Monthly Archives: February 2017

APPLE CEO Tim Cook has said that he sees augmented reality (AR) as holding more potential than virtual reality (VR) and that the technology holds as much potential impact to change the world as the smartphone market.

Speaking to The Independent.Cook was asked for his take on future trends like AR, and he left no doubt that he sees the technology as the next major trend ahead of VR

"I'm excited about augmented reality because unlike virtual reality which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what's happening presently," he said

"Most people don't want to lock themselves out from the world for a long period of time and today you can't do that because you get sick from it. With AR you can, not be engrossed in something, but have it be a part of your world, of your conversation. That has resonance."

Cook went on to say that, just like the smartphone has become a global product used by everyone, he believes that AR holds a similar level of potential.

"I regard it as a big idea like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don't have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it's for everyone. I think AR is that big, it's huge," he said.

I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives. And be entertaining. I view AR like I view the silicon here in my iPhone, it's not a product per se, it's a core technology."

However, Cook was cool on how soon such technology would become mainstream, and be extension when Apple may get involved, suggesting there is still a way to go to make the capabilities relevant to consumers.

"There are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream. I do think there can be a lot of things that really help people out in daily life, real-life things, that's why I get so excited about it."

Cook's comments followed on from similarly bullish comments on the UK's future under Brexit, claiming that the nation "would be just fine" and that the firm was committed to the country, as evidenced by its new headquarters in Battersea.

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Tim Cook says AR has more potential than virtual reality - The INQUIRER

TAPS 21N: The Idea of Virtual Reality is an all-freshman introductory seminar that allows students to engage with the impact of one of the newest innovations of our time: virtual reality.

From watching VR videos with Google Cardboard to going on field trips to meeting with big names in the industry, students experience VR in multiple contexts.

Students explore VR in TAPS 21N (DEVON ZANDER/The Stanford Daily)

The course is taught by Matthew Wilson Smith, associate professor of German studies and theater and performance studies. For him, the excitement of the curriculum comes with the novelty of its topic.

[Virtual reality is] being created in real time, and largely right around here in Silicon Valley, he said. As a theater scholar and a performance scholar and a literature scholar, its a venture for me to explore a medium that has yet to be created thats in the process of being created. And its a medium that some of the students around the seminar table might be helping to create.

Students are assigned a combination of readings and VR videos to watch with Google Cardboard, which they then discuss during class. One of the main goals of the course is to examine the past, present and future of VR.

Were spending time looking at the history of VR, going back to the 19th century and through the 20th, although it even has roots all the way back to Plato and his allegory of the cave, Smith said. Were [also] trying to speculate forward about where this all might be going its currently a big unknown.

Another critical concern of the class is determining what makes for an immersive VR experience. As Smith describes it, [We] want to ask: What do we mean when we say immersion? Does it mean that we just pay attention, or does it mean that we actually are in a state where we forget the medium?

One way the class has engaged hands-on with the concept of immersion is going on trips to the Virtual Human Interaction Lab on campus, where itis able to use HTC Vive, one of the most cutting-edge VR systems available today.

The breathtaking quality of the simulation of presence was something that I frankly hadnt anticipated, Smith said. I knew it was a feature of the medium, but until Id actually done it, I hadnt fully appreciated just how powerful it is.

The course also explores the concept of agency and spectatorship in VR. Ryan Hsieh 20 was struck by the effect VR portrayals might have on audience responses to humanitarian disaster.

One thing we talk a lot about is desensitization, Hsieh said. For example, one video we watched was of this girl in Syria, another was of a girl in Haiti after the earthquake, and another was of poverty in India. A question we ponder is: Does watching and rewatching all of these scenarios and narratives make us less empathetic?

With all of the high-tech equipment it involves, one might expect TAPS 21N to appeal mostly to STEM majors. But Smith is adamant that, regardless of their interests, students will be able to resonate with some aspect of the course.

There arent as many humanities folks in the class as I would like, and Id like to have a mix, Smith said. I think so much interesting work in the history of technology comes out of people who are really fired up about art, history, literature and the whole world of the arts and the humanities.

Hsieh, who identifies as a STEM person, agreed that the course would be an eye-opening and rewarding experience for peers of various academic backgrounds.

I found out that thats super interesting, and it was engaging to pull from these different topics in discussion, Hsieh said.

Contact Lisa Wang at lisaw20 at stanford.edu.

