Category Archives: Virtual Reality

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Viewing sports in VR gives us all a chance to have the best seats in the house, even if the video quality isn't quite as good as being there just yet.

Youll be able to get closer to the action at this years Summer X Games than ever before, as Samsung has partnered with the organizers to offer 360-degree video that can be viewed live in virtual reality. It joins a number of events that Samsung will make available to Gear VR users as part of its VR Live Pass series of Summer events.

Although watching sports in virtual reality has a lot of potential, it hasnt materialized as a major component of big sporting organizations as of yet. However, Samsung is driving it forward this summer with a number of sporting events, beginning with UFC 212 at the start of June, in Rio de Janeiro.

The X Games is the next stop on its VR sporting tour and will see Gear VR owners given a unique perspective on skateboarding, as well as BMX and motocross riding during the Summer X Games in Minneapolis, between July 13 and 16.

Its not clear at this time what the perspective will be like for the 360-degree cameras, but it will be a view thats unhindered by the traditional bounds of a screen. Although viewers wont be able to physically move around, they will be able to rotate their view along with their head, looking behind, in front, and side to side, in a full 360-degree sphere.

Its is likely that, similar to the UFC 212 event, only portions of it will be broadcast in VR. While we dont know how much of the show will be viewable, Samsung has confirmed that viewers will be able to watch skaters and riders likeJimmy Wilkins, Chad Kerley, and Jagger Eaton.

Along with the X Games event, Samsung is also working toward providing VR viewing for Gear VR owners at aconcert in August, supported by Live Nation. According to RoadtoVR, the concert will be streamed from the United Statesand will feature an international artist, though details about who that will be, or even when exactly it will take place, have yet to be announced.

Although still in the nascent stage of its life cycle, virtual reality sports viewing is gathering traction and Samsungs VR pass only helps that along. Its joined by the likes of the NBA, which recently broadcast some of the finals highlights in virtual reality.

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Pull a VR 360 at this year's X Games with live virtual reality video - Digital Trends

Jeremy Vine: menaced by graphics. Photograph: Mark Thomas/Rex Shutterstock

The winners on the night? Sky well resourced and very competent. ITV with Bradby, charm and some ace guests (especially George Osborne, who may have made the biggest career mistake of his life and grimacing as though he realised it). And Dimblebys last hurrah on the BBC, with only a few bumbles through a long, practised evening and early morning before Huw Edwards, looking almost as weary, took over the baton.

Special plaudits to Emily Maitlis, in total charge of the results board. Slightly less applause for Jeremy Vine, doing his Peter Snow memorial turn on the swings and future-extrapolation roundabouts.

Actually, its not eager Jeremy who grits any teeth here: more the surrounding oppressive edifices of virtual reality the corporation surrounds him with. Its all too much like Alien as you wait for a monstrous Farage to burst from Vines chest and start eating the studio.

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Never mind the election vote what's up with the virtual reality? - The Guardian

A scene of a classroom from the VR and Autism project, showing the perspective of the child diagnosed with autism. The user wearing the VR headset would experience the sights and sounds of the classroom from a different perspective, highlighting the perceptions of a child with autism. Photo: Joseph Camilleri

We were all children. We think that as adults we are able to understand children because we have experienced childhood ourselves. But not many of us have experienced autism or growing up with a family who felt it safer to traverse treacherous countries and seas illegally in the hope for a better and safer future. Nor can many of us boast being able to walk in these childrens shoes while understanding and empathising with them.

The University of Maltas Department of Artificial Intelligence, in collaboration with the Department of Digital Arts, has embarked upon two projects using creative arts and virtual reality (VR) technology to develop two VR apps designed to support empathy. Both apps have been designed as experiences to empower users through authentic multisensorial experiences captured in 3D.

One of the VR experiences has been created to mimic the world surrounding a child who has been diagnosed with autism. For this project, parents, teachers and learning support assistants provided sources of information about the childs reactions and about stimuli that might disturb the child during the daily motions of life in the classroom.

The experience, which was filmed in a real school setting, makes use of sounds and 360 visuals to provide a realistic immersive setting. This immersive VR experience can then be used as part of the training of new teachers and other people who interact with such children. It can be used as a key to the development of an empathic understanding, which will help users to resonate with the learner who is in some way affected by the condition.

