Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
Reports provided by Jon Peddie Research show that PC gaming hardware sales broke through the $30 billion mark for the first time in 2016. The Asia Pacific Region saw huge year-over-year growth, but North America fed the high-end hardware tier.
The post Is gaming hardware helping to keep the PC market afloat? appeared first on Digital Trends.
In a late comment to the Gabe Newell AMA on Reddit, Valve’s Joe Ludwig posted an update outlining progress licensing its SteamVR Tracking system.
The system could be critical to the adoption of VR in 2017 and the comment indicates additional head-mounted displays compatible with the SteamVR Tracking “lighthouse” technology are in the works. The headsets are among 500 companies which signed up to freely use the innovative tracking system, according to Ludwig.
Below is the full comment in response to the questions “Did you expect more hardware manufacturers to consider interest in releasing their own Lighthouse/Steam VR HMD instead of just HTC? Why do you think other companies haven’t (publically at least) gotten on board?”:
500 companies have signed up to use Lighthouse and some of them are making HMDs. A few of them have talked about that, but a bunch more will announce when they’re ready.
As far as we know, everything is in place for any store to support the Vive. As part of your initial setup you would still install Steam to get the drivers, but Steam doesn’t need to be running for the Vive to work.
The controller production line is still going strong and churning out controllers. The next line we’re building is for the base stations we talked about at Dev Days. They’ll start showing up later this year.
Using automation allows us to keep production local, which means our employees can be much more hands-on with the manufacturing process. That works a lot better with how Valve works, so we’ll probably keep doing that going forward.
SteamVR Tracking is an ingenious technology that bathes a room with lasers you can’t see with the naked eye, but it allows objects with sensors on the surface to be perfectly tracked throughout a space. A compatible system like lighthouse which works with products from a variety of manufacturers could lower the cost for upgrades (because the tracking system is already installed) while simultaneously opening up VR to an enormous collection of objects that can be brought into a virtual world. The end result would be a whole slew of VR experiences, from fighting fires to hitting a baseball, which would look, sound and feel extremely close to their real-world counterparts.
Tagged with: steamvr tracking, valve
We had so much fun at the YCombinator Upverter Hackathon. I was honored to be part of “the beatles” team  (Sam Cuttriss, Josh Cardenas, Jason Appelbaum, Lauren Elliott, Tish Shute, Otto Leichliter III & IV) that produced the prize winning IoToaster. Rick Merritt did an awesome write up in EE Times, Slideshow: Y Combinator hackathon’s prize-winning designs. If you want to hear more about hardware startups shaping play with connected stuff, I hope you will stop by, Parsing Reality: Shaping Play with Connected Stuff, Tuesday March 12th, 12.30pm -1.30pm, Raddison Town Lake Ballroom, Austin, SXSW 2013. I’m delighted to join, Adam Wilson Founder, Chief Software Architect Orbotix, Dave Bisceglia Co-Founder & CEO The Tap Lab, Phu Nguyen Founder Romotive Inc to talk about shaping play with connected stuff – more details here.
Meanwhile enjoy Rick Merritt’s great write up of IoToaster (reprinted from EE Times).
“Y Combinator hackathon’s prize-winning designs”
“An Internet Toaster, two pair of faux Google glasses and two novel electronic gloves emerged from a hackathon organized by Upverter and hosted by Y Combinator. SAN JOSE, Calif. – Imagine sending an Instagram to your Internet toaster and printing it—on whole wheat or white bread. Imagine creating your own vision for a variant of Google’s Project Glass.
Those were among the 32 projects from more than 130 designers at a recent all-day event organized by Upverter.com and hosted by Y Combinator, a startup incubator in Mountain View, Calif.
Winners took home iPads, Pebble watches, Arduino kits and Raspberry Pi boards after dedicating about 10 hours of their Saturday to hacking on their best ideas. Some took with them hopes of products that could make it to the market or new-formed teams that could be the heart of a new startup. Others just had a good time.
Here’s a look at some of the winners.
Two teams worked on variants of Google’s $1,500 glasses-mounted computer. One team (above) used laser-cut medium-density fibreboard and embedded LEDs that could indicate when the wearer faced north. Another team (below) created Prism, a more thorough knock-off of Google’s concept complete with an embedded display and gesture recognition.
Printing on whole wheat or white
The IO Toaster (above) is sort of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of social electronics. It’s an Internet-connected combo toaster/printer that creators say can “bring the cloud to your breakfast.â€
The team adapted code from an LED matrix to control heat transmission down to the pixel level. They hope to present the device at the Augmented World Expo at SXSW as well as at other hackathons and hardware meetups.
The team included Sam Cuttriss, Josh Cardenas, Tish Shute, Lauren Elliott, Jason Appelbaum and both Otto Leichliter III and IV.
Peripherals and apps for the IO Toaster
The potential for the IO Toaster is great, said team members who brainstormed spin off products including:
Touch screen toaster displays
Designers of the IO Toaster created this animation to show the romantic possibilities of their product.
Grand prize was a real grabber
Meet the Tactilus team
Fitness glove has something up its sleeve
Baby gets a robo rocker
And other winners were…
At the end of the day, 30 groups took two minutes each to pitch their hack (below), some of which judges pitches in the circular file. A handful of others got various levels of recognition.
The winner in the most marketable category was the DIYNot, a plug that fits between your recharging device and the socket to turn off the two amp energy flow anytime you want. The Window Blind Controller, a clip on device that keeps streetlight out in the night and lets sunlight in during the day, got a nod from judges.
Judges also liked the Walkmen, an ultrasound virtual walking stick with haptic feedback for guiding disabled people. A team from Electric Imp got the Corporate Shill Award for a networked dispenser that spits out M&Ms in response to tweets. Another group added Wi-Fi links to home switches opening a circuit for new kinds of remote controls—and pranks.
From here to China and back
I’m really excited that we opened a call for proposals today for Augmented World Expo (registration opens February!).  Our edgy conference on augmented reality has morphed into the world’s first Expo about the augmented world.  If you loved ARE you are going to find Augmented World Expo the most important event of 2013, and if you never got a chance to attend before register early to reserve your spot!
“The way we experience the world will never be the same. We no longer interact with computers. We interact with the world. A set of emerging technologies such as augmented reality, gesture interaction, eyewear, wearables, smart things, cloud computing, and ambient computing are completely changing the way we interact with people, places and things. These technologies create a digital layer that empowers humans to experience the world in a more advanced, engaging, and productive way.
Augmented World Expo will bring together the best in augmented experiences from all aspects of life: health, education, emergency response, art, media and entertainment, retail, manufacturing, brand engagement, travel, automotive, and urban design. It will be the largest ever exposition demonstrating how these technologies come together to change our lives and change the world.
Registration will open in February.”