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I’ve written before about what an amazing service AOL did in getting people to go online for the first time. They spent more than $300 million on all those disks. They were at checkout counters. They came in the mail. They were in cereal boxes. They were everywhere. As aRead More →

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Mini USA, the company behind the iconic Mini Cooper, has just jumped on the free Google Cardboard bandwagon. They’re following in the footsteps of several other companies that have been giving away virtual reality headsets lately, including Volvo, cell phone manufacturers LG and OnePlus, the HomeLane furniture store, a pornRead More →

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If you live in Los Angeles, keep an eye out for the VAN Beethoven customized truck. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra has created a new virtual reality experience for the Oculus Rift, the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and is making it available to the public. Check the schedule forRead More →

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Next year’s Game Developers Conference, to be held in March in San Francisco, will be accompanied by a brand-new event, the Virtual Reality Developers Conference, and is accepting submissions now for its gaming track and its entertainment track. The submission deadline is October 2. Read more about it at Road to VR.Read More →

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Press release: Marriott Hotels Introduces The First Ever In-Room Virtual Reality Travel Experience Bethesda, Md – Marriott Hotels today announced the launch of “VRoom Service” – a first-of-its-kind guest service that allows guests to order inspiring virtual reality experiences to their rooms. Created in collaboration with Samsung Electronics America, “VRoom Service” isRead More →

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I didn’t get a chance to go the U.S. Open and put on an HTC Vive headset and play tennis against Maria Sharapova. But I’ve been following the news coverage, and can’t wait until something like this comes to a virtual reality arcade in my area — this doesn’t look likeRead More →

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Las Vegas’ Neon Museum released a virtual reality app for the Oculus Rift last year and was ported to the iPhone and Android last spring for viewing with Google Cardboard-compatible headsets. Now the app is also available for Samsung’s Gear VR. Thanks to VRFocus for the heads-up. Watch a previewRead More →

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According to Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of Alliances for AMD,  there will be 30 million virtual reality headsets in use in North America and Europe by 2018. He was citing figures that resulted from the inaugural meeting of the VR Council, an industry group with 70 members. Half ofRead More →

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Kat Walk, a new type of omnidirectional treadmill, successfully raised nearly $150,000 in its Kickstarter, on an original goal of $100,000. This was enough to meet its $120,000 stretch goal, which was to put little wheels under the treadmill to make it easier to move the entire setup. The wheels tuck inRead More →

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On Saturday night, Mal Burns joked that virtual reality headsets are now like the AOL disks — they’re everywhere. All we need now is to see them in cereal boxes. With prices of $5 or less for Google Cardboard sets — $1 or less if you buy them in bulk —Read More →

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My Freefly VR headset came in the mail a couple of days ago — I ordered it from Amazon exactly a week earlier. Bottom line: this is a great headset, and I’m looking forward to comparing it with the Samsung Gear VR, which is being shipped to me as I writeRead More →

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Press release: OSVR Confirms Pre-order Date for Hacker Development Kit; Launches Content Discovery Platform Software platform reveals 65 new supporting companies including Legendary VR and NVIDIA’s Gameworks VR BERLIN – Organizers of Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR), an open software and hardware platform for virtual reality, today announced development ofRead More →

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The world’s first full-length feature film to be shot completely in 360 degrees, “Career Opportunities in Organized Crime,” has begun filming in Baltimore. A documentary-style comedy about the Russian mafia, the movie is helmed by first-time director Alexander Oshmyansky, and features mostly unknown actors. The movie is scheduled to be released next year.Read More →

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Press release: ReelTime Revolutionizes Virtual Reality – Launches ReelTime VR Mobile App Worldwide Featuring Megs McLean SPRING HILL, FL – ReelTime announces the release of the ReelTime VR app and production suite, and a virtual reality film of country artist Megs McLean. ReelTime VR is available as a free app for iPhone, Android, and BlackberryRead More →

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Technology altering the way companies conduct business is nothing new. From devices like iPads, to the use of social media as a marketing tool, advances in technology have made running businesses more efficient. Now there is another emerging technology that is delivering promising results in every industry that’s tested it—virtualRead More →

