Immortality has gone secular. Unhooked from the realm of gods and angels, its now the subject of serious investmentboth intellectual and financialby philosophers, scientists and the Silicon Valley set. Several hundred people have already chosen to be cryopreserved in preference to simply dying, as they wait for science to catch up and give them a second shot at life. But if we treat death as a problem, what are the ethical implications of the highly speculative solutions being mooted?

Of course, we dont currently have the means of achieving human immortality, nor is it clear that we ever will. But two hypothetical options have so far attracted the most interest and attention: rejuvenation technology, and mind uploading.

Like a futuristic fountain of youth, rejuvenation promises to remove and reverse the damage of ageing at the cellular level. Gerontologists such as Aubrey de Grey argue that growing old is a disease that we can circumvent by having our cells replaced or repaired at regular intervals. Practically speaking, this might mean that every few years, you would visit a rejuvenation clinic. Doctors would not only remove infected, cancerous or otherwise unhealthy cells, but also induce healthy ones to regenerate more effectively and remove accumulated waste products. This deep makeover would turn back the clock on your body, leaving you physiologically younger than your actual age. You would, however, remain just as vulnerable to death from acute traumathat is, from injury and poisoning, whether accidental or notas you were before.

Rejuvenation seems like a fairly low-risk solution, since it essentially extends and improves your bodys inherent ability to take care of itself. But if you truly wanted eternal life in a biological body, it would have to be an extremely secure life indeed. Youd need to avoid any risk of physical harm to have your one shot at eternity, making you among the most anxious people in history.

The other option would be mind uploading, in which your brain is digitally scanned and copied onto a computer. This method presupposes that consciousness is akin to software running on some kind of organic hard-diskthat what makes you you is the sum total of the information stored in the brains operations, and therefore it should be possible to migrate the self onto a different physical substrate or platform. This remains a highly controversial stance. However, lets leave aside for now the question of where you really reside, and play with the idea that it might be possible to replicate the brain in digital form one day.

Unlike rejuvenation, mind uploading could actually offer something tantalisingly close to true immortality. Just as we currently back up files on external drives and cloud storage, your uploaded mind could be copied innumerable times and backed up in secure locations, making it extremely unlikely that any natural or man-made disaster could destroy all of your copies.

Despite this advantage, mind uploading presents some difficult ethical issues. Some philosophers, such as David Chalmers, think there is a possibility that your upload would appear functionally identical to your old self without having any conscious experience of the world. Youd be more of a zombie than a person, let alone you. Others, such as Daniel Dennett, have argued that this would not be a problem. Since you are reducible to the processes and content of your brain, a functionally identical copy of itno matter the substrate on which it runscould not possibly yield anything other than you.

Whats more, we cannot predict what the actual upload would feel like to the mind being transferred. Would you experience some sort of intermediate break after the transfer, or something else altogether? What if the whole process, including your very existence as a digital being, is so qualitatively different from biological existence as to make you utterly terrified or even catatonic? If so, what if you cant communicate to outsiders or switch yourself off? In this case, your immortality would amount to more of a curse than a blessing. Death might not be so bad after all, but unfortunately it might no longer be an option.

Another problem arises with the prospect of copying your uploaded mind and running the copy simultaneously with the original. One popular position in philosophy is that the youness of you depends on remaining a singular personmeaning that a fission of your identity would be equivalent to death. That is to say: if you were to branch into you1 and you2, then youd cease to exist as you, leaving you dead to all intents and purposes. Some thinkers, such as the late Derek Parfit, have argued that while you might not survive fission, as long as each new version of you has an unbroken connection to the original, this is just as good as ordinary survival.

Which option is more ethically fraught? In our view, mere rejuvenation would probably be a less problematic choice. Yes, vanquishing death for the entire human species would greatly exacerbate our existing problems of overpopulation and inequalitybut the problems would at least be reasonably familiar. We can be pretty certain, for instance, that rejuvenation would widen the gap between the rich and poor, and would eventually force us to make decisive calls about resource use, whether to limit the rate of growth of the population, and so forth.

On the other hand, mind uploading would open up a plethora of completely new and unfamiliar ethical quandaries. Uploaded minds might constitute a radically new sphere of moral agency. For example, we often consider cognitive capacities to be relevant to an agents moral status (one reason that we attribute a higher moral status to humans than to mosquitoes). But it would be difficult to grasp the cognitive capacities of minds that can be enhanced by faster computers and communicate with each other at the speed of light, since this would make them incomparably smarter than the smartest biological human. As the economist Robin Hanson argued in The Age of Em (2016), we would therefore need to find fair ways of regulating the interactions between and within the old and new domainsthat is, between humans and brain uploads, and between the uploads themselves. Whats more, the astonishingly rapid development of digital systems means that we might have very little time to decide how to implement even minimal regulations.

What about the personal, practical consequences of your choice of immortality? Assuming you somehow make it to a future in which rejuvenation and brain uploading are available, your decision seems to depend on how much riskand what kinds of risksyoure willing to assume. Rejuvenation seems like the most business-as-usual option, although it threatens to make you even more protective of your fragile physical body. Uploading would make it much more difficult for your mind to be destroyed, at least in practical terms, but its not clear whether you would survive in any meaningful sense if you were copied several times over. This is entirely uncharted territory with risks far worse than what youd face with rejuvenation. Nevertheless, the prospect of being freed from our mortal shackles is undeniably alluringand if its ever an option, one way or another, many people will probably conclude that it outweighs the dangers.

Francesca Minerva was a guest at a workshop on Personal Identity and Public Policy at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk in November 2016, where she gave a presentation on which this piece is based.

This article was originally published at Aeon and has been republished under Creative Commons.

Image Credit: Detail fromThe Fountain of Youth(1546) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.Courtesy Wikipedia

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What Are the Ethical Consequences of Immortality Technology? - Singularity Hub

At one point there were five AT&T trucks and technicians at my house installing fiber-optic broadband. It's been smooth sailing since then.

I just upgraded to gigabit broadband at home. But being able to download a 2GB episode of "Game of Thrones" in 16 seconds isn't what gets me excited.

It's the ability to upload data at 1 gigabit per second -- not just download it -- that helped me decide to cancel Comcast and sign up for AT&T Fiber. Downstream data rates are important, but fast upstream speed is what's going to power the next transformation of home broadband.

If you're shopping for broadband, the odds are good that internet service providers will rank their speed tiers by download speed. To make abstractions like 100 Mbps per second real, they'll tell you how long it'll take to download a movie in full HD resolution (hence my above example). What they won't tell you is how long it'll take to upload your video to YouTube or how good your Skype call with grandma will look.

It's no surprise they don't highlight these upload speeds, because they're not very flattering. Network operators have a finite amount of bits they can shuttle around every second, and downloading generally is more important and data-intensive than uploading. So they allocate more of their capacity to downstream data transfer to your home, not upstream data transfer from your home to the internet.

But upload speeds matter. Being able to send data fast is important to videoconferencing, uploading photos, online gaming, collaborating with coworkers and more. Eventually, it could transform the internet again, perhaps the same way it changed when high-speed download speeds helped YouTube trigger the video streaming revolution.

For an example of how fast upload speeds change broadband, look at online backup service Backblaze, which charges $5 per month to keep a copy of your PC's data. On Thursday, it announced a new version of its backup software that should triple or quadruple most customer's backup speeds. If you have a fast upstream connection, that means you can send files up to its servers at 100 Mbps. Backblaze's own chief technology officer has maxed out at 200 Mbps, though he's an exceptional case.

AT&T promises 940 megabits per second with its gigabit fiber-optic service. For the most part it delivers -- though Wi-Fi is slower than a cable connection.

I've been a Backblaze customer for years, and this kind of performance changes the game. For $60 a year they offer unlimited storage, but when I got started, with a slow upstream connection, it took months for all of my data to trickle its way to Backblaze. No way was I going to ditch the backup hard drive in my office.

But at 100 Mbps, you can pump 50 gigabytes per hour into the cloud. That means my current 2-terabyte backup would be finished in less than a day. It's much faster to update an existing backup, of course, because only new or changed data must be sent, but it's common for me to come back from a day trip with 10GB or 20GB of photos and video.

No, I'm not going to dump my physical backup drive, because I like to protect my data with multiple methods. But fast upstream data rates make online backup more feasible for people who otherwise wouldn't bother. Online backup is a lifesaver if you're the victim of flood, fire or burglary, plus the ability to access files if you're away from your home computer.

With AT&T Fiber, Backblaze backup speeds increased dramatically to 101 Mbps -- and that was before release of a new version of the software tuned better for high-speed links.

Lots of other services today benefit from good upstream speeds:

None of these are impossible with today's broadband, but all of them work better with gigabit speeds. Before moving to AT&T Fiber, I paid for a premium tier on Comcast's Xfinity service not because I needed the 200 Mbps download rates, but because I wanted the commensurate 20 Mbps upload rate.

I ponied up for AT&T's top-tier gigabit rate (actually 940 Mbps when you read the fine print), which costs $70 a month and goes to $80 after the first year. For 100 Mbps, it's $50, increasing to $70, but I wanted to see what the top-of-the-line speed would get me.

In my speed testing, AT&T delivers the goods. But it's not magic. Lots of things go faster, like YouTube uploads that take only a few seconds. The internet has abundant bottlenecks, though, so I still wait for data more often than I'd like. On top of that, Wi-Fi cuts down the maximum speed by two thirds, and websites require more and more time to execute complex programming instructions. Overall, though, I'm satisfied, and I expect things will improve as more online services adapt to ultra-high-speed connections.

I'm lucky to have gigabit speeds at home, but it's becoming more common. AT&T can reach 5.5 million homes and businesses today with its fiber-optic service, but plans to expand to at least 12.5 million by mid-2019.

The bigger question is what changes will come in the long run as upload speeds improve. There is an unpredictable "build it and they will come" factor.

