Category: Columns

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High Fidelity’s content protection plan has high costs

[Editor’s note: In this opinion column, Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner is responding to High Fidelity’s content protection plan, which uses the same blockchain technology as that which powers Bitcoin. Tochner reviously headed up an identity management company, ID Choice, and worked in Unit 8200, Israel’s equivalent of the NSA.]

High Fidelity is a new virtual world platform from Second Life founder Philip Rosedale. (Image courtesy High Fidelity.)

First, I’d like to begin by saying that we in Kitely find High Fidelity’s commitment to building an open-source foundation for a virtual reality metaverse commendable.

We’re rooting for their success, especially as some virtual world pundits seem to be willing to forgo having an open metaverse in exchange for being given access to a cheaper or — currently — more polished platform that creates single-vendor lock-in.

In my opinion, if you care about your future rights then you shouldn’t help promote platforms that will limit your freedoms down the road.

Specifically, if you care about content ownership then focus on helping build the ecosystem of open-source virtual reality platforms such as High Fidelity. Even if you’re planning on using a walled garden solution — such as a “closed grid” — make sure that it will be based on a platform that is open source and has more than one vendor offering services for it.

Another point that is important to state up front is that blockchain technology can be very useful for things that have a low transaction rate and don’t require anonymity.

Blockchain diagram. (Image courtesy IBM.)

Blockchain and anonymity

If you want to keep a public record of real estate ownership where the identities of the owners are publicly known then a blockchain is a great way to do so. However, the very nature of the public ledgers that blockchains utilize makes anonymity very hard to protect over time, especially if transactions can be correlated with data gathered from third parties.

See for example this article which explains how various techniques used to anonymize Bitcoin transactions can be overcome using data from online marketplaces to find the real identities of the buyers.

While the article states some ways of protecting against these particular vulnerabilities, history has taught us that with enough data, partial knowledge of what the data represents and various mathematical techniques, researchers eventually find ways to bypass all anonymization schemes.

Given that all information stored in public blockchains is permanently accessible to everyone, no data stored in a public blockchain can be considered permanently anonymous.

This is a problem for a system that defines content ownership, especially if the people designing it assume that they can promise anonymity to the people using it, which the High Fidelity article does.

If you have no problem with people knowing everything you buy or claim the right to use then that’s not an issue that should bother you.

However, if you want to use any content which you wouldn’t want any party that is interested in tracking your actions to know you use then you should avoid having your association with that content become part of a permanent public record such as the proposed public inventory blockchain.

User-generated content

Another big issue with the proposed system is that most legally licensed content in people’s possession will not come from marketplaces.

Nowadays, people create billions of pictures each day using their mobile phones. A few years from now, people will capture billions of volumetric videos each day using volumetric capture devices that will become standard on mobile phones and AR headgear.

People will save and share those videos with their friends in multi-user virtual environments that will be accessed using personal virtual reality devices.

In time, the entities in those volumetric videos will be automatically separated into manipulable objects that people will be able to copy and store in their inventories for use in other environments.

When that happens the number of new 3D objects people create and acquire each day will greatly surpass the number of objects they acquire in marketplaces.

Students practicing in-world building skills. (Image courtesy Jane Wilde.)

All that user generated content will never pass through a review process such as the one proposed in the High Fidelity article, so that content will never have ownership information associated with it on the High Fidelity inventory blockchain.

If a significant portion of that user generated content were to go through such a review then identical 3D scanned objects will likely be submitted by many different people, making it very problematic to determine ownership of new content without dealing with a lot of user contention, thus making the proposed review phase unscalable.

As a result, systems wouldn’t be able to rely on the inventory blockchain to determine if content is legally licensed by the people trying to rez it, thus requiring additional means to verify content licensing. As the proportion of content that isn’t registered in the blockchain increases compared to that which is included in it, the inventory blockchain’s value will decrease for determining who should be allowed to rez particular content.

A problem of time and space

A third problem is that even if all the transaction speed problems that currently exist with various blockchain implementations were to be resolved and the global inventory blockchain was able to handle hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, storage and bandwidth costs would make it very expensive to host a copy of the blockchain.

Remember, the aforementioned numbers are just for storing content ownership changes, they don’t include the much higher number of content ownership checks and actual item transfers that need to be made as people move with their avatar from one place to another rezzing items as they go.

Also, the blockchain itself only holds hash values representing items and the “secret” keys representing avatars involved in transactions involving these items. Managing the actual items themselves consumes orders of magnitude more storage and bandwidth than handling just their hash values.

An inventory system that doesn’t address the actual complexities involved with storage and transfer of items in people’s inventories is lacking critical components.

The takeaway from all this is that the proposed approach is very problematic. If this is what High Fidelity ends up using then we’ll support it once Kitely Market starts delivering to the High Fidelity grid, but we think that there is a better way to manage inventories and content licensing in a multi-grid Metaverse. We’ll discuss that alternative once we announce that service.

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Educators make lemonade with Virtual Worlds

Architecture students from Egypt and the United States meeting in Second Life. (Image courtesy Jon Brouchoud.)

Educators are using virtual worlds, but not in the way they had used them in the past, and not in the same numbers. What you see now is a more selective and targeted use by a smaller subset of the educational community, primarily higher education.

Those groups that still use these types of environments have a very definite purpose in mind, such as advancing ongoing research or building communities that support those activities.

Ten years ago, there was a lot more experimentation happening because these environments were new, and people were feeling their way through the possibilities. Today, that isn’t so much the case. Instructors still using the environment appear to be those who are not only comfortable with it, but also have created simulations that leverage the power of the virtual world in ways that advance the learning of their students far beyond the first attempts years ago.

VWBPE Roundtable in Second Life

The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference is a good example that showcases this work. The last several years, we have seen the educational community contract with fewer new instructors coming into the environment than there have been in the past.

At the same time, the innovation by those instructors is increasing in scope and complexity. The use of gaming, non-player characters, story arcs, simulation, and overall engagement for student learning is flourishing.

The challenges to overcome are still great, as is natural if the technology is going to keep pace with innovation.

For example, the next innovation in virtual worlds should consider the following needs:

  • More control over account management for instructors
  • More control over the student experience for instructors
  • The ability to create an experience needs to be more elegant — but not necessarily simplified
  • Better crowd control tools available such as management of voice, text, and regions
  • Better capabilities to share files, images, video, sounds, and links, such as the ability to drag and drop from the desktop
  • Improved import and export capabilities including that of collaborative and group work projects

Additionally, as the challenges increase, so do the opportunities for specialization. Those educators that remain in virtual worlds are leveraging them to create better experiences. They are experimenting with integration of mobile technologies, effective use of cloud architectures, incorporation of data analytics using big data, wearable technology and VR headsets usage, all toward better design of gaming simulations and immersive learning experiences.