The same principle is applied to the second VR app aimed at addressing multicultural situations in the classroom.

The phenomenon of migration has increased drastically in this past decade. People are driven out of their homes by war and terrorism, seeking safer locations. Most often, we have heard harrowing stories of migrants arduous journey as they travel from their native country to other countries promising safety and refuge.

In this project, the virtual reality experience exposes the migration experiences and how these might come out in daily classroom life. Users are once again transported to a realistic classroom setting, where actions that might be meaningless to teachers and students trigger a series of immersive flashbacks in migrant children.

The VR experience is not only intended to highlight the plight of migrants journeys, but also to get a glimpse into the hopes and aspirations of these voyagers.

Dr Vanessa Camilleri is a lecturer with the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta.

Engineers are using soft robotics technology to make light, flexible gloves that allow users to feel tactile feedback when they interact with virtual reality environments. The researchers used the gloves to realistically simulate the tactile feeling of playing a virtual piano keyboard.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530140713.htm

Researchers are using VR to teach the principles behind string theory, which posits that the universe is built not just from three spatial dimensions (up/down, side/side, forward/backward) and the single dimension of time, but at least six other dimensions. These other dimensions would be too small for humans to detect, but according to the theory, the six dimensions play a major role in controlling particles. VR is used to explain these concepts which might be otherwise too difficult to demonstrate.

https://www.wired.com/2017/06/string-theorys-weirdest-ideas-finally-make-sense-thanks-vr/

For more soundbites listen to Radio Mocha on Radju Malta 2 every Monday at 1pm and Friday at 6pm.

https://www.facebook.com/RadioMochaMalta/

Virtual reality technology creates a stereoscopic 3D image by angling the two 2D images to mimic how each of our two eyes views the world ever-so-slightly differently.

A VR set is able to track your head movement through a system called 6DoF (six degrees of freedom), which plots your head in terms of your X, Y and Z axis to measure head movements forward and backwards, side to side and shoulder to shoulder, otherwise known as pitch, yaw and roll.

Psychological Presence is central to virtual reality, whereby the brain forgets that it is in a virtual space and immerses into the perceptual illusion offered by the VR experience.

Google designed a cardboard head mount for smartphones as a low-cost VR system. Instructions to make your own cardboard head mount can be found online.

Virtual reality is used in many sectors, including in medicine for things like surgical training and drug design. Nowadays, through VR technology, it is also possible for a surgeon in one location to perform a surgery through a robot in a different location.

The first research towards VR was in 1938 when Charles Wheatstone demonstrated that the brain processes the different two-dimensional images from each eye into a single object of three dimensions.

For more trivia see:www.um.edu.mt/think

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Virtual reality technology and empathy - Times of Malta

Welsh National Operas Magic Butterfly, a virtual reality installation in a shipping container will open in Cardiff in July. Photograph: Welsh National Opera

Cutting-edge visual technology is pushing its way into the hallowed halls of culture this summer. New 3D replicas of missing artworks have been installed at the home of the 18th-century writer Horace Walpole, while Welsh National Opera is going a step further, creating a virtual reality performance.

Authenticity was once key to the value of a work of art, as well being a crucial notion in the world of entertainment. Yet soon it is likely that even experts will be unsure what they are looking at.

Many of the paintings and artefacts collected by the gothic author Walpole, son of the first prime minister Robert Walpole, are being gathered for display in Strawberry Hill House, the villa he designed in Twickenham, south-west London, ahead of the 300th anniversary of his birth in September.

Some pieces, however, are either missing or judged too fragile to transport and have been replaced by 3D replicas.

Last summer a first facsimile of a double portrait of Walpoles parents was hung in the Blue Bedchamber at Strawberry Hill. The original was first displayed there in 1754 but is now in the Lewis Walpole Library in Connecticut and is too delicate to travel.

Three weeks ago, 34 other works, including a 1765 portrait of Walpoles nieces and a series of studies of Henry VIIIs courtiers, were also brought to the villa after 3D technicians at Factum Arte, based in Madrid, recreated them. The work, funded by an anonymous donor, will form part of an exhibition next year.

The value of fakery is not an alien concept at Strawberry Hill, its curators point out, as the building is a reproduction of medieval architecture and the portraits of Henrys courtiers were George Vertues copies of Hans Holbein originals.

