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Category: virtual reality – Page 104

Asus says it’s building an augmented reality headset to release in 2016

Taiwanese PC manufacturer Asus says it’s building an augmented reality device and aims to release it next year. According to a report from CNET, Asus CEO Jerry Shen confirmed the plans during an earnings call on Wednesday, arguing that augmented reality or AR will be more useful than virtual reality. “You can make a real setting meld together with yourself and the AR portion,” said Shen. “Internally, we are talking about how to prepare.”

Unlike VR, augmented reality doesn’t show you a completely fabricated view, but instead overlays digital elements onto the real world. The current frontrunner in this nascent field is Microsoft’s HoloLens, which the company has shown off in a range of impressive demos. However, the HoloLens is hampered by a number of problems, including bulkiness, constrained viewing angles, and a high price tag, with Microsoft releasing a $3,000 HoloLens developer kit in the first quarter of 2016. (By comparison, Samsung’s Gear VR, a virtual reality headset powered by the company’s smartphones, became available for preorder this week for just $99.) Asus has previously hinted that it might build its own version of the HoloLens, but as a company best known for its budget laptops, tablets, and smartphones, we wouldn’t expect it to match Microsoft’s price.

Despite the lack of unknowns surrounding Asus’s announcement, it’s still interesting to see a company align itself with augmented, rather than virtual, reality. The Verge’s Adi Robertson has argued that the complete immersion of VR makes it difficult for multitasking, and that augmented reality, by comparison, is more practical. Asus apparently agrees. “We think AR will be very important for people’s lives,” said Shen according to CNET. “It should be next year when we come out with a product.”

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How the Cutting Edge of Virtual Reality Is Making the Real World Seem Boring

In the television series Star Trek, virtual reality-chambers called “holodecks” take humans into computer-generated worlds where they interact with avatars — and with each other. Imagine being able to visit a distant planet or Tahiti during your lunch break. In Star Trek, holodecks come into existence in the 24th century and reproduce all sensory perceptions, including touch and smell.

Chambers that replicate the touch and feel of solid materials are still a decade or two away. But virtual reality worlds that are amazingly similar to what we saw in Star Trek are already here. Hundreds of companies are working on virtual reality hardware, software, applications and content. I expect that 2016 will be the year when we start visiting exotic lands from the comfort of our offices and living rooms.

There are several technology developments which are bringing the future to us ahead of the Star Trek schedule. For starters, there is what is called “full-immersion virtual reality.” These are systems that take us out of the real world, into an entirely different digital realm. We hear stereo sounds and see panoramic displays that are so convincing that users lose track of time and space (they also, until very recently, suffered from serious nausea and motion sickness). Facebook’s Oculus Rift is the leading immersive virtual reality (VR) system but numerous others are either on the market or in the works.

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Landmark Is Working On A Virtual Reality World’s Fair — By Stephanie Topacio Long | Digital Trends

“Technology is finally catching up with Landmark Entertainment Group’s big ideas. The global entertainment design firm announced Thursday that it is collaborating with Pavilion of Me to create a virtual reality experience called the Virtual World’s Fair that will launch in 2017.”

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Haptics Technology: Soon, We Might Be Able To ‘Feel’ Cyberspace

Haptics is a growing field that aims to allow our bodies to control and ultimately ‘feel’ our virtual identity. Instead of using the theorized mechanism of a neural computer link, haptic tech attaches sensors and stimuli to our body. A report by research firm Markets and Markets thinks haptic technology, which could soon include something like a glove that let’s you move a hand in cyberspace, will be worth 30 billion by 2020.

Haptic technology, also known as kinesthetic communication, sounds like something out of science fiction. But products, like the vibrating cell phone, have been out for decades. And there’s more advanced systems on the way. That’s partly because of another hyped field: virtual reality. With pioneering virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift poised for release next year, the question becomes: How to make this experience even more immersive.

The tech is based on our sense of touch, a sensation that philosopher John Locke believed to be the most undeniable of all human senses. We believe something is real by touching it, a philosophy that haptic technology follows.

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GAO Reports: The Internet of Things — FAQs

I think about pros and cons of living in a connected world … think about it …sometimes the answer it is not so simple, nor unique.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44227.pdf by Eric A. Fischer — Senior Specialist in Science and Technology, October 13, 2015

Humans will be able to use augmented intelligence to compete with robots

In January this year Microsoft announced the HoloLens, a technology based on virtual and augmented reality (AR).

HoloLens supplements what you see with overlaid 3D images. It also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate relevant information depending on the situation the wearer is in. The information is then augmented to your normal vision using virtual reality (VR).

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