VRScout

APRIL 24, 2017

The Yi Halo has 17 lenses and costs $17,000. Google has officially unveiled their next generation Jump camera — the Yi Halo. Announced at the NAB conference in Las Vegas Monday, the Xiaomi-backed Yi has partnered with Google to bring a new professional camera to the market with some much needed improvements. The Yi Halo is a $16,999 17-camera rig capable of shooting stereoscopic video in 8K resolution at 30 frames per second, or 5.8K at 60 frames per second.

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Road to VR

APRIL 27, 2017

7invensun, one of the latest companies accepted into HTC’s Vive X accelerator program, is launching an eye-tracking add-on made specially for the Vive headset. The device, which will go on sale initially as a development kit in China this month, uses a series of IR LEDs and a near-eye camera to track the player’s eyes in real-time, enabling a range of potential benefits for VR.

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APRIL 26, 2017

According to a Bloomberg story published this week, Apple hired Jeff Norris of NASA to work on augmented reality initiatives. Norris has reportedly been an employee of Apple since earlier in the year, according to Bloomberg’s unnamed sources. Now at Apple, Norris is reportedly working as a member of a team run by Mike Rockwell, formerly of Dolby Labs.

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Cats and VR

APRIL 24, 2017

During VRLA 2017 Spring Expo I ran into Jonathan Krusell, former Executive Producer at Mindshow and now Producer for Google Daydream. Last year Jonathan helped me skip the line to check out Mindshow so I appreciate talking to him any chance I get. I told Jonathan that the Google Daydream booth at GDC kind of bored me and I was not impressed by Ubisofts Rabbids VR game demo.

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Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

To avoid awkward and sometimes disastrous learning content, instructional designers must use authentic translation in the right context to get optimal results. For example, even a simple phrase like “got milk” translates to “are you lactating” in Mexico. Can you imagine what a straight translation might do to your course? With over 317 million people in the US and over 6.7 billion potential customers in the world, personalizing training seems logical.

Mexico

VRScout

APRIL 26, 2017

The Smithsonian launched its first virtual reality attraction at The National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. The four-person ride, called the “VR Transporter,” tests if you have what it takes to be an astronaut. “Most of us can only dream about being in space, but now Smithsonian visitors can have the sensation of actually going there,” said Zarth Bertsch, theaters and entertainment director at The Smithsonian, in a press release.

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APRIL 24, 2017

Google’s JUMP team is announcing a new, virtual reality camera today that is smaller and lighter than its predecessors. The new unit is being positioned as an affordable, portable, easy to use system that will allow creators to make high quality 360 videos more easily. This new camera was built in partnership with YI technologies. It is known as the YI Halo and Google is referring to it as the “next generation” for its JUMP platform.

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Cats and VR

APRIL 26, 2017

As the Mindshow team heads into their upcoming open beta they have released a HUGE update for early adopters. First up the team has introduced starter scenes to provide a little creative inspiration! Starters help you create shows very quickly because they come with half the story - it's up to you to complete the scene by adding your own personality!

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VRScout

APRIL 28, 2017

Netflix and disruption go together like Oculus and Rift. Never one to rest on its laurels, the company is continually looking for ways to shake things up. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the streaming service is toying with the idea of breaking away from narrative norms by experimenting with ‘interactive storytelling’. The idea of interactive storytelling, although dismissed by some cynics as a clunky moving-image version of childhood choose-your-own-adventure books , is something that f

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Road to VR

APRIL 25, 2017

Outside of a few demonstrations at tradeshows, Meta has only give glimpses of the content on its impressive AR headset dev kit in short clips. During a recent visit to the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters to catch the latest improvements to the headset, I got to see a selection of demo content which Meta has allowed Road to VR to capture and share in full for the first time.

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With a rapidly changing economy, Avangrid Renewables looked to virtual reality to develop a standardized form of immersive training in order to onboard and upskill technicians faster than ever before.