Virtual worlds still hold a vast potential for those with the knowledge and expertise to design within them. This is why Rockcliffe is continuing to develop standards and certification programs for institutions and instructors who want to make the best use of these technologies in the education of adult learners.

Educating K-12 children is an entirely different proposition, one that uses different tools, such as Google Expeditions or Nearpod VR.

(Image courtesy Google Expeditions.)

The next wave

There is a need for virtual spaces that bring people together at a distance and that develop shared communal experiences. As such, as the tools continue to change, another mass influx may still be in the future, once many of the current problems are worked out.

We will likely see these as “virtual spaces” rather than “virtual worlds.”

These virtual spaces will probably be a series of interconnectable virtual “apps” or tools that will allow tailoring of smaller, more customizable experiences, that do not require a technical wizard at graphics, 3d modelling, scripting, databases, content management systems, business intelligence tools, and social media integration in order to make useful things happen.

This is what Microsoft did in the 1980s with office automation.

This is what Netscape did in the 1990s with web navigation.

This is what Apple did in the 2000s with the iPod and iPhone.

And this is where Facebook is currently dominating in social media this decade.

The reinvigoration of virtual experiences requires someone with vision. It is about bringing people and technology together in a way that is affordable, accessible, and efficient in the use of people’s time.

That doesn’t mean educators have soured on the use of virtual worlds. It simply means that different virtual tools cater to different learner audiences, and that customization, specialization, and change are a normal part of innovation in the classroom. Ultimately, educators are thirsty for tools that make sense, and that allow them to create relevant learning experiences that encourage imagination to come to life.

Educators will continue to look at different virtual and augmented reality tools, depending on their learner population and their learning needs. It is normal that educators should explore their options. To do otherwise would be a disservice to their students.

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BoboVR takes on Daydream

BoboVR Z5. (Image courtesy BoboVR.)

The first set of Daydream View clones have hit the market, and I just got one of them in the mail – the BoboVR Z5.

Disclosure: I received the BoboVR Z5 free from GeekBuying, where it currently sells for $60.

Bottom line: The big pluses are that the field of view is wider, it has adjustable lenses, and, for those who like built-in headphones, it’s got them. The downside is that it doesn’t automatically switch into Daydream VR mode when you put the headset in. As a result, I do not currently recommend buying this headset, especially if you plan to switch back and forth between Daydream and Cardboard apps. Buy the official Daydream View, instead.

What is Daydream?

Google came out with the new Daydream VR platform last fall, a significant upgrade to its previous Cardboard platform. Back then, the only headset available was the official one from Google, and the only phone it worked with was the Google Pixel phone. I immediately went out and bought both the phone and the headset, and I loved it.

Since then, the number of phones that work with Daydream have expanded, as has the selection of apps.

What I like about Daydream is that it’s an open platform — any manufacturer making late-model Android phones can support it, and, since Daydream is built right into the latest Android operating system, at some point all will. Plus, the app store is open — any Android developer who can get an app into the Google Play store can publish Daydream-compatible apps, so we’re likely to see a lot of them.

Finally, Daydream headsets can run all of the existing Cardboard-compatible apps, and there are thousands of them.

The only major downside to the Daydream platform is that, unlike Cardboard, it’s not compatible with iPhones.

Meanwhile, though I loved my Daydream View headset when I got it last fall, and it immediately became my favorite of all the VR headsets I’ve tried so far, the design wasn’t perfect.

The BoboVR Z5 that I got yesterday addresses some of the problems that I had with Google’s official Daydream View headset — but it also has a couple of new problems of its own.

1. Field of view

The official field of view is 120 degrees, which puts it in the “excellent” range. When I tested it with the Sites in VR app, it did seem to be in the high 90s. The field of view depends on the phone you have — mine is a Pixel XL — so your experience may vary.

Also, if you have an older phone with a low-resolutions screen, you won’t want a high field of view because it makes the image look pixellated. But with a new, high-resolution phone like mine, the wide field of view is excellent.

However, I could see the edges of my smartphone screen at the bottom and sides. This is likely to be a sign that if you have a larger screen, you’ll get an even better field of view than I did. My Pixel XL has a 5.5-inch screen.

I then tried it with a phone with a 4.9-inch screen and now there was a lot more light leaking in, the field of view was a lot smaller, and you could see all the edges of the phone.

The official spec recommend a screen size of between 4.7 and 6.0 inches. But I would recommend using this headset with a phone that’s got a screen of at least 5.5 inches, or higher.

2. Weight

The official weight is 12 ounces, which is very good for a viewer with built-in headphones. I personally didn’t have a problem with the weight while wearing it.

By comparison, the original Daydream View headset weighs just under 8 ounces.

3. Straps

This headset has a single plastic strap that sits on your head, a little higher than a strap would normally sit. The fit is adjustable, and works remarkably well.

Top view of the BoboVR Z5. (Photo by Maria Korolov.)

 

To adjust the size of the strap, pull out the knobs above the earphones and turn them.

4. Fits over glasses

This headset fit easily over my glasses with room to spare. However, my glasses have weird three-way progressive lenses, so I mostly used it without my glasses on.

5. Adjustable lenses

Both the focus of the lenses and the distance between the lenses is adjustable.

This was very good because of that whole progressive lenses thing I mentioned above.

BoboVR Z5. The dark gray dial at the top right adjusts the focus. The light gray knob under it adjusts the distance between the lenses. The large gray knobs above the earphones adjust the headstrap — just pull out the knob and turn it. (Photo by Maria Korolov.)

Combined with the fact that this headset fits over glasses means that there’s a very high likelihood that you’ll be able to see well in it.

This is definitely a feature where the BoboVR Z5 is an improvement over the Daydream View, which did not have adjustable lenses.

6. Ready for augmented reality

Unlike the original Daydream View headset, which has a solid outside cover, the BoboVR Z5 has a smaller flap to hold the phone in place. That means that the phone’s camera can see out, and you can use it with augmented reality apps.

BoboVR Z5. (Photo by Maria Korolov.)

This is a feature where the BoboVR Z5 is an improvement over the Daydream View.

7. Fits over cables

There’s plenty of room on all sides of the phone for your cables to go if you need to charge up the phone while using it. Plus, there’s also a built-in plug if you want to use the headphones that come built into the viewer.

8. Controller

The controller that comes with his headset looks very similar to the original Daydream View controller, and works exactly the same.

I tried it out with my favorite Daydream space shooter game Eve Gunjack 2 and it worked great.

BoboVR Z5 motion controller. The big square are at the top is a track pad that also doubles as an activate button. There’s also a home button, a back button, and — on the right side where you can’t see them in the above photo — volume control buttons. (Photo by Maria Korolov.)

The BoboVR Z5 controller was just a little bit bigger than the official one that came with the Daydream View, and the touchpad on top was more square. The Daydream View controller also came with a strap. The BoboVR Z5 controller has a spot where the strap would attach, but the actual strap was missing.

