Monthly Archives: April 2017

Keith Noonan, Tim Brugger, and Daniel B. Kline

Virtual reality (VR) got off to a slow start in 2016, but it's still a young technology with the potential to have a revolutionary impact. Our team of top tech writers has spotlighted three companies poised to profit from the emerging medium. Read on to learn whyWalt Disney (NYSE:DIS), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), andMicrosoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)made the list.

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Daniel B. Kline(Walt Disney): In any content market that may or may not develop, the best bet is a company that can enter the space with little risk and then capitalize on growth should demand actually develop. That's where Disney sits when it comes to virtual reality.

The company owns top-tier content that it can license to the technology companies spending the big money developing the devices that make VR possible. Star Wars, along with Marvel and Pixar properties, and the company's army of well-known cartoon characters would all be in heavy demand from VR device creators, as would ESPN sports content, and even perhaps certain ABC shows.

Disney can sit back and make money from other companies licensing these characters and then create its own VR products if that proves viable. That's essentially the model it has followed in the streaming space, working with established players while also taking steps in parts of the world to create its own service.

If VR becomes a viable consumer platform, Disney would likely pursue a hybrid strategy. It would take the easy money for licensing some of its properties while it would likely also develop some of its own VR services. That could mean perhaps Star Wars and Marvel games licensed to the major players while the company creates its VR theme parks experiences, or finds other uses for the technology that somebody else (lots of somebody elses) paid to develop.

There's no risk here for Disney. Few companies control anywhere close to the content library it does. That gives the company negotiating power, and means it will get paid for the rights to its characters even if the VR platform it licenses them to does not succeed.

If VR makes it, Disney has a new platform to leverage its content assets on. If it becomes a novelty or fails like 3D television, the company will have lost little while gaining some cash.

Keith Noonan(Activision Blizzard):With so many companies competing in the virtual reality hardware space and headset technology still finding its footing, investing in companies that produce content looks to be a better strategy for profiting from VR. Popular uses for virtual reality could eventually extend to areas like online shopping and even healthcare, but video games are the biggest hook for the technology at the moment -- and they're likely to remain a draw as VR progresses.

In the video game space, perhaps no company is better-equipped to take advantage of the new display medium than Activision Blizzard.The publisher hasn't jumped headlong into the production of virtual reality content, with its only entry in the category to date being aCall of Dutyexperience for Sony's PlayStation VR platform, but a wealth of popular franchises gives the company the potential to be a big winner in the emerging category.

In addition to Call of Duty, properties like Overwatch,World of Warcraft, andDestinycould eventually make a splash in VR, and the company's history of delivering quality products and creating fresh intellectual properties suggests it's well-suited to make entirely new experiences as well.Activision Blizzard is also making a big push into competitive gaming (known as eSports), which is likely to see overlap with virtual reality at some point down the line.

With a stellar franchise portfolio and a leadership position in its industry, Activision Blizzard looks to be a big beneficiary if VR goes mainstream.

Tim Brugger(Microsoft):Manufacturers of virtual reality headsets all claim their devices are unique, citing better graphics, audio, or other features. And there are certainly a lot of strong alternatives in a market primarily targeting the world's gamers, at least for now. However, one tech giant truly does offer a device unlike any other: Microsoft.

At this year's GameDevelopers Conference, Microsoft announced it has inked deals with five tech big hitters to develop VR/augmented reality (AR) devices for Windows. Unlike VR, AR allows users to meander through a virtual world while retaining awareness of their surroundings. Microsoft's suite of devices will deliver a "mixed reality" experience that incorporates the best of both worlds, VR and AR.

As a Microsoft exec put it, "What happens when your VR headset of tomorrow has the ability to see the real world and put holograms on it?" The answer is mixed reality, an area in which Microsoft is well ahead of the pack. And the opportunity is gigantic.

One study suggests the combined VR and AR markets will generate$120 billion in just three years -- and it gets better for Microsoft. Of that $120 billion, a whopping $90 billion will come from AR due to its commercial possibilities. Gamers will jump-start VR, including playing Microsoft's wildly popularMinecraft, which it acquiredfor $2.5 billion, but AR is expected to pick up steam in a hurry.

Whether it's VR, AR, or mixed reality, Microsoft has its oversize hat in the ring and is hands down one of the best ways to profit from a market worth more than $100 billion.

Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Daniel Kline owns shares of Microsoft. Keith Noonan owns shares of Activision Blizzard. Tim Brugger owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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The 3 Best Ways to Profit From Virtual Reality -- The Motley Fool - Motley Fool

Tech firm AMD, that makes the chips which power PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, believes we will one day move into a virtual world

A TOP technologycompany making virtual reality products is already planning for a time when actual life and virtual reality are indistinguishable.

Chip maker company AMD, which runs Playstation 4 and Xbox One consoles, is banking on virtual reality taking over the world.

