Lytro dives into virtual reality filmmaking with debut of its Immerge video camera
[Philip Lelyveld comment - this could be huge!!]
Available for rent starting in the first quarter of 2016, this 360-degree sphere can be considered the Canon 5D MKIII for virtual reality. The camera has five layers, each containing a densely packed ring of cinematic video cameras that captures a high frame rate and resolution. It’s being called the first of its kind for the way it’s leveraging the light-field mathematical model Lytro is known for within the relatively new realm of virtual reality.
Company chief executive Jason Rosenthal told VentureBeat that the Immerge can provide what studios are looking for when they turn to virtual reality. “None of the existing 2D technology works with a 3D medium,” he said. “What we found post launch of the Illum, was filmmakers coming up to us and saying they couldn’t accomplish their craft without capturing the light-field. It’s an entirely different conversation than traditional photography.” ...
Although Immerge is billed as a camera, what videographers get is much more. In fact, it’s not a simple handheld device, but rather a pretty sizable sphere that can be mounted on a standard tripod. Components that come with it include Lytro-architected servers to store and process footage in real-time, and a light-field editor that’s like Adobe Lightroom for virtual reality — it’s a plugin for Premiere, Final Cut Pro, and Nuke and enables you to take all the camera views from Immerge and import them into your preferred editing tool. ...
Plus, Immerge provides a playback engine that create files that will work on Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift, Sony Playstation VR, Microsoft HoloLens, HTC Vive, and others.
Control of the Immerge device can be managed through a tablet connected through Wi-Fi.
See the full story here: http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/05/lytro-dives-into-virtual-reality-filmmaking-with-debut-of-its-immerge-video-camera/
Facebook is developing a virtual reality TELEPORTER to transport users anywhere in the world
However the plans face some serious challenges that need to be overcome before it can become a reality.
First is making the virtual reality worlds appear real.
Another key step would be coming up with a way to make users see their own hands and feet as they moved around.
Seeing other people in the virtual world would also be another important step.
Last May, Oculus also acquired Surreal Vision, a computer vision start-up that focuses on creating ultra-realistic virtual worlds - a skill that could be useful when it comes to creating the teleporter.
Whereas Oculus was born almost solely as a gaming company, Facebook's long-run plan is bringing virtual reality to as many fields as possible.
In 2014, the Information revealed Facebook had approached Hollywood film companies to discuss the possibility of creating 'Oculus experiences.' The teleporter could be the next step on the road to mainstream VR.
See the full story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3303511/Facebook-working-Virtual-Reality-teleporter-tricks-believing-else.html
WWE Steps Into Virtual-Reality Ring With Samsung
WWE’s first VR video features 360-degree highlights from SummerSlam weekend, including the showdown between John Cena and Seth Rollins and the surprise appearance of Jon Stewart as host. The other video recaps the match between Finn Bálor and Kevin Owens at NXT TakeOver, a WWE Network special that took place the night before SummerSlam.
In producing the content, WWE ensured that the VR crew at SummerSlam didn’t interfere with the live crew for the pay-per-view broadcast. “We were able to put (the virtual-reality camera operators) in positions where they were a fly on the wall,” Wilson said. The VR camera rigs Reel FX used were relatively small, she added, and the bulk of the time and expense was in post-production editing.
WWE was an especially good fit for Samsung’s VR content push, Apfel said. Not only do the companies’ target audiences intersect, but WWE’s content provides both “proximity and polish” — it’s shot from ringside vantage points and has high production values.
“For (intellectual property) owners, the strategy is pretty clear: If you think virtual reality is going to take off, you have to have these experiments and experiences to learn and perfect, and then you start to build an audience,” Apfel said.
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/wwe-virtual-reality-samsung-oculus-vr-1201633182/
“Circle With Disney” Is A New Device That Helps Families Manage Online Usage And Apps
Parents looking to manage their children’s internet usage and screen time have a new option with today’s launch of Circle with Disney, a hardware device that works in conjunction with an iOS application that allows moms and dads to filter web content, set “bedtimes,” block ads, view insights and usage history, and even pause the internet entirely.
While there are numerous parental control solutions on the market, ..., the problem with many of these options is that they’re confusing for non-technical parents, poorly designed, or only work to manage and monitor usage on a single device or platform.
Unlike some other apps I’ve tested in recent days, including a hardware and app combo called KoalaSafe and a kid-safe browser from Mobicip, Circle comes with age-specific filters you can enable without having to monkey around much with its settings. These filters include: pre-K (ages 0-5), kid (6-12), teen (13-17), and adult (18 and up).
Another key feature to Circle’s software is its “insights,” which displays how each family member spends their time online by platform, category, and website and by day, week and month. The idea is to not only give parents an idea of what kids are doing, but also help spark conversations about that activity and the child’s interests.
And because the negative content is blocked, those discussions aren’t disciplinary in nature, but can actually be positive.
The Circle with Disney hardware device is $99 and is the first product in what Circle Media hopes will be a suite of hardware and software products for connected families in the future.
The company, based in Portland, is backed by $1.5 million in angel funding.
See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/04/circle-with-disney-is-a-new-device-that-helps-families-manage-online-usage-and-apps/
HTC Thinks Virtual Reality Needs 3-5 Years To Take Off
Speaking at the TechCrunch Beijing summit, HTC’s Chief Content Officer Phil Chen revealed that the company expects virtual reality to really take off in the next 3-5 years.
Why is this? According to Chen, he thinks that the technology behind virtual reality still needs to be refined further, and that there needs to be more content for virtual reality headsets which we suppose is a fair assumption. After all when the iPhone was first introduced, it took a couple of years before the smartphone scene became big and we were starting to see more apps and content designed for mobile devices.
See the full story here: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/11/htc-virtual-reality-3-5-years/
Google Aims to Make VR Hardware Irrelevant Before It Even Gets Going
Google is taking on a chicken-and-egg problem common to any company trying to establish itself as the middleman in a new marketplace. Consumers won’t buy into virtual reality unless there’s something to experience; content companies won’t provide it without a ready audience. “The only way to get around it is to subsidize one side of the market,” says Michael Cusumano, a management professor at MIT who has studied how software and consumer electronics companies conjure up new businesses. “Give away 3-D viewers, or pay software developers to create applications or other content.” Facebook is trying to fill the content gap by hosting 360-degree video as YouTube does, partnering with content companies such as Netflix, and building an in-house production effort called Oculus Story Studio. Google is effectively subsidizing both sides of the market. By making handsets more or less for free out of devices we already own, it’s offering its content partners a potentially much larger audience.
Philip Rosedale, founder of the virtual world Second Life and now the CEO of High Fidelity, a company that has raised $16 million to develop ways for people to socialize in virtual-reality environments, predicts that both Google’s and Facebook’s projects will initially disappoint people who expect it to become popular. “Next year there’s going to be a big push to make VR a success, and it’s not going to succeed,” he says. Rosedale thinks it will take a few years for Oculus to reach beyond a niche gaming audience, or for smartphones to be capable of providing a widely acceptable experience. Referring to Bavor’s group, he says: “I have a lot of respect for that team. But I don’t think that doing VR in software on top of a mobile device can be compelling today.”
Bavor acknowledges that Google and other companies investing in virtual reality have much to learn, but he says the only way to do it is to get the technology to a significant audience. And the device for doing that is already—perhaps all too often—in our hands and in front of our eyes. “The technology’s here,” he says. “We’ve seen the proof that you can create wonderful VR experiences with today’s smartphone hardware; the sensors and the hardware and the content are only going to get better.”