People want us to see the Apple Vision Pro VR kit as revolutionary but it isn’t, for a simple reason. Several years ago I was going to the World VR conference and loved playing with various VR kits but they almost all had the same problem. They cost an arm and a leg to buy.
The HTC Vive was an alluring device because of how well it worked and how good it felt but it was made unreachable by its price.
Memorable VR experiences
AR/VR and XR have been around for years, if not decades. The most unique VR experience I was involved with was people wearing an immersive headset whilst snorkelling in a pool to experience being “weightless” whilst watching an immersive video. The second most interesting video 360 experience was a ZDF volcanic explosion where you could watch a volcano explode, as if you were in Pompei. You could follow the projectiles as they flew by you.
During the World XR Forum I had to carry six or more Oculus Quest devices from a car to the conference centre and then help with setting up at least one of these devices. At first I thought it was like most VR headsets where the phone is the display.
In reality, the Oculus Quest is a self-contained VR headset driven via an app from the mobile phone. Once the Oculus quest and the mobile phone are paired you can play with content and use it.
During the World XR Forum this year in Crans Montana I helped Pierre Friquet with his Sea of Tranquility VR Experience. This VR experience was unique in that it required you to be either in your swimming clothes, your underwear or other.
This was a VR experience where you went from being outside where the temperature was descending to winter temperatures to what felt like a warm room when dressed but comfortable when wet.
Today I participated in two Zwift events, a social ride and a race. The social ride was one hour of pedalling at a comfortable pace trying to keep to the same speed as the group. Rather than trying to be as fast as the group I was trying to pace myself to be within the peloton rather than riding off. Social rides are amusing because you start on the peer and wait for the counter to get down to zero and when it does you go from being on a home trainer in the real world cycling on a home trainer in the virtual world to cycling on the roads of Watopia.
The Insta 360 Nano and Air are two affordable cameras. The first is designed to work with the new iPhone shape as well as a stand alone device. The Insta360 Air works only when it is plugged into an Android device. Both are good for specific uses.
Insta360 Air The Insta360 Air requests a firmware update the first time you want to use it. This takes a few minutes and then the device uses the phone’s gyroscopes to keep the image stable.
I was a volunteer at the World VR Forum again this year. I was in the conference room providing speakers with microphones before they went up on stage. As a result of this I was able to listen to many interesting speakers. They spoke about a diversity of topics of interest to various groups.
Google Earth and the HTC Vive Dominik Käser presented Google Earth VR. He spoke about how Google had spent time thinking about how the earth sounds in different locations, from different altitudes and more.
For a few weeks now I have been thinking about how you could make a 360° cooking show. For this video I would like to be able to see the process from an angle where I see the person cooking. I would also like to see all of the ingredients and the preparation of various stages of the recipe. For this you would need an open plan kitchen where preparation takes place in the middle of the room.
Yesterday the Theta+ Video app came out for Android. The Theta+ video app allows you to trim video clips and then share them to social networks. This means that you no longer need to wait until you get home to prepare content for sharing. You can do it while you sit and have a post activity hot chocolate or other drink. [caption id=“attachment_3325” align=“aligncenter” width=“169”] Video options[/caption] When you select the raw video it is converted to be a spherical video.
Climbing Virtual Reality tuition is an interesting idea. Learning to climb is fun because it is a physical and intellectual challenge. The first step is to familiarise yourself with the sensations of climbing and learning to see where foot holds are and where hand holds are. When you begin the hand holds are easy to find and hold on to but as you progress and attempt more challenging routes you need to develop finger strength to hold on to those holds.