Google had the presence of mind to acquire YouTube in 2006 and stands to profit likewise from tomorrow's services. So it makes sense that the company would try to kick things into gear with its Google Fiber service, which promises gigabit upload and download speeds.

But the company is pretty vague about what it thinks will emerge when our upload speeds surge.

AT&T Fiber can boast of high upload speeds, but in this promotional mailing, it only mentions download speeds.

"We believe technology paves the way for innovation," Google said of its Google Fiber project, which arguably kicked off this gigabit broadband push. "We've seen businesses in many industries -- from architecture to medicine to film and music -- take advantage of faster upload speeds to work collaboratively and expand their reach. And of course, it's also great for less serious endeavors like gaming or keeping your YouTube channel up to date."

For me, it was the supposedly slow-moving incumbent, not the Silicon Valley disruptor, that delivered my gigabit speeds.

AT&T expects changes with better upstream speeds. "We are seeing people producing more content than ever and pushing that content to the cloud, over social networks, engaging in video conferencing, online gaming, and more," the company said in a statement.

It's possible more radical changes will come. Faster upload speeds make telecommuting more feasible. It's easier to access company data and chat with teleconferencing technology, so maybe more people will skip rush-hour commutes or cross-country flights.

The bigger difference will be that our digital selves will move to the cloud. Take a photo of your dog, and nearly instantly it'll be stored on Facebook, Google, Dropbox, iCloud or some other online service. Your phone becomes an extension of the internet.

Security and privacy concerns mean it's not always wise to send data over networks and store it in central servers. But the benefits of cloud computing are immense when it comes to protecting against theft, granting fast access to a massive video and music library, and synchronizing our phones, TVs, laptops, smart speakers, smartwatches and tablets.

It's the future, so you better get used to it.

Tech Culture: From film and television to social media and games, here's your place for the lighter side of tech.

Batteries Not Included: The CNET team shares experiences that remind us why tech stuff is cool.

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Gigabit broadband gives me tomorrow's internet today - CNET

By Christopher Byrd By Christopher Byrd August 9 at 2:01 PM

Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice Developed by: Ninja Theory Published by: Ninja Theory Available on: PS4 and PC

Were all prisoners of our minds to some extent, though some of us more so than others. Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice opens with a warning: This game contains representations of psychosis. People with experience of psychosis as well as professionals in psychiatry have assisted in these depictions. It tells the story of Senua a young, mentally-tormented woman who goes on an orphic quest to retrieve her lover from the underworld. Although the game is centered around a character who suffers from auditory hallucinations and delusional thoughts, I think it will resonate with many who have dealt with chronic depression, paranoia and other mental health issues.

From its opening scene, which calls to mind the journey up a foreboding river in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, I was struck by the games production values. As Senua paddles her way through a fog-laden landscape in a dugout tree trunk, the narrator, voiced by Chipo Chung, introduces us to the Celtic warrior and the other voices Senua hears. Chungs mellifluous narration is as mesmerizing as any Ive heard in a video game fully on par with the voice work of Linda Hunt in the God of War series and Logan Cunningham in Bastion and Transistor. When Chung says, This is a journey deep into darkness. There will be no more stories after this one, she imbues the lines with a pathos that would come across as silly if voiced by a less-skilled actor.

And then there is Senua herself, played Ninja Theorys video editor Melina Juergens. Juergenss performance feels proportionally unbridled. When Senua can no longer bear the voices swirling around her, mocking and hectoring her, she looks unflatteringly discombobulated. When she falters in a fight and struggles to regain her footing she appears as though she is summoning every last iota of strength to defend herself. Her displays of anguish, of which there are plenty, are operatic without being cloying.

Although the Cambridge-based, U.K. studio Ninja Theory is a relatively small in comparison to many of the blockbuster specialists in the industry, with Hellblade, they and their technology partners are paving the way for lower-cost motion capture technology. This technology allows actors to have their digital likenesses integrated into a games graphics engine in real-time. (An actor can have a different face and body altogether in-game, while retaining the expressive nuances that they bring to the table.) Because the developers dont have to wait for long periods to see how an actors performance meshes with their game world, as has been the case for most of the industry since the advent of motion-capture technology, the cutscenes feel more organic than in most games that leverage the physical traits of human actors. (Here, I cant help but think of the Call of Duty games.)

In terms of gameplay, Hellblade sticks to the old combat and puzzle-solving formula. Yet, what saves these elements from being wholly conventional is how they affect and illuminate Senuas mental state. Fail in battle or in overcoming environmental challenges too many times and a flesh-rotting disease will gradually spread up her arm to her head resulting in permadeath whereby the players save file is deleted. (If youre unwary of courting such risks, you could always upload your save file to the cloud if youre playing on PS4, or download it to a USB stick if youre running the game on PC. Though obviously youd miss that frisson that comes from negotiating higher stakes.) As for the puzzles, they serve not only as palate cleansers between action sequences, but also to underscore Senuas determination to find secret correspondences in her surroundings via her own unique way of looking at things.

Speaking of visuals, on the whole the game looks stunning. However, there are cracks that appear intermittently that can somewhat mar the illusion. Aside from the occasional pop-in graphics that I noticed on the standard PS4, I noticed that when you swivel the camera in front of Senua while she is standing still, she swivels her head back and forth like a marionette. Moreover, close to the end of the game, I believe I committed a game-breaking error. There is a part where you need a torch to solve a certain puzzle, which I foolishly left behind after Senua dropped it in battle. After making my way to the puzzle and having the game autosave behind me, I could not return to where I dropped it. Im not sure if the developers meant to illustrate another cruel trick that Senuas mind played on her, but with nothing in her hand she held her arm aloft while a faint trail of smoke flickered in the air. Even if this was a fluke, I like to imagine the game found an exquisite way to troll me that was consistent with its overall evocation of heartbreak.

In any case, few mainstream video games have tried, let alone achieved, anything close to the emotional intensity that courses through this game.

Christopher Byrd is a Brooklyn-based writer who has been playing video games since the days of the Atari 2600. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Barnes & Noble Review, Al Jazeera America, the Guardian and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter@Chris_Byrd.

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'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice': A game with remarkable emotional intensity - Washington Post

Global creative studio Framestore is usually known for taking client projects and executing them with world-class attention to detail despite tight deadlines and high expectations. Its visual effects department works on some of the worlds biggest movies, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange, while other parts of the company build immersive and groundbreaking experiences, including Ascend The Wall for HBOs Game of Thrones and a magic school bus that takes kids on a field trip to Mars.

At SIGGRAPH last week I got the first look at something quite different on the way from Framestore: a passion project led by Senior Creative Developer Johannes Saam. The software is called CORAL and it is a fractal multiverse that will invite VR developers and early adopters on some long relaxing visits. It is expected to be available in the coming months.

For those unfamiliar, a fractalcan be gorgeous and almost mesmerizing when representing a repeating mathematical function as objects or shapes in two or three dimensions.

A fractal is a mathematical function with verymathematically simple terms that ever-repeating patterns creates very interesting shapes and structures that, in theory, have infinite detail, saidSaam.

I spent a fair amount of my third grade class staring at a screensaver on an old computer that had similar kinds of illustrations, which can sometimes seem to be represented as an endless tunnel with changing shapes and colors. When the teacher finally realized it wasnt just me but a large portion of the class totally ignoring her for hours at a time, she turned the computer away from us so we couldnt stare at it while she spoke. For a few minutes at SIGGRAPH, I was brought back to that mesmerizing effect and didnt want to stop flying through the fractal multiverse of CORAL.

Its more of an art piece, a gallery experience, than a game as of today. Nothing stops us using the same technology in a game, or making this experience more game-like, said Saam. If youre interested in beautiful shapes and you just want to relax its kind of a very meditative state you get into.

I describe it as a multiverse because these structures repeat in every direction into infinity and a simple button press on an Xbox controller transports the visitor to a completely different structure to explore. It is almost like shifting to a different universe. Other buttons on the controller change the parameters of the function so you can change the shape and pattern of the structures as you fly through them.

You can use a stick on the controller to move forward and wherever your head is pointed is where you fly. Theyve implemented a similar kind of field of view constriction as seen in Eagle Flightso that intense flying or shifting in directions should be more comfortable.

So if youre familiar with Eagle Flight, this is basically that type of flying experience but instead of soaring over Paris youre zooming into an endless universe of shapes that might look like coastlines or snowflakes. One minute it feels like youre passing through a vast alien ship and the next through the intricate structures of a cell. Having not experienced an acid trip myself, I suspect this is about as close as you can come to having one without actually taking a drug.

ARKit Fractal.Raymarching for the mobile win! @Framestore @CumuloBimbus pic.twitter.com/uHLVQpl7Lr

Johannes Saam (@JohannesSaam) June 30, 2017

Weve heard of some other fractal VR software in the past but getting them to run at 90 frames per second required for comfortable VR viewing is a real challenge. That said, it appears to be something Framestore has a good grasp on. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in CORAL and didnt want to leave. Saam and the rest of his team at Framestores Los Angeles office are targeting reasonable specifications for PC hardware but may build some settings so it looks even better on higher end hardware.

Do you have any mesmerizing fractal memories of your own? Let us know down in the comments below!

Tagged with: CORAL, Framestore

Original post:

Exclusive: Framestore Is Building A Mind-Bending Fractal Multiverse For VR - UploadVR

When you sit down with Phil Frana, you better buckle up for a conversation that ranges from the history of artificial intelligence (he's literally writing the book on it) to visions of the future, including uploading our minds to the singularity and 3-D printing our way to a utopian society. Phil is one of the speakersat the upcoming Escape Velocity 2017, the Museum of Science Fiction's annual sci-fi and science event, where he'll be leading a talk on matter duplicators. Ahead of Escape Velocity, we sat down with Phil to talk about sci-fi, tech, and the future.

