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Leap Motion ha annunciato una nuova piattaforma che permetterà di aggiungere la tecnologia di hand tracking ai visori per la realtà virtuale mobile, come il Samsung Gear VR. L’azienda californiana ha presentato un primo prototipo e fornito alcune caratteristiche hardware, ma bisognerà attendere il 2017 per vedere un prodotto finito.
Circa tre anni fa, Leap Motion aveva introdotto sul mercato un piccolo controller USB con fotocamere e LED ad infrarossi, in grado di rilevare la posizione delle mani nello spazio e convertire i movimenti in gesture per Windows 8.
La tecnologia di tracciamento è stata successivamente integrata nel visore OSVR, mentre una versione del controller di dimensioni inferiori (Orion) può essere usata con qualsiasi visore per la realtà virtuale, come Oculus Rift. I dispositivi di fascia alta hanno oggi il loro controller, quindi Leap Motion ha deciso di puntare alla VR mobile.
Other options superior for quality control, hazardous environments
A report from independent research and advisory firm Lux Research Inc. has identified Google Glass coming up short in many usage cases, with smart glasses like Sony’s SmartEyeglass and Osterhout Design Group’s R-7 better suited for the needs of industrial workers, customer service reps and quality control agents.
The report categorized more than 70 enterprise deployments of smart glasses, focusing on three aspects of core criteria – access to information, real-time communication, and documentation.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
“Google Glass is in the game only for real-time communication,” the report concludes. “Google Glass is a truly viable option only in real-time communication applications such as online sales support. Even there it faces competitors like Vuzix, which is the best fit in this segment -- light enough to be worn all day and meeting the need for live video streaming.”
We agree with the Lux Research report on a number of counts. Back in summer 2013, we were fortunate enough to be invited into Google’s Glass Explorer program, where we received a first-generation Glass unit with 1GB of RAM and running XE1 firmware. We tried out the device for the next couple months, working all the way up to the XE5 firmware, and couldn’t help but conclude that development progress for many critical features was taking way too long. Core functionality was also very “experimental” to say the least. In one example, sending a text message or tweet using voice recognition was risky because the API would not always predict correctly and there is no “backspace” button, thus requiring several voice attempts to finally send a correct message.
Before ending its Explorer Program in January 2015, the company ended its consumer development with XE22 firmware (released October 2014). Nearly twenty-two updates later, the latest release finally allowed Android users see their notifications on the Glass interface.
"As next-generation glasses such as Epson's Moverio BT-2000 and Meta Pro emerge, the field will become even more competitive, ending a period of high premiums for hardware. Software and service will become the primary way to maintain margins," said Tony Sun, Lux Research Analyst and lead author of the report titled, "Better Than Google Glass: Finding the Right Smart Glasses for Enterprise." the inevitability of augmented reality slide
While most of the 70 smart glasses evaluated by Lux Research are still in pilot programs, many of them are expected to be deployed for the needs of factory workers, distribution centers, oil fields, field services, aerospace, construction, healthcare, and other industries. In fact, Garner estimates that smart glasses may begin to save the field service industry $1 billion per year in 2017.
During its CES 2016 keynote, Intel unveiled a pair of smart glasses that can help wearers see inside objects, for example. The X-ray like glasses were co-developed by virtual reality firm Daqri and aim to increase safety, productivity and well-being of workers in a variety of industrial settings.
"Smartglasses with augmented reality (AR) and head-mounted cameras can increase the efficiency of technicians, engineers and other workers in field service, maintenance, healthcare and manufacturing roles," said Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner. "In the next three to five years, the industry that is likely to experience the greatest benefit from smartglasses is field service, potentially increasing profits by $1 billion annually. The greatest savings in field service will come from diagnosing and fixing problems more quickly and without needing to bring additional experts to remote sites." Other examples of smart glasses for enterprise use include video collaboration with experts in remote locations for faster repairs. Gartner says employees at remote sites can communicate and share video with experienced workers to obtain advice on diagnosing and fixing local problems. In healthcare industries, the glasses can be used for telemedicine and expert consultations with doctors in remote areas for guidance on how to perform medical procedures.
Lux’s analysis concludes that ODG’s R-7 is the “best all-around device” because it is only one of few on the market that does not need a wired controller and meets industrial standards for hazardous environments. The report also concludes that Sony’s SmartEyeglass “stands out for customer service and quality control” because it is light, small and competitively priced. The device also comes in a close second place behind the Meta-1 for warehousing, assembly and installation work.
Valkyrie, a new action-packed space adventure developed by game company CCP, was designed to harness the latest in virtual reality technology. A VR headset is the best way to appreciate the truly immersive nature of the game. Two dimensional renderings do little justice to the 3D version - or the hardware used to play it.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
"Today we use devices like smartphones and tablets. Tomorrow we want to change the dynamic around immersive, advanced, virtual reality," said JP Nauseef, the founder of Krush technologies, a company starting to develop virtual reality hardware.
Major advances in virtual reality are starting to take shape. Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Samsung are just some of the players heavily investing in VR. Cheaper, more sophisticated, headsets are coming to market every year.
At the same time, futuristic hardware like Moveo, a concept simulator developed by Krush, are expanding the scope of possibilities for virtual reality.
But according to Halsey Minor, founder of CNET networks and several other tech enterprises, accelerating growth in VR must be content driven.
"I think the biggest opportunities in VR are around the biggest opportunities in television and that requires the ability to do live streaming VR, which today has been a very difficult thing because of the technology involved," said Minor, who is heading up Reality Lab, a start-up focused on bringing VR into the mainstream.
Minor recently unveiled the Quantum Leap VR system, a device that starts paving the way towards a future where people will be able to experience live sporting events and concerts in virtual reality.
"It's 16 HD cameras all running at the same time and out of those 50 gigabytes of information, a huge amount of information, we have to craft to perfect 360 degree spheres for each eye and then transport that over the Internet," Minor added.
He predicts that just like the Internet is supplanting newspapers, VR will have the same effect on television.
"The most interesting thing that we are going to find out in 2016 is how fertile is the market right now. Are we going to sell 10 million of these? Are we going to send a million of these? But I think that is going to tell us what our trajectory is because where you start is going to determine how fast you grow," he said.
