VRScout

NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Google Earth is now available for the HTC Vive. If you have access to a Vive, try Google Earth VR for yourself before reading any further. It’s free. A team of engineers and filmmakers worked together on a cinematic introduction that I’ll never do justice. Go in blind. Feel all the feelings. During the introduction sequence, you’re walking through Yosemite Valley like a giant looking down on El Capitan, peering over the edge of Half Dome.

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UploadVR

NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Looking down on the brilliant orange seats, and crisp green grass below me, two thoughts fight for dominance in my skull. The first is concerning all of the terrible losses that have taken place in this stadium throughout a truly depressing season, and the second is how unbelievable it is to be standing on top of First Energy Field.

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VRCircle

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

The United Nations has endorsed a unique way for people to celebrate art monuments and heroic world peacemakers with the latest AR and VR technology. On September 4, the United Nations invited peace walkway artist Paul-Felix Montez to speak at the U.N. in New York City for World Peace day. What is the Peace Walkway? The Peace Walkway project is a simple vision of locating one, mile-long peace art monument in 100 different locations (cities, towns, and parks, etc.) around the world.

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 9, 2016

The long rumoured sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult sci-fi classic Blade Runner is coming soon and it’s to be joined by virtual reality experiences via Oculus. Update: We’ve updated this story with new information, and updated the headline to reflect this. .

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Speaker: Bruce Armstrong Taylor, Co-Founder & Managing Director of SmartNations Foundation, Jimmy Jia, Venture Partner at Pi Labs, Fabienne Durand, Senior Advisor to the SmartNations Foundation, & Roger Strukhoff, Executive Director of the Tau Institute

The Carbon Zero, Circular Economy, is easily the most profoundly important result of digital transformation. Industry 4.0 has a massively cumulative impact on dematerialization (in all forms) and resultant decarbonization (both emissions and embodied) throughout the economy. Join panelists Bruce Armstrong Taylor, Jimmy Jia, Fabienne Durand, and their moderator Roger Strukhoff as they discuss how bending the carbon/GHG heavy linear economy to the circular is one of the hidden benefits of digital disruption.

Industry

VRScout

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

The VR reveal for the company’s first-ever electric car blew our minds. During a press event at Milk Studios in Los Angeles Sunday night, Jaguar revealed the I-PACE, the company’s first-ever electric car. A competitor to the Tesla Model X, the I-PACE is a major foray for Jaguar into electric automotive transportation. So when it came to launching a future facing vehicle like the I-PACE, Jaguar needed a car launch that went above the normal conventions of previous automotive launches.

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VRScout

AUGUST 17, 2016

I’m in a vast open space under a beautiful Bodhi tree, the green-leafed branches stretching towards the heavens. I am calmed immediately, welcomed by chirping birds and nature sounds. The living color of the environment swirls around me, and I’m greeted by a soothing voice that is my guide throughout a deeply serene yet invigorating acid trip through the cosmos.

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VRScout

OCTOBER 24, 2016

Halloween is a time for VR. Depending on your tolerance for jump scares, haunting isolation, and Zombies, Halloween is either the best of times or the worst of times for virtual reality. We love the creativity Halloween brings out in VR developers and filmmakers, so this Thursday we’re teaming up with VICE and HTC Vive for the VRScout Haunted Mansion in Los Angeles to showcase some of our favorites. HTC Vive Horror Experiences.

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VRScout

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

Google Cardboard has brought us in VR the closest thing to Jurassic Park yet. The newest feature of Google’s Arts & Culture app has added a giant swimming rhomaleosaurus to a 360º virtual tour of the Natural History Museum of London. And it doesn’t stop with this 23-foot long aquatic predator. Google is already working with 50 natural history museums to bring 150 more enormous dinosaurs to life. So you can expect to see a lot more dinos before the year is up.

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VRScout

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

This mobile VR truck is what everyone needs at their party. The hottest truck to hit the San Francisco food scene isn’t what you’re expecting. With an equally long line of customers, you won’t be waiting for the latest duck confit tacos or crispy miso tofu steamed buns from this truck anytime soon. In fact, this truck isn’t a food truck at all. This is the latest trend in mobile experiences on wheels, pushing only one thing to consumers during a crisp clear night in the city — virtual reality.