Outer Places: Tell me a bit about yourself: your background, your interests, and what got you interested in sci-fi.

OP: You've taught courses on transhumanism, virtual worlds, and futuristics. What major changes do you see affecting humanity in the next thirty years?

Phil: I really think we're going to make tremendous progress on what I call the "totalization of memory" (You might call it "total recall"). We are so fearful of forgetting the most minute detail of our personal lives. We fear forgetting. But we also fear corporations, the government, and other nefarious types using our memories and data against us. We may see a form of digital immortality through mind-uploading (whole brain emulation) in our lifetimes. Reverse engineering the brain to achieve substrate independencethat is, transcribing the substance of the mind and emulating it on a variety of forms of physical or virtual mediais a recognized Grand Challenge of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering...

OP:Perfect segue into the next questionwhat are some of yourfavorite sci-fi books, movies, or shows?

Phil: What's the saying? "The golden age of science fiction is 12." I think that's the phrase. Meaning, you never care more about science fiction than when you were that age...I love the sense of wonder and attention to conceptual breakthroughs in 1920s-1960s science fiction. I love our grandparent's science fiction because the authors actually wanted to solve problems and, in the process, make the world a place of bliss. A.E. van Vogt's Weapon Shops time operas and R.A. Lafferty's short story All Pieces of a River Shore are some of my favorites. Somewhere in the late 1960s we began to lose our wayscience and technology became as much the problem as the solution. And today, despite all our encouragement of STEM disciplines, we are so very sure the tech is going to kill us all. SF, particularly in film, hectors us into believing that high technologies are the problem. Not the solution.

OP: What are your thoughts on recent sci-fi movies, like Arrival and Ghost in the Shell? Anything you wanted to direct attention to as a scholar or sci-fi fan?

Phil:Harrison Ford needs to stop with the science fiction-fantasy film series comeback routine...I've reached peak Harrison Ford.

I saw Valerian last week...The dialogue is pretty wooden (like the hardest wood possible, quebracho maybe?) but the visuals are stunning. The scene where the commando jacks into the guard at the augmented reality bazaar is fantastic. Remote control animals is real science. They've done it with cockroaches, beetles, sharks, turtles, mice and rats. That sort of thing. They slip a subcortical electrode implant under the skin and drive the things by push button.

OP: You've got an event at Escape Velocity this year where you talk about matter replication. Can you give me a teaser about what that'll be like?

Phil:Sure. I'll mostly be talking about the past and present of an idea we now call "post-scarcity." We are so hungry for a world where automation and radical abundance replace traditional human labor for wages. Even people who think they are against this are probably really in favor of it. We don't need to be defined by the drudgery of our lives anymore; we've actually never wanted to be. A number of commentators have suggested that a Minecraft mindset combined with additive manufacturing tools are harbingers of the post-scarcity economy. I would say that science fiction has been prepping us for a very long time before Minecraft and 3D-printing.

I'll be talking about visions of worlds where machines churn out most material goods, at negligible cost, starting with a 1935 short story by Murray Leinster called "The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator." In the story, Leinster conjures up a duplicator-unduplicator that exploits the notion that the four-dimensional universe (which includes time) has a bit of thickness. The device grabs chunks from the past and propels them into the present. The protagonist (Pete Davidson) uses the devicewhich he inherits from his inventor uncleto copy a banknote placed on the machine's platform. When the button is pushed the note remains, but it is joined by a copy of the note that existed seconds before, exactly when the button was pushed...The machine is used to hilarious effect as Davidson duplicates gold, and then (accidentally) pet kangaroos, girlfriends, and police officers plucked from the fourth dimension.

OP: Anything you're looking forward to seeing at Escape Velocity, apart from your panel?

Phil:My favorite part of EV is the cosplay. As I said on the phone, last year I was moderating a couple of sessions on the social lives of robots and had a cosplay Daft Punk robot sit down next to me and strike up conversations before and after sessions. The girl under the helmet was college-aged and super smart. She asked all sorts of interesting and important questions about why she liked to dress up like a robot. I was flummoxed by her brilliance.

Want tocheck out Phil Frana's talk at Escape Velocity this year (September 1st-3rd)? You can win a pair of weekend tickets to the event, courtesy of the Museum of Science Fiction and Outer Places! Click here to access the giveaway, or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.letting us know!

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Digital Immortality, The Future of Memory, and Sci-Fi Utopias: An Interview With Dr. Phil Frana - Outer Places

If youve clicked on this article, its more than likely youre a cat person. Welcome, my friend, to a safe haven, free from those other types. Today, we celebrate all that is cute, furry and cuddlybut not too cuddly so that it doesnt scratch our eyes out.

Cats are wonderful, wonderful things, so long as theyre not a bit moody (which is around 2 minutes of every day). Theyre worth celebrating and, young as it is, VR already has plenty of apps that do just that. So sit back, pat your leg until your four-legged feline finally decides to stop ignoring you and jumps up, get a cushion so it doesnt sink its claws into your skin, and take a look at the best VR apps for cat lovers on this most precious of days.

Cant have a real cat? Well then live out your wildest dreams with Konrad, a virtual kitten that you can dress and play with to your hearts content. Earn currency in minigames that you can spend on new outfits and make sure to keep the little guy happy as can be. Developer Fusion Play is adding new features to the game all the time, so expect more content to come soon.

The Vive Cat Tracker is a personal favorite of ours here at UploadVR, as we know the pain caused both to your soul and your fuzzy friend when you accidentally walk into them in VR. Using a Vive Tracker, this app keeps tabs on your pet when they walk inside your play space to make sure you dont trample over them or worse during an intense game of Gorn.

As a lover of cats, you tolerate many, many things. An indescribably will to destroy all of your earthly positions is one such thing. Catlateral Damage lets you enter the mind of a feline and explain exactly why theyre so intent on destruction; because its so much fun. Smash through houses, museums and more in VR and become the destroyer you always knew you were.

Turns out that its a myth that cats land on all fours. Never fear, though, as in this game youre assigned with catching kittens that fall out of trees and burning buildings. You can also catch regular babies, but we dont really care about that. Cats!

Saying goodbye to a cat is the harsh reality of owning them that we must all face one day. That is unless you have Super Cat Herding, in which players can make their pets invincible. If your cat runs into the road, then its the car that gets ruined. Oh you can also givethem special abilities like fire breathing. Because of course.

Were including Chocolate on this list as a bonus app, because its not actually out yet. This is the latest VR project from Tyler Hurd, who made the bizarreButts. His follow up looks just as zany and hilarious. Look out for it on both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on August 17th. It will cost $1.99 at launch and $2.99 after August 24th.

Continued here:

5 VR Apps For Cat Lovers On International Cat Day - UploadVR

I propose a toast to those who drink heartily from a cup half full, washing down a gulp of life with a splash of gratitude. Add a small twist of cynicism and you may find the golden ratio.

While stopping quickly at the Village Market uhh I mean Clark's the other morning, I had collected my mail from Jim, who's on a first-name basis with most villagers, personifying community spirit. And I was feeling keenly aware of what a special privilege it has been living in such a Rockwellian-montage my whole life and of just how lucky my own children are to be here as well.

Moments later, while sitting in my car in the parking lot sifting through my mail, I accidentally eavesdropped on two diametrically different conversations coming from either side of my jeep. With both my passenger and driver's side windows open, I listened as two men, both middle-aged white Americans and both seemingly on vacation, and likely of similar economic strata, were clearly having dramatically different experiences.

To my left, let's call him Joe Grateful, exclaimed to his companion, "I am upright and walking and in the most beautiful place in the world, nothing to complain about here," he smiled with sunlight in his face and walked across the street nearly into an oncoming car.

To my right, fully clad in this season's trendy cycling threads, push-rolling his rental bike through the parking lot, a presumed father figure, let's call him Johnny Killjoy, was spouting off in confrontational rhetoric asking, "Just how much do you think this vacation is costing me?" unaware of how some of us envious-onlookers may take that statement. He carried on about the price gouging; he was going to be no one's fool. And I could almost see the cloud of his misery hanging right over him while the sound of cash registers rang through his head.

I suppose I could relate to both in one way or another, but there must be some balance between blissfully vulnerable and miserably cynical. Still, I had to ask myself, why is it that some of us roll with life's punches while others can find fault in a flower; and I wondered, is there a happy and safe medium?

Perhaps at times we build things up and the expectations far exceed the experience, and at other times we can still find simple creature comforts to be humbling.

I remember occasionally finding myself sitting on the waiting couch in the Snowmass Village Salon, back in the '80s when it was managed by Renee and located next to the upper level of the Stewpot and downstairs from the Mountain Dragon. I used to thumb through glossy catalogs and listen to the gossiping, preaching and theorizing while my mom had her hair done. I held on to a few precious nuggets of wisdom that seemed like the gospel coming from that confident crowed; those woman seemed to have it all figured out to my impressionable young self.

"If you got it, flaunt it," they'd whoop in chorus, " but if you don't got it flaunt it anyway," and they would all laugh in sync. "Searching for gold makes it hard to see the silver lining," was another of their saying that still echoes in my mind.

Of all of the offbeat comments I heard back then, perhaps my favorite was, "There are whiners and than there are wine-rs," a favorite adage I've used myself and will not soon forget.

Earning the right to complain or knowing when to do so seems like an art. Still some more than others seem to have attained a level of respectability that earns them the right to openly and tactfully disapprove.

We can easily recognize that there is more to living here than just our impressive natural surroundings. Here in Snowmass, we enjoy a setting and a system that enriches our hearts along with our fiscal potential, and there seems to be so much to feel grateful for, much of which is owed to the dedication of those who were and are civil-minded enough to place the goals of the greater whole before their own vested self-interests. And when they protest, it's good to listen. Therefore a little skepticism about those who would carve out too much for their own self-gains is also reasonable.