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Some people have scoffed at early VR headsets such asOculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear, which are expensive and sometimes make the wearer vomit.

But AMDs corporate vice president, Roy Taylor, took to the stage at a virtual reality conference being held in Bristol this week to blast any criticism and predict big things for the future.

He said: To get to photo realism is the next big step, to get to full presence is where we need to get afterwards, when actual life will be indistinguishable from virtual reality.

It seems far-fetched, but last year virtual reality headset sales reached almost one billion, Taylor said.

2016 saw the first virtual reality cinema, the first virtual reality surgery in London and even saw virtual reality used to settle a case in court.

"Remember Timemagazine wrote in 1994 that the internet would not take off," Taylor told an audience at Virtual Reality World Congress on Wednesday.

That said, there's probably some way to go until we abandon the real world. The software is not quite finished yet, thanks to technical obstacles.

And the more detailed the graphics become, the more likely the person wearing the headset is to feel nauseous.

Wires also get in the way, limiting gamers' movements.

But Taylor said that AMD might just have the answer, thanks to a new chip design which uses beamforming - a way to send signal to a direct target (unlike WiFi, which broadcasts signal to a wider area).

Taylor hinted it could be a component of the Xbox's virtual reality gaming, which is rumoured to be launching later this year as part of new console, Project Scorpion.

Computer simulations are already having a huge impact on the world we live in.

Scientists recently showed how subjects were able to catch virtual tennis balls that turned out to be real.

That means they were catching the balls without ever seeing the direction they were being thrown in.

Similarly, researchers have used virtual reality to make people feel they are having an out of body experience.

They believe it could cure society's fear of dying, as subjects all said they felt more positive about death after the experiment,

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Tech firm AMD says virtual reality will soon be so advanced that humans will choose to live in computer simulations - The Sun

Virtual reality (VR) is getting a lot more attention at Facebooks annual F8developer conference this year: The event, which will be held in San Jose next week, will feature a number of sessions and announcements related to VR. The company may also use F8 to show off the latest prototype of its standalone VR headset.

Facebook is keeping details on any VR-related announcements at F8 tightly under wraps, something that one of the companyspartners compared to Steve Jobs-like secrecy in a conversation with Variety. But the conference schedule already lists 8 VR-related talks and sessions.

Thats not only four times as many as last year, it also makes VR the third-most-popular topic at the conference, based on the number of scheduled sessions. Instagram,WhatsApp, and even a topic as essential as monetization eachhas fewer sessions scheduled than VR. Some of the subjects on the schedule include social VR, VR gaming, and web-based VR experiences.

But the company may also use the event to give developers a status update on its latest hardware efforts.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced at Oculus Connect last October that his company is working on a standalone virtual reality headset that will combine some of the higher-end features of the Oculus Rift with the portability of the mobile Gear VR headset. We believe that there is a sweet spot between these, Zuckerberg said at the time.

Facebook did show off an early prototype code-named Santa Cruz to developers at the event, but Variety has learned that the Oculus team has since been working on a newer version. One of the internal code names for this new prototype is Monterey, according to a source familiar with the project, buttheres also a possibility that the company may use another beach town as its name.

(Oculus named all of the prototypes for the original Rift headset after beaches close to its original headquarters in Irvine, Calif.; it picked Santa Cruz as a first public code name for the standalone headset after moving to Northern California following the acquisition by Facebook.)

The standalone headset wont require a connection to a computer or the use of a phone to render VR experiences. It will also feature inside-out tracking, which means that it will be able to determine the location of a user in a room through sensors attached directly to the device, as opposed to the lighthouse-type sensor used by the Oculus Rift and competing devices like the HTC Vive.

Inside-out tracking is a technical challenge in itself. However, shrinking the computing power needed to render high-end virtual reality experiences in real-time to a mobile form factor may be just as challenging. Oculus particularly has been struggling with battery constraints, according to an industry source.

Zuckerberg had already warned audiences at last years Oculus Connect conference that it was early days for the companys standalone VR headset. The company may nonetheless be looking to share it early on with developers. Just as Rift experiences dont run on the Gear VR, the new hardware may require a new generation oflightweight applications that make use of positional tracking but dont necessarily use the computational power of a full-featured gaming PC.

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Facebook F8: Major Focus on VR, Updates on New Headset ... - Variety

Pluto VR lets you talk to other people within virtual reality apps. (Pluto VR Photo)

Pluto VR, the Seattle-based virtual reality startup co-founded by PopCap Games co-founder John Vechey, has raised $13.9 million in a Series A funding round.

The company, which is developing applicationsfor people to communicate within virtual reality, will use the cash infusion to continue research and development, roll out its alpha test to more customers and support additional platforms.

