National Geographic uses augmented reality to create world’s first open-air planetarium in Canada
National Geographic has teamed up with augmented reality provider Aryzon to create the world's first open-air planetarium, using AR to project images into the night sky for a unique stargazing experience.
Taking place at the Au Diable Vert Station Montagne in Quebec, Canada, "ObservEtoiles" debuts tomorrow (23 June) and will allow up to 180 visitors the chance to observe the night sky with a digital overlay showing the constellations and names of the stars and planets.
For the two-hour experience, guests will be seated 1,000ft (304m) above sea level in a mountain-side amphitheatre created especially for ObservEtoile. Equipped with heated seats, the space has been created by Arena Comfort Products and will be useable at any exterior temperature or in any weather conditions.
Using the Aryzon headset, which was developed in the Netherlands and uses mirrors to project 3D mixed reality images, visitors can observe a selection of 17th-century illustrations of the constellations overlaid over the real stars and planets, without obstructing viewers’ line of site. British company Escapist Games has developed the application, which runs on an Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom. Minus the smartphone, the headset can be kept by users after the show, where they can then use the app to explore the stars from home.
See the full story here: http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/index.cfm?pagetype=news&codeID=338083
Playing a Role in Jurassic Park Virtual Reality Experience
Ashland Technologies in Delano Township built and shipped out more than 100 of these platforms for a new Jurassic Park virtual reality experience at Dave & Buster's locations all across the country and there's still more being assembled.
Ashland Technologies in Delano Township built and shipped out more than 100 of these platforms for a new Jurassic Park virtual reality experience at Dave & Buster's locations all across the country and there's still more being assembled.
See the full story here: https://wnep.com/2018/06/21/playing-a-role-in-jurassic-park-virtual-reality-experience/
Laurie Anderson Adds Virtual Reality to Artistic Milieu
In her VR piece, Chalkroom, viewers fly through an enormous structure made of words, drawings and stories. Once guests enter they are free to roam and fly. Words sail through the air as emails, fall into dust, and form and reform. Chalkroom won Best Virtual Reality Experience at the 74th Venice International Film Festival.
A second VR piece, Aloft, gives the participant the sensation of being in an airplane that comes apart. They find themselves suspended in the air with plane components floating around them as they enter a blue abyss.
Anderson’s unique vision of life brings a new perspective to art and storytelling and offers an unforgettable experience in this virtual realm.
Admission to Laurie Anderson is free, however you must reserve a 15-minute time slot if you wish to experience Chalkroom or Aloft. You must make separate reservations for each show, and each reservation is for one individual.
Guild Hall is located at 158 Main Street in East Hampton. For more info, visit guildhall.org or call 631-324-0806.
See the full story here: https://www.danspapers.com/2018/06/laurie-anderson-virtual-reality-guild-hall/
New York Times AR Coverage of Guatemala Volcano Disaster Shows AR Isn’t Ready for Breaking News
The experience was captured through 727 photos captured in the span of 29 minutes by photographer and Guatemala resident Daniele Volpe on June 8, five days after the eruption.
The story and its AR experience were published on June 19, or 16 days after the eruption. While the experience gives readers a perspective on the damage left behind by the volcano, which killed more than 150 people with nearly 200 still missing, the coverage underscores the fact that augmented reality is still not a tool that's well suited for reporting breaking news. In a world where news breaks in seconds via tweets, not hours on TV, or days in newspapers, two weeks is just not fast enough.
Critics Argue GDPR’s Article 13 Threatens Future of Internet
A European Parliament committee just voted on Article 13, a controversial provision in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that wasn’t in the final draft but was re-introduced on May 25, the day it went into effect. Article 13 requires Internet platforms to vet uploads such as news articles and music videos for copyright infringement. Such filters could encourage platforms to block more content and place an undue burden on smaller platforms, argue the critics. Worse, they continue, filters could be modified to block content critical of governments.
The Verge reports that over 70 experts, including World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, believe Article 13 will turn the Internet into “a tool for automated surveillance and control of its users.” Author/activist Cory Doctorow is organizing against Article 13 with the Electronic Frontier Foundation on these grounds.
