Tag: Virtual Reality

Facebook Looking To Bring VR-lite To Mobile

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is reportedly working on a secret new mobile app that aims to bring Virtual Reality (VR) to smartphones. It will support spherical videos and allow users to change viewing perspective by tilting their phones and turning around. If true, this could be a big step towards consumer adoption of VR technologies. Facebook previously announced that it will start shipping a consumer version of its Oculus Rift headset in the first quarter of next year, and this app could serve as a user-friendly entry point for Facebook to familiarize users with VR experiences.

What Brands Should Do
Although no further details on the app have been made available, it will likely be open to user-generated content, which means brands like Birchbox and Marriott can easily onboard with their existing VR content. We expect VR to be a niche market in 2016 in the same way that smartphones were a niche market in 2007, therefore it’d be wise for brands to prepare a VR strategy to stay ahead of the curve.  

The Lab currently has two VR headsets—an Oculus Rift and a Samsung Gear—ready for demo in the Lab. Virtual reality is something that has to be experienced to be understood. So come by the Lab and get a VR demo to see just how engaging it can be, and understand why consumers would be excited by this technology.

 

Update 9/23: Facebook has officially announced it is working with Oculus to roll out 360-degree videos in News Feed, launching with six partners including Star Wars, Vice, and SNL.

 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Facebook Debuts New VR Short For Oculus Rift

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Earlier today, Facebook unveiled the first original VR experience produced for Oculus Rift, its first consumer-facing virtual reality headset. Henry, a 10-minute-long animation short created by a former Pixar alum, is among several original narratives that will be made available on Oculus Rift when it launches in early 2016. Similarly, Samsung announced earlier this month that it has teamed up with Skybound Entertainment, to produce a VR horror series exclusively for its Gear VR headsets.

What Brands Should Do
As more and more media owners and brands start producing original content for the VR platform, it is important for brands seeking to immersively engage with its audience to start creating branded VR content now to stay ahead of the curve. For instance, subscription-based beauty e-retailer Birchbox is adding Google Cardboard in their monthly offers to treat its customers to some branded VR experiences. Besides, brands can also team up with media owners and content creators to help produce their own VR content.

 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Samsung Gear VR Headsets Soon To Get Original Series

Posted on by Lab Team

Samsung has teamed up with Skybound Entertainment, the studio behind hit TV series The Walking Dead, to produce a new virtual reality series titled “Gone,” exclusively for Samsung Gear VR headsets. Virtual reality, along with other immersive media platforms such as augmented reality and spherical videos, has enjoyed a lot of buzz in recent years but suffers from a chicken-and-egg problem with content and users buying the hardware. By teaming up with a Hollywood studio, Samsung is clearly hoping to follow the footsteps of Facebook’s Oculus VR and leverage the Hollywood’s production expertise into creating appealing content in order to attract users which will in turn attract more content creators.

Source:VentureBeat

Birchbox To Deliver VR Experience Powered By Google Cardboard

Posted on by Lab Team

Subscription-based beauty e-retailer Birchbox will start putting Google Cardboard in their monthly box for male customers in August, leveraging the inexpensive, makeshift virtual reality viewer to prompt subscribers to download an iPhone or Android app to watch some branded, immersive video clips. It’s the first time Birchbox has experimented with virtual reality, and its monthly mailings could give a boost to the VR technology if the brand is able to consistently put out new content. If successful. Birchbox could also bring in some of its partners like Sephora or Ulta to create their own branded content, such as a virtual store tour or a shoppable tutorial video, for its VR platform.

Source: AdWeek

Header image courtesy of Google Cardboard

Turning Point For VR Gaming: Xbox Games Coming To Oculus Rift

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

At a special press event this Thursday, Facebook-owned VR headset maker Oculus announced a new partnership with Microsoft, which will soon allow players to stream Xbox One games to the Rift and play them using a special Xbox One controller. Oculus is expected to ship its first consumer-facing model early next year, which the VR-compatible controller will ship with.

