NAB Show: Peter Guber Calls on Broadcasters To Embrace Virtual Reality
the industry should be devoted to a single idea: “a constant and never-ending quest to deepen the engagement and immersion of our audiences. This imperative must be kept centerstage if you want your technology and your content to yield treasures instead of time bombs.”
Guber said that while then entrenched powers in entertainment would prefer to see a gradual evolution, “What we have on our hands to today is a revolution, and revolutions can be lethal. But in that chaos lies all of our opportunity.”
Then he turned specifically to virtual reality headsets. The arrival of VR on cell phones — which we’re all addicted to, according to Guber — combined with immersive content, “will change everything,” he said. “It will not end newspapers, it will not end radio, it will not end television. … But it does drive the most important single imperative: audience immersion and engagement with the medium.”
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/nab-show-opening-keynote-peter-guber-virtual-reality-1201471360/
Latest Version of ‘Virtual Desktop’ is Here, The Free App That Makes Your Entire Windows Computer Oculus Rift-capable
Virtual Desktop, a free app that instantly makes the entire Windows operating system VR-capable. Essentially anything that you can use on your monitor—whether it be Minecraft, Facebook, or Photoshop—you can use in VR with Virtual Desktop.
When you launch Virtual Desktop and don the Oculus Rift, you’ll be greeted with a curved, floating version of your familiar Windows desktop—wallpaper, icons, Start button and all—albeit surrounded by stars.
Given the relatively low resolution of the Oculus Rift DK2, some Windows programs will be more usable than others. Fortunately, Virtual Desktop makes it easy to change the field of view on the fly, allowing you to zoom in (F3) and out (F2) as needed. At 100 degrees right now I’m typing quite comfortably with text that’s easy to read. If I was watching Netflix however, I might dial it back to 80 degrees or so to ensure that I can see the whole screen.
Virtual Desktop also allows for easy viewing of side-by-side content (like 3D photos and videos) as well as spherical video in both 180 or 360 degrees, and optionally in 3D.
Virtual Desktop may still be in beta according to its developer, but it works surprisingly well. At the great price of free there’s no reason not to check it out.
See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/the-latest-version-of-virtual-desktop-is-here-the-free-app-that-makes-your-entire-windows-computer-oculus-rift-capable/
MINI Reveals Augmented Reality Vision: Big Data Goggles for Drivers
The automaker is debuting augmented-vision eyewear at the Shanghai auto show (which opens on April 22) that will allow drivers wearing them to see “through” blind spots in the vehicle, and use big data to better navigate, park and manage communications.
The project was spearheaded by BMW Group Designworks (which has just rebranded in the US to simply “Designworks” but is still owned by the German auto giant) in partnership with Qualcomm.
The glasses’ coolest feature may well be the “X-ray vision” that allows for drivers to see what’s on the other side of blind spots. Cameras mounted on the vehicle will help drivers see pedestrians, obstacles and other vehicles in a whole new way.
The eyewear will capture and monitor data inputs from the driver, including navigation data, speed, speed limits, points of interest, messaging alerts from a connected phone, and, of course, augmented parking.
See the full story here: http://brandchannel.com/2015/04/10/mini-augmented-reality-041015/
Israeli augmented reality startup nabs $5M funding led by Japanese Pachinko company
InfinityAR makes a software-based augmented reality (AR) engine that will let people interact with augmented content in their physical surroundings. It’s less Google Glass and more Microsoft Hololens. InfinityAR says it "can turn any device with two simple cameras into a powerful content augmentation platform."
InfinityAR’s technology maps the 3D environment, in real time, and enables projecting augmented reality 3D scenes as if they were part of the real world. Furthermore, it enables the user to control augmented reality content using natural hand movements.
The technology works indoors and outdoors and requires less computation and energy resources than competitors, says the company in a statement.
See the full story here: https://www.techinasia.com/israeli-augmented-reality-startup-nabs-5m-funding-led-japanese-pachinko-company/
Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Form of In-Bar Entertainment?
Jim Beam, Dos Equis and Fire Eater are all examples of brands that are using technology like Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear to win over consumers at the moment when they're most likely—and perhaps under the influence—to try out new liquors, particularly with of-age millennials.
To show that experience first hand, the brand is setting up Samsung Gear headsets at 250 bars in 16 U.S. markets like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Orlando this year that will be used during 750 sampling events.
a minute-long video transports bar goers into a flowing river of bourbon inside of a barrel. The video then swirls folks around to replicate the aging process, ending in eventually being catapulted out of the barrel. Meanwhile, Jim Beam representatives waif a piece of paper soaked in bourbon under people's noses to further hammer home the product.
For Dos Equis, lead agency Havas Worldwide set up virtual reality activations in 21 bars in eight markets last year as part of a Halloween-themed masquerade campaign.
Sales of Dos Equis shot up 18 percent during the Masquerade campaign, and the live events and online video generated 27 million views.
… Brown-Forman's decision to set up virtual big top circuses in English bars last year. Working with Critical Mass, the company used Oculus Rift to launch a cinnamon-flavored liquor called Fire Eater.
See the full story here: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/virtual-reality-next-big-form-bar-entertainment-163963
Adding Greater Realism to Virtual Worlds
A startup is borrowing techniques used in high-frequency trading to make virtual worlds more realistic.
What new possibilities might open up in video game design—and beyond—when an unlimited number of people can inhabit a truly realistic virtual world simultaneously? Improbable has developed techniques that make it possible to share large amounts of information between multiple servers nearly instantaneously.
Virtual worlds will no longer feel as if they’re built of “cardboard,” says Improbable’s CEO and cofounder, Herman Narula. Moreover, using Improbable’s technology, objects and entities will be able to remain in the virtual world persistently, even when there are no human players around (currently, most virtual worlds essentially freeze when unoccupied). And actions taken in one corner of a game could have implications later or in another place.+
Large-scale online games are usually built using several “shards”—identical instances of the world that no more than about 10,000 people inhabit at any one time before the computational complexity becomes too great. Theoretically, with Improbable’s technology an unlimited number of players will be able to occupy the same world, and “everyone will see the same things happening on screen at the same precise moment,” he says.+
The technology could also be used to create real-world simulations that reveal, for instance, the effect that closing a major railway station would have during a disease epidemic, or how a radical change in a government’s housing policy might affect a country’s infrastructure.+
Virtual reality app store Wear VR secures $1.5M in funding
Coming up on a year on the market, Wear VR now has 900 unique virtual reality apps. Collectively, consumers have downloaded that software more than 200,000 times. And all of this comes even though no major VR company is selling their devices to consumers yet.
Wear VR is trying to establish itself now so that content-hungry early adopters have a place to go when they’re looking for something new. That might include 360-degree videos, which is something that Wear VR is investing in.
The company also says that it will continue to operate agnostic of the various VR platforms. Even as Oculus and the other companies release their consumer hardware and official stores, Wear VR will operate independently.
See the full story here: http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/07/virtual-reality-app-store-wear-vr-secures-1-5m-in-funding/
Wearality SKY: Limitless Virtual Reality (VR)
Wearality. demo'd at the ETC's first VR event. They offer 150 degree field of view, high quality lenses, and a simple foldable form factor that fits in your pocket.
See the video and kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wearality/wearality-sky-limitless-vr