I'm personally of the humble belief that if I cannot offer a solution I feel leery about pointing out flaws. I'm more inclined to simply ask questions first as I'm not sure that I've earned full complaint status yet.

For example, I'd like to ask why we were not presented any conceptual renderings of buildings 7 and 8 at the Upload for the Download? Not because I'm itching to critique or whine about the potentially unpalatable possibilities, but because I'm curious if we were being distracted; losing our way in the "hidden forest" or dreaming of "running away with" our lovers, oh yeah and the free drinks, keeping us wine-ing instead of whining on our way down.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak my mind, ask my questions and collaborate. And it's easy to find a silver lining with these inspiring mountain vistas as the backdrop.

In fact, anyone in town can fill out our Community Survey and speak up. I did it with a glass of finely fermented, but not sour grapes. With Joe Grateful sitting on my left shoulder reminding me to be thankful just to be here in Snowmass. Although I couldn't quite shake Johnny Killjoy off my right, as he whispered "watch out for the distractions, there's always a catch."

So I'll finish my toast to all those who feel enthusiastic about our improvements and "upgrades" and enjoy my moiety of merlot with a gilded chaser of unanswered questions, hoping that the right people are going to keep on asking so that all of our cups can remain at least half full. Cheers!

Let's exchange a piece of my mind for a little peace of mind, after all, if we always agree, what will we talk about? Britta Gustafson appreciates an open mind; share yours and email her at brittag@ymail.com.

Excerpt from:

Gustafson: There are whiners, and there are wine-rs - Aspen Times

If you've ever FaceTimed with a friend and wished you could share your hilarious conversation with the world, Instagram has got you covered.

The photo-sharing app announced on Tuesday that it's started rolling out a new update, which allows users to add a friend to their Instagram Live broadcasts. Basically, at any point throughout your livestream , you can tap the icon of two smiley faces in the bottom right corner of your screen and invite any of your current viewers to join your video. If they accept, they'll show up below you in a split screen, and all of your viewers will be able to watch you interact with your new co-star.

According to a blog post from Instagram, "You can remove your guest and add someone else at any time, or they can also choose to exit on their own." As usual, once you've ended the livestream, you can choose whether to upload the video to your Instagram Story or discard it forever. And don't worry if the feature isn't showing up in your Instagram app just yet "this feature is currently testing with a small percentage of our community and will be rolling out globally over the next few months," according to the blog post.

Instagram is billing the update as a way for users to catch up with friends, "whether you're just doing homework or catching up on your day," but it could also cause major FOMO (fear of missing out) as your Insta followers watch you laugh it up with your bestie onscreen. The new feature seems like it could potentially worsen mental health issues that a recent study says are already linked to social media usage: Earlier this year, the U.K.'s Royal Society for Public Health published a study that found that Instagram negatively affects young people's anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep, body image, and FOMO, and worsens bullying. "Platforms that are supposed to help young people connect with each other may actually be fueling a mental health crisis," explained Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society.

While this definitely doesn't mean you need to delete your Instagram account and swear off Snapchat, you should always keep in mind that the perfectly posed and filtered pics you see online are not real life. And if you choose to use Insta's newest feature, be mindful of the followers you're leaving out, and consider switching to a private video chat if you and your co-livestreamer are only interacting with each other and ignoring your viewers.

Related: Apple JUST Joined Instagram

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The Newest Instagram Update Lets Everybody Watch You Video Chat With Your Friends - TeenVogue.com

The long-term economic benefits of providing broadband access to every rural community exceed the cost of building that infrastructure. And it isnt even close.

Broadband applications are becoming more and more important for residents, businesses, and government as the digital age continues to unfold. The digital divide defined as those that have access, can afford, and know how to use broadband versus those who dont should be a key issue to be addressed by policymakers at the national, state, and local level.

But how much is being lost in economic benefits considering fixed broadband connectivity is not ubiquitous?

A 2017 study by Ohio State University Swank Program on Rural-Urban Policy estimated the economic benefits of providing broadband access to unserved households in Ohio. To calculate these estimates, the Ohio State study used customer surplus what a consumer is willing to pay for a service compared to what they are actually paying. In other words, consumer surplus is the average amount of value a consumer receives from Internet service above and beyond the price.

The Ohio State study used $1,850 as the average household benefits of broadband subscribers per year based on estimates of consumer surplus from past economic analysis that range from $1,500 per subscriber to over $3,000 per subscriber. This is a conservative amount since it assumes the consumer surplus remains constant over time disregarding an increase in the value of broadband service and decrease in cost.

To apply the method from the Ohio State University study to the entire U.S., we first consider the landscape of fixed broadband access using the FCCs definition of 25 Mbps download speeds and 3 Mbps upload speeds (25/3). Next, it is important to visualize U.S. counties by metropolitan or non-metropolitan type. Figure 1 shows U.S. counties by type.

Gray counties are counties inside metropolitan areas while those in beige are counties outside metropolitan areas. A total of 1,139 counties were classified as metropolitan versus 1,965 classified as non-metropolitan. Keep in mind independent cities and counties were merged in Virginia resulting in 3,104 counties analyzed.

Data regarding the percent of people without access to 25/3 fixed broadband is available from FCC Form 477. Using the December 2015 broadband dataset and 2010 population, approximately 10 percent of the U.S. population, or 31 million people, did not have access to 25/3. Further, the percent of 2010 population without access to 25/3 was 5.9 percent in metro counties (gray in Figure 1) or 15.5 million, compared to 34.2 percent or 15.8 million in non-metropolitan counties. Since the measure of the economic benefits of broadband used by Ohio State researchers is based on household subscribers, the average household size is used to calculate an estimated number of households without access to 25/3 fixed broadband.

Results are shown in Table 1. It is unlikely that all unserved households would subscribe to 25/3 even if they had access. As Pew Research Internet has shown, broadband adoption is impacted by age, income, and educational attainment. For this reason, five different adoption scenarios are included at twenty percentage points increments where the upper figure of 100 percent denotes full coverage and adoption of currently unserved households while the lower figure of 20 percent denotes only that amount of currently unserved households subscribing to broadband when available. Important to note is that the FCC 2016 Broadband Progress Report identified 28 percent as the average rate of rural broadband adoption.

Since households receive the benefits of broadband as long as they have a subscription, we project these annual economic benefits over fifteen years. This projection includes a 7 percent discount rate to discount the value of future benefits accounting for opportunity costs and technological change that could make broadband investments today obsolete in the future.

As shown in Table 1, about 12.1 million households (10.4 percent) lack access to 25/3 fixed broadband in the U.S. This in turn is generating a missed opportunity of $22.5 billion dollars per year or $219 billion over fifteen years assuming full coverage and adoption.

In non-metropolitan counties, about 6.2 million households (35.4 percent) lack access to 25/3 fixed broadband. These rural residents are missing out on $11.6 billion per year in economic benefits or $113 billion over fifteen years assuming full coverage and adoption.

On the other hand, the most conservative of scenarios, which assumes full access but only 20 percent adoption, would generate an impact of $4.5 billion per year or $43.8 billion over fifteen years in the U.S. In non-metropolitan counties, this same scenario would yield $2.3 billion annually or $22.7 billion over fifteen years.

These are large economic gains, especially for non-metropolitan counties, which in 2015 had 22.8 percent of people 25 to 54 (prime working age) or 3.2 million not participating in the labor force and an individual poverty rate of 18 percent compared to 17.4 and 15.5 percent respectively in the nation. Remember that broadband is, many times, the only conduit to search and apply for jobs, not to mention the opportunity it provides to gain new skills.

Figure 2, top of the page, shows the distribution of the average economic benefits per county classified as non-metropolitan using the fifteen-year projection and a 20 percent adoption rate (the most conservative scenario).

Note that the average economic benefits across non-metropolitan counties vary. Many Midwest counties would receive less than $5 million in economic benefits by getting 20 percent of their currently unserved households to subscribe to broadband, due to lower population density. Yet, as precision agriculture expands, access to high speed broadband is likely to offer even greater benefits to these areas beyond the numbers calculated per household.

Several areas of high benefit counties (with economic benefits of $10 million or more) are shown in dark red in Figure 2. Counties in Northern Maine, most of Arkansas, Mississippi, east Texas, southeast Oklahoma, among others would receive economic benefits of at least $10 million over fifteen years by expanding access and getting 20 percent of their households to subscribe.

These high benefit non-metropolitan counties (dark red) had a 2010 population of 29.9 million of which 42.2 percent did not have access to 25/3 fixed broadband as of 2015. In addition, 23.6 percent of those ages 25 to 54 were not in the labor force and 7.8 percent were unemployed. Finally, the individual poverty rate of these high benefit counties was of 18.5 percent.

Ok, so what?

According to a recent Microsoft report, it would take about $10 billion to provide broadband access to all rural residents (not clear though how the report defined rural so we may be comparing apples to oranges) currently unserved using multiple broadband technologies, not only fiber-optic cable. Under our most conservative scenario of just 20 percent adoption, we estimate that the economic benefits to households gained by expanding broadband service to all unserved non-metro households over the next 15 years would greatly exceed Microsofts cost estimate for providing service.

Reducing the digital divide, both in terms of access and adoption, is a very complex issue. Regarding access, a coordinated effort between federal, state, and local governments, carriers, and co-ops is required. Nobody can do it alone. As shown here, the estimated economic benefits to households are likely to exceed the cost of providing service.

Regarding adoption, there are multiple organizations already involved in increasing digital literacy and exposing those non-users to the benefits of the technology. Unfortunately, this side of the equation is often overlooked. It should receive greater attention.

An efficient and effective digital inclusion strategy could help raise the broadband adoption rates in low adoption areas. As the adoption rate rises, the economic benefits of broadband expansion increase.

There is no doubt that broadband is critical infrastructure. Those on the wrong side of the digital divide are being left further and further behind and missing out on very significant economic benefits.

