Virtual reality helps patients with dementia
Your weekly guide to VR/AR — Newsletter #40
For most people, virtual reality’s promise of transporting us to a different world in a heartbeat is a great novelty. But for those who cannot travel freely, it’s a lifeline. A physician in the San Francisco Bay area, has been taking virtual-reality headsets to seniors as a part of their medical treatment… (Read more on Washington Post)
This is Haptical weekly newsletter #40 bringing you the week’s most important headlines on virtual and augmented reality. If you like what you’re reading, please share with others.
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
- The popular digital globe app Google Earth is now available in virtual reality. Get ready to virtually fly around the brick-domed Florence cathedral in Italy and San Francisco’s majestic Golden Gate Bridge. (Fortune)
- Nonprofit organization Women Who Tech, is awarding women-led virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence startups with $50,000 cash. (Haptical)
- The legendary English rock band Queen, will debut a part of their VR concert film at the Tribeca Film Festival. (EW)
- Today’s most popular headsets tend to go one of two directions, delivering experiences in either virtual or augmented reality. Stereolabs, a company best-known for its ZED stereo camera, now has a headset that features a mixture of both. (Tom’s Guide)
- Luxury vehicle brand Jaguar, revealed its first-ever electric car I-PACE via virtual reality headsets. (Haptical)
- Apple is said to be working on making the most of the hardware capabilities of its iPhones to add Augmented Reality capabilities to apps like camera and maps. (Business Insider)
INVESTMENT
- HTC China signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Chinese Shenzhen Municipal Government to set up a VR Research Institute and a VR investment fund of $1.5 billion. (Haptical)
- According to a new report by Tracxn, Virtual Reality (VR) start-ups have raised $533 million so far this year. The number stood at $690 million from 153 rounds in 2015. (ZeeBiz)
- UK based virtual reality developer and publisher nDreams, announced that it has received an investment of £2 million ($2.5 million), in the first of a two-stage round. (Haptical)
- Google is bringing VR to one million UK school children. Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, announced Google’s ongoing investment in the UK with expansion of its King’s Cross campus and digital skills initiatives for adults. (Wired)
WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT VR/AR THIS WEEK
- The global director of immersive learning at Pearson, says the HoloLens headset enables them to explore the possibility of creating realistic holograms. He says the approach can avoid traditional cadaver-based training. (Guardian)
- Conan O’Brien took a tour inside YouTube’s VR Lab in New York City to find out more about what virtual reality has to offer, and the outcome was hilarious. (YouTube)
- Google Daydream View virtual reality headset arrives to mixed reviews. (Inquisitr)
- Read how is a day in the life of the Guardian’s virtual reality chief editor. (Digiday)
- Virtual reality is the new tech frontier, but it’s still a boys’ club. A lot of very talented women engineers and entrepreneurs find themselves swimming against the current. (Recode)
NEW EXPERIENCES
- Virtual reality takes fans inside the world of watches. The immersive technology, designed to simulate a user’s presence in a real or imaginary environment using a special headset, is being hyped as the biggest thing to happen to the luxury industry since e-commerce. (New York Times)
- People with hearing and speech impairments are being given a new voice thanks to the latest in virtual reality technology, to be put on display at the 3rd World Internet Conference in China. (ECNS)
- Through virtual reality, it’s already possible to play games, learn, visit faraway places, and even overcome fears. An emerging tool called Quill adds another spark of imagination to the VR mix: It lets you conjure up a world around you by drawing and painting it in mid-air. (New Atlas)
- Shopping in virtual reality is not a science fiction anymore. Alibaba and HTC Vive China demonstrated a new shopping platform in VR. (Haptical)
- NASCAR Chairman Brian France talks virtual reality, digital fan experience. (Sports Illustrated)
DON’T MISS!
- 5 books to help you design amazing virtual and augmented reality experiences. (Haptical)
