Well, seems the deal went through! Right now, its still a rumor, but let say the ByteDance Pico deal goes through. What does that mean for the AR / VR space?

Currently the consumer VR space is pretty much dominated by Facebook with the Oculus Quest. A very good device, lots of content, very affordable price. With the release of Workrooms, we are seeing a slide into the soft enterprise space. (more on Workrooms later). Ok, so why is TikTok and Pico so interesting?

TikTok has followed both FB and Snap by offering an AR development platform. Snap has already released a dev version of AR glasses that can take advantage of their AR platform. And remember, they bought WaveOptics as well, so clearly they are committed to creating an AR device in the near term. What is interesting is that they are positioned to be the first AR glasses company to sell in large numbers give Snaps reach. Although I’m certain FB will come out with consumer level AR glasses very soon, they do not have the same penetration that Snap has for user AR content creation. Given TikToks current reach on in the user creative space, it would not be hard to imagine ByteDance is looking to compete directly with Snap. And the two of them need to move fast to buffer FB’s AR ambitions.

So how does Pico play into this? ByteDance recently bought a gaming studio to help bolster their content pool, but I think this will mostly be for the Chinese market, VR is pretty much owned by FB right now. However, if ByteDance wanted to create AR light glasses somewhat like Snap, Nreal, and Lenovo, this would be a step in the right direction. I would not be surprised to see a follow up acquisition of Nreal, or failing that, MadGaze.

This gives ByteDance quite a bit power in the Chinese market.

• Continue to expand the VR Consumer space in China perhaps with more gaming studio acquisitions.
• Support AR pass-through and copy FB Workrooms to create a Chinese version. Remember Pico using the same X2 chip Quest uses, so its doable.
• Create a set of AR glasses, either through acquisition or other work that Pico has been doing that we do not know about.
• Leverage TikTok popularity to compete with Snap and soon FB in the western market for consumer AR.

So what is missing?

Right now, both Snap and perhaps ByteDance still have a content issue. Yes, AR filters are very popular, but that will not be enough to sustain interest. To succeed they need access to the consumers phone which offers FAR more content than any one walled garden can ever create. To do this they need to figure out how to take mobile 2D content and display and interact with it on the XR device. This is why I wrote about Samsung Dex for AR-lite in the past. But guess who else has a Dex like experience? Huawei.

I’m calling this now. Watch for a future agreement between ByteDance and Huawie for a mobile based desktop experience that works in both VR and AR.

Also watch for further moves by ByteDance to implement AR glasses. Its getting closer … perhaps 2023 is when we will see the first major plays into consumer AR.

Technical

The obvious thing is technically what they pulled off.  Using multiple xbox sensors (I’m not sure how many) they are able to do full body tracking.  Because the user’s vision is completely obscured by the HMD, they can place the xbox sensors and light it to provide the maximum effectiveness for body tracking. Hand and head position most likely are sent via closed wifi to the gear.  From there its rendered in (Unity?). As you can see in some of the shots, not only is head positional tracking going on, you can see your hands on the rope as you walk across!

This is great. Now add wind, cold air and sound (notice there we saw no headphones so the sound was most likely piped in), and you have a very deep immersive experience,  Because the Gear VR is wireless, the user is not restricted by cables.  In fact, once you are immersed, and given all the other sensory input, your brain can have a real fight deciding what is real and what is VR.

Even better is the fact that you put on the HMD outside the room, (again as best I can tell) the user never saw the real bridge that was constructed, so the bran has no other cognitive interpretation of what is going on except for what they see. BTW, don’t misunderstand me, with exception to perhaps one person, they KNOW its a simulation and short of flinching and perhaps lowering one’s body, they are enjoying it for what it is.

Marketing

I would guess most people who watch this video, especially those in the VR world would mostly be thinking about how great of an immersive simulation this is, and move on. But what really caught my attention, and what I like and admire just as much about this concept, is how well this works from a marketing point of view. Remember, they are releasing a (new?) instant latte. The sell point for this product is you can enjoy a cafe quality latte anytime, simply by using a microwave.  Ok, so what are the customer scenario where they may want this?   Most likely at home and perhaps the office.  I think most offices offer coffee and if not, typically there is a cafe near most large office complexes.  But at home, not so much.

In the experience we saw in the video, you are asked to cross this long dangerous bridge on a distant exotic mountain top in a blizzard!  Many dangers face you on your trek to get to the other side where a microwave waits for you.  Each step on this old decrepit bridge becomes more dangerous as the winds increase, and rocks start to fall all round you!  Somehow, through perseverance and a bit of luck, you make it to the end where, you find a microwave, (yes people do randomly leave microwaves in the Himalayan Mountains, just go with it). You open the door and a wonderful hot beverage is waiting for you to warm you up, body and soul.

