by Maria Korolov · Published August 11, 2016 · Last modified August 12, 2016
There are grids whose welcome areas are always full of people hanging out, with mentors on hand to help newcomers and answer questions from residents and visitors, even grid owners stopping by to press...
Update: Genesis Grid has since been rebranded as Genesis Metaverse. The Genesis Grid, formerly hosted by Avi-Labs, has left that hosting company in the wake of recent problems and launched its own OpenSim hosting service....
I spent the last two weeks traveling in China visiting virtual reality companies and attending the annual China Joy conference. China has a very active VR ecosystem with a lot to learn but I came away...
China’s Alibaba online retail giant told China Daily that it is developing virtual-reality-enabled mobile payment technology, which could allow users to pay bills in a 3-D virtual world by nodding their heads or making other gestures to...
Kitely’s user community is celebrating History Month this August to celebrate history-inspired builds and encourage people to build more. It will also feature a number of events each week including live music and dance. Visitors can...
If you want to share your OpenSim build online so that people can explore it with a virtual reality headset, consider Sketchfab. The platform, which has half a million registered users and nearly a million...
MetaWorld, a multi-user virtual world, will add virtual reality creation tools and allow exporting of objects and launch a marketplace. The MetaWorld Pioneer Edition is currently in pre-alpha and users can pre-order it for $9.99 for early pioneer access....
Avi-Labs, the hosting company behind the AviWorlds grid, has been hacked, according to Josh Boam, the company’s technology manager, but grid data should be recoverable. “Everything is saved,” he said. According to Boam, company...
The smartphone is able to replace a lot of the things we use to need. Alarm clocks, GPS devices, cameras, mail delivery, televisions, radios, tape recorders, record players, calculators, guitar tuners, pedometers — the...
While CtrlAltStudio viewer 1.2.6.43412 has provided 3D/VR access for the Oculus Rift in Second Life and OpenSim, there is another way to explore virtual worlds in VR – through VorpX. VorpX allows some applications and...
Disclosure: This headset was provided free by EverBuying. To be honest, when I first received the Ritech Riem 3 Plus headset, I thought that the quality of this product was going to be poor...
OSgrid celebrated its ninth birthday this weekend, but the events did not go smoothly on OpenSim’s largest and oldest grid. OSgrid has had some technical issues over the past few days, grid president Dan...
Tangle Grid is hosting the Steam Expo starting from August 1 to September 25 where creators can showcase their items and visitors can see items being displayed. In addition to the exposition for creation,...
GIBLIB, an online platform for medical lectures and surgical videos, will broadcast a live stream of a hernia operation from the Surgery Medical Center & Precision ASC. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Shirin Towfigh....
As the virtual and augmented reality space heats up, so does the number of conferences. Check out the latest technologies and network with industry leaders at these coming events. Below are a number of...
New York-based Become Inc., launched a crowdfunding campaign last week for Veeso, which promises to be the world’s first virtual reality headset with built-in cameras that track facial expressions. The $70 Cardboard-compatible headset will...
Leap Motion CTO David Holz spent more than an hour and a half last Thursday night answering questions about virtual and augmented reality in front of an audience of more than 200 avatars in...
Press release: More than 50 percent of consumers likely to purchase from brands that sponsor virtual reality, according to Greenlight VR Greenlight VR’s latest consumer survey reveals positive feelings for VR among users and nonusers alike,...
Canada’s Tek Gear Inc. is offering a free virtual reality headset to anyone who wants one — as long as they pick up the shipping charges. “We’ve been in the VR business for over 24...
Several grids did not report numbers this month, resulting in a drop in active users of 3,209. Avination was down this month, as were Virtual Dream, My Virtual Community, and Cyberface. Some grids, such as Activity...
Artificial intelligence could help make gesture recognition systems more effective, according to researchers at Purdue University. The system they created, Deep Hand, requires less processing power than other approaches, they said in a paper released this...
The number of non-exportable items on the Kitely Market dropped this week, while exportable products continue to rise, according to statistics released today by Kitely. The difference between the two was the second highest...
There are many reasons why virtual reality is starting to be used at trade shows, including the fact that VR experiences are both memorable and impactful. At the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration annual conference, in...
Virtual environments can let people step back in time, by visiting the recreation of a place or event. Tell people about your favorite historical destinations in the survey below. Each submission gives you another chance...
Last week, Linden Lab said that it was no longer working on its Oculus Rift viewer for Second Life, dashing OpenSim user hopes that eventually their viewer would be open sourced and be a...
