Category: Blend Media

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AWE EU 2019: Interview Highlights

The Augmented World Expo (AWE) may not be on the consumer radar as the event tends to focus on enterprise but that doesn’t mean to say there’s nothing interesting going on. As a matter of fact, the recent AWE EU event in Munich, Germany saw quite the turnout, and naturally, VRFocus caught up with several of them to see what they had in store for the future of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology.

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Exhibitors covered the length and breadth of the VR/AR industry, whether that was Hologate demonstrating its location-based entertainment (LBE) platform allowing up to four people to play at once to Glue, a collaboration platform that’s both customisable and scalable depending on a businesses needs.

In the interview below you’ll hear from the likes of Varjo, the Finnish hardware manufacturer behind the new VR-2 and VR-2 Pro headsets. The company unveiled the two new VR devices just prior to the event, meaning AWE EU was the first time Varjo had demoed them to the public. Needless to say, the Varjo stand remained busy throughout, as attendees tested the high-resolution display alongside Ultraleap’s hand tracking.

Also on hand was Blend Media which had just officially announced Blend Market. This is an online marketplace designed to connect creatives working in the immersive industries with corporate clients looking to hire professionals for projects.

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While there were some big fancy stands by XR’s more prominent companies AWE EU was also about highlighting the smaller startups trying to make their presence known. One of those was Nucurrent, a specialist in wireless charging technology. Fairly standard in high-end smartphones nowadays, Nucurrent displayed its wireless charging system retrofitted to an Oculus Go and its controller using a docking station. Ideal for those who want a storage and charging solution in one.

Check out the interview compilation below. And for all the latest enterprise-focused VR/AR news from around the world, keep reading VRFocus.

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Blend Media’s new Blend Market Aims to Connect Businesses With VR/AR Professionals

Blend Media, a specialist in providing immersive technology solutions through its 360-degree stock footage library Blend Stock or editing and publishing platform Blend Studio has announced a third product, Blend Market. This new product is an online marketplace designed to connect virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) creators with corporate clients around the world.

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Blend Market aims to be a one-stop-shop to help companies interested in utilising immersive tech to find and hire professional creators quickly, easily and cost-effectively. Businesses upload a brief of the project which creators with the relevant skills can then bid on, as well as being able to sign NDAs, MSAs and other documentation in-platform and share work in progress as the project proceeds.

“The immersive industry is entirely fragmented. Until now no single solution has existed to enable companies to find and hire skilled AR/VR/MR professionals. Whether looking for a specific skill set such as Unity, Spark AR or foot-tracking, or for industry expertise such as Oil & Gas, Medical, or Education or Marketing/Advertising, Blend Market will help clients connect with and engage the right creators to bring their project to life, from brief to project launch and everything in between,” says  Damian Collier, CEO and founder of Blend Media in a statement.

Several projects have already been completed thanks to Blend Media’s creative network including The Macallan Distillery Experience and the L’Oreal Matrix Salon Emotion experience, both of which can be found on Blend Media’s website.

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“In order for companies to fulfil their ambitions to capitalise on the growth of immersive content, they need a platform to streamline the sourcing process and connect them with the best creators in an ever-evolving market. Blend Market greatly simplifies what can typically be a long, laborious, and at times daunting, process – enabling clients to overcome these challenges and turn their immersive content ambitions into a reality,” Collier adds.

Blend Market released into beta this month. If you’re a VR/AR/MR content creator you can sign up today for free. As Blend Media launches new products for the immersive content industry, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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AirPano Moves To Distribute 360-Degree Content Via Blend Media

AirPano, one of the world’s largest creators of aerial 360-degree video has announced that it has moved distribution of its content from Getty Images to Blend Media, specialists in licensing, customizing and publishing 360-degree and virtual reality (VR) content.

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This new partnership will see all content created by AirPano being distributed by Blend Media moving forward. Previously content was distributed through Getty Images but now it will all be exclusively licensed to Blend Media including the existing large library and also adding their own original content. This new content will include high-resolution aerial footage shot using a range of helicopters and drones, alongside underwater videos all shot in stunning 8K resolution.

Blend Media’ library will get new content added to it ever month with some upcoming material include landscape and wildlife content captured at the Avatar National Park in China, Wadi-Rum desert in Jordan, Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia, Baikal Lake and Volcano Uzon in Russia.

Sergey Semenov, CEO at AirPano said: “We chose to partner with Blend Media because it offers a much fairer reward for creatives than the traditional content powerhouses. They also specialise, specifically in 360° and share our passion for the medium and its power to delight viewers. Our creative vision is dependent on being able to license our content, Blend Media’s global customer base will help reach a bigger audience.”

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The partnership will enhance Blend Media’s product technology and platform combined with their transparent pricing model, showcasing that their are a preferred partner for branded 360-degree content. It is currently the largest source of 360-degree content with over 15,000 videos already available with more coming all the time. The library allows brands, agencies and publishers a self-serve, drag and drop solution making it easy to create and publish interactive 360-degree content.

Simon Brooksbank, head of content at Blend Media said: “The AirPano team is renowned for the depth and high quality of its aerial 360° content, covering more of the world than any other creator. We are delighted that they have joined our growing community. We’re proud to offer the most attractive licensing rates for premium content in the industry, combined with access to advice and workshops on what to create and what sells. Ultimately, supporting the needs of 360° creators means that we offer our customers access to the broadest and best content
available.”

AirPano have said that the new content will be available in May 2018 to Blend Media’s customers which include Google, Intel, Facebook, LADBible and McCann.

For more stories like this in the future keep reading VRFocus.

 

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Blend Media Raises £1.5M to Support its 360˚ video & VR Content Growth

London-based 360-degree video and virtual reality (VR) specialist Blend Media has today announced the closure of a third funding round, securing the company £1.5 million GBP of investment, bring its total to £2.6 million.

