Daily Archives: June 6, 2020

Embracing the new cultureof social distancing, Prada will enable its users to take a look into stores from home through popular online streaming platforms!

The pandemic has set off new trends. Due to the growing number of cases and deaths per day, almost every country was under a lockdown for a number of months. This led to sellers coming up with innovativeconcepts to allow consumers to get a peek into their stores and showrooms. One of the major ideas, was virtual reality tours since social distancing norms, constant sanitisation, etc. need not be followed through a television screen and it also allows consumers to get a peek into the latest items from the comfort of their homes!

The idea kicked off as a brand new retail initiative to help enhance the shopping experience of customers. Luxury brand Prada, is the first to adapt to this due to the current situation and plans to engage the brand's fans at home through virtual reality!The range of content will be available on YouTube VR and VEER and will help consumers into taking a peek at stores across several locations including Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Milan and Venice. This virtual reality system will allow users and potential customers to take a look at the brand's Spring 2020 collection.

The brand is the first to step into virtuality and embrace innovation and go digital. In May, WWD reports that the Prada Group signed a partnership with Sprinklr, a platform that wishes to reinforce digital culture within the company.

What are your thoughts on Prada going digital? What brands would you like to see following suit? Comment below and let us know.

ALSO READ:Marc Jacobs is unfazed by his stores being looted during BLM protests, says 'A life cannot be replaced'

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Prada becomes the FIRST luxury brand to bring virtual reality home to show its 2020 spring collection - PINKVILLA

Today, educational institutes are increasingly using technology to make learning more interactive, fun, and exciting. In the era of digital devices, technology gives us an opportunity to enable better learning for students, and enabling Virtual Reality (VR) in education seems to be the next step in this direction.

Even when it comes to science subjects, teaching should not be limited to textbooks and visits to the labs. It is important to enable students to not only read books, but also interact with it.

To eliminate mugging up and help children understand the fundamental concepts better, four friends - Vijay Thakkar, Mayur Patel, Mehul Patel, and Dhaval Sonpal started fotonVR, an edtech startup, in December 2017.

Based out of the incubation centre of Ganpat University in Mehsana district of Gujarat, fotonVR facilitates practical experiments in the virtual world.

The startup recently won an award at the National Conference in e-Governance of India, and has been awarded the Best Startup of Gujarat Award by the CM of the state in 2018.

The founding team at fotonVR

Vijay is an Instrumentation Engineer, and previously co-founded Kachhua, an edtech startup. His brother, Dhaval, is a commerce graduate. With strong skills in finance and cost management, he joined fotonVR as the Co-founder and VP of Finance.

Vijays friend Mayur and his brother Mehul were both Aircraft maintenance engineers. Mayur started his career with Kachhua, and currently serves as the Co-founder and VP of Operations at fotonVR. Mehul is the VP of Technology. He manages all technical development of fotonVR.

Besides the co-founders, fotonVR has a team of 50-plus members. The startup has a combination of subject matter experts, technical experts, animators, 3D object designers, programmers, and market research experts with a business development team.

The fotonVR team

The startup provides VR classrooms and labs, and also makes individual kits for students.

For schools, fotonVR provides a turn-key solution that includes the hardware, setting up the classroom, software, content, and training to the teachers. The cost of setting up a classroom, along with the content, kits, and training to teachers range between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 15 lakh per classroom. Once the setup is done, fotonVR charges between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh as an annual subscription charge.

Similarly, for a single student, parents can place an order for the VR device along with the content on its website. For individual kits, the pricing starts from Rs 50,000 Rs 30,000 for the device, and Rs 20,000 for the content.

The startup said it launched the individual kit last month, and already has a couple of users on-board.

Students inside a fotonVR classroom

Currently, fotonVR has on-boarded six schools four in Gujarat and two in Karnataka, with more than 2,000 students. According to Vijay, government and self-financed schools are taking interest in its product.

fotonVR generated around Rs 1 crore in revenue last year, and is targeting Rs 36 crore, by reaching out to more schools and investing more in marketing. The startup has received seed funding of Rs 1 crore from Ganpat Biznovation, and plans to raise pre-Series A round soon.

We once visited a deaf-and-dumb school to give them an opportunity to learn through virtual reality. The students tried touching the objects and enjoying the concepts. A teacher later told us that due to safety concerns, these students cannot be taken for industrial visits.It was then that we realised that we have not just created a product, but we have created values, Vijay says.

