Monthly Archives: May 2017

Many musicians are turning to new forms of technology to reach more people through their smartphone and electronic devices.

Performers are using virtual reality (VR), 360-degree cameras and other tools in hopes of providing the best musical experience possible. A 360-degree camera can take a video or still photograph of everything in its line of sight.

Some music experts believe VR could greatly change our musical experiences in the future. One form of the technology can let users attend virtual concerts, where they become part of the action. These performances seem to come to life through video and VR glasses.

Members of the rock band Queen created one such concert last year in cooperation with Googles online store, Google Play. The project recreated the famous Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody in a music video.

The group first released the song more than 40 years ago.

A computer program or app can let people experience different parts of the music video by moving around and touching things in virtual reality. The interactive experience results from a combination of computer animation, 3D images, and 360-degree video technology.

Some musicians and groups are now using VR as part of their live performances.

American country music singer Eric Church has launched a full VR concert experience that was recorded during an actual performance last year. People can buy the experience and view it on their personal devices with the help of VR headsets.

Church said it was his first time using VR technology to provide a 360-degree view of a live show.

"There was a camera between me and my drummer, and you can kind of turn around and see the drummer and turn back around and see me," he said. "It's like you're in the middle of everything."

The rock group Young the Giant recently shot a live performance in Los Angeles with 360-degree cameras above, below and throughout the crowd. The performance was made into a music video for the song Silvertongue. The video shows the bands members and other people painted in bright colors as they dance to the music.

Band member Payam Doostzadeh said it is not easy recreating a real concert for somebody watching the experience on a smartphone.

"You're viewing it on a smaller screen, and maybe you don't have headphones on, so you're not hearing the full sound," he said.

YouTube is currently one of the biggest providers of music videos on the internet. The website says about 60 percent of YouTube viewing now happens on devices not computers or televisions.

To make these experiences better and more exciting, music artists are turning to mobile-friendly tools.

Pop singer Ingrid Michaelson made a music video using only Snapchat filters. The video, called Hell No, is filmed in phone-style view as a way to connect with Snapchat users.

The electronic band Gorillaz released a six-minute VR music video that became the most successful VR video debut on YouTube. It was seen more than three-million times in 48 hours.

Another band, Saint Motel, is creating music videos with what it calls a "virtualizer. This method combines lyric and live performance videos and images in a 360-degree video environment.

Band member AJ Jackson said Saint Motel does not plan to stop creating traditional music videos. But he added that smartphones have provided many exciting ways to experiment, create and find new fans.

It's a lot of people's first VR experience," Jackson said. "You've got to take it slow and you've got to make sure everyone's first experience is great.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His report was based on information from the Associated Press and other sources. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

virtual reality n. photographic images, sound or video created by a computer to seem like reality

interactive - adj. enabling people to talk with each other or do things together

animation n. way of making a movie by using a series of drawings, photographs or pictures

drummer n. person who plays the drums in a music group

filter n. something placed over something to change its appearance

lyric n. the words of a song

graphics n. relating the artistic use of pictures, shapes or words

debut n. the first appearance or performance of something

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Virtual Reality Puts Music Lovers in Center of the Action - Voice of America

May 9, 2017 by Ccilia Carron Javier Bello Ruiz and Robin Mange, cofounders of Imverse, will present their immersive virtual-reality software at the World VR Forum in Crans-Montana. Credit: Alain Herzog

Imverse, an EPFL spinoff, has developed a software that lets users convert 360-degree images from 2-D into 3-D and both manipulate and create virtual-reality content in real time with the help of virtual-reality glasses. The system will be unveiled at the World VR Forum in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, from 11 to 14 May.

It's now easier than ever to create a 3-D environment and then add and manipulate virtual-reality content in real time, thanks to the software created by EPFL startup Imverse. What's required? A 360-degree 2-D photo taken with any commercial camera, and a pair of off-the-shelf virtual-reality glasses. The software is similar to photo editing software allowing the users to freely explore and modify the environment created from the picture in real time.

Imverse's software delivers professional results and has a wide range of potential uses. Javier Bello Ruiz, the CEO of Imverse, which got its start at Campus Biotech Innovation Park, is initially targeting virtual-reality studios that work with real-estate agencies, advertisers and the media. "Take a real-estate agent who wants to sell a house that's in need of a little work. The seller could show a prospective buyer the end result by modeling the house in 3-D using a 360-degree photo and then modifying the interior in real time even collaboratively together inside the virtual environment suggesting various options that the buyer could tweak freely using the virtual-reality glasses."

