Metro | Orangutan squeaks reveal language evolution, says study - BBC ... BBC News Scientists who spent years listening to the communication calls of one of our closest ape relatives say their eavesdropping has shed light on the origin of human ... Orangutan 'kisses and squeaks' reveal evolution of language Study Says Orangutan Squeaks Reveal Language Evolution |
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Orangutan squeaks reveal language evolution, says study - BBC ... - BBC News
February 9, 2017 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Credit: NIH/NIAID
Antibiotic resistance is a major and growing problem worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world, and new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. But how these bacterial resistance mechanisms occur, and whether we can predict their evolution, is far from understood.
Researchers have previously shown that one way bacteria can survive antibiotics is to evolve a "timer" that keeps them dormant for the duration of antibiotic treatment. But the antibiotic kills them when they wake up, so the easy solution is to continue the antibiotic treatment for a longer duration.
Now, in new research published in the prestigious journal Science, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem report a startling alternative path to the evolution of resistance in bacteria. After evolving a dormancy mechanism, the bacterial population can then evolve resistance 20 times faster than normal. At this point, continuing to administer antibiotics won't kill the bacteria.
To investigate this evolutionary process, a group of biophysicists, led by Prof. Nathalie Balaban and PhD student Irit Levin-Reisman at the Hebrew University's Racah Institute of Physics, exposed bacterial populations to a daily dose of antibiotics in controlled laboratory conditions, until resistance was established. By tracking the bacteria along the evolutionary process, they found that the lethal antibiotic dosage gave rise to bacteria that were transiently dormant, and were therefore protected from several types of antibiotics that target actively growing bacteria. Once bacteria acquired the ability to go dormant, which is termed "tolerance," they rapidly acquired mutations to resistance and were able to overcome the antibiotic treatment.
Thus, first the bacteria evolved to "sleep" for most of the antibiotic treatment, and then this "sleeping mode" not only transiently protected them from the lethal action of the drug, but also actually worked as a stepping stone for the later acquisition of resistance factors.
The results indicate that tolerance may play a crucial role in the evolution of resistance in bacterial populations under cyclic exposures to high antibiotic concentrations. The key factors are that tolerance arises rapidly, as a result of the large number of possible mutations that lead to it, and that the combined effect of resistance and tolerance promotes the establishment of a partial resistance mutation on a tolerant background.
These findings may have important implications for the development of new antibiotics, as they suggest that the way to delay the evolution of resistance is by using drugs that can also target the tolerant bacteria.
Unveiling the evolutionary dynamics of antibiotic resistance was made possible by the biophysical approach of the research team. The experiments were performed by a team of physicists, who developed a theoretical model and computer simulations that enabled a deep understanding of the reason behind the fast evolution of resistance that were observed.
Explore further: Bacteria in estuaries have genes for antibiotic resistance
More information: "Antibiotic tolerance facilitates the evolution of resistance," Science, science.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaj2191
An international group of researchers, including Professor Michael Gillings from Macquarie University, have reported that pollution with antibiotics and resistance genes is causing potentially dangerous changes to local bacteria ...
The growth of bacteria can be stimulated by antibiotics, scientists at the University of Exeter have discovered.
A new study led by scientists at the University of Oxford has found that small DNA molecules known as plasmids are one of the key culprits in spreading the major global health threat of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotics do not easily eradicate the gut bacteria Escherichia coli, as some bacteria survive treatment in a dormant state. Once treatment is stopped, these dormant cells can become active again and recolonize the body. ...
It's thought that antibiotic resistance is associated with a fitness cost, meaning that bacteria that develop antibiotic resistance must sacrifice something in order to do so. Because of this, proper use of antibiotics should ...
The ability of microorganisms to overcome antibiotic treatments is one of the top concerns of modern medicine. The effectiveness of many antibiotics has been reduced by bacteria's ability to rapidly evolve and develop strategies ...
Endangered penguins are foraging for food in the wrong places due to fishing and climate change, research led by the University of Exeter and the University of Cape Town has revealed.
(Phys.org)A team of researchers at Ancestry, the people behind Ancestry.com, has used genotype data gathered from user kit samples and family tree information to create maps of post-colonial North American migration patterns. ...
A team of Universit Laval researchers has cast into doubt a tenet of evolutionary biology according to which organisms with more than one copy of the same gene in their genome are more resilient to genetic perturbations. ...
Antibiotic resistance is a major and growing problem worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world, and new resistance mechanisms ...
Conservationists need to adopt a critical shift in thinking to keep the Earth's ecosystems diverse and useful in an increasingly "unnatural" world.
An international team of scientists, including quinoa breeding experts from Wageningen University & Research, published the complete DNA sequence of quinoa the food crop that is conquering the world from South America ...
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Bacteria sleep, then rapidly evolve, to survive antibiotic treatments - Phys.Org
Science Daily | Chimpanzee feet allow scientists a new grasp on human foot ... Science Daily An investigation into the evolution of human walking by looking at how chimpanzees walk on two legs is the subject of a new research paper. |
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Chimpanzee feet allow scientists a new grasp on human foot ... - Science Daily
If you haven't played The Sandbox Evolution [Free] and you're at all into world creation-y god games, you need to set aside some time this morning to solve that problem. The game has been updated like crazy since it was first released, and it's getting even more content, this time with the addition of Pac-Man of all things, and players will have the ability to both include things from the Pac-Man universe inside of their own crafted worlds- Including just creating and playing your own Pac-Man mazes.