On Friday, Virtuix, the maker of the Omni virtual reality treadmill, announced a joint venture with Hero Entertainment, a billion-dollar Chinese game publisher and developer of Crisis Action, the most popular mobile first-person shooter...
More than 40 percent of people under 35 have a “keen interest” in virtual reality, according to a report released by GlobalWebIndex on Friday. Interest decreases by age, but even with people aged 55 to 64,...
Two virtual reality arcades, Immersion Arcade and IVirtex opened in June in Illinois, offering players the chance to play games on the HTC Vive headsets. Immersion Arcade costs $10 for 15 minutes, and up to $60...
UK-based eeGeo Ltd, an 3D mapping software company, has opened its platform to developers to help them create map-based virtual and augmented reality applications. “There’s a meaningful link between a true 3D environment and inducing...
OSgrid was down on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week when the grid was no longer able to access its asset services, but other grids probably don’t need to worry about the same thing...
The$200 Insta360 Nano VR camera, which will be available for purchase on July 30, clips to your iPhone and uses two fish-eye lenses to take 360-degree photos or videos. You can see some videos that have...
Part of the reason the HTC Vive gets such great reviews — and costs so much — is that it does positional tracking. When you walk around wearing the headset, you walk around inside...
When you have a product that weighs several tons, you’re going to think twice before bringing it with you to a conference or trade show. And you’re certainly not going to bring more than...
Two new virtual reality applications for medical patients can help them relax in waiting rooms and get information about their medical devices. Zocdoc, Inc., a site that helps patients find doctors, has placed headsets in...
Scroll to the bottom of this article for the infographic. Virtual reality is a rapidly evolving market, which provides unlimited opportunities, and attracts a lot of newcomers. While the fastest growth in the industry is...
UK-based education company Macunx VR has passed its Kickstarter goal of $4,308 — or £3,000 — with two weeks of its campaign still to go. The company plans to build a virtual reality Unity-based platform that will...
The third hypergrid Treasure Hunt officially began on Friday, with 14 grids participating. It will run through August 6, so there’s plenty of time for both hunters and grids to jump in. Prizes include...
The final round of PlayStation VR headset pre-orders went live on Thursday, but sold out in minutes, a Gamestop representative told IGN. According to Sony, there won’t be any more pre-orders. The headset will be officially released...
Philip Rosedale’s virtual world startup High Fidelity has announced the launch of its Marketplace this week. Registered users can now upload new content again. The Marketplace has also been redesigned, with a new submission...
Littlefield Grid, DigiWorldz and ZanGrid are holding big bashes to celebrate this year’s Fourth of July holiday, America’s Independence Day. Littlefield Grid party on Stonehaven Party Isle Littlefield Grid’s Fourth of July party started Thursday, with...
HTC plans to set up more than 10,000 “experience sites” in mainland China by the end of the year, the China Daily newspaper reported today. The company is partnering with Suning Commerce Group and Gome Electrical Appliances...
An overview for those who haven’t used one yet So I was fortunate enough to have gotten on the developer program for the HoloLens. Was it hard? I don’t know. I just filled out my...
Amsterdam-based paint company AkzoNobel has opened a virtual reality customer center in Slough, U.K., where retailers can experiment with different store layouts. “The center will enable us to help customers visualize and experiment with new...
Virtual reality companies won’t see any significant revenues until 2019, when high-end devices become more affordable and business use of the technology becomes more popular, a panel of analysts predicted at the VRX Europe 2016 event held...
Press release: THE VOID Launches Ghostbusters: Dimension, an Immersive Hyper-Reality Experience Powered by Unity Technologies 3D engine at Madame Tussauds New York New York City, NY & San Francisco, CA—Unity, the largest global development...
Santa Clara-based EchelonVR has launched an Android application that works with Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR to help heavy equipment dealers to showcase immersive models of their products to customers before they make purchase...
No one can deny the global popularity of sports. Whatever nation you find yourself in is guaranteed to have teams competing in some sport and fans who will consistently tune in to watch them....
Pygmal Technologies launched a beta version of SPACE, a computer user environment that aims to replace monitor screens with virtual screens. The application, now available for download for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, is currently free, and Pygmal...
Press release: Invrsion Presents Shelfzone, The Virtual Reality Solution For Large-Scale Retail Trade And Consumer Package Goods Italian company creates virtual reality solutions for B2B using HTC Vive technology Milan – inVRsion, the Italian...
Virtual reality is now a global phenomena and devices are slowly becoming available to more retail shops — including here, in Nairobi, Kenya, where I am based. This Saturday, I walked over to my...
Press release: AppliedVR Brings Therapeutic Virtual Reality Content To Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles – AppliedVR, an industry leader in improving the healthcare experience with scalable therapeutic virtual reality content, today announced its partnership...
Another surgery video platform, GIBLIB, which serves medical students and doctors, has jumped on the virtual reality train. The company partnered with camera manufacturer 360fly and live streaming service LIVIT NOW to broadcast the first-ever live hernia surgery...
Virtual reality was big this year at Cannes Lions. Its presence makes itself known as demonstrations of the technology abound at stations all around the festival. Through these demonstrations, we’re experiencing firsthand what VR...
Per reader request, I’ve added two new links to the menu in the black bar above — VR & AR, and Metaverse. The first will list all the VR articles, and the second will just have...
Google Expeditions, previously only available to select schools, is now available to the public, at no cost. “The app is available today for Android and will be available for iPhones and iPads soon,” the company...
This year, Shark Week will be coming to virtual reality. It starts today, Sunday, June 26, and Discovery Channel will make parts of its Shark Week broadcast in virtual reality and 360-degree video format....
Samsung has branded its Milk VR 360-degree video platform as Samsung VR and has added the ability to upload user-generated content. “Creators can load their own 360-degree videos to the Samsung VR platform for sharing...
The Gloebit multi-grid virtual currency is now out of beta and can be used for shopping. Users who previously had a beta account will need to sign up again for the live version. You...
by Maria Korolov · Published June 26, 2016 · Last modified September 4, 2016
A couple of weeks ago, I received a review copy of the UCVR headset in the mail. I haven’t been in a rush to review it, Because I didn’t have anything nice to say. I enjoy...
On its tenth anniversary, Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is adding a new element in to its conference program, a science fair. “Educators from all disciplines and levels are invited to participate,” outreach committee head...
In case you missed it, OSgrid has been holding weekly meetings every Saturday at Wright Plaza, after a long period in which communications between grid managers and residents were problematic. “We restarted it about...
Oculus has released an update to its software yesterday, allowing its games to run on other headsets. “We continually revise our entitlement and anti-piracy systems, and in the June update we’ve removed the check...
Virtual reality can reduce pain and stress for hospital patients, but most headsets and applications aren’t designed for the medical setting. For example, headsets should be waterproof, light-weight, easily washable and wireless. And the accompanying...
California-based 360-degree camera startup, 360fly, released a satirical ad Thursday featuring a Donald Trump look-alike, a big wall, and what many saw as insensitive stereotypes of Mexican immigrants. The ad was accepted by DIRECTV, FOX News, local FOX LA,...
The White House will release its first virtual reality video, a 360 video experience of the First Family’s hike in Yosemite. National Geographic, Facebook, Oculus, and Félix & Paul Studios produced the video of...
Press release: Virtual Reality Developers Conference Announces First Standalone Event in November 2016 Expanded focus on games, entertainment, brand experience, and innovation after sold out inaugural event at GDC SAN FRANCISCO — The Virtual...
The New York Times Virtual Reality app won the Mobile Grand Prix at Cannes Wednesday night. The newspaper has given away 1.3 million free Google VR headsets to subscribers to the Times’ Sunday edition since...
Trading Advantage President and CEO, Larry Levin, made the first ever live virtual reality commodity trade using Oculus Rift, a virtual reality system that completely immerses the user inside virtual worlds. As one of...
Michigan’s VR Therapy and Counseling Center has won a total of $30,000 in Comcast’s Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs contest. The therapy center has found success treating patients that suffer from PTSD, social anxiety, and phobias using virtual...
by Maria Korolov · Published June 22, 2016 · Last modified December 5, 2016
The other mini headset that I ordered recently has arrived, the Shinecon Mini from AliExpress, which cost me $13.50. Since it came at about the same time as the Leji VR Mini that I reviewed...
Press release: Greenlight VR survey reveals U.S. consumers are most interested in using virtual reality for travel, entertainment, events, home design and education. San Francisco — The latest consumer research from Greenlight VR reveals non-gaming categories, including...
Vrse, a Los Angeles-based virtual reality film startup, has raised $12.56 million and changed its name to Within, said company founder and renowned music video producer Chris Milk in a post last week. The company...
Up until now, virtual experiences have been pretty much ad-free. One company trying to change that is India-based VadR Networks, which is looking to bring ads from existing advertising platforms into virtual reality environments. The company...
by Maria Korolov · Published June 20, 2016 · Last modified December 5, 2016
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...
Amsterdam-based VR developer WeMakeVR and MDLinking.com, a Dutch startup with a secure communication platform for doctors, announced a service last week that creates picture-in-picture virtual reality videos of surgeries. “This way of capturing surgeries can help students get a much...
Award winning virtual reality film company Felix & Paul Studios received a $6.8 million investment led by Comcast Ventures, the company announced this week. Felix & Paul Studios said it will use the money to double its size...
I just received a review copy of the Vrizzmo headset in the mail. Disclosure: It was provided free by Vrizzmo sp. z o.o., the Poland-based company that makes it. But even though it was free, it...
I’ve had a couple of opportunities to try out virtual reality devices. And while the experiences weren’t perfect, my friends and I can definitely see the potential. The first time was at my high...
Unimersiv has launched a new virtual reality platform for educational experiences, joining Google Expeditions, Nearpod VR, and Fieldscapes VR. It is currently available for the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR, with support for other mobile-based...
The Dlodlo Glass V1 headset looks like a pair of sunglasses and weighs just 78 grams, or less than three ounces. It has a field of view of 100 degrees — a little higher...
Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB has teamed up with secretive augmented reality startup Magic Leap to develop mixed reality content. To give a little taste of what it may look like, the companies released a video in which holograms of...
Virtual learning environments can enhance retention through the feeling of presence and interactive learning tasks, according to the recently-published book Learning in Virtual Worlds, which is a compilation of studies about the use of virtual worlds in education. “Greater perceptions of...
by Maria Korolov · Published June 18, 2016 · Last modified December 5, 2016
Update: In August, I bought a FiiT VR 2S, and that is now my new favorite. But I’m also still recommending the BoboVR Z4 headset, because of its 120-degree field of view, built-in headphones, and built-in control button....
Motion sickness is one of the big usability problems plaguing virtual reality today, and if you don’t want to attach electrodes to your head, there might be a simpler, easier solution — narrowing the...
Last Sunday’s Adult VR Festa had so many attendees that hundreds were forced to wait outside until police were called in to break up the crowd. The event, which was held at a venue...
I just received my free Loop VR headset from OnePlus. The company gave away thousands of headsets to promote the release of their new OnePlus 3 smartphone, and while it’s definitely an upgrade from the cardboard...
Social virtual reality pioneer vTime added support for the Oculus Rift and added a business-focused meeting space. The app was already available for Gear VR and Android. It is a free application. Both the new consumer and...
The total land area of OpenSim’s public grids increased by almost 3,000 regions, but active users dropped by 405. The total number of standard region equivalents on the public grids is now 59,339, up...
Virtual reality has experienced rapid growth within architecture, engineering and construction industries over the past three years. What started as a curiosity has now become increasingly commonplace in architecture, real estate development, and construction. In...
Nothing beats taking an actual car for an actual drive, but virtual reality can whet buyer appetites for the real thing and can also offer customers an opportunity to see a broader variety of...
The Global Learning Forum is scheduled to take place this Friday, June 17, at the SOC StudioX’s in-world campus auditorium from 1 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. Central Time. The topic is the role of cyberspace and integrated...
The Kitely Market is now delivering content to 138 different OpenSim grids and mini-grids and merchants are continuing to increase the amount of exportable content available on the platform. There are currently 7,486 product...
Best Western International, Inc. recently announced it will use virtual reality to allow customers tour guest rooms, hotel lobbies and other amenities at any of their North American hotels in immersive 360-degree video before they check in. “Walking into...
The growth of virtual reality devices market and the associated demand for new virtual reality experiences has increased the demand for low-poly 3D models, according to a report released last week. Sales of “low poly”...
Game studio Ubisoft and developer Red Storm Entertainment is working on a Star Trek game that allows four players to cooperatively fly a spaceship in virtual reality. The game, called “Bridge Crew,” is scheduled to launch...
CAMBRIDGE — Virtual reality technology company VirZOOM Inc. announced early access product shipments globally to pre-order customers starting this month. The system includes the VirZOOM Bike Controller, the VirZOOM Arcade suite of VR exercise...
Director Steven Spielberg is working on a family-oriented virtual reality project for The Virtual Reality Company, where he is also one of the advisors, the company announced yesterday. That’s only a couple of weeks...
Fruit Ninja VR will launch for the HTC Vive later this month, with versions for the Oculus Rift, Playstation VR and Google Daydream planned for later this year, the company announced this week. Based on...
Avi-Labs, the OpenSim hosting company that grew out of the AviWorlds grid, has added OSgrid region rentals and OAR sales to its previous set of grid hosting services and managed server rentals. OSgrid regions go for $5...
Press release: Getty Images deepens its commitment to immersive content with new virtual reality business The launch of the Getty Images Virtual Reality Group brings high quality VR and 360 content to everyone, satisfying...
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