Hopefully these figures will help jumpstart critical conversation on how to ensure universal access to affordable broadband, allowing people and households to maximize the benefits that can be gained from broadband regardless of location and socioeconomic characteristics.

Dr. Roberto Gallardo is Assistant Director &Community & Regional Economics Specialistof the Purdue Center for Regional Development at Purdue University.

Dr. Mark Rembert is the Graduate Research Associate at the Swank Program on Rural-Urban Policy at the Ohio State University.

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Broadband Economic Benefits: Why Invest in Broadband Infrastructure and Adoption? - Daily Yonder

Mozilla, the company behind popular web browser Firefox, has just launched a new private file-sharing tool called Firefox Send that allows users to upload and share even large files securely. While this tool might be a good option for some users, a VPN is a much better option when it comes to bolstered security. By using a VPN to connect to the internet, all of your devices and files will benefit from an added layer of security and protection on any network theyre connected to.

Most VPN service providers offer services globally and thus charge in US Dollars rather than in local currencies, so we've listed pricing in Dollars for the sake of simplicity. Bear in mind that when you click through to the actual deals, you may find the prices automatically displayed in pounds, or whatever your native currency may be.

Here are the best deals we found for taking our online security to the next level.

Hotspot Shield has 2,000 servers across 20 locations with support for up to five devices. This VPN offers great download speeds and there is even the option of getting a lifetime license if you are very satisfied with the service. New customers can try out Hotspot Shield for themselves thanks to the companys free 7-day trial.

This VPN keeps no logs on its users giving you total privacy online. IPVanish offers excellent download speeds as well as support for unlimited P2P traffic and up to five simultaneous connections. It has 700 servers across 60+ locations with over 40,000 shared IPs available for users. The company is running a promotion where new users can get 60% off when they sign up today.

ExpressVPN has over 1,000 servers across 136 locations and supports up to three devices. This VPN also offers a wide range of desktop and mobile clients with native support for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and BlackBerry. ExpressVPN also includes full P2P support as well as a kill switch in case the service should go down (meaning your true IP stays concealed in this eventuality).

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This week's best VPN deals: Hotspot Shield, IPVanish, ExpressVPN - TechRadar

Bhopal: These men in uniform have talent in abundance. Apart from performing their duties as protectors of people, police officers in state are equally capable of showing their strong biceps as a bodybuider and crooning for the entertainment of others. Meet Ujjain's superintendent of police Sachin Atulkar and ASP (cybercrime), Shailendra Singh Chauhan. While Sachin is a bodybuilding freak, Shailendra is an accomplished. The video that he uploaded on the occasion of rakshabandhan bears ample testimony to his talent as it has received thousands of hits so far, and it's rising every minute. IPS Sachin Atulkar believes that a fit mind only lives in a fit body. "Issues like hypertensions and others often surface after the age of 45. Being a police officer, I think it is always good to be fit. As far as bodybuilding is concerned, it has become my passion," said Atulkar. He does not give more than one hour daily but without any miss. "I think one hour workout is sufficient if it is done honestly," said Atulkar. In 1999, Atulkar had played cricket at the national level. He became IPS officer in 2007 at the age of 22. Despite having in a job where stress is quite high, Sachin has never made any compromise with his workout. "Missing workout out is not in my diary. Wherever I go, I ensure to continue the routine exercise. I think this is the mantra of my fitness," said Atulkar. Recently transferred from Sagar to Ujjain, Atulkar always encourages others to keep fit. "I ask my subordinate to remain fit. I have been organising camps and workshops where people are motivated and tips are given for being fit," said Atulkar. Shailendra, who has a passion for singing, said he has been performing on stage during police functions. "Singing has been my hobby since childhood. I thought Rakshabandhan was the best occasion to upload a video in my voice," said Shailendra. The video was based on famous Bollywood song 'Phoolon ka taaron ka sabka kehna hai, ek hazaroon mein meri behna hai'. In video Shailendra's family members have also acted. About choosing the song, Shailendra said, "I found this song perfect to give my voice to it. I didn't know that people would have give me such a huge response. It has given me the motivation to sing more such songs in the future." Regarding the amount he spends on singing, Shailendra said, "It depends on time I have at hand. I think there is no excuse for a person who wants to achieve something. Same applies to me also."

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Donning different hats, talented IPS officers flaunt brawn and brains - Times of India

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--If youre like most people, you probably wish you were better organized when it comes to your important financial and family documents. Where are last years tax filings? The familys birth certificates? Property titles? For many, the answer to these questions may be a somewhat less-than-resounding, somewhere in the filing cabinet...I think? Fortunately, summer is the perfect time of year to start doing something about this situation and the good news is, according to a recent survey conducted by online storage provider FidSafe, doing so can also bring with it greater peace of mind.

Whether it includes clearing out your bills and receipts, cleaning out closets of unnecessary clutter or sitting at your desk to prepare and organize your familys most important documents, the fact is that paperwork piles up over time, and every household could benefit from some much-needed springor summercleaning. According to the experts at FidSafe, locating and storing critical documents, such as a will, health care proxy, life insurance policies, tax filings, property titles, and marriage and birth certificates should be at the top of everyones to-do list; and it doesnt have to be complicated. The immediate benefit: taking action now can help ensure essential documents are easily accessible if and when you ever need them.

While getting organized is one project on most peoples checklist, many find the task overwhelming and put it off as a result, said Andrew Peterson, vice president and product manager for FidSafe, which offers a free electronic digital storage service that was introduced by retirement leader Fidelity Investments one year ago. FidSafe utilizes Fidelitys state-of-the-art technologies and security protocols to keep consumers information safe with two factor authentication and end-to-end data encryption. Furthermore, FidSafe users can designate one trusted person to receive access to their documents after they pass away.

FidSafe experts recommend breaking the task of organizing your financial life into five manageable steps:

The biggest benefit to getting your financial and family documents in order is the comfort youll find in knowing where your most important files are stored and that you have easy access to them, said Peterson. In fact, a recent survey of FidSafe users found that after uploading their essential documents to FidSafe, two out of three respondents felt more organized and better prepared to find critical documents in the event of an emergency1 . That enhanced peace of mind can be worth the time spent locating electronic versions of the documents and organizing them within FidSafe.

Looking for a place to store everything? FidSafe can help. Opening a FidSafe account is quick and easy. A mobile app, how-to tips, planning checklists, and informational videos are available online to guide consumers, who can upload documents to a FidSafe account using any home or office scanner or simply by taking a photo using a mobile device and then uploading it into FidSafe at a convenient time. All documents are kept private and confidential and only the owner of the account can choose when and how to share with family members or trusted advisors.

To demonstrate how easy FidSafe is to utilize, a graphic and short videos are available. FidSafe also allows individuals to:

For additional information on FidSafe, visit http://www.fidsafe.com.

About Fidelity Investments Fidelitys mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $6.2 trillion, including managed assets of $2.3 trillion as of June 30, 2017, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 26 million people invest their own life savings, 23,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing more than 12,500 financial advisory firms with investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients money. Privately held for 70 years, Fidelity employs more than 40,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit http://www.fidelity.com/about.

Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917

810032.1.0 2017 FMR LLC. All rights reserved.

1 Online survey of 1,145 FidSafe users conducted October 24 November 8, 2016. Survey by XTRAC, LLC. for FidSafe.

Continued here:

Five Ways to Get Financially Organized This Summer - Business Wire (press release)

Today was an exciting day for the UploadVR Editorial Team because today we got our hands on some new VR hardware. Last year it felt like a new piece of tech was launching every other month, but its actually been a while since we got some fresh plastic to strap on our face. Luckily, Microsoft and HP are here to save the day with the developer kit of the upcoming HP Windows Mixed Reality VR headset.

Microsofts Mixed Reality initiative is the evolution of Windows Holographic, with the intention for the company to support a variety of headsets with a single operating system from AR headsets like HoloLens to VR headsets like this one from HP. The way Microsoft frames it, Mixed Reality is an umbrella term that encompasses a number of gadgets, including this VR headset.

Here you can see a size comparison of the HTC Vive (left), HP Windows VR headset (middle), and the Oculus Rift (right).

Well have thoughts on the HP Windows VR headset soon enough. A quick rundown of the specs tells us that it comes with two lenses that sport14401440 resolutions each (making it28801440 combined) with an up to 90Hz refresh rate (if paired with an HDMI 2.0 port.) The cable is 4 meters long and the field of view measures at 95 degrees horizontally. You can check out the official website for more details on the headset and recommended hardware specifications.

We cracked open the box and snapped some pictures of the headset below so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Stay tuned for more thoughts from us as we check it out over the coming days! And if youre a developer working on something for Windows VR, be sure to let us know at [emailprotected] or down in the comments below!

Tagged with: hp, windows, Windows Holographic, windows mixed reality

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Hands-On: Take A Look At The HP 'Windows Mixed Reality' VR Headset - UploadVR

Instagram is a platform that has become famous due to photo sharing, but as of 2103 the platform also allows for shorts videos to be posted. This brings a whole other side to Instagram and users love it. They absolutely adore giving their friends and families quick updates through short videos. A combination of photo and video sharing options is considered the standard nowadays for all the platforms like Instagram, as people want as many options as possible when it comes to how they keep people updated about their life.

Are you interested in uploading videos to Instagram from your computer? If so, youve come to the right place as we are going to show you just how you can do that without having to pay for it. Keep in mind that using paid online services is definitely unnecessary simply because you can do it for free.

Why upload from PC?

Many might not understand why someone would want to upload to their Instagram from their computers, but its quite simple. The thing is, you might want to edit the video a little before posting it and the basic editing tools that Instagram provides just wont cut it. The solution in this case is to take your video through PC video editing software and give it the necessary touches. But what comes after that? Lets take a look and see.