Here's some .gifs that show the things you're going to be able to do:
And as seen here, even the ghosts and other Pac-Man level pieces are available inside of the editor:
For more information on the update which is scheduled to hit on February 15th, take a look at the thread in our forums.
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Pac-Man is Coming to 'The Sandbox Evolution' Next Week - Touch Arcade
Image: Agility Robotics via YouTube Cassie is a dynamic bipedal robot developed by Agility Robotics, which says it could be used for research, disaster relief, and, long term, delivery of packages.
Today, Agility Robotics, a spin-off of Oregon State University, is officially announcing a shiny new bipedal robot named Cassie. Cassie is a dynamic walker, meaning that it walks much more like humans do than most of the carefully plodding bipedal robots were used to seeing. This makes it better at handling the kind of diverse and complex terrain that we walk over all the time without even thinking, a talent thats going to be mandatory for robots that want to tackle the different environments and situations that theyll need to master to be actually useful around people.
In addition to search-and-rescue and disaster relief, Agility Robotics has one particular environment and situation in mind: They want Cassie to be scampering up your steps to deliver packages to your front door.
Cassie is just three months old in this video, which, if you consider the typical pace for teaching a bipedal robot that you designed from the ground up from scratch to walk without constantly falling over, is quite frankly astonishing. As you can see in the video, theyre not being shy with what they ask Cassie to do: Its on dirt, its on grass, its balancing on a wobbly dock surrounded by an alarming amount of water, its even standing outside in the rain, which is an important feature for any robot that spends much time in Oregon.
And if Cassie looks a bit more like an ostrich than a human, it wasnt because Agility Robotics was specifically trying for an ostrich-like robot: They dont want to necessarily mimic the morphology of animals, although they do study animal behavior and dynamicsfor inspiration and insights. So while ground-running birds may have had the idea first, Agility Robotics intelligently designed Cassie to be agile, efficient, and robust, and this is the leg that they came up with.
Agility Robotics may be a new company, but its made up of the folks behind the ATRIAS robots, including MARLO at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Cassie is the next-generation robot thats intended to take everything that was learned from the ATRIAS project and build it into a platform thats both more capableand more practical, as Agility Robotics co-founder (and OSU professor) Jonathan Hurst tells us:
There were many, many unknowns in the design of ATRIAS. ATRIAS was the first machine to demonstrate human-like gait dynamics and implement spring-mass walking [reproducingthe ground reaction forces and center-of-mass motion of human walking], but it wasnot a practical machine for any use other than science demonstration.
We learned a few key things with ATRIAS: First, the legs on ATRIAS are configured as a 4-bar linkage, in part to create minimum inertia for the spring-mass model embodiment. However, the configuration results in one motor acting as a brake on the other, with a lot of power cycling internally between motors rather than doing work on the world. After some analysis, we developed the specific leg configuration of Cassie. This allows the motors to be smaller, and the robot to be far more efficient than even ATRIAS was.
In addition to increased efficiency, Cassie has all kinds of other practical improvements over ATRIAS. It has a 3-degrees-of-freedom hip like humans do, allowing the robot to move its legs forward and backward, side to side, and also rotate them at the same time. This makes Cassie steerable in a way that ATRIAS wasnt. It also has powered ankles, which it uses to stand in place without having to constantly move its feet the way ATRIAS does, and it has enough battery power to run some beefy on-board computers, meaning that integrated perception is now an option.
University of Michigan engineering professorJessyGrizzle, who wrangles the ATRIAS robot named MARLO at the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Lab, is getting one of the first Cassie robots, and both he (and his students, who have the thankless job of making sure that MARLO doesnt faceplant during their outdoor tests) are particularly excited about how durable Cassie is. Cassie is tough, Grizzle tells us. Its designed for the rough and tumble life of an experimental robot. In principle, we should not have to use a safety gantry of any kind. This will allow us to take the robot into wild places.
Meanwhile, Agility Robotics is already looking beyond research towards commercial applications for Cassie, Hurst tells us:
If we really understood how to implement dynamically capable legs, there would be so many applications for them, including search-and-rescue, exoskeletons, powered prosthetic limbs, and package delivery.
I believe legged locomotion is going to be analogous to the automotive industry, in terms of size and how it transforms our society. We all want telepresence robots; we all want robots that can help us in our homes. We all want groceries and other goods delivered to our homes on a moments notice and for insignificant cost. We all want the cost of manufactured goods to be significantly reduced through more efficient logistics throughout the manufacturing process. Cassie is a step in this direction: it is a first product that will initially be sold to research institutions to support a community of researchers solving the problem of locomotion in the human environment, and Cassie will continue to improve and evolve, as Agility Robotics focuses on products and commercial customers.
Hurst tells us that arms and sensors are coming soon, which will enable Cassie to get up by itself after a fall, and theyre also working on VR-style telepresence. In terms of cost, Agility Robotics wouldnt disclose specific numbers, saying only that theirgoal is to end up with sub-$100k robots.
The company says the initial Cassie production run is already completely sold out, but if you want one to play with, more will be available later in the summer. As far as using Cassie to deliver packages, its a compelling idea, and we can see the benefits: In a world where so much of our spacesare designed around bipedal mobility, a bipedal robot could become the easiest and most reliable platform to do anything practical. Cassie has some work to do before its ready to be hauling groceries up stairs for you, but were very much looking forward to watching this robot taking more steps toward robust and dynamic legged locomotion.
