October VR/AR News #3: AR at work

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Virtual reality provides an opportunity to recreate and explore the past, especially in areas where little is known about its history. The Plain of Jars, an ancient site littered with mysterious stone jars, is being replicated virtually by Australian archaeologists. Researchers from the Australian National University and Monash University are using a new mapping technology called Cave2 as part of the … Read More

Cartooning for Change

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Marvel’s newest superhero doesn’t have any superpowers, and she sure doesn’t wear a cape. In collaboration with ABC News, Marvel has used the stories of a real woman to create Madaya Mom, a Syrian mother fighting to keep her family safe. This is part of a growing trend of comics focused on real world issues. With his graphic novel Maus, Art … Read More

October VR/AR News #2: Veterans, the Best VR Headsets and Aliens

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First up, a brief (and fun) aside: Baobab Studio, who are behind the animated VR “Invasion!,” which you can see in its entirety here, released a preview of the Sci-fi show’s second episode. Check it out here. One of the great things about VR is that organizations can use the technology to raise awareness about a wide variety of issues. This Washington Post article … Read More

October VR/AR News #1: Oculus Touch, Immigration, and Women in VR

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In hardware news, Oculus revealed its new Touch at its third Connect conference on Thursday, Oct. 6. The $199 pair of hand grips brings Oculus on par or even past other motion controls released by Valve and HTC through its use of motion sensing and haptic feedback. At the conference, Mark Zuckerberg also demonstrated a new social VR experience that allows users to … Read More

Weekly news in 360 video and VR

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The first U.S. Presidential Debate on Sept. 27 highlighted the current political polarization in the country, much of which plays out online on social media platforms like Twitter. But can communal VR spaces be a solution to promote productive political discussions? AltspaceVR thinks so. The company has spent a year building a VR community mostly to share collective entertainment experiences like virtual Dungeons & Dragons games. … Read More

#LifeinGawair

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In June we were delighted to be one of the recipients of the Innovation in Development Reporting grants from the European Journalism Center in Maastricht to use a combination of comics and 360 video to offer an immersive window into the lives of families based in Gawair, a slum north of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been increasingly plagued by floods, tornados … Read More

This week in VR/AR: Dreaming, touching and education

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This past week, there have been a series of tech developments in virtual and augmented reality. For one, Nikon took a step into the VR space with its new KeyMission series of cameras. In addition to the GoPro-like KeyMission 170 and KeyMission 80 chest camera, the KeyMission 360 is a strong new competitor for action. In addition to shooting 360 video … Read More

Last week in VR/AR: iPhone 7, Snapchat and a hedgehog

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The biggest develops in VR/AR last week weren’t directly in the field, but in seemingly unrelated industries. Mostly importantly, the highly anticipated announcement of the iPhone 7 hints at a (near) future of mobile technology embracing new forms of reality. For uploadvr.com, Az Balabanian wrote, “…the micro-innovations in Apple’s optical technology, computer vision, machine learning, and wireless audio make iPhone 7 a device with all … Read More

2nd anniversary of the Michael Brown shooting

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Last week on August 9 was the second anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. This launched protests in Ferguson that eventually developed into the Black Lives Matter movement, which now fights for the lives of black people around the country. Following Brown’s death, in 2014, … Read More

Comparing virtual reality to 3D video

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Soumen Ganguly, a management consultant with more than 14 years experience in the telecommunications, media and technology space, thinks there is a lot of potential for virtual reality (VR). Unlike 3D, which at a pointin the 2000s was seen as a game changer in media consumption, virtual reality is more widely applicable, leading to “diverse, high quality content.” In addition, it … Read More