All hail the almighty Dropbox

You might be familiar with Dropbox but in case you arent, its a service that allows you to store data on the cloud, which basically means online. So once you sign up with Dropbox, or another cloud storage service that offers Instagram support, upload the video to cloud then install the app to your phone as well.

Now, say youve uploaded your video to Dropbox and are now accessing your Dropbox from your mobile phone. Simply tap the video that you want to share and select the Export feature. From there, you should get a list of all the available options, sites or services that you can use to export the file. The file, in this case your video, can be exported to Instagram, thus sharing it on your Instagram profile.

So there you have it, a simple and easy way to upload more thought out and edited videos to Instagram from your PC. Its definitely a neat trick to know and it can get you out of a jam quite often.

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Uploading videos to Instagram How to do it from your PC without hassle - Blorge

Jon Schnitzer has been waiting 16 years for virtual reality technology to evolve to this point. The creator, director and producer of Flatline VR has been fascinated by real-life accounts of near-death experiences since first meeting a friend in 2001 who lived to tell the story of leaving his body, only to return to Earth. That was the beginning of years of research, exploring the accounts of hundreds of people who had eerily similar stories.

I thought itd be amazing to document this, but if you film this youd just watch someone elses experience, Schnitzer said. I thought itd be cool to film something in 3D, but I decided to wait until we could do 3D VR so we could put people into the experience and have that visceral and emotional connection.

Working with 3D Live Entertainment and Epic Games Unreal Engine 4 technology, Schnitzer is now able to give people an accurate recreation of one womans near-death experience through the power of virtual reality. The five-minute experience will make its debut at ScareLA on Aug. 5-6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center before being released for consumers at a later date, with more information on http://www.flatlinevr.com.

Although the first imagery that comes to mind with near death experience is that of a camera floating above the body and looking back down, thats not the focus of this first Flatline VR episode.

There are so many different variations of the stories, but entering a vortex is a common theme for people from all different cultures and locations around the world, Schnitzer explained. Thats actually where the phrase seeing the light at the end of the tunnel came from.

The journey the Flatline VR experience follows is that of Gloria, a young woman in the 1950s who suffered a miscarriage in a wing of a large hospital and was left alone while she bled out.

They put her in a room and forgot about her in a wing that wasnt busy, and she was screaming for help for days and nobody heard her, Schnitzer recounted. She lost consciousness and died and went through this Flatline experience. When she woke up there were doctors at the foot of her bed. Her husband was in the military and he told her not to tell this account to anybody, so it wasnt until decades later that she wrote about it in a letter to somebody.

The words written in that letter are the exact words that actress Mella Leigh recorded for this VR experience. In another eerie coincidence, Leigh herself had a direct connection to this project.

Mella had just had a near-death experience in a car wreck right before we approached her with this, and her story had a lot of similarities to Glorias story, Schnitzer said. I definitely get the chills when I hear Mellas voice as Gloria.

While Schnitzer doesnt want to spoil the experience by offering a complete play-by-play, he does admit that Gloria spoke of being pulled down into a spinning vortex.

Thats what hooked me, Schnitzer said. We wanted to do a vortex different than the way youre used to seeing one. The vortex accelerates and closes in and it has textures and colors to it that come from all the different years of talking to people who have had different near death experiences, as well as speaking to the scientists that explain why people are seeing these images. and what types of things youre actually seeing.

Beyond the expansion and the extraction of the color spectrum, the feeling of falling and spinning and turning, and the 360 audio experience thats been designed to disorient you, theres a lot more to the experience, including an element that makes it worthy of a horror festival. But thats for people to try first-hand.

She saw something come after her in the vortex, and how you interact with that is interesting and thrilling and controversial, Schnitzer added.

The set-up at ScareLA will have participants enter the back of an ambulance and lie on a gurney, where an HTC Vive is placed on their head. Although the later home version wont come with an ambulance, it will offer a built-in replay feature.

In addition to Glorias version of the account, we have three different commentary tracks where experts are explaining why different parts of her story are happening, Schnitzer said. Each one is a very different point-of-view that goes into the science and whats typical for these types of experiences.

The entire experience was created in four months by a team of 12 people, including the audio team. It marked a collaboration between Schnitzers The Brain Factory 3D Live, the company behind Electronic Arts, Biowares and Cedar Fairs Mass Effect 4D ride at Great America.

And if all goes according to plan, this near-death experience is just the beginning for Flatline VR.

This was just the pilot episode, Schnitzer explained. When I met my friend 16 years ago who had a near-death experience he shared a story that was so epic that I knew I couldnt pull it off for the pilot episode. We created this gateway episode, which is really emotional and powerful. And hopefully this episode will open the door for us to make the other episodes that Ive been dreaming about for over a decade.

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Flatline VR Brings Near-Death Experience To Life - UploadVR

Strauss Zelnick has made his skepticism about VR well-known. The CEO of Rockstar and 2K Games owner Take-Two Interactive has gone on record expressing doubt in VRs market potential. But what does he think about AR?

Speaking in a recent investors call, Zelnick expressed more optimism in ARs future. The concerns I raised regarding VR are not applicable to AR, he said. In order to have an AR experience, you dont necessarily have to wear glasses or a headset. Youre not burdened by beingin a particular location, and the discomfort factor doesnt exist, necessarily.

Zelnick noted the surprise success of last years Pokemon Go as an example of how AR can be more profitable.

Its pretty hard to predict what will excite consumers, he continued. We sitting here today, from a corporate point of view, dont presume to predict that. But thats what our 2,200 creative folks are in the business of doing, he said. Were proud of the innovations that our creative teams are focused on every day. So, more to come, but I dont have any skepticism particularly, about AR technology.

Despite Zelnicks skepticism about VR, we reported on rumors that Rockstar Games LA would be getting a VR supported version in the future. Were still hoping thats the case, but it certainly seems like we could see from AR content from Take-Twos subsidiaries at some point in the future.

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Take-Two CEO Is More Optimistic About AR Than VR - UploadVR

Yesterday was the final official day of AltspaceVR. After hosting a big farewell celebration in which hundreds of people logged on to pay their respects, exchange information with friends, and bask in the final moments of time in the virtual world, the servers are slowly phasing out. Eric Romo, CEO and Co-Founder of Altspace has reportedly opted to keep them running a little bit longer and its unclear when/if theyre officially dead, but regardless its officially in the sun-setting period as a shell of its former self.

AltspaceVR, at least for now, is no more, even if it is still live in a lessened state.

During the final night I logged on one last time and spent time interacting with, listening to, and observing people as they said their goodbyes to friends and talked to former employees about what the future holds. You can watch the highlights in the video embedded above.

In the video a former AltspaceVR employee named Travis (presumably Audio Lead/Sound Designer Travis Fodor) is seen discussing what the applications closure means for the future of social VR.

Im at home in my underwear filing for unemployment, says Fodor. Im not kidding, I dont know what were doing. We fired up a couple of our servers but we are definitely in low-power mode right now. Its pretty awesome weve been able to have a couple hundred people in these events with literally nobody working it at all.

But even as sad as everyone is, he urges people to stay positive.The internet was founded on a bunch of failed startups, so Altspace may be going away, or this instance of what is Altspacebut youll be seeing us all again soon in pieces Im sure, says Fodor. No worries in the long run. You guys have a really important job to do, I hope you guys go onto these other platforms and continue to build communities. Unless you build communities then investors wont pay for those companies to keep going. Example A is us. So make sure you keep building communities, keep spreading the word, keep getting your friends to buy headsets, or else this is not going to work and I really do mean thatThe last thing you want to do is stop coming and meeting with each other.

For me personally, AltspaceVR was important. It was one of the first applications I wrote about in the VR scene when I played Dungeons & Dragons in VR and Ive always had a special fondness for shared virtual spaces like MMOs and social meetup places such as these. I met my wife in an AOL chatroom when we were teenagers over a decade ago and we recently talked about what it would have felt like if AIM had its plug pulled while we were actively talking on a daily basis while using it. Other options became popular eventually like Yahoo Instant Messenger and Skype, but in the moments following a closure, not having a comfortable daily place to visit feels devastating.

Similar to Star Wars: Galaxies, City of Heroes, Asherons Call, and countless other large-scale MMOs that are no longer active, when a virtual world like this shuts down its different than when an offline world stops getting updates. These spaces arent just there as games or as experiences you try and move on from. These are real spaces and worlds that people occupy, exist in, share, and live inside of together. When they go down, entire worlds are erased. You can revisit a classic N64 or PlayStation game, but you can never revisit a virtual world that shuts down.

When you meet someone in Altspace its different than meeting them on Twitter, or Reddit, or a forum. Youre hearing their real voice, watching their real mannerisms with head and hand movements. You can feel someones shyness, or excitement, or sadness when they talk to you. Watching people share memories and reflect on their time together in Altspace on the final day was heart breaking.

In the video above, Altspace put together a collection of memories from users.I have actually made friends in Altspace that Im closer to than I am with friends in real life, states one user. Altspace got me into virtual reality itself and opened my mind to a whole new level of communication and community, says another.

One user you can audibly hear struggle to get the words out.II justI get choked up thinking Im not going to be able to just jump in and talk to my friends. [Altspace] was me going out with my friends every night.

During the final night I even witnessed impromptu chants and protests. For the most part, people seem to be in agreement that migrating the community to VRChat is the way to go.

Even if a new, better, more feature-rich replacement space pops up or evolves over time, AltspaceVRs importance wont be forgotten. We all have a tendency to assign significant emotional attachment to places that we associate with strong memories. When I think about my first kiss, I remember exactly where we were and what my (now) wife was wearing. When I think about the first time I played a video game (Super Mario Bros. 3) I vividly remember the room I was in even though I was only two or three years old.

When I think about the first time I hung out with other people in VR, Ill remember AltspaceVR, as will countless other people.

Featured Image Credit: Brian Rose

Tagged with: altspace, altspacevr

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The End Of The World: As AltspaceVR Disappears Not Everyone Is Fine - UploadVR

In your speeches you always claim that the best investment is in yourself. Could you please elaborate on that?