A student learning to use fotonVR

Players like classVR, MEL Chemistry, and Google Expeditions provide content aligned with school syllabus, covering science activities for students between the ages of eight and 15. However, according to the startup, what differentiates it from its competitors is its 360-degree images and video content.

As fotonVRs clients are physical schools, they are facing challenges since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with schools being shut and not wanting to investing right now. However, the demand for individual kits have gone up, and the startups expects to make sales in that stream. Additionally, fotonVR plans to expand its services to 40 countries. It has already tied up with educational companies in Thailand.

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[Startup Bharat] This edtech startup is using virtual reality-based content to have real-life impact on studen - YourStory

Inventors and scientists have been developing virtual reality (VR) concepts for around a century.

One of the earliest machines was the Sensorama, created by Morton Heilig.

He began working on the machine in the 1950s, but it wasnt made public until 1962.

The Sensoramawas nothing like the virtual reality we know today though.

It was a mechanic contraption the stimulated most of the main human senses: sight, sound, smell, and touch.

It has been programmed to simulate a ride around New York City on a motorcycle, using a fan to simulate the change in airflow, chemicals to recreate the smells of pizza and fumes from engines, and a moving chair to simulate the direction changes of the bike.

Whileit certainly didnt feature the graphics of modern virtual reality headset, it did include stereoscopic 3D images, similar to VR today.

Through the rest of the 20th century, other teams of researchers and private companies continued to develop new virtual reality concepts.

None were practical for real-world use though. In fact, one was so big it had to be suspended from a ceiling and the user strapped into it.

The Virtual Boy wasnt a success for Nintendo Credit: Nintendo

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The Virtual Boy was one of the first consumer products that promised virtual reality gaming.

Like the other attempts though, it didnt catch on, and Nintendo quickly discontinued the product. It lasted five months in Japan and six in North America before being removed from the shelves.

The Virtual Boy failed because it was ahead of its time. It used a poor implementation of immature technology, was impractical, and, due to company politics, was released before it had been fully developed.

Instead of the full-colour 3D graphics that were becoming the norm at the time, the Virtual boy used a red monochrome system of graphics with characters drawn only in wireframe.

The headset didnt change what was shown on screen as the user moved their head, and it had to be placed on a table, with a stand holding it to the users head height.

It would be 15 years before other companies tried again with virtual reality technology.

The Oculus Rift could be the future of VR Gaming Credit: Oculus

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Virtual reality became viable in the 2010s as Oculus launched a crowdfunding campaign for its first headset.

It took several years before the product actually made it to market, but it was quickly followed by devices from Sony, HTC, and Samsung.

These virtual reality headsets finally had enough computing power to deliver photo-realistic graphics and frame rates that were fast enough to offer a quality experience.

Before this, poor graphics would have given it a cheap feel and slow frame rates would have made the user feel nauseous.

There were still several issues though. For example, headsets typically required a computer with a powerful graphics card to run most virtual reality games.

Some could connect to a smartphone instead, but with limited functionality.

They also typically had several cables attached, creating a rather clunky experience that didnt appeal to the majority of consumers.

This has been improving as later versions have been released, with wireless and standalone VR headsets now available.

Is the future of gaming really going to be VR? Credit: Pexels

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There are plenty of virtual reality games now available to buy, including VR-only titles like RC Flight Simulator for Steam and Job Simulator for PlayStation VR.

While the flight simulator genre is well established, many othersrepresent novel concepts with little scope to grow and develop.

There are also some games that have VR Support, meaning they can be played without a headset, but haveextra functionality if you take VR for a ride.

For example, several racing games including iRacing and Gran Turismo Sport and Wipeout Omega Collection let you play the gamefrom a drivers perspective.

This makes it possible to look out the side windows by turning your head in theright direction.

We are even seeing some larger online casinos and poker brands begin to develop virtual reality versions oftheir mostpopular games.

However, there hasnt been widespread adoption of the technology in iGaming.

Instead, many brands continue to focus on live casino action where a real-life dealer takes control of the game, and players watch on via a live-streamed video.

Many casinos, like Virgin Games, continue to rely on welcome bonuses to compete for new customers instead ofharnessing the power of virtual reality.

Is VR the future? Credit: Oculus

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At present, its not yet clear whether virtual reality will be adopted more widely by the gaming community in the coming years.

The current PlayStation VR hardware thats compatible with the PlayStation 4 still feels like a novelty add-on, much like the EyeToy for the PlayStation 2.

Its the next-generation console, PS5 expected to launch within the next year,thats believed to feature improved virtual reality support, integrating into more and better games.

Its difficult to see how virtual reality can win over the masses, which will be crucial to its long term survival.

At present, it remains a niche product. As of December 2019, the three leading manufacturers of VR headsets: Sony, Oculus, and HTC had sold a combined total of 7.8 million units.

This may appear impressive at first glance until you compare it with the 110 million PlayStation 4 consoles and 2.2 billion iPhones sold.

It looks even worse when you compare it to the sales figures of the Virtual Boy.

Nintendo sold a total of 770,000 units in the space of around six months, while Oculus only managed just twice that in five years.

When you look at the numbers, it seems difficult to see how much further virtual reality can go.

Especially when you consider that Google Glass and 3D televisions were commercial failures because consumers dont particularly enjoy wearing clunky head-wear to interact with technology.

If the hardware and associated ecosystems remain profitable within the small market of enthusiasts, then we may see virtual reality gaming stick around.

However, if it cant reach a critical mass of consumers or turn a big enough profit from enthusiasts, then virtual reality gaming may not make a big splash in the next decade.

What do you think of this article?

Do you think the future of gaming is VR?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Is VR Going To Play A Big Role In The Future Of Gaming? - Small Screen

Manus VRs Polygon, a recently announced suitless and real-time full-body tracking solutions along with the Prime II haptic gloves provide a complete, efficient and robust Virtual Reality system that is applicable in a diverse array of industries including engineering, manufacturing and the automotive industries.

Back in March this year, Manus VR had unveiled its Polygon Virtual Reality solution that was to be out into multi-user collaboration uses. Back then, Manus had announced that the Polygon full-body tracking solution would be released in June this year. It has stuck to the timetable.

The orders and licenses for the Polygon tracking solution can now be placed online. The company has not listed the prices for the full Polygon system but interested buyers can request quotes on the Manus site.

The Manus Polygon is a full-body tracking solution that leverages the Vive Tracker pucks along with hand-tracking via a separate glove to provide end users with a full-body tracking solution for enterprise VR use-cases.

The system deploys 5 Vive Trackers with one tracker on each foot, one on the waist and on the back of each of the hands. The system also includes the Manus full-body inverse kinematics solver as well as the Prime II Series gloves.

Manus touts its system as one that is easy to set up and which removes the need for any full-body suit to realize full-body tracking which would normally require a more complex and costly VR bodysuit design. The Manus Polygon solution will also provide support for multiple users for multiplayer scenarios. It can also produce well-synchronized as well as accurately proportioned human avatars from data. This involves a 45-second calibration process with the finger tracking from the gloves capable of measuring 2 joints per finger with 11DoF tracking.

The Manus Polygon is an enterprise-focused haptic project so there likely wont be any integration with some of the popular of Virtual Reality games.

When you buy the Manus Polygon pack, you will also get plugins that you can use to implement the system in Unreal or Unity. The one-year licenses for the Manus Polygon system can be got online via a request for a quote on the Manus website.

You can read our view review of the Manus haptic gloves here.

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Manus VR Launches Its Polygon Full-Body VR Tracking and Prime II Gloves - Virtual Reality Times

St Ives Carnival and Music Festival 2020 is going virtual in July as of a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

On July 10, 11 and 12 the St Ives Carnival and Music Festival committee are encouraging the community of St Ives to dress up the front of their homes and gardens whilst raising a glass of their favourite bubbly to the community.

In the evening, they will also hold a virtual fancy dress party and they have asked some of their local bands to put some sets together, so they can hold a virtual music festival.

There will be two themes during the weekend of home holidays, recreating your favourite/planned but had to cancel holiday at home and the most talented children such as superheros or princesses.

A spokesperson for the committee said: The way this will work is we want to encourage the people of St Ives to dress up the front of their houses and front gardens and these will become our floats.

We will have a map of where you are so we can film your efforts (with your permission of course) and we will use these videos to form the virtual reality carnival.

At the end of this, the categories will be judged and prizes will be given for the best house, the best pub, the best business and the best school.

If we have enough interest then we are considering adding a category for the best front garden float for the surrounding areas too.

For the evening when you are all dressed up and ready to party with us, we will hold the best virtual fancy dress party.

Over the weekend we will ask you to send us videos, pictures and even TikToks etc of your own carnival celebrations which we will stream throughout the weekend and at the end we will make a YouTube video of our weekend together whilst being very much apart.

If you have any queries or you would like to get involved then please contact the St Ives carnival and music festival Facebook page or alternatively you can email us on stivescarnivalandmusicfestival@gmail.com.

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Virtual carnival and festival in St Ives in July | What's on and things to do in Huntingdon | Hunts Post - Hunts Post

In Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality News

June 5, 2020 Immersive Wisdom, Inc., a provider of a real-time geospatial collaboration platform for Joint-All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) and Mission Planning, has recently announced that it has been awarded a USD $950 million ceiling IDIQ (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity) contract with the United States Air Force. Under the contract, Immersive Wisdom will offer its software in support of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) program. Immersive Wisdoms implementation partner, Entegra Systems, will also support the effort.

Immersive Wisdoms Real-Time JADC2 3D Geospatial Collaboration software allows multiple distributed users to perform Joint-All Domain Command and Control and Mission Planning in immersive 3D real-time geospatial workspaces from anywhere in the world, via virtual reality, mixed reality, and desktops.

The $950 million ceiling is specifically for the maturation, demonstration and proliferation of capability across platforms and domains, leveraging open systems design, modern software and algorithm development in order to enable JADC2. The contract is part of a multiple award multi-level security effort to provide development and operation of systems as a unified force across all domains (air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum) in an open architecture family of systems that enables capabilities via multiple integrated platforms.

In 2019, Immersive Wisdom announced that it had been awarded a major Air Force contract by AFWERX. Established in 2017 by the Secretary of the Air Force and reporting to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, AFWERX is a catalyst for agile Air Force engagement across industry, academia and non-traditional contributors to create transformative opportunities and foster an Air Force culture of innovation. Immersive Wisdom states that the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) IDIQ award is a natural progression of that effort.

Regardless of their geographic location, Immersive Wisdom enables multiple users to work together in shared, synchronized virtual workspaces containing live 3D maps, layered with real-time information from any available source. Users can simultaneously visualize, plan, analyze, and act upon sensor inputs, cyber/network data, IoT feeds, enterprise applications, telemetry, tagged assets, 3D terrain/building models, LiDAR, imagery, and UAV footage/streaming video.

As a result, Immersive Wisdoms solution is able to provide end users with an omniscient, collaborative, real-time 3D view of complex environments. The company views allowing multiple users to be physically anywhere, while still being in sync via the same virtual space containing shared maps, video feeds, and real-time information, as something that is critical for future mission success.

Immersive Wisdom is extremely honored to serve the U.S. Air Forces Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) with our real-time geospatial collaboration software platform for Joint-All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) and Mission Planning, said Mike Appelbaum, CEO of Immersive Wisdom. We are extremely grateful to In-Q-Tel and our existing Air Force/DoD customers for helping our company grow to this inflection point.

The company states that outside of defense contracts,its software is available for application across other industries such as Government, Energy including Oil & Gas, Transportation & Logistics, and Telecommunications.

Image / video credit: Immersive Wisdom / Mike Applebaum / YouTube

About the author

Sam Sprigg

Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he covers news articles on both the AR and VR industries. He also has an interest in human augmentation technology as a whole, and does not just limit his learning specifically to the visual experience side of things.

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Immersive Wisdom awarded USD $950 million contract to deliver real-time 3D Geospatial Collaboration software for US Air Force - Auganix

Samsung, which we know mostly with the technological devices it produces, has filed a patent application for a VR glasses that will transfer its navigation information directly to the driver. Drivers who wear these glasses will be able to see the information of places of interest in the lens as well as turn-by-turn navigation information.

Today, many upper segment vehicles are equipped with some high-tech options such as volume control, automatic braking in emergency situations, automatic driving and even night vision to help detect pedestrians in the dark. A contribution to the ever-developing automobile technologies came from Samsung, which is not very close to the industry.

Samsung, which we know mostly with the electronic devices it produces, has found a unique solution that will help drivers drive better and with more safety. The company has applied for a patent for virtual reality glasses that reflect turn-by-turn navigation directly onto the lens of the user.

The VR glasses that Samsung has filed for patent works basically like the head-up display (HUD), which reflects information such as speed information that drivers should see frequently on the windshield of the vehicle. At this point, instead of reflecting the information to the windshield, the glasses promise to take the driving experience to the next level by sending the VR glasses directly to the driver.

People who use these glasses will be able to view nearby fuel stations (including prices), restaurants and other attractions with virtual reality, as well as turn-by-turn navigation information. To do this, the glasses will be synchronized with a map application on smartphones or the vehicles internal GPS.

The automotive industry is one of the most invested sectors in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. According to Statista, AR & VR solutions in the global automotive market are expected to reach approximately $ 673 billion by 2025. At this point, Samsungs application for VR glasses for drivers is not a very new concept in the industry.

In 2017, the Swiss-based WayRay introduced the first holographic navigation system for the cars the company called Navion. However, no extra glasses were required for the operation of WayRays system.

Link:

Samsung Works on VR Glasses That Provide Navigation Support For Drivers - Somag News

Bears coach Matt Nagy (standing with Tarik Cohen, Mitch Trubisky, Kyle Fuller and Ted Larsen during the national anthem prior to the game against the Chiefs last season), was adamant that he addressed the civil rights issue facing the country. Football is extremely secondary, he said. We have to get life right, and that was No. 1 for all of us. | AP

In the wake of the civil unrest that has engulfed the nation, Matt Nagy convened his team on Zoom for a heart-to-heart exchange that had a tremendous impact. It changed my perspective on life, Akiem Hicks said.

Akiem Hicks was dubious when Bears coach Matt Nagy called a Zoom meeting for the entire team to address the turbulent civil unrest that has torn the nation apart in the wake of African-American George Floyds death at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer.

More than dubious, actually. The Pro Bowl defensive end a leading voice on and off the field and a member of the teams social justice committee thought it would be a sham.

I wasnt too excited to get on that call, Hicks said. I didnt think anything was going to come from it. I didnt know why we were having this moment where we were singing Kumbaya and trying to get over whats really happening in the world.

I felt like it might be a control situation where they want to control the narrative and point us in a direction so when we talk to [the media] theres only going to be a certain message that you guys hear.

But when it was over after more than 40 of the 139 players, coaches and team personnel on the video conference spoke in the two-hour meeting, many of them passionately in a real-talk, from-the-heart, come-together meeting that included tales of woe some would not normally share in the context of a football team Hicks was glad to admit he was very wrong. The meeting was nothing like he thought it would be.

It was the complete opposite, Hicks said. I watched young black men, young white men, older coaches from all over the United States and watching everybody rebuild themselves in a way that isnt common in sport or masculinity in general, and express their real feelings.

Everybody shared from the heart and shared their real experiences. There was some hurtful stuff in there. There was some stuff where people were changed and altered for life. I wont speak [in details] because thats their story. But I will say this: As a team, there was a level of healing in that call, a level of just coming together. It was a positive call and I think it will change the lives of some of the young men on the team and it changed mine. It changed my perspective on life.

Theres no telling what the fallout from this unsettling episode will be if the dust ever settles. But with a locker room of motivated, competitive athletes of different races, from different parts of the country, molded by varying degrees of disparate upbringings, Nagys job probably didnt get any easier over the last 10 days.

Everybody talks about building a culture, but its a particular passion for the Bears under general manager Ryan Pace and Nagy. In two seasons as the Bears head coach, Nagy has had one very good season and one disappointing season. We dont know if he can coach. But we do know he has a knack for managing people a forte that figures to come in handy in a critical season. Already, it has.

After talking with some players, Nagy decided to spend Mondays two-hour allotment of meeting time on healing. To listen and to let our players know how much I and we support them. And then let them feel our love, he said. That starts by listening. We did that.

Even the ever-confident Nagy was unsure how it would go if it would seem too forced and unnatural. But the emotion of the moment brought a team together like never before. There was a lot of anger fear disgust sadness, Nagy said. There was compassion, hurt and even at times surprise.

We were all very emotionally drained, in a good way, Nagy said. It was probably the most powerful two-hour meeting that I have ever been in and will ever be in.

And Nagy felt that emotional as well.

Im just proud of our family, he said. Im proud of our players, our coaches. There was a protectiveness to the meeting. There was a vulnerability to peoples stories. I know the word powerful has been used a lot, but to me it was raw. I feel like yall should know that because this was way bigger than football. I know I and many others were completely exhausted, but you felt love and you felt togetherness. And thats how this thing starts. It was the start of a long, long journey and were excited to do it together.

The following day, Nagy cancelled all team activities to observe Blackout Tuesday and then resumed football preparation on Wednesday, which did feel good, he said. The Bears and Nagy still have a lot of work ahead on the football field and a lot to prove. But in the midst of a crisis that is much bigger than football, Matt Nagy moved the Bears one small step in the right direction.

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Virtual reality: Bears talk it out and come together - Chicago Monitor - The Chicago Monitor