Facebook Aiming For Virtual Reality Dominance
Facebook's big VR move
The first step beyond tethered VR headsets is the Oculus Go (pictured above), which is the first stand-alone (no PC or console required) VR headset to hit the U.S. market at a mass-market price point of $200. Oculus Go isn't considered a high-end device because it can't track a user's movement through space like a Vive or Rift can, but it's still a big step forward for the VR industry. What it's perfect for is watching 360 videos and playing simple VR games.
This month, Facebook has shown how it will display the power of Oculus Go by bringing World Cup games to the platform. Users can watch from the stands or near the goalpost, a perspective that would be impossible without being in VR. The company is also adding MLB, NBA, music, and other content to apps like Oculus Venues and Oculus TV.
We don't know what Oculus Go's sales numbers look like yet, but with an accessible entry point and no outside device required, it could be the best-selling VR headset soon.
Just the beginning for Facebook in VR
Oculus's next step is a high-end stand-alone headset it dubbed Santa Cruz, which is expected to be available within the next year. This headset won't require a computer or gaming console, but will allow users to move through a virtual space, like Vive or Rift. It could be a game-changer in VR's adoption in the mass market.
See the full story here: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/07/08/facebook-aiming-for-virtual-reality-dominance.aspx
Melbourne’s virtual reality cinema is now screening
Want a side of VR with your cinema experience? Collingwood’s 12-seat virtual reality cinema is officially open.
Different from your regular cinema going experience, the Virtual Reality Cinema will give you VR goggles and headphones and plant you in an intimate shop front venue. Here you will see four to six short VR films in a single sitting of around 20 to 30 minutes.
The cinema will be heralding Australian and international virtual reality filmmakers' works, with the current line-up exploring art, music, social justice and more. See the full list of shorts here.
You’ll find the Virtual Reality Cinema at 178 Johnston Street in Collingwood, between Hoddle and Gold streets.
See the full story here: https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/news/melbournes-virtual-reality-cinema-is-now-screening-070918
‘Ingress’ Anime Series to Air on Netflix in October
The launch of the series on Netflix will be timed to the release of the Ingress Prime update for the game that was the forerunner to Pokemon Go. Fuji invested in Niantic before the Google spinout launched Pokemon Go in 2016.
See the full story here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ingress-anime-series-air-netflix-october-1125576
Visit The Great Northern Forest With New AR Experience From Greenpeace
Boreal forest in Sweden.
Thanks to the immersive technology of VR and AR, Greenpeace are able to take viewers on a magical trip to a place where beauty can be found all around. With towering trees and deep green mossy floors, the Great Northern Forest is a vast area that showcases the importance of looking after the planet and preserving its the natural beauty found all across it. All of this can be enjoyed in immersive AR complete with the stunning Northern Lights shinning bright above users to add to the magical feeling of this unique experience.
Stretching across the globe the Great Northern Forest covers Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. It holds almost a quarter of the world’s trees and stores more carbon than all the tropical rainforests combined. The forest is also the ancestral home of Indigenous people like the Sami in Scandinavia and the Cree in Canada. With a complex and biodiverse ecosystem full of owls, eagles, wolves, and bears, the Great Northern Forest is a landmark reminder of nature.
To experience the Great Northern Forest for yourself in AR download the Arilyn app available on iOS and Android and then scanning the above image to open the experience. You can see a trailer for the experience below as well and for more on Greenpeace in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
See the full story here: https://www.vrfocus.com/2018/07/visit-the-great-northern-forest-with-new-ar-experience-from-greenpeace/
Vuzix Completes FCC And EU CE Certification Processes For Their Blade Smart Glasses
“Volume manufacturing of the Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses from our West Henrietta, NY facility has commenced.” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix: “With FCC and EU certifications processes now complete we can commence broad shipping of our Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses to the application and enterprise Vuzix Blade Edge developer communities located within the USA, Canada and Europe,”
See the full story here: https://www.vrfocus.com/2018/07/vuzix-completes-fcc-and-eu-ce-certification-processes-for-their-blade-smart-glasses/
Google’s Just a Line app lets you draw in augmented reality
A new app released by Google is all about having fun with augmented reality (AR): Just a Line allows you to make simple drawings in the air with your smartphone.
The app simply opens your camera and you can start doodling white lines in your surroundings, like drawing a halo over your friend's head or hoops in the air that you can jump through.
Anyone else using the app can also see the same, hovering lines as you, but the app also lets you can record your AR drawings and share them as videos to other people.
Just a Line is available for free on both iOS and Android devices, meaning both Apple and Android users can view the same drawings in real time.
See the full story here: https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2018/07/08/googles-just-a-line-app-lets-you-draw-in-augmented-reality/
ESU professor working on study to see if people can learn to juggle using virtual reality
"He was saying that this is the best thing in the world to learn to juggle..."However, you can adjust the physics."
Butler has a doctorate in human motor learning and studies how people learn movement, so this was right up his alley.
Butler and his colleagues, after looking around the academic world and finding that no one else was doing a study like this, started their study with about 12 senior citizens as subjects.
So far, early results seem favorable, he said.
Some of the participants, Butler said, have issues such as Parkinson's, and told him they felt the exercise could benefit their conditions.
"Whether or not that's true, I certainly am not in a position to say at this point in time. But it's an interesting idea," he said.
See the full story here: http://www.emporiagazette.com/area_news/article_42350782-4ebd-5dd7-afc2-f926a51f6226.html
Britain Trials Virtual Reality Time Travel to Combat Dementia
Virtual reality (VR) headsets allow people with dementia to watch films that take them to popular seaside resorts, a 1940s candy store or a 1950s street party, to recall thoughts and emotions and help them re-engage with relatives and caregivers.
"If people remember more of their past, remember more of themselves, it just helps with overall mental wellbeing," Arfa Rehman, co-founder of Virtue, which created the software, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is testing the new form of reminiscence therapy - where films are played on a smartphone in an inexpensive virtual reality headset - in several hospitals and care homes across the country, she said.
Researchers have found that reminiscence therapy improves cognitive functions and reduces depressive symptoms in people with dementia and that it is more effective with those in care homes than those living independently.
See the full story here: https://www.voanews.com/a/britain-trials-virtual-reality-time-travel-to-combat-dementia/4465297.html