BMW has teamed up with Chinese digital display experts Futurus to create the next-generation of heads-up displays. These will no longer be simply about projecting your speed and maybe some sat-nav arrows on to the windscreen, but will instead incorporate complete windscreens with augmented reality displays.

Futurus is showing off its new Mixed Reality (MR) windscreen at the hugely influential Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and BMW is one of the carmakers lining up for a slice of its tech. MR means that you still view the real world through the windscreen as normal, but the glass can also be used as a gigantic projection screen, with information on road hazards, traffic, and even local information flashing up in front of the drivers eye.

The MR windscreen features independent projection layers, so that from the drivers perspective, the screen is clear aside from hazard warnings (Futuruss systems can detect cyclists and pedestrians at 50m distance) and navigation directions, which can point you directly down the street you need.

From a passengers perspective, the windscreen can be a big TV, showing movies, music, or social media without distracting the driver. The tech is similar to that deployed by Jaguar Land Rover on its infotainment screens, which effectively divides the screen up like a venetian blind, showing one set of angled pixels in one direction.

Chief scientist at Futurus Uber Wu says: Vehicle manufacturers must adopt MR technology if they want to offer a truly safe yet immersive experience in the next generation of vehicles. The in-cabin experience has not changed radically in decades, our windscreen transforms the driver and passenger journey. The technology is the first step towards a smart windscreen that delivers personalised, interactive in-car entertainment, e-commerce and enhanced safety features, thanks to split-screen technology that doesnt distract the driver.

Chief executive of Futurus Technology Alex Xu adds: In-car augmented reality head-up displays (Hud) are installed in relatively few models and offer limited performance, but in the next few years we will produce a smarter hybrid-reality windscreen display that provides the safest ride to mass-market vehicles.

While Futuruss stand at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will consist mostly of a huge MR windscreen demonstration, across the hall BMW has its own work to show off a two-seat version of the i3 electric car. No, its not what youre thinking. Its not a Smart fortwo rival. Instead, the i3 Urban Suite puts the driver up front as normal, but bins the front passenger seat and one of the rear seats to create a super-luxury perch from which you can be silently chauffeured around.

The idea is that the single rear-seat passenger has their own foot rest, a bigger, comfier seat than usual, personal drop-down video screen and a focused sound zone so their tunes can be listened to without upsetting the driver.

They also get what appears to be a small side cabinet, which BMW says is made from certified wood, while the rest of the cabin gets recycled carpet and leather tanned to eco-friendly principles. Its not a one off either BMW has actually made a whole fleet of these i3 Urban Suites and is offering them, via a special app, to whizz CES attendees around Las Vegas. The idea? To demonstrate that luxury travel in the future will have nothing to do with vehicle size, according to a BMW spokesperson.

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BMW to adopt virtual reality windscreen - The Irish Times

Virtual reality dining from Adda team and James Beard is extended

A virtual reality dining experienced helmed by Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar, the chef and restaurateur team behind hit Indian restaurants Adda and Rahi has been extended through January 26 after quickly selling out tickets for its original run, which was set to end December 29. The duo have teamed up with artist Mattia Casalegno for whats called Aerobanquets RMX, hosted at the James Beard House on West 12th Street.

As diners put on their Oculus headsets, the voice of Top Chefs Gail Simmons guides them through the experience, which includes interacting with virtual representations of food, while also sampling seven actual small plates of food over the course of the 40-minute dinner. Tickets costs $125 and only four people can participate at once. Mazumdar and Pandyas Adda, which is located in Long Island City, and focuses on Indian regional cooking, landed on several best new restaurant lists in the city last year.

Celebrated sommelier Andr Hueston Mack, a French Laundry and Per Se alum, and the first black man to win the best young sommelier in America award from international food society Chane des Rtisseurs, has opened his first restaurant in Prospect Lefferts Garden. And Sons, as the wine bar is known, is a family affair that hes running with his wife and sons. The menu features over 300 selections of wine, and a variety of ham and cheese offerings with options to build a charcuterie board. The restaurant seats 21 and opens January 16, and Mack has plans to open a larder shop next door in the spring, selling ceramics, ham and cheese, and charcuterie boards.

The Post is (rightly) being called out for its viciously written and wildly insensitive coverage of a homeless man who was eating from a Whole Foods hot bar in Midtown.

Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed pizza chain Dominos for selling $30 pies to New Years Eve revelers at Times Square. Twitterati didnt take too kindly to the diss, calling out to the mayor for past pizza faux pas such as eating a slice with a fork and knife on Staten Island in 2014, according to the Post.

Upper East Side restaurant Swiftys, which closed in 2016 much to the disappointment of local residents, has reopened in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Addas Popular Virtual Reality Dinners at James Beard House in NYC Have Been Extended - Eater NY

Innovators must know when to pivot. Market demand, funding, and barriers to entry are all critical factors in determining whether one business may prosper while another may plummet.

Eagle Wu 20 has experienced both sides firsthand.

As founder of virtual reality company Vinci, Wu has pivoted his business model across industriesfrom architecture to military and renewable energy. He has seized the opportunities in front of him, and, in turn, put the business in its best position to succeed.

Vinci was originally focused on virtual reality for architecture and design, but the decision to veer off course was made due to circumstance.

For us, it seemed like the entry into the (architecture) market was way too high, Wu said.

In flew the Air Force.

Last year, Vinci received a $1 million contract with the Air Force to use virtual reality to train aircraft maintainers. The company also is working to create a safety equipment prototype for the wind turbine division of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy as part of a research partnership.

With minimal time for physical training situations and a lack of access to instructional aircraft, Vinci has allowed members of the Air Force to train while they ready for their next assignment.

And, even with the significance of the arrangement, Wu still revels in the reach and impact of his company.

The product Im building will be out in the world in these live missions, he said, adding that he recently worked with units that just returned from a stint in the Middle East and Africa. Its intense.

Wus renewable energy work led him to a guest appearance on Bill Nyes podcast, where the two discussed clean energy and new technology approaches, and the advantages of approaching renewable energy from a holistic point of view.

While continuing contract work, the Vinci team also is building an interface that will allow clients to create their own virtual reality simulations, saving money for entities, such as the military, that frequently change their curriculum.

Because of that high turnover, it becomes infeasible for them to service out development, Wu said. Were building a platform that allows them to do it themselves, and also allows us to scale to more clients.

Wu left Babson College for a year and a half to focus on Vinci. He returned this fall with the goal of finishing his coursework while continuing to run the business.

I felt like there were classes at Babson I was missing out on. There are things I do want to learn that I probably wont have the opportunity to learn had I dropped out.

Eagle Wu '20

Taking classes in finance and economics has better positioned himself as an entrepreneur, he said.

At some point, that is something we have to (know.) Its better to have that knowledge, Wu said. When you start scaling up contract sizes, they start to scrutinize every part of your business, including my credentials.

If Im trying to pitch for a $10 million (or) $20 million contact, and I go in and they look at my background and say this guy only has a high school diploma, theyre going to take note of that. Having a degree matters.

Posted in Campus & Community, Entrepreneurs of All Kinds

Tagged Entrepreneurs of All Kinds, Campus, Career, Startups, Student Life, Undergraduate

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One Student Entrepreneur's Virtual Reality Babson Thought & Action - Babson Thought & Action

In her thought-provoking new novel, A Users Guide to Make-Believe, Jane Alexander explores the life of a woman who uses virtual reality to revisit the golden days of a relationship. Interview by David Robinson

I dont know anyone who has thought more deeply about virtual reality than the woman sitting across the table from me at a cafe just around the corner from Edinburgh University, where she works though Jane Alexander, BA, MPhil, PhD, isnt a scientist but a lecturer in creative writing.