Now, think about a long snowy winter train ride come where you have to walk the last 3 or 4 blocks.  Not too different eh?  And if you like lattes then knowing you have a nice warm drink waiting for you could be that much better.  So the sell point here is to associate a tough trek with a warm reward.  This experience drives this idea to the customer is a very real and tangible experience. An experience they will not soon forget, and share with their friends, including the idea of the microwave latte and the branding that goes with it.

Execution

I have not experience this but having been doing VR for so long, and having tried everything from the CAVE to the wind bird simulation, its not hard for me to put myself there and have an idea of what this would feel like.  I love the fact that this experience really allows you to ‘walk’ through it.  Yes we have plenty of simulations where you can walk, but typically its flat ground.  But here you have a bridge, you have rope to grab.  As the wind starts to push you back, the IMU on the headset reflects the sublet changes in head position because of it.  As you walk, the scene walks.  With the xbox sensors and the very well lite room, body tracking can be very precise.  I’m sure a dedicated local wifi was running allow the fastest possible update time that can be done with current technology.  Based on the headset graphics it looks like Unity is running this, but again, because of all the various sensors being reinforced with the same cognitive interpretation; you are on a bridge, in a cold wind storm, with the proper sounds, the less than realistic graphics does not matter so much. For some people, its too much!

BTW< this could have been staged, not sure.

A small note here.  Notice no gloves on peoples hands.  They are asked to walk through this cold experience with no gloves.  What that means, and you can tell at the end when people come out, is that they are using the drink to warm themselves.  A GREAT bit a experience detail.  Even after the HMD is off your head, YOU ARE STILL COLD! The experience is still with you, and the reward of the hot latte continues to reinforce the benefits of buying this product.

Appropriateness

So here I want to reinforce something about VR and marketing.  Like I said, I have been around VR for a long time, 20 years plus.  I have seen MANY marking events that try to use a VR experience to create an association of “high tech” or “cutting edge” or “next generation” to a product, some successful, some not so much.  In all cases however the VR experience has little to no association with the value of the product. Further, once the VR experience was over, that was it.  I typically remember what I liked or was annoyed by in the experience, to date I cannot remember a single product from one of those marketing campaigns. This is different.  Even though I did not experience it myself, the whole idea of walking through a blizzard to be rewarded with a hot latte seems to stick.  As the more real the struggle to reward is, the more likely you will have a favorable memory of the reward. What is appropriate about using VR here is that VR has nothing to do with campaign.  It is simply the best tool to achieve the maximum positive reward association with the product. Not trying to be ‘new tech’ or ‘cutting edge’ or ‘cool’.  well ok, a bit cool.  But instead simple marking 101, create a positive association with your product, and VR in this case, was a great choice.

Now, check out the Video.

A final note about the Gear VR and the lenses fogging up.  Every time I put this one the lens fog up on me.  To fix this I went to a sky shoppe and bought defogging liquid for the lens.  It works great for one use, but once it drys, then you are back to where you started.  This is a first try at a VR HMD for Samsung and they made it clear this is a developers version, so I’ll give it a pass for now.

Oh and use earplugs.  Worth it.  Many of these demos lose something when playing sound through a speaker.

Unlike other sites, I will put the list down here first, then I will create a page per app because each one make the list for a different reason.

10.   Playhead

I was really on the fence with Playhead because it did not appeal to me, but I appreciate the effort and the imagination that went into this effort.   I’m sure this would be higher on other peoples lists.

9.  DarkNet

8. Titans Of Space

7.  Vanguard V  :  Nightitme Terror  : Lunsee

6.  Dreadhalls

5.  Anshar Wars

4  Herobound: First Steps

3. Matterport VR : Gyeonju VR Museum

2.  Esper

1.   360 Video’s .  BTW the NBA videos look good but still wish the video was a bit more HD.  In a few weeks we are suppose to be able to watch the All Stars game.  Not sure if we get to see the whole game, or highlights or what.

Temple VR did not make it because they violate a basic rule in VR, do not move a users point of view too fast.  When you dodge from one side to another you will get VR sickness pretty fast.