[ Agility Robotics ]
IEEE Spectrum's award-winning robotics blog, featuring news, articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, drones, automation, artificial intelligence, and more. Contact us:e.guizzo@ieee.org
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Agility Robotics Introduces Cassie, a Dynamic and Talented Robot Delivery Ostrich - IEEE Spectrum
LOS LUNAS Math and engineering concepts come alive students say, when they use them to build robots.
The Valencia County Home School Robotics Teams used simple engineering plans and equipment to build robots they will compete in the Kirtland Air Force Research Laboratory La Luz Academy Robotics Challenge on March 2.
The three home-school teams are the Transformers, Big Hero 3 and The Ohm Schoolers.
Ive had an amazing experience in robotics, said Amanda Sparks with the Transformers team. Ive made new friends and broadened my mind in many different subjects.
In final preparation for the robotics competition, each team gave a presentation and demonstrated their robots abilities last week at the Community Bible Church in Los Lunas.
The Transformers robot, Opie, a small, boxy BOE-Bot with whiskers, was programmed to change course when its antenna touches an obstacle.
When the whiskers are pushed, it sends a message to the servos (individual motor) that it needs to move back and turn a different way, explained Elizabeth Schatzinger.
It looks a lot easier than it is, but once youve figured out the basics, you can perform the other tasks, added teammate Amanda Sparks.
Sometimes what we program does not turn out how we want it to but using our math skills, we can figure out the problem and fix the program, she said.
Sparks learned a surprising number of new math skills she said, and teammate Max Kiehne said its about learning computer programming language.
In the beginning, I learned about binary, which before this class I thought was really hard to learn, but then I learned the basics and I found its a lot simpler than most people probably would think, Kiehne said.
Only the top scoring 30 teams out of 80 statewide will go on to the Robotics Challenge. Along with the home-schooled teams, there are seven teams from Valencia Middle School and 12 teams are being hosted at Peralta Elementary School.
The La Luz Academys science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, educational outreach program is available free to any New Mexico public, private or home-school grades 5-12.
The home-schooled seventh-and eighth-graders have been participating in a weekly robotics class since September 2016.
What I once thought to be random letters and numbers turns out to be an amazing and intricate method of communication between us and the robot, said Rebekah Sparks from the Big Hero 3 team, which also includes Allison Storch and Timothy Schatzinger.
Their robot, Baymax, knows when to move and when to turn on the obstacle course. To enable their robot, the team measured the course with a tape measure, used a calculator they created using Excel to convert inches or centimeters to counter, which is a measure that robots use, the students said. Different numbers equal different distances in counter.
Schatzinger said he wasnt crazy about robots when he started the program but now he is a lot smarter, especially in math where he learned binary. Binary uses only ones and zeroes to calculate the numbers for counter distances and other computer programming.
I dont think (robots) are going to rule the world anymore because they cant even learn how to go through a blue course until we program them, Schatzinger said inciting laughter from the audience.
Students stretch their minds to solve the engineering problems that arise in programming robot functions.
Hands-on experience helps a bunch, said Emma Kennington, of the Ohm team. Being able to test it, you know you have understood it when you can get your robot to work the way you want it to.
The objective of the AFRL La Luz Academy educational outreach program is to raise student interest in pursuing STEM related studies and career paths. The program also seeks to involve student participants from groups traditionally under-represented in STEM fields, including females and minorities.
The program is available free of charge. The only requirement is that a teacher come forward with a willingness to teach the classroom based programs, Mars Mission, Robotics Challenge, and STEM Challenge or agrees to coordinate student scheduling for the experiences held on KAFB. All teachers are provided with training and resources to carry out class assignments. There is no grant proposal or application. For more information, visit the website at afrlnewmexico.com/afrl-la-luz-academy or call 846-8042.
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Home-schooled students studying robotics - Valencia County News Bulletin
The Edge FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team members (from left) Eddie Noll, Matt Lesch, Joey Self, and Muffin Tanks team members Sam Bradin, coach Heinz Bourquin and Lucas Bourquin drive their robots to a first-place finish at the FTC State Championship held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Feb. 4. The teams advanced to super-regional competition in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in March.(Photo: Submitted)
Four prequalified teams from the Hartland area competed at the 2017 Wisconsin State Championship for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)Tech Challenge (FTC) on Feb.4: The Edge, team 10294, The Knack, team 9956and rookie teams Muffin Tanks, team 11490, and Formal Emus, team 11353.
A total of 24 teams from around Wisconsin met at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to compete in the 2016-17 game Velocity Vortex.
The Velocity Vortex challenge started in September when teams around the world learned the rules of this year's game. Teams design, build and program a robot to complete challenges in the game, played on a 12-foot square field on a soft mat floor. The challenges are worth points during a three-minute match.Alliances of two teams face off in each match, which starts with an autonomous period where robots operate using only preprogrammed instructions, according to the FIRST website atfirstinspires.org.
Each match has two periods of play:the30 second autonomous period, followed by a two-minute driver-controlled period during which drivers attempt to score points by placing particles (small balls) andcap balls (exercise balls), triggering beacons for their alliance or parking the robot on specific parts of the field. The last 30 seconds of the game is the end game, which adds new scoring opportunities.
Students are also required to keep an engineering notebook detailing their design, building and programming process.