Her latest novel, A Users Guide to Make-Believe, does a lot more than merely imagine what would happen if we could step into the world of virtual reality as easily as using an asthma inhaler. Thats the simple bit, the quick imaginative fix you might expect from an episode of Black Mirror: the near-future shoved sideways or upside down mainly for the shock of it. What Alexander is trying to do is quite different: to look at how virtual reality would change us.

As she points out, were more than half-way there already, what with all the fictions we put out about ourselves on social media. And like all the most convincing dystopias, the novels seeds are already taking root in the present. Maybe an individually generated virtual reality might take 20 years, she says, but it will probably be there in my lifetime. Youve only got to look at the work Elon Musk is doing with his company Neuralink [on implantable brain-machine interfaces].

She has tried out some of the existing virtual reality technologies. The most successful ones for me have been works of art. The 2016 Bjrk Digital exhibition at Somerset House was very, very convincing. You had to wear goggles and a backpack, and youre very aware that youre weighed down by them, but in terms of your body being in the same space as Bjrk you are completely convinced by that, at least until you look down and see that your feet are missing or that the wind blowing Bjrks hair isnt blowing yours. The Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller Night Walk for Edinburgh at last years Festival was equally impressive too. But whereas that video walk involved using an iPod and a pair of headphones for its overlay of virtual reality, Alexanders novel imagines something far more immersive a technology called Make-Believe (Whatever your fantasy, live it with Make-Believe the only limit is you) which is also unlinked to anything else. To activate your biomolecules and kickstart your fantasies, all you need is a simple if expensive nasal spray.

Now if you or I had come up with the idea of a virtually undetectable and unmediated VR technology there might be other authors who have, says Alexander, but she hasnt read any my guess is that wed go overboard in describing either how it works or how it changed society. But although Cassie, Alexanders central character, has worked for the manufacturers of Make-Believe, although she describes its business operation and briefly touches on its use in palliative care and in treating mental illness, her novel sets off on an altogether different track.

Thats because, essentially, it is a love story. Not a conventional one, because Alan, the love of Cassies life, is now both physically and mentally the shell of what he once was. Thanks to Make-Believe, though, she can go back, always to the same tender, loving moment, an intimate golden memory. Each time, she can make it more real by remembering in greater detail (just like writing Alexander points out); each time, though, therell also be that crushing ache as she had to leave him behind and carry on with her life.

At the start, though, all we know is that Cassie is attending some sort of addicts meeting, and we dont even know what she is addicted to, no more than we know anything about the hacker she meets there. Theyre both, it seems, addicted to the same thing not drugs or alcohol, but lost love. Hes attractive, and nature looks all set to take its course even if, thanks to VR, Cassie has to work out whether to choose the uncertain present over the idyllic but dead past.

However, before you all shout out Take the uncertain present! the plot lopes off towards even deeper moral dilemmas. Suppose, Alexander imagines, extreme users virtual reality could be affected by other peoples. Suppose, in other words, that people could see straight into each others minds ...

One thing about that, she smiles. It would certainly make interviews pointless.

I suppose it would. Id be able to see at a glance the way Jane Alexander thinks. Id be able to go all the way back to one of her own happiest memories a sunny day in Edinburgh; she was 18 and had come down from her native Aberdeen to visit her friend; theyd walked up Salisbury Crags, and the city and both their futures seemed spread out in front of them. Id catch a flicker of everything shed poured into her mind since: first, learning illustration at Edinburgh College of Art, then the creative writing MPhil in Glasgow, then the PhD at Edinburgh on the sense of the uncanny in Scottish literature. Id see how all that had turned first into this novel, and then into the short story collection she is working on now, which hinges on how new technology is changing our sense of the strange. I wouldnt even need to read it.

Id see, too, some of the people in recovery from substance abuse shes taught creative writing (shed never dream of writing directly about them, though she concedes her fiction is often about damaged, vulnerable characters), and some of the writers she worked with and made her take her own fiction seriously too. Id see what kind of a teacher she is: my own guess is a very good one indeed.

Of course, shed be able to see into my mind too. And shed know for sure that, when I told her Id enjoyed the book, that it had made me think about virtual reality in far greater depth than I can imagine Black Mirror ever doing, and that I hoped it did really well for her, it wasnt a word of a lie.

A Users Guide to Make-Believe is published by Allison & Busby on 23 January, price 14.99

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Edinburgh author Jane Alexander on the futuristic possibilities of virtual reality - The Scotsman

BizHawk is published weekly, and includes items of interest to the business community. Share your business news, including employee announcements and personnel moves, by emailing [emailprotected].

Coffee and food won in 2019.

BizHawk featured 21 restaurants that opened, from the quick and creative Dave's Dog's on Milpas Street to the well-known brand Jeannine's in the Hollister Village Plaza in Goleta. We wrote about the opening of five new coffee shops in 2019, from the venerable, such as the drive-thru Starbucks off Turnpike Road and Krispy Kreme in Santa Maria, to the environmentally cutting edge, Caje.

And despite State Street's much-talked-about woes, the strip was home to several new restaurants:Embermill,The Project Corazon Cocina & Taproom,Oppi'z Italian Restaurant, andApna Indian Cuisine,

Husband and wife team Dominic Shiach and Carmen Deforest opened The Daisy.

Institution Ale, which started in Camarillo, began serving beer in the old Pierre LaFond building. Onus Donutsopened, and Vive was rebrandedto Eleven14 Craft Beer and Sports Bar.

Restaurants were also reborn on Cabrillo Boulevard.

The team behind Los Agaves opened Flor de Maiz, a Oaxacan-styled Mexican food restaurant that specializes in mole. The restaurant took over half of the old El Torito, which lived and died on its Sunday buffet back in the day. The other half of the old El Torito building is also now home to Oku, a California-Asian food restaurant, which is owned by Opal entrepreneur Tina Takaya.

"The goal is to create a locals' place on the water where locals feel like family and visitors feel like locals," Takaya said.

And while many foodies tend to think of Santa Barbara proper as the hot spot for cuisine, Goleta is gaining more prominence as a restaurant destination. With the city's recent development burst, steady rise in tech companies, and the long-awaited, much-anticipated arrival of Target, Goleta is where the people are.

In addition to Jeannine's, Mesa Burger replaced Kahuna Grill in the Camino Real Marketplace. (Mesa Burger, by the way, is planning an opening on Coast Village Road in 2020, to bring the growing burger empire to three spots).

Sp & Js, which sells soup and juice, wasopened in Hollister Villageby the team that owns Kyle's Kitchen. In the Calle Real shopping center, San Francisco chef and Sri Lanka-native Rajesh Selvarathnam opened Masala Spice Indian cuisine. A few doors down,Woody's Boba and Pizza Onlinejumped into the market. Itsells ready-to-go customized pizzas through predominantly online orders.

Old Town continued its slow transition. Indiana-native and chef Owen Hanavan launched Lemon & Coriander.

"Over the past decade, Goleta is slowly coming around, so it's a great location with all the businesses around here," he told Noozhawk in December.

The Public Market in Santa Barbara continues to develop with restaurants Wabi Sabi Sushi and the vegan Middle Eastern Fala Bar opening.

Not everything, however, was about birth. Several businesses spotlighted in Noozhawk came to an end.

Sears, one of Santa Barbara's few shopping destinations for working-class people, closed its doors in La Cumbre Plaza, a victim of the national retail chain's largerproblems. The nearby Auto Center also closed. Along with Macy's, Searswas one of the anchors of La Cumbre Plaza. It's unclear what the future holds for the spot, but the property has proposed building housing in the parking lot area of the site.