Welsh National Operas virtual reality experiment Magic Butterfly is installed in a shipping container, and will allow visitors to step inside scenes from two operas, Mozarts The Magic Flute and Puccinis Madam Butterfly.

The experience, created with Google Daydream technology, will open in Cardiff on 14 July before touring to Birmingham, Liverpool, Llandudno and London through the year.

Virtual reality was also used at last months Cannes film festival, where the Oscar winning director Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu premiered his innovative Carne y Arena Mexican refugee experience.

The technology is also being widely adopted across marketing and business. It has been used to recruit into the armed forces by giving potential submariners an idea what it would be like to live underwater.

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Step inside Butterfly's house in virtual reality opera night - The Guardian

To gain some insight into the career and ambition of director and producer Doug Limana multifaceted, endlessly inquisitive artisttake a look at his second directorial effort,Swingers, the classic comedy starring a younger Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn that launched his career. A tinkerer by nature, Liman understood that there was a different way to make an independent film, for much less money, while creating a more immersive experience.

WithInvisiblehis latest project from Conde Nast Entertainment, Samsung and VR firm JaunttheBourneIdentityandEdge of Tomorrow helmer continues to push boundaries and question established procedure, entering the world of virtual reality with a bang and a lot of action, and demonstrating that the much-discussed, burgeoning medium need not be reduced to a mundane, aimless panorama.

Speaking with Deadline, Liman touches on his proclivity for immersive storytelling, the low bar that has been set with VR, and the Holy Grail he is chasing after in the medium.

Conde Nast Entertainment

Youve pursued many artistic outlets throughout your career. At what point did you start thinking about virtual reality as a medium?

I had put on a VR headset and was just floored by the potential of it, but also, it wasnt necessarily being used to its full potential. I think it was a natural thing for me to be drawn to, just knowing the concept, because I really aspired to create movies that give you a first-person experience.

When I set out to make Bourne Identity, my main goal for the franchise was to create something where it feels like youre in the action. Youre not just passively watching it from far away. Thats something that I have constantly aspired to doeven in Swingers, to feel like youre Jon Favreau; youre not just watching him.

I really have thought about immersive storytelling my whole career, so when I first heard about VR, I was like Oh, this sounds like its for me.

What was the genesis of Invisible, and what were you setting out to do?

Given the kind of filmmaker I am, the kind of experiences Ive been trying to give audiences, I was drawn to the potential of VR before I even tried watching anything in VR.

To be honest, when I started watching VR content, I was mostly disappointed and thought people could do betternot that different from when I set out to make Swingers and thought, Theres a better way to make an independent film. Which is why Swingers ended up being so much less expensive than anything like it.

Maybe, in part, I was attracted by how scary it seems. You know that expression, Whats the worst that could happen? People use that all the time; parents use that with their kids to convince them to try something. Whats the worst that could happen? How many times are we told that in our lives?

Ive had some experiences in my life, where someone is like,Whats the worst that could happen? where its been pretty bad. Whether its trying to kiss a girl in ninth grade and its like, Whats the worst that could happen? And it was bad.

In college, I tried to organize a dance marathon, and it was like, Try it! Whats the worst that could happen? Nobody showed up, and thats a 24-hour-long party that no ones at.

Conde Nast Entertainment

Ive experienced some Whats the worst that could happen? and when I started looking at VR, and Im like, I want to try something new. Whats the worst that could happen? I was like, you can really fall flat on your face with this one.

Theres some really boring VR content out there. Its like watching a PBS videotape of a boring play. Youre like, Cool! I can look at the ceiling and the wall, in case the main performance isnt boring enough.

I really think I was attracted in part because I understood how dangerous a medium it is. I was excited by the challenge of inventing new rulesrules that might enable dynamic, scripted storytelling to live up to the potential of the medium.

Invisible was an idea that Melisa Wallack and I had been kicking about, and I thought, this is exactly the kind of story that might work in VR. I was looking at things that werent working, because not every story, I think, can work in VR.

I really thought making a scripted series in VR work has to start at the concept stage.

Even with that, it was a steep and fast learning curve. I discovered almost immediately that the bar for Melisa and her writing is so much higher because you have to hook an audience way more quickly, because part of VRs appeal and the way it works is that the audience has to want to follow the story. Then, they enjoy hunting to find the breadcrumbs you left them. They love exploring the world, but they have to want to explore it.

