philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Stanford to investigate using virtual reality for psychiatric treatment

Conversion disorder, also known as functional neurological symptom disorder, is a condition wherein mental or emotional stresses are converted into physical symptoms.

"It’s kind of the roots of psychiatry," Dr. Kim Bullock, a clinical associate professor of pyschiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford and the lead researcher on the study, told MobiHealthNews. "Everyone’s very curious about this subject because it’s the intersection between mind, body, culture, environment. It kind of embodies everything that we’re trying to figure out. But very little research has been done on this subject. There’s no big pharmaceutical money behind it and there’s really a lack of awareness among providers about how ubiquitous this disorder is, because it kind of infiltrates every medical specialty."

Bullock said that neuro-imaging studies have shown that in people with conversion disorder, a part of the prefrontal cortex that normally inhibits the amygdala from taking control of the motor-sensory cortex doesn't function like it should. Most existent treatments focus on calming down the amygdala so it doesn't become overactive and "hijack" motor functions or senses.

"What’s really cool about virtual reality is it’s been shown to be helpful with people with post-traumatic stress disorder that have similar areas in the brain that are overactive," Bullock said. "So we thought maybe VR will be a way to desensitize people, figure out what their triggers are, similar to what’s been done with PTSD."

Physical therapy is also a useful treatment for conversion disorder, and virtual reality could be used to deliver physical therapy as well.

See the full story here: http://mobihealthnews.com/content/stanford-investigate-using-virtual-reality-psychiatric-treatment

Virtual Reality in Maine: Part 1

“Virtual reality is moving at an incredibly rapid rate,” said Richard Corey, Director of the University of Maine’s Virtual Environment and Multimodal Interaction Laboratory, the only research facility of its kind in Maine.

Students and professors there are pushing the boundaries of VR.

It opened in 2008.

Richard Corey leads a team of 18 students at the VEMI Lab.

“It is a great time for them to be graduating with this much knowledge of virtual and augmented reality because they’re well ahead of people that have just gotten into it,” said Corey.

See the full story here: http://wabi.tv/2016/05/23/virtual-reality-in-maine-part-1/

Paul McCartney invites virtual reality users into his studio

In 1967, Paul McCartney used studio technology to usher in a new musical era with the revolutionary concept album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Now Beatle Paul is pushing the high-tech envelope again by peddling his latest album with the help of virtual reality.

McCartney is the subject of six VR mini-documentaries produced by Jaunt Studios to promote the musician's new album, a 67-song retrospective called PURE McCartney, out June 10. The interviews were conducted at McCartney's British home studio — location undisclosed — and represent a rare peek into the man's private domain.

See the full story here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/05/24/paul-mccartney-invites-virtual-reality-users-into-his-studio/84809140/

Facebook just bought VR audio company Two Big Ears and is making their tech free to developers

[Philip Lelyveld comment: the audio in the video at the link is amazing: even playing from my laptop speakers!]

Facebook is continuing to devote resources to fine-tuning how 3D audio impacts viewer perceptions in virtual reality.

Today, the social media giant and Oculus parent company announced that they have purchased immersive audio company Two Big Ears and will be making their technology free as a part of their new Facebook 360 Spatial Workshop. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The Edinburgh-based company, which has been around since 2013, specializes in spatial 3D audio in cinematic and gaming experiences.

Our mission is to make VR audio succeed across all devices and platforms and continue to help creators make the best experiences for billions of people across the world.

The company’s technology focuses largely on how sound plays in 3D spaces and how it interacts with surfaces that surround the viewer.

One of the questions on a lot of developers’ minds is likely whether this tool is only going to be compatible with the Oculus Rift and Gear VR. Two Big Ears realized this was a cause for concern and addressed it directly, saying they would “continue to be platform and device agnostic.”

See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/23/facebook-just-bought-vr-audio-company-two-big-ears-and-is-making-their-tech-free-to-developers/

European VR Landscape – 2 plots

http://www.greenlightvr.com/ecosystem-map/2015-europe

https://filiptester.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/euvjub150910-01_poster_euvr_11x17inch_03.pdf

YouTube Builds Daydream VR App, Immersive Content Catalog

Shortly after Google unveiled its Daydream VR system during its I/O conference, YouTube revealed its plans for a virtual reality app, to be available on Daydream mobile VR devices. YouTube has also been encouraging its content partners to produce 360-degree content by providing VR cameras, in an effort to build up content for its VR app, which will function like YouTube on mobile or a smart TV. The app, which is being built from scratch, will be full-featured and enable access to subscriptions, favorites, search and more.

Variety reports YouTube VR product manager Kurt Wilms saying that he and his team expect consumers will also watch “a lot of regular 2D videos as well.” The app is being designed to be as easy as possible to navigate the entire YouTube catalog, and makes “extensive use of the Daydream controller” so users don’t have to “turn their heads or intensely gaze on virtual controls.”

The app will also incorporate voice search. YouTube plans to evolve beyond the Spotlight Stories on its platform, for more interactive VR video experiences that “go beyond a simple linear narrative.”

See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/youtube-builds-daydream-vr-app-immersive-content-catalog/

and the original story here: http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/youtube-vr-app-content-partnerships-ads-1201778834/

History of VR/AR in Hospitality, Why VR?, Best Western initiative

By summer, all 2,200 Best Western-branded hotels in North America will have a “Best Western Virtual Reality Experience” whereby travelers can see each property’s rooms, lobbies, and amenities virtually online before they even arrive at the hotel.