The Edge, along with Muffin Tanks won the 2017 FTC State Championship along with their alliance partner, the Supposable Thumbs, team 4106from New Berlin.The Edge will now advance to the North Super-Regionalin Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in March.
The Edge team members are Reagan Zimmerman, Ryan Tabor, Joey Self, Matthew Lesch, Nick Noll, Eddie Noll, Alex Noll and Paul Schlager. They are coached by Kent Tabor, Kirk Noll, Louisa Self, Kevin Self and Debbie Rypkema.
Four Hartland area FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams competed at the 2017 Wisconsin State Championship on Feb. 4 at the Universwity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. FTC rookie team 22490 Muffin Tanks (left), FTC team 10294 The Edge (middle), and FTC team 9956 The Knack (right) are pictured at the state competition. FTC team 11353 Formal Emus also competed.(Photo: Submitted)
The Muffin Tanks team includes Lucas Bourquin, Sam Bradin, Jacob Johnson, Erik Giess, Saniya Saluja, who are coached by Heinz Bourquin and Chris Mehling.
Hartland area students in grades seventhrough 12 interested in robotics can join this program sponsored by FIRST, who also supports FIRST Lego League (FLL) at grade schools and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) at high schools. FTC teams usually have sixto 12 students coached by parents and community volunteers who have an interest in teaching students about technology.
To learn more about FIRST robotics programs visitfirstinspires.org.
FIRST Tech Competition (FTC) team The Edge members (from left) Eddie Noll, Matt Lesch and Joey Self drive their robot and place an exercise ball (cap ball) onto the goal in the final seconds of a game at the FTC State Championship at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Feb. 4. Capping the goal counts for 40 points in the game.(Photo: Submitted)
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Hartland robotics teams take on the FIRST Tech challenge at state competition - LC Sussex Sun
At the robotics tournament in Axtell last month, Trey Bahler, far right, was runner-up with the Aurora team, who Bahler picked to be in an alliance with. Bahler has qualified for further state and national competition for his design work. (Courtesy photo)
Brady Gittlein and Cade Francis, center, compete in the first match of the day Saturday in Lincoln. (Courtesy photo)
Thu, 02/09/2017 - 9:17am Imperial1
Four Chase County Schools (CCS) students competed in a robotics tournament at Lincoln Northstar on Saturday, where they faced 31 other teams from across the state. The team of Brady Gittlein, Cade Francis, Rebeca Subia and Oyuky Perez-Gamboa represented CCS, and finished in the top half in the qualifying rounds. In the finals, they finished fifth, after winning their quarterfinal round match. In the semi-finals, CCS fell to the team that ended up tournament champions. It was a great learning day. Too bad this team doesnt have another tournament to go to. I feel theyd do much better, said Coach Kim Wilson. Other teams in Lincoln last weekend were Cross County, Lincoln Public Schools, Millard West, Battle Creek, Hershey, Ogallala, Waverly, Weeping Water, Grand Island, Crete and Omaha North Magnet.
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Robotics teams at CCS stay busy at tournaments - Imperial Republican
Baxter and Sawyer will now operate with Intera 5. (Image: Rethink Robotics.)
Today's industrial robots can be programmed to do complicated tasks involving multiple steps. The only problem is that most warehouse employees don't know how to program robots, and roboticists are awfully expensive. Rethink Robotics has announced a new software release that should make it much easier to put robots to work.
The Boston-based firm is already known for making "easy" robots; Sawyer and its predecessor Baxter are collaborative robots that can learn by demonstration. Existing employees can train a robot by simply grabbing its arm and showing it what to do. This technique has worked well for simple tasks, but more complicated jobs have required specialized programming.
Now, the robots will run on Intera 5, a software platform that the Rethink Robotics team says will allow manufacturers to integrate robots into factories in just a few hours. This kind of fast and easy deployment will be a key factor in the widespread adoption of industrial robots . Despite the obvious benefits of automation -- consistently high throughput with minimal labor -- the idea of adding a fleet of robots to a traditional warehouse can be overwhelming.
In an announcement about the software release Rethink Robotics President and CEO Scott Eckert said:
We wouldn't usually make such a fuss over a simple software upgrade, but Intera 5 is a complete overhaul. IEEE Spectrum reports that the new version is based on ROS (Robot Operating System) and it is the result of 30 people working on the new code for the last two years. The software platform has a behavior tree that is presented as a visual diagram. Operators can still grab the robot's arm to show it what to do, but now they can also zoom in on the behavior tree to program complex tasks based on a string of specific actions.
If industrial robots can truly be integrated in just a few hours, it will make them more appealing on several levels. First, it eliminates the fear that they are complicated machines that require robotics expertise. Second, the quick setup also helps avoid interrupting normal operations, which reduces the initial cost. Additionally, the robots are now flexible enough for applications that experience frequent unpredictable fluctuations in demand, such as making clothes for the fashion industry.
Video: Trump may bring jobs back to the US, but robots will get them
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Caltech
With articulated wings covered in a stretchy silicone, a 93-gram autonomous robot can mimic several of the complex aerial manoeuvres of bats.
Bat wings contain more than 40 joints that allow for a variety of intricate moves through the air. Earlier bat-inspired robots have been unable to get off the ground, and flying robots have been modelled on birds and insects. Bat Bot (pictured), built by Soon-Jo Chung at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and his colleagues, can fly straight, dive and do banked turns. The team identified and included the nine most important wing joints needed for the robot to make these moves, and covered the robot's skeleton with a thin silicone membrane that allowed the wings to fold and extend. Each wing can move independently, as can the leading and trailing sections of each wing.
