Interesting articles about VR – week #23

Why isn’t VR more popular?

A friend of mine posted on Facebook recently that VR is the technology that nobody wants. I instinctively disagree with that because such massive progress has been made in VR over the last few years that it seems like it is poised to become the “next big thing”. And yet it’s perfectly true that the take-up by consumers has been patchy at best. 

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Location-based virtual reality is increasing its footprint in the U.S.

Earlier this year, in a small, grey-walled storefront inside a very large mall in Torrance, Calif. (just past the AMC Center) , the virtual reality game-maker Survios planted its first flag in the market for location-based gaming.

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Tech-Savvy Pastor Uses VR To Deliver Virtual Baptisms

For many Christians, being baptized is the ritual of declaring your faith through a symbolic act of purification and rejuvenation. The ceremony, which is usually held in a church or in a body of water, is performed by a church leader and can be a pretty powerful moment in your life, even if some are too young to remember it.

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HOLOGRAMS, CAMPFIRE HORROR STORIES, AND OK GO: THE BEST VR AND AR FROM THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

Virtual reality hasn’t changed the world the way its creators hoped — at least, not yet. But it’s gotten a lot of traction in a slightly unexpected place: film festivals. At last month’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, curators featured nearly three dozen virtual and augmented reality experiences across three different tracks: a cinematic 360-degree video screening program, a “virtual arcade” with a variety of interactive and cinematic projects, and the long-running Storyscapes program that features ambitious virtual / physical installations.

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Philip Rosedale: VR/AR Headset Adoption Is About Overcoming The Diffraction Limit For The Human Eye (A Dialog)

“VR and AR hardware investment isn’t about 3D,” High Fidelity/Second Life founder Philip Rosedale recently argued, “it is the battle for the next screen. We’ve reached the diffraction limit for the human eye and a desktop or handheld device and now must move to HMDs.” In other words, Philip is arguing that we’ll adopt VR/AR headsets because graphics on our existing devices (and that includes the human eye) have reached their technical limit, and only HMDs can move us past that.

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Facebook Just Created The IPhone Of Virtual Reality

Someone’s probably told you before about how massive virtual reality could be. And, you’ve also probably tucked those speeches somewhere alongside the people who claim the end of the world is coming… since neither of them has held true, thus far. 
But, that all might be changing. Well, the VR thing. Not the end of the world.

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DISRUPTING A TRADITIONAL INDUSTRY: VR AND AR APPLICATIONS IN REAL ESTATE

When it comes to making a name in real estate, and getting into the industry in a way that creates a long-term career, there is a lot for agents to learn. One of the things many agents are finding today is that they have to keep up with technology or they will be left behind their peers. But technology is always changing, and a big part of the focus is how to make the online real estate shopping experience better for potential buyers. Both Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality use in real estate are gaining momentum.

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HoloLens acts as eyes for blind users and guides them with audio prompts Comments Feed

HoloLens has an impressive ability to quickly sense its surroundings, but limiting it to displaying emails or game characters on them would show a lack of creativity. New research shows that it works quite well as a visual prosthesis for the vision impaired, not relaying actual visual data but guiding them in real time with audio cues and instructions.

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Virtual Reality Storytelling – Is it Possible?

Can you tell a story in VR? This is the question that Director, Producer, and Interactive Storyteller Jessica Kantor is focused on exploring. And from what she has discovered through her experimentations, the answer is yes. Often, when people put on a VR headset they expect some type of gimmick. But Jessica believes that it doesn’t have to be that way. She wants to inspire people to tell stories with VR and 360-degree video that capture the attention of audiences in new ways.

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A Brief History Of Virtual Reality

Although virtual reality (VR) technology may seem like something out of a science fiction movie, this innovation isn’t as new as you might think. While people argue, sometimes at length over what the true definition of VR is, many of the ideas that led to where we are with today’s immersive technology has roots in developments several hundred years ago. In terms of inventions, VR had developed as an idea around the time that practical photography was established.

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