VR Publications - V-Rtifacts

A VR Who’s Who From 1994 – uniVRsum

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

1994 marks the peak of what many view as the first "Big Bubble" in VR popularity. There were literally hundreds of (mostly) entrepreneurial startups taking a wild fling and what seemed to be a game-changing technology. You could strike sparks anywhere! By 1997 most...

Bookshelf: Sex, Drugs and Tessellation

VR Companies, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

Hot off the press is Ben Delaney's authoritative new book, Sex, Drugs, and Tessellation which collects 6 years of wisdom from Ben's CyberEdge Journal, the go-to virtual reality publication from 1991 through 1996. Ben has always been both a proponent of,...

Digital VR Rehab

Head Mounted Displays, Psychology, VR Publications

For years, therapists would attempt to treat smokers and alcoholics using real-life triggers. Let addicts see a lighter or an empty bottle, or even a photo of something smoking or drinking related, to trigger cravings, then teach them coping strategies. It was limited...

Beware the funny hair… its a tech cult giveaway

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

Matt Novak, in Smithsonian's Paleofuture blog, draws some interesting contrasts between Jaron Lanier's 1991 Omni Magazine interview and his current book: "You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto." While the Omni article portrays Lanier as "...a man...

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...

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...

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...

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...

VRASP, Pix-Elation, and Phlogiston

How-To; Teardowns; Tutorials, VR Publications

1992 brought a non-virtual swarm of young and eager students to every VR event (and there were WAY too many) under the sun. Perhaps there were massive show discounts for attendees who were too young to drink legally, but members of the Virtual...