So many times, VR is used as promotional material to support a world that has already interested an audience in another medium. But if its original content, new characters and a new world, you dont have the luxury of a five-minute setup to get hooked into a character and a world, the way I do in my movies.

When taking on a series in VRgrappling with the complexities of that mediumwhat inspired you to throw the additional challenge of a visual effects component on top of it all?

I think VR really lends itself to visual effects work because basically, every shot is a visual effect anyhow. I think VR is really effective when The New York Times does it, if you want to take an audience and show them a real refugee camp, and give them that experience.

But if youre talking about scripted, the magic of VR is transporting the audience to a world thats different than our world. If youre just going to show them our world, they might as well watch VR on The New York Times. The way you show the audience a world thats different than our world is with visual effects. It just seems like the natural place for scripted VR to go.

To be honest, the biggest challenge in VR, and ironically the thing that got me most interested in the beginning is shooting action in VR. One of my starting places was, the action of, say, The Bourne Identity. Im working so hard to make the action of my movies immersive, and make you feel like youre in the car with Matt; youre being chased by Angelina Jolie. Its to give you that immersive experience like youre in it.Youre not passively watching it.

I selected Invisible as the story I wanted to tell in VR because it does have effects and it does have action. The reality is, it was shockingly hard to do the action. I was working with [director/stunt coordinator] Simon Crane, whos done a number of films with me. Hes at the top of the field in action directing, and Im excited for the next one we do because of how much we learned.

The Holy Grail, Im still looking for, which is, the peak of action in VR that justifies the medium. I feel like we made big steps in that direction with Invisible. I know its thereI know we can do itso Im excited about the medium. Im excited to keep going, and Im excited, as other filmmakers join the fray, because we learn from each other.

Conde Nast Entertainment

The camera technology used to shoot Invisible is quite complex. How do you work with a camera shooting in 360 degrees, while keeping yourself and your crew out of the shot?

Shooting VR is really cumbersome right now. It has the challenge of the camera shooting 360, so it ultimately requires you to use witness cameras and things like that to see what the cameras are picking up.

The other aspect of VR is that younger directors who grew up in a media-saturated environment might have an edge in VR. But those of us who started out when movies were made on film have one advantage right now in VR, which is that you dont get to see what youve shot until later. They cant stitch it in real time.

Those of us who grew up when movies were made on film are used to shooting and waiting to see the results, and a modern filmmaker is used to seeing results immediately. You can look at a high definition monitor and see exactly what an audience is going to see when the movies done.

In VR, theres a lot of looking at the elements that are going to go into it, and then having to imagine what its going to be like when its all put together. Especially when you get to visual effects, sometimes you dont to get to see it until a month later.

The audio is so complicated. I grew up making films like where, you did the color timing over here, and you did it with no sound, and over here, you did the sound, and you had a lousy picture to look at. And then its not till youre all done with everything that the picture and sound are married.

Movies were made that way for 70 yearssome of the greatest movies. VR was the same way, where mixing the sound is so complicated that when youre doing the stitching of the picture, you have a lousy soundtrack that youre working with, and then separately, over here, you have great sound, but you have no picture to go with it, and its not till its all done and its too late to make any changes that you finally see the sound and the picture married.

But thats also really exciting, especially in the case of Invisible, where I was so happy with how the results turned out.

Virtual reality is a format that has generated a lot of conversation, and with that, a lot of skepticism. What are your thoughts on the future of the medium, and its place in entertainment?

Personally, I think VRs greatest strength is going to be in replacing Skypesort of having meetings with avatars, and not entertainment. I think gaming is extraordinary in VR. It has a huge potential. I think augmented reality also has incredible, untapped potential.

I think VR documentaries and VR narrative series are also really exciting, and were still discovering where this medium can go. As I said before, I love making action films, and I know that VR will become mainstream when one of us succeeds in the goal I set out for myselfwhen one of us succeeds in accomplishing truly giving an audience the experience of being in the middle of extraordinary action.

Has it been heartening to see the conversation shift over the course of this past year, with the success of your series and Alejandro Gonzlez Irritus Carne y Arena, which lit up Cannes?

Its exciting for me because its such a fertile environment for creative thinkers, and people who want to push boundaries and try ideas.