Phoenix-based Best Western has been working with Google Street View to develop this product for the past three years, gathering some 1.7 million photos of its North American properties.

A History of Hospitality in VR and Augmented Reality

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the notable VR and 360-degree video plays that other hospitality companies have made in recent years:

May 2015: Starwood was already testing out whether or not guests would respond to VR in its concept lab.

September 2015: Marriott piloted a program, called VRoom Service, at two of its locations in New York and London, where by guests could “travel” the world via VR by borrowing a Samsung Gear VR headset for 24 hours.

October 2015: Shangri-La Hotels announced it will be the first international hospitality brand to debut Samsung Gear VR headsets for its 17 global sales offices and 94 individual hotel sales teams. Whereas Best Western is using VR to sell its hotels direct to consumers, Shangri-La is using VR to sell its hotels to wholesalers, travel agents, meeting planners, and other customers.

April 2016: Similar to Shangri-La’s strategy, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group debuted BluPrint, a VR-enhanced app that helps investors and developers have a better understanding of the design process involved in the group’s Radisson Blu hotel brand.

April 2016: Hilton launches a new 360-degree video ad to push more direct bookings.

April 2016: For its Sonoma Select pilot program, Airbnb partnered with Matterport to produce enhanced 360-degree video listings for hosts participating in the pilot program. With this program, guests can experience more of a hotel-like package when they stay with highly rated, selected hosts in Sonoma, California.

May 2016: Holiday Inn Express released a comedic VR video starring actor Rob Riggle, the brand’s creative director, to promote the hotel company’s “power shower” experience.

May 2016: Vacation rental management company Vacasa also partnered with Matterport to have unique 360-degree, interactive video experiences on all of its vacation rental listings.

Why Are So Many Hotels Turning to VR?

To inform and sell: This is the strategy being adopted by brands like Best Western, Shangri-La, Carlson Rezidor, and Vacasa. For these brands, VR and/or 360-degree videos are being used as tools to inform their customers about their products.

To entertain and market: Brands like Marriott, Starwood, and Holiday Inn Express have taken a different route, seeing how VR can be used to entertain guests, and transport them, virtually, to another space all together.

Artella is a Cloud-Based Tool That Aims to Be the GitHub of Creative VR Collaboration

Finding like-minded creatives for any type of project can be a challenge.

But Artella, a new cloud-based production platform, is aiming to make finding teams, and creating animation, graphics, and VR projects just a little bit easier.

Created by Bobby Beck, Carlos Baena, and Shawn Kelly, animators from Pixar, Paramount, and ILM who have worked on a few films you may have heard of, such as Rango, Transformers, and Toy Story 2, Artella is a platform for creatives to make project pitches, find other people who are interested in working on that project, and then manage everything within one digital studio. Since it’s a cloud-based platform, everything works even if the team members are physically split up across the globe.

Artella gives creators the ability to bring people together by first helping artists connect to projects, and then helping creators on manage those projects, tasks, workflows, databases, and files.

The file management part of Artella is the core of the system. To start, a manager chooses a project type to configure the pipeline for that specific project’s needs. For example, a VR project would have a different file structure than a game project.

...the best stuff you get is not necessarily the stuff you have in your head.” Beck said. Instead, Beck feels the best ideas come from people working around you and he thinks that Artella breaks down these barriers for communication and collaboration very quickly.

Payment and contracts happen between the project managers and the contributors directly, with Artella not handling –or taking a cut — of the transactional side of business. It also doesn’t take any ownership in the IP or any equity in the project, with those rights staying with the creators. It’s currently free to try, and plans to stay free to join, but will eventually roll out monthly fees per user per projects billed to the creator, with different tiers ($10-$30/user) based on different creator’s needs.

Currently, Artella’s focus is on animation, VR, video games, film, and commercials, with plans to expand into other areas as the community helps shape what they want out of the product.

And with Artella projects now moving forward — Beck mentioned one company called High Fidelity that ran a hackathon on Artella at the Upload Collective to create 27 characters in three days

See the full story here: http://uploadvr.com/artella-cloud-based-collaboration-tool-aims-github-creative-vr-project-management/

April 25, 2016 Stinger Report – VR in China

The next part of our coverage from the Amusement & Attraction Expo (AAA) and the new technology on display:

See the full Stinger Report here: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1103295952658&ca=cf3c121c-0add-45f3-8f7a-02c3bbbabd87

Why the Virtual-Reality Hype is About to Come Crashing Down

“In the early days of any new hardware, it’s incumbent on the hardware manufacturer to fund the creative community,” says Anthony Batt, co-founder of VR production studio WEVR. HTC, Kaleidoscope VR and WEVR have, for example, financed a VR “music video.”

Unfortunately, much nongame VR content, including so-called “360 video,” doesn’t support that illusion. Rather than feeling that you are in a place, experiencing an event, current 360 video tends to make you feel like your head is “in a fishbowl of video,” as Mr. Pinnell puts it. Such experiences make me fear that 360 video will be the next 3-D TV, something nobody asked for and few will use.

See the full story here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-virtual-reality-hype-is-about-to-come-crashing-down-1463976001