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Classy classes: 'The Idea of Virtual Reality' - The Stanford Daily

Today is Sunday. Speaking of Sundays, the most famous work by the French post-impressionist, Georges Seurat is titledA Sunday on La Grande Jatte.I am the king of segues.

Completed in 1884, this oil on canvas work is best known to the art world as a prime example of the post-industrial frieze and amasterclass in fine brushwork. Most of us, however, know it because of this guy:

The world of high-art was introduced to an entire generation of young people in the 1986 film Ferris Buellers Day Off. A film about one vice principles noble quest to do his job despite the selfish actions of a charismatic truant.

Seurats masterpiece is being used once again to bring culture to the masses. This time, however,were swapping the emotionally confused adolescent for the immersive powerof virtual reality.

VR artist George Peaslee recreatedA Sunday on La Grande Jatte usingGoogles 3D creation platformTilt Brush. In Tilt Brush, users can draw, sculpt, colorusing special hand controllers and a VR headset. You can see the results below along with other notable VR art projects. Feel free tointeract with these creations as well usingthe 3D image hosting capabilities of Sketchab.

VRart is on the rise and, as you can see from the works above, artists are beginning to find their own styles, forge their own voices and bring emotion to theirdigital masterpieces. We cant wait to see what they do next.

Tagged with: art, masterpiece, painting, recreation, sunday on la grande, tilt brush

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See This Famous Masterpiece Recreated in Virtual Reality - UploadVR

No Mor Kows for Chick-fil-A? Chick-fil-A: The kows are here to stay Amazing hilltop Virginia Highland home!

The company will make a new website live and run two commercials during the Grammy more

Chick-fil-A's cows are going high tech by donning virtual reality headsets in the first ads for the chicken chain by McCann New York.

AdAge reports that "This week, Chick-fil-A began teasing a 'Cowz VR' site and distributing thousands of free Chick-fil-A-branded cardboard viewers." The company will make the website live and run two commercials during the Grammy Awards, AdAge reports in a Feb. 10 story. Read the full story here.

The company will make a new website live and run two commercials during the Grammy more

The ads are the first produced for Chick-fil-A by McCann New York, which won Chick-fil-A's ad business last year.

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Chick-fil-A cows will dive into virtual reality in new ads - Atlanta Business Chronicle

When it comes to virtual reality (VR), the technology most frequently arises in discussions surrounding gaming and entertainment. But one of the hottest technologies of the last several years may ultimately find that the enterprise market is the one that provides it with its killer app.

While much of the interest in VR last year came from gamers, this year enterprise apps may take the lead in the market, according to analysts. In fact, the fastest growth area for VR is in non-gaming sectors.

Training and Education

Perhaps one of the most obvious non-gaming applications for VR technology lies in the design space, since VR's 3D interface can allow designers to manipulate objects in every dimension. Architects are already using the technology to help design buildings and interiors. VR may also hold significant promise for prototyping, as it is able to fully render 3D objects.

Education and training are two other areas that are expected to be heavily impacted by VR technology in years to come. HTCs virtual reality headset Vive (pictured above), which was co-developed with gaming platform Valve, is being used to help train new firefighters by providing more realistic simulated environments where they can practice their skills.

The same sort of approach could be applied to other fields that require extensive training but for which creating realistic simulations is difficult. Police and military training facilities spend a lot of money building real-world simulated environments to provide trainees with experiences that are as close to reality as possible. Switching to VR-hosted simulations could make training much cheaper, while also making it more accessible.

Virtual Keyboards

Facebook, meanwhile, is looking at ways that its VR technology can be applied throughout the enterprise market, rather than just for training new employees. Through its Oculus Rift VR subsidiary, Facebook is developing accessories that could allow workers to apply VR technology to their existing workflows.

For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently demonstrated a new set of glove controllers for the Oculus Rift platform that could potentially allow users to manipulate virtual keyboards to type, eliminating the need for laptops to conform to the keyboard form factor.

The ability to type in virtual reality could be a significant boon for people who spend much of their days in front of their monitors. According to reports, engineers within Facebook are already experimenting with using the gloves to make programmers more productive. In theory, coders would be able to display their codes on virtual monitors of any size, allowing them to work with much more code at once.

