philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Aremi: The Magic of Gaia Lets Users Become Wizards Through Augmented Reality

Immersive Play (Immplay), a member of the Zynga co.lab accelerator, announced that it will release Aremi: The Magic of Gaia, its augmented-reality-supported magic cauldron toy, in limited quantities this holiday season, ahead of the product’s retail release in 2017. Aremi: The Magic of Gaia combines real-world toys with a mobile application, and will allow children to become wizards and create virtual potions.

Aremi: The Magic of Gaia features a real-world cauldron toy, which parents can fill with water to produce mist while their children create potions. In a recent demo with SocialTimes, Immplay co-founder and CEO Marco Carvalho compared the cauldron’s mist creation to a humidifier, making it safe for kids. The platform features more than 40 waterproof potion ingredients, which players will be able to combine in specific ways to create potions within the app.

Elsewhere, users will be able to create traveling potions, which will virtually transport them to another city or country. While users will be able to view their new surroundings through their device’s screen, players with a separate virtual reality headset, like the Samsung Gear VR, will also be able to experience the location through virtual reality.

See the full story here: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/aremi-the-magic-of-gaia-lets-users-become-wizards-through-augmented-reality/638532

News Corp invests in ‘augmented reality’ business Plattar

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has invested in a startup that aims to make augmented reality, well, more of a reality.

The startup, Plattar, has been spun out of Christchurch digital agency One Fat Sheep, which has previously created augmented reality games and apps for Hell Pizza, Frucor and ASB Bank.

Hell's game let players point their smartphone camera at a Hell Pizza box which then "opened" into an interactive 3-D map of Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, at the centre of which was a Hell Pizza store, under attack from zombies which had to be destroyed.

Deans will run Plattar from Melbourne while his brother, Sebastian Deans, continues to develop One Fat Sheep in Christchurch.

See the full story here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/79371504/News-Corp-invests-in-augmented-reality-business-Plattar

How Libraries can use AR

The mythical maze app (available here) has been downloaded more than 10,000 times to date. Across the United Kingdom children participated in the Reading Agency’s 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, Mythical Maze, by downloading the Mythical Maze app on their mobile devices. Liz McGettigan discusses the app in an article  published on the Charter Institute of Library and Information Professions website by explaining how it uses augmented reality to make posters and legend cards around the library come to life. The article links to The Reading Agency’s promotional video (watch it here). The video discusses how mythical creatures are hidden around the library and how children can look for these mythical creatures with their app. If they find the creatures, they can use the app to unlock mini-games. The app also allows children to scan stickers they receive from reading books, which unlocks rewards and allows children to learn more about the mythical creatures.

Using apps and integrating augmented reality is a fun way to do a summer reading challenge. The Reading Agency reported that 2014 was record-breaking year for their program. They state that participation increased by 3.6% and that 81,908 children joined the library to participate in the program, up 22.7% from the previous year. These statistics show that children are responding positively to augmented reality in their libraries.

See the full post here: http://informatics.mit.edu/blog/guest-post-diana-hellyar-library-use-new-visualization-technologies

The Twitch of virtual reality: VR live streaming startup VREAL comes out of stealth mode

VREAL's technology allows developers to turn their gaming environments into a theater-like virtual social meeting place, letting game streamers interact with viewers who want to participate in the experience.

For example, I tried out a few demos at VREAL last week, one of which was a mini putt-putt game. I strapped on a HTC Vive headset — VREAL’s technology works for any VR device — that was connected to a PC and was transported to the virtual golf world, where I watched another player make his way around the course. Joining me in real-time was another VREAL employee — I could see her virtual avatar, and we could talk to each other. We were able to move freely around the virtual world using the touch controllers, giving one another virtual fist-bumps when the other player sunk his putt.

It’s clear that VREAL wants to make virtual reality a social experience,...

VREAL’s technology lets developers enable these live streaming interactions without requiring many changes to the game itself, Hooper noted. There are no third-party broadcasting applications, as anyone can broadcast their stream directly through VREAL. The platform is not just for those with VR headsets, either, and also allows for 360-degree and 2D video streams — essentially, viewers using any type of screen can watch a VR gaming experience via VREAL.

“People see other people playing the game, and they get to experience it together,” he said. “That generates excitement around the game.

VREAL, which is launching its beta product this summer, employs 12 people and raised a $3.3 million seed round in November from Upfront Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Presence Capital, IT Farm, Dawn Patrol Ventures and Seattle and Bay Area angel investors.

See the full story here: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/virtual-reality-streaming-startup-vreal-comes-stealth/

Dublin City Council launches 3D Virtual Reality Website

An tArdmhéara Críona Ní Dhálaigh will launch The City and the Rising, a technically innovative new interactive website, at the Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin 2, on Tuesday, 26th April, 2016 at 12 noon. This unique website takes the user along the streets of Dublin City before, during and after the 1916 Rising.

The City and the Rising will guide the viewer through the city during the Rising while discovering key events as they unfold.  Through the use of innovative technologies the website offers a graphic insight into how the city’s buildings and streets played a pivotal role in the planning, execution and legacy of the event that was to lead to the creation of the Irish Republic.

“The aim of the The City and the Rising website is to offer an online experience that is visually striking, emotionally engaging and highly memorable; one that will thrill, captivate and inspire audiences, young and old alike. The oculus headset really lets you step back in time to the Dublin of 1916. Siúil siar sa stair, ar shráideanna na cathrach mar a bhí siad le linn an Éirí Amach. It’s not just a learning experience its “edutainment”!  said the Lord Mayor.

The website brings you a specially-created interactive map featuring images, text and videos.  The map lets you explore the Dublin of 1916 and inspect sites such as the GPO, Liberty Hall, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin Castle and many other locations where the events that influenced the course of the Rising took place.