Filmmakers feed off each other, even if we dont know each other. We learn from each other, we feed off each other; we get better because of each other. The competition pushes us. The camaraderie pushes us.

So yeah, I think the more filmmakers that join and achieve any form of success will encourage more people to come into the tent.

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Doug Liman Goes VR With 'Invisible': I Thought People Could Do Better - Deadline

This is a 360 video experience. Use your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard to see the entire 360 view.

Grab the bar! Leap out of your comfort zone and through the air with a troupe of trapeze artists in Brooklyn, NYC. USA TODAY NETWORK

IMAX VR in the lobby of the AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 in Manhattan.(Photo: IMAX)

NEW YORKThere are numerous reasons why virtual reality has gotten off to a shaky start at home: cost, complexity, slim content, and the fact that you must wear this contraption on your head. Will VR fare better at the multiplex?

IMAX and AMC Theatres have just opened a series of experiential VR pods in the lobby of the AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 theater in Manhattan, the second of ten such VR centers that IMAX plans to launch worldwide this year, and the first in a multiplex. IMAXs initial pilot VR venture was in Los Angeles. Others are coming to Toronto, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai, Manchester and elsewhere.

Each pod features a different virtual setupwith either an HTC Vive VR or StarbreezeStarVR headset. The VR content also varies from pod to pod, with choices such as Ubisofts Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Skydances Archangel, and an experience I tried, Starbreezes Mummy Prodigium Strike.

Sort of like a modern-day arcade, each pod alsohas a screen so that while youve got a headset on your noggin, your pals can watch what youre doing (though it will cost a lot more to play). And some experiences are multiplayer, so you can compete against pals in another pod or eventually, another location.

Though there are obvious tie-ins to a movie that might be playing in the same theater as The Mummy was, AMC and IMAX are treating these separately. Youll have to buy a ticket to see a movie; youll pay to wear the VR headsets.

The VR experiences last between sevenand 10 minutes; IMAX VR charges $10 to $15 to play a VR game. So if youre also planning to see a movie, munch on popcorn and buy a soft drink the price can add up fast, especially if youre bringing the family.

AMC and IMAX may experiment with bundled pricing.

One of the reasons why this is in the lobby of the theater is you dont actually need to buy a ticket to see the movie to enjoy the IMAX VR experience, says Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres. And we actually think the IMAX VR experience is going to be a standalone attraction. In that regard, I dont think a $10 price point is that expensive.

Virtual reality parlors are one of a slew of upgrades and features movie theaters have planned as a bid to stoke attendance in an age when more consumers can watch movies at home and on the go using increasingly varied streaming options and unlimited data plans.

Movie attendance was close to flat last year, though box office sales reached a record thanks to rising ticket prices.

The hope: customers will hang out and spend money longer at the theater just to have a go at VR.In early tests, around 70% of the people whove tried IMAX VR have experienced virtual reality for the first time.

IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond also hopes to draw in people from outside the multiplex, especially during hours when the theater is less busy.

We have to recognize over the long term, this has to coexist with the home, he says. So what were trying to provide here is something more premium, something more social and the first place you can see the hottest new content. Our idea is not only to get a head start, but to maintain a permanent advantage.

A player tries The Mummy VR experience at AMC Kips Bay theater in Manhattan.(Photo: Edward C. Baig)

AMC has 650 theaters in the U.S. and another 350 or so in Europe. According to Aron, the VR experience will work well in theaters with a lot of public space, where we can afford to steal some of it. At Kips Bay, IMAX VR takes up about 2900 square feet of a lobby that is about 6900 square feet.

If the consumer response is strong enough, Aron envisions placing VR in between 50 and 200 theaters in the blink of an eye.

The Navy wants to recruit you with Virtual Reality

Weapon in hand, I had fun blasting away nasty creatures during my Mummy VR experience. That is, until the screen went dark and I hit technical snags. AMC and IMAX will have to have staff in place to service consumers and deal with any problems. In the early going, IMAX saysunder 1% of customers have faced problems.

Yet another potential issue is that some consumers might get queasy or frightened during certain VR adventuresonescary option at Kips Bay is to virtually experience The Walk along a wire some 110 stories above ground between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Customers do have to sign a waiver. And experiences are open to 7-years olds on up, with some better suited for an older audience.