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The program is so simple that even non-experts can use it, and licenses will be available early next year. "Just like with photo editing software, all you need is a little training to begin developing interactive content," said Javier. This will save users significant time and money. The underlying technology was developed in part at the lab run by Olaf Blanke, the director of the Center for Neuroprosthetics located at Campus Biotech. The software will soon be tested by potential customers and will be presented this week at the World VR Forum in Crans-Montana. "Switzerland is known for its cutting-edge technology, and the Lake Geneva region has an excellent virtual-reality ecosystem. So we're hopeful that we'll meet potential customers and partners and stir up interest among investors," Javier added.

The project engineers are already at work on the next step: full immersion of a user's body so that the user can interact with the virtual environment in real time. Javier hopes that his company's application will quickly become the software of choice for developing mixed-reality content.

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Immersive virtual-reality creation software for everyone - Phys.Org

A visitor uses 2DF headset during the Re:publica digital conference in Berlin.

We are on the verge of being able to step into virtual and mixed reality worlds where we can interact with favourite film characters and discover new story lines, said John Gaeta, the man who helped create the special affects in The Matrix and current Star Wars films.

The Oscar-winning Gaeta, who is the creative director for new media and experiences at Industrial Light and Magic (part of Lucasfilm, which is now owned by Disney), told an audience at digital culture festival Re:publica here that ILMs xLab division is working to translate worlds from those you watch in the cinema into worlds that you can walk into.

Mr Gaeta said new forms of entertainment will redefine theme parks such as Disney World.

Theres going to be an evolution in the way theme parks are developed and experienced, he said.

He and his team are currently working to produce an interactive Star Wars world for Disney theme parks, though he said he could not offer any details.

He added that as technology continues to advance, interactive, immersive worlds would be something individuals could experience at home, outdoors, or in public locations.

Already, those working on films or games use technology to visualise scenes and the worlds they are set in. At some point, in and of itself the visualisation becomes a new form of experience, he said.

Mr Gaeta said he thinks people are getting too fixated on virtual reality at the moment. Mixed reality in which the virtual can be overlaid on to the real world is potentially, going to bigger.

In this new form of entertainment, people would be able to step into, say, a Star Wars location and then experience and become involved in different stories based on what they decide to do.

We go to a cinema to be told a story. You want that unexpected thing to happen. In a destination, we could plant all sorts of stories to be discovered.

Before long, he said people will be able to skin walls so that they appear to be different interiors or exteriors, and that people will be able to overlay an avatar on themselves so that they appear as a character of their choice.

But with mixed reality, they could also participate as themselves, and see their friends as themselves in the virtual world, as opposed to computer games now, where people select a computer-generated character.

He noted, I dont think it is out of the question that in the next 10 years, computer constructs will look flawlessly real. In addition, these virtual worlds will be able to incorporate haptics touch technologies.

People will broadcast themselves into virtual worlds in all sorts of ways, Mr Gaeta said.

Whats really going to be amazing is that in multiple or mass user worlds, people will be able to livestream themselves straight in to various unfolding stories. Some people will be just wandering around and watching, and some will be streaming in as performers [in the story] that others watch.

Such worlds wont have the same linear timeline as a film, he noted.

The technology would be commonplace and easy to use. In 10 to 20 years, youll have one set of glasses that you can dial between zero VR and full immersion.

Tomorrows children would see participation in such worlds as the norm, and would spend hours in immersive worlds in the same way we currently spend hours using screens. He accepted this could pose dangers such as accidents, and some rate of addiction.

Addiction to [this] is inevitable, but it can get much worse; there will be people that possibly will like their mixed reality fantasy world better. There will be a generation who comes into this and will just spend hours and hours. Thats going to happen with VR and MR and its a danger.

But overall he is positive about this immersive future- except for one scenario he offered at the end of his talk.

We can be in these totally fictitious worlds and at the same time, computers are going to get so smart that theyll leave us in there for hours and hours, while theyll be taking over the world, he joked.