Virtual Reality

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APRIL 24, 2017

Facebook’s Oculus VR team is announcing a new bundle for its Oculus Rift VR system. The bundle will be available in “select territories” through Amazon and NewEgg. With it, customers can get a Rift headset, the Oculus Touch controllers, an ASUS VivoX PC , and four free games for the total price of $1300. The games for this bundle are all standouts and include: Superhot VR , VR Sports Challenge , The Unspoken and the upcoming Wilson’s Heart.

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Cats and VR

APRIL 28, 2017

Are you the proud owner of a HTC Vive or Oculus Rift ? Are you looking for enjoyable new games to play, without breaking the bank? Immerse yourself in 10 great Steam games for your Windows PC, with the first ever virtual reality bundle from Bundle Stars ( [link] ). The Pure VR Bundle ( [link] ) is available now, with 10 VR-compatible Steam games for just $4.99.

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Virtual Reality Gaming Tips Retail 101

VRScout

APRIL 27, 2017

The latest Within original blows away Tribeca audiences with exciting new light-field technology. One of my favorite things to do while rocking a VR headset is binge watch various 360-degree videos from platforms such as YouTube, Jaunt or Within. They’re simple to access, easy to watch and plentiful. As entertaining as they can be however, most examples of the still-budding medium lack many of the features that add the extra level of immersion shown by more advanced VR experiences.

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Road to VR

APRIL 23, 2017

Hallelujah is a new experience by VR film studio Within that’s captured using Lytro’s latest Immerge light-field camera which captures volumetric footage that makes for a much more immersive experience than traditional 360 video. Hallelujah is a performance of Leonard Cohen’s 1984 song of the same name, and mixes the latest in VR film capture technology with superb spatial audio to form a stunning experience.

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Speaker: Nik Gowing, Brenda Laurel, Sheridan Tatsuno, Archie Kasnet, and Bruce Armstrong Taylor

With 191 country signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement now hard at work in the race to zero carbon by 2050, much of the heavy lifting in ecosystem sustainability falls on the shoulders of the world's densely populated urban centers. This conversation considers how today's AI-enabled simulation media, such as AR/VR, can be effectively applied to accelerate learning, understanding, training, and solutions-modeling to sustainability planning and design.

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APRIL 27, 2017

The Tilt Brush dev team has been quiet these last few months since they pushed the last major update, which is unusual considering the team used to roll out a major update every few weeks. But today we learn why, Google is releasing the biggest Tilt Brush overhaul yet. Custom environments, lighting controls, modular workspaces, a Tilt Brush oriented social media platform, and ton of other small improvements.

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Cats and VR

APRIL 25, 2017

Twisted Pixel has always been a favorite for me with really vibrant fun games with great mechanincs like The Gunstringer and LocoCycle. The team now has a very dark VR game out exclusively for Oculus Touch. Wilson's Heart is an immersive first-person psychological thriller set in a 1940's hospital that has undergone a haunting transformation. In this original VR adventure, you become Robert Wilson, a patient who awakens to the shocking discovery that his heart has been replaced with a mysterious

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Oculus Gaming Immersion 101

VRScout

APRIL 23, 2017

The immersive artist spent 80 hours creating the masterpiece. Immersive artist Goro Fujita is back at it again. The Art Director at Oculus Story Studio who’s blown our minds in the past with his virtual sculpting in Medium and dream world teasers using Oculus’ Quill app, is now showing off an unreleased update to Quill that let’s you animate illustrations.

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Road to VR

APRIL 27, 2017

VRgluv passed the 50% funding mark in less than 24 hours on their Kickstarter page , with 28 days still to go. The product is described as the “first affordable force feedback gloves” that feature “total hand tracking, full force feedback, and pressure sensitivity”. Going live on March 31st, VRgluv’s website revealed their haptic gloves , compatible with both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift hardware, said to be comfortable, functional, and affordable (despite looking rather clunky).

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Speaker: Richard Goring, Director at BrightCarbon

Remote meetings are here to stay - and many are BORING. If you are trying to engage your learners (or any audience), compelling content is critical. But trying to create stimulating content with the same tools you’ve always had is hard, right? Thankfully, wrong! Terrific tools in PowerPoint along with visual assets help you create the kind of dynamic content you need to capture your remote audience’s attention, with functions that allow for interactive sequences and navigation.