The robot could be used to further study the mechanics of bat flight, the authors say.
Sci. Robot. 2, eaal2505 (2017)
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Robotics: A robot that flies like a bat : Nature : Nature Research - Nature.com
Online professional network LinkedIn has partnered with bestselling biographies author Christopher Sandford to provide advice for those looking to improve their profiles with relatively simple changes.
1. Draw your readers in:
Because your profile summary is one of the first things people look at, its important to get it right. You want the reader to want to know more about you, so start with something punchy. You can do this through specific phrases, storytelling or even clever use of punctuation. Dont be afraid to lead with a short sentence, such as Music is my first love, Sandford says. Above all, you should always keep your reader, or customer, firmly in mind.
2. Add a personal touch:
While its often tempting to speak in the third person when it comes to our working lives, Sandford urges users not to. Its impersonal and wont draw the reader in. Take a professional tone and be assertive and direct when youre talking about your achievements, dont hide behind buzzwords or jargon. At the same time, dont shy away from adding some personality to your language this is a great way to show your character, he says.
3. Use everyday language
Many users make the mistake of filling their profile summaries with common complex words. Standford suggests listing out all your relevant previous roles and describe what you did in everyday language. This will help people understand the breadth of your work story - a complete profile reflects a well-rounded person, he says.
4. Show real examples of your work
Language is important, but showing real examples of your work is vital too. Instead of using common words like strategic, prove it by uploading presentations or projects that bring this to life, Standford says. These are individual to you and help paint the picture of your special skills and unique background whether thats an image from a launch of a big campaign or the blog you write in your spare time, he adds.
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Google's Chrome browser logo
Google says it's now time to marry two computing realms: the web and virtual reality.
Its latest version of the Chrome browser includes a technology called WebVR, which lets programmers create websites that present the computer-generated 3D worlds of virtual reality. If you're into VR, you might appreciate the promise WebVR holds for expanding what you can do with a device like a Google Daydream View or a Facebook Oculus Rift VR headset.
That's because, in principle at least, WebVR makes it easier for developers to create a single VR experience that'll work across many VR headsets instead of having to create a separate version for each device. It's an extension of how a single website can span your laptop, Android phone or iPad tablet.
WebVR makes it "as easy to step inside Air Force One as it is to access your favorite web page," Megan Lindsay, a product manager on Google's Chrome team, said in a blog post.
WebVR without anything to look at isn't any fun, so here are some sites Google promoted for the technology: Bear 71, an interactive nature documentary; Matterport, a library of more than 300,000 celebrity homes and other sites; Within, a collection of VR movies; WebVR Lab, a collection of interactive VR worlds, and Sketchfab, an assortment of VR scenes.
Google developed WebVR along with Firefox maker Mozilla, Facebook's Oculus team, and other partners. It's early days though. Microsoft is working on WebVR support for its new Edge browser and HoloLens eyewear, but support is still spotty among makers of VR headsets like HTC's Vive and Samsung's Gear VR.
So far, Mozilla has enabled WebVR only in its nightly and developer versions of Firefox aimed at web programmers and the adventurous. But it plans to add WebVR in the mainstream version of its browser this summer, including support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Chrome supports Google's Daydream View headset, which like Gear VR uses a phone to track head motion and display imagery for each eye. But it'll be months before WebVR and Chrome work with the company's cruder Google Cardboard cousin.
Virtual reality 101: CNET tells you everything you need to know about what VR is and how it'll affect your life.
CNET Magazine: Check out a sampling of the stories you'll find in CNET's newsstand edition.
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Google wants to use Chrome to suck you into virtual reality - CNET
Forbes | The Future Of Virtual Reality: Mobile VR Platforms In A Battle Forbes While everyone obsesses over whether Sony , Oculus or HTC HTCCY +% sold more virtual reality (VR) headsets last year, Google GOOGL -0.01% and Facebook FB -0.34% have been waging a silent platform war. This war of platforms ultimately comes down ... |
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The Future Of Virtual Reality: Mobile VR Platforms In A Battle - Forbes
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Even when shes not posing as a fertility goddess in front of half the flowers in Manhattan, being Beyonc is probably pretty fun. She works hard, for sure, but shes also obscenely rich and world famous. So we probably shouldnt be too surprised that Queen Bey was less than impressed by the Magic Leap, the VR headset thats being hailed as the second coming of augmented reality. According to an article in Business Insider, the company is relying on celebrity endorsements to build buzz for the product, regularly clearing out its Florida offices so VIPs can give the new technology a whirl. But it doesnt always work out as planned:
Some who saw the device, like Steven Spielberg, were pitched to make content for it. But others, like Beyoncwho received a personalized mermaid Magic Leap demo, which the team created on short notice, and was bored by itwere more of a reflection of Abovitzs desire to connect with celebrities than anything directly related to the companys business, former employees said.
Maybe Beyonc found the Magic Leap boring because shes already a mermaid in real life. Or maybe shes simply more of a Sega Genesis fan. Beyonc appreciates the classics.
