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OpenSim crossed the 70,000 region milestone this month, with a new land area total of 71,034 standard region equivalents. It also crossed the 34,000 active users mark for the first time. OSgrid, Metropolis and Kitely were the biggest gainers in land area, with 1,272, 305 and 297 regions added, respectively. There are nowRead More →

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Greenlight VR and Touchstone Research released the results of their survey of over 2,000 respondents this past week about attitudes towards virtual reality. Here are some highlights. 1. Gen-Z Rules Despite a perception among some of our readers — or maybe just in my house — kids aren’t all that blase andRead More →

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Press release: Vuzix Awarded Eight CES 2016 Innovation Awards, Including “Best of” in Gaming and Virtual Reality ROCHESTER, N.Y. —Vuzix Corp., a leading supplier of video eyewear and smart glasses products in the consumer, enterprise and entertainment markets, announced that the company has received eight International CES Innovation 2016 awards,Read More →

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More than 100,000 students have participated in virtual reality field trips through Google’s Expeditions, and the program is now expanding to 15 additional cities, Google announced Monday. Benefiting from the new move are Alexandria, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Washington DC,Read More →

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With virtual reality exploding, this is a great time for virtual world experts to repackage themselves as virtual reality consultants and start putting their hard-won expertise to work. Whether your focus is training and education, content creation, interaction design, scripting or development, you probably know more than most of theRead More →

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Update: In August 2016, 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. As some of you know, I’m a big fan of open-sided headsets, likeRead More →

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Update: There are now apps you can use that make it easier to create a new Google Cardboard QR Code. One we tried out recently is Sites in VR. Read our review here. I recently ordered Baofeng Small Mojing virtual reality headset from AliExpress. They start at $12, with free shipping, andRead More →

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YouTube has updated its Android app, the company announced yesterday, with better support for virtual reality. The app first added an option to watch videos in immersive 3D with the Google Cardboard-compatible headset back in June. The platform already had thousands of 360-degree videos, where people could use a mouse orRead More →

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They met as text on a digital page. An ocean between them assurance that they could be who they wished they were in their lover’s eyes. Love’s illusions fashioned in ones and zeroes texted across the transatlantic cable. No warning that the god-helmets they experimented with would fuse their consciousnessRead More →

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HTC’s Vive virtual reality  headset has received the Best Accessory at Paris Games Week, and Sony’s Playstation VR received the Technical Innovation prize at the world’s second-largest video game trade fair, the organization announced. The Vive was featured at Paris Games Week with several playable virtual reality demonstrations, including a first-personRead More →

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Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts today announced the first-ever integration of virtual reality experiences into worldwide hotel sales efforts. The group has rolled out Samsung Gear VR headsets across all Global Sales Offices and produced immersive 360-degree videos for over a quarter of its 94 hotels and resorts. Nearly half ofRead More →

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UK supermarket Asda has launched a virtual reality Halloween experience on its YouTube channel, and the video quickly became the second-most-watched video on the supermarket’s channel, with more than a million views in just a week. The 360-degree video can be watched on a traditional screen, where viewers can scroll theRead More →

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Aside from some patents, Apple has been very quiet on the virtual reality front. While many iPhone users are enjoying virtual reality applications and immersive videos, they are using Google Cardboard-compatible headsets. Today, Apple has finally taken one small public step into virtual reality, with the release of an immersiveRead More →

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According to Virtual Reality Brand Power Index released this morning by YouVisit, 75 percent of the Forbes World’s Most Valuable Brands have created some form of virtual or augmented reality experience for customers or employees, or are themselves innovating and developing these technologies. The tech sector is in the lead inRead More →

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Framingham, Mass.-based research firm International Data Corp. announced today that augmented and virtual reality is one of six key “innovation accelerators” the company will be devoting additional research focus to. “Innovation accelerators are the next wave of 3rd Platform technologies that are critical to digital transformation,” said Crawford Del Prete,Read More →

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UK-based AuraVisor launched a Kickstarter campaign Wednesday to raise $153,000 for a new all-in-one virtual reality headset that requires neither a PC nor a smartphone, and already raised more than $100,000. The headset is expected to sell for around US$450, and includes an external game controller. Early backers were able to orderRead More →

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Sunnyvale, California startup LucidCam promises to make virtual reality filming accessible to anyone with a $600 hand-sized camera that films in 180 degrees. And the company just launched a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo offering the camera to early supporters at a 50 percent discount. LucidCam hopes to raise $100,000 with itsRead More →