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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

VRScout

DECEMBER 12, 2016

National Geographic will be the first to test the new feature. Publishers will soon be able to take their live streams to an entirely new level — broadcasting live in 360-degrees. Facebook unveiled the latest expansion to live broadcasting Monday, dubbed Live 360 , that marries their existing features of livestreaming and pre-recorded 360-degree videos. The social network is partnering up with NatGeo for the first live 360-degree video to promote the cable network’s “Mars” colonization series.

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VRScout

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

One week after opening their first Vive branded VR cafe in Shenzhen China, HTC has now unveiled a VR theme park in Taiwan, touting over 20 different VR experiences. The VR theme park, being dubbed VIVELAND , spans over 3,500 square feet in a Taipei technology shopping center in the capital city of Taiwan. Built in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Syntrend, AMD, and gaming accessory manufacturer SteelSeries, the VIVELAND theme park is the first of its kind in Taiwan.

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UploadVR

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Oculus may be be closing out 2016 with a bang with the launch of its Touch controllers, but HTC is going to kick off 2017 with something special: a peripheral that makes its Vive headset wireless. HTC today announced a tether-less VR upgrade kit for its SteamVR device, made by TPCAST, one of the first of 33 companies to join the Vive X Accelerator. A preview version of the kit was shown off today at Alibaba’s “11/11” global shopping festival in Shenzhen, China.

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VRCircle

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

IMAX screens are big, very big. But Virtual Reality can be better, period. That is why the folks at IMAX are teaming up with Starbreeze to bring their 210-degree field of view (FOV) headsets to select IMAX locations starting in Los Angeles, followed by London, New York and Shanghai. 210-Degree Field Of View You Say? Yeah, you heard that right. The Starbreeze VR headset, built by ACER, expands on the 100-110 degree FOV from the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift to a full 210-degree field of view.

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

Join our amazing panelists, Nik Gowing, Founder at Thinking the Unthinkable and International Broadcaster; Brenda Laurel, PhD, Principal, Neogaian Interactive; Sheridan Tatsuno, Principal, Dreamscape Global; Archie Kasnet, CEO, Regenerative; and Bruce Armstrong Taylor, The Climate 4.0 Project, to discuss how today's AR/VR and related AI-enabled technologies can be effectively applied, using data from such sources as NASA and NOAA, to both improve and accelerate urban sustainability planning and design.

AR

Road to VR

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

HTC plans to offer a wireless upgrade accessory for the Vive created by TPCAST. Launching in early 2017 with pre-orders starting Friday, HTC claims the device will eliminate the direct connection to the PC without any noticeable difference in latency or gameplay. Reported first by UploadVR , the battery-powered “tether-less VR upgrade kit” is being made by TPCAST, a company which HTC bought into as part of its ‘ Vive X ‘ investment program.

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VRScout

OCTOBER 6, 2016

Oculus introduced Avatars and social Rooms with friends. During Oculus’ developer conference keynote, Mark Zuckerberg introduced us to Facebook’s vision of “building great software experiences” that are social with Oculus. A stage that was surprisingly absent of Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey, Zuckerberg demonstrated new social experiences that let you create avatars of yourself and hang out with friends in social VR environments.

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VRScout

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Among all the content we regularly demo on Steam VR, there’s a good amount to choose from. Whether its a multiplayer shooter like Onward or social environments like Rec Room , there’s a little something for everyone. We’ve even see you create VR workout routines out of games to help you lose some extra pounds — fantastic. But one question we see more frequently and expect more of as we get closer to the holidays in a couple months is recommendations for kid friendly VIVE games.

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VRScout

OCTOBER 4, 2016

We’re live from Google’s Pixel phone media event, where we got hand’s on with the company’s new Daydream View VR headset. Powered by the Google Pixel phone (the first Daydream ready phone), Daydream View is the tech giant’s solution to bringing VR to mass consumers with a more comfortable and simple mobile VR system — all for the price of $79. Here’s what you need to know: Wireless.

