How Virtual Reality Can Enhance the Life of Older Adults
For seniors, one can imagine several exciting possibilities:
–Sensory enhancement via augmented and cued auditory and visual sensations to compensate for hearing impairment, macular degeneration and other common age-related maladies.For example, imagine being able to light up the road and add digital warning signals and verbal advisories to a headset or a windshield display used by an older driver at night.
–Cognitive enhancement via visual and auditory cues, symbols and reminders. For example, facial-recognition software can remind someone who they are meeting. Household items can be inventoried and tracked, and then a headset or other device can guide someone to them when a verbal request is made.
–Brain training via regularly cued lessons. Imagine brain games that boost both cognition and function by integrating them into real-world activities. For example, a person could take a stroll through the neighborhood following a virtual ball or other image to exercise muscles while simultaneously shaping visuospatial abilities.
–Musculoskeletal and neuromotor enhancement. Programs could tailor gesture control to help someone with arthritis or Parkinson’s disease interact more easily with their environment, while also serving to improve movement, strength and dexterity.
The possibilities are endless...
See the full story here: http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2016/03/21/how-virtual-reality-can-enhance-the-life-of-older-adults/
Entrepreneurs work with artists to craft business plans, pitch investors to boost exposure and brand
...Th3rdbrain’s application of the model for individual musicians is unique.
Th3rdbrain—whose management clients include R&B artist Gallant, and Grammy-nominated producer Zhu— selected an assortment of promising new acts for its pilot program and plans to host a “demo night” and release their music through its in-house record label, taking a cut of the earnings, which they declined to specify. Top-tier managers typically take up to a 20% portion of all of an act’s revenue streams.
Artists can participate in the Th3rdbrain program even if they are signed to another record label, and they aren’t obligated to stay with company’s label or management division after the sessions end.
Mr. Udell suggested that the artists could learn from entrepreneurs such as 19-year-old YouTube-channel founder Andre Benz, who had declined promotion on another music service because he didn’t want to change his logo to conform with that service’s guidelines.
“Whether it’s the right or wrong decision we’ll never know,” Mr. Udell said. “But I do think it’s always powerful to stand up to the Man.”
See the full story here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/boot-camp-aims-to-help-musicians-amp-up-careers-1474833507
Sony Pictures will begin developing and distributing virtual reality content to go along with some of its films.
The new partnership with Reality One isn't all that surprising of a move for the company. Sony is, of course, known for its hardware, but the rise of virtual reality also depends on quality content becoming widely available. By teaming up with Reality One (which co-produced and co-published the VR film Gnomes and Goblins, directed by Jon Favreau), Sony will be able to tackle this challenge head on.
This isn't the first time Sony has recognized that it needs to help develop VR content if its forays into this market are to succeed. The company has partnered with more than 230 developers to create 50 VR titles for its PS4 console and its upcoming VR headset by the end of the year.
That's particularly notable, because Sony has already sold more than 40 million PS4 consoles (and will likely sell more with its new PS4 Pro release). Those consoles are compatible with Sony's mid-priced $399 VR headset.
See the full story here: http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/25/sonys-taking-yet-another-step-into-virtual-reality.aspx
Survios’ Raw Data is said to be the first VR game to hit $1 million in sales in a month.
According to Culver City, California-based Survios, Raw Data, available only for HTC’s high-end Vive, has become the first consumer VR game to hit $1 million in sales in a month. In addition, the company said, at least 20% of all Vive owners have purchased the $40 first-person shooter, and it became the first-ever VR game to top the charts at Steam, a leading game platform and ranking site.
Raw Data has earned rave reviews—such as Tom’s Guide’s best VR game award at this year’s Game Developers Conference—thanks to high-fidelity graphics, Active VR technology that gives players an immersive, free-moving, shared-space experience, and a high-quality gaming experience.
Another way of putting it is that Raw Data feels expensive, and that’s exactly what Survios was going for, CEO Nathan Burba told Fast Company.
"We saw a need in the market for a AAA title," Burba said, referencing full-price games for consoles like the Xbox. "It’s more expensive than anything for the Vive, and more people wanted that…. By putting more money in [and] having a higher price point, we’re signaling to users that this is a AAA title."
"There’s an opportunity to own a significant part of the marketplace," Burba said, "if you’re willing to spend capital up front…. There haven’t been too many big swings [at high-quality content]. I’d love to see another venture capitalist...take a big swing or two.
See the full story here: https://www.fastcompany.com/3063747/how-to-make-a-million-dollars-in-vr-release-an-expensive-game
SIMULATING WORST-CASE SCENARIOS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN US
Researchers hope to make their virtual reality “field trip’’ a vital conservation tool, aiming to give its “travelers’’ as real an experience as possible. The goal is to get people to understand in a visceral way what climate change is doing to the oceans. Rather than show them a slide show, or a video, or have them sit in front of a computer screen, virtual reality mentally transports them directly into the natural environment.
“There is an underwater calamity underway,’’ says Jeremy Bailenson, professor of communication at Stanford University and director of its Virtual Human Interaction Lab, where this and other “expeditions’’ are under creation. “We can’t get everyone to read scientific papers about climate change, so this shortcuts all of that. We want people to walk out of there feeling empathy and wanting to act. It really gives you a feel for what’s going to happen if we don’t do something.’’
Bailenson believes that virtual reality can play a significant role in not only in making people more environmentally friendly, but in prompting people to save more for retirement, exercise more and feel more empathy for important social issues, such as homelessness.
See the full story here: http://www.popsci.com/virtual-reality-coral-reef-environment
Philip Tippett interview – Virtual Reality and the Future of Filmmaking
Tippett’s company Tippett Studios has recently acquired several headsets, including the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and the Samsung Gear VR. While touring their offices in Berkeley, CA, I saw the bay they had set up to allow for the use of each headset, nestled in between work stations and sculptures of various creatures the studio has created over the years.
...what the VR stuff gives you is like a 360 degree dance field surrounding you,” Tippett says of the tech.
Aside from a surrounding camera view, Tippett is also excited about some of the other audiovisual aspects of VR and AR. While discussing it, he specifically mentions the way audio could potentially be used for interesting results.
“I didn’t know anything about this binaural sound,” he remembers. “Once we started to get into this stuff, I was like ‘Holy sh*t...I totally get it.’ Now, I know to use sound as an editorial device and use the 360 degree field.”
See the full story here: http://www.shacknews.com/article/96930/virtual-reality-and-the-future-of-filmmaking
Pokémon to Develop Games for Nintendo’s Next-Gen System
“Pokémon Go” — produced by Pokémon Co., an affiliate of Nintendo, and developed by Google spin-off Niantic — has been downloaded more than 500 million times since its July introduction. Now, Pokémon chief executive Tsunekazu Ishihara says his company plans to create games for Nintendo’s next-generation system, which sources say will combine features of traditional consoles and handheld devices. Ishihara also says the company hopes to bring “Pokémon Go” to China and South Korea.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo plans to debut its next game system, dubbed NX, by March 2017.
Research company App Annie estimates “Pokémon Go” has earned more than $700 million, although others dispute that, saying the real figure is lower.
Ishihara reveals that “Pokémon Go” is still expanding its feature set, adding player-to-player battles and character trades, although changes will “come slowly to avoid overwhelming entry-level players.”
“It’s important to really carefully consider any feature that may increase the difficulty and raise the barrier to entry for more casual users,” he said.
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/pokemon-to-develop-games-for-nintendos-next-gen-system/