Jedlicka's, a Western clothing and supply store that opened in 1932, surrendered in February 2019.

"Lack of volume, lack of sales," owner Josiah Jenkins told Noozhawk. "And a lack of support by suppliers. We just can't compete." The Jedlicka's in Los Olivos remains open.

Restaurants continued to depart from State Street. Santa Barbara clearly wasn't having it Mike's Way.Sandwich shop Jersey Mike's closed its doors quietly in April.

"The concept, their business plan, wasnt working downtown, said Adam Geeb, director of asset management for Sima Corporation, which manages the property.

Goa Taco and Brat Hausalso left town, in June and August, respectively. Another longtime, prominent restaurant closed its doors in Goleta:Ming Dynasty, next to the new Target in Goleta, served lunch and dinner to countless people over the past 40 years.

Coffee continued to grow its footprint. Caje Coffee, makes original coffee drinks, and does not offer disposable cups. You have to drink at the restaurant or buy a to-go cup.Ryan Patronyk, Troy Yamasaki andSean Sepulveda expanded from Isla Vista and opened a new restaurant on Haley Street.

We're trying to offer people an experiment that is not your traditional coffee shop,Yamasaki said. Our passion and desire is to create an other-worldly experience.

Coffee shop Low Pigeon, a name derived from a combination of owners Rich Low, MattPigeon and Dennis Medina, openedacross the street from Caje in the 400 block of East Haley Street. Caffe Luxxeopened in the Montecito Country Mart, and Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts in Santa Maria.

Perhaps the most interesting of all openings in 2019, however, was not a restaurant or coffee shop, but the unreal Surreal Virtual Reality.

Westmont graduateAlejandro Carvajal opened the unique experiential destination at436 State St. Suite B in November and people haven't stopped flooding his establishment since. Whether it's the John Wick shooting game, Fruit Ninja, Beat Saber, SuperHot, orseveral other game options, the new business has helped silence the criticism that there's nothing for young people to do downtown.

Carvajal actually has games for just about all ages, even the lower-key theBlu, which allows people to explore the ocean and visit sea life and creatures.

"Other than bars and breweries and restaurants, theres not a lot people can do downtown," Carvajal said. "If it can be imagined and coded, it can exist in virtual reality."

Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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BizHawk: Coffee, Restaurants and Virtual Reality on the Rise in Santa Barbara County - Noozhawk

LONDON, ONT. -- A new understanding of a complex part of the brain may hold the key for patients with neurological disorders.

Its called the hippocampus, a part of the brain that in the scientific community is often referred to as our internal GPS.

The hippocampus has cells like a GPS so you have one neuron in the hippocampus and every time youre in one place of the room the neuron lights up and increases the activity and thats how you know where you are, explains Robarts Research Institute scientist Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujillo.

Martinez-Trujillo and his research team wanted to challenge the idea that this area of the brain only served as an internal GPS.

They did so by using a virtual reality type game to study specific activities in the brain.

The virtual reality basically gives you the best of both worlds, says Martinez-Trujillo. You can navigate in a video game and you can at the same time perceive objects and remember the locations that you are or the things you are doing.

By using virtual reality to study the hippocampus, the researchers discovered this important part of the brain is more than a navigation system.

The team concluded the hippocampus also plays a huge roll as a memory maker.

Researchers are going to take these findings and examine how it can help with other neurological conditions such as patients living with epilepsy.

Martinez-Trujillo says they also plan to look at the hippocampus and its role in memory, for possible new targeted treatments for Alzheimers patients.

The next frontier for us is to target memory systems in humans, and we will be able to actually enhance memories, allocate the deficits that patients have, and I think the only way to do that is to understand the brain better.

The full study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

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This study used virtual reality to test the brain's internal 'GPS' - CTV News London

Virtual Reality (VR) has been around for a while, but it has yet to take off fully.Stephanie Llamas of SuperData Research likens VRs adoption rate to other media: Like color TV, cellphones, and the internet before it, things are bound to start out slowly. Then, an inflection point is hit, resulting in an adoption upswing. Currently, VR is in its infancy, with reported revenues at an estimated $12.1 billion in 2018.

But the VR space continues to scale, driven largely by the world of gaming.A Statista graph shows that VR video gaming sales revenue has been on an uptick, starting at an estimated $3.6 billion in 2016, to $5.8 billion in 2017, $9.6 billion in 2018, and $15.1 billion in 2019. This success can be attributed to the release of acclaimed titles likeBeat SaberandFallout 4 VR, and the distinct possibility of even better games means gaming will continue to be one of the key drivers of VR. It wont be the only one, though.

Miniflixs article on the State of Virtual Reality and Filmrightly notes that technology and artistic achievement have been inseparable. The fact that VR is now being used in cinema is a testament to this connection. The groundbreaking shortFlesh and Sand(2017) by Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu showed just how VR can enhance film and how it may very well be the future of cinema. Since then, major film festivals like Cannes have adopted VR film screenings, and are validating the technology along the way.

Theater companies like Cinemark and AMC are even bringing the VR experience to the masses thanks to location-based VR, giving people immersive experiences unlike any other. The technology is even being used in actual filmmaking, withThe Lion King(2019) directorJon Favreu explaining how VR was used to drive the camera during filming. The result is a technically animated film, but one that feels like a live-action movie.

Virtual reality is also being used for training. In fact, severalF500 companies are now using VR to train the next generation of American workers. Walmart has been the leader in this regard, as it has featured tethered VR devices across its 20 Walmart Academies. But now, thanks to VRs increasing mobility, the company has rolled out its high-tech training program to more than 1 million associates in over 4,600 stores.

Other companies using VR for training include UPS, Boeing, JetBlue, United Rentals, and Fidelity. The fact that these companies have seen increased retention rates and better productivity after adopting VR illustrates how the technology has found its place in the world of training, where it is expanding faster than anyone imagined.

While entertainment is and will continue to be a huge chunk of how VR will change the way we consume information, its also just one aspect of the experience. In fact,the developers of the HP VR G2 backpack suggest using the free-roam system for architectural walkthroughs, art installations, and other immersive experiences that are only possible with this type of technology. These applications, at least for some experts in the industry, represent VRs truest form and are now being leveraged accordingly.

Presently, the free-roam system is mostly being used in immersive gaming experiences (often via VR arenas). But the technology is starting to have an important role in futuristic public installations and state-of-the-art enterprise workflows, too. That role will continue to expand once free-roam systems make greater inroads in industries such as tourism and architecture. And although the system is nascent at best, its untapped potential is why it is regarded as the real future of VR.

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Entertainment, Training, and Free-Roam Immersion: The Real Future of Virtual Reality - Movie TV Tech Geeks News

A new gaming facility set to open in the Katy area this year will offer more than 80,000 square feet of fast-paced entertainment such as electric super-karts, arcade games and virtual reality attractions.

Andretti Indoor Karting & Games will open March 3 at 1230 Grand West Boulevard, Katy, according to a release. Established in 2001, the Georgia-based company's newest Texas location is seeking to fill approximately 350 positions before its grand opening.

Attractions include a two-story laser tag battlefield, more than 80 state-of-the-art arcade games, an indoor high adventure ropes course, virtual reality games and high-tech mini-golf.

The Katy location will feature a Food Truck Plaza with American, Italian and Asian food options, sit down dining and a dessert bar. Two bars will offer a selection of craft beer and specialty cocktails and will feature several large HD TVs for watching sports games. The facility will also serve as an event space and offers more than 4,600 square feet of space for corporate events, birthday parties and special occasions.

A job fair for the new location will be held Jan. 15-Feb. 21 at the Best Western Premier Energy Corridor. Job fair hours run 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays. The facility is looking to hire positions for game and attraction attendants, culinary, janitorial, mechanics and more. Applicants must be at least 18 years old. For more information, click here.

Andretti currently has four locations in Florida, Georgia and Texas.The pay-as-you-go facility has no general admission fee.

PREVIEW: Get our experts picks for concerts, kids stuff, fine arts, movies and more each week in our entertainment newsletter.

Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | rebecca.hennes@chron.com

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Here's a peek inside the new indoor gaming, entertainment facility headed for Katy - Houston Chronicle

LAS VEGAS Each year, consumer technology influencers from around the globe convene at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to share innovative products and ideas with the best in the businesses.

This is the 50th year that innovators are coming together at what is branded as the largest and most influential tech event in the world.

CES 2020 will feature more than 4,500 exhibitors who will launch nearly 20,000 new transformative tech products to more than 170,000 attendees, according to their website.

KING 5's Chris Cashman and photojournalist Emily Landeen got to go to CES 2020 in Las Vegas.

Here are five fun things that caught their eye on their first day:

A local company could be seen (and smelled) throughout the venue. Seattles Picnic was featured at the tech summit. Picnic has developed an automated pizza-making machine that can prepare and bake up to 300 pizzas an hour. The Picnic offers a tablet where hungry techies can customize their order and watch as the machine adds sauce and toppings automatically. Clayton Wood of Picnic said this tech can evolve to prepare just about any food thats assembled.

Chris Cashman

Virtual reality has been bubbling at CES for years. The tech is getting better and more immersive. While VR goggles have been in the public eye for some time, a company called Teslasuit is back at CES with some impressive tech. After winning numerous innovation awards last year, Teslasuit returned with a new grip on VR. The suit itself provides users with sensation and a sense of touch in virtual and augmented reality, so you can feel the environment around you. The suit also captures your motion as you maneuver inside that augmented reality. New in 2020 is the world-first Teslasuit-compatible VR glove, bringing us one step closer to being able to see and feel more virtual experiences.

Chris Cashman

There's nothing too innovative about a car stereo, but it does come inside the new Sony electric vehicle. Sony certainly made a splash when they rolled a new concept vehicle on stage. The Vision-S is almost an ironic evolution for CES. Tech companies started getting into the auto industry years ago and now Sony has unveiled a vision of their future in automobiles. It has 33 sensors and many other features that sound like they are from a spaceship. The entire dashboard is made of touch screens where the driver and passenger can access all the car's media controls, like music, Sony movies and other entertainment. Theres no production date and no prices listed, but the Vision-S is a sleek and sophisticated entry.

If you have cats you know they come with a catch. The litter box is like doing your taxes every day: nobody wants to deal with the gross mess, but its a necessity. Smart litter boxes have become a thing here at CES. They have options that use Artificial Intelligence to analyze your cats deposits for health purposes. LavvieBot is back with what they say is the most intelligent IOT cat litter box ever. It cleans the box, replaces the litter and even tracks your cats feces and urine on an app. This may come in helpful for trips to the vet. Best of all it doesnt need your attention for two weeks.

Television has always been a showstopper at CES. Bigger, thinner and higher definition each year. If you got a fancy new 4k TV for the holidays, you might have buyers remorse after seeing products at CES. 8k TVs are the theme at CES 2020. TV maker Skyworth rolled out transparent television screens-- one side is transparent glass and the other side is your TV screen. The practical use for this tech is undeniable. Perhaps youll replace that old TV with a new window thats also a TV!

Chris Cashman

CES 2020 runs until Friday, Jan. 10 in Las Vegas. Learn more about other cool tech presented at the event here.

Excerpt from:

5 interesting things spotted at the 2020 CES tech summit in Las Vegas - KING5.com

One of the hottest trends in advertising right now is the use of augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). AR and VR can provide greater creative freedom for advertisers, resulting in a product that can reach customers in a way that traditional ad mediums cant always do.

As leaders in their field, the members of Ad Age Collective keep on top of the latest marketing and advertising trends, as well as how to implement them successfully. Below, five of them tell us the most cutting-edge ways they've seen companies leverage augmented and virtual reality in their campaigns.

Brainlab recently announced a partnership with Magic Leap, which leverages AR to help train brain surgeons via interaction with 3D visualizations. Given Magic Leap raised $2.6 billion off the back of a seriously creative communications strategy, this partnership shows the power of bringing together forward-thinking technology and out-of-the-box communications to make an enormous positive impact. - Patrick Ward, Rootstrap

An effective strategy Ive seen companies leverage with a virtual reality experience is one that teases a new product or launch through hidden passageways or corners to show what is coming before giving away the entire secret prior to the official launch. - Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising

As we know, many consumers buy wine based on the label, and 19 Crimes has used augmented reality to take the label up a notch. The novelty and short videos became a centerpoint of conversation shared around the bottle. And then, via word of mouth, the experience can be perpetuated to friends who haven't yet experienced the brand -- the most efficient form of promotion. - Reid Carr, Red Door Interactive

Walmart created Walmart Academies, a program using VR to improve the employee experience, deliver training and accurately assess workers' skills. It recreates scenarios associates encounter on the floor but in a safe environment. This program is widely successful as its closely aligned with the business goal of delivering shoppers with the best customer experience possible. - Mason Page, Reflect Systems

Porsche had a problem: How do you keep people excited about a car that theyve put a deposit down for, but have never seen in person? For the Taycan, Porsches electric sports car, they created an augmented reality car app that superimposed a model car wherever you pointed your iPad or mobile phone camera. It was like a virtual RC car and it gave fans something to share with their friends and family. - Rex Briggs, Marketing Evolution

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5 cutting-edge ways companies are leveraging augmented and virtual reality - AdAge.com

Paramount Pictures and San Francisco-based virtual reality startup Bigscreen have set a multi-year agreement that will see select titles from the studio distributed to social VR viewers.

The pact includes the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, and Japan.

On Bigscreens platform, users customize personal avatars, hang out in a virtual lobby and voice chat with other movie fans. Films are streamed on screens inside virtual cinemas, providing a social movie watching experience. In addition to 2D screenings, Bigscreen will also show some films in 3D, using rendering technology that it says creates a level of depth and detail not possible with traditional 3D glasses.

Bigscreens virtual reality platform offers a new way for fans to experience films in their homes, said Bob Buchi, President of Worldwide Home Entertainment at Paramount. Were excited to be a part of this experiment using cutting-edge technology to give fans a new entertainment option.

Starting Monday, four new movies per week will premiere in Bigscreen for one-week runs. Titles are delivered to Bigscreen audiences live on a pay-per-view basis, with scheduled showtimes every 30 minutes. Decembers lineup includes Star Trek, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Interstellar.

We are excited to enable fans around the world to hangout, chat, and watch films together in our virtual movie theater, Bigscreen founder and CEO Darshan Shankar said.

Bigscreen can be downloaded for free. Itruns on the Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, HTC Vive, Valve Index, all SteamVR headsets, and all Microsoft Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Founded in 2014, Bigscreen is backed by $14 million in venture funding from lead investors Andreessen Horowitz and True Ventures. It claims to have more than 1 million users of its VR platform, which launched in 2016. The Bigscreen app is often ranked in the top 10 in the app store for Oculus and SteamVR.

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Paramount Inks Multi-Year Pact With Bigscreen For Virtual Reality Distribution - Deadline

BOSTON, Dec. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Metro VR Studios (MVRS), a Boston-based start-up and independent virtual reality (VR) video game development company, announces it's ready to deliver to avid gamers what they crave: next-generation VR action and adventure games that are fully immersive and told through compelling storylines. Starting with the February 2020 release of the company's first game, Orion13, VR gamers will experience open-world locomotion and realistically-articulated virtual body features that give the player a fluid, fast-paced, first-person, action-filled VR experience, all set to an original sound track.

Scott Matalon, founder and president, MVRS, said, "We've set out to push the user experience by creating an immersive VR game that plays like a movie and feels like you're the main character on a spectacular adventure. What sets our games apart is that we put gamers into a realistically-articulated VR body that moves quickly and fights furiously through an intricate series of levels combined with hands-in-game interactivity and complex puzzling."

Brian Levine, executive vice president, MVRS, "Our games are for gamers. They're for the other ten million Scotts out there who, like Scott, are looking to play a next-generation VR action and adventure game that has a deep story but is also full of Easter eggs and humor. The only difference between Scott and other gamerswhen Scott couldn't find VR games he wanted to play, he designed and programmed one himself."

MVRS is made up of an eclectic group of friends who all share a passion for entrepreneurship, and for making a splash as the small fish in a big pond. In the late 90s, the trio disrupted the online e-commerce industry. In December 2016, they once again banded together to create an independent studio more in-tune with what hard-core VR gamers want.

Aside from gameplay, another critical way MVRS is differentiating itself from AAA publishers and others is by releasing games in quick succession. Gamers won't wait years between titles. Orion13, which is stylized like Bladerunner, set in a futuristic world ruled by robots, where buildings and landscapes are saturated in neon colors, is part of a planned trilogy. Additionally, MVRS has two other games well into development: Quest of the Pirate King and Kid Air Combat.

MVRS is one of a limited number of independent studios selected to participate for each of Sony, Microsoft, and Oculus VR developer programs. MVRS has worked closely with the Oculus Start development team and will initially offer its game on the Steam.com and Oculus Store portals. Orion13 is scheduled for release in Feb. 2020 and will be available for the HTC and Oculus headsets.

Metro VR Studios is an independent VR development company located in Boston, Mass., focused on developing high-quality, character-driven action & adventure games for virtual reality on the Oculus, Vive and PS4 platforms. MVRS is developing multiple VR game titles featuring strong main characters, unique multi-character play-modes, and movie-like plot arcs bringing a unique vision of VR gameplay to a rapidly developing marketplace. For more information, please visit http://www.metrovrstudios.com.

MEDIA CONTACT Lori Sylvia DPR Group, Inc. (240) 686-1000 lori@dprgroup.com

SOURCE Metro VR Studios

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Metro VR Studios Poised to Reboot the Virtual Reality Gaming Industry - PRNewswire

DUBLIN, Dec. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market by Technology, Offering, Device Type, Application, End-user, and Region 2019-2026: Trend Forecast and Growth Opportunity" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Global augmented reality and virtual reality market in healthcare industry is expected to reach $10.82 billion by 2025, representing a remarkable 2019-2026 CAGR of 36.1%. Augmented Reality (AR) technology accounts for a larger market share and will grow at 38.38% annually over the forecast years, faster than the Virtual Reality (VR) technology in healthcare domain.

The report provides historical market data for 2015-2018, revenue estimates for 2019, and forecasts from 2020 till 2026.

Highlighted with 82 tables and 79 figures, this 184-page report is based on a comprehensive research of the entire global healthcare AR and VR market and all its sub-segments through extensively detailed classifications. Profound analysis and assessment are generated from premium primary and secondary information sources with inputs derived from industry professionals across the value chain.

In-depth qualitative analyses include identification and investigation of the following aspects:

The trend and outlook of global market is forecast in optimistic, balanced, and conservative view. The balanced (most likely) projection is used to quantify global healthcare augmented reality and virtual reality market in every aspect of the classification from perspectives of Technology, Offering, Device Type, Application, End-user, and Region.

Based on technology, the global market is segmented into the following sub-markets with annual revenue for 2015-2026 (historical and forecast) included in each section.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Virtual Reality (VR)

Based on offering, the global market is segmented into the following sub-markets with annual revenue for 2015-2026 (historical and forecast) included in each section.

Hardware

Software

Service

Based on device type, the global market is segmented into the following sub-markets with annual revenue for 2015-2026 (historical and forecast) included in each section.

Augmented Reality Devices

Virtual Reality Devices

Based on application, the global market is segmented into the following sub-markets with annual revenue for 2015-2026 (historical and forecast) included in each section.

Based on end-user, the global market is segmented into the following sub-markets with annual revenue for 2015-2026 (historical and forecast) included in each section.

Geographically, the following regions together with the listed national markets are fully investigated:

For each of the aforementioned regions and countries, detailed analysis and data for annual revenue are available for 2015-2026. The breakdown of all regional markets by country and split of key national markets by Technology, Application, and End-user over the forecast years are also included.

The report also covers current competitive scenario and the predicted trend; and profiles key vendors including market leaders and important emerging players.

Specifically, potential risks associated with investing in global healthcare augmented reality and virtual reality market are assayed quantitatively and qualitatively through a Risk Assessment System. According to the risk analysis and evaluation, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are generated as a guidance to help investors & stockholders identify emerging opportunities, manage and minimize the risks, develop appropriate business models, and make wise strategies and decisions.

Key Players

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lz61aj

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

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Global Healthcare Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Market Set to Reach $10.82 Billion by 2025 - PRNewswire

Eric Drysdale opened his silver travel case and, like a magician, unpacked the objects necessary to enter another dimension. Mr. Drysdale was in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, in the back room of City Reliquary, a storefront museum devoted to the history of New Yorks five boroughs.

He was preparing to host his traveling show, Midcentury Stereopanorama, for which the audience, arriving shortly, had paid $15 and been promised the chance to see the 1950s in Astonishing 3-D!

An Emmy-winning comedy writer who has worked for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Mr. Drysdale has spent 25 years collecting 3-D photographs along with the antique equipment to make and view them.

He set a camera, several small boxes of Kodachrome slides and a dozen binocular-like viewers on a large table and explained his motivation behind the public viewing.

I had a feeling that I had something extraordinary, something that people couldnt or didnt see, Mr. Drysdale said. It was going to waste seen by only me.

Publishing a book or digitizing the photos and sticking them on the web, he said, wouldnt fully capture their strange, transporting effect the way, through 3-D magic, a scene from the past can appear shockingly present. He wanted to share the photos in the same way he had experienced them.

In 1994, while cleaning out his wifes grandmothers Upper East Side apartment, Mr. Drysdale, 50, found a stereoscopic camera, a 3-D viewer and about 200 images of his wifes family from the 1940s, including an incredible photo of her great-grandmother fresh from the shtetl on an outing to a Miami zoo. Five parrots perched on her shoulders and head.

He was amazed by the technological wizardry of 3-D photography but also by its obscurity. He had found the virtual reality of its day, yet no one his own age had ever heard of it.

The technology was introduced commercially in 1947 by the David White Company of Milwaukee, maker of the Stereo Realist camera, which had two lenses, placed about eye-width apart, to replicate the way the human brain sees three-dimensional space.

The camera used slide film, and a special hand-held viewer was required for maximum wow.

The cameras high cost at the time ($162) kept it out of most American households, Mr. Drysdale said, though 3-D photography caught on with Hollywood stars including Humphrey Bogart and Harold Lloyd. Coffin salesmen were also fans, if the David White newsletter is to be believed (3-D images offered a scale representation of products too big to take on a sales call).

Mr. Drysdale owns about 30,000 images, of which he considers 3,000 or so his good ones.

