Augmented reality and yard sale junk collide to make art
Who doesn’t enjoy digging through piles of old junk at yard sales? They’re a window into the past, capturing lives and forgotten memories. At the Tribeca Film Festival, the installation Objects in Mirror AR Closer Than They Appear takes that concept to the next level. At first, it just looks like a random assortment of trash and old gadgets. But after donning a pair a custom pair of augmented reality goggles, built out of the shells of antique stereoscopes, you’ll discover hidden videos and experiences tied to each object.
As I sifted through old photos, aging YouTube memes popped up in the glasses, which made me ponder how digital media becomes nostalgic at almost light-speed. When I stepped into a small corner filled with photos from Hawaii, a 360-degree video of an idyllic beach appeared. If this were a real garage sale, I’d imagine how the owners might be recalling a family vacation (or perhaps, pining for a trip they never took). One experience didn’t even rely on the AR goggles at all — it was an old phone with instructions to dial a specific number. As you’d expect, a recording popped up when I called it, but the mere act of dialing that number and cradling a corded handset in my neck brought back memories of an age before smartphones.
Sensorium
“What brought us together was a shared fascination with the way that physical objects function as windows into inner worlds, portals that transport us into memory, nostalgia, and absurdist fantasy and a common desire to explore how technology can make this ephemeral, even Proustian experience visceral and immediate to the senses,” said Graham Sack, one of Objects in Mirror’s creators, in a statement.
Objects in Mirror was co-developed by Sack, Geoff Sobelle, John Fitzgerald, and Matthew Niederhauser. And if the concept sounds familiar, that’s because it was inspired by Sobelle’s popular theater installation The Object Lesson, which also explored the beauty in digging through piles of nostalgic junk. If you’re in NYC over the next few weeks, you can check out Objects in Mirror at the New York Theatre Workshop’s Next Door performance space.
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Sling TV expands Cloud DVR to Chromecast, Xbox One and smart TVs
Sling is expanding its Cloud DVR service to more devices. Now, you can use the DVR with the Chrome browser, Chromecast, Xbox One, LG Smart TVs and 2016 and 2017 models of Samsung Smart TVs. The company has been rolling out the service to more devices since last year. With the $5 per month service, you can record up to 50 hours of TV shows and movies, record multiple programs at once and protect certain recordings from being deleted. There are some limitations to the service. You can’t, for example, record live content on Disney and ESPN channels — you can see the list of channels that can’t be recorded here.
The Cloud DVR price is on top of any Sling TV subscription. You can add it to your account by selecting “Add Cloud DVR” on sling.com.
Source: Sling
Projection is the ideal medium for Gustav Klimt’s electric art
Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is celebrated for his boldly-colored paintings that marry portrait, decorative, symbolic and abstract art forms. Nowadays, they sell for vast fortunes at auction, making it difficult to see a comprehensive collection in one place. A brand new Paris exhibition space called Atelier Des Lumieres (meaning “Studio of Lights) is showing many of his paintings in a whole new way, by projecting them on 35,000 square feet of space including the walls, floors and ceilings.
The show (which opened April 13th and runs until November 11th, 2018), took months to set up, and uses 140 high-end, light-blasting Barco laser projectors and 50 Nexo speakers to create an immersive experience for spectators. It was created by a group called Culturespaces, which developed a system called “AMIEX” (art & music immersive experience), which was previously used for another exhibition called Carrières de Lumières that drew 600,000 visitors.
The show features over 3,000 moving images with works by Klimt, Egon Schiele and other Austrian artists. The first four sequences take visitors through different periods of Klimt’s life and work, including the “Vienna Secession” with its art nouveau themes and Klimt’s golden period when most of his masterpieces were created (he literally used gold leaf on some of his works).
Other sequences include works by Schiele and other Austrian artists, and the last one features Klimt’s images of women, often nude and adorned in bright, primary colors (and gold, of course).
The multimedia displays and new exhibition space are perhaps the perfect way to show off Klimt’s diverse body of work, and demonstrates how curators are getting creative with digital technology in the service of art. “The role of an art center is to decompartmentalize,” said Culturespaces President Bruno Monnier, “and that is why digital technology is so important in twenty-first century exhibitions.”
The Culturespaces show is far from a regular projection, the group said, as it’s “based on virtualization and very high-resolution projection of works of art on immense surfaces, thanks to unique digital equipment.”
“People do not learn about culture as they did in the past,” said Monnier. “The passive observation of works of art is no longer relevant, and I’m convinced that people are increasingly learning about art through this immersive experience and the emotions they generate. The marriage of art and digital technology is, in my opinion, the future of the dissemination of art among future generations, as it is able to reach a younger and wider audience than that of the traditional museums.”