Also missing — a charging cable. Like the Daydream View, the BoboVR Z5 controller charges with a USB-C cable. But the Daydream View didn’t come with a charging cable either.

BoboVR Z5 motion controller (left) and the official Daydream View controller (right). (Photo by Maria Korolov.)

One issue that I had was when I first tried to use the controller, the headset wouldn’t recognize it, but it recognized my old Daydream View controller just fine.

I Googled around for how to fix this and, in case you’re in the same situation, you go to the Daydream app, go to the Settings, go to the Controller section and unpair the existing controller.

Finally, the official Daydream View headset has a spot to store the controller right inside the headset when it’s not in use, so that you don’t lose it. The BoboVR Z5 doesn’t have that.

9. Price

The one that I received retails for $60 from GeekBuying. You can also get it for $54 from AliExpress. It is not currently available on Amazon, which typically gets these headsets a little bit later than the other sites.

10. Ease of use

I’ve got to say, everything except the automatic VR mode works well. Putting the phone into the headset is super simple — just open the front flap a little bit and drop the phone in.

However, the fact that it doesn’t automatically go into virtual reality mode is a problem.

You have to queue up the official Daydream app, or any Cardboard app, or the video you want to see before you put on the headset.

For the Cardboard apps, you will need to have a QR Code — and your motion controller will no longer work. The BoboVR Z5 didn’t come with an official code. This is extremely disappointing, especially if you want to use it to play old Google Cardboard apps.

I made my own with Sites in VR:

BoBoVR Z5 QR Code via Sites in VR.

Of course, my eyes are wonky, so if you have any problems with the focus using that QR Code, you can adjust it with the Sites in VR app yourself.

The instructions for how to calibrate your viewer with a QR Code are here.

A bigger issue was switching back to the Daydream mode after you’d had it in Cardboard mode.

The official Daydream View headset has an NFC tag that tells the phone that you have a Daydream View. The BoboVR Z5 does not.

This means that if you were previously using the Daydream View, you can use the BoboVR Z5 and everything works great.

But if the last headset you used was a Cardboard headset — or you used a Cardboard app on the BoboVR Z5 and used the QR Code I provided to select the viewer — then Daydream games won’t work.

To fix this, I followed the official instructions to Clear VR Services app data — close all apps, go to the phone’s Settings, then Apps and then Google VR Core Services and then Storage and then Clear Data and then OK, and then opened the Daydream app and went through the initial configuration again.

(Or you could just put it into your official Daydream View headset, if you have both.)

So the BoboVR Z5 is usable with Daydream, but it’s awkward, and a built-in NFC tag would solve all the problems.

Bottom line

This is an excellent headset if you have a phone with a large screen and don’t plan to do a lot of switching back and forth between Daydream and Cardboard apps.

However, I don’t think the built-in headphones and adjustable lenses are enough of an improvement over the original Daydream View, given the lack of an NFC tag.

Until they fix that issue, I recommend paying the extra $20 for an official Daydream View headset.

Here’s what would make this headset perfect:

  • An NFC tag, to switch it to Daydream VR mode
  • A built-in capacitative touch button so it can be used with Cardboard apps that require a controller
  • A version without the built-in headphones
  • A place to store the controller when not in use
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10 worst excuses for content infringement

Infringing content distributed earlier this year via stolen OAR files. (Image courtesy Noxluna.)

On Tuesday, David Kariuki’s article about a freebie store that distributed content that was “found and collected” on other grids — without any checks that the content was legal — drew some comments from people who defended the practice.

Let’s put aside the main issue, that infringing content opens the grid up to take-down requests that could shut it down and drives away legitimate creators and merchants.

Some of the excuses offered in the comments were just nuts.

1. But officer, it was just sitting there.

If you drive down the street, and you see some nice lawn furniture sitting in someone’s front yard, and it’s not tied down, and nobody is looking, would you just stop and grab it?

No. It’s not yours.

However, there are still folks out there who will walk around the place and if they see something that’s marked full perms, they’ll grab a copy.  Seriously, stop doing that.

Even if the content is legal — which you have no way of knowing — and even if the creator deliberately put it out there for other people to take and enjoy — again, you don’t know that — it doesn’t mean that they want to see the content end up in a freebie shop promoting some random grid.

If you are distributing the content in a shop, that’s not personal use anymore. You’re now a distributor.

2. But everyone else is doing it.

First, no, they’re not. Maybe a couple of people are doing it, and you don’t know that for sure — they might have permission to distribute that content.

Second, this is a really childish excuse. The old “but everyone else is doing it” didn’t work when you were a kid, and it doesn’t work now.

3. I’m not the one who originally ripped the content, so it’s okay.

No, it’s not okay. Distributing stolen content is not legal. If you operate a shop where you distribute infringing content, you are liable.

If you resell stolen goods you’re a fence, and can go to prison. The fact that you’re not the original thief doesn’t get you off the hook.

4. But I’m not charging for it!

That doesn’t make it any better.

5. But I didn’t know it was stolen! Maybe it’s not. How do you know?

It’s your job to know. If you are distributing content, you have an obligation to source it appropriately.

Think about it this way. If you were running a real world store, and someone came to you offering ridiculously low-priced brand name products with no explanation of where they came from, you better ask for receipts. Otherwise, you’ve got “arrested for distribution of stolen property” in your future.

If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. And your customers are relying on you to ensure that the products you offer are legal and properly sourced.

6. Well, the creators infringed when they made the stuff, so it’s okay to rip them off.

There’s so many things wrong with this excuse it’s hard to know where to start.

First, yes, creators do need to check the provenance and license terms of the components they use in building their products.

If they’re making commercial products, for example, and the components are distributed for non-commercial use only, then they need to contact the original sources of those components and get permission, or buy additional licenses from them.

If you are concerned that a creator whose work you’re distributed skipped some steps there, you need to check with the creator and ask for the documentation. Yes, the main liability will be with the creators, but if you are aware that there is a problem, and you distribute the content anyway, you will share some of that legal liability. Plus, of course, the bad PR will fall on you.

Think of all the clothing brands that use third-party suppliers that violate child labor laws. Yes, it’s the suppliers breaking the law, not Kathy Lee Gifford personally, but she’s the one who bore the brunt of the bad press. And if those brands were knowingly distributing stolen content, it wouldn’t just be bad press that they’d face, either.

The fact that someone in your supply chain may be doing something wrong is a reason to be more careful around them, not less.

However, on the other hand, I can see how ripping off someone who is themselves a crook might protect you a little bit.

They’re less likely to go to the cops to complain about you. If you’re going to break the law anyway, if your victims are non-violent criminals then you’re better off than if you targeted law-abiding citizens — or folks who settle disputes by fitting you for concrete shoes.

So there’s a grain of logic there. Evil logic, but logic, sure.

