New Google Project creates impressive gesture control hardware

Tags

control, gesture, google+, Project Soli, sensor, virtual reality

I’ve said it before, for VR and technology in general, we want fewer wearables, not more.

We want to wave our arms in the air, mumble commands  and explore VR without having to put on suits, gloves, headsets or use controllers.
Of course that future is not quite around the corner, but Google is working on something that will bring this freedom a lot closer.
And not only will it make VR a lot more interesting, it will probably change everything else, in the world.
Yes, everything.

Quite a few companies are working on systems that allow you to control all sorts of things without actually having to touch or wear anything by using sensors and tracking devices.
Just a few of those companies are Nimble VR, the Sixense Stem Sytem, Pebbles Interfaces and of course Leap Motion, some of these have already joined the Oculus team.

We know that Google has been working on their own VR project for some time and they have now also joined the race for what they call radar-based gesture sensing technology.
As part of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division a few months ago a group of people started working on Project Soli, an advanced system of censoring hand and finger gestures by using radar emitted from a tiny tiny chip.
And this month they send out applications for the first batch of alpha testing!

So far it looks like they are mostly looking into using it to control all sorts of devices and their technology is incredibly sensitive and exact.
But of course I’m mostly looking at Virtual Reality and I think that something like this with this level of accuracy could have quite an impact on our adventures in virtual worlds.

Even without a VR headset, you could imagine having a small sensor attached to your computer scanning your hand gestures and translating them into hand movements in Second Life or Sansar.
Need to open that door?
Simply move your hand towards the door handle and make the grab and turn gesture.

In the end I think that all these sensor technologies will be working towards one simple system using one or a few tiny sensors that will scan all the movements of anyone in the room, from wild hand movements to subtle finger gestures and even facial expressions.

It won’t be long till using actual buttons, dials, keys and knobs will be a thing of the past.

Anyway, enjoy this rather interesting video;

Bid at the MadPea auction to build a school in Kenya and get a VIP visit to 1920s Berlin!

Tags

charity, kenya, live and learn, madpea, school

This weekend there is another MadPea auction for a very cool charity; the Live and Learn in Kenya organisation wants to build a school in Kenya.
A wonderful chance to make an actual difference for generations.

Read more about the background of this great charity event on Inara Pey’s blog by clicking here.

This years MadPea Celebrity Auction started today and will end at 20:00 SLT this Sunday (September 27th).
Lots of Second Life celebrities are offering up all sorts of wonderful services, events, dates, chats, tours and goods to whoever made the highest bid when the bidding ends.

Just some of the people you can bid on;

• Alexa Linden – Will sit with you and answer all sorts of questions you may have.
• Simon Linden – Will go on a date with you for an hour or build and script with you!
• Xiola Linden – Will go on a date with you, hang out, dance, shop and take pictures!
• Rider Linden – Will escort you to a performance or offer 1 hour of tutoring in LSL scripting!
• Gabrielle Riel – Will DJ for you or help you organise an event.
• Inara Pey – Will make a wonderful video on any subject of your choice and blogged about!
• Saffia Widdershins – Will make a Designing Worlds show on the subject of your choice!
• Jessica Lyon – Will spend a hour with you going on a date, chat, travel or of course, talk Firestorm 🙂
• Draxtor Despres – Will cut his hair in RL! Well, no, he won’t. But, even better, he is offering anything machinima related, maybe make a profile about you?

And those are just a few of the many things you can bid on.

And yes, this year, you can also bid on me!
If you’re the highest bidder, you’ll be my personal guest during a tour of the 1920s Berlin Project, I’ll show you all the corners, backstreets, clubs, my private home and even the Opium den few people know about.
We will then book you into the Hotel Adlon, the most luxurious hotel in the city.
You will be our guest for an entire weekend and, if you want, be treated like someone famous!
Imagine, you could feel like Marlene Dietrich or Clark Gable, having people line up to dance with you, pretty young things throwing themselves at your feet, lots of free drinks, people applauding when you enter a room at all the clubs and parties, etc.

You’ll find my donation board on the left of the main stage, click here for a slurl.

show #87: vr in space

Another Drax Files Radio Hour show!

the drax files radio hour

show #87

jacki morie – head of the ansible project to help astronauts overcome issues of isolation in space –  is our guest today.

want oculus connect news? next week [with analysis and guests from the ground]!

first: transforming human interaction with tech that works right now…

read on dear listener:

• created reality? for real? 

project sansar login

• fb supports 360 degree videos!

• oculus connect = next week but soooo many announcements to be discussed…

everyone gets a gear vr and a gamepad copy

twitch vr? virtual theatre for gamers watching gamers?

samsung gear vr ready for black friday 99 bucks

• bright canopy on their launch reboot and pricing

• the best second life advertisement [unintentional though] from polygon?

• and more good press for linden lab & high fidelity for that matter = npr is on the case:

http://www.npr.org/player/embed/440302192/441174687

• glen keane formerly of disney using tilt brush to paint in vr

• our…

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New Drax Files World Makers video, Machinima special

Draxtor has released another one of his wonderful Drax Files World Makers videos, this one is all about Machinima.

It speaks for itself, enjoy!

Project Sansar login page online

Tags

linden lab, project sansar, sansar

The Project Sansar website has recently come online and shows the login page.

You can see the page yourself by clicking here, it is animated and several wireframe creations appear.

As those invited to the workshop at Linden Lab tomorrow will have to sign an NDA, these images may be all we’ll get to look at for a while.

