance to get on board.
During the presentation, Yao, spurred by comments about the money possibilities in the field, jokingly asked, “Who wants to do a startup?”
See the full story here: http://www.mndaily.com/article/2016/10/arc-powers-up-on-campus
What Virtual Reality Is Good For
The key to understanding virtual reality, Bailenson said, is that it’s both potent and taxing. It’s potent because it’s so visceral and immediate that it can trick your brain into mistaking it for reality. In doing so, his research shows, VR experiences can change how people think about themselves and others, perhaps in places where other media might fail. In a just-published study, Bailenson and colleagues found that taking the perspective of a cow or even a coral reef in a VR simulation produced more empathy for those organisms’ plights than watching a video about them. In a 2013 experiment, people who experienced colorblindness through a VR simulation went on to spend more time helping people with colorblindness than those who merely imagined having the condition.
Yet that immersion comes with costs—physical, mental, and financial. Though the technology today is far better than the laggy, monochromatic Nintendo Virtual Boy games that gave people headachesin the 1990s, virtual reality headsets can still fatigue your visual system, he says. VR content can also take a psychic toll. Shooting up bad guys on a video-game console is one thing. But “when you’re using your hands for murder, and you’re feeling haptic feedback as blood spatters on you, it’s just a different category.”
In particular, he has come to believe that experiences worth creating (or recreating) in VR are those that could be described with one or more of the following four adjectives:
Expensive: If it would cost a lot to do something in real life, like visit the statue of David in Florence, Italy, it might make sense to do it virtually.
Dangerous: Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro might be the adventure of a lifetime, but it could also be your last. Several people die on its slopes every year.
Impossible: You can’t travel back in time, grow a third arm, or experience life as a person of a different race or gender. But VR can give you a surprisingly visceral taste of what it would be like if you could.
Rare: You could go whale-watching a dozen times without seeing a humpback breach right next to your boat. Or you could do it once in VR.
Bailenson’s criteria don’t explicitly rule out movies or games as a vehicle for VR experiences. But they imply that even the most basic movie and gaming conventions—world-building, character-drawing, shot-framing, plot exposition—are inessential to this new form. In fact, VR as a medium is a singularly poor fit for linear narrative: The viewers’ ability to look in any direction makes it difficult to focus their attention on any given plot point. “You see these 20-minute VR film trailers emerging for things like Star Wars or The Martian, or stories being told in VR journalism,” Bailenson says. “The market is trying to use the template they have for their old mediums and bring it to VR.”
Jaron Lanier, the VR pioneer who coined the term virtual reality, agrees. “People who are on the inside of VR mostly feel the same way [as Bailenson] about movies and gaming,” Lanier says. “And yet because there’s so much enthusiasm from the movie and the gaming world, and also so much money, it’s a little awkward to say that. But it’s true. They both just seem to really miss the point for people who are experienced in VR.”
See the full story here: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/08/the_only_good_reasons_to_use_virtual_reality_and_the_current_vr_renaissance.html
Everything you need to know about Apple’s AirPods
Both earbuds have dual optical sensors that sense when they’re in your ears to pause and play music, and there are dual-voice accelerometers that can detect when you’re speaking. Each earbud for the AirPods are packed with two microphones, an antenna, a battery, and the W1 chip.
Since each earbud has all that tech, you can use one without the other — all audio will automatically be routed to the earbud you decide to use.
Once you pair the earbuds to your iPhone, it will automatically pair with your Apple Watch and Mac if they’re running the latest software — watchOS 3 and macOS Sierra.
The earbuds themselves will only have five hours of playback time per charge.
The AirPods don’t come with the iPhone 7, and they’re fairly expensive: $160.
See the full story here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/music/apple-airpods/
The Ultimate Virtual Reality Buyer’s Guide
[Philip Lelyveld comment: reviews of the best known HMDs.]
Virtual Reality
http://time.com/4521986/playstation-vr-oculus-rift-htc-vive-samsung-gear-comparison-virtual-reality/
Nolan Bushnell’s Modal VR Launches Virtual Reality Platform For Enterprises
Modal VR enables companies to set up virtual reality experiences that are life-size and large-scale, like setting up a field for a new kind of laser tag game or a shared virtual tourism experience.
