Lifeboat Foundation

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hX0UELNRR1I

A few weeks ago DJI unveiled its newest drone, the Phantom 4, the first craft to offer robust obstacle avoidance at a price the average consumer can afford. It relied on computer vision to power its autonomous flight, and since DJI had shown off this kind of tech before, we assumed that all the hardware on the Phantom 4 was homegrown, or backed by a giant like Intel. But today the chipmaker Movidius announced that its latest offer, the Myriad 2, was at the center of the onboard processor powering the Phantom 4’s incredible new abilities.

As it turns out this isn’t the first time Movidius has partnered with a big name to develop cutting edge technology. Back in 2014 its first chip, the Myriad 1, was revealed as the brains inside of Google’s first generation of Project Tango tablets. After a decade toiling in relative obscurity, the small 125 person company is suddenly poised to emerge as a leader at the intersection of several major markets — from drones to phones to virtual reality — which are looking for ways to enable cheap, power-efficient computer vision.

Continue reading “The revolutionary chipmaker behind Google’s project Tango is now powering DJI’s autonomous drone” »

Chipset maker Qualcomm Technologies has introduced a virtual reality (VR) software development kit (SDK) targeting VR-capable Android smartphone and headset makers.

The Snapdragon VR SDK offers access to optimized VR features, to simplify development and to help developers with attain improved VR performance and power efficiency with the Snapdragon 820 for Android smartphones and upcoming VR headsets.

Qualcomm will be offering the SDK in the second quarter of 2016 through the Qualcomm Developer Network.

Continue reading “Qualcomm brings virtual reality software development kit” »

Special thanks to archive.org for hosting these episodes. Downloads of all these episodes and more can be found at: http://archive.org/details/computerchronicles

Weeeee!

Here is a cool look at The New Revolution at Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Over Georgia & Hurricane Harbor with a side-by-side shot of what you will see when wearing the VR headset. Are you looking forward to checking out this new technology?

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The realities of VR.

NEW YORK, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Horizon Media, the largest and fastest growing privately held media services agency in the world, announced today its most recent research on consumer interest in virtual reality devices. The research was fielded in Finger on the Pulse, the agency’s proprietary online research community comprised of 3,000 people reflective of the U.S. population, and with the social media expertise of Horizon’s Distillery social intelligence team. The research shows that despite extensive media coverage of Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and other virtual reality devices, fully two thirds of consumers are unaware of the technology.

Virtual reality – often referred to as “VR” – has been readily embraced by the mainstream media as the shiny, new, technological advancement. Marketers are also understandably excited about the possibilities unleashed by VR technology. But while there is interest among consumers, the survey findings suggest that companies would be well served to walk before they run when incorporating virtual reality activations into marketing plans, at least until the technology reaches greater awareness and scale.

Continue reading “Horizon Media Study Finds Two Thirds of Americans Unaware of Virtual Reality Devices” »

You may have heard of Magic Leap, future purveyors of “cinematic reality” (augmented reality) headsets. This is a company without a single commercial product, and yet it’s worth $4.5 billion. Many are invigorated by the company’s potential, but a tour of its most recent, 160,000-word, 350-page patent application — especially with current events in mind — could suggest other, less exciting applications for the emerging technology.

No one really knows what to expect from the company: by design, it’s mysterious. (Out of silence comes allure.) We’ve seen two videos, we’ve investigated its job postings, and we know that wealthy organizations love throwing money its way. But we do have access to Magic Leap’s patent applications, and it published its most recent one in late January.

People are excited about VR and AR. With reason, too: the demos, previews, and new releases we get to watch are striking. The games we imagine playing in the future are enthralling. The mere idea of a virtual or augmented world, either distinct from or mixed with the actual (boring, depressing, what-have-you) world, is enough to invigorate all of our wayward souls.

Continue reading “Here’s Magic Leap’s Covert Vision for Its Augmented Reality Headsets” »

Virtual and augmented reality is taking giant leaps every day, both in the mainstream and in research labs. In a recent TechEmergence interview, Biomedical Engineer and Founder of g.tec Medical Engineering Christopher Guger said the next big steps will be in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and embodiment.

Image credit: HCI International

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, embodiment is the moment when a person truly “feels” at one with a device controlled by their thoughts, while sensing that device as a part of, or an extension, of themselves. While researchers are taking big strides toward that concept, Guger believes those are only baby steps toward what is to come.

While augmented or virtual reality can take us away for a brief period, Guger said true embodiment will require far more BCI development. There has been a lot of work recently in robotic embodiment using BCI.

Continue reading “When Will Virtual Embodiment Take Shape in Mainstream Society?” »