In 2016, activists around the country gathered at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which they said could have detrimental environmental consequences. While the most publicized depictions of the historical event were photos and videos of protests between activists and police, The New York Times decided to create a 360-degree video … Read More
Life in Gawair: Entre Bastidores
Hoy estamos orgullosos de anunciar el lanzamiento de la primera parte de nuestra proyecto #LifeinGawair con el apoyo del Centro de Periodismo Europeo y el equipo Planeta Futuro de El País, lo cual puedes leer aqui. A pesar del foco en los talleres de prendas que suministran una gran cantidad de la ropa barata a las cadenas populares, también queremos … Read More
December VR/AR News #3: new Samsung hardware, virtual world building and our bodies in VR
Samsung announced it is working on a successor to the Gear VR headset and a mixed reality device that The Verge compares to the Microsoft HoloLens or Magic Leap. Google has partnered with British startup Improbable, which according to Wired, “offers a new way of building virtual worlds, including not just immersive games à la Second Life or World of Warcraft, but … Read More
December VR/AR News #1: Gender and tech, murder in VR and dinosaurs
Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist, highlights five women in VR as part of the Women Startup Challenge, which is “showcasing and funding innovative, women-led startups focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) that are solving problems for people, businesses and the planet.” Newmark’s picks include Liv Erickson, a VR developer at Microsoft who was part … Read More
Latest VR/AR Tech Developments
The new Snapchat Spectacles uses an embedded camera with LED lights to record users’ experiences through their own eyes. According to UploadVR, Snapchat isn’t the first company to try to bring glasses of this kind to the market, but the Spectacles are unique for capturing circular video around a scene that can be sent directly to the phone app. Microsoft might … Read More
October VR/AR News #3: AR at work
Virtual reality provides an opportunity to recreate and explore the past, especially in areas where little is known about its history. The Plain of Jars, an ancient site littered with mysterious stone jars, is being replicated virtually by Australian archaeologists. Researchers from the Australian National University and Monash University are using a new mapping technology called Cave2 as part of the … Read More
Cartooning for Change
Marvel’s newest superhero doesn’t have any superpowers, and she sure doesn’t wear a cape. In collaboration with ABC News, Marvel has used the stories of a real woman to create Madaya Mom, a Syrian mother fighting to keep her family safe. This is part of a growing trend of comics focused on real world issues. With his graphic novel Maus, Art … Read More
October VR/AR News #2: Veterans, the Best VR Headsets and Aliens
First up, a brief (and fun) aside: Baobab Studio, who are behind the animated VR “Invasion!,” which you can see in its entirety here, released a preview of the Sci-fi show’s second episode. Check it out here. One of the great things about VR is that organizations can use the technology to raise awareness about a wide variety of issues. This Washington Post article … Read More
Weekly news in 360 video and VR
The first U.S. Presidential Debate on Sept. 27 highlighted the current political polarization in the country, much of which plays out online on social media platforms like Twitter. But can communal VR spaces be a solution to promote productive political discussions? AltspaceVR thinks so. The company has spent a year building a VR community mostly to share collective entertainment experiences like virtual Dungeons & Dragons games. … Read More
Can VR induce empathy? Behind our work with the Tow Center at Columbia Journalism School
Can new technologies like virtual and augmented reality and 360 video induce empathy in users? That is what Empathetic Media founder Dan Archer is studying in collaboration with Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism. A first of its kind project, this research will result in an analysis of empathy and whether users can more closely relate to characters and situations in a VR … Read More