Seattle-based Maveron led the round, with participation from Madrona Venture Group of Seattle, Trilogy Equity Partners of Bellevue and other individual investors. Maveron co-founder and General Partner, Dan Levitan, will join Plutos board of directors.

Maveron, founded by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and Levitan in 1998, has already backed three VR startups Virtuix, an active VR motion gaming platform; VicariousVR, a connected VR social network; and Against Gravity, a Seattle-based startup behind the hit VR game Rec Room.

Anarghya Vardhana, a senior associate at Maveron, explained to GeekWire in February why the firm is so bullish about VR/AR.

We see this as a way in which people interact with the world around them; with each other; with entertainment; with work, she told GeekWire. Its going to be a big computingshift, just like we saw a computing shift with the personal computer and cell phone.

Pluto VR wants to be the applicationwe use to talk to other people who are alsowearing a virtual or augmented reality headset. The three-year-old Seattle startup is developing something like Skype orFacebook Messenger a communication app that can run on its own,or on top of other experiences but for virtual reality.

The purpose of Pluto is to help humanity transcend physical location, Vechey said in a statement. While digital technologies today allow us to connect instantly from anywhere in the world with text, voice or video, they arent necessarily bringing us closer together. With Pluto, youll be able to connect with anyone anywhere, as if you were together in person.

GeekWire visited Plutos Seattle headquarters late last year and checked out its VR communication system. Pluto was aSeattle 10 company in 2015, and it employs 17 people at its Ballard office, which was previously occupied by pet insurance company Trupanion. Its much too large of a building for your typical 17-person startup, but its perfect forPluto given the technology it is building.The extra space and individual officesallow the company to better test its software.

From its own app control panel, Pluto lets you create your own avatar, control the opacity of each person, mute mics or make calls to other people without needing an avatar, andmore.For now, Plutoonly uses avatars that show faces and hand movements which are trackable with headsets and accompanying controllers.

Vecheysaid the company has no immediate plans to release its product more broadly, and that Pluto VR is focused on getting the little things right with alpha customers and rolling out slowly.

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Pluto VR raises $13.9M to build out virtual reality communication platform - GeekWire

Young patients will soon take trips to the bottom of the ocean, the tops of mountain peaks and even outer space thanks to a cutting-edge virtual reality program at Boston Childrens Hospital an innovative new push to lessen stress that comes with getting stuck in their rooms for long stretches.

It transports kids, said Laurel Anderson, a child life specialist in a surgical wing at Childrens. It really gives them a true break. It blocks out all the nurses, all the doctors. They cant see their IV pole, they cant see their cast. It really gives them a true break. Its amazing.

Using an HTC Vive virtual reality headset, patients can be transported underwater, surrounded by fish and sea turtles; hang out with a friendly virtual dog on a mountaintop; or teleport through the solar system. Because the Vive is interactive and comes with controllers, kids can touch the tops of jellyfish or throw a stick for the dog.

For Gwen Jones, a 7-year-old from Beverly who came to Childrens after her appendix burst, virtual reality was by far the best thing during her three-week stay. Gwen spent 15 minutes with a black VR headset over her blonde braid, wandering around a virtual canvas, as well as painting and walking through pink hearts and a house made of neon rainbows.

Eventually, she discovered a wintry scene. Its snowing! she said as she threw pink snow into the air. Whoa, a snowman!

Gwens mother, Andrea Jones, said it has been hard at times keeping her daughter engaged and excited after so long in the hospital.

Were trying to take advantage of everything to make the days go fast, Andrea Jones said. Some days its tough.

For Gwen, VR was definitely a hit.

I reeeaaaally liked it, she said.

Childrens has been piloting the VR program since September, testing games and the VR system with about a half-dozen patients. Now, they are preparing to make it available to dozens more and make virtual reality a regular part of caring for patients.

Were always looking for opportunities for kids here to feel like a child, to escape from the medical environment and their medical experiences and to play and do normal childhood things, even in this environment, said Brianna OConnell, another child life specialist overseeing the virtual reality program.

OConnell said Childrens will soon set up the headset which has to be calibrated with cameras and run through a computer for five- or six- hour blocks to accommodate as many patients as possible. For kids who cant leave their rooms because of mobility or immune system problems, the hospital will bring the headset to them. Yet virtual reality will be far more than just fun, Childrens hopes. For kids with chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis who are in the hospital for weeks several times a year, spending even 20 minutes in a virtual world without doctors could be a game-changer. It could also prevent a condition called ICU psychosis, where patients who spend a long time in a hospital room start to lose their sense of reality.

Its allowing the kids an escape and its kind of switching gears in the way that theyre experiencing things, OConnell said.

I had one mom talk to me about the fact that her child had been kind of withdrawn and was really anxious about an upcoming procedure, she said. And she spent half an hour using the virtual reality and her whole mood lifted.

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