Month: December 2014

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Are wearables bound to be a flop ?

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In 2015, Software Eats The Wearable World 2014 will be remembered as the year that wearables leapt into the Silicon Valley mainstream.  Tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm have taken notice and poured money and resources into developing their own offerings. Earlier players like Fitbit and Jawbone announced multiple new products and a host of promising startups (Athos, Atlas, Misfit, etc.) have emerged with innovative offerings. With the momentum of these dollars and product releases, its no wonder industry analysts are predicting the wearable movement to be “the next big thing”.  Credit Suisse estimates the market could be … Continue reading Are wearables bound to be a flop ?

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Low-Population Virtual Worlds

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Unpopular Culture As my Pandaran reached level 100 in World of Warcraft, knowing that 10 million other people were playing alongside me, and something over 100 million accounts had been created over the decade lifetime of that influential game, I couldn’t help but think of how much I personally like some of the most unpopular games. If our goal is to study “popular culture,” then of course popularity matters. But there are so many other scientific, scholarly, and personal goals we might legitimately have! Experimental studies typically use small Ns of research subjects. Ethnographies of cultures often study low-population societies. … Continue reading Low-Population Virtual Worlds

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Gaming with Oculus Rift

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BlazeRush BlazeRush is an arcade style racing survival game in the same vain as the Micro Machines racing franchise which has just recently received full Rift support with its latest update. As it’s currently on sale through steam we decided to check it out. First off I have to applaud Targem Games for being one of the few developers who actually get how to display menus in VR. They have implemented the same solution as the Star Conflict developers by wrapping a curved screen around the user which is super easy to read and easy to navigate using a controller. … Continue reading Gaming with Oculus Rift

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Is VR changing the world?

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Virtual Reality Trends for 2015 Virtual Reality (VR) is about to become mainstream and could be a $7 billion market by 2018. Augmented Reality (AR) is already here, with numerous companies servicing the retailing and engineering sectors not to mention Google, which led a $542 million funding round for Magic Leap, an AR startup whose product hasn’t even been announced. A virtual revolution: How VR is changing the world. Flight simulators are perhaps the most recognizable form of virtual reality training, but the British army has a simulator for what happens when you jump out of a plane too. The … Continue reading Is VR changing the world?

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Immersive journeys for car drivers

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Fiat Reaches Out to Consumers with Virtual Reality Fiat has launched its new car, the Fiat 500X, which is a new crossover that combines true performance with Italian style. The car will be available to the consumers next year. However, Fiat has already started its promotion using unique technologies. It is showcasing the car using virtual reality technology which mixes real-life footage with CGI. The auto manufacturer claims that it is a first for the automotive industry and hopes to drive up the consumers’ interest for its latest addition. So, what experience is in store for the consumers? Let us … Continue reading Immersive journeys for car drivers

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VR Is Not Like Other Tech

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Why Virtual Reality Doesn’t Need a Killer App to Get Huge On a frosty December morning in 1783, some 400,000 people gathered in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris to see the world’s first manned flight in a hydrogen balloon. Jacques Charles and his assistant, Nicolas-Louis Robert, ascended 1,800 feet into the sky accompanied by a mercury barometer, some sandbags, and a few bottles of champagne. “Nothing will ever quite equal that moment of total hilarity that filled my whole body at the moment of take-off,” Charles later wrote. “I felt we were flying away from the Earth and all its … Continue reading VR Is Not Like Other Tech

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Are wearables a profitable business?

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Why businesses are more excited than consumers about wearables While much of the wearable hype tends to focus on consumers, a new report from Forrester Research argues that businesses may be far more critical in driving adoption. In the report, “Five Urgent Truths About Wearables,” Forrester analysts found that 68 percent of global companies surveyed said wearables are a “priority” for their companies. The report was commissioned and presented at Le Web 2014 conference earlier this month in Paris. That level of interest compares to 45 percent of adults who expressed interest in wearables, according to the report. Forrester said … Continue reading Are wearables a profitable business?

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Virtual reality therapy for dementia

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Educating people about dementia through a virtual experience There are currently more than 332,000 Australians suffering from some form of dementia, according to Alzheimer’s Australia. To further educate potential sufferers of dementia or carers, Alzheimer Australia has teamed up with Melbourne-based digital design studio Opaque Multimedia to create a virtual simulation mimicking scenarios that dementia suffers face. The virtual dementia experience was set up in a 10-metre by two-metre room of Perc Walkley Dementia Learning Centre in Parkville, Melbourne, in October 2013. Since then, more than 1,000 people have been exposed to the experience. The multi-sensory gamification simulation uses light, … Continue reading Virtual reality therapy for dementia

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Exploring your virtual places

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7 Famous Fictional Places You Can Explore With the Oculus Rift Ever since I first played Goldeneye 64, I’ve been fascinated by exploring 3D cyber-versions of my favorite fictional places. The Oculus Rift makes that pursuit cooler than it’s ever been. It’s one thing to see static shots of Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment from the same never-changing angles. It’s another to be in there, as if it were actual real. Most of these simulations are still works in progress—you can’t see all of the USS Enterprise yet. There also isn’t much for you to do other than walk around and gawk. … Continue reading Exploring your virtual places

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How news reports can be delivered with VR

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Experience the Ferguson shooting from the witnesses’ perspectives A new experimental project by Fusion, in conjunction with Empathetic Media and the Reynolds Journalism Institute, showcases the potential of using virtual reality and game development tools as an apparatus for reporting real-world events. It’s called Ferguson VR, and it allows you to explore the eight eyewitness testimonies used in the case of Michael Brown’s shooting by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO back in August this year. You don’t need a virtual reality headset to experience it, but it is designed for use with one, as well as a mobile … Continue reading How news reports can be delivered with VR