We live in uncertain times that is the simple truth. The evolution of technology together with globalization has greatly impacted how we perceive our job and status in our current society. Living in the digital era is like nothing human beings have done before. Everything is changing rapidly around us and all of us must co-create our future in order to not only survive but thrive in these uncertain times. When uncertainty strikes, it is only the creative and adaptable people who will survive. These people will know to invest in themselves (in their education and in their image) and will be eager to work closely with technology. The futurist Thomas Frey predicted that 2 billion jobs will disappear by 2030 and freelancing will be the most profitable profession in the world. And our children will be technologically native to the point that they will not know how to survive without the internet. In such a context it is only natural that the ideas of the businesses of the future to receive a lot of heat. But the truth is, no matter how many people will like to call themselves futurist prophets, most have no idea what the future holds. Thus, your best asset is you and your best investment is in yourself.

Karina, you are a Brand Master. What does a personal brand represent for you?

Andy Warhol predicted correctly that in the future everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame. Andy's future is our now. And with the help of the internet, we can now (if we know how to) sell our products and services and share our message with anyone and everyone who is willing to listen. Did it seem to you that investing in yourselves, brand and image is too big investment? You think you cannot afford it? You cannot afford not having it. Because not having a well crafted online presence is equivalent of being dead. You cannot expect to market and promote as you did 7 years ago and wonder why it is not working. And the business of the future is called personal branding. A personal brand is an ensemble of elements (logo, motto, graphic elements, storyline, image and so on) well crafted in order to create a perception in the mind of your target customer with the intention of selling your products and services and becoming a status symbol.

Why would anyone need a personal brand?

Because people buy people. Just think about it. People buy products and services from someone they like and whom they trust. If Doctor Oz would suddenly move to your neighborhood, everybody will have an appointment. Why? Because people know him and feel that they can trust him. That is the power of a well constructed brand.

Because people do not know what you do until you tell them. Doctors for example, have no shame in showcasing their title in front of their name every time they have the chance. Why should not you do it if you are really good at something?

Because you have a brand even if you do not know it. It might not be a well crafted brand but it is there. Because as you form an opinion about with whom you interact with in real life, so do people form an opinion about you when they interact with your website (or lack of a website) or with any picture of any cousin or any interesting meal you post.

Creating your image as a celebrity expert in your field is crucial if you want to have a secure position as a professional in the future, because a secure image is something no company, no robot, no competitor can take away. And if you construct this brand well enough whether you are a coach, a consultant, entrepreneur, business person, writer, nutritionist, artist, singer or even a manager or a freelancer, you will reach a wider audience, you will be paid more than someone without a well constructed image. Being the CEO and Brand Master at KO by Karina Ochis, the next generation branding and marketing agency, as well as a best-selling author for the book Cracking the Code to Success, co-authored with Bryan Tracy (Chairman of Bryan Tracy International and world renowned development authority), in which I elaborate my formula on elite branding, I dedicated my life to studying these subjects and the people who became celebrity experts in their field.

Can you tell us a few tips and tricks that anyone can implement in their personal branding strategy?

1. Be authentic but do not over share

Telling your story and highlighting the struggles you overtake is one thing and constantly exposing your misfortune is another thing. It can take 20 years to build a reputation and only one wrong photo to ruin it. It can be easy in the internet age to get carried away by the moment to post something that seems like it benefits you short term, and in the long term would be completely disastrous. In my case, I would have gained a much bigger audience quicker, if I would have posted humoristic videos. But because I am a professional who builds a long lasting career and thinks about the long term consequences of the implications of my decisions, I will not do so.

2. Fact sells but story tells

In writing your story you need to be authentic, consistent and keep the story grounded in facts. Sure, you can write your story in a manner to best showcase your abilities, your philosophies and your achievements. However, the internet world is very transparent. Thus writing a fallacy will always be in your detriment for the long run.

A brand book comprises Brand Consultation, Brand Strategy and Visual Identity Handbook. Whatever the situation, you and your team should be able to refer to this brand book at any time to have a clear framework for your brand design and its implementation.

4. Do not have a static website?

When having a website became a trend, individuals as well as companies, had a tendency towards creating a website, uploading it on the internet and leaving it there. But merely having a website on the internet does not guarantee that you will sell more products and services, nor than people will know more about you. You grow as your business grows and implicitly, your website needs to grow together with you. A website is not something of a static nature that you upload once and then just leave it on the internet. It is your main branding and marketing vehicle and you have to upload it constantly with news, information, as well as with expert advice and your expert opinion on your field. Depending on your brand and on your field of activity you should post either every week or on a monthly basis. When you share your opinions and advices on a topic with your audience, when you are naturally perceived as the expert of your domain, and when you give actual real life advice to individuals, they will be more likely to contact you rather than your competition. For example on my blog, I regularly write about branding, entrepreneurship, leadership and lifestyle design, since I am both a coach and a speaker in these subjects.

How should one communicate their personal brand on social media?

You do not behave in the same manner at a football game as you do at the opera. In consequence you should not communicate on Facebook in the same manner you would communicate on Twitter. Every social media platform has its own style of communication and its own framework in which you have to share your story. It is up to each personal brand to figure out how to communicate with their target audience on each platform. Instagram for example is appropriate for showcasing a more personal side of yourself, in contrast to LinkedIn where you want to focus on your CV and on your professional activities. Facebook should play the role of you newspaper, where you aggregate all the main information about you: what you stand for, what your mission is, as well as your latest news. You need to familiarize yourself with the language and abbreviation of every platform, because you cannot speak in an impropriate manner on a platform and expect great results.

What is trending right now when it comes to personal branding?

Documenting is the new marketing. When you build an authentic brand, one that is true to you and to who you are, you can be transparent with your journey. The time of overly creating content is slowly and gradually fading away. Personal branding and marketing is going to be all about documenting your journey and your professional activities.

What do you wish everyone would know about personal branding before they start the branding process?

Firstly, DIY is not always the best option. Not all personal brands are created equal. I am always baffled by how people are willing to invest enormous amounts of money on universities, but when is time to pay for a logo that represents themselves, they try to find the cheapest option. Remember - your brand book, logo and your brand pictures, reflect who you are in the digital world. If you think about it, your website is like your office and your social media is like your car. Sure, there are things you can do yourself and there are things that you should not try to do yourself. That is why, when you build a house, you call an architect.

Secondly, your time will come. Strong personal brands are built in time. Dont expect to be an overnight success. You need to build a strong foundation that you can easily expand. If you are good enough, your time to shine will come. When they invented the saying Everyone is replaceable, they clearly did not count people with a strong brand. Because when you have a strong brand, you become irreplaceable.

Karina Ochis is the CEO and Brand Master at KO by Karina Ochis (next generation branding company), founder of Ana Karina Luxury Concept (company dedicated to the implementation of the businesses of the future), Best Selling Author (for the book she co-wrote with Brian Tracy, Cracking the Code to Success), International Speaker, Life and Brand Coach (accredited by Tony Robbins) and host of the YouTube shows Branding Biz. Club and Weekly K.

Karinas Website: http://www.karinaochis.com

Karinas company website: http://www.kobykarinaochis.com

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You are the business of the future. - HuffPost

Thanks for watching, please like and subscribe! Singer Pragathi Guruprasad switches off her camera with a click of finality. She has just finished recording a vlog for her YouTube channel, but before she can edit it, shes off to class at the University of California, Los Angeles. Shes been balancing this double life for a while now; but she doesnt mind it, as she says she owes her true metamorphosis to the beast of the digital age: social media. And this is what she is using exclusively to promote her first-ever world tour, which was announced late last month.

Increasingly, young independent musicians have been using social media as a way to promote their work be it through videos, event invites and fan pages. Whats new is how they are tapping into their database of followers to decide their plan of action in the real world, including tour dates, venues, set lists and more.

Working with social media management company, Pubblisher, Guruprasad has been strategising, using her 3,00,000 plus followers on both Facebook and Instagram, and sizeable followings on Twitter and Snapchat to work out the details of each show. Social media platforms have changed the definition of being a public personality, so while it gives me space to express myself, it also gives me a direct connect with what my fans are thinking and what they want from me, says Guruprasad. Being in this spotlight, she says, is exhausting and exciting in equal measures.

Global reach

Its a sentiment that young Indo-Canadian singer, Jonita Gandhi, knows all too well. When I started uploading covers online, they were simply videos of me in my basement, singing karaoke tracks into my phone. Based on feedback, I realised that it was a great way to hear back from the people who I was singing for. It has clearly worked. In six years, she has established herself as one of Bollywoods youngest leading female playback singers.

Although Gandhi spends more time in the studios at Yash Raj nowadays, she has a lasting love for online platforms. Shes all-too-familiar with going viral, but says the math isnt that simple. I dont think theres really a formula to it, but I would say that artists should try to be themselves and utilise the tools and resources available to help them reach their audiences. Out of sight, out of mind is very true in this case, so stay active and connected, she says.

Staying original

Guruprasad and Gandhi have capitalised on the global audience. As they streamed their covers, they fuelled a new phenomenon: an independent music scene that is wholly online.

Sanam Puri and his band call the change an explosion of access and availability, which gave them a new lease of life. You dont have to rely on what is broadcast any more. Instead, creators can upload content from their mobile devices. This has allowed us to share our work, in our own style, says drummer Keshav Dhanraj. Often called Indias answer to One Direction, Sanam the Band is one of the most-subscribed YouTube channels in India, with 2.4 million subscribers in just five years.

We compose, produce, record, shoot, edit, and release our own material; its the sort of freedom and strength that helps us grow, vocalist Puri adds. The band prefers to keep their voice as authentic as possible. Instead of focusing on whats trending, we like to put out our own message, says bass guitarist Venky S.