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Virtual reality worlds are imminent, Re:publica audience told - Irish Times

Virtual reality for psychiatric treatment? Research shows promise for ... Science Daily A growing body of evidence suggests that virtual reality (VR) technology can be an effective part of treatment for phobias, posttraumatic stress disorder, and ... and more »

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Virtual reality for psychiatric treatment? Research shows promise for ... - Science Daily

BBC News

Virtual reality comes to the pub BBC News A UK company, founded by a rocket scientist and his engineering friends has built a system for playing virtual reality games in a London pub. The team believe VR could be the next big pastime in public houses. Pub patrons are transported to virtual ...

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Virtual reality comes to the pub - BBC News

Spotify via Twitter

Lil Yachty is all about trying and exploring new things, whether its with his sound or an endorsement deal, but hes also pretty adventurous when it comes to his hobbies. Though therappers consistent happiness has been a point of contention in recent weeks, Lil Boatis letting the good times roll, this time trying virtual reality.

While hanging out with Spotify, the streaming service hooked the hitmaker up on a virtual reality machine and captured his reaction to being on a virtual plane. The machine securely fastened Yachty in before flipping him around and even upside down to give him the impression he was flying while wearing the virtual laughshysterically. The rest of the interview with Lil Boat will be featured on Spotifys Rap Caviarplaylist, and sees the entertainer talking about his love for video games.

Yachty has a lot of reasons to show his joy this year outside of trying virtual reality, as hes become one of the most in-demand rappers around the country. From landing endorsement deals with Target, Nautica and Sprite, the rapper also landed his first No. 1 hit for his feature on D.R.A.M.s Broccoli record, which is now five times platinum. His debut albumTeenage Emotionsdrops later this month, and if you missed it, peep our recent interview where he talked about the LP.

Watch Yachty try out a virtual reality machine below to see his hilarious reaction.

Go Behind the Scenes With Lil Yachty at 2016 XXL Freshman Cover Shoot

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Watch Lil Yachty Flip Out While Using Virtual Reality - XXLMAG.COM

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene in Seattle last week. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene is perhaps best known as an advocate for progressive technology policy. Before taking office as therepresentative for Washingtons 1st Congressional District, she was a Microsoft executive and CEO of Nimble Technology.

She champions STEM education, privacy, and other internet protections. DelBenespoke about those issueswith GeekWire after the Tech Alliances annual State of Technology luncheon in Seattle on Friday. But she also had some thoughts to share about the Affordable Care Act replacement bill that narrowly passed the House last week.

This is really a terrible bill, kicking people off health care, if it goes through and becomes law, she said. We should be looking at the opportunities we have to continue to improve what we have today and unfortunately, this bill wasnt moving us in the right direction at all.

On the topic of technology, the Democrathas worked with other lawmakers to create two technology-related policy groups last week the Congressional Caucus on Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Technologies, and the Digital Trade Caucus. Speaking with GeekWires Todd Bishop, DelBene shared her thoughts on how the innovation economy will fareunder the Trump administration, privacy, and other issues in the interview below.

Continue reading for the edited transcript.

Todd Bishop:Id love to start by getting your overall sense for the state of support for science, innovation, technology with the current Congress, the current administration, the state of the Democratic party. Whats your overall take on where things are right now?

Suzan DelBene: Well, when we talk about building a strong long-term economy, a big part of that is making sure were investing in research and development that are coming up with great new ideas for the future. I mean, today, we have an economy built on great ideas that came decades earlier that are fueling our economy today and we need to keep that process going. So, Ive been very concerned about proposed cuts from the Trump administration in investments and research, whether its in NIH and life sciences or NSF or even in areas like USDA and agriculture research. These are hugely beneficial in terms of giving us a great return on our investment but also breaking open new opportunities or coming up with new therapies and treatments for diseases. So, Im a big supporter. I think its a long-term important investment and a big economic driver. And Im happy we have this omnibus that went through that increased funding for example for NIH for $2billion, something I helped champion in getting members of Congress to sign a letter to support that. That ends attheend of September, so what happens on Oct. 1 going forward is a concern and the support for science and research is something weve got to speak loudly about because its not something certain going forward.

Bishop:So, the two caucuses that youre involved in are the Virtual Reality Caucus and the Digital Trade Caucus.The VR Caucus would probably surprise some people because I dont think they would see that necessarily as a big legislative agenda or an economic agenda.