As joint venture partners, AMC and IMAX share in the price of the content and share in the investment and proceeds. It cost between $250,000 to $400,000 to deploy IMAX VR at Kips Bay, not factoring in the tech or the content. In L.A., the most popular VR attractions so far have been for Star Wars and John Wick.

An IMAX VR player in Los Angeles has a go at Star Wars.(Photo: IMAX VR)

The results of L.A. are encouraging. The early results of (Kips Bay) are also encouraging. And Im changing my mindset from `does it work? to a different question which is `where does it work?, Gelfond says.

For his part, Aron says, Im almost as certain as I can be that fast-forward a year or two and were going to have a lot of installations.

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter

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Can virtual reality find an audience at the multiplex? - USA Today - USA TODAY

You are soaring high above the Manhattan Skyline, feeling the cool breeze on your face. Looking down at the rooftops of thousands of buildings, your muscles begin to ache from flapping your wings, but the view is so beautiful and the experience so mind-blowing, you cannot help but continue your flight.

Suddenly, as Manhattan Beach comes into view, the words Simulation is Over, appear before your eyes. Removing your headset, you prepare to visit the other stations at the digital experience lab that is Reboot Reality.

Opened on May 26 as a permanent exhibit at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Reboot Reality contains several virtual reality (VR) simulations created by technology companies such as Google and Adobe, with the help of artists and researchers.

In addition to Birdly, which simulates flying, Reboot Reality includes Wetbrush by Adobe, which allows you to create 3D paintings on a screen; Tilt Brush by Google, where you use a headset to create 3D art pulled from your imagination; and Medium by Oculus, where you experience 3D sculpting with digital clay. Each of these interactive simulations are intended for people 13 years of age and older, but Reboot Reality includes others for younger children.

The purpose of Reboot Reality is to bridge the gap between the public and tech companies, to ensure that the public has access to new innovations they cannot afford. The Tech hopes that this influences the younger generations to take up careers in the STEM industry.

Our mission is to inspire the innovator in everyone and a big piece of that is making sure every kid has access to STEM education and feels confident to pursue a career in STEM. We also hope to inspire people to use technology to solve big problems, said Marika Krause, The Techs public relations manager.

A Reboot Reality goer, Ying Liang, 24, believes that children would benefit from this lab because it would put them in touch with their creative side and inspire them to work in the technology industry. Liang said that an exhibit such as Wetbrush by Adobe is particularly accessible to kids since they simply use a digital brush to make realistic paintings.

Liang added that while virtual reality could be treated simply as a toy, it could also become a valuable tool.

Krause agreed. She pointed to The Diridon Project by Gensler, which allows you to walk into a world where you can see the blueprints of a building translated into 3D before construction begins. Krause said a simulation such as this can improve the life of architects because they would be able to virtually step into a building before it is physically created.

Neesha Pammi, 44, also a museum-goer, said that she can see how a virtual reality system could be used in the workplace, as her husband is an architect and is beginning to work with a system similar to The Diridon Project.

Simulations can also improve communities by helping people develop their sense of empathy, said Clarissa Buettner, a gallery program specialist. She pointed to Stanford Universitys Human Interaction lab, where Reboot Reality visitors can live the life of a homeless person and experience the struggles they go through on a daily basis.

In the simulation, you sit at your desk, staring at the few valuables still in your possession. Your landlord knocks, asking for the rent money you owe, moments before evicting you. After selling whats left of your valuables, you begin to sleep on an overnight bus, dealing with sex offenders, thieves, and the anxiety of getting back on your feet.

Pammi can attest to how real the simulations feel. In addition to The Diridon Project, Pammi also tried flying with Birdly. She said that the experience actually made her feel dizzy afterwards. During her first ride on Birdly, her husband encouraged her to take a dive from the skyline, down to the streets of Manhattan and she said, You can go all the way down, but theres no way Im going to do that.

Sophia Rodriguez, a graduate ofAndrew Hill High in San Jose, is a 2017 Mosaic staff writer.

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Virtual reality exhibit bridges gap between tech and public - The Mercury News

(WXYZ) - Why ride a regular ole roller coaster, if you could kick it up a notch with some virtual reality technology?

Cedar Point has added a bit more amusement to its park with virtual reality and augmented reality offerings.