Crawford started Modal VR a few years ago because he wanted to create believable experiences in VR. The system is completely wireless, and it comes with various sensors with batteries. Over time, the company hopes to make the wearable technology more invisible and lightweight, Bushnell said. And the way the system is built, there could be large numbers of people who share the same virtual experience.
Rather than stuffing the brains in a backpack like The Void and Zero Latency, Modal VR's power comes from a dedicated unit it calls the VR Fabricator, which communicates with the headsets and body suit wirelessly. Each unit can track the locations, body positions, and voice comms of up to 10 players at once, but by stringing them together over a local network or online can apparently support "exponentially" more users. Admins control the game through the Command Center software, running on a connected laptop or PC.
VR headsets aren't flattering at the best of times, and with its two bug-like antennae on top, Modal VR's Visor is no exception. That said, we'll forgive it if it can fulfil its promise of very low-latency, wireless VR. Built-in headphones provide 3D audio, and there's a little gaming mic hanging in front of the wearer's mouth through which to bark orders at teammates.
Body tracking is handled by what looks like a series of straps that monitor the movement of the arms, legs and waist, capped off with gloves. Modal VR says the suit is optional, but if it actually works well, it might be the key ingredient. Like a motion capture system for animation, the suit can also record a wearer's movements, for QA or other purposes later.
See the full story here: http://uploadvr.com/modal-vr/
Peer into The Simpsons’ virtual reality with James L. Brooks
Since we spoke with Brooks, Fox has announced that the bit will be called “Planet Of The Couches” and that it was produced with Google Spotlight Stories. Those in possession of Google Cardboard can get the full experience, in which “the world of The Simpsons is extended 360 degrees.” Brooks acknowledged there was a learning curve to working with the massive tech company’s teams. “The first meetings, we didn’t understand a word anybody was saying, and now we’re getting it,” he said. He added, “and there’s new techniques they’re doing that sort of lend themselves to a 15-second joke,” the perfect amount of time for a couch gag.
See the full story here: http://www.avclub.com/article/peer-simpsons-virtual-reality-james-l-brooks-244108
This augmented-reality “Wizard of Oz” stage show actually encourages you to whip out your phone at the theater
It's called Elements of Oz, and it uses augmented reality to offer theatergoers an enhanced look at the magical land created by L. Frank Baum. Using an AR mobile app designed specifically for the show, audience members can hold up their phones to the stage and see special effects—like the tornado that hits Dorothy's house—super imposed over the live action. Think Pokémon Go without the stigma.
See the full story here: https://news.fastcompany.com/this-augmented-reality-wizard-of-oz-stage-show-actually-encourages-you-to-whip-out-your-phone-at-the-theater-4021807
‘Wonder Buffalo’ filmmakers Receive ETC@USC Innovation Technology Award
The Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California has picked filmmaker Christine Berg and her writing partner Simon Shterenberg to receive its 2016 Innovative Technology award for their Cloud Project Initiative on behalf of “Wonder Buffalo,“ their film/alternate reality/virtual reality project.
Supporters for the project include Disney/ABC Television Group, Warner Bros., NAGRA Kudelski Group, Technicolor, Equinix, Sony Electronics, Amazon Web Services, the Creative Visions Foundation, The World Building Institute, and USC School of Cinematic Arts.
“The ‘Wonder Buffalo’ project with ETC offers a unique opportunity to push the boundaries of how entertainment is created and consumed,” adds Sandra Carvalho, Technicolor’s Chief Marketing Officer. “We are looking forward to engaging with the creative technology community to further explore how HDR and immersive media can empower storytellers.”
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2016/artisans/news/etcusc-wonder-buffalo-filmmakers-receive-etcusc-innovation-technology-award-1201886005/
HYPER BULLYING – Bullies will soon TORTURE their victims in virtual reality, experts warn
The kids of tomorrow will be ‘TORTURED’ by bullies whilst they are plugged into virtual reality.
That’s the warning from top think tank the Institute of Ideas, which is about to hold a seminar about whether VR should be “policed”.
In a statement, the Institute wrote: “Concerns about how social codes and morals may no longer hold in virtual reality worlds, where the participants are physically immersed in digital scenarios – where they can move, touch, hear, see and even smell – have been heightened with the launch last month of the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift VR headset in the UK.
See the full story here: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1956202/bullies-will-soon-torture-their-victims-in-virtual-reality-experts-warn/