philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Disney-backed virtual reality company brings 360-degree videos to Apple TV

If you have an Apple TV, look out for the Littlstar app, which brings 360-degree videos to the platform for the first time. The company says that it has thousands of videos in its library, including ones from major brands like Discovery, Disney, Fusion, MLB, Mountain Dew, National Geographic, PBS and Red Bull.

Littlstar, which already has an iOS app, is backed by Disney Accelerator, which provides both financial backing and mentoring for tech companies launching products in the consumer entertainment and media fields.

See the full story here: http://9to5mac.com/2015/12/23/360-degree-video-apple-tv/

A Look Into a More Social Virtual Reality With the Makers of Second Life

Linden Lab's CEO Ebbe Altberg  “We want to lower the barrier of entry for VR experience creation. Project Sansar will do for virtual experiences what WordPress has done for the Web: empower a broad range of people to create with professional quality and reach global audiences.

By greatly expanding who can create virtual experiences, Project Sansar will also extend the value of VR to a wide variety of usecases—from gaming and entertainment to education, architecture, art, community-building, business meetings, healthcare, conferences, training, and more.”

See the full story here: http://www.psfk.com/2015/12/social-virtual-reality-makers-of-second-life-oculus-rift-linden-lab.html

Magnets could soon track your fingers in virtual reality

Oculus and University of Washington researchers might make it a reality, though. They've developed Finexus, a control method that uses a combination of fingertip electromagnets and sensors to track your hands. The system detects the distances between each finger and the sensor, and uses the intersection of each distance to determine a given digit's exact 3D position. Unlike with camera tracking, you don't need a direct line of sight to the sensors for this to work -- you could tie your virtual shoelaces if you wanted.

Univ. of South Australia – Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow in Augmented Reality

[Philip Lelyveld comment: AR is just around the corner.  (And VR is so 2015.)]

• School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences
• Full time, fixed term, four year contract/ Mawson Lakes Campus
• Salary range: $88,341– $124,785 per annum

See the full post here: http://www.seek.com.au/job/30096868

New York Times Virtual Reality: How Innovation Can Simultaneously Connect and Separate

The use of technology and the film-making approach were very impressive. I had found myself thinking I was situated with the people in the film. When detailing the scene with the airplanes earlier in this column, I used language to refer to myself, not just as the viewer of the film, but a viewer who was standing outside the tape, as though I were there.

I question how genuine a connection one could truly have with the people in “The Displaced”—or in any future films The Times produces—when the technology and the necessary devices are so obviously and literally in your face. The aspiration should be for the message and story to trump the medium, but it’s obvious that Marshall McLuhan was right: you cannot separate the two.

“The Displaced” actually exists as a lengthy feature article on their site, supported by numerous photos. I read the article after I had experienced using NYT VR and found that the combination of the two—getting immersed in the refugees’ world both through the app on my phone and by reading the static prose and imagery—provided a more holistic view of the refugees’ world than either accomplished on its own. It certainly will take time—and, honestly, a solid experience design strategy—for virtual reality to blend with other more traditional forms of storytelling to create the best, most immersive experience. Nevertheless, I’m eager to see that future.

See the full story here: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/12/new-york-times-virtual-reality-how-innovation-can-simultaneously-connect-and-separate.php

Air National Guard security teams use virtual reality to train for active shooters

On Dec. 12, these New Jersey Air National Guard members got some highly technical virtual reality training at the U.S. Marshals training site in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

The V-300 VirTra firearms training simulator offered an unprecedented 300 degree view of interactive screens lit by five high-definition projectors and a sound system that would fit into any major movie theater. A box, strapped to the cops’ belts, shocked them when they were struck by enemy fire.

The U.S. Marshals instructors quipped, "These can be a real motivator."

The Airmen got to go through several scenarios, including a high-risk traffic stop they did as individuals, and an active-shooter scenario where they got to work with a partner.

See the full story here; http://www.nationalguard.mil/News/ArticleView/tabid/5563/Article/637538/air-national-guard-security-teams-use-virtual-reality-to-train-for-active-shoot.aspx

MIT’s Reality Editor Controls IoT Devices via Augmented Reality

2 types of AR:  location-aware augmented reality, where objects are injected into the real-world view based on their location relative to your own position, as opposed to marker-based augmented reality like the Reality Editor, where the real-world view is interpreted in real or near to real time and objects are placed in the view based on markers or other characteristics of the image.

The Reality Editor allows you to point the camera of your smartphone at an object to expose and edit its capabilities. It allows you to drag a line from one object to another to create a new relationship between these objects — for instance, connecting a single switch to a light, or a group of lights. Effectively it lets you edit your reality and manipulate the way objects control and interact with one another. Interestingly, the same objects could theoretically have different relationships for other people.

However what’s most interesting about MIT’s new Reality Editor is that we can play with it. You can download the Reality Editor on the App Store and use it alongside MIT’s Open Hybrid framework to build your own “enchanted objects” using the Arduino Yún and the Raspberry Pi.

See the full story here: http://makezine.com/2015/12/18/mit-reality-editor-controls-iot-devices-augmented-reality/

Take a virtual reality tour of the White House at Christmas time

You probably can't celebrate Christmas at the White House, but you can take this snazzy virtual reality tour if you want to see President Obama's humble abode all decked out for the holidays.

To get the full experience, grab an iPhone or iPad, or hold your Android up to Google Cardboard. Google made the 360-look using GoPro co-designed technology that Engadget reports costs a mere $15,000.

Watch the VR video here: http://theweek.com/speedreads/595361/take-virtual-reality-tour-white-house-christmastime

See another story here: http://au.idigitaltimes.com/google-provides-virtual-reality-video-tour-white-house-112203

VR in Movie Marketing (Mission Impossible, The Walk)

Virtual reality in movie marketing campaigns has been on the rise for a few years now. There’s loads of experiences like the one Lionsgate did for The Divergent Series: Insurgent earlier this year during which you sit in chair, wear glasses and watch some footage while a fan blows in your face, but very few truly transport you into a film. However, Paramount did just take a big step in the right direction.

In celebration of the DVD, Blu-ray and digital HD release of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Paramount set up a virtual reality experience in Bryant Park in New York City that’s meant to make you feel like you’re hanging from the side of a plane, just like Tom Cruise in the movie.

At this point, my favorite movie-themed VR is still the one done for The Walk back in September. In that one, you put the glasses on and see what Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) sees when he steps out onto the high wire between the towers of the World Trade Center. Clearly you cannot fall, but what gives you the sensation that you might is the fact that you are asked to step out on a small rope taped to the ground. You’re not even elevated in the slightest, but there’s something about being able to feel “the wire” beneath your feet that messes with your head and makes you terrified to take one wrong step.

See the full post here: http://collider.com/mission-impossible-rogue-nation-virtual-reality-experience/

Pokemon Go dev Niantic discusses how augmented reality mobile game will work in small towns

[Philip Lelyveld comment; Niantic is using 'magic window' screen-waving AR for this real world experience.]

"Our goal is to make it so you can walk out of the house and within five minutes, you can find Pokémon. It may not be the most rare Pokémon in the world, but there'll be a population of Pokémon living near all our players," said Hanke.

Another issue is how you cover an entire planet in Pokémon but ensure anyone, anywhere, has a good experience worthy of the Pokémon name.

"We've learned a lot on those fronts with Ingress," says Hanke. "Even if you're in a small town — I grew up in a town of 1,000 people in Texas. We had that as a design goal.

See the full story here: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/pokemon-go-dev-niantic-discusses-how-augmented-reality-mobile-game-will-work-small-towns-1534292