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Press release: Next Galaxy Corp and EON Reality Join Forces to Expand CEEK The Partners will Share Technical Expertise and Combine Sales and Marketing Efforts Miami Beach, FL. – Next Galaxy Corp., a leading developer of innovative content solutions and immersive consumer virtual reality technology, and EON Reality Inc., theRead More →

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3rd Rock Grid is proud to announce the hand-over of its management to the Stichting 3rd Rock Grid Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation registered in the Netherlands. The foundation’s six-member board of unpaid directors, comprised of involved citizens, includes previous owners, together with dedicated volunteers.Read More →

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Indiana’s basketball season officially opens this Saturday, October 24, with the first game live-streamed in virtual reality. The Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology introduces virtual reality to their fans with their new Samsung Gear VR headsets. Fans will be able to experience Hoosier Hysteria as if they wereRead More →

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The Army’s Research Laboratory Simulation and Training Technology Center has begun work on a browser-based viewer for OpenSim that uses WebGL, HTML 5 and Javascript technology. “The initial work was done using our MOSES Grid Manager that laid down the interfaces to the Open Simulator needed for this task,” said Douglas Maxwell, the scienceRead More →

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Games, immersive videos, and branded marketing experiences will drive adoption in virtual reality next year, according to a panel of experts hosted by We are Wearables last week in Toronto. Gaming markets will lead other markets in adopting commercial virtual reality, according to Milan Baic, founder of Pinch VR, a smartphone-based virtual reality headset maker.Read More →

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HTC will be holding demos of its Vive headset tonight and tomorrow in fifteen cities across the United States as a promotion for the new Paranormal Activity movie. I have tried the Vive headset, and it was significantly farther along than any other virtual reality headset I’ve tried. If youRead More →

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Press Release: Kennesaw State Students Release Virtual World Production Kennesaw, Ga. – An experiment in journalism storytelling debuts today with the public release of the virtual world machinima “The Kid, The Cop, The Punch.” The story is narrated by Xavier McElrath-Bey, a youth justice advocate, telling of a childhood encounterRead More →

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SAN ANTONIO – Merge VR has announced that its soft, foam goggles are available for pre-order through Amazon, and will ship before holidays. The Merge VR Goggles are among the top tech products debuting in the consumer entertainment market this holiday season. Compatible with any iOS or Android smartphone from the lastRead More →

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Researchers at Australia’s James Cook University, the Tree-Kangaroo and Mammal Group and the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat are using virtual reality to raise awareness of the plight of the endangered tree kangaroo, which lives in the rain forest. “If someone visits the Malanda Falls visitor information centre and there are no tree kangaroosRead More →

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Press release: Emergent VR Raises $2.2 Million To Build The First Mobile Experience Sharing Platform San Francisco, California – Emergent VR announced it has raised $2.2 million in funding from Accel Partners, Google Ventures, and Rothenberg Ventures to build the first mobile platform for capturing and sharing moments using virtualRead More →

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Syfy has updated its virtual reality app for its upcoming series, “The Expanse,” with a virtual fly-by of Tycho Station and the Nauvoo generation starship and handed out hundreds of Google Cardboard headsets at New York Comic Con last week. The app was first released in July of 2015 and was promotedRead More →

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Argentina-based Voxelus has announced that it is working on a virtual reality game creation tool, viewer, virtual world currency, and virtual content marketplace. Voxelus co-founder and CEO Martin Repetto told Hypergrid Business that the new platform will be released in the first quarter of 2016 will work on as many virtual reality devices inRead More →

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AvaCon announced the third annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2015, to take place virtually on the OpenSimulator Conference Center grid on December 5, 2015. The OpenSimulator Community Conference is an annual conference that focuses on the developer and user community surrounding the OpenSimulator software. Organized as a joint production by Core DevelopersRead More →

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Like a lot of people, I do a fair bit of shopping online. Amazon, eBay, Staples, Best Buy — I know them well, plus dozens of other online retailers as well. Until this fall, however, I’ve never considered shopping at AliExpress. I’d never heard of the site before, and ifRead More →

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Moscow-based Fibrum Ltd., known for its excellent virtual reality apps, has put Russia in the lead in the virtual reality hardware race — temporarily, at least — by getting its headset into retail chains this summer According to company spokesman Alexey Svirskiy, the company was founded just a year and aRead More →