No matter the pace, Minor says immersive technology will increasingly turn the virtual world into our everyday reality.
Tim Kring is making the most of new technology with the reboot of his hit NBC TV series, Heroes Reborn.
Heroes Reborn creator Tim Kring is embracing augmented reality and video games to allow fans to delve deeper into the show’s universe, beyond the 13-episode TV series run.
NBC partnered with V Squared Labs to create a Heroes Reborn 4D augmented reality experience, which used Xbox Kinect, interactive audio, and special effects to allow fans to experience pyro-kinetic super human abilities. It debuted at San Diego Comic Con in July and was recently used at Times Square in New York City in September to promote the Sept. 24 launch of the show.
“I feel like augmented reality is where it’s all heading,” Kring says. “Virtual reality seems like the stepping stone to augmented reality. VR is where we are now, but the augmented reality experience—especially the one that we had at Comic Con—is the future. After all these years of doing this show and living in this world, I never actually had a moment where I felt like I had a power, and that augmented reality experience was the closest thing I’ve ever had.”
Mirko Compagno's insight:
'Heroes Reborn' creator Tim Kring: Why augmented reality is the future
While only some fans were able to play through Heroes Reborn 4D, everyone can play Heroes Reborn: Enigma, a first-person perspective puzzle mobile game that launches October 8 for $5.99.
There’s also a PC and console game, Heroes Reborn: Gemini, coming this winter. Both games, which were designed by Imperative Entertainment and developer Phosphor, are set within the five year gap between the Heroes and Heroes Reborn and explore new storylines within the universe.
“I always wanted to incorporate video games into this mythology but we did not have the time,” Kring says. “A lot has changed in the five years and we’re able to do these types of things much earlier. We built it into the writers’ room so that there were extensions from the series itself onto these two games.”
Kring says both of the games help unpack some of the backstory that will become familiar in the series.
“They are a companion piece, but it was really important to me that the writers and I be involved so they’re not just crappy licensed games,” Kring says. “We really wanted them to stand alone so that the core gamers would actually find them cool. They’re going to be state-of-the-art beautiful premium games.”
And he sees potential for games moving forward within the mythology.
“Games would be a huge thing for us to be able to keep that world alive while we’re off thinking about the next version of the Heroes filmed content,” Kring says. “That’s always been a big dream of mine. Games provide an actual world that keeps the canon and mythology of the show alive for the fans when the show is on hiatus.”
Samsung Gear VR eleva l’esperienza utente ad un nuovo livello garantendo costi di gestione ed acquisto contenuti nei confronti degli utilizzatori. Le nuove implementazioni infatti consentono di sfruttare uno dei nuovi modelli di punta nel campo degli smartphone Samsung 2015 come display abbattendo così i costi a carico degli utenti.
Questa notizia si concretizza con la volontà da parte di Netfix di rendere disponibili i propri contenuti direttamente sul visore attraverso un’applicazione. Da ricordare la possibilità di 360° View per esplorare paesaggi con visione panoramica proprio come se ci si trovasse immersi nel paesaggio semplicemente utilizzando app studiate allo scopo. Samsung sta tentando di coinvolgere gli studi cinematografici per rendere disponibili produzioni visive adattabili al proprio device.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Samsung Gear VR: Nuovo visore per la realtà aumentata
"Su Gear VR, la gente esegue giochi immersivi in realtà virtuale, condividendo esperienze di filmati a 360 gradi, e teletrasportandosi in giro per il mondo con fotografie e video – ed è solo l’inizio di ciò che è possibile realizzare con la realtà virtuale sui cellulari". Questo quanto affermato dal CEO di Oculus Brendan Iribe.
Nuove caratteristiche per la realtà aumentata
Per la sezione giochi e film, migliorato notevolmente il trackpad tattile che non svolge la propria funzione su una superficie liscia come quello della prima release del prodotto ma offre un grip più deciso e visibile per rendere efficiente il tocco.
Nel corso dell’evento di Los Angeles dello scorso venerdì è stato presentato inoltre un ulteriore device che integra un dual-stick analogico del tutto simile a quello di un classico controller XBox. Il nuovo dispositivo è stato denominato: Gear VR Gamepad.
Il nuovo Samsung Gear VR abbatte letteralmente i costi rispetto al modello precedente assestandosi su un prezzo di $99, ben al di sotto quindi della soglia del modello precedente. In un seduta congiunta Samsung e Oculus hanno affermato che la realtà virtuale sarà la “prossima piattaforma per l’elaborazione dati”.
Ne è convinto anche Mark Zuckerberg di Facebook, convinto che i contenuti 3D saranno il nuovo standard per il futuro e che questi seguiranno le orme dei dispositivi mobile che ormai hanno soppiantato il mercato PC. Oculus Rift per Xbox One infatti è stato un grande investimento costato ben 2 miliardi di dollari e che vedrà i suoi frutti nel corso del 2016 ad un prezzo ancora sconosciuto.
Intanto anche Sony si appresta ad entrare nel mondo dei visori a realtà aumentata con Morpheus per PlayStation 4 giusto ad inizio anno ad un prezzo tutto fuorché accessibile. Si parla infatti di ben 500 dollari americani, il prezzo di una console giochi. Ed ecco perché, ad oggi, Samsung Gear VR è il prodotto più apprezzato dagli utenti secondo quanto emerge dai commenti rilasciati dagl stessi.
Fast forward a few years and the global gaming market is expected to rake in $86.1 billion in revenue in 2016. Driving this projection is the expected quick increase in consumer adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) technology hardware products such as Microsoft’s HoloLens, Sony’s Project Morpheus and the Oculus Rift. It’s no longer just about unique and memorable game characters and exciting incentives, but holistic and immersive user experiences.
VR will make its way successfully into consumer gaming because of clearer and more definitive user expectations for next-gen gaming experiences — and technologies like movement detection, sensors and beacons. Consoles like PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One have already shifted gamers’ expectations for visual fidelity and sound design. Such huge advances in user interaction elements taking place in incredibly immersive gaming environments (thanks, Nintendo Wii!) have created momentum for next–gen gaming hardware in the consumer entertainment industry.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
A Gapless Gaming Language
Gaming technology has always been used from an “external” perspective; the hardware is an accessory apart from the physical self. With VR aiming to blend our physical environments and virtual worlds, next-gen gaming experiences will become more visceral and life-like. Users will be able to use their five senses and manipulate their surroundings using their entire bodies instead of just a controller.