Via: DesignBoom
Source: Culturespaces
CNBC: Facebook’s smart speaker could debut outside the US
According to rumors, Facebook decided that since it’s mired in privacy controversies this year’s F8 event might not be the best time to introduce an always-listening connected home device. Amazon has Alexa and Echo, Apple has Siri and HomePod, Microsoft pushes Cortana and Google has Assistant/Home. Now, with the opening keynote of F8 over and no smart speaker or video chat-ready “Portal” device mentioned, CNBC reports that the device is still in the works. It’s apparently connected to remnants of the dearly-departed “M” chatbot technology but when it does appear there’s a possibility it will launch first in international markets.
An “M” powered AI assistant could even get a new name, like…Marvin, and use the translation features announced for Messenger today. Still, with the fallout from Cambridge Analytic a and the prospect of increased regulation hanging over its head, Facebook will keep watching the home assistant battle from a spot on the sidelines.
Click here to catch up on the latest news from F8 2018!
Source: CNBC
Twitter’s Windows app finally has recent features
Twitter updated its Windows 10 app back in 2015, adding top tweets, trending stories and social features to Microsoft’s operating system. Now, Twitter is bringing its focus back to Windows yet again with an “updated experience” for Windows users via Twitter’s Progressive Web App (PWA). The new web app is optimized for the April 2018 update, and adds support for 280 character tweets, the topical Explore tab, bookmarks, and improved accessibility for screen readers.
Progressive Web Apps may look and act like native Windows apps, but they’re really just a way to package up content from a specific web site, like Twitter in this case. A company blog post explains that this new release is a way to commit to Windows, and “is part of a longer-term strategy to reach greater feature parity to all of our platforms.” The team also promises additional features like night mode in the coming “weeks and months.” Previous versions of the Twitter app will no longer be supported starting June 1st, so you’ll want to update to the new PWA soon.
Source: Twitter
Facebook users will be able to make normal photos look 3D
Facebook has been working to implement 3D objects into user interactions, but at the company’s F8 conference today, announcers introduced a few new features to add dimensionality and VR to photos. This summer, users will be able to upload pictures as a ‘new media type’ allowing them to capture 3D moments in time, according to the social network. But it’s also adding a new feature that takes photos of old locations — your childhood home, perhaps — and uses machine learning to recreate them in VR, albeit in a funky pointillism-like style.
The point cloud reconstruction uses AI and machine learning to fill in the gaps between photos to recreate environments, which users will be able to navigate in VR. Facebook already gives folks opportunities to dive into the past, and this will show off the analytical AI muscle it can bring to bear — in this case to augment nostalgia, but it could be used to create other virtual reality environments in the future.
From Facebook’s initial description, 3D photos will seemingly require users to use the app when capturing photos into a new format. Sometime this summer, users will be able to share photos with what looks like a faux-3D effect on pictures, such that scrolling past makes them appear three-dimensional. We’ve reached out to Facebook to confirm or get more details.
Source: Facebook newsroom
Snap’s redesign slowed down user growth
This earnings season has seen the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon report unsurprisingly profitable results. As the biggest tech players continue to make an embarrassing amount of money in spite of controversy and backlash, we now get to see if smaller upstarts like Snap have had similarly successful quarters. From the looks of the company’s just-released earnings report for Q1 2018, things over at Snap have not been very smooth. This quarter, it added just 2 percent new Daily Active Users (DAUs), a drop from the 5 percent increase in Q4 2017. While its overall revenue of $230.7 million is up from the same period last year, that number has dropped 19 percent since the last quarter. Snap attributed this sequential decline to its recent redesign and “seasonality.”
After struggling for two quarters to add users at a satisfying rate, Snap finally saw its efforts start to pay off in the fourth quarter of last year, hitting an encouraging 5 percent increase in DAU from the quarter before. It focused on improving its Android app and rolled out a redesign aimed at making its interface more user-friendly. Despite some unhappiness over the new look, things appeared to look up for the ephemeral messaging app.
Now, we’re learning that the redesign may have done more harm than good, at least in the short term. Not only has user growth slowed, but CEO Evan Spiegel also noted in his prepared remarks accompanying the results that there was “a disproportionately negative impact among Android users.” He attributed this to “number of performance regressions” due to “the volume of changes we made with the redesign.”
The new layout affected users across all operating systems, too. Spiegel said that the March DAU average was lower than the overall first quarter average of 191 million, but pointed out that the number for that month is still higher than the Q4 average.
The company had anticipated this negative impact, Spiegel said, noting that “a change this big to existing behavior comes with some disruption, especially given the high frequency of daily engagement of our community.”
While the company is starting to see early signs of stabilization among its iOS users “as people get used to the changes,” Spiegel admits that it still has “a lot of work to do to optimize the new design, especially for our Android users.”
This story is developing…
Facebook’s Instant Games now offer in-app purchases
Facebook’s Instant Games are about to add a cornerstone of the modern gaming experience, although it’s not necessarily the one you’d hope for. The social site is adding support for in-app purchases to Instant Games on both Android and the web, letting you buy extra goodies (no doubt including a ton of in-game currency) in titles that don’t require lengthy downloads. The tools are available now, although game creators can only start submitting apps on May 7th.