Authenticity is a running theme. We get the opportunity to let our personalities be seen through social media, as well as our music, Gandhi says. As her audience has grown, the challenge is maintaining the organic nature of her videos. Shows can be impersonal: I want to take that online connect to the live space to thank the people who have stuck with me for so long, concludes Guruprasad.

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To the online beat - The Hindu

We are happy to present a chapter from Warcross, an upcoming book from Marie Lu, a New York Times bestselling author behind The Young Elites and Legend series. Before becoming a full-time author, Marie Lu spent time as an artist for video games, and this is her first book influenced by both games and virtual reailty.

About Warcross: For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isnt just a game its a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty-hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation. Convinced shes going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the games creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this years tournament in order to uncover a security problemand he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emikas whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that shes only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

Warcross will release on September 12, 2017 and is currently available for pre-order.

I still remember the exact moment when Hideo Tanaka changed my life.

I was eleven, and my father had been dead for only a few months. Rain pounded against the window of the bedroom I shared with four others at the foster home. I was lying in bed, unable, yet again, to force myself to get up and head to school. Unfinished homework lay strewn on my blankets, still there from the night before, when Id fallen asleep staring at the blank pages. Id dreamed of home, of Dad making us fried eggs and pancakes drowning in syrup, his hair still shining with glitter and glue, his loud, familiar laugh filling the kitchen and drifting outside through our open window. Bon apptit, mademoiselle! hed exclaimed, with his dreamers face. And Id screamed in delight as he threw his arms around me and messed up my hair.

Then Id woken up, and the scene had vanished, leaving me in a strange, dark, quiet house. I didnt move in bed. I didnt cry. I hadnt cried once since Dads death, not even at the funeral. Any tears I might have shed were instead replaced with shock when I learned how much debt Dad had accumulated. When I learned that he had been sneaking onto online gambling forums for years. That he hadnt been getting treatment at the hospital because hed been trying to pay off his debt.

So I spent the morning the way Id spent every day for the past few months, lost in a haze of silence and stillness. Emotions had long vanished behind a cavity of fog in my chest. I used my every waking moment to stare off into spaceat the bedroom wall, at the class whiteboard, at the interior of my locker, at plates of tasteless food. My report cards were a sea of red ink. Constant nausea stole my appetite. My bones jutted sharply at my wrists and elbows. Dark circles rimmed my eyes, something everyone noticed except me.

What did I care, anyway? My father was gone and I was so tired. Maybe the fog in my chest could grow, denser and denser, until someday itd swallow me, and I could be gone, too. So I lay curled in a tiny ball, watching the rain lash at the window, the wind tug at the silhouettes of tree branches, wondering how long it would take for the school to notice I wasnt there again.

The clock radio in the roomthe only thing in the room, other than our bedswas on, a piece of hand-me- down technology donated to the home from a Goodwill center. One of the other girls hadnt bothered turning it off when the alarm sounded. I listened halfheartedly as the news droned on about the state of the economy, the protests in the cities and countryside, the inability of the police to keep up with crime, the evacuations in Miami and New Orleans.

Then it switched. Some hour-long special began, talking about a boy named Hideo Tanaka. He was fourteen years old then, still brand-new to the spotlight. As the program went on, I started to pay attention.

Remember the world right before smartphones? the announcer was saying. When we were teetering on the brink of a huge shift, when the technology was almost but not quite there, and it took one revolutionary device to push us all over the edge? Well, last year, a thirteen-year- old boy named Hideo Tanaka pushed us over a new edge.

He did it by inventing a thin, wireless pair of glasses with metal arms and retractable earphones. Make no mistake. Theyre nothing like the goggles weve seen before, the ones that looked like giant bricks strapped to your face. No, these ultra-slim glasses are called the NeuroLink, and you wear them as easily as any pair of regular glasses. We have the latest pair in the studio herehe paused to put them onand we promise, its the most sensational thing weve ever tried.

The NeuroLink. Id heard it mentioned in the news before. Now I listened as the radio program laid it out for me.

For a long time, in order to create a realistic virtual reality environment, you had to render as detailed a world as possible. This required a lot of money and effort. But no matter how good the effects became, you could still tellif you looked hard enoughthat it wasnt real. There are a thousand little movements on a human face every second, a thousand different quivers of a leaf on a tree, a million tiny things the real world has that the virtual world doesnt. Your mind knows this unconsciouslyso something will look off, even if you cant quite put your finger on it.

So Hideo Tanaka thought of an easier solution. In order to create a flawlessly real world, you dont need to draw the most detailed, most realistic 3-D scene ever.

You just need to fool the audience into thinking its real.

And guess what can do that the best? Your own brain.

When you have a dream, no matter how crazy it is, you believe its real. Like, full-on surround sound, high definition, 360-degree special effects. And none of it is anything youre actually seeing. Your brain is creating an entire reality for you, without needing any piece of technology.

So Hideo created the best braincomputer interface ever built. A pair of sleek glasses. The NeuroLink.

When you wore it, it helped your brain render virtual worlds that looked and sounded indistinguishable from reality. Imagine walking around in that worldinteracting, playing, talking. Imagine wandering through the most realistic virtual Paris ever, or lounging in a full simulation of Hawaiis beaches. Imagine flying through a fantasy world of dragons and elves. Anything.

With the press of a tiny button on its side, the glasses could also switch back and forth like polarized lenses between the virtual world and the real world. And when you looked at the real world through it, you could see virtual things hovering over real-life objects and places. Dragons flying above your street. The names of stores, restaurants, and people.

To demonstrate how cool the glasses were, Hideo made a video game that came with each pair. This game was called Warcross.

Warcross was pretty simple: two teams battled each other, one trying to take the other teams Artifact (a shiny gem) without losing their own. What made it spectacular were the virtual worlds the battles were set in, each one so realistic that putting on your glasses was like dropping you right into that place.

As the radio program went on, I learned that Hideo, born in London and raised in Tokyo, had taught himself how to code when he was eleven. My age. Not long afterward, he built his first pair of NeuroLink glasses at his fathers computer repair shop, with his neuroscientist mothers input. His parents helped fund a set of one thousand glasses for him, and he started shipping them to people. A thousand orders turned overnight into a hundred thousand. Then, a million, ten million, a hundred million. Investors called with staggering offers. Lawsuits flew over the patents. Critics argued about how the NeuroLink engine would change everyday life, travel, medicine, the military, education. Link Up was the name of a popular Frankie Dena pop song, last summers big hit.

And everyoneeveryoneplayed Warcross. Some played it intensely, forming teams and battling for hours. Others played by simply lounging on a virtual beach or enjoying a virtual safari. Still others played by wearing their glasses while walking around the real world, showing off their virtual pet tigers or populating the streets with their favorite celebrities.

However people played, it became a way of life.

My gaze shifted from the radio to the homework pages lying on my blankets. Hideos story stirred something in my chest, cutting through the fog. How did a boy only three years older than me take the world by storm? I stayed where I was until the program ended and music started to play. I lay there for another long hour. Then, gradually, I uncurled and reached for one of my homework sheets.

It was from my Introduction to Computer Science class. The first problem on it was to spot the error in a simple, three-line piece of code. I studied it, imagining an eleven-year old Hideo in the same position as me. He wouldnt be lying here, staring off into nothing. He would have solved this, and the next, and the next.

The thought conjured an old memory of my father sitting on my bed and showing me the back of a magazine, where two drawings were printed that looked identical. It was asking the reader to figure out the difference between them.

This is a trick question, Id remembered declaring to him with crossed arms. My eyes squinted closely at every corner of both images. The two drawings are exactly the same.

Dad just gave me a crooked smile and adjusted his glasses. There was still paint and glue stuck in his hair from when he was experimenting with fabrics earlier in the day. Id need to help him cut the sticky strands out later. Look closer, hed replied. Hed grabbed the pencil tucked behind his ear and made a sweeping motion across the image. Think about a painting hanging on a wall. Without using any tools, you can still tell if its crookedeven by a tiny bit. It just feels off. Right?

Id shrugged. Yeah, I guess so.

Humans are surprisingly sensitive like that. Dad had gestured at the two drawings again with his paint-stained fingers. You have to learn to look at the whole of something, not just the parts. Relax your eyes. Take in the entire image at once.

Id listened, sitting back and softening my gaze. That had been when Id finally spotted the difference, the tiny mark on one of the drawings. There! Id exclaimed, pointing excitedly at it.

Dad had smiled at me. See? hed said. Every locked door has a key, Emi.

I stared down at the homework sheet, my fathers words turning over and over in my mind. Then I did as he saidI leaned back and took in the code all at once. Like it was a painting. Like I was searching for the point of interest.

And almost immediately, I saw the error. I reached for my school laptop, opened it, and typed out the corrected code.

It worked. Hello, World! said my laptops program.

To this day, I cant properly describe how I felt in that moment. To see my solution working, functioning, on the screen. To realize that, with three little lines of text, I had the power to command a machine to do exactly what I wanted.

The gears in my head, creaky from grief, suddenly began to turn again. Begging for another problem. I finished the second one. Then a third. I kept going, faster and faster, until I finished not only that homework sheet but every problem in my textbook. The fog in my chest eased, revealing a warm, beating heart beneath it.

If I could solve these problems, then I could control something. And if I could control something, I could forgive myself for the one problem that I could never have solved, the one person I could never have saved. Everyone has a different way of escaping the dark stillness of their mind. This, I learned, was mine.

I finished my dinner that night for the first time in months. The next day and the day after that and every day since, I channeled every bit of my energy into learning everything about code and Warcross and the NeuroLink that I could get my brains on.

As for Hideo Tanaka . . . from that day on, along with the rest of the world, I was obsessed. I watched him as if I were afraid to blink, incapable of looking away, like he might start another revolution at any moment.

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Read A Chapter Of Marie Lu's Warcross Before It's Released This September - UploadVR