The key to the success of next-gen gaming UX is the removal of obstacles in front of the user, like unnecessary actions, buttons or even distracting visuals. Users will be able to immediately jump into their VR experiences without tutorials, manuals or even the game itself guiding them. Devices could even become weightless or, at the very least, be made from the lightest materials.
VR products (and Augmented Reality, as well) will continually aim to break down physiological boundaries. Without the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the video game market in North America could have completely receded (whew!). More than the machine’s usability and the intuitiveness of the human-machine interactions, people across the world loved using NES — mainly because of how much fun they had playing the actual games.
The gamers’ fidelity to the experience was largely hinged on the game narratives rather than the seamlessness, ease and novelty of using gaming consoles.
What will make these new gaming experiences so different from anything we’ve ever had before is that these VR products (and
Augmented Reality, as well) will continually aim to break down physiological boundaries. Yesteryear’s gaming experience designs allowed for stimuli-to-action interaction gaps, leaving it to our imaginations to fill in the void. Next–gen gaming experiences are not only going to be fully immersive, but will become less and less about users “playing roles” and more about being enveloped in a virtual world that feels absolutely natural.
Intuitive And Gorgeous: VR Gaming For All Ages
Though it became a cultural phenomenon and leapfrogged the Atari 2600, from a usability perspective, NES was a failure. From the poor ergonomics of the controller and a slow 8-bit processor, to clunky software that sometimes didn’t work at all (until you blew into the game cartridge), the NES was at its best, a total pain to use correctly.
The poor integration of the software (role-playing and storytelling aspects) and the hardware’s usability is exactly why Virtual Boy failed when it was released in 1995 — it was just too big of a mental leap for gamers. Explaining to younger gamers today that there was a time we played Mario Tennis using a table mounted VR headset is sure to get some laughs.
Simple and minimal interfaces are sometimes the most useful UX. Nintendo Wii’s runaway success was always attributed to the intuitiveness of using the Wii-mote. The console was able to cater to casual and hardcore gamers from multiple demographics. Next-gen VR gaming software and hardware will have less usability issues and flatter learning curves for users of all ages, cognitive abilities and console loyalty (first-time gamers included). Game systems will also allow advanced users to perform those tasks faster and more efficiently for a more tailored experience (cue: AI and intelligent machine references).
With the onset of material design, users also expect their products to be beautiful and simple, not just useful and functional. Nonetheless, it’s a well-known fact amongst UX designers today that good-looking interfaces aren’t necessarily very usable, and vice-versa — simple and minimal interfaces are sometimes the most useful UX. With this shift in expectations, users will come to expect HUDs (head-up display) and interfaces to become more minimal and gorgeous as much as they are intuitive and highly useful.
Three Next Steps For VR Gaming Development
First, designers must find the right balance between the new and the familiar. Users generally respond well to new and innovative products because these experiences introduce new ways we can interact with our environments and create new contexts for human-machine interactions. It will be critical for next-gen gaming to concurrently seize innovation and a sense of familiarity.
Reinventing the wheel too quickly might stupefy users, causing even the most technologically advanced hardware to end up like Virtual Boy. It was trying to reinvent the wheel when users didn’t even know what wheels should and can do in the first place.
Second, usability testing must take center stage. User-experience can make or break the most elegant, useful and beautiful software and hardware products imaginable.
Ironically enough, consumers have spent most of their lives using products with poor UX, like our old VCRs (did anyone ever figure out how to get the time display to stop blinking?). Because VR technology in gaming is in its early stages of user adoption, designers, engineers, product managers and anyone on the manufacturer’s side should keep iterating and testing for what works. There’s a wide array of usability methods and tools on a UX designer’s tool belt that would make Batman’s look like it was a Fisher-Price knockoff.
The global gaming market is expected to rake in $86.1 billion in revenue in 2016.
Third, cutting-edge qualitative methodologies will be key to developing meaningful interactions. VR experiences will become like the multi-sensory and socially shared experiences we have in the physical world (VR online dating, anyone?). Because these virtual environments will share the same traits as physical worlds, they cannot be evaluated simply based on learnability, efficiency and effectiveness like experiences on a mobile phone; they have to be felt.
Ethnography, cognitive walk-through and heuristic evaluations are just a few of the many methods to collect these qualitative data points needed to ascertain what resonates with gamers at a deeper emotional level.
Games allow us to explore uncharted worlds, enhance our own creativity and help us understand and solve complex problems in ways we never thought possible. Next-gen gaming experiences should keep these core ideals alive. If all else fails, games should ultimately just be fun, right?
Dopo l'editoria digitale, arriva quella virtuale. Il settimanale statunitense 'New Yorker', lancia un'app per leggere la rivista sfruttando la realtà virtuale. In pratica si indossano dei visori simili a quelli usati nei videogiochi e si sfogliano le pagine del giornale con gli occhi, avendo la sensazione di avere il magazine tra le mani.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
il New Yorker si legge con i visori
L'app per la realtà virtuale è compatibile con il visore Samsung Gear VR che sarà sul mercato a novembre a meno di 100 dollari. In passato Samsung ha firmato accordi con altri media come Netflix, TiVo e Twitch e vari produttori di titoli di videogame.
"Perchè leggere la rivista solo con le mani quando potete leggerla con tutta la testa?", spiega Bradley Tucket, sviluppatore di tecnologia virtuale. "Al New Yorker abbiamo sempre abbracciato le novità tecnologiche, i risultati di questo esperimento sono spettacolari", aggiunge Bryce Gimmer, responsabile delle innovazioni tecnologiche del magazine.
I lettori usati sono quelli Samsung, non si sa al momento se l'app sarà compatibile con visori di altre aziende.