The website can be found at www.dublincityrising.com

See the full story here: http://www.dublincity.ie/dublin-city-council-launches-3d-virtual-reality-website-0

HTC Just Earmarked $100 Million to Invest in VR Content, Applications Open Today

Vive X is an accelerator created by HTC which the company says aims to “help cultivate, and grow the global VR ecosystem by supporting startups and providing them with expertise, special access to advanced VR technology, financial investment, mentorship and unmatched go-to-market support.”

The company has publicly announced a $100 million fund that will be used to make investments in promising VR companies that join the accelerator. This is one of the largest VR-dedicated investment funds to date. It’s 10 times the amount Oculus had set aside to support indie VR developers last year; where that pot was doled out in a way more traditional to the game industry, the Vive X accelerator takes a more startup-focused approach.

HTC is calling the program a “global accelerator,” and says it will begin intial operations in three cities: Beijing, Taipei, and San Francisco, “with a view to rolling out across other global hubs in the near future.”

At this point it’s unclear if HTC will be using the fund to create Vive-exclusive content agreements—similar to what we’ve seen from Oculus—though it does sound like they will only be considering companies who have something to offer to the Vive platform.

“Our goal is to support a healthy and vibrant ecosystem for the VIVE… ultimately helping the teams turn into valuable content producers or content enablers for the VIVE platform.

See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/htc-vive-x-accelerator-100-million-investment-fund-virtual-reality/

The virtual reality successor to Second Life will open to 3D artists this summer

Today, Linden Lab announced that it's taking applications for a preview of Project Sansar, a VR-creation platform that it first announced last year. If you're a 3D artist or modeler, you can put your name down for a "Creator Preview" that will open this summer.

Sansar is supposed to be a place for people to "create, share, and ultimately monetize their own interactive social experiences" — it's previously been compared to "WordPress for VR."

When it's released, Project Sansar will be competing with a number of other social spaces and creation tools. AltSpace has already built a solid user base on the Gear VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive, and Second Life founder Philip Rosedale — who ended his tenure as Linden Lab CEO in 2008 — built his own VR platform called High Fidelity. But while VR has been hyped for years now, it's still far from a mainstream technology, so there's still plenty of room for development.

See the full story here: http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/26/11502888/linden-lab-project-sansar-vr-early-applications-open

Disney Banks on Virtual Reality for Movies With Nokia Deal

Walt Disney Studios signed a multi-year deal with Nokia to provide virtual reality cameras and related software to the studio’s marketers and filmmakers, who will make VR content linked to Disney’s theatrical releases.

Jamie Voris, Walt Disney Studios chief technology officer, said the company’s aim is to “bring extraordinary experiences to audiences around the world, and specially-created VR content is one more way we can transport people even further into the worlds our filmmakers create.”

Nokia will be providing Disney with its OZO cameras. The equipment, launched in November 2015, was one of the first virtual-reality cameras aimed at professional content creators. It has a real-time VR preview, a kind of “spatial audio” that makes sounds directional and more realistic, and compatibility with professional workflows, as well as multiple head mounted displays.

Nokia and Disney already used the OZO to create two 360-degree videos — a red-carpet broadcast and and a cast interview — for the April premiere of “The Jungle Book.”

See the full story here: https://www.thewrap.com/disney-virtual-reality-movies-nokia-ozo-cameras-deal/

Piecing Together Apple’s Real Virtual Reality Plans

First, Apple is staffing up. In November 2014, Apple posted a job listing for app engineers experienced with 3D graphics, virtual reality, and augmented reality. It specifically asked for developers to build “high-performance apps that integrate with Virtual Reality systems for prototyping and user testing.” Then Apple went on a hiring spree – landing Microsoft MSFT -1.07%’s Nick Thompson, an engineer that worked on the HoloLens audio hardware for three years. Apple hired Bennett Wilburn, another Microsoft employee, who focused on “machine learning technology for human activity recognition.” And finally Graham Myhre, who worked at Lytro developing specialized lenses and sensors. So Apple is recruiting VR rockstars.

Then, the shopping spree continued with a checkbook looking for VR companies to acquire.

In 2013, the company bought PrimeSense, the company that developed the original Xbox Kinect, for $345 million. In 2015, The company acquired Metaio, a German company. Metaio was a relatively well-known augmented reality company, powering many popular AR apps – including AR apps for Ikea and Ferrari. Then, Apple acquired Flyby Media, a company with technology that allows smartphones to ‘see’ the world around them.

So you see the pattern – tech, talent, and teams, all being onboarded at Apple.

And, in a rare development, Apple is sending its emissaries off campus. Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab is known as the white hot center of VR/AR development. Jeremy Bailenson is the director of the program. Speaking at the event, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bailenson remarked: “Apple hasn’t come to my lab in 13 years – except they’ve come three times in the last three months. They come and they don’t say a word, but there’s a data point for you.”

See the full story here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenrosenbaum/2016/04/25/apples-secret-weapon-vr/#12a58112a8fc

How Traditional Storytelling Is Ruining Virtual Reality Film

The cinematic VR showcased at the recent Tribeca Film Festival ran the gamut from live-action documentary to animated science fiction. Very few of these experiences were any good. But the real crowd-pleasers, animated fiction like Allumette and Invasion, racked up waitlists as long as eight hours.

Looking at the difference between the good and bad VR, I started to glean some insight into the nascent artform. No one has even come close to mastering the medium, but it’s clear that holding on to the traditional rules of storytelling is a surefire way to make disappointing VR.

See the full story here: http://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/read/tribeca-film-festival-2016-virtual-reality-film