7. The content was originally free, so I have the right to give it away, too.

No, you don’t.

You do not have the right to distribute someone else’s content, even if it’s free content, without their express permission.

Take news sites. Those stories are free for everyone to read. That doesn’t mean that you can just come and take them and post them on your own site without payment or permission.

Now I’m not talking about personal use here. Of course you can print out an article or email it to a friend. But if you set up a competing site using that content, you’re in violation of copyright law.

If another grid is offering legitimate free content in their freebie stores, they’ve paid for that content, or created that content themselves, so that they could use the content to promote their grid. They will not want you to come and take it and use it to promote your own, competing grid.

 

8. Maybe the creator won’t notice.

Sure, the original creator may have better things to do than chase down infringing freebie stores. You might never get caught.
That doesn’t make what you do legal, and it doesn’t make it right.

And the more you do it — and the more you advertise it — the higher the odds that it will catch up to you.

9. The stuff is overpriced, anyway. It deserves to be ripped off.

Really? This is virtual content. None of it is overpriced.

And if you still think it costs too much — don’t buy it. It’s not like you’re stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving children.

10. Why are you picking on me and not the other guy? You’re biased!

We’re picking on you because you sent us a press release bragging about how you’ve collected content around OpenSim and are now giving it away for free.

If you’re going to be a successful criminal, you’ve got to learn to stop bragging about your crimes.

Bottom line: If you set up a shop, make sure that everything you’re offering in it is legally licensed. If you’re not sure about something, take it down.

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HelloPro a solid VR viewer with headphones

It’s taken me a while to write this review, because I’ve been out of town and caught up with various other issues. So, my apologies to HelloPro, who sent me this headset more than two months ago. Sorry, guys!

HelloPro virtual reality headset in its original package. (Image by Maria Korolov.)

Now, I personally don’t like viewers with built-in headphones, and was at first put off by the headset’s bulk, stiff plastic construction and black color. But after trying it out, it turns out that this headset actually has everything that I am looking for in a Cardboard headset.

HelloPro viewer. (Image courtesy HelloPro.)

 

Disclosure: I received a review version of the headset free from HelloPro. But you know me — I’m happy to bash a headset that I don’t like, even if I do get it for free. Another disclosure is that if there are affiliate links available to the product, I’ll include them, which means that if you buy the headset through the link, we’ll get a commission that we can use to pay for more OpenSim coverage.

The HelloPro virtual reality headset comes with an audio cable, lens cleaning cloth, straps and user manual. (Image by Maria Korolov.)

1. Field of view

The official field of view is 102 degrees, which puts it in the “excellent” range. When I tested it with the Sites in VR app, it did seem to be in the high 90s. The field of view depends on the phone you have — mine is a Pixel XL — so your experience may vary.

Also, if you have an older phone with a low-resolutions screen, you won’t want a high field of view because it makes the image look pixellated. But with a new, high-resolution phone like mine, the wide field of view is excellent.

 

2. Weight

The official weight is 15 ounces, which is a little heavier than I like. However, some of that weight is in the headphones, which makes it a bit more balanced on your head. I personally didn’t have a problem with the weight while wearing it.

3. Straps

Standard three-way straps.

4. Fits over glasses

This headset fit easily over my glasses with room to spare.

5. Adjustable lenses

Both the focus of the lenses and the distance between the lenses is adjustable. Better yet — and this is very unusual for a mobile VR headset — the focus of each lens is adjustable individually.

Bottom view of the HelloPro virtual reality headset. The two dials adjust for lens focus, and distance between lenses. (Image by Maria Korolov.)

Combined with the fact that this headset fits over glasses means that there’s a very high likelihood that you’ll be able to see well in it.

6. Ready for augmented reality

There are cut-out windows on the front of the headset, which allows my smartphone’s camera to see out. Your should, too, unless you camera is in a weird position, like the center of the phone.

7. Fits over cables

There are openings on both sides of the front cover for cables to go through if you need to charge up the phone while using it. Plus, there’s also a built-in plug if you want to use the headphones that come built into the viewer.

8. Controller

This is the one thing I liked best about this headset — there’s a nice capacitative-touch button on the top of the viewer. If your phone is an iPhone and you can’t use external controllers, or you have an Android phone and just don’t like using external controllers, this is a must-have feature.

I tried it out with my favorite space shooter game, Minos Starfighter VR, and it worked great.

9. Price

The one that I received retails for $35 from Amazon. You can also get it for $28 from GearBest.

10. Ease of use

I’ve got to say, everything works. Putting the phone into the headset is super simple — just flip open the cover, drop the phone in, and snap the cover shut.

There are little adjustable shelves at the bottom to hold your phone in place. The first time I put in my phone, one of the shelves was higher than another, so everything was out of focus, no matter what QR Code I tried or how much I tried to calibrate it with calibration apps. So, if you’re having the same problem, check for that.

And speaking of QR Codes — the headset didn’t come with one. Instead, it came with a code that took you to a 360-degree video app, VeeR VR.

I couldn’t find an official Google Cardboard QR Code for this headset anywhere, so I made my own with Sites in VR:

Of course, my eyes are wonky, so if you have any problems with the focus using that QR Code, you can adjust it easily with the Sites in VR app yourself.

The instructions for how to calibrate your viewer with a QR Code are here.

 

 

Bottom line

I have nothing bad to say about this headset, and would recommend it for anyone looking for an entry-level virtual reality headset that works with late-model smartphones, both Android and iPhone. It is a very good headset for watching 360-degree videos and playing casual games.

This is also the only headset I’ve seen so far that has a built-in button, individually adjustable lenses, and built in headphones.

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How to win at virtual reality marketing

(Image courtesy Volvo Car USA.)

Low-cost virtual reality viewers — some made out of cardboard — are a minimal investment from consumer standpoint or from a company who would like to distribute their virtual reality experiences themselves. A user already has the hardware in the pocket, because the only other thing you need to do to play a VR app or see a monoscopic 360-degree video is your smartphone.

The first massive introduction of VR, was the partnership with New York Times, where Google Cardboard has been distributed to 1.2 million newspaper subscribers. 

Since, several other companies have followed suit with successful marketing campaigns that used low-cost virtual reality viewers.

The launch of the Volvo XC90

Volvo isn’t necessarily known for being at the forefront of technological breakthroughs. They are known as a reliable, steady and robust manufacturer. However, that changed with the new model of the XC90 SUV, hitting the platform of Los Angeles 2014 auto show.

The XC90 is targeted for younger buyers who are interested in buying their first luxurious car, and it needed a new kind of marketing campaign. The genius idea was to let the guest drive the car. Well, you can’t usually drive the car at an auto show. But Volvo made it work.

Volvo hired the team at Framestore to create a fully immersive experience, which included custom virtual reality apps for both the iPhone and Androids, 

Test driving a car through virtual reality makes a lot of sense. It is great to see Volvo make an app to support the launch of their XC90 SUV.  It puts you in the cockpit and takes you on an idyllic ride through the country. 

