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Hey there!
Welcome to another weekly collection of curated XR news. Snap is already on its third iteration of the Spectacles, and they're going for exclusivity and luxury this time – see the blurb directly below for details. Unity is offering two new education products, including a comprehensive 36-hour course, and an educator platform. And down in Industry News, there's a breakdown of how 5G will affect mobile (and eventually wearable) AR. This is all exciting, but it's hard to beat what's happening at the University of Oregon, where researchers are teaching mice to fight deepfakes. The mice can recognize sets of phonemes, which allows them to distinguish between synthetic and real audio clips with 80% accuracy.
There's one week left to vote for SXSW session ideas – the PanelPicker closes on Friday, August 23. Here's a quick roundup of 5 panels the RLab team proposed, and 10 other talks we're excited to see on stage.
Dealing with Real-World Problems in XR
Corporates Living in the New Realities
Get Ready for the Volumetric Revolution
XR Breakthroughs & the Future of Work in Education
Converging Realities: The Intersection of VR/AR/XR
Women in XR and AI Meetup
Immersive Retail: 3D/AR/VR Future of Shopping
Spanning Realities with Music
The Future is Augmented: What AR Means for Humans
Advertising Enters the Next Dimension
The Renewed Relevance of Physicality in XR
Brain Wearables Enable Motion-Powered XR
Mirrorworlds, Making the Physical World Clickable
Afrofuturism and Immersive Design
Meaningful Play with Virtual Technology in Schools
What'd we miss? Let us know on Twitter.
Enjoy your weekend!
- Justin
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FOR THE MEDIA
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| Snap Bets Its Future on a Stylish New Pair of Spectacles |
Do you remember the first iteration of Snap Spectacles? They were a bit large and goofy-looking, and Snap reportedly lost $40M on them. Snap learned from their mistakes, beefed up the hardware and designed a more serious exterior for Spectacles 2. The third iteration is going for a luxurious look (and a $380 price tag).
In an effort to future-proof their slowly cooling business, Snap has added an AR feature to the pricey lenses - not viewing AR, but recording it: "thanks to that second HD camera, you can add 3D effects. A demonstration from Snap showed effects like confetti exploding in a scene, or floating hearts that burst when they bump into someone."
4 min read
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| In Fighting Deep Fakes, Mice May Be Great Listeners |
“While I think the idea of a room full of mice in real time detecting fake audio on YouTube is really adorable, I don't think that is practical for obvious reasons." - Jonathan Saunders, researcher at the University of Oregon's Institute of Neuroscience
Researchers at the University of Oregon's Institute of Neuroscience have done something absolutely bizarre. They trained mice to detect a set of phonemes - distinct units of sound - in order to distinguish between real and synthetic speech. The mice were able to differentiate between the two 80% of the time.
This isn't to say we'll see mice stationed beside data scientists or holed up in data centers detecting deepfakes. "The goal is to take the lessons we learn from the way that they do it, and then implement that in the computer," says Saunders (from the quote above).
5 min read
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| British Airways Testing VR Headsets for First-Class Passengers This Year |
British Airways will be experimenting with VR headsets on flights between London and New York, and will offer entertainment as well as therapeutic content for those afraid to fly, including guided meditation and sound therapy. British is following in the footsteps of Air France, Lufthansa, and Qantas.
2 min read
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| EVENTS & CLASSES |
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UPCOMING CLASSES AT RLAB
Intensive: UX Design for Future Interfaces
Date: September 21-22, 10AM-7PM
Location: RLab
This 2-day intensive will give designers, creatives, digital artists, developers and storytellers the tools and techniques to design user experiences in virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed realities. Register Here
Master Class: Shaders in Unity
Date: October 5, 10AM-7PM
Location: RLab
This 1-day master class covers the basics of writing a shader program, with a deep dive into using the power of the GPU to solve mathematics tasks as you write your own particle system from scratch. Register Here
Master Class: XR for Healthcare
Date: October 25-26, 10AM-7PM
Location: RLab
Explore innovations and opportunities for immersive tech in healthcare and learn how to apply your skillset as a game or interactive developer to work in this field in this 2-day master class. Register Here |
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Event: ACM NYC Meetup
August 22, 6:30PM-8:30PM @ RLab NYC
This month's ACM meetup features a talk on using machine learning methods to optimize for diversity in online design communities. Register Here
Event: NYVR Meetup
August 22, 6:00PM-9:00PM @ SAP, Hudson Yards
This month's NYVR meetup features talks and demos on VR in eSports and the future of gaming – with a friendly Beat Saber competition. Register Here
Event: AWE Nite NYC
August 27, 6:30PM-9PM @ RLab NYC
This month's AWE NYC meetup features talks on demos on iOS13 AR capabilities, Neurosity wearables, AR-enhanced LEGO set, and Doodle Lens. Register Here
Class: Growing your Business with Virtual and Augmented Reality
August 29-30, 3PM-6PM @ CUNY-on-the-Concourse