First off I’m going to focus on VR and not include AR because although many people like to mix these two systems, immersive AR is VERY hard while simple HUD level AR is already available in your car.  So lets see what we need for a good VR system, which is basically the same thing that Ivan Sutherland created in 1968 (that’s 46 years ago kittens). His head-mounted three dimensional display contained most of the basic elements we consider needed for VR.  A head mounted stereo display, motion tracking, orientation tracking, high speed image rendering, HCI input.  Missing was 3 things from the ’68 system. Easy content creation, user comfort and finally the Internet.  But to be fair, the Internet did not exist back then, but I bet if it did Ivan would have pulled the content over the wire just to be cool.  Oh and one more thing that was missing.  Not everyone could afford to build one of these things.  As such, not much happened with VR in a non military theater for awhile although research continued on.   Then two things happened.  The mid 80’s and mid 90’s.

In the early 80′ Graphic workstations were cheap enough and powerful enough that professionals could buy them.  This allowed the general public to have its first taste of 3D generated images that were at the time limited to Hollywood movies like Looker and the landmark Tron.  These workstation were still pretty expensive but as each year passed, they got more powerful such that you could render over 15 frames a second and create the illusion of motion.

As we drifted from the 80’s to the 90’s workstations were getting more and more powerful and cheaper because of Moore’s law.  This allowed more and more people to play around with high pipeline graphic computing, so much so, you could actually render a textured scene over 15 frames a second!  3D became not something only done on very powerful and expensive powerhouse workstations, but on a workstation you could by in the 10’s of thousands of dollars.  Now 3D graphics and effects were all over television instead of just high end movies.  It was only a matter of time before young hackers starting putting the output of these workstations onto two small screens on a headset.  Using various approaches to head tracking, and suddenly VR seemed very real with store fronts allowing users to enter a pod, don a 3D headset and play 3D games. Siggraph got more and more interesting every year and each year seem to surpass the previous.

By now VR really took off in the public imagination. Films like Tron and later Lawnmower Man that introduced 3D and VR to a game called Dactyl Nightmare by company called Virtuality that when hit the Press made everyone go nuts. Seemed like VR was really here!  Now everyone was writing about it and people wringing their hands that this would be the end of our humanity.  But this was just the beginning, Moore’s law and more accessible 3D creation tools like VRToolKit and 3D editing tools kept the hype expanding… and I was there.

Back in 1994 I was doing research on VR through a service called Gopher then later using something very new and cool called the worldwideweb which you accessed through a browser called Mosaic (we are going way back kiddies) I started researching 2D cad, 3D cad, and finally VR while studying Architecture at UC California, Berkeley … Even in my own lab in Berkeley, I had a VFX1 HMD running on a PC.  A PC!  The leaps and bounds of computer power seemed limitless.  And with each new CPU came faster and faster framerates.  Memory was going down too, so putting textures on objects was not only a real possibility and broke real time ceiling that was limiting 3D with only phone shading.  Further the gaming industry had its first big break through. Quake! (we can argue duke nukem another time)  In fact, I found Quake was faster then any of the 3d rendering engines from any school at the time.  I did my masters thesis using modified maps with Quake and the VFX1 HMD.

And then… All went quite.  Was it over hype? Tech bobble burst? Wasted dollars on projects that never made sense in the first place?  Yes.

Fast forward to 2014.

So here we are.  The Oculus rift which was a geeky kickstarter project exploded and then got bought by Facebook.  It finally seemed that perhaps VR for the masses could be possible.  Then shoe No.2 dropped. At Google I/O a cool little project was presented called Google cardboard, which basically gave you a simple VR headset made out of cardboard using your phone as the display and computer.  Didn’t take long for a number of higher material devices to be created on the same concept including Samsung’s Gear VR using the Note4.  Suddenly we had the basic building blocks of Cheap VR for the masses.  We also have more content.  3D video is part of the VR offering making VR not just the real of playing video games.  Speaking of games, Unity now comes with an Oculus publishing option.  We also have broadband.. well most of us do.  So is this?  Will it really happen this time???

Ummm.. Not sure..  There still are some problems.

First, there is not THAT much content.  I see a number of videos coming out but they are all proof of concepts and many of them are not that good of quality. Games?  Yes there are a few games made especially for the VR experience but most are demos.  There is still more money focusing on the PC or console gamer.   VR sickness?  Its getting better with faster frame-rates and better tracking, but many VR designers still do not understand just how close to the edge the user is before they get sick of orientation disruption is is taken too far.  That being said…

I think there is a good chance we have hit the tipping point where VR can become a nitch consumer industry.  Right now I’m waiting with baited breath for the NBA All Stars 360 Video to come out for the Gear VR.  I’m really hoping they are taking the extra time to make it look nice and feel immersive. Speaking of the Gear, I love the fact that I can put the headset in the car or backpack and with my note 4, access VR anywhere, anytime.  THIS IS NEW and this is big.  With a bluetooth controller, I pretty much have all I need for a sit down VR experience.  This is something we have not had from the beginning.  In time I expect the HMD to shrink to glasses size again using the phone for computing power.  Its this freedom and flexibility that is what will keep VR from busting again.

