Magic Leap Gives the World a Peek at Lumin OS
The screenshots follow on the heels of the preview release of the Lumin Runtime, which enables multiple apps to run within the user's field of view, or landscape. Note that access to the more detailed information requires registration with the Creator Portal, but that's basically just sharing your email address.
"Like desktop computing, you can use one app at a time, or you can also have many apps open simultaneously. Since this is spatial computing, to use an app you simply look at it and then interact with it. You can naturally spread your apps around in actual space, just like you would with furniture or posters on a wall. This is your mixed reality landscape," states Magic Leap's technical documentation.
One very interesting revelation is casting, which enables ML1 users to share their view with others, who are able to view the host user's displayed content relative to the ML1's position. While the cast icon looks similar to the share icon in Android, actual media sharing will occur through the Gallery app.
We get a look at the app launcher in motion, voice detection feedback, and gesture-based menu selection, as well as LEDs on the Lightpack and controller reminiscent of the Amazon Echo.
The Macallan Created a Virtual Reality Tour in Grand Central Station of Its New Whisky Distillery
To celebrate the opening of its new $186 million distillery, Macallan has taken over a wing of Grand Central Station in Manhattan with a VR tour that lets New Yorkers and visitors alike see at least a few scenes of the 194-year-old brand’s new location in Speyside.
From Wednesday until Friday afternoon, visitors can stop by the Vanderbilt Hall to walk inside a 15-foot cube, which uses six projectors to immerse viewers inside VR scenes that bring the viewers high above the hills of northern Scotland and deep within the aisles of casks. Meanwhile, the scent of grass and oak are diffused into the cube to provide a sensory addition to the visuals.
The VR experience isn’t just about smelling and seeing the distiller—there’s also a taste component. Each visitor gets a small quarter-ounce glass of either The Macallan’s newly released Edition No. 4 or its 12-year double cask. There’s also a wall of scents that help to further accentuate the notes within the whisky such as fig, sandalwood, orange blossoms and vanilla.
See the full story here: https://www.adweek.com/digital/the-macallan-created-a-virtual-reality-tour-of-its-new-whisky-distillery/
Virtual reality paintings possible in Moscow art gallery
Goncharova died in 1962 in Paris where she spent much of her life. Malevich died in 1935 in the Soviet Union.
In Goncharova's studio, users can arrange items on a table and use a VR paintbrush to add colour to their design.
In Malevich's studio, it is possible to throw items at the canvas, where they turn into colourful shapes, in the style of the supremacist style which he founded.
The use of virtual reality in art has been on the rise in recent years with galleries looking for ways to use new technology to attract visitors.
The Tate Modern in London recently held a VR exhibition based on the later life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.
In Moscow, the Garage art gallery put on a Bidding for Glasnost exhibition which featured a virtual reality auction.
As the technology develops, Ms Tregulova is hopeful that the Tretyakov can reach people in more remote parts of Russia.
"This could be a strong impetus for children in schools placed in towns or regions where there are no real museums, to understand that art is not something which is an obligation which is imposed on them that it's a very involving, interesting world to experience," she said.
See the full story here: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44977902
The New York Times’ Graham Roberts on why augmented reality is suited for hard news
See the full story here: http://www.storybench.org/new-york-times-graham-roberts-augmented-reality-suited-hard-news/On April 7, 2018, a chemical bomb was dropped onto the rooftop of a residential building in the Syrian city of Douma, near Damascus, killing dozens of people, many of them children. While the Syrian regime flatly denied that it had launched the attack, the United States and its allies claimed that a chlorine bomb had been dropped by the Syrian government.
In an attempt to get to the truth of the attack, The New York Times last month published an interactive investigative story that reconstructs the virtual scenes of the chemical attack and walks the readers through the key pieces of evidence – all in augmented reality.
Storybench spoke with Graham Roberts, the director of immersive platforms storytelling at The New York Times, to understand how new technologies like AR can be used for powerful news stories.
New App for Manufacturing Workers Adds AI to Google Glass
At this week’s Google Cloud Next conference, Israeli company Plataine demonstrated a new app for Google Glass, pointing to artificial intelligence as the technology that will drive the success of the spectacles. The easy-to-use app, which is aimed at factory workers, understands and replies in spoken language. Plataine’s clients already include Airbus, Boeing and GE, and the company is now working on adding image recognition capabilities to the app, which was built using Google Cloud AI services and support from the tech giant.