[via New York Magazine]
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Virtual reality is boring compared to Beyonc's actual reality - A.V. Club (blog)
Updated February 10, 2017 09:09:49
The technological world may be on the cusp of a revolution, the extent of which is predicted to mimic the take-up of the smartphone in the late 2000s, but some experts have urged caution as its addictive qualities and long-term effects remain unknown.
Virtual Reality, or VR, has finally become commercially accessible a full-immersion kit with motion controllers is less than $1,000 putting hardware and software tools in the hands of gamers and independent game developers for the first time.
But it is the appeal of this technology across the broader population rather than just the gaming community that has people like Microsoft multimedia and interaction researcher Mar Gonzalez Franco excited.
"We [the general public] will buy VR devices in shopping malls the way we buy smartphones today," she said.
"I think it will be adopted pretty fast."
Applications outside gaming will include social media, virtual lives, movies, news, virtual conference hook-ups, live music experiences and, of course, pornography.
Late last year, Ms Gonzalez Franco reportedly predicted future VR units would be akin to experiencing powerful hallucinations once they started including other senses, such as touch.
This reporter recently had his first experience with a game called First Contact, and could not help but notice a mild sensation of deflation with the real world on exit a sensation that lasted about an hour.
In the narcotics world this sensation is called the come down and can lead to repeat usage and, on occasion, addiction or dependency.
Federation University Australia clinical psychology senior lecturer Vasileios Stavropoulos said research on addictive internet behaviour was largely inconsistent until 2015 when the American Psychiatric Association introduced the concept of internet gaming disorder.
Dr Stavropoulos said newly diagnosed cases "appear to have been increasing worldwide" and with the advance of VR technology that "definitely" had addictive potential, "we should be cautious".
"We're not only talking about virtual reality, we're also talking about virtual personality," he said.
"Scientifically, it's what we call the compensatory internet use hypothesis, which basically suggests that those who are not fulfilled here in this world, tend to escape in another world where they might feel more fulfilled."
He said it was the fact people could experience themselves differently online, build their ideal selves through an avatar and emotionally connect with a virtual world that might offer a better reality than reality, that would attract addiction.
Ms Gonzalez Franco said that "unlike drugs or alcohol, VR doesn't alter our higher cognitive functions".
She said it would allow people to "relate to distant life perspectives", such as experiencing a different socioeconomic status in a virtual Second Life-like world, or a different racial status or gender the fodder of several science fiction films.
"VR experiences will be more meaningful than any other previous medium of experiencing content," Ms Gonzalez Franco said.
A virtual world launched in 2003 called Second Life allowed users to create virtual representations of themselves that interacted with other users, participating in group activities, trade and building an economy it even had its own currency interchangeable with real-world currency.
University of South Australia School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences Professor Bruce Thomas said it was this social aspect, rather than gaming, that primarily drove Facebook to buy VR developer Oculus Rift.
He said VR would give rise to positive applications, such as allowing isolated people like the elderly to participate in communal dining with others online.
"And wouldn't it be great if you could share a meal with your family in some place you holidayed 30 years ago," Professor Thomas said.
He said online gambling would cause more harm than VR and said the same people who were addicted to online gaming would be addicted to VR.
"I don't think there's anything inherent about VR that makes it more addictive," he said.
"People are already spending a lot of time in front of a computer."
Professor Thomas said there had been no studies on the long-term effects of using VR, but he had some concern about the conflict it created with eye vergence-accommodation.
The human eye has two mechanisms, vergence movement the simultaneous movement of both eyes in opposite directions, and accommodation the lenses of an eye changing shape to focus on things at distance and up close.
Stereoscopic VR creates a conflict for this mechanism, because everything is focused at a certain distance despite a stereo image going into both eyes to give a depth cue.
"In the late 90s we [UniSA] had a monocular display one of the first head-mount displays," Professor Thomas said.
"Somebody [who tried VR] played for a Norwood baseball team. We made sure he didn't drive right away, like they told us to, but when he went to practise that night, he just couldn't hit a baseball all night.
"It wasn't a permanent effect and it's not proving anything, but there's something going on."
Ms Gonzalez Franco pointed to the side effects that some people experienced from VR as being a detractor from its addictive qualities.
She said that unlike those addicted to TV and other mediums, VR was self-experiential and people "will get physically tired, in the same way that going for a walk gets you tired".
"And I think this is something very good about VR, so people will reduce their exposures and spend more time in reality," she said.
This factor is certainly true of other users of VR, who told the ABC that after about an hour of immersion it was common to feel tired from exertion.
Topics: computers-and-technology, internet-technology, science-and-technology, health, adelaide-5000, sa, australia
First posted February 10, 2017 06:54:46
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A Melbourne-based virtual reality company has secured nearly $1million in seed funding from investors.
Lithodomos which means stonemason in Ancient Greek develops virtual reality content that re-creates ancient architecture, allowing people to see what archaeological sites once looked like.
The idea for the company was born out of PhD research by its founders, Simon Young and Dr M.Hamdi Kan,at the University of Melbourne.
"As part of my research I was implementing 3D visualisation software packages. Then a couple of years ago I got hold of a virtual reality headset," Young says.
"I spent a few weeks working out how that all worked and imported one of my models,and 'hey presto' there I was, standing in an ancient city."
Young saysthe technology could have applications in tourism and education, and Lithodomos has been working with potential clients to find out how it can best be utilised. "We spent the last six months talking to tourism operators, museum directors and site excavation directors in Europe to get an idea of what they would like to see in virtual reality."