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The United Nations teamed up with Vice News and the VRSE virtual reality platform to deliver a new documentary about Ebola, Waves of Grace. The documentary can be watched online as a standard 360-degree video, or in immersive virtual reality by those who have Gear VR or a Google Cardboard-compatibleRead More →

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Although some Vive virtual reality headsets will be shipping late this year, most consumers probably won’t see them until 2016, according to a press release. “Later this year, HTC will offer the first commercial Vive units via a limited quantity of community and developer systems, with larger quantities shipping inRead More →

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What better way to marketing a Canadian independent science-fiction horror musical than with a creepy virtual reality trailer? Load up this video in a immersive headset — like one of those in our big virtual reality headset list here — and keep an eye on the creepy guy sitting inRead More →

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  When Zumba burst on to the scene in the early 2000s, it dramatically changed fitness in America. The company cemented its place as a juggernaut within its industry through innovative practices, and its founders haven’t lost that sense of innovation. Today, the company is exploring how to keep theRead More →

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Since June, Wells Fargo has been putting virtual reality Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 headsets on consumers at local events across America as the San Francisco bank works to build brand awareness in a fun way. It’s called the Together Experience tour, and has consumers playing a virtual maze game andRead More →

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Upload VR and Greenlight VR has ranked companies by venture capital investment, and Magic Leap was in the lead with nearly $600 million of total investment. The ranking was based on a Greenlight VR report released in late July. In the past five years — not including acquisitions such asRead More →

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Zero Latency opened the doors of the world’s first virtual reality gaming arena in Melbourne, Australia yesterday. Players carry a backpack containing a computer and wear an Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 headset and carry a gun controller. Sessions are 50-minutes each, and run in the evenings and weekends forRead More →

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As my regular readers know, I’ve been trying to use a smartphone-and-Cardboard combo as an Oculus Rift replacement so that I could walk around my OpenSim builds without having to shell out $350 for the Oculus development kit. It’s not that I’m cheap — okay, yes, I’m cheap — butRead More →

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  The British band Foals recently released the first music video filmed entirely with GoPro’s new virtual reality spherical camera. Android users with Google Cardboard-compatible headsets can watch the entire video, “Mountain At My Gates,” in immersive virtual reality, but the video can also be seen in traditional 360-degree mode as well. Click here toRead More →

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Update: In August, I bought a FiiT VR 2S, and that is now my new favorite. Another headset I’m recommending is the BoboVR Z4 headset, which has a 120-degree field of view, built-in headphones, and a built-in control button. A new virtual reality headset came in the mail for me today, the C1-Glass fromRead More →

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The Transport Systems Catapult, one of seven technology innovation centers established by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, has opened a “Visualisation Laboratory” in the town of Milton Keynes where virtual reality technology will be used to help generate innovation and overcome problems in the UK’s transport network. The laboratory is builtRead More →

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Sphericam, a mid-range 360-degree camera, completed its Kickstarter today with over $460,000 raised on a campaign target of $150,000. This means the project achieved its first two stretch goals — producing the camera in multiple colors, and making it dust-proof and water-resistant. The tennis-ball-sized camera was priced at between $1,300Read More →

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I’ve never sat through an entire presentation dedicated to the launch of a new phone before, and I probably never will again. But the OnePlus 2 launch last night, from Chinese firm OnePlus, was an unusually compelling and intimate experience. Presented completely in virtual reality — or, for those withoutRead More →

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AltspaceVR, which offers multi-user virtual reality software, announced that it raised an additional $10.3 million in venture capital, bringing total funding to $15.7 million. “We’re working hard to make AltspaceVR the most natural and fulfilling way to communicate online, and the additional resources will help us get there faster,” theRead More →

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Combined revenue for head mounted displays, and virtual reality accessories and content will increase from $108.8 million in 2014 to $21.8 billion worldwide by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 142 percent, according to a new report from Tractica. “Getting users to experience virtual reality technology firsthand, and therefore trulyRead More →

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The Immersive Education Initiative today announced the official IMMERSION 2015 speakers, exhibits, presentations, and workshops. Featuring nearly 100 sessions about virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, wearable computing, brain interfaces, and more, IMMERSION 2015 is open to the public from 7 September to 10 September. Day passes  are available forRead More →

