VR & AR

Anything you want to know about Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality? Just ask?

[bestvrtech]

Cheaper AR glasses coming soon from WaveOptics - EVG partnership

Cheaper AR glasses, are on the way to the market thanks to a new collaboration between Britain’s WaveOptics and EV Group. WaveOptics is the world leading designer and manufacturer of diffractive waveguides. EVG is an Austrian manufacturer of process equipment for the semiconductor industry.

Augmented Reality has been languishing so long. It still remains a “developers kit” product, rather than a consumer product. And the prices are ludicrous. I wonder if they can bring the price down to $200 - $300.

[bestvrtech]

Can virtual reality catch sex offenders?

A French-Canadian researcher is trying to develop a method of identifying potential sex offenders by combining virtual reality with a device called a Penile Plethysmograph, a cuff-shaped sensor that measures blood-flow to the penis, which causes erections and indicates sexual arousal (or a need to evacuate the bladder Herr Doktor!)

[bestvrtech]

The question’s been around for some time, but parents tend to be all too blase about it. At least that’s the impression you get when you see how little online debate there is about it.There’s massive hype around the technology itself. But the effect of VR on children doesn’t even seem like it’s an issue …

This is one area of concern amongst parents and the VR industry.

[bestvrtech]

Bake your own pita bread for your BBQ

Making bread of any kind is a lot easier than you think. And if you’re doing a barbecue anyway and the fire’s already raging, then why not make your own pita bread to put the meat in? It only takes a little prep work (the day before), but once you’ve done it even ONCE, you’ll ever want to go back to buns or shop-bought pita bread. 

The bread you buy in the supermarket is made with shelf-life in mind. So they compromise on taste. When you bake your own to eat on the same day, you don’t have to compromise. Just click on the link above and learn how to do it!

[bestvrtech]

“Game over for VR” says the Economist in convoluted prophecy of doom - Best VR Technology Reviews

A recent article in The Economist (1st December) has suggested that Virtual Reality may be heading for the knacker’s yard before it’s even over the second fence. They go on to suggest that consumers are opting for Augmented Reality as an alternative to VR!They start off by pointing out that prices for VR hardware are …

This article first appeared in The Economist. But it was clear to me that the writer didn’t know what he was talking about. He may have been right about the slow uptake of VR (relative to the size of the market), but failed to realize that the technology is still in its infancy. It is like the home computer market in 1980. But he had a point in that not everyone is interested in gaming. But VR has other applications too...

[bestvrtech]

Virtual Reality Shopping has arrived - Best VR Technology Reviews

In the past, online shopping has been limited to looking at a few product pictures or occasionally a video, accompanied by a description of the product. For some reasons, online vendors never quite got around to virtual reality shopping. You couldn’t take a virtual walkthrough of a store, pushing a trolley, seeing the goods on …

[bestvrtech]

AR projectors - an old new idea

We’ve had laser projected virtual keyboard for some time (take a look here), now HTC (whose Vive headset is at the top end of VR products) has decided to enter the augmented reality market in a very novel way. Rather than break their heads over expensive glasses that project the image onto the glass, they’ve decided to apply the same projector principle that is used on the virtual keyboards.

In other words, they project the overlay onto real objects. The disadvantage is that such overlays can’t be projected into the air. (No floating “person of interest” style data.) The advantage is that the overlay is not limited to one person, wearing glasses. Rather it is shared with all those in the vicinity.

Of course in some circumstances, this might be a disadvantage. What do you think?

[bestvrtech]

Military augmented reality - Best VR Technology Reviews

In the past we reported in the past how AR is being used to reduce the maintenance skills gap in the US armed forces. So it should come as no surprise that even while AR struggles to get a foothold in the overpriced civilian market that military augmented reality technology is still going strong.According to …

Augmented reality started in the military and now it looks like they are the ones who are propping it up.