Gannett Plans First Regularly Scheduled News Show in Virtual Reality
Called “VRtually There,” the show will cover a range of topics, including politics, sports, technology and finance. How often the show will air and for what length of time has yet to be determined.
Mr. Chauls says “VRtually There” will be the first regular news program developed for VR. Initially the content will be designed for viewing on a low-cost VR device, such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google Cardboard, which retails for about $15. In the future, though, it will be made available for high-end devices such as Facebook Inc.’s Oculus Rift, which cost $599 and hits store shelves later this month. For those who don’t have VR headsets, some of the content will be viewable in 2D on the company’s websites, mobile apps and social-media pages.
Most urgent, though, is focusing on attracting viewers, he added. “Right now that audience doesn’t exist.”
See the full story here:
Pixar and Bungie alum unveils Limitless, a virtual reality character creation platform
You’re in an ancient, booby-trapped Peruvian temple, standing next to Indiana Jones. He wiggles his fingers, licks his lips, and prepares to ever-so-carefully replace a gold figurine with a sandbag. Just before the switch, he turns to you and asks if you’re ready — and when you answer, he actually understands what you’ve said and responds back.
This interactive character experience is the future being created by Limitless founder and CEO Tom Sanocki. The Seattle-based virtual reality company has created a platform for content creators to design characters that can respond to VR users’ speech and body language in real time, which runs on all existing VR headsets by major manufacturers.
Sanocki approaches the virtual reality market from a unique perspective, as an alum of both film company Pixar and game company Bungie, where he led character design teams. During his 11 years at Pixar, he was behind characters like Kevin the bird from the movie Up and Mater from Cars. After Pixar, Sanocki moved to Bungie, where he worked for nearly 4 years on real-time characters for the game Destiny.
Limitless will debut its technology next week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, along with a VR experience produced on its platform by the company’s first publicly-announced customer, the VR film company Motional.
“Just like we saw with YouTube and Twitch, we don’t know what people will do with new technology until they actually do something with it,” Sanocki said.
While Limitless provides the character technology, users do all the storytelling, including script writing, acting, and animation. That’s how Motional’s VR experience,”Gary the Gull,” worked. Motional, whose CEO Mark Walsh is another Pixar alum, wrote a story about a seagull that chats you up on the beach in an attempt to snag your snacks. Gary the Gull asks questions and, using Limitless technology, understands user responses, reacting based on a preset script, depending on what users say and do.
Limitless currently shares space in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood with Pluto VR, the virtual reality company started in part by PopCap co-founder John Vechey.
See the full story here: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/limitless-a-platform-to-create-interactive-characters-to-debut-at-gdc/
Virtual reality desk claims another victim
See the original video here: http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/10/11196388/virtual-reality-table-gif
Here’s Magic Leap’s Covert Vision for Its Augmented Reality Headsets
[Philip Lelyveld comment: This is an interesting, but totally hypothetical description of what Magic Leap may deliver, based on patent filings which themselves are very arm-wavey.]
See the full story here: https://www.inverse.com/article/12176-here-s-magic-leap-s-covert-vision-for-its-augmented-reality-headsets
Virtual Reality Film House Penrose Studios Raises $8.5 Million
[Philip Lelyveld comment: This is interesting because it is money to create content and advance our understanding of the language of the new medium; not for the standard hardware/software/service/platform play.]
Penrose Studios, the virtual reality media company created by the co-founder of Oculus Story Studios Eugene Chung, has raised $8.5 million from multiple investors, including Accelerate-IT Ventures, TransLink Capital, Suffolk Equity and 8 Angel. It’s the company’s first funding round.
Chung says the money will be used to do the same kinds of things most startups do: add to its headcount and invest in more projects. Penrose specializes in virtual reality films, what Chung refers to as VR “worlds,” and to date it’s only produced two of them (that we know of publicly, that is). The first was “The Rose and I,” which the company showed off last month at Sundance. The second is called Allumette, a short film still in the works that the company is producing for the Tribeca Film Festival in April.
See the full story here: http://recode.net/2016/03/10/virtual-reality-film-house-penrose-studios-raises-8-5-million/
Immersv Launches Video Advertising Platform for Virtual Reality Apps
Immersv ad units respond to the gaze: Look at them long enough, and you’ll be taken to a virtual movie theater where you got to see video ads for other VR games and experiences. Users also have the option to go to the VR platform’s app store to download the advertised app right away, all without ever taking off their headset.
“Advertising in VR is still in its very nascent stages, but based on the early consumer response to our ad units, it is clear that VR-based video ads work extremely well,” Immersv co-founder and CEO Mihir Shah told Variety. The company has seen completion rates of 80 percent — about double of what you’d see for regular mobile ads, he said.
Shah and his team know a bit about the world of mobile advertising. Many of them come from Tapjoy, a mobile advertising company that’s being used by more than 10,000 mobile apps.
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/immersv-vr-video-advertising-platform-1201726878/
Scoble leaving Rackspace to join Upload VR
Today I’m announcing that I’m leaving Rackspace to join Upload VR http://uploadvr.com/ — a new media site covering virtual and augmented reality -- as its entrepreneur in residence, where I’ll be developing new shows, events, and working with other entrepreneurs in the Upload Collective, a coworking space for virtual reality-focused startups. In particular working with Upload’s cofounders Will Mason and Taylor Freeman.Virtual Reality Cinema is (kind of) here
The Virtual Reality Cinema, which is now open in Amsterdam, will be the world's first permanent VR cinema. If such a thing can really exist. The set up will involve a space for up to 50 people to sit on swivel chairs, wearing Samsung Gear VR headsets and Sennheiser HD 201 headphones.
Tickets cost €12.50 and get visitors 35 minutes of VR content, though we're not sure what the initial selection will be or how often that will change. Tickets are now available on the site for half an hour slots from 3pm to 11pm and can be booked until the end of March.
In theory, spaces such as this can be used to test new VR work and preview animated shorts, interactive TV series and more before they are made available - free or paid for - via a VR platform.
See the full story here: http://www.wareable.com/vr/virtual-reality-cinema-amsterdam-2426
Intel Acquires Israeli Virtual Reality Startup
Intel Corp. said Wednesday that it had agreed to acquire Replay Technologies, an Israeli virtual-reality startup specializing in the digitization of sports, a business the Silicon Valley giant is eager to grow.
Replay Technologies’ proprietary format uses high-resolution cameras and computer-intensive graphics to let viewers see and experience sporting events from any angle, according to Intel.
See the full story here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-acquires-israeli-virtual-reality-startup-1457532497