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San Antonio, Texas-based Merge VR has announced that it’s purple virtual reality goggles, made out of soft foam, will be available at 320 UK retail outlets in time for the holidays. The Google Cardboard-compatible goggles will be available in the U.K. for £49.99 exclusively from GAME, the country’s leading games retailer.Read More →

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The Google Cardboard virtual reality application has been installed 15 million times, Google said in an announcement yesterday. The app, typically one of the first installed when a customer buys a smartphone-based virtual reality headset, is available for download from the Google Play store for Android phones and from Apple’s AppRead More →

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Impression Pi, a headset that combines virtual and augmented reality with gesture recognition, announced this month that it received $5.5 million in funding in addition to its successful $300,000 Kickstarter earlier this year. The company has also said it will be announcing release dates this month. “Being able to attract suchRead More →

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SlotsMillion, an online casino company, has released a virtual reality app for the Oculus Rift and announced that it is giving away ten Oculus Rift headsets to players. For every 100 Euro bet, players get one additional chance to win a new headset. There are currently 40 casino games available inRead More →

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You only know what you can remember, as the saying goes, but virtual reality technology holds the potential to reorganize and adulterate a person’s memory, blurring the lines between what is real and what is virtual. Our strongest memories are deeply ingrained based on events and experiences that activate theRead More →

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Sierra Club, America’s largest grassroots environmental organization, and virtual reality production studio RYOT today announced the release of the world’s first virtual reality climate change public service announcement. The video, which is being released just two months shy of the international climate negotiations in Paris, aims to not only highlight theRead More →

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This Christmas shopping season promises to be a good one for virtual reality, with a $30 View-Master virtual reality headset hitting the market just about now. This is brightly-colored headset from Mattel that is fully compatible with the Google Cardboard standard and can play any of the hundreds of theRead More →

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Press release: Wargaming Unveils its First Virtual Reality Tank Battle Reenactment Wargaming released 1941 Battle: 360° Reenactment, a unique 360° virtual reality video that teleports the viewer into the heart of battle with four tanks, 40 infantry reenactors, artillery and warplanes for the first time ever. “Wargaming is excited to share ourRead More →

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Immersive experiences are transforming the way in which media companies present their content — movies, TV broadcasts, and films. These experiences can help the content producers reach new audiences and increase engagement with existing viewers. The following are six new examples of the media using virtual reality. 1. Netflix releases Gear VR app; Hulu and TwitchRead More →

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Press release: Virtual Reality Adoption in Enterprise and Industrial Markets Will Be Driven by Training, Simulation, Virtual Prototyping, and 3D Modeling Applications According to a new report from Tractica, commercial sector revenue from virtual reality headsets, other virtual reality equipment, virtual reality content, and content creation tools will reach nearlyRead More →

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When it comes to funding virtual reality startups, venture capitalists are looking for passion — and working prototypes. Others were more narrowly focused, looking for enterprise applications, they told virtual reality entrepreneurs at the 2015 VRLA Summer Expo. The panel of investors, which included representatives from Cooley LLP, CrossCut Ventures Management LLC,Read More →

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Three virtual reality hardware products were the focus of attention at the Oculus Connect 2 conference in Hollywood last week. The products included the Gear VR headset, produced in partnership with Samsung, a new Touch control device, and the consumer version of the Oculus Rift headset itself, scheduled for 2016 product release. And,Read More →

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If you don’t have your hands on a Google Cardboard headset yet, you might be able to get one from Air New Zealand if you hurry. The company is giving away 1,000 headsets so that people can try out its virtual reality app for Android devices and for iPhones. It’sRead More →

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Virtual reality cameras cost hundreds — or thousands — of dollars. But Shot, a startup based in Spain, hopes to bring the price down to under $100 with a new Kickstarter campaign by combining fisheye lenses and some clever software. The way it works is that you clip the lenses toRead More →

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With around 2 million Google Cardboard devices already in user hands, and Taobao and AliBaba alone selling 300,000 additional units a month, mobile-based virtual reality is going gangbusters. The iOS app store and Google Play have hundreds of virtual reality apps. Microsoft’s app store has less than two dozen. So,Read More →

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Press release: New open source platform turns iOS, Android devices into Vr controllers Navi is an app that transforms your smartphone or tablet into a controller by sending your device’s rotations and touch gestures to your virtual reality headset. Developed in Unity, Navi is designed to be easy to use, flexible to developRead More →