As VR and AR technologies continue to mature, increasingly ready for the mainstream consumer market, this partnership between Microsoft and Facebook makes perfect sense. By adding support for Oculus, Xbox gains a strong new selling point, while Facebook find a great launch partner for Oculus, easing VR headsets into mainstream market through video gaming.

Samsung Gear VR Jumps Into Consumer Market

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

Right on the heels of Oculus VR’s big announcement for a consumer-facing release last Wednesday, Samsung made its Gear VR Innovator Edition for Galaxy S6 available for sale for just $200. It is worth noting that this Innovation Edition is not a standalone consumer-ready headset, as it requires a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge in order to work. Samsung has yet to announce the specific launch date for its official Gear VR; nevertheless, this move shows the Korean company’s determination to acquire the early adaptors in the VR market.

We here at the Lab are always looking out for new developments in the VR space, and currently we have two VR headsets—an Oculus Rift and a Samsung Gear VR—ready for demo in the Lab. Virtual reality is something that has to be experienced to be understood. So come by the Lab and get a VR demo to see just how engaging it can be, and understand why consumers would be excited by this technology.

Get Ready For Consumer VR: Oculus Headset To Ship In Early 2016

Posted on by Lab Team

After months of speculations, Facebook-owned VR company Oculus finally confirmed the release date of the first commercial model of its virtual reality headset. “Extremely excited to announce that the Oculus Rift will be shipping Q1 2016! We can’t wait to get it in your hands,” tweeted Nate Mitchell, vice president of product at Oculus VR, earlier today.

Although no further details on pricing or content partners have been made available as of yet, the announcement mentions that the first commercial models will be focused on gaming and entertainment with more use cases to come later, heralding a boost in consumer-facing VR technologies soon beyond just at-event experience and activations. We expect VR to be a niche market in 2016 in the same way that smartphones were a niche market in 2007, therefore it’d be wise for brands to prepare a VR strategy to stay ahead of the curve.

We here at the Lab are always looking out for new developments in the VR space, and currently we have two VR headsets—an Oculus Rift and a Samsung Gear—ready for demo in the Lab. Our staff got to demo the new Crescent Bay prototype at CES this year and can help explain the differences between what developers have their hands on now and what will be released in less than a year.

Virtual reality is something that has to be experienced to be understood. So come by the Lab and get a VR demo to see just how engaging it can be, and understand why consumers would be excited by this technology.

 

The Next Cool Bar Game May Be Powered By Virtual Reality

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: AdWeek

Several alcohol brands such as Jim Beam, Dos Equis, and Fire Eater are all trying out virtual reality gears to win over millennial bar-goers at the crucial moments of drink purchasing. By offering at-the-bar VR gaming experiences powered by the likes of Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear, these brands look to capture the attention of patrons in a noisy, distracting environment and turn that engagement into brand awareness, or better yet, sales on the spot.

SXSW 2015: Solutions for Augmented and Virtual Reality

Posted on by Lab Team

The nexus of virtual and augmented reality is one of the most interesting topics at SXSW, and content creators are currently exploring the new tools. Augmented reality (“AR”) like Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens, is a way of transmitting digital content into the real world. Virtual reality (“VR”), as used by Oculus and Samsung, is completely immersive. Both can create great, consumable content, but in the coming years, brand will need to understand and execute on the best use cases for each. For instance, DAQRI, an augmented reality developer working in industrial and enterprise-grade solutions, believes that the enclosed environment of virtual reality is best suited toward immersive experiences, while augmented reality is best when needing to interface with the world around the audience.

But it’s not just brands who are interested in AR and VR; consumers are becoming more active in the space as well. Video multi-channel network Machinima is attempting to bridge the gap between user-generated content and the new space. “You can’t create a medium with a lot of content if 1% of the population has the tools to do so,” admitted Machinima CEO Allen DeBevoise. Brands may be able to pay for expensive and beautiful VR content, but if the public can’t create its own, there may be a small audience.