Blend Media saw new investment come from Hambro Perks and I2BF Global Ventures along with participation from existing investors including Paul Cooper, partner at Clarity and Mark Browning, Managing Director of ITN Productions. Other shareholders include Solly Solomou, CEO and co-founder of the LADBible Group and Ben Donovan, co-founder and former President of Disney-owned Maker Studios.

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The company aims to support immersive story-telling, making it easier for brands, advertisers and online publishers to source quality library material, secure professional film-makers and quickly customise and publish content. Blend has already partnered with Facebook to help grow its 360-degree ecosystem and counts Google, Greenpeace, Intel, UNILAD, AOL and McCann among its customers.

“We remove the friction of creating and using 360˚ video or virtual reality. We’ve built self-serve tools that enable marketers to create immersive video campaigns as simply as if they were using an email marketing package and publish them anywhere, including in any web browser,” said Damian Collier, Founder and CEO, Blend Media in a statement. “It’s exciting to see the huge array of innovative work that’s being produced. We’re proud to celebrate that creativity by being part of judging the best 360˚ video content at this week’s London Raindance Film Festival.”

With the new funding in place, Blend Media will further develop its platform and expand its technical, sales and marketing teams to aid its current customers.

“Blend Media stands out in the VR world because it is actively building a content market that’s real today, while also looking to the future. It already works with some of the best-known brands in the world and its creation and publishing tools will truly democratise 360˚ video,” Kate Burns, CEO Media Tech, Hambro Perks added.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Blend Media, reporting back with any further updates.

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NASA Offers a 360-Degree View of Solar Eclipse

The solar eclipse that took place on 21st August, 2017 was a once-in-a-lifetime event for many. Those who were not in a country or region where they could view the eclipse used technology to get a good view of the event, including a livestream offered by NASA. NASA have now gone a step further and are offering the world a full 360-degree view.

In partnership with Blend Media and Facebook, NASA captured a 360-degree video of one of the most widely-viewed astronomical events in history, which was the first eclipse to go coast-to-coast across the USA in 99 years.

The 360-degree time-lapse video was captured by photographer William Briscoe, one of Blend Media’s creators and an expert in 360-degree time lapse capture. William Briscoe, Blend creator, said: “Being able to capture this eclipse in 360˚ was a dream come true for me. I’ve been working on the plans and logistics for many months now and I’m honoured to be able to able to capture this spectacular natural phenomenon.”

Damian Collier, Founder and CEO at Blend Media, said: “William Briscoe is possibly the most eminent time-lapse 360˚ creator in the world, and we are thrilled to be representing him exclusively at Blend Media. He was the perfect choice for bringing NASA’s vision to life for this exciting project.”

A recording of the 360-degree livestream video of the eclipse can be viewed through Blend Media’s Facebook page via Facebook 360.

VRFocus will bring you further news on innovative 360-degree film as it becomes available.

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Facebook Celebrates 360 Degrees With Weekend Livestream Event

Facebook is all about video at the moment as it continues to manoeuvre its way to becoming a viable alternative and rival to YouTube for providing video content. 360 degree video is a growing medium now that cameras capable of capturing footage are now cheaper much more readily available. One we regularly visit on VRFocus as part of our Life in 360° series.) As such it is very much a part of that plan, and the company have recently announced a selection of updates and actions in relation to format which of course can be viewed on compatible virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs).

One such activity is occurring this weekend, although technically commencing on Friday 28th July and continuing to Sunday 30th July. With Facebook teaming up with Blend Media to present the “Weekend of Live 360”, a livestream celebrating creators of 360 degree videos (ostensibly those managed by Blend’s network) as well as revealing an array of 360 experiences that will be broadcast from select locations around the world. Each of which will have been filmed with use of a video camera from the Facebook Live 360° Ready Program.

Creators confirmed for the event include Studio KwO from Brazil, Adam Ravtech from the Yap Islands, DJ 360Fabriek from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to name but three. With livestreams viewable via the Blend Media’s Facebook page.

“The exponential growth in popularity of 360° video is a crucial step towards the evolution of content into something people experience rather than just watch.” Explained Blend Media Founder and CEO Damian Collier. “The launch of Facebook’s Live 360 Ready Program means not only that creators can produce and share unique immersive experiences more easily, but that more people around the world can experience this engaging format at scale. The ‘Weekend of Live 360’ promises some exhilarating and entertaining streams from our creators all over the world.”

VRFocus will bring you more news on Facebook’s push into 360 degrees in the near future.

 

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360-Degree Video Company Blend Media Announces Seed Funding

360-Degree Video Company Blend Media Announces Seed Funding

Blend Media is the curator one of the largest collections of 360-degree videos on Facebook, and is helping companies bring the ideas of brands and publishers to the 360-degree format. Blend told UploadVR they’ve completed a new round of funding and, by the looks of the companies that invested, they could end up tapping into that group of creators in the future.

We chatted with Blend Media CEO Damian Collier about the funding, the company’s direction, and more. Collier wouldn’t share specifics on projects they’ll be pushing, but he says their focus is to provide support to the large and growing number of 360-video creators that it represents globally, and also make 360-media marketing quick and easy for brands.

The funding round was led by executives including the co-founder and CEO of The LADBible Group and the co-founder and former President of Maker Studios. The LADBible Group and Maker Studios are both networks geared toward young creators, and the confidence of executives from such companies could pay dividends for Blend’s expansion and audience growth.

“‘Influencer marketing’ is a fast-growing and important part of today’s industry,” says Collier. “Since Blend’s goal is to provide 360 video solutions to the widest possible customer base, this is naturally important to us.”

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