News
Big picture, big data: Swiss unveil VR software of universe
The Virtual Reality Universe Project, or VIRUP was released last week, providing access to the largest data set of the universe presented in panoramic 3D visualizations. This beta release still represents the largest public access to that goes beyond what other games and visualizations have done in the past.
Rarible: NFT Marketplace
Snack food brand Dunkaroos got into the NFT game by creating 10 NFTs, which have all already sold. Brands leveraging their popularity to raise awareness and profits for charitable good (in this case Feeding America).The basketball team the Golden State Warriors also launched an NFT offering earlier this year raising over 2 million dollars for charity this past April.
Business
Can Pinterest Pull Ahead in AR Shopping? | AR Insider
In case you haven't been paying much attention to Pinterest Lens lately it's been growing in both engagement and usefulness. Now recognizing over 2 billion products (much less than the 15 billion Google Lens recognizes) it is poised to be a contender in direct product purchasing, potentially with some advantages that Google doesn't currently have an ability to compete over.
Health
Virtual Reality Affects Children Differently Than Adults - Neuroscience News
Immersive virtual reality, for all its benefits, could disrupt a child's default coordination development according to a recent report from researchers. As with most studies, more research is in order to gain a better understanding of the complex biological effects VR has on undeveloped minds. This study, and others investigating the effects the consensus, are providing a fairly consistent warning that children should be kept away from these experiences until their brains have developed fully.
Tools
MUM: A new AI milestone for understanding information
Google Lens is a truly powerful AR tool for interpreting the world, and a recent tweet let us know that one of their advanced AI models would be added to it in early 2022. Dubbed the Multitask Unified Model (MUM), this powerful AI hasn't quite reached J.A.R.V.I.S. levels but this blog post introduces some of what it can do. And what this may mean for future AR assistants.
Inspiration
Hanselminutes Technology Podcast - Fresh Air and Fresh Perspectives for Developers - Scaling the Metaverse with Roblox CTO Daniel Sturman
Hanselminutes is a podcast we've followed since 2008, and has been really great at getting guests to talk tech across many different areas. This episode brings in Roblox CTO Daniel Sturman to discuss the challenging task they've undertaken making Roblox a scalable open world with millions of connected users creating their own unique stories and immersive experiences.
Video(less) games | Twenty Thousand Hertz
Spatial audio provides a layer of immersion that needs much more attention. Another recent episode of a podcast we listen had a great episode discussing how audio can be used to create games and accessible enhancements for mainstream gaming that has some great takeaways. If you want to dive a bit deeper after listening check out Steve Saylor, blind video gamer and blind developer advocate, who has been working to make games and the world sound better for more than a decade.
One More Thing
Soft pressure sensor breakthrough solves field's most challenging bottleneck -- ScienceDaily
When researchers potentially solve problems that have plagued wearable user interfaces and sensors it deserves being featured. Like most papers, the language and the conclusions are worded very modestly, but could fundamentally change interfaces from with a very simple soft pressure sensor capable of discerning an accidental touch from something more intentional. Be sure to check out the 3 minute video on YouTube as it does a great job explaining the paper's contents with some visuals that may help you be as excited about this as we are.
Commentary
Since the launch of the Oculus Quest my younger cousins (currently 10 and 11) have seen us in VR quite a bit more, and have also been asking to give it a try. We've declined and sadly had to give them the all too familiar adult refrain of "you can try it when you're older." We're still the cool cousin but with everything we've learned about the effects of VR on growing minds it is something everyone should take seriously. Much more seriously than some businesses (which we won't name) that allow parents to put their children into VR.
Definitely check out this week's health article for more details on the damage that VR an do to a developing mind. It's not an instant harm, but it's the kind of alteration that slowly manifests. Not to get too ominous but it reminds us of this TikTok video that aptly describes some people's lax attitudes to something that will harm them in years versus moments.
Long story short, please keep VR away from the kiddos. At least until their minds are ready.
Thank you for reading and subscribing, and we'll see you next week!
— Other Realities Directory | Other Realities Journal | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube —
Other Realities