Il settore della realtà virtuale è in grande espansione, il mercato è stato invaso da una valanga di dispositivi. Ad aprire le danze sono stati iGoogle Glass (progetto al momento stoppato), poi sono arrivati iSamsung Gear VR, gli Oculus Rift (i visori comprati da Facebook nel 2014 per 2 miliardi di dollari) mentre Sony ha lanciato Project Morpheus, collegabile alla console PlayStation. Anche Microsoft è della partita con gli HoloLens, un visore che in futuro non troppo lontano ci permetterà di aprire una finestra di Windows o fare una chiamata via Skype, fissando un ologramma proiettato sul muro.
Secondo gli analisti di Digi-Capital realtà aumentata e realtà virtuale decolleranno davvero entro il 2020: per quella data il mercato potrà raggiungere un valore pari a 150 miliardi di dollari
Nel contesto dell'Oculus Connect 2015 molti produttori di contenuti hanno annunciato il proprio supporto per la realtà virtuale, che si preannuncia la next big thing del 2016. A tal fine si sono espressi 20th Century Fox (cui dedicheremo un articolo a parte), vimeo, hulus, twitch e molti altri, ma colpisce soprattutto l'ingresso in campo di Netflix, che com'è noto sta per entrare sul mercato italiano con la propria offerta principale.
La notizia è il lancio - per il momento vincolato al mercato USA di un'app pensata appositamente per permettere la fruizione dei contenuti in streaming tramite un visore virtuale come il Gear VR e - ovviamente - l'Oculus che arriverà a breve. Si chiama Netflix VR ed è già disponibile per gli utenti d'oltreoceano.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Netflix entra nella realtà virtuale Ma di cosa si tratta in realtà? Le app di questo tipo, tra cui quella di Netflix e di hulu (che uscirà in seguito) servono sostanzialmente per riprodurre due tipi diversi di contenuti: quelli classici, di qualsiasi natura, e quelli ottimizzati per VR.
Nel primo caso (che ovviamente sarà quello più frequente), l'app Netflix VR trasporta lo spettatore all'interno di scenari predefiniti che simulano ambienti domestici dedicati alla visione di film: in pratica, si viene catapultati in home theater da decine di migliaia di euro, con tanto di proiettori faraonici, poster di film ovunque (e di Netflix, occiamente) e schermi da 110 pollici o più di diametro.
È come essere in quella stanza che si sogna da anni ma non ci si può permettere. Nel comunicato ufficiale Netflix, l'azienda spiega - passo dopo passo - come ha realizzato uno scenario di questo tipo, che risoluzione dobbiamo attenderci considerando i limiti dei dispositivi VR e quali sono state le sfide tecniche più significative, compresa l'ottimizzazione dei layer sullo schermo, uno per il film e uno per l'interattività, e dei consumi.
Scelta la propria posizione in sala e selezionato il contenuto, il film viene letteralmente proiettato sullo schermo e lo spettatore può decidere di gustarselo in totale tranquillità oppure di guardarsi attorno per ammirare l'ambiente, che è disponibile a 360°. L'esperienza subisce ovviamente delle limitazioni, nel senso che non ci si può avvicinare allo schermo nè muoversi nella stanza, ma chi l'ha provato conferma un livello di coinvolgimento davvero notevole.
Dopo il lancio dei servizi Milk Video e Milk Music durante il corso di quest'anno, Samsung continua ad investire nel suo indossabile per la realtà virtuale presentando anche Milk VR, un canale completamente dedicato a video e contenuti multimediali da visualizzare indossando il visore Samsung Gear VR.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Milk VR si focalizzerà su un'offerta di video in grado di coinvolgere l'utente attraverso un'esperienza a 360°, proponendo contenuti sempre nuovi ed aggiornati con cadenza regolare.
Per il momento il servizio è stato avviato in una sorta di prova tecnica, non sarà dunque disponibile per tutti ma al contrario cercherà di attrarre artisti in erba e registi che potranno utilizzare Milk VR come un'opportunità per portare il loro lavoro nel campo della realtà virtuale, aiutando così la società ad aumentare la quantità di contenuti disponibili.
Al momento non c'è ancora una data di rilascio definitiva per la versione completa e stabile del canale.
From next month a broad spectrum of consumers will be able experience virtual reality for the first time, with Samsung releasing the Gear VR.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Designer and futurist Jeff Julian has worked as a consultant for Samsung, Oculus (which created the Gear VR with Samsung), Google and Apple. He says the tech is already here in an easy format but content is still coming online.
“My take on VR is we have been hearing about it forever. It has always been really lame and kind of cheesy, super expensive and the problem is the content has always been terrible,” he said.
But that is all starting to change, with VR receiving a big tick from industries outside of the world of gamers. The potential applications of VR– be they medical, real estate, education or entertainment – offer exciting possibilities.
“When you look at TV or movies it’s very much ‘I as a creator/director am telling you the story’ it’s very much a one way direction. Where VR is really interesting is it’s much more experience-based and that’s why it has grown out of gaming because gaming is an experienced-based environment.”
A massive amount of VR content – which gives you experiences which you may never have in your life – is coming.
Julian — who worked as part of Steven Spielberg’s team of futurists for the film The Minority Report and has also worked with Hollywoods ‘A-List’ including Ridley Scott, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks SKG, Universal and Sony. He says he can’t talk about them because he has been working on them, but a handful of major feature films are planning to release VR content. Big museums and National Geographic are “all jumping onboard like crazy,” he added.
“Behind the scenes it is being upticked by industry like it never has before. It has always been that kind of weird thing that everyone said sounded cool but hasn’t really taken off. That is not the ecosystem that I am seeing.”
As expected Samsung just unveiled Gear VR. The company’s first virtual reality headset was developed with direct help from Oculus and it works pretty well. We got a chance to go hands on with the Gear VR, and we have to say we walked away fairly impressed.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
The design for Gear VR is definitely a bit dorky, but to be honest you (hopefully) won’t be wearing the new headset out in public. It’s a pretty simple setup and once you put it on and pull the strap back over your head it feels totally natural and secure.
As rumored the device works using your smartphone display, and this one only works with the Galaxy Note 4. Once you snap the phone in and slap the plastic visor on top of that you’re ready to go.
Samsung’s currently demoing a handful of virtual reality experiences, including immersive videos that take you around the world or under the ocean. The company also showed off a few games, including one arcade-style spaceship shooter and another where you can explore Iron Man’s secret lab.
