Psychology - V-Rtifacts

Yea, though he has walked through the Valley of Silicon, he fears no evil. Jaron Lanier’s rebound…

And All That Hype, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies

"Inside Jaron Lanier is a precocious eight-year-old who got together with some friends and built a spaceship," wrote Howard Rheingold in his 1991 book, Virtual Reality, the definitive history of VR to date. "Now he wants us all to take a ride...

Psychedelics and the Creation of Virtual Reality

And All That Hype, Around the World, Where Are They Now?

VR pioneer, Mark Pesce discusses the relationship between Virtual Reality and psychedelic substances. MAPS: Do you ever use psychedelics for problem-solving tasks? Where you have a specific question in mind, and then you take psychedelics in...

Remix

And All That Hype, Around the World

"Don't shade your eyes; plagiarize!" (Tom Lehrer) Why VRtifacts matters. https://vimeo.com/25380454 "I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even...

MRG 2.2 In The Movies

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, In the Movies

From the 1995 made for TV B movie Evolver, check out their head mounted display of choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb09abgOno8

How To Make VR “Real” – Advice From 1991

And All That Hype, VR Companies, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

I wrote this for a 1991 Meckler conference presentation. Still smiling at my naivete! It's tough trying to manage one of these businesses. Every time one of my vendors/bankers/landlord/ etc., asks what we do, and I say "Virtual Reality," their eyes...

Flashback To The ’40s

And All That Hype, In the Movies, On TV, Stereoscopic 3D, VR Companies

We all know that the 1950's were the golden age of 3D movies, Hollywood's attempt to fend off the rapidly growing television audience. Their 3D thrust was short lived, and with a few exceptions, we enjoyed almost 50 years of 2D bliss. This time around 3D...

A Day In The Life

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

Scenes from a typical day in the virtual world of tomorrow: You wake up and attend to your daily bathroom rituals, which unfortunately will never be replaced by any virtual reality process... Thus, after your real world morning ceremonies are...

And I’m Never Going Back To My Old School

And All That Hype, Around the World, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?

Two snippets from the old, old school of VR, circa 1991, pitching a reputable UK firm - Division (acquired by PTC in 1999.) Featured are a couple of helmets from VPL Research using LEEP optics and cloth/velcro enclosures. One HMD appears to have been...

State of the Art…Sadly

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, Stereoscopic 3D

Over at Meant to be Seen 3D, in answer to a forum post looking for the perfect HMD, board vet, cybereality took the time to respond in depth... Money quote: Well, sadly to say it, you will probably be waiting for a long time. There is nothing I...

Anachronistic Technology

And All That Hype, Stereoscopic 3D

3D is once again the rage. And with it comes an effluence of "new" technology to capture real world 3D. One such gadget was shown at the Maker Faire. From out of USC Film School comes a simple way to shoot 3D with a single DSLR (or any) camera....

The Writing Was On the Wall…

And All That Hype, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

When did we first get a clue that VR might not fully live up to its promise? The National Academy of Science's "Committee on Virtual Reality Research and Development" roster is a non-virtual who's-who of the VR world circa 1994. They certainly...

Air Hair – Competition for VR Hair Replacement For Men

And All That Hype, On TV

First there was Virtual Reality Hair Replacement for Men: https://youtu.be/m04Q3JdDVFY Now there's Air Hair, training to master the art of the cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgX2P_2eTuk

Is VR the New Wasteland? (from 1993….)

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

VR today is like early TV: it suffers from the split personality of most start-up high-tech industries. At the one end is the top of the line research, carried out by institutions with no mandate to sell anything. At the other end, we have new...

You Put on Your Helmet One Morning and Find Yourself Transformed Into a Monstrous ******?

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays

Yes, I've heard rumors of bugs (lice) inside VR helmets (untrue!), but researchers in Spain are bloody Kafkaesque, putting virtual cockroaches all over the screens. They "got the bright idea to simulate hoards of cockroaches swarming over...

The Games That Would Be King

And All That Hype, Game Systems, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?

From 1991 to 1996 W Industries Virtuality systems defined the image of VR in the location based entertainment arena. Here in the US, Horizon Entertainment was their sole distributor. W Industries was remarkably innovative with their use of technology, but...