Starting today, fans of the Iron Dragon will get to experience the ride using special VR headsets. The park began testing out the feature last year.

Now, Iron Dragon: VR will be available to coaster fans starting at 6 p.m. each day through September 4. Just a note: you have to be 13 or older to be able to participate in the VR experience, according to a news release from the park.

And if you need some entertainment while waiting in line, you can check out the park's revamped "Battle for Cedar Point" mobile game. The free game can be played through the Cedar Point app.

Cedar Point says it has augmented reality features, and lets guests virtually battle with other visitors and unlock interactive billboards around the park.

Check out more here.

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Virtual reality returns to Iron Dragon at Cedar Point - WXYZ

BBC News

Virtual reality: Welsh firms increasingly using VR tech - BBC News BBC News It has been more traditionally associated with the games industry, but businesses are increasingly switching on to the benefits of virtual reality. With the cost of ... and more »

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Virtual reality: Welsh firms increasingly using VR tech - BBC News - BBC News

True virtual reality has quickly captured the imagination of content owners, tech vendors and fans. However, capturing and holding the attention of fans with an immersive experience does have its challenges .Those who seek to redefine pro sports viewing will need to overcome core tech and network infrastructure obstacles.

Last week alone, the MLB and NBA announced deals with VR vendors to deliver a weekly game of the week to fans in virtual reality. The NFL last year provided game highlights and an original series in VR on-demand but has yet to stream live content such as game casts

The NFL worked with NextVR to create highlights and commentary packages available after three games last season. Source: NextVR

VR's promise to provide immersive, super high-resolution images from advanced cameras of live sports can spell trouble for bandwidth pipes to the home. Tech vendors are feverishly working to find ways to deliver more content using advanced streaming methods and encoding over current broadband pipes. Read

Long-used for online gaming, virtual reality promises to put sports fans front and center in the game without being at the game. VR calls this immersion, with "experiences" ranging from a single camera view to watching the action through a number of cameras placed at different vantage points in the venue. Individuals need the prescribed vendor's headset and to download the accompanying app to their smartphone to get going.

Virtual reality becomes real for a young Tom Brady fan. Source: Patriots.com

"I don't think the home has the bandwidth to handle live VR so it would have to be on demand," said one NFL source. That was the league's approach last year when it partnered with vendor NextVR to produce short highlights packages for on-demand access (as in after the game concluded). It also partnered with Google to co-create a nine-part original series in VR and available on demand. Read

Unlike other sports leagues, the NFL has to date, focused squarely on short-form content creation for use after games conclude or with the VR series, at any time via video-on-demand systems.

The NFL and NextVR last season created a series of postgame experiences available on demand. Source: NextVR

When asked if the Now Fun League would continue the projects for the upcoming season, the answer was a bit unclear and lacked detail, but seemed hopeful in terms of continued work and interest in VR.

"The short answer is we liked what we saw across our VR partnerships last year and will look to continue to do more this year to build an NFL VR presence, develop internal capabilities, and test fan interest," commented one league spokesperson.

Pro sports leagues and others have used Intel Corp.'s Voke VR camera to capture captivating content. Intel last week signed a three-year deal with Major League Baseball to do a game of the week in VR. Source: Intel.

The content capture devices, such as VR cameras from Voke, which was bought by Intel last year, and NextVR have already shot live sports action for streaming. It's how that precious payload is delivered to fans that has received little public attention Read

"Live football presents very different challenges from other sports when it comes to a live VR production so we'll continue to test until we feel we have a quality product for our fans," the spokesperson added.

One league source predicted VR streaming of live games is years away, unless a VR company or network paid a huge sum of money for the right to deliver a live NFL football game. Read

While the present is full of talk and marketing opportunities, the NFL has taken what appears to be a more measured and cautious approach with virtual reality. Instead of teaming to broadcast live games on VR, the league last November partnered with NextVR to help create a post-game experience for fans that was available on demand not long after three select games concluded.

The "experiences" were to be about 10 minutes long from the chosen sites and include a combo of expert commentary and game highlights. For each production, press materials said, "NextVR will work alongside the award-winning team from NFL Films, utilizing their experience and access to deploy NextVR's virtual reality cameras throughout each stadium to capture immersive views of NFL action like never before."