Everything looked great and worked pretty seamlessly, though at one point while I was piloting a spaceship and furiously shooting at incoming comets the screen suddenly froze before rebooting entirely. I also had some trouble using the built-in touchpad, though Samsung says these software issues should be taken care of before Gear VR hits the market.
SamMobile pubblica le schermate dell'app Gear VR Manager che servirà per gestire il visore di realtà virtuale Gear VR. Confermato il fatto che il telefono si installerà direttamente nel visore.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
A poco più di un mese dall’IFA di Berlino, le notizie relative a Samsung si moltiplicano: qualche settimana fa, dagli USA è trapelata la notizia secondo cui il colosso coreano presenterà a Berlino non solo il Note 4, ma anche la sua versione di Oculus Rift, ovvero l’headset pensato per la realtà virtuale a 360° (Gear VR), visore che, considerando i ritardi di Oculus e di Sony, potrebbe essere il primo prodotto commerciale del suo genere.
Larga parte della stampa dava per certo l’arrivo di Gear VR già da qualche settimana, ma solo oggi possiamo averne certezza al 100%: non sono comparse foto dell’apparecchio bensì le schermate dell’app di configurazione (Gear VT Manager), che tra l’altro ci dà alcune indicazioni interessanti sulle potenzialità dell’apparecchio.
Confermato il fatto che avrà bisogno di uno smartphone (ora come ora non si sa quali saranno compatibili, ma di sicuro i Galaxy) che potrà essere installato direttamente all’interno dell’headset grazie alla connettività USB 3.0: sostanzialmente lo smartphone fungerà da "motore" di Gear VR e, una volta collegato, disattiverà in automatico il proprio touch per permettere il pieno controllo del dispositivo tramite i touchpad laterali del visore. Le schermate qui sotto sono eloquenti in merito.
Ci saranno molte opzioni di sicurezza, tra cui un Alert che avviserà l’utente della sua permanenza nel mondo virtuale 1 volta all’ora; i controlli touch sul dispositivo permetteranno la navigazione diretta tra le opzioni, mentre per passare da mondo virtuale a quello reale bisogna tener premuto il tasto back sul telefono. Il Gear VR Manager avvia lo scaricamento di 2 app, ovvero VR Panorama e VR Cinema, che scopriremo solo quando il dispositivo sarà disponibile.
Volete girare il mondo senza muovervi da casa? Youtopia ha la soluzione pronta per voi. E per giunta è gratis! Si chiama StreetView VR, e usa i dati provenienti da Google StreetView per permettere agli utenti di esplorare i luoghi di tutto il pianeta grazie a un visore. StreetView era già uscito su Oculus Rift, dove aveva ricevuto un buon successo, e ora arriva anche sulla controparte portatile del visore. Da notare come, nonostante usi i dati di Google, non sia un’applicazione ufficiale della compagnia di Palo Alto.
StreetView VR contiene al suo interno diverse feature, tra cui il riconoscimento vocale per cercare i luoghi, e una chat vocale per l’esplorazione di gruppo, nonché l’integrazione con Wikipedia. Non so perché, ma la presenza di una chat locale mi fa pensare alla possibilità di fare dei giochi di ruolo multigiocatore in VR. Sto correndo troppo con la fantasia secondo voi? Per quanto riguarda l’input, è tutto gestito tramite visore, ed è ottimizzato per la realtà virtuale.
Apple's latest hire hints that it's exploring VR technology. Apple has added another notable name in the virtual reality industry to its team.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company recently hired VR expert Doug Bowman from Virginia Tech, The Financial Times reported, which TIME has confirmed. Bowman worked at the university as a computer science professor, also serving as director of the institute’s Center for Human-Computer Interaction.
Bowman is an accomplished researcher in the virtual reality space, having received the 2014 Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee technical achievement award from the Institute of of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
The hire is Apple’s latest move signaling it’s exploring possibilities around virtual reality. Apple last year poached a key audio engineer from Microsoft’s HoloLens team, which Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster first pointed out in a research note from August. In May of last year, Apple acquired augmented reality startup Metaio, and in November it purchased motion-capture firm Faceshift.
Industry watchers speculate that the technologies developed by both of these companies could give Apple the assets necessary to create some type of augmented or virtual reality device.
Augmented reality gadgets, such as Microsoft HoloLens or Google Glass, overlay virtual images on top of the real world. Virtual reality differs from augmented reality in that it takes the viewer into a completely virtual environment.
Entro il 2017 le vendite di visori per la realtà virtuale raggiungeranno i 70 milioni di unità e genereranno 8,8 miliardi di dollari di ricavi sul fronte hardware e 6,1 miliardi su quello software. La previsione è dei ricercatori di SuperData, e arriva in concomitanza con il debutto del Gear VR, il visore di Samsung da 99 dollari in vendita in Usa da venerdì scorso. L’esordio è stato positivo, tanto che su Amazon e BestBuy le scorte risultano esaurite.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Entro il 2017 le vendite di visori per la realtà virtuale raggiungeranno i 70 milioni di unità e genereranno 8,8 miliardi di dollari di ricavi sul fronte hardware e 6,1 miliardi su quello software.
La previsione è dei ricercatori di SuperData, e arriva in concomitanza con il debutto del Gear VR, il visore di Samsung da 99 dollari in vendita in Usa da venerdì scorso. L’esordio è stato positivo, tanto che su Amazon e BestBuy le scorte risultano esaurite.
«Siamo lieti della risposta positiva degli acquirenti e lavoriamo sodo per soddisfare gli ordini il prima possibile», ha commentato la compagnia. Il visore di Samsung è compatibile solo con gli ultimi dispositivi mobili di fascia alta della casa coreana: Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge Plus e Note 5.
Se per gli analisti il decollo della realtà virtuale è strettamente legato a una prima adozione nel settore dei videogiochi, il Gear VR è già al centro anche di esperimenti editoriali: il settimanale statunitense The New Yorker ha lanciato, il mese scorso, una app per sfogliare virtualmente la rivista con la sensazione di tenerla tra le mani.
Samsung ovviamente non è l’unico attore in campo. Nei prossimi mesi sul mercato arriveranno Oculus Rift di Facebook, il PlayStation VR di Sony e l’Htc Vive, mentre sono già in commercio i Google Cardboard, i visori economici in cartone di Big G che il New York Times un mese fa ha deciso di distribuire al suo milione e oltre di abbonati per mostrare una serie di documentari.
On October 13th, CNN will live stream the US Democratic presidential debate in virtual reality. Anyone with a Samsung Gear VR headset will be able to drop in via VR streaming company NextVR's portal in the Oculus store.
CNN says viewers will get a "front-row seat" from the perspective of an audience member, with the immersive stream allowing people to "hold a gaze on a particular candidate, catch off-screen interactions, and more."
Mirko Compagno's insight:
CNN is going to live stream the Democratic debates in virtual reality
Limited access to VR headsets means that not many viewers will actually be able to tune in this way, but the falling price of VR (Samsung recently halved the cost of its Gear headset to $99) means that CNN might be ahead of the curve.
The broadcaster has already dabbled in this area by recording in virtual reality — but not streaming live — the Republican debates earlier this month, and it says that VR offers viewers "the opportunity to experience these historic political events through their own lens."
Whether or not live-streamed virtual reality is a good enough experience right now is still up in the air. Earlier this year, NextVR operated trials live-streaming a soccer game between Manchester United and Barcelona FC in VR, with Recode's Vjeran Pavic describing the experience as mostly positive: "The screen resolution was crisp, and the action was easy to follow... However, the fisheye lens made players seem farther away than they actually were when the action drifted. Still, I was able to watch a match from angles I have never seen before."
Others think the technology isn't ready yet. Discussing early implementations of live-streamed virtual reality fashion shows, NextVR competitor Jaunt told Racked it would be at least a year until the image quality was good enough. "I think 16 to 18 months is a fair prediction of when the technology will be capable," said Jaunt's Scott Broock. "Right now, it's in its very early stages, so it would still be lower-resolution and be subject to dropped frames, but no question, when it's ready to happen, everyone will be doing it." Until then, we'll just have to be happy with virtual reality gaming.
Le conferme del fatto che la realtà virtuale sarà la prossima frontiera dell’intrattenimento arrivano da diverse direzioni. Molte aziende stanno infatti per lanciare sul mercato i primi visori, tra cui Oculus Rift ed HTC Vive.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Disney crede così tanto nella realtà virtuale da investirvi 65 milioni di dollari
Ad accompagnare il lato hardware ci dovrà essere però anche un adeguato parco di contenuti e probabilemente proprio per questo Walt Disney Co. ha finanziato Jaunt, azienda californiana, con ben 65 milioni di dollari.
Jaunt, che così raggiunge i 100 milioni di dollari raccolti da finanziatori da tutto il mondo, si occupa di sviluppare e realizzare sistemi di ripresa capaci di creare video a 360 gradi.
L’azienda ha spiegato che utilizzerà i soldi per migliorare il suo sistema e avrebbe anche allestito uno studio in quel di Los Angeles per iniziare a creare i primi contenuti che, forse, un giorno riuscirete ad usufruire grazie al vostro visore per la realtà virtuale.
To date, Augmented Reality (AR) has been referred to as “the biggest technological advancement of our lifetime” by some, a mere “gimmick” by others or, worst yet, the next iteration of the QR code. The divisive term was introduced more than 25 years ago (although elements of AR technology have been used in science labs around the world since the mid-20th century), but if there’s one thing AR proponents and its naysayers can agree on, it’s the simple fact that AR, as we know it today, has an image problem.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Augmented Reality Has An Image Problem
Largely misconceived as an absolute technology that only lends itself to advertising and marketing opportunities, the real potential of AR is just emerging. AR is not a linear technology — it is macro. It will help objects think; it will help objects talk.
The Internet has powered remarkable new ways for us to achieve just about everything — learn, buy, book travel, connect with each other — and AR, in all its many forms, will be at the forefront of the next revolution in the way we connect with the world around us.
Even better, this future is not very far away. Already, new use cases of AR technology are disrupting the industries in most dire need of evolution, and as our mobile devices become smarter and work in harmony with increasingly sophisticated wearable devices, the power of augmented reality technology will truly reveal itself to the masses.
So, where are we today? Where are we going?
The advertising industry was a natural starting point for the value and possibility of augmented reality. From a Pepsi can to a cereal box to the promotional materials for the next big Hollywood blockbuster,
AR is already making packaging and products come alive and “talk” to consumers. Products themselves are beginning to answer the how, what, why, where. Image recognition technology coupled with artificial intelligence has begun to revitalize the marketing industry, providing just a small glimpse into the true potential of AR.
But advertising is just the beginning. Here are the four industries that AR will impact next.
Education
Education provides perhaps the most tangible example of the power of AR. Augmented Reality technology in the classrooms — from today’s tablet- and mobile device-based approach to tomorrow’s heads up displays — empower the sort of visual and contextual learning proven to improve information retention to the extent that an estimated 80 percent of visual content is retained by short-term memory compared to an estimated 25 percent for spoken content.
Our brains are image processors, not word processors. Imagine a classroom where a teacher can push lessons directly to students through a mobile device, where a student can use a tablet to access a multi-dimensional rendering of a mountain to learn the phenomena of a volcano, one step at a time. For early childhood education, apps like Quiver Education bring a child’s drawing to life, allowing the child to not only engage with their own creations, but to also learn myriad topics.
And for high school students, apps like Anatomy 4D create 3D renderings of the human body to give students a hands-on anatomy lesson directly from a tablet. Our brains are image processors, not word processors, and AR technology has the potential to bring a lesson plan to life and create digital, visual representations of the staid texts on which we’ve come to rely.
Industrial
Let’s think beyond the classroom, and look to the industrial workforce. Design, construction, manufacturing, medicine — specialized careers require employees to visualize in 3D. The practical implications of allowing workers to use tablets and wearables on-site to see how a blueprint will come to life as a building or how a prosthetic arm can improve a patient’s life speak for themselves.
Take for example APX’s Skylight that offers a hands-free, AR-powered solution to empower workers across various fields to directly connect with each other and their environments to create a more efficient workforce. Companies like Daqri and WaveOptics are creating devices to enhance visual knowledge of the work environment while keeping both hands free.
The potential to solve the problem of knowledge transfer is quite literally at our fingertips.
Even in an office setting, Augmented Reality and image recognition technology will transform the way we transfer information. What if a holographic rendering could allow a new hire to see and learn the ins and outs of their new position, as opposed to spending tens of millions of dollars to train new employees? The potential to solve the problem of knowledge transfer, while being remarkably cost-efficient, is quite literally at our fingertips.
Retail
Every year, especially around the holidays, online and brick and mortar retailers record billions of dollars in merchandise returns. Oftentimes, those returned items cannot be resold — from being pre-worn to out of season. What if all shoppers had easy access to 3D renderings of their bodies powered by Augmented Reality to see the fit of an item, without needing to actually be in-store to try on?
It’s inevitable that being able to virtually try on 20 items in three minutes will increase sales and reduce return rates. Companies like Me-ality are already powering this shift. As the technology is streamlined and mainstreamed, we’ll see AR enabling real problem solving, amounting to higher profits and overall stronger margins for the retailer.
Food and Health
Apps like Vivino are enabling customers to use their mobile devices and AR to learn more about a bottle of wine directly from the label itself, and we’ll only see more powerful ways AR can impact our relationship with food in stores and in the kitchen. We’re just around the corner from the ability to use your device to scan a food item and immediately visually learn how the product was sourced, where it came from, best recipes and nutritional information.
Beyond that, soon we’ll see kitchen appliances outfitted with cameras to alert cooks when a food’s optimum nutrition point is reached during the cooking process (or when the chef may have accidentally overcooked a product!).
AR will be at the forefront of the next revolution in the way we connect with the world around us. Ultimately, the present and future of AR quite literally means the ability to receive the right information at the right place directly from the objects we need to know more about. As devices get smarter — from cars to washing machines to microwaves — machine-based learning systems will have ambient omnipresence and will help humans get smarter and more aware of the world around us.
Deep learning systems as they stand today are a new phenomena, but as devices and technology evolve in parallel, we’ll see AR driving new behaviors and new learnings across the industries that impact our lives the most. We are teetering on the edge of a new way to interact with the world, and becoming more informed consumers than ever before.
Marriott Hotels lancia VRoom Service, innovativo servizio che permette di vivere affascinanti esperienze di realtà virtuale senza uscire dalla propria camera. Realizzato in collaborazione con Samsung Electronics America si avvale di Samsung Gear Vr, un gadget che trasforma lo smartphone Samsung in un visore di realtà virtuale alla stregua dei più famosi Oculus Rift. La stessa tecnologia è stata presentata lo scorso giugno in Expo da Msc Crociere per vivere la realtà immersiva delle proprie navi.
Gli ospiti possono richiedere il servizio attraverso l’applicazione Marriott Mobile Request per ricevere in camera un Samsung Gear VR e rispettivi auricolari, a disposizione per 24 ore. Il programma è al momento in fase di sperimentazione in due alberghi del brand, London Marriott Park Lane e New York Marriott Marquis.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Marriott ha appena lanciato la piattaforma “VR Postcards” che potete vedere in video in questa pagina e dove sono disponibili altre esperienze di viaggio virtuale.
Le VR Postcards sono storie personali e coinvolgenti in 3D che seguono un vero viaggiatore in una destinazione unica: gli spettatori possono immergersi nella destinazione ascoltando il racconto dei viaggiatori sul perché il viaggio sia importante per loro, vivendolo in prima persona. Le prime tre VR Postcards sono state girate nelle montagne delle Ande in Cile, in una gelateria in Ruanda e nelle affollate strade di Pechino.
“Il viaggio apre la nostra mente e aiuta a spingere la nostra immaginazione”, spiega Matthew Carroll, vice president di Marriott Hotels. “I nostri clienti chiedono spazi creativi che aiutino a stimolare la loro creatività e pensiero. VRoom unisce la narrazione con la tecnologia, due elementi importanti per i viaggiatori di nuova generazione”.
Le VR Postcards sono a disposizione degli ospiti che partecipano a VRoom Service presso le proprietà selezionate, così come al pubblico tramite il servizio video premium Samsung Milk VR, accessibile tramite Samsung Gear VR. Marriott ha collaborato con Framestore’s Virtual Reality Studio per sviluppare le tecnologie e le tecniche utilizzate nella creazione delle esperienze di VR Postcards.
“VRoom Service è una delle prime applicazioni commerciali della tecnologia Samsung Gear VR”, afferma Matt Apfel, Vice Presidente, Strategy and Creative Content di Samsung Media Solutions Center America. “Siamo estremamente entusiasti di collaborare con un brand innovativo come Marriott Hotels per delineare insieme il futuro del viaggio.”
Un hotel a 5 stelle, un letto comodissimo e una tecnologia tra le più avanzate. A New York e Londra questi tre elementi si incontrano dando vita al VRoom Service. I clienti possono infatti vivere un’esperienza di realtà aumentata direttamente in camera grazie a un kit disponibile 24 ore su 24 dotato di un Samsung Gear VR e di cuffia. “Il viaggio apre la nostra mente e aiuta a spingere la nostra immaginazione – sottolinea Matthew Carroll, vice president di Marriott Hotels – I nostri clienti chiedono spazi creativi che aiutino a stimolare la loro creatività e pensiero. VRoom unisce la narrazione con la tecnologia, due elementi importanti per i viaggiatori di nuova generazione”.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Tuffo nella realtà aumentata da un letto a 5 stelle a Londra e New York con il Samsung Gear VR L’iniziativa, realizzata in partnership con Samsung Electronics America, è in fase di sperimentazione al New York Marriot Marquis e al London Marriot Park Lane.
Marriott – viene evidenziato in una nota – ha inoltre appena lanciato la piattaforma “VR Postcards” dove sono disponibili straordinarie esperienze di viaggio virtuale. Le VR Postcards sono storie personali e coinvolgenti in 3D che seguono un vero viaggiatore in una destinazione unica; gli spettatori possono immergersi nella destinazione ascoltando il racconto dei viaggiatori sul perché il viaggio sia importante per loro.
Le prime tre VR Postcards sono state girate nelle montagne delle Ande in Cile, in una gelateria in Ruanda e nelle affollate strade di Pechino.