Although European Parliament member Axel Voss argues that the proposed language doesn’t mention filters, “that just raises the question of what using ‘effective technologies’ to prevent copyright infringement means, other than filtering.” Voss also said that, “he cannot predict which platforms will be affected.”
The argument over Article 13 highlights “two competing view of the Internet and its possible futures,” says The Verge. Whereas Doctorow, Berners-Lee, Wales, Vint Cerf, and others “might still believe in an open web of smaller competing platforms that keep information flowing freely,” U.S. and European lawmakers “seem to have accepted the status quo of a digital landscape that’s dominated by a handful of giants with self-perpetuating silos” — meaning Facebook and Google.
The proposal would shift the responsibility for publishing copyright-infringing work online from the users of a platform to the platforms themselves. It would mandate that services intended to store and publish copyrighted materials take "appropriate and proportionate measures” to ensure that copyrighted material is not available without the permission of its owner. It does not specify that sites must apply YouTube-style automated blocking, and it says that the "implementation of measures by service providers should not consist in a general monitoring obligation." But critics argue that the directive will result in the widespread use of automatic filters. In some cases, platforms could avoid blocking content by licensing the content from rights holders.
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See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/critics-argue-gdprs-article-13-threatens-future-of-internet/
and the source article here; https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/19/17480344/eu-european-union-parliament-copyright-article-13-upload-filter
and the related Wired piece here: https://www.wired.com/story/europe-considers-a-new-copyright-law-heres-why-that-matters/
Pimax 8K headset will use Vaqso VR to emulate smells
Chinese VR headset developer Pimax today announced a partnership with Japan’s Vaqso to bring a scent emitter module to the upcoming Pimax 8K headset, enabling users to experience multiple smells during VR experiences.
As has been shown off since last year, Vaqso’s scent module mounts multiple plastic cartridges under your eyes and just above your nostrils, using a fan to waft scented oils as they’re triggered by the game you’re playing. A two-hour rechargeable battery powers the unit and can be recharged using micro-USB.
The current generation shows five modules: “fish,” “ramen,” “burnt,” “lady,” and “grassland.” However, modules are interchangeable based on a specific game’s needs, and apparently each provides a month’s worth of scent if used for two hours per day.
See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/18/pimax-8k-headset-will-use-vaqso-vr-to-emulate-smells/
Moviebill Captures the Dinosaurs of ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ in Augmented Reality
Regal Cinema's augmented reality magazine Moviebill enjoyed a big debut in April and it has its sights set on an even bigger (virtually) outing with its next edition.
Arriving in Regal theaters on June 22, the second issue of the publication will feature Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on its cover. Like the first issue, one million copies will be available for free to attendees of the featured film on its opening weekend.
See the full story here: https://next.reality.news/news/moviebill-captures-dinosaurs-jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-augmented-reality-0185358/
Vauxhall welcomes augmented reality street art by Edward von Lõngus
Mysterious street artist Edward von Lõngus lands in London, bringing his augmented reality artworks to Vauxhall as part of the (R)estart Reality tour to celebrate the 100th birthday of the artist´s home country, Estonia. London is the ninth city in Europe to host von Lõngus´s quirky time-travelling stencil characters after Rome, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Brussels, Budapest and Vilnius.
“At first site hanging peacefully on the walls of South Lambeth Place and Glasshouse Walk in Vauxhall, our characters invite Londoners to get to know them,” Kadri Uus, Coordinator of (R)estart Reality and one of the founders of NOAR art platform, explained,
“Waking them to life via your mobile phone is much fun. The best part of this project is to see the genuine surprise on people´s faces when the artworks start moving!”
You can meet, f
or example, Ats#Pets, electric bagpipe players, and Miina, who together with her husband Enn have been attacked by an anti-graffiti clean-up team in Tallinn, before they were shut up in an internet server due to a malfunction in a time-travel machine. Using a smartphone or tablet screen, they reveal their crazy stories full of humor and references to internet culture and Estonian history. The free (R)estart Reality app is available for download on the App Store or Google Play.
See the full story here: https://london.mfa.ee/vauxhall-welcomes-augmented-reality-street-art-by-edward-von-longus/