The marketing campaign resulted in 173 million impressions, 51,000 inquiries for more information and 28,000 app downloads.

Still from Volvo’s XC90 VR experience. (Image courtesy Volvo Cars.)

In addition, there were more than 1,500 media articles about the XC90. Coverage expanded beyond auto publications and included outlets focused on luxury, technology, and business, such as Monocle, Surface, Architectural Digest, Bloomberg, Elle Décor, Departures, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Business Insider, and Popular Science.

By the end of 2015, U.S. XC90 sales reached 12,665 units sold, representing 18 percent of total U.S. sales. In 2016, sales surged with a 412 percent increase in units sold from January through September, compared to the year prior, and 41 percent of all Volvos sold in the U.S. have been XC90s.

Earlier this spring, Volvo released a 360-degree video of the XC90 virtual reality experience, which you can view below in the browser, a mobile device, or on any virtual reality headset.

You can read more about Volvo and 11 other companies that conducted successful marketing campaigns using virtual reality in the book How to Win at Virtual Reality Marketing.

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App lets you configure your VR viewer

Google Cardboard-compatible viewers are a great choice for people who want to experience VR but don’t want to shell out the hundreds of dollars that the big-name headsets cost. In fact, these viewers can start at just $5, and are pretty good for watching VR videos and playing casual games. Plus, they work on most late-model smartphone, so you don’t need a new computer or lots of wires. Check out our list of 10 best VR viewers under $100 and 10 super-cheap viewers for trying out VR.

However, one big problem with many of these viewers is that the smartphone has to know what lenses the viewer has, and how they’re positioned. Since the viewers are dumb — they’re just lenses in a plastic or cardboard case — you normally do this by scanning a Google Cardboard QR Code. And many manufacturers don’t provide that QR Code. Maybe they’re lazy, or maybe they want you to just use their app, and not any of the thousands of other VR apps in the app stores.

This is what a Google Cardboard QR Code looks like. Note the outline of a VR viewer in the center.

Whatever the reason, this is a big headache. We have a list of QR Codes here, but we don’t have a QR Code for every single headset out there. Plus, new ones keep popping up all the time.

What to do? You can randomly try other codes to see if they’re close enough. Or you can use Google’s own QR Code generator, though it’s a little tricky.

But now, there’s a new, easier option.

Sites in VR is a virtual tourism app, but it also comes with its own QR Code generator. I tried it out, and found it relatively easy to use and quick to configure my own VR viewer, Play VR.

It wasn’t instant and automatic. It took about ten minutes total, and I had to customize the inner and outer distortion, field of view, chromatic aberration, lens separation distance, screen to lens distance, and the interpupil distance. But once I was done, I had the perfect QR Code for my headset.

I configured the PlayVR viewer using the Sites in VR application. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

Plus, the app already comes with a selection of ready-to-go QR Codes, in case your viewer is  the official Google Cardboard headset, or a Daydream View, SmartVR, Virtual Vizor,  Homido, Homido Mini, Dscvr,VR Fold, Wearality Sky, Vrizzmo Revolt, Mattel View-Master VR, Merge VR, Durovis Dive 5, ColorCross VR, Soyan, Geeach, Gear VR, Cardboard V2, Bobo VR Z4, Ant VR, Baofeng Small Mojing, Baofeng Storm II, VR Box, Leap-HD or Ritech 3D. (And even if your viewer isn’t one of those, sometimes one of the other QR Codes works well enough, anyway.)

How to create your own custom QR Code with the app

If your viewer isn’t on their list, and you want to create your own QR Code from scratch, start by downloading the app for free on the Apple or Android app store. Then touch the little icon of a viewer, then on the “viewer settings” icon.

 

Now you should be at a screen that lets you adjust all the techie configuration settings for your customer viewer. That includes the distortion, field of view, lens separation distance and the interpupil distance.

You can also use this to modify the settings for a QR Code that was provided by the manufacturer, but doesn’t look right to you because either the manufacturer made a mistake, or it doesn’t work with your particular smartphone for some reason, or if you have weird eyes.

The custom viewer settings screen of the Sites in VR app.

 

I tried out the process of adjusting for field of view and other features, following the online instructions.

I recommend starting with the ruler setting. This allows you to set the screen size. You will need to go and find an actual ruler for this one.

If you don’t have a ruler, you can set it for your phone’s official screen size, but be warned that the official specs might not be exact, and, as a result, the virtual reality view that you get might be slightly off.

This is the ruler calibration screen. Put an actual ruler on top of your phone, and use the arrows until the the screen’s rulers match your own. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

For all the other settings, your phone will switch to a virtual reality view. To calibrate those settings properly, put the phone inside your virtual reality headset, then move your head until the picture looks right.

Then hold your head still for a couple of seconds to save — you will see a little indicator, a circle filling, that will show you that it’s saving.

Customizing for inner distortion. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

 

 

When at the main settings menu, go to a new setting by looking in the direction of the icon — a little blue circle will appear to help you with the selection — and pause until it activates.

Then you go back to the viewer settings screen, but this time in virtual reality mode, so you can configure the other settings without taking your phone out of the headset.

Here is the custom viewer settings screen in virtual reality, side-by-side view. You can see the little blue circle that is the selection cursor floating just above the “Field of View” settings button. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

It seems to switch into that mode automatically — if you need to switch back out to the regular phone view, take the phone out of the viewer, touch the screen, then touch the little cardboard viewer icon at the bottom of the screen.

To go back to the virtual reality mode, just select any calibration setting again.

Now you can work your way through all the other settings.

Adjusting the lens separation distance. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

The lens separation distance is how far your viewer’s lenses are from one another. Again, tilt your head up and down until the picture looks good to you, then pause to save.

Normally, if you were creating a custom viewer code manually with the official Google viewer profile generator tool, you would need an actual ruler or calipers to measure this. So the Sites in VR app is a big time saver here.

Adjusting for screen to lens distance. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

All in all, it took me about ten minutes to get through everything and create a working viewer profile.

To see whether you’re done, click on the “Test View” button and you can see a little preview of what it all looks together once it’s put together. To go back to your settings selection screen, look for the little gray circle with a square inside of it — that’s the “back” button in this app — and look at it to activate it.

The Test Room screen of the Sites in VR app.

Once you’re all set, you can go try out your new custom viewer settings in another VR app. Once you’ve set up your custom viewer, your phone will remember it until you change it.

You can also check out the rest of Sites in VR app itself, since the main purpose of this app is virtual tourism. The viewer calibration feature is just an added bonus.

Select the destinations according to country, city or desired group of attractions such as nature or museums. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

Sites in VR has about 1,700 tourism destinations from around the world, grouped by country, city or type of destination.

Bursa New Thermal Spring bath in Turkey. (Image courtesy David Kariuki.)