Oculus Rift's new gloves may also provide haptic feedback, which could open up entirely new fields of applications for the technology. By allowing users to input information using gestures and hand movements, VR technology could open up telecommuting work to entirely new jobs. Surgeons, for example, could perform operations on patient hundreds of miles away.

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Virtual Reality's New Horizons: Enterprise Apps and Gloves for Typing - NewsFactor Network

Monday, February 13, 2017 5:27 AM UTC

Later this week, Google announced that they have added WebVR to the web browser Chrome.

The announcement read as follows, Virtual reality (VR) lets you tour the Turkish palace featured in Die Another Day, learn about life in a Syrian refugee camp firsthand, and walk through your dream home right from your living room. With the latest version of Chrome, were bringing VR to the webmaking it as easy to step inside Air Force One as it is to access your favorite webpage.

Toms Hardware said this type of virtual reality support help push ongoing commercial efforts. The site said, The ability to visit a web page and immediately start poking around VR content--even if it's not as immersive as a dedicated VR headset would be--could help people better understand why VR can be so exciting.

According to Forbes, this support now allows any device to their web browser into a virtual reality platform. Simply go on a WebVR-enabled site via Chrome and then navigate using a mouse for your laptop or desktop, or your fingers on your mobile device.If you have a DayDream-ready phone or a DayDream headset, you can have a full virtual reality experience using WebVR.

Google says users can expect more headsets to handle the virtual reality-enabled websites, including the most popular Google wearable, the Google Cardboard. Techradar reports that in the meantime, there are several virtual reality-enabled websites that uses can now access. Theres Bear71, which is an interactive documentary about animals and technology, Matterport, a virtual tour of luxury homes and historic locations, Within, a compilation of VR films and documentaries, SketchFab, which features artist-made 3D scenes, and Web VR Lab, an explorable 3D area with interactive objects.

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Google Chrome Now Allows Users To Experience Virtual Reality Via WebVR - EconoTimes

WFMY 11:12 PM. EST February 12, 2017

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- When you think of UNC School of the Arts, you might think of the Oscar, Tony and EMMY award-winning students who studied there. Or maybe it's that the Schools of Dance, Film and Drama rank as some of the best in the country. Now, the university has a new act taking center stage virtual reality.

"We will be the pioneers in this technology."

Chancellor Lindsay Bierman calls their curriculum groundbreaking and says virtual reality is one of the most rapidly exploding industries in the world.

"Like the early days of the digital revolution, I think it's impossible to predict the impact that it will have globally," said Chancellor Bierman.

In December, Chancellor Bierman announced a $10 million gift that will establish the school's Institute for Performance Innovation.

"This will be a forward leaning laboratory for our students to really develop the next generation of virtual reality and augmented reality," said Chancellor Bierman. "This is going to radically transform the way we consume media."

"I just wanted to jump us in quickly."

Susan Ruskin, Dean of the School of Filmmaking, is the director in the immersive world of virtual reality. She challenges the students to think outside of the silver screen.

"How does the audience which is actually a person in a headset, see the movie that you are making and how can we tell stories in that space?"

It's not just about entertainment. Dean Ruskin says the future of virtual reality is limitless.

"If you think about psychology, to help people with phobias, they can confront some of the things they are afraid if," said Dean Ruskin.

She added, "You can build a CG heart and have it right in front of you while you're listening to the lecturer and he can be breaking down the aspects of the heart, and you can go to the aorta and you can travel through it."

Dean Ruskin says virtual reality can transport you to another place while still sitting in your living room.

"That's amazingly evocative. And you can emotionally be really connected even when you are not physically present," said Dean Ruskin.

It's that connection that first attracted junior Trent Spivey. He was a student in the school's first virtual reality class.

"The most exciting thing for me is that by immersing people in places that they can't otherwise go, it builds empathy, a more informed society," said Trent Spivey, student, UNC-School of the Arts.

Spivey is studying cinematography and knows virtual reality will likely be a big part of his future.

"It's a bigger jump than when cinema went to sound. I mean we really don't have a precedent for what's about to happen," said Spivey.

UNCSA is one of only 11 schools in the country chosen for the Oculus NextGen inaugural program. The partnership provides guest lecturers, hardware and exposure to the virutal reality industry.

UNCSA is planning to offer a joint master's degree in engineering and virutal reality within the next few years.

( 2017 WFMY)

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UNC-School of The Arts: 'Pioneers in Virtual Reality' - WFMYNews2.com