News
ShapesXR - Contest
The remote collaborative prototyping app ShapesXR released on the Oculus store this month, and so far we’re pretty happy with the tools and being able to share creations with people in the app. They’re also currently having a contest in partnership with Circuit Stream, themed around creating an experience that is “the future of media consumption in the Metaverse” (a pretty interesting topic to us). The submission deadline is December 10rd, 10 pm CET.
Investing in European Talent to Help Build the Metaverse - About Facebook
Meta (formerly Facebook) recently announced the creation of 10,000 new jobs across the EU to help build their contribution to the metaverse. They have really been putting massive efforts into moving a vision of a connected universe into becoming a reality. This will also inject European ideals into created worlds and culture of newly created environments, making things less U.S. focused.
Experiences
Apart of Me - Helping young people cope with grief
Apart of Me is a game designed to help you cope with the death of a loved one. Based on psychological research, the app provides a safe virtual space featuring games and quests that teach self-care strategies and help reduce their sense of isolation.
Event
Lens Fest - Snap AR
Last year’s Les Fest quite literally revolutionized the world of AR filters, so we’re pretty stoked to see what comes from this year’s event. This year it’s again taking place virtually from December 7th to the 9th, but be sure to register so you can see the latest from Snap and participate in the breakout sessions. There is always a lot to learn in them and being able to ask them questions directly can save hours of searching for answers later.
Cyber Shorts Film Festival - Cyber Shorts Film Festival
Started in 2020, the Cyber Shorts Film Festival showcases independent short films and helps give them an audience within a simulated theater experience. If you or someone you know has a short they’re looking to debut, early deadline for submission is December 1st.
Reading
Extending our Minds through Virtual Reality | by Joakim Vindenes | Sep, 2021 | Medium
We're a fan of Joakim's YouTube channel AltVR and the articles that he writes diving more into things that don’t fit into his videos. This article is one of them, examining what it could mean to expand our concept of “mind” into VR.
Research
syGlass - Scientific Virtual Reality
syGlass is an interesting data visualization that operates in the way that Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (better known by the reverse acronym of CAVE) would do for people 20 years ago, but within a fully virtual environment and without needing a dedicated room to see data projections. We’re hoping to get an interview with them to really dive into what they offer, as we’re sure this does is not something most other VR platforms can provide.
One More Thing
GitHub - keijiro/BibcamVfx: AR VFX samples with Bibcam (burnt-in barcode metadata camera)
If Bibcam (burnt-in barcode metadata camera) wasn't already a cool enough, idea check out the stunning effects Keijiro Takahashi shared in this tweet. This has to be seen to be believed possible as a real-time effect coming through an iPhone. This is a prime example of what can be done with hardware powerful enough to manipulate your world view in real time, and we love it.
Commentary
This week we’re gearing up for Lens Fest 2021, and all of the very cool advances that we’re hoping to see this year. Building of of the wildly successful year of lens creation and AR getting it’s time to shine we hope that the upcoming updates can better take advantage of hardware advances in the last year. Lidar and much better camera sensors mean much clearer input, while AI and ML being available in most mobile hardware (see Apple A15 or System on a Chip from other manufacturers) grant an unprecedented amount of computing power in the hands of nearly everyone.
It’s advances in available hardware that makes this week’s One More Thing possible as something that runs in near real time on your phone and not a post-processing effect only available in a movie. Like every week if there is only one link you visit it should be that one as it’s pretty impressive.
We also have a good variety of other links, ranging from competitions to philosophy and dealing with grief within VR. You’re probably not going to find this eclectic a mis of content anywhere else, and we’re happy to share it with you. And to all our new subscribers: Welcome!
Thank you for reading and subscribing, and we'll see you next week!
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