For Midcentury Stereopanorama, which he presents for hire in public or in private homes, he has curated a cross-section of American life at mid-20th century, grouped into categories like Road Trip USA, Jewish Celebrations and Department Store 1955.

Given the site for this showing, he sprinkled in more New York content than usual.

When the 12 audience members arrived Mr. Drysdales crowds are limited by his number of viewers he instructed them to gather around the table while he presented an introductory slide show.

The intimate crowd and the glow of the projector screen created the impression of time-traveling back to a suburban basement rec room, even before Mr. Drysdale finished his history lesson and handed each attendee a box of slides.

One expected to have a quaint experience not unlike looking through a childs View-Master. But with the press of a button, you were suddenly plunged into another world and almost overwhelmed by visual detail.

In a photo of five boys gathered around a dining table for a birthday party, one boy had a comic book opened, and you could see under the page fold. Another photo had been taken inside a machine shop, and every tool on every workbench even the metal chain hanging from a bare ceiling light bulb stood out with amazing, reach-out-and-touch-this clarity.

Ida Kreutzer, a professional photographer, was so captivated by one image that she took out her iPhone at one point and tried to capture it through the viewer. Asked later, Ms. Kreutzer said it was a photo of two women in water, one of them sitting on a diving board. Written on the diving board were the words: No dreams.

It invited a whole bunch of questions to be asked that will never be answered, she said.

The hyper-reality of these dreamy visual landscapes created sadness in some of the attendees after awhile.

Especially because a lot of those worlds dont exist anymore, said David Frackman, a computer programmer who wrote a masters thesis on projected 3-D environments and was curious about stereoscopy. I realized, Oh, all of these people are probably dead.

Still, Mr. Frackman said he enjoyed seeing an America filled with home bars, beauty queens and bustling department stores, a country different from the present in ways both obvious and hard to put a finger on.

There was this really weird slide in the road-trip collection of these people, a couple I assume, he said. Theyre sitting in front of a fire on this little rocky beach, probably eating canned stew or something.

Virtually nothing about the scene, he noted, was remarkable. But its something that just wouldnt be done now, he said. You wouldnt pull over by a random shore and happen to have your camping set with you.

After looking at thousands of such scenes, Mr. Drysdale well understood the feeling.

Theres something different about this technology, he said. Its not comparable to looking at a vintage photograph. Because its so uncanny in capturing a moment.

Before the slides were passed around, Mr. Drysdale had dimmed the lights and cautioned the audience to take breaks because the experience can get tiring on the eyes, if not the soul.

Not everybody can handle it, Mr. Drysdale said. Some people cant get enough.

See more here:

Virtual Reality Before There Was Virtual Reality - The New York Times

Virtual reality (VR) and its close cousin augmented reality (AR) have been "next year's big thing" for several years in a row, failing time and again to create the public frenzy -- or the revenue -- that these technologies would be expected to create. In fact, the disappointment has become so perennially reliable that even the most die-hard AR and VR supporters have finally started to temper their optimism.

The irony? Next year might actually be the breakout year for practical -- and marketable -- applications of augmented and virtual reality technologies.

That swell of AR and VR solutions demand should prove a boon to several tech companies in and around the business. It's Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), though, that's still best positioned to capitalize on the opportunity. It won't be an outright game-changer for the company, but it could be enough to take the edge off any rough spots in Facebook's foreseeable results.

It was IDC that made the call late last month, suggesting total spending on augmented and virtual reality would grow a little more than 78% next year, reaching $18.8 billion. Better still, the technology market research house forecasts that the compound annual growth rate for the next five years would be 77%, which would put the AR/VR market size on the order of $200 billion by 2024.

Image source: Getty Images.

The numbers certainly qualify 2020 as the pivotal year so many have been waiting for, if they pan out. Investors have heard the hype before, only to see Alphabet all but abandon work on Google Glass while smartphone makers have largely dropped support for making their wares the powerhouse of VR headsets.

IDC's outlook feels like it holds some water all the same though, as the underlying technology necessary to get the most from beyond-reality experiences has finally caught up with the premise and promise of augmented/virtual reality itself. Namely, developers have found ways to make VR and artificial intelligence work together in a way that actually matters beyond mere novelty.

Facebook has been quietly leading that relevancy charge.

Most investors may not fully appreciate that Facebook is more than just the owner of Oculus, the brand behind this year's second-best-selling VR headset, according to TrendForce. Namely, Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) is doing some of the most cutting-edge work in the arena that may end up being more marketable than Sony's market-leading but mostly gaming-oriented gear. While it too wants to offer entertainment options, Facebook has been encouraging software developers to create more practical uses of its hardware.

Case(s) in point: A year ago, Facebook made its DeepFocus AI rendering system freely available. The platform not only lets hardware figure out where and what objects may be in a room, it also renders that image for human eyes the way a human eye would normally see them. In the middle of this year, FRL released a piece of similar software called AI Habitat, and another called Replica, that allow for intelligent navigation of a virtual space.

The practical-use question of all the VR tools Facebook has developed or acquired still remains a bit elusive, though the distance between the tools' capabilities and genuine life improvement is shrinking.

In the meantime, while Facebook is getting better at the more difficult VR challenges, the easier hurdles are being readily cleared. Just this week, Oculus released hand tracking for its relatively new Oculus Quest headset, negating the need for a physical hand-controller that feels like something between a mouse and a joystick. Initial reviews are positive.

All of these little things have added up to drive a sizable leap in the functionality of virtual reality in just a couple of years.

Evidence of that leap comes in the form that investors want to see most: numbers. Nielsen's SuperData Research arm recently reported that since Oculus' affordable Quest headset hit the market in May, VR hardware spending has grown to the tune of 31% this year. That's still only $2.1 billion, but the next generation of virtual reality hardware is still in its infancy (if it's even available yet). In other words, the VR market isn't out of the turn. It's in the midst of the turn.

SuperData Research also notes that VR spending growth is being supplied by consumers and corporations alike as more practical-use concerns are addressed. That nuance jibes with IDC's long-term outlook, which suggests that commercial usage rather than consumers will drive the bulk of the expected growth from here. IDC also believes VR will fare better than AR in terms of revenue, better playing into the VR hand Facebook has been building for itself.

Again, the mainstreaming of VR isn't going to drive the kind of growth Facebook enjoyed shortly after its social networking site became a digital centerpiece several years ago. It's sharing the VR and AR space with other players, and 2020's expected $18.8 billion worth of AR and VR hardware spending is still only a fraction of Facebook's typical annual revenue.

The convergence of the right hardware and software developments is just now starting to reach a critical mass, though, and Facebook's Oculus -- and the Oculus Quest in particular -- look like the leaders of the market outside of Sony's gaming-oriented share. In fact, Facebook has managed to steal VR hardware share from Sony this year, from 19.4% in 2018 to 28.3% as of TrendForce's most recent look. Sony's share has fallen from 43% to 36.7%.

That's a pretty good start for Facebook as we, hopefully, head into virtual reality's breakout era.

More:

Will 2020 Finally Be the Year AR and VR Matter for Facebook? - The Motley Fool

I have reported several times on Finnish XR start-up Varjo, since I first recognized the potential of their concept of foveated resolution. I reported most recently a few weeks ago from AWE Europe in Munich. (Varjo Pushes The Envelope on VR Performance). So, I wasnt sure whether to accept their invitation to a brief meeting in London as they started out on a tour of technology press in Europe and the US. As I was the first meeting on that day, it turns out that I was the first outside the company and its partners to see a really exciting new development using their XR1 headset.