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VRScout

OCTOBER 25, 2016

Have you ever been to a tech summit where you howled for joy at the sunset? I have. Hosted at Esalen, the event was dubbed the “ Shifting the Paradigm ” Summit, and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to write about it. I spoke a bit about it on the most recent episode of VRScout Report , along with some really exceptional people (hosted by Malia Probst, interviews with Erika Barraza, Evo Heyning, Andy Lurling, Cris Miranda, Barry Pousman, and Kyle Sleeper).

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VRScout

OCTOBER 21, 2016

When it comes to demoing the latest in virtual reality, access and affordability can be a barrier for many looking to experience the range of content already available. And that’s where location-based VR becomes more important than ever. If there’s one place that’s leading the charge to make VR accessible to consumers — it’s China. VR in China is steadily going mainstream, thanks to hundreds of dedicated arcades and cafes popping up in major cities across the country.

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VRScout

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

The Microsoft HoloLens could be heading to the battlefield soon. Microsoft has already shown their “mixed reality” headset’s applications in medicine, architecture, space , and now, soldiers in the Ukrainian military may begin wearing the device. The technology, developed by Ukrainian company Limpid Armor , gives commanders a 360-degree thermal and optical view of a tank or armored vehicle’s surroundings.

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VRScout

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

The Daydream View is finally here. Unveiled at a press event last month, Google’s Daydream View headset is now on sale from retailers like Best Buy, Verizon, and Google’s own store. Powered by the Google Pixel phone (the first Daydream ready phone), Daydream View is the tech giant’s solution to bringing VR to mass consumers with a more comfortable and simple mobile VR system — all for the price of $79.

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VRScout

OCTOBER 9, 2016

The Simpsons teamed up with Google to create an experience sure to make you go, DOH! The Simpsons have done television, film, video games, almost every form of entertainment you can think of. However they’ve yet to make their debut on the hottest new entertainment platform out right now: virtual reality. Well you can officially wipe those tears away because thanks to the guys over at Google , the wait is now over.

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UploadVR

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

It doesn’t take a whole lot to catch my interest on a personal level. If you ever see me at an event, walking down the street, or on Twitter, just mention a video game and I’ll probably have something to say about it. We can chat about The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, EverQuest, The Elder Scrolls , or anything else.

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VRCircle

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

With the likes of Match, Tinder, and the various dating sites out there, dating is big business. But why go through all the hassle of contacting a girl online, emailing a bunch times, and then meeting him/her only to find they are 40lbs and ten years older than their pictures? Why not try Virtual Reality dating? In Japan, dating apps are very popular. However, it seems Japanese players seem to enjoy dating young Japanese school girls, which as you can see in the video below, is pretty strange.

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Today at the Steam Dev Days conference in Seattle, Valve is showing off brand new prototypes of its Steam VR controllers. Today’s HTC Vive controllers are bulky compared to what’s coming. While the original VR controllers that ship with the HTC Vive are undoubtedly functional, it’s widely agreed that Oculus’ forthcoming ‘Touch’ controllers are a big step forward in ergonomics.

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VRScout

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

Picking a camera or lens can be scary. Canon is using VR to make that a little easier. Over the past year VR has proven itself more than just a gaming device. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets are being used in incredible fields for various purposes from medicine and psychology, to art and design. It’s astonishing to see the wildly creative applications people have found for VR.

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VRScout

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

You may never come back from this virtual ride. Virtual reality was the first thing that came to mind after seeing the mysterious trailer for HBO’s Westworld back in June. Whether or not the sci-fi series produced by J.J.

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VRScout

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Over the last year, almost $2.5B has been invested in the VR/AR industry according to Digi-Capital. Despite the fact that a mere 6% of Americans will own a VR headset in 2016, future-looking venture capital firms have invested $500M in the VR/AR industry in Q3 of 2016 , with an average investment of $9.3M.

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