Learn how businesses are leveraging VR to promote themselves and their products in an entirely new and immersive way in this free course. Register Here
Event: Stories of the Future 2030
September 13-14 @ RLab
Application Deadline: August 31
Ideate and prototype XR projects to accelerate Climate Action. Tickets are $25 for the RLab community – write "RLab dto code" under "How did you hear about us." Learn More
Event: Museum of Future Experiences
Through August 31 @ Andy Warhol's former Hideaway in Soho
A curated cerebral experience blending immersive theater, psychology, and VR. Get Tickets
Event: SuperReal
Through September 1 @ Cipriani, 25 Broadway
A 45-minute immersive, multimedia art experience presented by multimedia entertainment studio Moment Factory in the historic Cunard Building. Get Tickets
Class: Introduction to Unity Platform
September 9-12, 3PM-6PM @ CUNY-on-the-Concourse
A free introduction to Unity's interface, asset store and customization features. Register Here
Event: MAVRIC Conference
September 17-18 @ Washington, DC
Support East Coast VR/AR development and learn "What Works in #XR" at the 2nd Annual MAVRIC Conference in DC. Use code RLABMAVRIC for a 10% discount. Register Here
Class: Unity Platform - Intermediate
September 23-26, 3PM-6PM @ CUNY-on-the-Concourse
Expand your Unity know-how with this intermediate level course. Note: the free course "Introduction to Unity Platform" is a prerequisite. Register Here
Event: Oculus Connect
September 25-26 @ San Jose, CA
Annual conference bringing together developers, creators, and more to collaborate and share ideas to push the AR/VR industry forward. Learn More
Event: NYC Media Lab Annual Summit
September 26, 8:30AM-5PM @ New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn
XR continues to be a big theme at NYC Media Lab's Annual Summit, with talks, demos and workshops from Fractal Media, Retina Technologies, and Magic Leap. Register Here
Event: Animation Nights NY Best of Fest
October 5-6 @ Seaport District, NYC
Annual festival and conference featuring animation screenings, fine art exhibits, VR workshop presentations, an XR showcase, professional panels, and industry events. Register Here
Class: Introduction to 2D Game Development
October 21-24, 3PM-6PM @ CUNY-on-the-Concourse
Get up and running with the Unity game engine, focusing specifically on working independently with its suite of 2D features. Register Here
OPPORTUNITIES & JOBS
Opportunity: Verizon Built on 5G Challenge
Deadline: September 15
Winners will be awarded up to $1 million in this search for the best 5G-powered products, services, and applications. Learn More
Opportunity: SXSW 2020 VR/AR/MR Project Submissions
Deadline: August 22
The 2020 SXSW Film Festival is now accepting submissions! Learn More
Opportunity: Greentown Labs Circularity Challenge
Deadline: August 30
A six-month accelerator program for start-ups to disrupt the plastics, energy storage, and recycling value chains to enable a circular economy. Learn More
Opportunity: Virtual Beings Grants
Deadline: September 17
Grants from $1,000 to $25,000 for creators of virtual beings in games, social, enterprise, and education. Learn More
Opportunity: Sundance New Frontier Story Lab
Deadline: October 1
Storytellers, artists, and creative technologists can now apply for the Sundance Institute's 2020 New Frontier Story Lab. Learn More
Job: AR Developer for Public Art Project
The XReality Center at The New School seeks a part-time developer to assist with a NYC-based public art project ASAP. Apply Here
Job: Program Coordinator, Emerging Threats and Opportunities, WITNESS
Join WITNESS' team to ensure that emerging technologies help, not hinder, human rights. Apply Here
Job: Assistant Vice President, Creative & Applied Tech Initiatives, NYCEDC
Develop and manage a portfolio of programs that support emerging technology sectors of strategic importance to New York City. Apply Here |
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INDUSTRY NEWS
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| 5G and Cloud: Synergy Driving Augmented Reality Value |
IoT For All breaks down how 5G will affect AR for mobile users - and eventually AR glasses users. Namely: smartphones will be able to do the hardware heavy lifting for simple AR glasses; irritating lag will be cut down; 5G will help speed up remote content loading; and battery consumption will be decreased thanks to a good chunk of compute happening on the server side.
6 min read |
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| This Company Creates Virtual People for You to Fire in VR |
"Sorry, Barry."
Enterprise XR solutions startup Talespin focuses on VR job simulation, AR support, XR business intelligence visualization, and... Barry, the poor virtual punching dummy that users get to practice their soft skills on in VR. In Talespin's exercise, you fire Barry over and over, until you level up from negative reactions (quiet sobs and angry yelling) to a mutual understanding.
1 min read |
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| How HoloLens Is Helping Advance the Science of Spaceflight |
In 2015, a SpaceX supply rocket docked with the International Space Station and delivered a small heap of HoloLens HMDs to the astronauts on board. The crews then used the HMD's Remote Expert Mode to connect with Earth-based technicians, and Procedure Mode to display preloaded AR graphics.
NASA has been using VR headsets for training since the mid-80s - it's no stranger to XR's on-the-job potential. For example, AR is used to help engineers navigate the 1,500-page manual for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which will be used in the next moon landing mission and trips to Mars. The Engadget piece is a fun dive into NASA's use of HoloLens tech.
5 min read |
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