 

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My favorite shopping places on the hypergrid

I am passionate about OpenSim and making OpenSim more accessible to people unfamiliar with the OpenSim platform. New people, like myself a few years back, need places to get things for their avatar and their region and this is my contribution.

I visited a variety of places on the hypergrid and what has surprised me the most is the amount of high quality freebie shopping there is on the hypergrid.

What follows is not an exhaustive list of shopping destinations using the OpenSim hypergrid to go shopping for avatar appearance and environment objects — anything that isn’t related to how your avatar looks.

Image of Sensation City Stores

(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Clonelife: Kang Nae [Druskus War]

  • login.clonelife.eu:8002:Kang Nae

When I first arrived in OpenSim I knew of no places on the hypergrid to get clothing and basics for my avatar and Kang Nae was one of the very first places I discovered and still return to often. Many of my first outfit combos came from here, fond memories.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

You will find everything from skin, to shoes, to dresses and club wear here. When I first arrived on this region I thought the inside area was all there was to see here. It wasnt until a few trips later that I final found outside and what a bananza of club gear, clubs, speakers, animations and a whole load more.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Craft World: Sensation City [Sensation Millennium group owned]

  • craft-world.org:8002:sensation city

Craft World is an amazing place to find freebies and I explored some of them in a previous post (read the post here). From my exploration there are two areas for shopping (there is also a club, a harbour and a drive-in); (1) ground level (2) up the stairs passed the tipsy Santa.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Thanks for Shawnkmaloney and his Christmas 2016 list posted to the Hypergrid Destinations Google Plus group for this find. My new hair that I have at the moment is from here, high quality freebies for men and women and other virtual objects to make your virtual home more cozy.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Bubblesz and Metropolis: La Barronie and Savvy [Taarna Welles]

  • hypergrid.org:8002:la baronnie
  • hypergrid.org:8002:Savvy
  • bubblesz.nl:8002:Savvy

We start our shopping on the Metorpolis grid and a region called La Baronnie then we will head over to the Bubblez grid. If you are looking for mesh feet, mesh feet and shoes, mesh clothing or games boards this is the place for you to head. I currently have the mesh feet as part of my avatar they are well made.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

The second region by Taarna is called Savvy and is located on the Bubblesz grid. You can find lots of high quality mesh for men and women here. You can also find this region on the Metropolis Grid as well. Taarna Wells is always adding new items to the collections and the latest additions was a full mesh outfit for men.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Metropolis: Aqua Dark [Lacchi Macchi]

  • hypergrid.org:8002:Aqua Dark

Aqua Dark, like Kang Nae is one of the very first avatar appearance regions that I found. There are so many things here from full avatars, to sculpt maps, dance and avatar animation overrides and landscaping content.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

I always like to head up the stairs and take a look around and inevitable grab a new outfit. Then head back outside and take a look at all the landscaping goodies you can find, like grasses with multiple variations and trees.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Metropolis: FreebiesShop [Night Raven: Moonwalkers group]

  • hypergrid.org:8002:FreebiesShop

At ground level there is a collection of all sorts of freebies from what you need for your avatar and some non avatar appearance items. The ground level is housed in an amazing structure. The only thing I will mention is that the landing point every time I teleport here I end up in the water needing to cam out to double click teleport to the store.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Up in the sky you will find even more goodies to make your avatar look good, my clothing folder in my own inventory is stuffed full of most of the stuff here. When you teleport up to the sky level you will land in the middle of the store with men and women’s clothing either side.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Naras Nook: Coca [Shannon Albright]

  • world.narasnook.com:8900:Coca

The creators at the Nook do some amazing stuff and I wanted to include this region as there are so many high quality gowns, tuxedos and other freebies.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

The Public World [Kai Baer]

A few weeks ago when the Nook I bumped in to Nara and asked if she knew of any places to get hair and to my surprise a folder of landmarks arrived in my inventory. The following four regions are where the landmarks took me. If you visit them all everything from your avatar appearance to buildings are on offer for free.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

  • thepublicworld.de:8002:TPW-Clubs
  • thepublicworld.de:8002:Freebee-Center
  • thepublicworld.de:8002:Larossa-Mall
  • thepublicworld.de:8002:Home-sweet-Home
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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Anettes World: Atlantis and Atlantis 1 [Anette Hummel]

  • anettes-welt.de:8002:Atlantis
  • anettes-welt.de:8002:Atlantis1

The two Atlantis regions on Annettes World are a true one stop shop for just about anything. There must be over 35 shops here with some very unique and high quality items not seen elsewhere. Allot of the content here can be found pretty much all over my grid. Both regions share the same layout with a green space in the center with the shop units surrounding the green.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Between the two regions you can find formal wear for men and women, full avatar outfits, tattoos, piercings, indoor and outdoor furniture and many other goodies. If I want to try and find something quickly this is one of the places that I come to first.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Great Canadian Grid: Lakeview Park Mall [Bastien Falconvale: LakeviewMall group]

  • login.greatcanadiangrid.ca:8002:Lakeview Park Mall

Tranquility and shopping my favourite combination, this region contains shops set in an natural open space and lives up to its name, Lakeview. You will find a range of creators and creations here to peruse at your leasure and maybe park your avatar on a bench and take in the scenary.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

You can find a selection of avatar appearance content, furniture, art work and much more. You will have to walk around and take your time as you cannot fly in this region.

Great Canadian Grid: Kingfisher Bay [Anna Wright: RP group]

  • login.greatcanadiangrid.ca:8002:Kingfisher Bay

Kingfisher Bay has two shops I like to visit Thrifty Chic and The Looking Glass. In the Thrifty Chic you can find AO’s, pyjamas, men and womens clothes and complete avatars. The Looking glass is a child avatar costume and toy shop, full of awesome goodies. Came in very handy for a recent project I was doing.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

While there is shopping here, the central role of the region is role play. So please be aware and respectful of this whilst you are in the region. If you are interested in role play there is more information in a previous post about Cedar Point, Kingfisher Bay (Sunday brunch at Cedar Point role play).