DelBene:Well, I think actually, a lot of the issues of technology that we see are one, educating members of Congress and legislators about these issues. When we started the Internet of Things Caucus, people said whats the IoT Caucus for? And technology people laughed when they heard that but its true these are issues that not all of our legislators, lawmakers, staff members understand. So, Internet of Things Caucus is a way to help educate people on technologies going forward. When we see augmented, virtual, mixed reality type of technologies coming forward, we want to let people understand what those are, what the potential and opportunities are but also address issues that may come up with security and privacy that have been concerns and frankly, we are behind in legislation to adjust these issues. Then also, I helped start the Digital Trade Caucus because issues of cross-border data flows and data localization, free and open internet, these are important issues for trade and services, an area where the U.S. actually has a big trade surplus. Its a very important sector of the economy and its not an isolated sector, its a piece of a lot of different industries. So, bringing attention there and understanding that this has to be part of future trade policies and trade negotiations as people are looking at these issues going forward or if trade agreements are opened up, we want to make sure that people understand the issues involved and were putting forward good ideas.

Bishop: Privacy I know is a big issue for you as well. Weve seen the rollback of the telecommunications privacy regulations and then the states come in and try and do their own piecemeal things. Whats you take on where thats headed and do you see a solution on the horizon?

DelBene:Well, Im very concerned. I think weve seen an FCC chairman who has some differing points of view on where he wants to take, not only privacy on some of these issues but the internet and net neutrality. I think its an issue that is an important issue across the country and its also an international issue. So, I understand why states want to take a role here but I do think that its something thats important that we do at the federal level and something that is going to be important. We talk about these issues of information sharing across the country or around the world. We have to understand what our national policy is in terms of protecting data so that we can also work with other countries and how that will work internationally.

Bishop: Given where things are at the FCC, do you see an opening for Congress to do something that could counteract the trends against privacy and net neutrality there?

DelBene:Well, I think we need to make sure we have a lot of members of Congress here speaking out, but yes, Congress could act. It doesnt necessarily just have to be that the FCC decides. We can put forth legislation to say, Heres what we want the law to be. But we need people engaged and involved and making sure that theres a focus on these issues and thats something Ive been working on and will continue to work on as somebody whos been really focused on this but we need to get more people engaged involved and I know Ive heard from many folks in the general public too, who are concerned about these issues. Hopefully, we can do the right thing in terms of protecting privacy and putting forward investments in innovation and starting to be forward-looking in our policy.

Bishop: What about the email privacy act, in particular, do you see that resurfacing this year?

DelBene: So, you get out the basic things we could do that should be easy to get done. Email Privacy Act passed the House already so, it is done in the House but we need to get it through the Senate. As they say, it aint over til its over. Weve got work to do there. Thats an important one and that should be really simple, just a warrant standard. Just like a piece of paper in your file drawer, digital information should be treated the same. Most people think it already is. So, lets get that through. That should be a starting point, cause we got a lot of old, outdated laws but this should be an easy one. So, Im hopeful but weve still got to convince the Senate.

Bishop: We just heard Reid Hoffman from LinkedIn talk here. One of the things he talked about was the Seattle-Silicon Valley connection and obviously, youve had a front row seat on that in your past with your executive roles. Was there anything there that struck you that youd want to build on or talk about in terms of the regional strengths and just the tech economy acting as one versus multiple regions?

DelBene: Yeah, we still have our competition between California and Seattle.

Bishop: Who are the major representatives down there that you sort of would spar with on this?

DelBene: Gosh, representatives are Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, Nancy Pelosi, so it can be everything from technology to the Seahawks versus the 49ers which I think weve pretty much beenthe winners on that one.

Bishop: Were good for now.

DelBene: But the interesting thing is, I actually think that when we talk about technology, we also talk about technology in agriculture and in manufacturing and global health and this intersection between biology and informatics which was discussed great work happening with big data at Fred Hutch. I actually think we have a very unique opportunity because we have this broad cross section of technology having a horizontal impact in so many industries versus just it being an industry on its own which were also strong in. I actually think thats a huge, really unique, incredible opportunity in our region that makes us very distinct and unique. Despite all the back and forth as well.

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Rep. Suzan DelBene on Trump budget cuts, virtual reality, and internet privacy - GeekWire

Science Daily

Physical keyboards make virtual reality typing easier -- ScienceDaily Science Daily What's better than a holographic keyboard? A real one, apparently. New research delves into the different ways to type in a virtual reality (VR) space. and more »

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