The league understands well that virtual reality is a rapidly evolving technology. "This is a great opportunity for the NFL to continue experimenting with the capabilities and distribution of VR experiences," said William Deng, Director, Media Strategy and Business Development at the NFL. Read

Also last season, the NFL produced its first original VR series - a nine-part undertaking it created for launch on YouTube using Google Daydream's headset.The league was quick to say at the announcement last November that the focus here is promotional.

Vishal Shah, the NFL's senior VP of digital media, said of the undertaking when it was announced: "We want to get better acquainted with the technology, the platform, the content we can actually create and how our fans are engaging in the content and viewing it."

NFL Films, an asset other pro leagues lack, produced the 5- to 10-minute episodes which covered players, coaches, executives, cheerleaders and fans

The NFL worked with Google is staff and equipment for the series. Important to note is that the league and Google teamed to develop, and is helping the NFL develop the app for the Daydream View platform. Read

In its quarterly State of the Internet report, Content Delivery Network (CDN) kingpin Akamai Technologies, Inc. reported gains in Internet connection bandwidth capacity. The average bandwidth to homes rose to 18.7 megabits/sec, for the first quarter of this year, while peak bandwidth rose to 86.5 megabits/sec.

Canada finished behind global leader U.S. with an average of 16.2 megabits/sec, and a peak of 78.7 megabits/sec, according to the comprehensive Akamai report.

Intel produces 3-, 5- and 8-megabit virtual reality streams for Major League Baseball, according to CTO of Intel Sports Group, Jay Sankar. "These bit rates are well within reach of a significant number of homes and the experience is good with LTE as well."

The streams also include features including a picture-in-picture of a zoomed in pitcher batter view, stats, scores, and more, according to Sankar.

The VR undertaking also has adaptive bit rate streaming (ABR) tech at its disposal in the app. It has long been used with the delivery of live video over public networks because it enables the switching between bit rates based on the available bandwidth at the time. Capacity is known to fluctuate on the Internet. Read

Conspicuously absent from materials/public discussion/ is any mention of network infrastructure needed to deliver live, multi-hour VR streams to a potentially huge audience. Some ask if networks can survive.

"True VR is super bandwidth intensive and doesn't tolerate latency (delay)," explained Teresa Mastrangelo, Founder of Broadbandtrends LLC, a network infrastructure and service provider market analysis and consulting firm in Norfolk, VA. "Only a small percentage of homes already have the Internet connection needed to handle this experience."

"What's uncertain is whether or not service providers will be willing to spend to upgrade their infrastructure for an application that may prove to be of high value to consumers," she added. "It's a bit of a Catch-22 situation today."

Service providers may be facing spending on data center hubs, optical transport connections, storage and more data centers close to the network edge. Caching tech and products toward the edge could help provide an improved viewing experience, especially for non-live VR content.

The NFL's on demand approach with short-duration (minutes) streams would impose less strain on network and require less service provider network infrastructure spending. Service providers would likely focus on adding storage so the VR programming can be located closer to viewers for a better user experience. Read

As virtual reality is an emerging technology and thus a work-in-progress. The preferred price is free, be it for streams of live games or for on-demand content. While this helps attract fans to the experiences, it's not clear when we will see an actual revenue model in this space.

Models discussed include pay-per-view, inclusion in existing league streaming subscription services and a standalone subscription fee for VR content.

The fan focused NFL's thinking here is clear as day. The NFL's Shah said at the announcement of the nine - part VR series last November: "the project underscores that it's still early in the VR game - with the league tapping the tech as a promotional fan-engagement vehicle, rather than a revenue driver." Read

There is no race to a finish line when it comes to sports leagues deploying virtual reality. Determining how to provide interested fans the optimal user experience they have been shown and heard about is job one. Achieving this lofty goal with a revenue plan would be even better.

For these milestones to be reached all members of the virtual reality ecosystem need to focus on ensuring the necessary network infrastructure and embedded technologies are in place to handle the top-rate delivery of VR streams and what should be a resulting vertical increase in fan demand.

Stay tuned.

Bob Wallace is a technology journalist with over 30 years of experience explaining how new services, apps, consumer electronic devices and video sources are reshaping the wide world of sports. Wallace has specific expertise in explaining how and why advances in technology redefine the way sports teams interact with their partners and fans. He's the Founder of Fast Forward Thinking LLC. Read

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