Virtual Reality, Driverless Cars To Grow in 2016
Virtual reality, connected cars, e-sports, the on-demand economy — all are becoming important elements in the economy, and all are poised for rapid growth in 2016 — along with some challenges. And then there’s Snapchat Inc., based in Venice, Calif., and one of the most highly valued companies currently competing in the latest venture-capital-juiced start-up cycle, which many believe is way overheated. Snapchat The popular disappearing...
Watching Sports on Virtual Reality: Not Ready for Big Time
I took a step into the virtual future of sports recently. I’m glad I got to look around, but it didn’t take long before I was ready to high-tail it back to the real world. The Golden State Warriors season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans became the first ever sporting event to be live streamed in virtual reality video to the public. In a small room in the bowels of Oracle Arena, some fellow journalists and I took turns using...
A Chat With Oculus VR Founder Palmer Luckey
Los Angeles — A few years ago, journalism major Palmer Luckey dropped out of Cal State Long Beach to work on a device that would wrap a small computer monitor across a person’s face. With the company he founded, Oculus VR, ready to finally sell those virtual-reality display goggles to consumers early next year, the 23-year-old Luckey is giddy. At a conference that Oculus — now owned by Facebook — held in Hollywood last month, Luckey...
Virtual Reality On Facebook’s Growth Radar
Los Angeles — Virtual reality won’t just be another technology for hard-core nerds, if Mark Zuckerberg gets his way. Facebook Inc.’s Oculus will sell movies, video games and streaming services via its virtual reality headsets, seeking to make the devices more appealing to average consumers, the company announced during a presentation in Hollywood on Thursday. Partners include 21st Century Fox Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment, the...
GoPro Enters Virtual Reality Market
GoPro is moving into virtual reality with the announcement of a 16-camera, 360-degree array that can capture stereoscopic and spherical video. But this early model is too big to wear on your head. The rig, meant to be mounted on a tripod, has yet to be priced. It will support 16 of GoPro’s Hero4 cameras to record 360-degree video that can be used for virtual reality. It comes integrated with software from Kolor, the virtual reality...