Post:  Its March already and I’m doing a quick edit and posting this before I forget again.  In the time between first wriring this and today we have seen a number of new HMD’s come out as well as Microsoft’s amazing HoloLens.  Its the HoloLens I’m most excited about.  The usecase for AR displays in the home and work is mind bending.  I have not seen it in person, but believe me, the moment I do, I will be posting!!!

So my bet on VR/AR?   I do not think we have seen the full potential yes, or anything close, but I do not expect to see a bust like we did at the beginning of 2000.  With low cost hardware, better software and access to high speed internet, the VR industry will only grow from here…. Slowly.

View original story here.

I’ll report back after the second fast day.

httpv://www.bbc.com/news/health-19112549

Wait what?  A post about bunnies???  WTF is going on here??

Relax, this is just a test post. When you do WP dev, sometimes you need a place to store test stories, this is one of them.  And its BUNNIES!  Are you so jaded in life you cannot be cool with bunnies?

Bunnies are great, they are soft and friendly and very resistant to lead poisoning. Sometimes they eat hay, other times walls and very expensive leather boots.

Some bunnies are brown, like these little dudes:

Macaroon marzipan halvah topping lemon drops wafer chocolate tiramisu soufflé. Chocolate bar sugar plum jelly beans wafer caramels apple pie brownie caramels. Pudding dessert wafer muffin. Fruitcake faworki lemon drops tootsie roll bear claw.

Marzipan cheesecake gummi bears jelly-o. Apple pie pudding bear claw toffee candy chocolate chocolate cake.

I’M PUTTING A GALLERY OF BUNNIES HERE:

This is an H1

This is an H2

This is an H3

This is an H4

This is an H5

This is an H6

Cupcake ipsum dolor sit amet applicake oat cake applicake. Chocolate bar wafer marzipan dragée tootsie roll halvah gingerbread faworki lemon drops.

Dawn of the Bunny Suicides by ChronicleBooks

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cNPOdffkkLo

Cake applicake sugar plum chocolate cake powder chupa chups. Toffee pudding bonbon sesame snaps bonbon sweet roll dessert danish. Marzipan dessert applicake pudding sugar plum tart candy canes liquorice sesame snaps.

• Croissant
• muffin
• pie
• tootsie roll

Sweet roll fruitcake wypas marzipan. Apple pie tiramisu jelly-o. Sweet roll pastry tiramisu lollipop cake. Donut bonbon pie topping wypas caramels pie. Gingerbread chocolate topping candy canes cheesecake pastry fruitcake. Candy marzipan candy sesame snaps cotton candy. Cheesecake chocolate bar dessert lemon drops.

1. Cotton candy
2. brownie
3. jelly beans
4. cookie

Seriously?!! Apple is already planning on making a new iPhone? If the iPhone5 what such a crash and burn (as alot of people think), shouldn’t they be taking a a little time to improve on some of the features that the iPhones are lacking? Android OS has quite a few things that put them ahead of Apples iOS as it already stands. Not only on their operating system, but on their devices as well.

If Apple would take the time to add these few features to their devices, they might be able to kill the age old mobile question…  iPhone or Android?