How To

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APRIL 24, 2017

HP is putting on its headsets. One of the world’s oldest technology companies is investing in the fledgling virtual reality market by becoming an investor in The Venture Reality Fund. The exact amount wasn’t disclosed. But HP Tech Ventures, the new corporate venture arm of HP, has joined as an investor in The VR Fund, which has become one of the most active investors in VR, augmented reality, and mixed reality startups.

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Cats and VR

APRIL 26, 2017

Have you ever faced down World of Warcraft's Lich King and wished you could be in the action yourself? Now you can with Age of Heroes VR, an all new multiplayer action RPG focused on taking on MMORPG style raids in virtual reality. Set in a fantasy world, Age Of Heroes pits players against challenging enemies in multiplayer raids. Utilizing actual body movement, players can sling fireballs, summon creatures and heal allies in an engrossing multiplayer virtual reality experience.

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Virtual Reality Immersion Gaming Controllers 101

VRScout

APRIL 27, 2017

You can now save, share, and remix Tilt Brush sketches. The VR app that’s become a favorite among immersive artists just got some big updates, including customization of environments, lighting controls and even a social platform of their own. For those of you who haven’t tried Tilt Brush yet, the app lets you paint in 3D space with life-size brush strokes, stars, and even fire all within VR.

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Road to VR

APRIL 24, 2017

The forthcoming Alien: Covenant movie is getting a VR experience, Alien: Covenant In Utero and it launches this Wednesday on Oculus platforms. Following the news of director Ridley Scott’s film production company launching a VR division , the release date for the Alien: Covenant In Utero experience has been announced in a brief teaser (seen heading this article); it’s coming April 26th to Oculus platforms.

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Speaker: Treion Muller, Chief Strategy Officer at ELB Learning

Since when has learning and development (L&D) become such a negative experience with its intended learners? Could it be because learners have been conditioned by very poor learning experiences over the past two decades, combined with the kinks of technological innovation? Or is it because learning has typically been designed as a one-size-fits-all solution, despite the fact that humans are not clones?

Technology

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APRIL 26, 2017

The Nintendo Switch has been out for over a month now and it’s still going strong. I play mine almost daily, even after finishing the full main story in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. New games are coming out every week, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe this Friday, and the portability and versatility make it easy to pick up and play in tons of situations.

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Cats and VR

APRIL 24, 2017

Drone Fighters is an arcade style drone fighting game in virtual reality from SurrealVR Game Studios, an HTC ViveX company. Customize your fighter, arm your battle hungry drones with awesome weapons and dominate your opponents in epic cage fights set in futuristic arenas. Drone Fighters is a community driven, cross platform title targeting the e-sports enthusiasts that are exploring virtual reality.

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Gaming Virtual Reality Retail Controllers 101

VRScout

APRIL 26, 2017

You’ll probably want to experience this twice. I’m not sure what’s more disturbing. Hearing the sound of a beating heart while being trapped inside a claustrophobic host body. Bursting through the back of an infected crew member and realizing you’ve taken the body of an alien at birth. Or the blood curdling screams coming from your first victim as you move in for the kill.

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Road to VR

APRIL 24, 2017

This year’s 2017 Google Play Awards include new categories for top VR and AR apps, to which Google has nominated five apps each. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, May 18th at 6:30PM PT during Google I/O, the company’s annual developer festival. Ever since the reveal of Google Daydream at last year’s I/O event, and the launch of the first Daydream phone and headset late last year , Google has been making a big push for VR on Android.

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Speaker: Micah Eppler, Account Executive for Rehearsal of eLearning Brothers

Did you know that companies such as Paychex, 3M, and Honeywell are getting better results by incorporating video-based practice and coaching within their L&D strategy? From sales pitches to soft skills, learners are becoming top performers by applying and validating knowledge transfer using the unique benefits of video. Whether used as a stand-alone application or integrated with a learning platform, video-based practice and coaching platforms give learners the ultimate opportunity to repeatedly

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