The company has developed a new 2d/3D interface, which is code-named Varjo Workspace. The company describes it as a dimensional interface and its designed for Microsoft Windows and 3D software applications. The new Varjo Workspace enables users to switch between real, virtual, and mixed reality modes and stay within the world of the headset. It enables the use of virtual monitors that float in front of the viewers face and ends the awkwardness of working in a 3D environment like Unity, Unreal Engine, or 3ds Max.and switching back to a 2D interface application like Word, or web browser.

The demo started out by putting me in the latest headset, which has just been made available as an early development product. As I was strapped into the headset, dual 4K Windows displays were immediately mapped onto the view of the real world coming from the headsets cameras. The headset is a mixed reality device, which relies on high-quality cameras to map the outside world onto the display.

Varjo has done a lot of work to create a very fast video mapping pipeline which they say takes just 12ms to map the video to the screen: 6ms is taken in exposure time for the camera capture, 6ms for processing, mapping and synchronizing to the display.

The image is so responsive that I was able to handwrite my notes on the experience while wearing the headsetsomething I could not imagine with any other mixed or VR systems that I have tried.

The company has developed technology to allow the mapping of virtual Windows displays into the view of the real world in the headset. Thats great as the technology, combined with the high-resolution central area of the display, allows the operation of any 2D app. Meaning its possible for people to work within 2D and 3D worlds.

In the second demonstration, a 3D car was rendered as though it was in a showroom. However, the Unity interface could be used to simply drag and drop items from the Unity menu into the 3D space in a very intuitive way. I quickly found myself dropping items into the scene that accurately scaled to the way they would look in the real world.

The next demonstration was of mixed reality. A couple of simple spheres were shown. The Varjo technology allows the lighting from the room to be analyzed and exploited so that a virtual reflection of my own hand could be mapped onto one of the spheres in real-timevery impressive.

Next up was a demonstration of a planetary simulation. The idea here was to show how virtual objects in the mixed reality world could be used to accurately occlude the background, which was being captured by cameras. It also showed how sophisticated lighting effectssuch as a glow around the sun, added to the experience. It seems to me that the possibility of occluding the view of the world behind virtual objects is a key advantage of mixed reality.

The Pice de Rsistance

However, the really (and I mean really) impressive demo was the next one. First I was instructed to look to my right where there was a doorlike one between an aircraft cabin and the cockpit. I got up out of my chair and moved into the cockpit area of an airliner that was modeled down to the smallest detail. I sat in the captains chair and was able to inspect the different control systems. The headset gave enough resolution that I was able to read the detail on the radar screen. Impressive indeed! All the while, real-world items could have been mapped into the simulation (at I/Itsec, the system was being shown with physical controls mapped in).

When I turned around to look back, I could see right through the doorway, of course. It really was very impressive.

I dont remember ever giving a spontaneous round of applause at ademo before!

The mixture of virtual and real-world images has been used by Volvo to design car interiors. The models can be shown in the glasses and mapped to the position of the real dashboard, so a current car can be driven around while a designer can sit in the car and see how the interior looks.

Now, the headset is heavy. Its not cheap, its tethered, and I only saw a demonstration, but it really shows how mixed reality can have a dramatic effect on 3D design, simulation and content creation.

Varjo originally captured my interest because of its innovative display technology, but the company has strengths with its own gaze tracking technology, very good and fast video integration and systems integration with software.

Varjo has several considerable breakthroughs that set it apart from the current generation of mixed reality display companies. The companys use of foveated resolution tricks has been expedient and has gotten it over the considerable hump presented by headset technology that cannot produce the required image quality. Foveated resolution delivers the highest possible resolution to a focused area of the display. Varjo has coupled foveated resolution with its eye-tracking technology to deliver the high resolution where the viewer is looking. The companys ability to use high-quality video cameras as the headsets eyes and map what they see to the display fast enough that the wearer isnt aware of the process is another significant differentiation. Finally, the Varjo Workspace brings the companys strengths together in an interface that melds 2D, 3D, reality, and virtual reality enabling users to work comfortably in a headset.

This article originally appeared in Display Daily an on-line and free blog on all things display. Weve added JPRs take in the What do we think section.

Excerpt from:

Varjo demos the best Virtual Reality we've seen GraphicSpeak - Graphic Speak

Following Ski Dubai, Magic Planet and Yalla! Bowling, Mall of the Emirates is set to add another attraction to its roster. Dreamscape, an immersive virtual reality destination, will launch on Thursday, December 19, next to the Apple store on the second level.

This will be Dreamscapes first international location after Los Angeles and Dallas outposts. Walter Parkes, co-founder and chairman of Dreamscape Immersive, says it merges the scope and emotional power of cinema with the pure adrenaline of a theme-park ride all within a totally new VR technology. We have created a way for audiences to enter into and become part of the story.

The experience take approximately 35 minutes from beginning to end and features three original, free-roaming and immersive adventures. In Alien Zoo, guests will travel to an intergalactic haven where they come face to face with endangered alien creatures from across the galaxy. The space travellers will get a chance to play ball with exotic frogcats, pet majestic creatures, and even escape a great predator.

In The Curse of the Lost Pearl: A Magic Projector, audiences will get a chance to step through the screen and become part of a movie. Once inside this adventure, participants will be challenged to unlock clues, escape treacherous traps, and work together to uncover the secret of the Lost Pearl.

The Blu: Deep Rescue is an epic descent into the ocean to explore dazzling underwater worlds and aquatic life that soon becomes an urgent mission to rescue a trapped baby blue whale and unite it with its mother.

The location-based VR entertainment company is backed by some of Hollywood's most successful studios and talent, including 21st Century Fox, WarnerMedia, Viacom, Steven Spielberg and Hans Zimmer.

Alain Bejjani, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Holding, says: The future of the entertainment industry lies in the hands of those who can enable human interaction through fulfilling, meaningful and memorable experiences. Dreamscape achieves this by blurring the lines between the physical and the virtual, fully immersing its users with other participants who can all influence the experience together.

Updated: December 18, 2019 03:41 PM

Original post:

A new virtual reality park is opening in Mall of the Emirates - The National

The "North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market by Technology, Offering, Device Type, Application, End-user, and Country 2019-2026: Trend Forecast and Growth Opportunity" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

North America augmented reality and virtual reality market in healthcare industry is expected to reach $5.22 billion by 2026, representing a remarkable 2019-2026 CAGR of 33.7% and the largest healthcare AR and VR regional market in the world.

This report is based on a comprehensive research of the entire North America healthcare AR and VR market and all its sub-segments through extensively detailed classifications. Profound analysis and assessment are generated from premium primary and secondary information sources with inputs derived from industry professionals across the value chain. The report provides historical market data for 2015-2018, revenue estimates for 2019, and forecasts from 2020 till 2026.

The trend and outlook of North America market is forecast in optimistic, balanced, and conservative view. The balanced (most likely) projection is used to quantify North America healthcare augmented reality and virtual reality market in every aspect of the classification from perspectives of Technology, Offering, Device Type, Application, End-user, and Country.

The breakdown of key national markets by Technology, Application, and End-user over the forecast years are also included.

The report also covers current competitive scenario and the predicted trend; and profiles key vendors including market leaders and important emerging players.

Specifically, potential risks associated with investing in North America healthcare augmented reality and virtual reality market are assayed quantitatively and qualitatively through a Risk Assessment System. According to the risk analysis and evaluation, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are generated as a guidance to help investors & stockholders identify emerging opportunities, manage and minimize the risks, develop appropriate business models, and make wise strategies and decisions.

