Experiences
VR for Good: ‘We Live Here’ Puts a Face on Homelessness | Oculus
We Live Here premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020 and so far is my favorite experience coming from the Oculus VR for Good team. Showcasing the lives of houseless families and only a small use of interaction you're taken down the path of empathy and into the lives of normal people in a tough situation.
Gaming
Pictionary Air : Mattel Games
A more modern take on the classic game, adding Augmented Reality to the play session makes drawing images to guess pretty humorous. Use a mart phone to see the person drawing as well as what they are drawing to be the first team to gues what's being drawn. Can't wait for this to become more popular to see what the online community does to memify games since you can also record them within the App.
Virtual reality air guitar is coming in 2021
After a successful Kickstarter campaign Unplugged: Air Guitar is expected to be released sometime in the third quarter of 2021. This Guitar Hero inspired game uses the new hand tracking features on some headsets to allow you to jam to rock classics on the third best guitar, the air guitar.
Business
Virtual Internships - Nicholas Sample - Education Hub - Arm Community
With so much of our lives already moved online it is an obvious thing for internships to also happen virtually. Internships are especially vital for some technical professions, and pose a unique set of challenges to make sure that they are beneficial for learners. This article covers a model for virtual internships from the University of Cambridge.
Research
Being Manipulated by Robots
A highly relevant study, researchers examined the effects AI and automated bots have on risk taking behavior in humans. No surprise that there was very clear evidence that humans can be influences by robots, and stands as a reminder of strengthened protections to prevent unhealthy influence within online interactions from malicious automated systems.
Learning
Bookful – Bringing books to life
Bookful is one of the leading book publishers integrating Augmented Reality and 3D to enhance the storytelling experience. We found their take on The Tale of Peter Rabbit was quite enjoyable even though their target audience is grade school aged children.
One More Thing
Triton Project is an affordable DIY AR headset - The Ghost Howls
It is rare that such a mature and exciting project comes from a solo developer but this Augmented Reality headset is potentially a much more affordable DIY alternative in a market where headsets typically cost more than $600. This is such an impressive kit that we will have to make one. We'll be sure to let everyone know how that turns out.
Commentary
Even though American politics and an attempted insurrection took a lot of the media attention there was still a lot exciting happening within the virtual spaces. If anything it has taken away some well deserved attention from some projects that push us further along the path of layering other realities atop each other. So we’re definitely looking forward to a safe and swift resolution to recent events so that we all can continue working toward a better future, within any of the many shared realities.
One truly incredible achievement is actually this week’s One More Thing: a new DIY Augmented Reality headset. We’re truly impressed at what they’ve managed to do for less than the cost of other headsets. The parts list doesn’t look too daunting and it wasn’t until right before sending out this issue that we decided to take a shot at making one. Once the parts come in we’ll see how easy it is to put together. But regardless we’re onboard with helping support a potential new open source AR platform.
Thank you to everyone who's subscribed and continued to read and support us. As always, if you want to recommend anything to us tweet your links. Our directory of companies, experiences, gear, and more is growing so visit our directory to find resources that also may not be getting major press.
Other Realities