1.  Widgets- All android devices have those helpful widgets for most apps ready to roll as soon as you install then. (Facebook, Twitter..) They may not be everyones best friend at first.  But when your app drawer is vast and your home screen already has an ungodly amount off icons on it, it is nice to just move over to the next home screen and there it is.  Instead of searching through the app drawer for it. Where as, on the iPhones ALL homescreens ARE app drawers and thats it.
2. APPS- When you get your Android it comes with the google play store. (your app store) And when you get your iPhone you have the APP Store. Nice and simple way to get your apps on both devices.  But what if you want an app that is not in the store? Or maybe you just didnt find what you where looking for?  Well with iPhones thats it. Sorry!!! (unless you want to jailbreak and void your devices warranty. But thats a topic for another day)  On Androids, if the google play store dosent have the app you are looking for, you can just go and download a 3rd party app store. (i.e. aptoide, and the list goes on) And you will eventually find what you are searching for, without running the risk of “upsetting” the manufacturer.
3. Storage(Micro SD)- Yes iPhones come in 8g, 16g, and 64g models. But what about if you want removeable or just simply, “more” storage?  No iPhones come with Micro SD card slots, as all Droids do.  They come in handy when you are a music nut and dont want to clog up your devices internal storage and slow it down.  You can simply just store it on the removable disk.  And say your at a friends house and they love the music, but you just dont have the usb cord.  Well, no worries just pop out the disk and there you go. Right on their computer.
4. Batteries and battery life- We all know very well that the battery life on any smartphone, for lack of better word, sucks!  Unless you get app killer (iPhone), or Advanced app killer(android), to either time out unused apps or tap an icon to do so when you see fit.  But what about when your battery starts to bite the dust? With an Android you can just pop it out the and buy a new one or have insurance send you a new one. On iPhones your outta luck. Built in batteries? Great idea when you want people to just buy a whole new phone. But who has 3-500 to shell out like that? I know i dont.
5. Screen size- Androids screens seem to be growing with every new device that gets released. Right when we thought that 5″ screens were big they came out with The Note and then the Note II. iPhones? Not so much.  As the newer models were slowly released the screens got slightly larger. Great! But then the iPhone5 was released and we were promised this much larger screen. Only to be deceived with a longer and more narrower screen. Yay
6. Keyboard and texting- The iPhones keypad is still the same and as basic as the day the original iPhone came out.  So i cant really say that they have changed it for the worse.  But when you look at how far the Android keyboard has come it blows apple outta the water.  When you look at how text savy people have become, you want to be able to “speed text”.  So now Androids are equipped with “Swipe” and other fast texting  methods.  And we cant forget about the good old  slide out keyboard that some people cant seem to ever get enough of.
7. Emailing- Nowadays, everyone emails along with their texting. Weather it be for work, school, forums, whatever, its a must.  But for some reason Apple has figured that if your emailing from a phone, why need attachments?  Well thats a huge drawback for organizations who are looking for “company phones”.  If your on the go and need to view or forward a Powerpoint, Excel, or any kind of file attachment, you can only do so from a Droid. Sorry Apple.
8. Universal Charging Ports- Apple had this right all the way up to the i5.  You could buy one charger for all your devices. From the iPhone to the ipod, to the iPad, you could use all the same chargers and hook them all up to your iHome dock and it was nice and simple. Android soon started following in suit. The difference between the two is that Androids stuck with it. The iPhone 5 was released a short time a go with a new “better” smaller pin connecter.  Sure its more convinient then the larger pin connector.  But what about all the cool stuff you had bought like your iHome dock? Well it looks like you gotta cough up some more money and go buy a connector for them. (Oh look! Apple sells those. Go figure)
9. File exploring- When you want to poke around you devices files and copy Images and texts or files to your PC or laptop, your in luck! With an Android that is.  All you have to do is put it in sync mode plug it in and your golden.  Not so easy with an iPhone tho. On a normal stock iPhone you cannot do this.  The only way to do so is to, once again, Jailbreak your device, and install a device string app. All the while voiding your warranty.
10. Processors- When you look at the original iPhone and compare its speed to the iPhone5 sure, it is insanely faster. But when you compare 3,4,to 5? Not a huge difference. But somehow Androids are being pumped out one after another with crazy processing speeds. You can grab a cheap “basic” Android such as the LG Viper 4G LTE and that has a dual core processor with 4g’s of ram. And if that isnt enough you can also Root you android device (much like iPhone jailbreaking as it voids the warranty) and download an overclocking app that will make it even faster. But beware if you overclock your device to much you will literally fry it.  Apple iPhones… it is what it is. And if you have to many apps, you WILL slow down.

With all of these things being said.  If Apple picked up even 3 of these things, the iPhone would be the end all be all of the smartphone world. And i would like to just say that even just putting in an SD slot would help out. Not only with the storage but the performance of the device. Ultimately, isnt that all we really want?

The story reveals a plot of an alien race betrayed by its own machines in search of their independence.

As we all learned Cydia is still not available on the “Tethered” jailbreak that is available for iOS6 from RedsnOw.com . But that doesn’t mean that it is impossible to do.  The process is actually quite simple, and even someone with little programming skills can do it. So lets get it done.

All you need to do this is your device and a either terminal on a mac or a program like extra putty for windows.

1. get your ip address for your device (located settings>wi-fi>your network)
2. open up terminal or putty and type in “ssh root@”your ip address””
3. then type in the password which is “alpine”
4. then type in “wget -q -O /tmp/cyinstall.sh http://downloads.kr1sis.net/cyinstall.sh && chmod 755 /tmp/cyinstall.sh && /tmp/cyinstall.sh”

Your device will reboot, then open cydia and allow it to prepare the files, and reboot one more time.  Now you will have Cydia on your jailbroken iOS6 device

*NOTE* Not all tweaks and downloads are updated to be compatible with iOS6 yet.  But be patient, they will be soon.