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

OSgrid: Wright Plaza [Plaza Builders]

  • hg.osgrid.org:80:Wright Plaza

This is one of the main plaza regions hosted by OSgrid and I always start with the shops and then head to the freebie three-story building. You can find all manner of goodies here, texture packs, sci-fi content, furniture (indoor and outdoor) and full avatar and clothing. In one of the shops you can find one of my most favorite full avatars, Robot 1 by Michael.Cerquoni.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

You will be able to find indoor and outdoor furniture, a shop with Lani content, jewelry, avatar clothing and full avatars, including mesh avatars and static models. Many of the shops content creators have links in their shops to the regions on OSgrid which extends your shopping reach and range.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Also check out the travel shop as well. As some of you know I like to travel using the hypergrid and there are so many awesome places to visit via the travel shop.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

OSGrid: Wickenshire [Group: Wickenshire Builders]

  • hg.osgrid.org:80:Wickenshire
  • hg.osgrid.org:80:Wickenshire east

Wickenshire is a fantasy medieval themed content region. You can find bright colored things for fairies and fantasy-based sims, trees for pixies and lots of furniture for your homes and regions. There is so much here to list everything would take too many words and you can always go and visit the region.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

There are many other regions to shop on if you type Wickenshire into your map you will find and then visit them. There is Wickenshire East, North East, North, North West and West. If you want to take a quick break from shopping and give your inventory a rest, head over to Wickenshire East and visit the Labyrinth.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

OSGrid: Steam [Vbinnia Radek]

  • hg.osgrid.org:80:Steam

Hold on to your Steampunk hats this region is a treat if this is the genre, style or aesthetic you like. The red bricks and steam are a clarion call for all people Steampunk. Although I am focusing on the Emporiums on this region for shopping do take your time to explore this var region, it is huge and things are always getting added.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Between the two Emporiums you will find space themed content, steampunk flying machines, a lot of Alley content and texture packs. There is a huge collection of avatar appearance content to change your look. Most of the Steam content on my grid comes from here, air ships a plenty.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

OSGrid: Lani [Lani Global]

  • hg.osgrid.org:80:Lani

The Lani Mall has over 50 creator shops. Sci Fi, Fantasy, Steampunk, Avatars, Vehicles. Explore a sand dune world of mystery.

This shopping region takes us into space and the land of the space creatures. Lani Global and other creators offer a staggering amount of content here. when you arrive you will be magically propelled towards the store and you have shops to your left and right.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

You will find everything you could possibly need for a scifi inspired build, full avatars, alien avatar, star fleet uniforms, structures and buildings, weapons, space craft, space steam and strange alien plants. You can also pick up a copy of the latest copy and back issues of the Visionz magazine.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Seleas World

  • seleacore.com:8002:Selea’s World

A shopping list for OpenSim is not complete without including Seleas World. Selea offers the metaverse an incredible arrays of content covering just about everything you could possibly need.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Using the hypergrid address above you land on the main region for the grid and use local teleporters to get to the other regions. Let me try and summarize what you can find here for your region: homes both low prim and fully furnished, commercial buildings, furniture collections, landscaping, fantasy and magical objects, beach bean bags, gazebos, gift shop, outdoor scenes, party food and stuff, sunshades, swings and textures.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

 

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Refuge Grid: Paramour Shopping [Aine Caoihme]

  • refugegrid.com:8002:paramour shopping

This is one of my favorite regions for two reasons; the range of scripted objects by Aine and the environment. The buildings and the environment are built by Aine and the theme of the region is beautiful and tranquil. You land on the top of a hill in a Romanesque-inspired build and to find the shops you head down towards the metal structure pyramids.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

The three pyramids all have free content. The first and third pyramid contain art and sculptures by Aine in the Neoclassical, Romantic and Orientalism art movement styles and by Valerie Llauke of Infinity, which are colorful, figurative and abstract.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

In the middle pyramid you will find a range of scripted animation systems, paramour and PMAC. You will find 100’s of animations from standing to swimming, to modern dance to burlesque. The dance ball system, various dancing poles and the PMAC system, which is an alternative to MLP.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

OSGrid: Ni’s VarGreenery [Ni Lemon]

  • hg.osgrid.org:80:Ni’s VarGreenery

Your region is almost done and you are looking for some greenery and landscaping content then you should definitely head to OSgrid and Ni’s VarGreenery. Coming here you will find just about anything and everything that you will need. There is an amazing collection of freebies here from a variety of sources and creators on OSgrid.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

I like to divide my shopping into two parts, the greenhouse and the surrounding garden. You will find trees, shrubs, plants, outdoor furniture, topiary and plant bed surrounds. While writing up I found a lovely wooden seating structure that fit perfectly on the Starforge region on my grid.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Francogrid: freebies 4 Saisons [Cherry Manga: Group]

  • hg.francogrid.org:80:freebies 4 Saisons

You land in the center of the region with the region divided up into four sections with each section representing a season. Winter, autumn, summer and spring scenes contain landscaping and home content.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Each season has a fully furnished freebie house with landscaping content surrounding it. The homes which are fairly identical in content you will find a freebie sofas, chairs, dining room set, lamps, a fireplace, rugs, bedroom and kitchen furniture, wall art and knickknacks.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Metropolis: Linda Kellie [Linda Kellie]

  • hypergrid.org:8002:Linda Kellie

No shopping trip would be complete without visiting at least one Linda Kellie region. This region is the most recent of her incarnations and the list of content you can get here is unrivaled. You can also download a lot of her content from the Zadaroo website.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

When you land on the region you will see a walk in teleporter that will take you to the shopping place. Lets head there now and see what we can find. When you arrive a head of you is the Clutterfly Store which is full of avatar appearance content including female and male clothing, furniture, animation sets and many other original mesh items. Outside are some other freebies such as trees and a greenhouse.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

One More Grid: Home of Merci [snik snoodle]

  • onemoregrid.com:8002:Home of Merci

I enjoy coming here and finding new stuff. For example, a couple of months back Snik Snoodle made available a mesh house that is now on the LHP VW Basics region. My mesh feet that my avatar is wearing also came from this region.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Metropolis: Terrains [Magnuz Binder]

  • hypergrid.org:8002:Terrains

If you’re like me, and you find the in-world terrain editing tools difficult to master, then heading to this region is a great way to get started. The sheer number of RAW file downloads here is staggering and cover regions in size from standard region to nine-region vars. Or, at least, these were the largest that I saw while there. All you do is click the terrain that you are interested in and a web link will open for you to download the terrain file. Then log into your region and upload the RAW file into your region.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

The terrains region is only a small part of a much bigger set of regions that I highly recommend you check out while you are here. For example, there is a video hall, a giant earth simulation and a giant Rubik’s cube.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Craft World: Noah [Tosha Tyron]

  • craft-world.org:8002:Noah

This region is one of the best places on the hypergrid for animal models and landscaping content, set out on a replica of Noah’s Ark. The scale of the Ark is epic and always feels so tranquil when I visit. You can find two of most kind of animal that you can take a copy of and put out on your own grid.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

As you can see in the image there is a rainbow that when you walk into it you will be taken to the Botanical platform. You will find all manner of things here for all your landscaping needs.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Francogrid: Avatar [Praline B], FestAvi 2015 and Fest Avi 2016 [Cherry Manga: FrancoGrid-Projet Fest’Avi group]

  • hg.francogrid.org:80:avatar
  • hg.francogrid.org:80:FestAvi 2015
  • hg.francogrid.org:80:FestAvi 2016

Avatar is the first region in this series and each region contains some amazing full avatar appearances. Each of the three sets of avatars were created by OpenSim community members and is part of the annual FestAvi on the Francogrid. You can find all three years’ avatars here and the following two regions are from the 2015 and 2016 event. Each year the FestAvi event puts on a immersive experience to showcase each avatar and you can see this year’s on the 2016 region.

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Fest Avi 2016. (Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

 

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Fest Avi 2015. (Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

 

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Fest Avi 2016. (Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Digiworldz: Artlandia [Group ownded: Artlandia Artists]

  • login.digiworldz.com:8002:Artlandia

This is our final stop for this series and I wanted to end on a visual region with shopping. I think that the region is a var region, two standard regions by two standard regions. There are some amazing artists and content creators displaying their work here and I will be focusing on the Spiral Fractals region on the teleporter.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

Heading over to the region via teleport when you arrive have a look around and then head to the exhibition space called The Spiral Art Gallery. Inside you will find a variety of Spiral art that is free to take a copy. I have several peieces here dotted around my grid and I keep coming back here as there is so much to see and take in for one visit.

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(Image courtesy Leighton Marjoram.)

The more places that people can find in OpenSim easily, the better and hopefully make an unfamiliar place like OpenSim a little more familiar and easy to use and get started. If you have suggestions for a region to include in the fourth part of the series depending on the response.

Online resources

As well as visiting in-world places you can also find some great resources for a range of things on the web, here are a few of my go to websites and resources when I am trying ot create something.

  • Outworldz — a script library, textures, IAR and OAR downloads and much, much more
  • Opensimworld — a resource for finding OpenSim regions, including shopping destinations
  • Zadaroo – an online archive of Linda Kellie’s CC0-licensed content, including IAR and OAR files
  • Kitely Market — Purchase content that you need and get it delivered to your avatar on any of over 165 different OpenSim grids
  • Metropolis freebie search tool — Search for content on the Metropolis grid

This article is adapted with permission from a series of posts on the Lighthouse Point Blog.

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Prof asks OpenSim viewer devs to help schools

Dear OpenSim Viewer Developer:

A new trend in learning management systems  could be a vehicle for expanding educator use of the OpenSimulator platform.

More specifically, one of the newer learning management systems – Canvas – includes an external app integration feature that allows faculty and institutions to easily integrate both subscription and non subscription third-party apps into their course sites.

Further, the viewer developers that offer or modify their viewers to be support learning management systems could realize a new income stream from the creation of custom – or institution specific – viewer homepages.

Learning management system platforms like Canvas, Blackboard, Desire-to-Learn, and Moodle are widely used in both post-secondary and K-12 education as well as in many — or even most — e-training applications.

Suggestion for a custom LMS viewer for OpenSim. (Image courtesy Kay McLennan.)

Looking specifically at the new third party app feature included in the Canvas learning management system, each Canvas course site has an “Apps” section in “Settings”, with the ability to add three different types of apps:

  • Subscription and non subscription apps installed by the institution, like SlideShare, and Collaborate
  • Any of the EduAppCenter  list of apps
  • Apps added through an “Add App” panel

Interested OpenSim viewer developers could either apply to get their viewer added to the EduAppCenter or offer their viewer as a download in the form of a “config.xml” file type.

I believe OpenSim would experience exponential growth if there is a way to integrate one or more OpenSim viewers into the learning management system platforms being used by schools and universities around the world.

Finally, my expectation is that while a free viewer app is needed to promote the increased use of OpenSim educational simulations, viewer developers could generate income from custom, institution specific, viewer homepages and skins.

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VR is a smart bet for the future of gambling

Virtual casino. (Image courtesy Alea.)

It has often been the so-called vice industries that have driven forward new technologies. This will also be the case with virtual reality, where we are already seeing it shaking up the gambling sector.

Sectors such as gambling were among the first business use cases for the internet, and tend to display a greater appetite to pioneer the latest tech when compared with more traditional e-commerce.

For online gambling, I expect this process to be repeated as VR takes its first tentative steps towards mass consumer adoption. Those of us working in the gambling industry should not fear placing a bet on something with a huge potential payoff.

This is what we witnessed during the internet’s early days, and again when mobile provided another shock to the status quo of online gambling. The rise in mobile gambling has been nothing short of sensational, and it now accounts for around 70% of revenues for most major sports betting sites. I believe VR can have a similar impact.

The technology solves many of the primary challenges facing gambling companies, such as how to better engage customers and offer them a more immersive experience.

Engaging a new audience

The global online gambling industry is currently at something of a crossroads. In Europe, governments have been regulating online gambling to increase tax revenues. The regulation has helped legitimise an industry that for many years did not have best of reputations.

There are signs that the rest of the world is beginning to follow Europe’s example. In the US, for example, the state of New Jersey has introduced similar online gambling regulation, while a number of other states, including California, are considering similar licensing.

Placing a bet on sports or enjoying a few spins on a slot machine is gradually moving out of the shadows and taking its place alongside any other form of online entertainment, from social media to Netflix.

However, online gambling operators still face several challenges, particularly in terms of appealing to younger customers who have cooled on gambling companies’ products over the previous years.

Recent studies have shown that 18- to 24-year-olds are betting less than they were two years ago, so reaching out to these users via innovative new technology could be one way to bring them back into the fold.

The advancement in VR technology is without doubt the most significant innovation brought to market in 2016, if not the last few years.

Obviously, it will take time to best fulfil the potential of VR in the gambling world, but it is reaching a point whereby it is now a viable option within the industry.

It means gambling operators can provide an immersive experience with a far greater depth of engagement than anything else. It’s a game-changer.

Virtual casino. (Image courtesy Alea.)

The casino of the future

What every gambling operator is looking for is a way to stand apart from its competitors. Online casino players can now choose from thousands of different games, and the way these are presented is increasingly important.

In 2015, ALEA launched SlotsMillion, the world’s first VR multi-player online casino, which allows players to walk around a virtual casino set in a futuristic city.

Players select an avatar and explore the environment, interacting with other users and staff such as support agents. They can choose from between 40 different slots from leading suppliers and experience the buzz of a big win with an explosion of 3D graphics raining down on them from specific slots.

It was built with Unity 5, using Chromium to emulate web-based games inside. The application was designed for Oculus Rift only and can be played on computers with an Nvidia 970 graphics card or above.

What makes SlotsMillion and VR such an intriguing proposition in the gambling industry is the way it can boost player engagement and offer something far more immersive than what is currently on the market.

In the future, we envisage our virtual casino becoming a place where players, affiliates and operators can interact, so players are guaranteed the sort of service normally reserved for VIPs in a real-world casino. It is a complete re-imagining of what an online casino can be.

Gambling is, above anything else, an entertainment product. The industry has spent a great deal of time and resources looking for ways to create games that keep players engaged and immersed even if they aren’t hitting the big jackpots. Virtual reality is providing us with a glimpse into what the casino of the future will look like.