The Korean electronics conglomerate on Tuesday launched Milk VR, a service that will provide free 360-degree videos to anyone using a Gear VR virtual-reality headset, which launched as a limited "Innovator's Edition" earlier this month. The content is expected to dribble out on a consistent basis in an effort to get people coming back to the service.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Samsung wants Milk VR to be a rebuttal to those skeptical about the amount of content available for the Gear VR. The videos will also serve as a model for future filmmakers or artists looking to take advantage of the virtual-reality medium, as well as build up an ecosystem and viewership for VR content. Milk VR also sits alongside the Milk Video and Milk Radio services, dragging Samsung deeper into the content game.
"Video is like the Wild West in VR," said Nick DiCarlo, head of Samsung's VR business, in an interview earlier this month. "There are so many ways to shoot immersive video. Milk VR can play a wide range of content."
Samsung partnered with Facebook's Oculus to create a mobile-powered virtual-reality headset, which was part of a large announcement that included a smartwatch and the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. The Gear VR went on sale on December 8 in the US, intended more for developers and artists looking to test the device, rather than a mainstream consumer device. The $199 headset requires a Galaxy Note 4, which acts as its brains, display and audio output.
The company is looking at virtual reality as a potential growth engine at a time when one of its key traditional revenue sources -- smartphones -- has slowed down, taking with it a drop a profits. While Apple has maintained its leadership at the high end of the market with premium devices, Samsung's own Galaxy S5 hasn't performed as strongly as its predecessors. At the same time, the company is seeing competitive pressure from upstart rivals such as Xiaomi, which offer lower-cost phones with comparable -- or superior -- specifications.
Samsung looks to be betting big on virtual-reality content. DiCarlo said the company is paying for the videos that will run on Milk VR.
The service will offer the videos through downloads and "adaptive streaming options." It appears as an app that can be downloaded from the VR home screen.
Anche Samsung fa un grande passo in avanti nel settore dei gadget tecnologici da indossare, e si lancia all'inseguimento dei Google Glass. A Berlino, alla vigilia della manifestazione tecnologica Ifa, lancia i suoi 'Gear Vr', dei visori per la realtà virtuale realizzati in collaborazione conOculus, società recentemente acquistata da Facebook.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Il dispositivo, secondo Samsung permetterà ''un'esperienza completamente nuova di vivere i contenuti sui dispositivi mobili''. Samsung Gear Vr ''offre una esperienza visiva senza pari, grazie allo schermo Super Amoled Quad HD a 5,7 pollici del Galxy Note 4'' spiega l'azienda coreana, che promette ''il miglior posto a teatro, sul palco'' e per i videogiochi, per un'emozione video 3D a 360 gradi. Wireless, leggeri, morbidi e flessibili, bianchi (frost white), i Gear Vr possono contare su una selezione di contenuti ottimizzati per la realtà virtuale, film, giochi, video e contenuti educativi.
Altra novità da Samsung. Sempre a Berlino, lancia una versione particolare del suo phablet, un dispositivo a metà strada tra smartphone e tablet: si chiama Note Edge, ha un display curvo, con una parte dello schermo che gira completamente su se stessa ed è 'touch'. Sarà disponibile a fine anno, permette anche di scattare 'selfie panoramici'. Alla ricerca del successo ottenuto dai suoi fratelli maggiori, l'Edge e il Note 4 (la versione aggiornata del classico phablet, anche questa presentata oggi) puntano molto sull'esperienza visiva, con uno schermo Super Amoled Quad HD da 5,7 pollici.
In più, l'Edge permette di visualizzare sempre le notifiche senza che compaiano sullo schermo mentre, per esempio, si sta vedendo un video. E rende possibile utilizzare diverse funzioni direttamente sul lato 'touch' del dispositivo.
In primo piano anche la produttività grazie ad un pennino, la 'S pen' ancora più versatile delle precedenti e la funzione multi-microfoni per registrazioni di qualità in ambienti rumorosi. E non mancano una ricarica ancora più veloce, consumo ancora ridotto (-7,5%) e il già visto 'Ultra power saving mode' che prolunga la vita della batteria.
Infine, per i suoi phablet l'azienda coreana non trascura l'aspetto fotografico, dotando il Note 4 di una camera posteriore da 16 megapixel, e quella frontale da 3,7 megapixel (f 1,9), che per la prima volta permetterà di scattare 'selfie panoramici' da 120 gradi.
Samsung Gear VR è il dispositivo indossabile progettato dal colosso coreano e dedicato alla realtà aumentata.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Il visore, nato dall’accordo tra Samsung e Oculus VR, permette di utilizzare il proprio smartphone come se fosse un display su cui vengono proiettate delle immagini a realtà aumentata grazie a delle applicazioni specifiche. Questo dispositivo è molto utile per il gaming, poiché è in grado di implementare diverse nuove funzioni non accessibili tramite il gamepad e permette inoltre una visione di gioco avanzata rispetto alla normale esperienza di gaming a cui tutti siamo stati abituati fino ad oggi.
Earlier this month we got a peek at what may be the Samsung Gear VR, a virtual reality headset that uses a Galaxy smartphone to track head motion and offer an immersive experience. Samsung hasn’t said anything official regarding the device, but today a new leak has surfaced that gives more support to the Gear VR’s existence.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
SamMobile has posted several screenshots of the Samsung Gear VR Manager app, which will help a user get prepared to use the Gear VR headset. While it’s not possible to use some of the base Gear VR apps like VR Panorama and VR Cinema, the app does give us a preview of the Gear VR and its features.
The Gear VR Manager app shows that the Gear VR unit will indeed look like the device that leaked out earlier this month, complete with a black piece that covers the users eyes, a strap around back and a touch pad on its side. We can also see that the Galaxy smartphone will dock in the front of the Gear VR headset and that the unit supports S Voice and allows users to easily jump out of the “VR world” and see what’s actually going on in front of them by long-pressing the unit’s back button.
It’s said that Samsung is collaborating with Oculus VR on the Gear VR and that an official announcement for the device could come at IFA in early September. There’s no word yet on how much the Gear VR might cost, but because it relies on a Galaxy device for its screen and immersion, hopefully the device will be fairly easy on the wallet.
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