Wired reports that “Google is betting that charging other companies to tap AI technology developed for its own use can help the cloud business draw customers away from rivals Amazon and Microsoft.”
The app comes “roughly one year after Google abandoned its attempt to sell consumers on Glass and its eye-level camera and display, which proved controversial due to privacy concerns.”
The gadget was relaunched as Google Glass Enterprise Edition, a tool for business, and “pilot projects have involved Boeing workers using Glass on helicopter production lines, and doctors wearing it in the examining room.”
Plataine product lead Anat Karni demonstrated the app, showing how it “could tell a worker clocking in for the day about production issues that require urgent attention, and show useful information for resolving problems on the device’s display,” and also “talk to Plataine’s app to get help.” “A worker’s actions could be instantly visible to factory bosses, synced into the software Plataine already provides customers, such as Airbus, to track production operations.”
Plataine built the app by “plugging Google’s voice-interface service, Dialogflow, into a chatbot-like assistant it had already built,” and also getting support from Google partner, software contractor Nagarro.
“Spaces like manufacturing floors, where there’s no social norm saying it’s not OK to use this, are the spaces where I think it will do really well,”...
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/new-app-for-manufacturing-workers-adds-ai-to-google-glass/
Facebook Launches Watch Party for Shared Viewing of Video
In January, Facebook debuted Watch Party, an experimental feature that allows shared simultaneous viewing of videos, to a select number of users. Now, the company is opening access of the feature to all groups on the site, in an attempt to make video viewing a social experience. Groups has become an important product for Facebook’s more than 1.4 billion monthly users, and Watch Party is intended to add another compelling reason for users to stick with those who share similar interests.
With Watch Party, users can comment and add emoji in real time. In internal tests, Watch Parties generated “thousands of comments” from people watching simultaneously, “with some groups dedicating over 10 hours to a single Watch Party.” Facebook also stated that it is testing Watch Parties “with profiles, while pages (public profiles for businesses and other organizations) could get it in the near future, as well.”
In light of Facebook’s struggle with “the spread of toxic content on its site,” product manager of social video Erin Connolly noted that the company will use “all the tools at its disposal (including artificial intelligence) to ensure that Watch Parties are safe for everyone.”
Engadget points out that, “the success of Twitch has already proven that there’s a dedicated audience looking to watch Internet video with others, regardless of the genre,” making Watch Party a likely success among profiles and pages for brands and news outlets.
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/facebook-launches-watch-party-for-shared-viewing-of-video/
GOOGLE CHROME NOW LABELS HTTP SITES AS ‘NOT SECURE’
NEARLY TWO YEARS ago, Google made a pledge: It would name and shame websites with unencrypted connections, a strategy designed to spur web developers to embrace HTTPS encryption. On Tuesday, it finally is following through.
With the launch of Chrome 68, Google now will call out sites with unencrypted connections as “Not Secure” in the URL bar. The move flips the convention of how Chrome displays the security of sites on its head. Previously, pages that deployed HTTPS-enabled encrypted connections featured a green lock icon and the word “Secure” in the URL bar.
It’s a warning worth heeding. Under an unencrypted HTTP connection, any information that you send across the web can be intercepted by a hacker or other bad actor.
“It’s not just ads. Malware is served this way, a lot. It’s not just about making sure that user information is private; it really ensures the integrity of the website.”
For what it’s worth, Chrome is not alone in posting warnings next to HTTP sites; Firefox has explored it also. Between the two, they hold 73 percent of browser market share. In addition, Google notes that the vast majority of Chrome traffic—76 percent on Android, and 85 percent on ChromeOS—already travels across an HTTPS connection.
See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/story/google-chrome-https-not-secure-label/
Tech Companies Like Facebook and Twitter Are Drawing Lines. It’ll Be Messy.
Ms. Bickert said she has set up regular meetings with a range of experts to hash out how Facebook should draw the lines on a host of specific kinds of speech. In general, the company removes content that is illegal, dangerous, fraudulent or otherwise spammy and inauthentic. But for areas that are less black-and-white, like misinformation, it takes a different approach.
“We reduce the distribution of information that is inaccurate, and we inform people with more context and perspective,” said Tessa Lyons, a product manager who heads Facebook’s effort to curb misinformation in the News Feed.