Lithodomos'first commercial project will be working with Spain's University of Cordoba and the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness to re-create part of the Roman settlement of Mellaria in the Guadiato Valley, in the country's north.
With both founders coming from an academic background, historical accuracy is what sets Lithodomos apart from its competition, Young says.
"We take archaeological plans that have been collected and published over the last century and use those models to create accurate, to-scale virtual reality environments.
"We take great pains to ensure that what our audience is viewing is rigorously researched in every detail;it's carefully thought out so that you can feel confident that what you're seeing is real."
The $900,000 in seed funding represents a rapid rise for a company that started upin September last year.
The funding was secured through a pitch to an investor cohort after working with start-up incubator Mktplace Ventures.
I was quite reticent at the beginning, I'd heard about these incubators, 'they take your idea and they steal your money', but the reality is that I couldn't have done it on my own.
"They are private investors, and I can say that most of it is Australian money," Young says.
Despite Lithomodos's early success, smaller tech companies like itface a challenge in moving past the seed-funding stage, says Melbourne Innovation Centre chief executive David WIlliamson.
"There's always been an issue for small tech firms getting beyond that seed-funding stage. Venture capital sort of kicks in around $10 million;they're not really looking at any deals smaller than that."
Most seed funding for Australian tech companies is coming from angelinvestors or business accelerator programs, but this situation mightmake it more difficult for companies to move beyond the seed stage, Williamson says.
"The growth of that market is significant, but I think that this is only going to further exacerbate the problem that we'll have a huge number of these start-ups where pre-revenue, they may raise 20 to 50 thousand [dollars] and then they're going to have a lot of trouble beyond that."
He says the business culture of accelerators gives them an edge over universities.
"Incubators and accelerators that are run as self-sustaining enterprises have their own entrepreneurial agenda, so generally the culture that permeates these spaces is significantly more dynamic.
"Universities and larger research facilities are significantly larger bureaucracies, so they can't move in a lean fashion and get things done quickly.So that's the advantage that [accelerators] have."
Amid calls for Australian universities to get better at commercialising research, both Young and Williamson say accelerator programs and private investment areareas young academics should be looking towards.
"Universities have a tendency to instil in their students 'commercialise your PhD', which is fine if you're an aerospace engineer. But if you're a humanities student it's a little bit tricky;how do you sell history?," Young says.
"I was quite reticent at the beginning.I'd heard about these incubators, 'they take your idea and they steal your money', but the reality is that I couldn't have done it on my own."
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Archaeology turns to virtual reality with Lithodomos start-up - The Sydney Morning Herald
PEOPLE.com | WATCH: YouTube Stars Create Amazing La La Land-Inspired Virtual-Reality Music Video PEOPLE.com YouTube star Sam Tsui and singer-songwriter Megan Nicole teamed up for an amazing La La Landinspired music video, complete with virtual-reality technology. In the clip above, watch as a young valet (Tsui) and a waitress (Nicole) exercise their pipes ... |
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WATCH: YouTube Stars Create Amazing La La Land-Inspired Virtual-Reality Music Video - PEOPLE.com
After reports that Facebook is scaling back its retail presence for Oculus Rift VR headsets, some analysts are saying prospects for the product are dimming. (Tinxi/Shutterstock)
Following reports thatFacebook (FB) is scaling back its retail presence for Oculus Rift virtual-reality headsets, some analysts are saying prospects for the VR product are diminishing.
Business Insider reported Wednesday that Facebook is closing about 200 of its 500 Oculus virtual-reality demo stations at Best Buy (BBY) stores in the U.S. It said the in-store pop-ups are being closed for poor performance. Some of the pop-ups often would go days without giving a single demonstration, BI said.
"VR seems only to be popular at trade shows." Edison Investment Research analyst Richard Windsor said in a research report. "After a very disappointing 2016, virtual reality looks set to have another disappointing year in 2017 while its proponents work out how to fix the issues that keep it from being a success."
VR headsets aren't cheap, and Facebook's $600 Oculus Rift requires a high-performance PC to run. Compelling content also has been lacking, Windsor said. Plus, some people experience nausea when watching VR videos.
IBD'S TAKE: Facebook is one of the FANG group of closely watched internet stocks, along with Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet. Facebook stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 91, meaning it has outperformed 91% of stocks in key metrics over the past 12 months. But it ranks No. 5 out of 54 stocks in IBD's Internet-Content industry group. To see which companies lead the group, visit the IBD Stock Checkup.
"Investor optimism on Facebook's Oculus is totally misplaced," Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said in a research note. "Oculus is DOD (dead on departure). (The VR) market does not exist."
"Facebook has been blowing a lot of hot air into Oculus," Chowdhry said.
Facebook bought Oculus in March 2014 for $2 billion and an additional $1 billion in later payouts. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said he plans to spend billions more on developing and marketing virtual reality over the next decade, adding that Oculus "won't be profitable for a while."
Zuckerberg has described virtual reality as the next technology platform for his company's online social network.
Oculus competes with low-cost smartphone-based headsets such as Samsung's Gear VR and video console systems like Sony's (SNE) PlayStation VR.
Twitter is doubling down on its efforts to halt abusive posts. (Denys Prykhodov/Shutterstock)
4:15 PM ET Twitter, struggling to expand amid competition from Facebook, Snapchat and others, forecast 2017 earnings less than half expectations.
4:15 PM ET Twitter, struggling to expand amid competition from Facebook, Snapchat and...
