Uber patents virtual reality experience for vehicles
Your weekly guide to Virtuality — Newsletter #96
Uber is forcibly shaping the future of transportation, and a couple of its new patent applications show the company is already preparing for a future where we’re so bored by our commutes, we need complicated VR systems to entertain us while we lounge in our self-driving cars… Read more on Motherboard
LATEST HEADLINES
HTC readies Vive virtual reality for SXSW
HTC Vive and Ready Player One are introducing eight segments of virtual reality content inspired by Steven Spielberg’s new action adventure ‘Ready Player One.’ All eight pieces of content can be viewed via the Vive headset at home or at AR arcades nationwide… (Mediapost)
Oculus accidentally broke thousands of its virtual reality headsets
Oculus forgot to renew its security certificate, causing part of the Rift app to crash and prevent access to its VR software. While temporary fixes involved setting a computer’s date to earlier in the week, Oculus is now issuing a software update to fix the problem… (The Verge)
The University of Maryland could get a major about virtual reality design
The major would operate between the arts and humanities college and the computer, mathematical and natural sciences college, and would aim to enhance students’ knowledge of design for virtual and augmented reality platforms for purposes ranging from mapping to journalism to engineering…(DBK News)
Augmented Reality ‘Gallery’ at MoMA allows viewers to virtually alter art
Visitors to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art will have access to interactive AR options when viewing Jackson Pollock’s paintings as part of an indie project called ‘Hello, we’re from the internet.’ (PSFK)
COMMENTS
Intel Labs Chief reveals the secrets to taking augmented reality mainstream
If enterprise and industry usages are the only ones that occur that are viable in the market, then AR is just going to be a niche technology. What we really need to develop are new types of consumer AR uses that aren’t just novelties or gimmicks… (Next Reality)
Netflix is taking a wait-and-see approach to virtual reality
Chief Production Officer Greg Peters said that Netflix is only focused on seeing how VR systems evolve at the moment… (Engadget)
Is literature next in line for virtual-reality treatment?
“VRwandlung” captures the allure and risks of modernity in Kafkaesque style. Reiner Stach, a Kafka biographer, thinks the author “would have loved a new technology like virtual reality.” (The Economist)
RESEARCH
Study incorporates smell into virtual reality
A new study by researchers at Northwestern University could help tech developers incorporate smell into virtual reality systems, adding a new wrinkle to technology that has, thus far, focused primarily on visuals and audio… (Northwestern University)
Oculus Rift price drops permanently to $399