Key Players:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

1.1 Industry Definition and Research Scope

1.2 Research Methodology

1.3 Executive Summary

2 Market Overview and Qualitative Analysis

2.1 Market Size and Forecast

2.2 Major Growth Drivers

2.3 Market Restraints and Challenges

2.4 Emerging Opportunities and Market Trends

2.5 Porter's Fiver Forces Analysis

3 Segmentation of North America Market by Technology

3.1 Market Overview by Technology

3.2 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality (AR) Market 2015-2026

3.2.1 Marker-based Augmented Reality

3.2.2 Markerless Augmented Reality

3.3 North America Healthcare Virtual Reality (VR) Market 2015-2026

3.3.1 Nonimmersive Technology

3.2.2 Semi-Immersive and Fully Immersive Technology

4 Segmentation of North America Market by Offering

4.1 Market Overview by Offering

4.2 North America Hardware Market of Healthcare AR and VR 2015-2026

4.3 North America Software Market of Healthcare AR and VR 2015-2026

4.4 North America Service Market of Healthcare AR and VR 2015-2026

5 Segmentation of North America Market by Device Type

5.1 Market Overview by Device Type

5.2 North America AR Devices Market 2015-2026

5.2.1 Head-Mounted Display (HMD)

5.2.2 Handheld Device

5.3 North America VR Devices Market 2015-2026

5.3.1 Head-Mounted Display (HMD)

5.3.2 Gesture-Tracking Device

5.3.3 Projector & Display Wall

6 Segmentation of North America Market by Application

6.1 Market Overview by Application

6.2 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Surgery 2015-2026

6.3 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Rehabilitation and Behavioral Neurology 2015-2026

6.4 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Pain Management 2015-2026

6.5 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Medical Training and Diagnosis 2015-2026

6.6 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Diagnosis 2015-2026

6.7 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Fitness Management 2015-2026

6.8 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Virtual Reality Expose Therapy (VRET) 2015-2026

Story continues

6.9 North America Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market for Other Sectors 2015-2026

7 Segmentation of North America Market by End-user

7.1 Market Overview by End-user

7.2 North America Healthcare AR and VR Market in Academic Institutes 2015-2026

7.3 North America Healthcare AR and VR Market in Hospitals and Clinics 2015-2026

7.4 North America Healthcare AR and VR Market in Research and Diagnostics Laboratories 2015-2026

7.5 North America Healthcare AR and VR Market in Pharma Companies and Research Centers 2015-2026

7.6 North America Healthcare AR and VR Market in Advertising and Government Agencies 2015-2026

7.7 North America Healthcare AR and VR Market in Other End Users 2015-2026

8 North America Market 2015-2026 by Country

8.1 Overview of North America Market

8.2 U.S. Market

8.3 Canadian Market

9 Competitive Landscape

9.1 Overview of Key Vendors

9.2 Company Profiles

10 Investing in North America Market: Risk Assessment and Management

10.1 Risk Evaluation of North America Market

10.2 Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ccxxda

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191217005472/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

Link:

North America $5.22 Billion Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market Trend Forecast and Growth Opportunity to 2026 -...

Photo: Jovanmandic (iStock)

If youve ever watched someone using a VR headset, you know how hilarious it is to see a person flailing their limbs around wildly, grasping at things that arent there, shouting, Ooooh! Oh! What? WOW! as they spin in circles. If you want to watch several people doing this at the same time while attempting to put food in their mouths, head over to the James Beard House in New York City, where Aerobanquets RMX, A Virtual and Augmented Reality Art and Dining Experience in Seven Bites, is in residence until December 29.

The immersive experience was created by Italian artist Mattia Casalegno, working in partnership with restaurateur Roni Mazumdar and chef Chintan Pandya of New York restaurants Rahi and Adda. Guests are seated in a darkened room in fully spinnable chairs and are instructed how to eat once the VR headsets are strapped on. Each dish is embedded with a sensor that, when aligned with diners fingers, triggers a flurry of visuals and sounds designed around each one-bite course. Just pick it up, tip your head back, pop it in your mouth, and let the magic begin.

As the Washington Post reports, what exactly is being served isnt revealed until the experience is over, when diners remove their headsets and are given a printed menu card. We wont share any details as to what those dishes are or what audiovisual cues accompany them, because (as you can see from the teaser video above) this whole shebang looks amazing, and none of it should be spoiled for anyone fortunate enough to get tickets before this pop-up ends on December 29.

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Virtual reality pop-up restaurant is the future of dinner theater - The Takeout

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Alternative and Modified Reality Marketplace: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality Solutions, Applications, and Services 2019 - 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This research provides an in-depth assessment of the Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) marketplace. This includes evaluation of the market opportunities for hardware, software, and services. Analysis takes into consideration market drivers and constraints such as potential regulatory implications. The report provides detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis including forecasts for AR, VR, and MR by major hardware components, software, services, semiconductor components, and more.

This research also provides specific insights and recommendations for major ecosystem constituents including Advertisers and Media Companies, Artificial Intelligence Providers, Automotive Companies, Broadband Infrastructure Providers, Communication Service Providers, Computing Companies, Data Analytics Providers, Equipment Providers, IoT Suppliers and Service Providers, Semiconductor Companies, Smart City Systems Integrators, Social Media Companies, and Software Developers.

Select Research Findings

While Augmented Reality (AR) represents a live (direct or indirect) view of a real-world environment, Mixed Reality (MR) is a hybrid reality in which physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real-time. The primary goal of AR is to enrich the user's perception of the real-world, providing information and insights that otherwise would not be obtainable. AR use cases have grown substantially across many industry verticals within the last two years, providing significant market momentum, and indicating great promise to transform communications, content, and commerce across a wide range of sectors. The goals of MR are broad, yet directionally focused on a true merging of real and virtual worlds, which we believe will be a major catalyst for wide-spread acceptance and usage of VR across all major industry sectors.

In contrast, Virtual Reality (VR) focuses on virtual experience through realistic interaction with 3D content presented in a digitally generated space. Playing a large role in all of these technologies will be augmented sensory perception and interactions such as haptic technology, which establishes bilateral communication patterns as touch imposes sensed motion on environment that enables environment to create a distortion or reaction and feel. In terms of venture investment, 2016 represented an intermediate peak for the virtual reality market with VR funding exceeding $800M. By way of comparison, the other major component of the overall immersive technology market (AR and MR) received about $450M in investment. More recently, the VR market has lagged AR/MR in terms of funding with the former receiving only $280M and the latter receiving over $850M in 2018.

Taken together, these AR, MR, and VR represent a set of highly disintermediating alternatives to presenting information and experiences. These are more than simply a new user interface as these three immersive technologies will transform global lifestyles in terms of how people live, work, and play. For example, there will be many use case scenarios for existing services such as mixed reality-based learning systems. However, there will also be completely new services, such as virtual fitness tests for routine health examinations that allow the user to experience what they should be able to accomplish in terms of performance (heart rate, air capacity, blood pressure, etc.) based on their physical characteristics.

Reports, Topics & Companies

Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality Market Outlook and Forecasts 2019-2024

1 Executive Summary

2 Introduction

3 Augmented Reality Ecosystem

4 Augmented and Mixed Reality Market Drivers and Opportunities

5 Augmented and Mixed Reality Market Analysis and Forecasts

6 Company Analysis

7 Conclusions and Recommendations

Virtual Reality Market by Segment, Equipment, Applications and Solutions 2019-2024

1 Executive Summary

2 Virtual Reality Market Segmentation

3 Introduction

4 Virtual Reality Ecosystem Analysis

5 VR Company Analysis

6 Virtual Reality Market Analysis and Forecasts 2019-2024

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/71rftd

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Alternative & Modified Reality Marketplace, 2019: AR, VR & MR Solutions, Applications, and Services to 2024 - ResearchAndMarkets.com -...