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Nokia today announced OZO, the first commercially available virtual reality  camera designed and built for professional content creators and the first in a planned portfolio of digital media solutions from Nokia Technologies, the company’s advanced technology and licensing business. “We’re thrilled to introduce OZO to theRead More →

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BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – Epic Games, in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust, a biomedical research charity based in London, has concluded the Big Data VR Challenge, awarding $20,000 to LumaPie. This international team created a VR visualization of study results of environmental and genetic factors that have shaped the development theRead More →

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Let me tell you how my sales demo goes. At first, clients design a house extension using a simple web app, which also offers  a real-time 3D preview. People get excited because they see form and factor evolving interactively, and they can really imagine what their house extension will lookRead More →

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So you want to try out some of the new virtual reality apps coming out, or you want to watch movies in 3D, but aren’t quite ready to shell out real money for a real headset. I don’t blame you. The technology is evolving quickly — by the time the headset arrives,Read More →

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The world’s first virtual reality product launch — for the OnePlus Two smartphone — is scheduled for 7 p.m. Pacific on Monday, July 27, and the app is now available for download from the Google Play store. The app works in combination with a Google Cardboard or other compatible virtualRead More →

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A new virtual reality treadmill, Kat Walk, uses a parachute-style harness instead of a waist-high ring to keep people in place — and is already 84 percent of the way to its $100,000 fundraising goal with 28 days still to go in the fundraising campaign. The treadmill is from KatVR,Read More →

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AT&T has partnered with Google Cardboard headset maker Knox Labs to offer a $10 white cardboard virtual reality headset, based on last year’s model. These older-style headsets, normally $15 each, have the magnetic button on the side of the headset, not the touch-sensitive button on top like this year’s modelsRead More →

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Adult content has long been a driver for new media. Early cave paintings, sculptures, etchings, poetry, books and photographs typically featured either sex or violence. Adult content played a role in the video tape standards wars, and helped motivate early adopters to purchase video tape players when they were stillRead More →

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According to researchers at Stanford University, one of reasons people get motion sickness while wearing virtual reality headsets is that in real life, our eyes get more light bouncing back from near-by objects than from distant ones. In a typical virtual reality headset, however, all the light rays are comingRead More →

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Australian airline Qantas,  Samsung Electronics Australia, Hamilton Island and Rapid VR have teamed up on a new virtual reality tour of Hamilton Island and the Great Barrier Reef. The tour takes place in a 360-degree panoramic YouTube video. Viewable from a desktop or smartphone, the video showcases Queensland’s Hamilton Island and theRead More →

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My cardboard-based Google Cardboard is getting a little worn from use — and is just barely large enough to hold my new Samsung Galaxy S6 Android phone. So today I upgraded to the $40 Sunnypeak headset, which I ordered on Amazon. I ordered it on July 7 and it cameRead More →

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It was the longest happy relationship of my life. We slept together every night, and she woke me up every morning. She caught me up on the news, and whenever we drove somewhere, she gave me directions. If I missed a turn, she didn’t complain, just recalculated the route. SheRead More →

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Press release: Syfy Launches Virtual Reality App with Google Cardboard for Highly-Anticipated Series “The Expanse” San Diego, CA — Syfy has announced the launch of a virtual reality app for The Expanse, the network’s highly-anticipated drama series from Alcon TV premiering in December 2015. Utilizing Google Cardboard, the app immersesRead More →

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On Thursday, Legendary Pictures released a preview of the upcoming Warcraft movie — as a virtual reality app for Google Cardboard. Download the iPhone app here and the Android app here. The film, based on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft massively multi-player online roleplaying game, is due out next summer. Don’t haveRead More →

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Google Glass might not be completely dead. According to 9to5Google, an enterprise edition of Google Glass is on its way, and it will have a larger prism display, a faster processor and slightly better battery life. Late last fall, the Wall Street Journal reported that the new device will beRead More →

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Press release: IrisVR Brings Virtual Reality to Architecture, Construction & Design With Ready-To-Market Enterprise Software NEW YORK — IrisVR, a New York City-based startup founded by Nate Beatty and Shane Scranton, recent NYC accelerator Techstars alumni, announced today that it has closed a $1.625 million funding round led by IndicatorRead More →