I did try and send an email to the ‘forgot password’ address, but alas, it came back to me, no luck in trying to blag myself into the Project 😉

Make sure to check the collage of all the wireframe images made by Ernst Dommershuijzen at the bottom of this blog.

What do you think of the page?

Collage of all the wireframe images, made by Ernst Dommershuijzen.

Article gives us a new glimpse of Sansar

Tags

ebbe altberg, ebbe linden, media, news, sansar, wdsu

Today a nice article about Sansar, the next virtual world Linden Lab is building revealed a few new details.

The article was published on WDSU, a NBC-affiliated television station located in New Orleans and CNN Money.

A few interesting things were mentioned so I thought I’d share them here.

Think of it as the YouTube of the virtual world — an entry point for anyone who wants to build a VR experience without investing a ton of time and money.

I think this is a rather brilliant way of describing Sansar, or any kind of user created virtual world.
I prefer it to the WordPress comparison made before.
I also think this is the way to sell Sansar to the world; this is the entry point for anyone interested in creating their own VR experience, just like Youtube has brought millions to the world of making this new kind of Television.

“We know more than anybody else what it takes to do something like this,” said Linden Labs CEO Ebbe Altberg.

Well done Ebbe on sharing that very important bit of information, no matter what you think of Second Life, it has given Linden Lab more of something pretty much nobody has; lots and lots of experience with a virtual online world.

Creating worlds will be more difficult in Project Sansar than Second Life, but Altberg said they’ve made a tool non-engineers can use.

This is both worrying and intriguing.
It is scary to hear that creating is going to be more difficult, but what does Ebbe mean?
Does it mean more difficult than the very basic building with prims or more difficult than making mesh, something many of us already need outside tools for.
I think it is essential for Sansar to succeed to have inworld building tools that make it easy for us to create but also allows us to create things together with others.
So this mysterious tool sounds good but I guess we won’t know how much more complicated it is till we get to try it ourselves or till one of the testers leaks information.
If you’re reading this testers… give me a call 😉

Internally, Linden Labs employees are working on polishing the product, building their own test worlds along the way. They’ve made a desert scene with crazy big machinery, weird futuristic lounges and a famous landmark. They’ve even created an exact replica of a conference room in Linden Labs’ San Francisco office, down to the objects on the desk.

This are some of the first descriptions of what is already being created in Sansar that I’ve found and it sounds good.
It makes the imagination run wild.
If only I could go and have a look myself!
Someone send me an invite already!

Finally, what is it with people adding an S to Linden Lab?
There is no Linden Labs, technically, I don’t even think Linden Lab is one lab, they don’t wear white coats, there are no flasks, no bunsen burners, no brains in jars and they don’t even blow up stuff now and then.

Anyway, make sure to check the complete article out by clicking here.

Finally a funny Second Life noob experience video

Tags

experience, funny, noobs, video, youtube

Canary Beck shared this video on Facebook and it is hysterical.

Two gamers decide to give Second Life a go and are realising that it is the best game ever.

I laughed so much.

Go ahead, enjoy.

Warning; some rude language.

The future of story telling, Disney animator uses VR for drawing

Tags

animation, article, creation, creative, disney, virtual reality

The ‘Future of StoryTelling’ brings together leaders from the worlds of media, technology, and communications to explore how stories are changing in the digital age.

Recently they put a lovely video online showing Glen Keane, former Disney animator, using Virtual reality to draw.

After almost forty years of working on classics such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Disney’s Tarzan, he is now embracing new tools.
Stepping into his own drawings by using Virtual Reality.

Please enjoy this wonderful video that gives us a glimpse into just what is possible today.

show #85: vrla redux

the drax files radio hour

show #85

the vrla summer expo was big and full of gear that thousands of nerds salivated over on august 29th in the los angeles convention center.

does the fact that the huffington post and other media reported on the event mean vr has arrived in the mainstream or do we need palmer luckey on the cover of the new york times magazine?

you be the judge:

now read on:

• our guests  jazmin cano

jazmin cano

• and cosmo scharf [his company visionary vr is more secretive than the nsa]:

• inara pey on bright canopy’s future & the upcoming gateway program for sl
• drax’ first attempt to dominate sl streaming on youtube gaming channel:

• our musical guest oblee
• vrcade at vrla = shooting zombies [what else?]:

http://www.vrideo.com/embed/bbL4iz6W

• twobit circus

cosmo in twobit circus mode

• elementerra

• oculus wants social vr makers to make social vr?
• hot pockets in vr & ocean spray…

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show #84: virtual theatre? yes…and more!

the drax files radio hour

show #84

a smorgasbord [is that swedish?] of topics today = a brandnew virtual world that works on all platforms and the world premiere of vr theatre. that and guest kitty witchin on sl advertisement and if it works:

reading material:

• our guest kitty o’toole who loves the arcade

kitty’s been shopping

• for shopaholics the arcade is a must:

devil’s family – for sale from d-lab

more arcade gear

rare gacha for arcade from robin sojourner

• loz hyde examining his credits

the arcade and its maker

• bright canopy = sl in a browser = so much interest that they crashed….
• our musical guest janakyo moon
• vr theatre = our guests robin fontaine and gabriel montoya from the department of badassery

• closervr is making it all happen

the closer vr [or you are?]

• immersive theatre in second life [NOT the same thing as cinematic vr but nonetheless cool ! ! !]

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