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Prospects Dimming For Facebook's Oculus Rift Virtual-Reality Headsets - Investor's Business Daily
VR technology development is thriving and is attracting a lot of interest from both manufacturers and users alike. We're only at the beginning of the VR era and things are still a little complicated, but the future still looks very promising.The Japanese are taking it to the next levelas they are hopingto add a whole new dimension to the technology: smell.
We recently saw that some people have hadsomedifficulties acceptingVR: itcan cause headaches and nausea, few people are interested in it due tothe small number of apps, but the main problem is obviously theprice. It will take time for VR to become more accessible,and thats not necessarilya bad thing as by that time the technologywill be far more superior to what we have at the moment.
Some developers are alreadyon the lookoutfor solutions to these problems, whileothers are venturing even further again. A Japanese company is currently trying to make virtual reality even more realistic by adding another sense to accompany hearing and sight: smell. The VAQSO VR is a small device made up of cartridges, each of which contain a specific smell. Depending on your preferred VR adventures, the device will release certain smells to pull you even further into the game. The technology obviously isn't perfect, as it is still in the development stages, but it does have potential.
AsCNEThas recently pointed out, smell is already associated with VR in many specific situations.We're hopingthat we'll see something a little more interesting than just sex and pets in this respect (Oh, and please refrain from writing you'd need to test both at the same time in the comments).
Sight and sound are the primarysenses usedin any video game experience, and there's every chance that smell will also be used too one day. That just leaves touch and taste to be implemented to achieve a rounded VR experience. Theoretically, touch would beeasy to integrateas you already touch the controller to interact with the game. That said, if we want a FPS game whereyou can fire a gun, you'll need more than just a controller. Hereyou'd need a number of other accessories and different kinds of controllers, the number ofwhich would most likelyincrease over time.
Being able to taste test a meal before eating it is an interesting idea.
What do you think?
Taste is much more complex as this wouldinvolvea direct interaction inside the body - meaning you would have to putsomething in your mouth. Other than using an external accessory that is optimized for this purpose (which isnt very practical), I cant think of any other strategies. With that said, I cant imagine how taste would be useful in games or sightseeing tours. Perhaps it could be used by confectionery businesses or other catering companies to showcase their products? This is purespeculation, of course.
How do you envisage the future of VR? Do you think the technology will one day have a full sensory experience for its users? Let us know in the comments below.
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'Faulkner: Life and Works' explores legacy of first writer-in-residence at U.Va. by Dan Goff | Feb 09 2017 | 16 hours ago
As Junot Daz finishes his time as the Universitys writer-in-residence, the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library winds back the clock 60 years to highlight the first writer-in-residence at the University the prolific and enigmatic William Faulkner. Faulkner: Life and Works is an immersive exhibition detailing the authors history both on- and off-Grounds. The exhibit opened Feb. 6 and will remain open to the public until July 7.
One of the most prominent components of the exhibition is a display containing copies of a number of Faulkner's more-famous novels. First editions of each work paired with brief summaries of the fiction and, in some special cases, handwritten manuscripts of the novels first drafts fill a large case in the center of the small room.
Even for those unfamiliar with Faulkners work, there is something thrilling about seeing the first efforts of one of Americas best known-authors, painstakingly written out in dark blue print. An added layer of interest is that some of these manuscripts were written while Faulkner was the writer-in-residence at the University from 1957 until his sudden death in 1962.
Surprisingly, the only lacking element of Faulkner: Life and Works is a more in-depth exploration of the authors time at the University most of the exhibition focuses on his life before his residency. Faulkner only visited the University in the twilight of his life when nearly all of his major works had already been published. As a result, the exhibition feels more like a celebration of Faulkner as an author rather than an examination of Faulkner within the context of the University.
It is tempting to claim Faulkner as one of the Universitys own, but the schools role in his life was tangential at best. Much the same is true of Edgar Allan Poe despite the mini-museum on the Range and the (now-extinct) Eddys Tavern, Poe spent less than a year at the University and spent a good chunk of that time accruing massive gambling debts. The University has a residential community named after Faulkner, but the degree to which the man and the school really influenced each other is a question not answered by the exhibition.
The exhibition succeeds in providing an exhaustive, engaging inspection of the most recurring and important themes in Faulkners work. Perhaps the most relevant of these both when he was alive and to this day is race. Accordingly, the exhibition has an entire case dedicated to explaining Faulkners conflicted ideas about the issues of slavery, Jim Crow laws and segregation.
Race was inextricably tied to Faulkner from birth named after his great-grandfather, a Confederate soldier, Faulkner was raised on stories of the Civil War. In his novels, he adopted what was seen as a middle-of-the-road approach to the issue of slavery that alienated his fellow Southerners but underwhelmed the more progressive North.
According to the exhibition, he described slavery as the Souths founding sin, but he also criticized the North for failing to consider the perspective of the financially ruined Southern states. These dichotomies slavery and freedom, wealth and ruin, morality and depravity occupy some of Faulkners most famous stories and haunt his most unforgettable characters.
Despite its minor shortcomings, the exhibition does a wonderful job of shining light on Faulkners deep and remarkable wisdom. The best encouragement to attend is to provide a taste of that wisdom, which the exhibit features in the shape of a quote from Faulkners 1950 Nobel Prize speech.
I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail, Faulkner said in the speech. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things.
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Immortality of written words - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily