Monthly Archives: February 2022

Newswise New Brunswick, N.J. (Feb. 10, 2022) Researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have published Face-Mic, the first work examining how voice command features on virtual reality headsets could lead to major privacy leakages, known as eavesdropping attacks.

The research shows that hackers could use popular virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets with built in motion sensors to record subtle, speech-associated facial dynamics to steal sensitive information communicated via voice-command, including credit card data and passwords.

Common AR/VR systems on the market include the popular brands Oculus Quest 2, HTC Vive Pro, and PlayStation VR.

Led by Yingying Jennifer Chen, associate director of WINLAB and graduate director of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, the study will be presented at the annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking in March. Other research collaborators include Nitesh Saxena of Texas A&M University and Jian Liu at University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

To demonstrate the existence of security vulnerabilities, Chen and her fellow WINLAB researchers developed an eavesdropping attack targeting AR/VR headsets, known as Face-Mic.

Face-Mic is the first work that infers private and sensitive information by leveraging the facial dynamics associated with live human speech while using face-mounted AR/VR devices, said Chen. Our research demonstrates that Face-Mic can derive the headset wearers sensitive information with four mainstream AR/VR headsets, including the most popular ones: Oculus Quest and HTC Vive Pro.

The researchers studied three types of vibrations captured by AR/VR headsets motion sensors, including speech-associated facial movements, bone-borne vibrations and airborne vibrations. Chen noted that bone-borne vibrations in particular are richly encoded with detailed gender, identity and speech information.

By analyzing the facial dynamics captured with the motion sensors, we found that both cardboard headsets and high-end headsets suffer security vulnerabilities, revealing a users sensitive speech and speaker information without permission, Chen said.

Although vendors usually have policies regarding utilizing the voice access function in headset microphones, Chens research found that built-in motion sensors, such as an accelerometer and gyroscope within a VR headset, do not require any permission to access. This security vulnerability can be exploited by malicious actors intent on committing eavesdropping attacks.

Eavesdropping attackers can also derive simple speech content, including digits and words, to infer sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, PIN numbers, transactions, birth dates and passwords. Exposing such information could lead to identity theft, credit card fraud and confidential and health care information leakage.

Chen said once a user has been identified by a hacker, an eavesdropping attack can lead to further exposure of users sensitive information and lifestyle, such as AR/VR travel histories, game/video preferences and shopping preferences. Such tracking compromises users privacy and can be lucrative for advertising companies.

Oculus Quest, for example, supports voice dictation for entering web addresses, controlling the headset and exploring commercial products. Rutgers Face-Mic research shows that hackers may leverage these zero-permission sensors to capture sensitive information, leading to severe privacy leakages.

Chen said she hopes these findings will raise awareness in the general public about AR/VR security vulnerabilities and encourage manufacturers to develop safer models.

Given our findings, manufacturers of VR headsets should consider additional security measures, such as adding ductile materials in the foam replacement cover and the headband, which may attenuate the speech-associated facial vibrations that would be captured by the built-in accelerometer/gyroscope, she said.

Chen and her WINLAB colleagues are now examining how facial vibration information can authenticate users and improve security, and how AR/VR headsets can capture a users breathing and heart rate to measure well-being and mood states unobtrusively. To learn more about ongoing studies at WINLAB, click here.

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ABOUT RUTGERSNEW BRUNSWICKRutgers UniversityNew Brunswick is where Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, began more than 250 years ago. Ranked among the worlds top 60 universities, Rutgerss flagship is a leading public research institution and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. It has an internationally acclaimed faculty, 12 degree-granting schools and the Big Ten Conferences most diverse student body.

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Rutgers Researchers Discover Security Vulnerabilities in Virtual Reality Headsets - Newswise

While most virtual classes have been held over Zoom since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, one class in the University of Miamis College of Arts and Sciences is using a different modality: the MetaVerse.

Religion and Sacred Space in the Era of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence began last Thursday. Instead of the typical classroom setting, the class is taught in the MetaVerse.

Religion is really fundamentally appropriate to the metaverse, said William Green, a professor of religion and one of the professors for the course. The class takes advantage of the new technology.

The class encompassees three different subjects: religion, architecture and computer science. Teaching the course in a virtual reality setting helps intertwine the three focuses of the class.

The students in architecture help design the class, the students in interactive media help with the user experience and the religion students are content experts,Kim Grinfeder, another professor for the course focusing on virtual reality, said.

During the first class, students received their Oculus 2 virtual reality headsets and had an orientation with the product. Now that the students have their headsets, classes will be held remotely, taking place solely in the MetaVerse.

It was bizarre to be in the same room but also not in the same room, Grinfeder said. It is best to discuss virtual reality in virtual reality.

As the class progresses, students will use the headsets to travel across the world to observe religious experiences in 3D instead of 2D. Some of these experiences include a Hajj, a Muslim pilgramidge to the city of Mecca or a Christian Baptism.

There is a notion of space and place, Green said. We can now experience places that you cant go to easily.

During the first class, most students quickly became accustomed to the intriguing technology but there were some initial issues with the headsets. Some students were experiencing eye strain and headaches making it so that they had to step out of the MetaVerse and back in to reality

Students would say I need five minutes, take the headset off and just set it down and chill for five minutes, said Matthew Rossi, a junior computer science major who is the teaching assistant for the course. But VR endurance, as some people might say, is just something you build up naturally by using it.

As for the future of the MetaVerse, Green believes more classes will use virtual reality as the technology advances and new virtual reality tools are created.

Technology develops how people learn and how people teach, Green said. Computers are second nature and already virtual reality will be for many students in the future.

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UM class enters the future with virtual reality class - The Miami Hurricane

San Diego State has doubled down on virtual and extended reality technologies by launching the Virtual Immersive Teaching and Learning (VITaL) Research Center dedicated to expanding usage across classrooms, campuses and disciplines.

The decision comes after the Information Technology Services unit on campus launched the VITaL initiative in fall 2017. According to a school press release, it served as an incubator for faculty to explore virtual and extended reality applications as potential tools they could adopt for stronger comprehension in students; the apps can mimic the intensity of a high risk medical situation or allow students to operate with rare situations without any of the necessary equipment or subjects while still receiving all the mandatory field experience.

For higher learning, virtual reality technology poses a lot of possibilities spanning across almost every topic of instruction. VITaL resources have already been taken advantage of by 56 faculty teaching 70 courses across all eight colleges at SDSU through the initiative. It is only expected to grow with the new research center, according to the press release.

The VITaL Research Center is led by Chief Information Officer Jerry Sheehan, Deputy CIO James Frazee and the Director of Information Technology Services Sean Hauze.

The very ethos of VITaL is to understand if [the tech] actually matters or not, and thats a really important consideration, Sheehan said.

We think that for our student population, both those that are first generation, those that are in underrepresented communities and diverse communities, its really important that they are given the opportunity to create in a virtual world, Sheehan said. We think it would be problematic if the only thing that exists in the virtual world is advertising which, without the voices from our campus, would be how the market forces would drive us.

A landmark peer-reviewed study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggested that virtual reality learning enlists greater attention from students and better effectiveness overall than typical classroom learning. This study coupled with growing research and market interests gave the school confidence in the research centers relevance.

The tools will just become more and more reliable, affordable and easy to use as we look ahead, Frazee said. Essentially, youre going to take your glasses off and feel dumber just like we have without our phones. Can you imagine not being able to answer every question and access every statistic on the planet from your pocket?

The technology is noted to be especially important for the rural SDSU Imperial Valley campus as they have limited access to things like nursing mannequins and medical equipment. It poses an opportunity to provide higher learning across the board with the democratization of learning tools.

Initial projects faculty proposed with the launch of the center regard how the technology can enhance the way the school of Theater, Television, Film and New Media can adopt the tech to create and teach.

According to Learning Design and Technology Professor Kevin White, it is important to admit there are certain uses that would be redundant for virtual reality technology like reading and writing. However, immersion has been observed to foster a deeper connection to the material. Rather than using the tools to write, an art student could use the tech as a writing prompt being transported anywhere in the world with 360 degree photos to spark inspiration or thought exercises.

The move to virtual tools has been exponentially sped up by the onset of COVID-19, but it still has its fair share of health risks. For example, an entire class using the same headset can pose a problem in germ exchange. This has always been an issue, but becomes less of a risk as more supply access leads to less immediate contact.

With provisions in place faculty was still able to develop interactive moon phase simulations for astronomy students, demonstrate interactions between nano materials for engineering students and animate three-dimensional models of molecules and magnetic fields for chemistry and physics students.

As the research center was proposed based on award winning research and applications dedicated to the further understanding by students, VITaL Research Center Fellowship Grant Proposals are open to all faculty members from every discipline. According to the center, the deadline for preliminary proposals submitted by faculty is on Feb. 28.

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SDSU unveils new virtual and extended reality research center - Daily Aztec

In Virtual Reality News

February 9, 2022 Emerge, a social virtual connection company, has this week announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for its Emerge Home system: a product that enables immersive bare-hands tactile experiences and the sensation of physical touch for virtual reality (VR) experiences.

The Emerge Home Kickstarter campaign, which is now live, will reward backers with early access to its first consumer product, which was recently revealed at the Into the Metaverse 2 summit hosted by GamesBeat.

According to the company, the Emerge Home system consists of three components: the Emerge Wave-1 device, the Emerge Home social virtual experience, and the Emerge Home mobile app. The Emerge Wave-1 is a new tabletop device that enables users bare hands to be their controllers. Around the same footprint as a 13 laptop, the device emits sculpted ultrasonic waves that allow users to feel and interact via touch in the virtual world. Through the use of Emerges patented technology, the Emerge Wave-1 creates a mid-air field of interaction up to three feet above the device and 120 degrees around it.

Emerge Home is for people who see social virtual games as meaningful ways to connect emotionally with others, said Isaac Castro, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerge. We are excited for the first adopters of Emerge Home to start sharing this journey, in just a few weeks.

The Kickstarter campaign will offer six product reward tiers for pledgers who will become the first adopters of Emerge Home, in two delivery windows:

Other Kickstarter reward tiers will offer discounts for pledgers securing 2 or more devices, as Emerge Home has been designed for multi-user social VR experiences, for people to gather and play in a safe and trusted environment with their inner circles.

Weve designed Emerge Home staying true to our vision, informed by rigorous research, and inspired by the hopes and ideas of the people who have shared their insights along the journey of developing this product. Our early adopter Beta community will play a pivotal role in helping us shape the evolution of Emerge Home, which we hope delivers new and unique ways for people to feel connected across distance said Mauricio Teran, Co-founder & Head of Insights.

Emerge Home is the first step in a broader journey to create a new language of touch in virtual worlds, said Sly Spencer Lee, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerge. Through Emerge Home experiences and game rooms, we are excited to explore how we can better connect, play, and share emotions in the metaverse.

The Emerge Home system is available today, February 8th, on Kickstarter. The company has given its device a retail value of USD $499, but at the time of publishing, there was still time left for early buyers to take advantage of a 24-hour launch sale pledge of USD $350. For more information about Emerge and its solution to provide bare-hands tactile experiences for virtual reality, please visit the companys website.

Image / video credit: Emerge / 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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Emerge launches Kickstarter campaign to bring bare-hands tactile experiences to Virtual Reality with its ultrasonic device - Auganix

YouTube said it will start creating metaverse experiences on its video platform, beginning with gaming, following competitors investments in the buzzy category.

Well work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive, Neal Mohan, YouTubes chief product officer, said Thursday in a blog post. Its still early days, but were excited to see how we can turn these virtual worlds into a reality for viewers.

The worlds largest video site, owned by Alphabet Inc.s Google, has supported virtual-reality videossince 2016.

Google released its VR platform Cardboard in 2014 and a much-derided augmented reality device, Google Glass, in 2013.

Still, the company has been slower than rivals to discuss its plans for the much-hyped metaverse an immersive digital world where users will interact with digital objects and one another.

While many are skeptical that the metaverse is much more than a rebranding of VR, others in the tech industry think it will be the next major platform for social media, gaming, digital asset ownership and more.

Google has its own VR/AR division but hasnt released plans for any device in the field.

Meanwhile Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook, changed its name to signal an existential commitment to the metaverse. Microsoft Corp. has said its bringing workplace collaboration software to the virtual world. It may also capitalize on the shift through its gaming properties.

Some of YouTubes most popular creators specialize in video game streaming. The company has signed away several broadcasters from rival Twitch.

Last month, YouTubes head of gaming, Ryan Wyatt, departedfor a crypto startup.

In the blog post, Mohan also said YouTube would continue investing in Shorts, its rival to ByteDance Ltd.s TikTok, by adding new video effects and tools, as well as the ability to shop from one of the quick videos.

People watch more than 700 million hours of YouTube content on their televisions a day, making it the companys fastest-growing screen. Now, Mohan said the company would soon let viewers use their phones to engage with content playing on their TVs.

YouTube is still trying to improve its comment section, the executive added. The company will let video creators set channel guidelines to control the tone of conversations, which have sometimes been vitriolic. The site will also give its creators more insight on the types of videos viewers want to see, to help them decide what to produce next.

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YouTube pushing virtual reality in metaverse bet - MyBroadband

Perhaps they are the real inventors of the metaverse, that virtual reality space where users can interact with each other in a computer-generated environment.

Its a new word in my lexicon, but not to gamers and sci-fi readers. The word was coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 book Snow Crash and described a reality where end users were treated as citizens in a dystopian corporate dictatorship.

It has since been adopted and customised by Silicon Valley. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebranded the company as Meta in October 2020 and announced the company would be investing $10-billion in this new world. What on Earth?

Perhaps the metaverse is a place I can go and do battle with the greedy and avaricious who live in our parallel universe? In which case, Im Bayonetta, the bad-ass witch who can fire guns from her feet and turn her hair into giant fists and boots. Or maybe Lara Croft. But no, dealing with those scumbags is a battle for the real world, Im afraid.

This still doesnt answer the question of what the metaverse is or how it will become meaningful for us.

The idea sounds simple. Its a 3D, interactive, virtual representation of the internet a bunch of interconnected virtual spaces that become an extension of our physical world. Okay.

So do I really want to block out my vision with a pair of VR goggles to spend hours in a virtual bar talking to virtual people and drinking a virtual drink I cant enjoy? I doubt it. And Im pretty sure you wont either. Yet companies are investing billions into this world where the potential is almost beyond our imagination.

Microsoft has announced it will partner with Meta and plans to add augmented reality and virtual reality from its Microsoft Mesh platform into Teams; Epic Games has announced a $1-billion capital raise to support its long-term vision for the metaverse, while Nvidia, the leading designer of graphics processing units for the gaming and professional markets, has made Omniverse, its 3D design collaboration and virtual world simulation platform, available free to individual creators and artists.

It strikes me as a clever thing to do. When you dont know exactly where something is going, invest in the bottom-up, grassroots growth of the universe. And when something catches your eye buy it!

If our capitalistic society has taught us anything, companies will find ways of taking this world of gaming into products and services that are applicable to you and me, and we can be sure that they are in a race to be the first and only.

That does worry me slightly, though. Do we really want a company like Facebook, whose former mantra move fast and break things encouraged a culture that rewarded new ideas without careful consideration of the risks, to be the driver of the metaverse, whatever that may look like? Will it create an entirely new environment for Facebooks legacy problems to take root? Zuckerberg, of course, doesnt see it like that, saying, Every chapter brings new voices and new ideas but also new challenges, risks and disruption of established interests. Well need to work together, from the beginning, to bring the best possible version of this future to life.

At the moment, applications outside of gaming are pretty basic business meetings, concerts and tours. But the potential is vast. Footwear manufacturer Nike is preparing to sell its products in the metaverse and has filed trademark applications to establish itself in the virtual world.

Progressive engineering businesses are using the metaverse to create digital twins of their operations and products.

Again, the idea is not completely new. NASA used digital twin technology in 2010 to run simulations of space capsules. The benefit is that you can run tests and scenarios on the digital twin without affecting the physical original.

Im still getting my head around the possibilities, which, when it comes to things such as complex surgery, must be infinite.

As a two-bit investor, Id back the likes of Microsoft and Nvidia to make money out of this. As a cautious human, Im wary. As Zondo is making perfectly clear, our real world has enough despicable people in it. Yet the world of virtual reality is no different and already has a harassment problem even Roblox, a supposedly safe game for kids, has experienced problems with virtual orgies and Nazi role-playing.

The metaverse presents a whole world of possibilities and dangers, and Ive no doubt it is coming, but perhaps we should solve our real-world problems first. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for R25 at Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Exclusive Books and airport bookstores. For your nearest stockist, please clickhere.

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Going to battle in a virtual reality not a solution to... - Daily Maverick