The company hasn’t made mention of iOS, although it is “exploring” options on other platforms. Revenue might have something to do with it — Facebook gives developers 70 percent of the money on the web, but that number shrinks on Android (where Google and other stores take their own cut). Apple takes 30 percent of in-app purchases as a rule of thumb, so Instant Games that offered them might leave developers with just a small chunk of change.
This may create headaches if you saw Instant Games as a refuge from the constant nickel-and-diming found on other game platforms. At the same time, this could also lead to more developers creating Instant Games versions of their work. That could be good news if you find Facebook’s selection relatively thin.
Click here to catch up on the latest news from F8 2018!
Source: Facebook Developers
Standalone VR Headset ‘Oculus Go’ Now Available for Purchase for $199
During the F8 Facebook Developer Conference this morning, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of the Oculus Go, the latest virtual reality headset from Oculus, which is owned by Facebook.
Priced at $199, the Oculus Go is Oculus’ first standalone VR headset, which Zuckerberg said represents the “first really affordable standalone virtual reality headset.”
It’s shipping with more than 1,000 apps, and it features the “highest quality lenses and optics” that Oculus has ever built into a VR device. Given its affordable price point, Zuckerberg says that it’ll be the “easiest way to get into VR,” and that the company expects this is how many people will experience virtual reality for the first time.
Design wise, the Oculus Go looks similar to the Oculus Rift. It’s a VR headset that fits over the eyes and attaches to the head with adjustable straps and breathable fabrics. It is a standalone device, which means it does not require a connection to a computer or a gaming system to operate.
Oculus Go features a 5.5-inch display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution (1280 x 1140 per eye) and it runs using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor.
There are spatial audio drivers built into the headset to provide immersive sound, but it also includes a 3.5mm headphone jack to allow users to connect headphones if desired. The included controller translates natural movements into VR using a touch surface and a trigger button.
In a review, The Verge said that while the Oculus Go is not the “flashiest or most high-tech” headset on the market, it’s the “best that simple mobile VR has ever been.”
The Oculus Go does not feature a full motion controller or inside-outside tracking to allow users to walk around rooms sans external cameras, and it can be likened to the Samsung Gear VR but as a dedicated piece of hardware. Looking through the Oculus Go “isn’t that different” than using a Gear VR, says The Verge, and the app library is similar.
The Oculus Go makes improvements to the Gear VR, but its biggest achievement is just making mobile VR content easier to access. It’s a reasonably priced device that doesn’t require having a specific phone, doesn’t force you to clumsily lock that phone into another piece of hardware, and doesn’t drain the battery that you might need for more important tasks. And as long as VR is still a labor of love, anything that reduces the “labor” factor is great news.
In other virtual reality news, Zuckerberg says Facebook is working on a new feature that would allow customers to recreate their childhood homes using computer vision and referencing old photographs. Facebook plans to work on mapping out immersive spaces and “creating a real feeling of presence.
Later this month, Oculus will also launch Oculus TV, allowing Oculus Go users to watch entertainment from services like Hulu, ESPN, Showtime, and more.
The Oculus Go can be purchased today from the Oculus website or from Amazon for $199 for 32GB of storage. 64GB of storage is available for $249.
The launch of the Oculus Go comes just days after rumors suggesting Apple is working on its own high-powered virtual and augmented reality headset that would be untethered from a smartphone or a traditional computer.
Apple’s device will reportedly include 8K displays and a custom Apple-designed processor that’s more powerful than anything currently available. Apple is said to be aiming to launch its AR/VR product in 2020.
Related Roundup: Apple VR ProjectTags: Facebook, Oculus Rift
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Apple Reports Q2 2018 Results: $13.8B Profit on $61.1B Revenue, 52.2M iPhones
Apple today announced financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2018, which corresponds to the first calendar quarter of the year.
For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $61.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $13.8 billion, or $2.73 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $52.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.0 billion, or $2.10 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The revenue, profit, and earnings per share numbers were records for any second fiscal quarter in the company’s history.
Gross margin for the quarter was 38.3 percent, compared to 38.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 65 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an increased quarterly dividend payment of $0.73 per share, up from $0.63. The dividend is payable on May 17 to shareholders of record as of May 14.
In addition to the increase in the dividend payment, Apple says it will start a new share repurchase authorization of $100 billion and the company says it expects to wrap up its previous $210 billion repurchase authorization by the end of the current quarter.
For the quarter, Apple sold 52.2 million iPhones, compared to 50.8 million in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales were up slightly to 9.1 million, up from 8.9 million a year ago, while Mac sales slipped to 4.1 million from 4.2 million.
“We’re thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, Services and Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter. We also grew revenue in all of our geographic segments, with over 20% growth in Greater China and Japan.”
Apple’s guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2018 includes expected revenue of $51.5-53.5 billion and gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent.
Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q2 2018 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.
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Tag: earnings
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