Friday FOV: Facebook’s ‘Really Big Plans,’ VR Stock Photos & a $25k Add-On

A compendium of the latest in virtual reality for the week ending July 29, 2016.

This week, Founder Elizabeth Spiers shared her thoughts on the belittling of women in technology in “Dumb Widdle Girls in Tech,” while Alice Bonasio reported on how a promising project is helping Swedish children overcome hydrophobia in “Facing Down Your Fears with Virtual Reality.”

But that isn’t all. Here is a glimpse of what happened elsewhere in VR.

Story of the Week:

“Welcome to Zuckerworld”

Two years following Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus, Mark Zuckerberg reveals his “really big plans” for virtual reality as reports claim that the company expects to ship 400,000 units by the end of the year.

VR Content:

• Overzealous photographers fill the apparent need for weird, nonsensical VR stock photos.
• FOMO? Don’t worry, 360-video is here to offer you immersive experiences at this week’s historic DNC Convention as well as this weekend’s Lollapalooza, where festival-goers can even experience being onstage in Samsung’s Galaxy Lounge.
• Autistic teens are learning to drive in VR, where lower stakes means less pressure and more practice.

Business:

• A look at how some of the commercial VR music experiences are getting funded and the driving forces behind them.
• San Diego Comic-Con geeks out over VR, where the technology has been adopted into many of the branded promotions.
• Gaming developers are looking to bring gambling into the virtual world in spite of the various legal obstacles they will undoubtedly encounter.

Hardware:

• Google released two demo videos for Omnitone, a new technology which offers convincing 3d audio that deepens the 360 video experience.
• There’s a new robot which provides haptic feedback for the most realistic box pushing simulator to date—for $25,000. Check it out here:

Don’t forget to catch up with last week’s “Friday FOV: Prescription VR, Rick and Morty & Virtual Test Drives.”

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