RYOT to Premiere Nepal Virtual Reality Film This Weekend
This weekend RYOT will unveil the latest development in the evolution of disaster reporting, bringing a mobile Nepal virtual reality video to global audiences for the very first time.
Narrated by Susan Sarandon, the film, titled “The Nepal Quake Project,” uses Virtual Reality technology to immerse users in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake. The film not only marks the first in natural disaster VR, but it represents the future of news and action.
The Nepal Quake Project will premiere this weekend at Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado, and thanks to a partnership with immersive video platform, Vrideo, the film will become available for the public online by the middle of next week.
See the full story here: http://www.ryot.org/nepal-earthquake-virtual-reality-video-film-susan-sarandon/932858
Virtual Reality Can Make You Feel. Can It Also Make You Think?
“When I’m making these VR pieces, I’m trying to educate a population that may not read the newspaper, to [help them] be informed about their world,” said Emblematic Group CEO Nonny de la Peña.
See the full story here: http://recode.net/2015/05/21/virtual-reality-can-make-you-feel-can-it-also-make-you-think/
Facebook teams with researchers to transfer your smiles and frowns into virtual reality.
The system tracks the motion of a person’s mouth using a 3-D camera attached to the headset with a short boom. Movements of the upper part of the face are measured using strain gauges added to the foam padding that fits the headset to the face. After the two data sources are combined, an accurate 3-D representation of the user’s facial movements can be used to animate a virtual character, whether that’s an ersatz person or something other than human (see video).
That could make inhabiting and interacting in virtual worlds more compelling, says Hao Li, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California who led the project. “To get a virtual social environment, you want to convey this behavior to other people,” he says. “This is the first facial tracking that has been demonstrated through a head-mounted display.” Li was named one of MIT Technology Review’s Young Innovators in 2013.
Li recently made a system that tackles the more challenging task of making a realistic 3-D re-creation of a person’s hairstyle. His software can do it using only a single photo. That project and the face-tracking research will both be presented at the Siggraph computer graphics conferencein Los Angeles this August.
Google Quietly Moves Its Head Of Search Design To Virtual Reality
What's clear is that Google has invested a major design talent in VR. As head of Search, Wiley refined the mobile experience, while turning long lists of links simple cards of information.
[Google Cardboard] is the most democratic virtual reality headset we’ve seen yet. Over half a million units have shipped, likely because it's a mere 2% to 3% of the price of its closest competitor, the Samsung Gear VR (also a headset adapter that slots in a smartphone), which runs $250.
Google is very well known for its strong computer science, algorithms, and all the things we do in terms of solving really big hard-to-scale problems. [But] I don’t think quite as much attention has been paid to the other side of Google. We’re really focused on making simple and useful experiences—but also beautiful experiences."
"People are trying to invent the display part, and they’re not yet worrying properly about the UI," John Underkoffler, creator of the famous Minority Report interface, explained in a recent interview, citing a general lack of urgency across the industry. "No one has a UI for it. So that puts VR pretty much in the position of being a playback mechanism."
Users need a whole new language to really interact with it.
See the full story here: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3046369/design-moves/google-quietly-moves-head-of-search-design-to-virtual-reality
Sunny Queen launches egg-citing augmented reality collectible cards
Egg farm company Sunny Queen has launched Australia’s first augmented reality collectible cards for families
The collection features a range of child-friendly egg characters in limited edition egg boxes, with each card having the capability to come to life on a customer’s smartphone.
See the full story here: http://www.cmo.com.au/article/575206/sunny-queen-launches-egg-citing-augmented-reality-collectible-cards/
VirZOOM: Cambridge Virtual Reality Startup Wants to Make Exercise Addictive
[Philip Lelyveld comment: people sweat profusely if they are serious about exercising. I don't know if wearing an HMD, where you can't wipe your eyes, will work in this implementation.]
A series of sensors attach to various parts of the machine: One on the back wheel measures your speed, while another on the front wheel responds to your direction.
Right now, the seven-person team (mostly engineers) is focused on introducing more gamified elements—the kinds of features that will inspire users to cycle faster in order to earn points and ascend to new levels. The idea is to make the VR experience different every time you strap on the headset. That way, you’re far more likely to get back on the bike, making physical activity a subconscious habit.
See the full story here: http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/05/18/virzoom-exercise-bike-virtual-reality-game-for-oculus-rift/