philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

(New Zealand ratings board) The Classification Office meets virtual reality: what are the ramifications of VR technology?

While we've had a go on VR, we haven't actually examined a game yet. When examining a game, our Classification Officers will need to consider the classification criteria, including whether the game has content like sex, violence, or offensive language. Another thing to consider is the impact of the medium — in other words, is the format of the game likely to have an impact on its audience? Will this lead to a different classification?

So will VR significantly affect classifications? Would the same content played traditionally get a lower classification? It's impossible to know right now, but it's likely we'll have some idea in the coming months. In the meantime we're keeping up with VR developments.

See the full article here: http://www.classificationoffice.govt.nz/blog/blog-virtual-reality.html

Online Fiction Becomes Chinese Cultural Force

"Some 43% of China’s online population, or 297 million people, read novels online in 2015, according to a government report.... online literature has blossomed in China because it addressed demand for topics that traditional Chinese book publishers had largely ignored: home-grown science fiction, romance, fantasy and erotica."

Read the full story here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/online-fiction-becomes-chinese-cultural-force-1469035251

Augmented reality technology helps soldiers navigate through danger

Bigham said that “mixed reality” technology, similar to what drives Pokémon GO, allows military forces to traverse dangerous terrain and unfamiliar territory like it was their own backyard. A GPS-enabled app that combines latitude and longitude coordinates with points of interest could help soldiers find food, water, gas, ammunition, Wi-Fi hotspots and even potential IED locations. Using a variety of geographical databases would help highlight everything from the highest rated places to eat and sleep to the hideouts of bad guys.

“Using facial recognition technology, you could point your phone’s camera at a crowd, tap into a biometric database and then a little bubble could pop up alerting the user if the person standing next to them is on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list,” Bigham said.

See the full story here: http://www.raytheon.com/news/feature/augmented_reality_app.html

Augmented Reality Navigation Surgery Facilitates Laparoscopic Rescue of Failed Portal Vein Embolization

Despite the complexity of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) of the liver, no system in clinical practice today enhances the digitalized laparoscopic view to facilitate the surgery  1. Further, all robotic surgery currently in use facilitate MIS by providing “tele-manipulation” (the surgeons performs the surgery remote from the patient), without the creation of an automatically enhanced interface (augmented reality, AR) between the patient and the operating surgeon.  2 AR, however, could help to overcome the difficulties of laparoscopic surgery in general and advanced laparoscopic liver surgery specifically: loss of depth perception, decreased spatial understanding and tactile feedback in the three dimensional space of the liver, and complicated 3D anatomy without significant outward landmarks.

See the original post here: http://www.journalacs.org/article/S1072-7515(16)30681-0/abstract

HelloVR Is Creating A 10,000 Square Mile Virtual Reality World

Redwood City-based AltspaceVR on the other hand is putting a bigger emphasis on social experiences, and has done comedy nights and concerts in virtual reality, complete with avatars cheering stars like Reggie Watts.

Still, virtual worlds like MetaWorld are fascinating, if only for the fact that they give people a much more natural way to interact with each other over large distances without the frequent awkwardness of a video call. And as VR matures, one can expect these types of worlds to host all kinds of entertainment experiences, from concerts to meet and greets with Hollywood stars and bands alike.

One of the perks of working for San Francisco-based virtual reality(VR) startup HelloVR is a 24-hour campfire — a digital campfire, to be precise. It’s part of MetaWorld, the virtual world that HelloVR has been building over the past several months.

MetaWorld consists of 10,000 square miles of virtual environment, complete with meadows, trees, mountains, lakes, and yes, campfires, that will be made available to early adopters through a “Pioneer Edition” program for high-end VR headsets like the HTC Vive later this year.

See the full story here: http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/hellovr-is-creating-a-10000-square-mile-virtual-reality-world-1201817792/

Five Theories of Motion Sickness Triggers in Virtual Reality

I had a chance to catch up with Jason Jerald after he taught a class about Human-Centered Design for VR at the IEEE VR conference, and he explained each of the five different theories that may cause simulator sickness including the

Sensory Conflict Theory,

Evolutionary Theory,

Postural Instability Theory,

Rest Frame Hypothesis, and the

Eye Movement Theory.

Jason also talks about ways to mitigate simulator sickness including implementing different viewpoint control patterns, using a cockpit, providing a leading indicator of movements, walking in place, vibrating the floor, reducing texture complexity, and limiting optical flow in the periphery.

See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/five-theories-motion-sickness-triggers-virtual-reality

Digital Domain Announces 360-Degree Camera

Digital Domain also announced Zeus, a 360-degree camera “boasting the ability to record footage at a greater than 8k resolution at 10 bit, shooting 75 frames per second. The camera is also capable of seamless 360° livestreaming at levels up to 4k resolution.” It’ll be deployed “immediately,” according to Digital Domain.

While little information was revealed, DDH reported that it developed a business development plan for Hong Kong-based postproduction facility Digital Domain Post Production Office, which was launched when DDH acquired a share in the previously named Post Production Office earlier this year.

See the full story here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/digital-domain-dreamworks-animation-strike-912433

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Files Patent for Augmented Reality

A computer-implemented method for generating and synchronizing interactive Augmented Reality (AR) displays, comprising: capturing live video of a real-world, physical environment on a touch sensitive surface of a device; combining an information layer and the live video in a display of the device, the information layer related to one or more objects in the live video; displaying computer-generated imagery representing one or more objects in the live video on the touch sensitive surface; overlaying the information layer on the computer-generated imagery; receiving data from one or more onboard motion sensors indicating that the device is in motion; and synchronizing the live video, computer-generated imagery and information layer using the sensor data.

Patent filings are intentionally difficult to understand to obfuscate their intention while at the same time seeking intellectual property protection.

See the full story here: http://news.cmlviz.com/2016/07/18/apple-inc--nasdaq-aapl-files-patent-for-augmented-reality.html

Virtual reality in the classroom? Hackathon explores ways to apply it to education

Chaube’s team presented LIFE, or Learning Is Fun Everywhere, a program that used virtual reality to help students apply concepts like algebra and geometry. Chaube received the award for most engaging project.

“You always get students saying, ‘Well, what the heck does this have to do with my life?’ ” said Deborah Jones, an educator who worked with the people behind LIFE. “Especially in math, I think virtual reality can really bring them those practical applications everyday.”

See the full story here: http://lakeexpo.com/news/top_stories/virtual-reality-in-the-classroom-hackathon-explores-ways-to-apply/article_96286bf2-4ca9-11e6-9503-1bec4bc7d883.html

Neil deGrasse Tyson Will Make His Virtual Reality Debut At Comic-Con

Tyson’s Space Odyssey VR Experience will make its debut at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Described in an official statement as both “an educational and entertaining interactive exhibition that will highlight some of the upcoming advances in virtual reality, as well as showcase the forthcoming Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Space Odyssey multi-platform franchise.”

These platforms will include an immersive game with virtual reality missions, a series of comic stories, and an animated series. This content will be available “on home and mobile devices – and eventually at museums, science centers and in classrooms.”

Space Odyssey will make its debut as a part of the inaugural VR Con – Comic-Con’s very first immersive-tech focused exhibition.

Tyson’s VR experience will be showcased at VR Con in partnership with Radiant Images.

See the full story here: http://uploadvr.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-will-make-virtual-reality-debut-comic-con/