把味道、气味引入VR,新加坡研究员发明虚拟鸡尾酒,混淆用户视觉、嗅觉和味觉

一家特殊的虚拟现实酒吧将在英国开设,他们通过“Vocktails”让消费者认为他们喝的是真正的酒。这种高科技的马提尼杯会通过香味喷射和舌部电脉冲刺激来模拟饮品的味道,掩盖真实饮品的气味和味道。用户可以通过手机应用来控制杯子的各种功能,只需轻按几下就可以调出各种鸡尾酒。这项发明最初是由新加坡国立大学研究人员开发的,他们希望将产品推向市场。玻璃杯底部的LED可以根据用户选择的颜色闪烁,进一步增强味觉的感知。研究人员希望这项发明可以帮助有饮食限制的人群或者减少卡路里摄入量的人们享受饮品或食物的口味。该技术还可以在酒吧使用,比如改变鸡尾酒的味道。
把味道、气味引入VR,新加坡研究员发明虚拟鸡尾酒,混淆用户视觉、嗅觉和味觉

被零售商降价、下架,微软系VR头显或已遇冷

Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headsets have been on the market for less than five months. These headsets promise affordable prices, easy setup, and support for low-spec PCs, which should help expand the VR headset market. However, the market does not seem to favor the almost identical headsets offered by various OEM manufacturers. According to data released by Steam, WMR headsets from Microsoft only maintain a market share of 5% on Steam, with a brief surge in the first two months. On one hand, we have seen WMR devices being discounted by retailers. For example, the original price of the HP headset was $499, but it is now sold for only $222 on Amazon. The Dell Visor, which originally sold for $450, is now sold for $253. On the other hand, it has been reported that Currys, the largest electronics retailer in the UK, has discontinued WMR headsets, only keeping HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Developers also seem uninterested in Microsoft's devices, as few people request them to port their software to the WMR platform. In fact, developers are under more pressure to develop content for standalone VR devices such as Oculus Go. Some potential explanations for the slow adoption of WMR include a confusing name, lack of novelty, late entry, limited content library, and the "low hardware requirements" of WMR still being too high for most casual users who are using laptops from two years ago. Regardless of the reasons, it seems unlikely that any of these factors will change this year.
被零售商降价、下架,微软系VR头显或已遇冷

120家Zara实体店将用AR技术展示服装,随时看模特效果

为了吸引年轻消费者,时尚连锁店Zara计划推出增强现实(AR)显示技术。据了解,Zara将在从4月开始,引入AR显示,并在商店和特定橱窗中展示模特穿着其最新服装。消费者可以通过将手机传感器对准商店或制定的橱窗,即可看到穿着选定服装的模特。如果消费者对展示服装满意,他们可以立即点击购买。分析人士指出,此举对于时装零售商来说是应对在线竞争的一种方式。Zara的母公司Inditex一直以将时装秀中的最新时尚带到实体店而闻名,因此相对来说已经相对成功地抵御了在线竞争的冲击。Inditex表示,从4月18日开始,Zara的120家实体店将引入AR显示,以向消费者展示丰富的服装选择。
120家Zara实体店将用AR技术展示服装,随时看模特效果

为什么《头号玩家》不可能为VR行业带来“重大影响”

《头号玩家》首批影评普遍积极,但并不会改变VR市场。虽有人认为该片能唤醒瞌睡的VR市场,但并不影响那些已经接受或拒绝了VR产品的观众。VR主要问题在于成本高昂且设备笨重,与《头号玩家》中所描绘的无线、轻便的VR设备相去甚远。现阶段的VR只能提供极短、固定的游戏体验,远不能达到片中完全沉浸且无限制的愿景。如果观众被电影所鼓舞想购买VR系统来体验片中的虚拟世界,他们很可能会感到失望。虽然VR行业发展稳步,但离实现片中科幻描绘的未来仍有很长的距离。当前的VR市场仍处于起步阶段,技术上市时间不过两年,不可能期待它马上实现科幻小说描绘的未来。因此,虽然VR是未来的方向,但需要一个长期的目标才能实现,不是能够一蹴而就的未来。
为什么《头号玩家》不可能为VR行业带来“重大影响”

5月Oculus将展示下一代VR显示技术:响应式显示+眼球追踪

Oculus Research's Director of Computational Imaging, Douglas Lanman, will give a keynote speech titled "Reactive Displays: Unlocking Next-Generation VR/AR Visuals with Eye Tracking" at SID DisplayWeek 2018. Lanman will explore the concept of "reactive displays" and their role in unlocking the visual potential of next-generation AR and VR headsets. This indicates his focus on eye tracking technology and its potential in driving the development of VR and AR displays. As personal viewing devices, headsets offer a unique way to quickly achieve a more immersive visual experience than traditional displays in shared environments. Adjusting optical, display, and sensing components for individual users helps differentiate present and past experiences. Personalized eye tracking plays a crucial role in unlocking higher resolution, wider field of view, and more comfortable visual effects. The speech will discuss the concept of reactive displays and how they will impact VR/AR devices in the coming years. While first-generation VR headsets provide a high level of immersion, achieving visual fidelity that matches human visual capabilities in virtual worlds remains a challenge. Increasing pixel density and rendering higher-resolution images on displays seems like a direct path, but it may not be as easy as it appears. In recent years, the combination of eye tracking and foveated rendering has proven to be an effective method for achieving higher visual fidelity. Advanced eye tracking technology helps accurately determine the user's point of focus and allows for rendering high-fidelity images only in the central field of view, while reducing the rendering quality in the peripheral field of view, thus reducing the computational load on the system. Gaze point display technology can even shift the highest pixel density area in the display to the user's point of focus, potentially reducing the challenge and cost of adding more pixels to a single panel. The same eye tracking methods can be used to optimize various lens distortions (without considering the user's point of focus), which can enhance visual fidelity and achieve a larger field of view. Although eye tracking and foveated rendering have several advantages and impressive demonstrations have been made in the community, they are still in the active research and development stage, and commercially available VR headsets that provide seamless hardware/software solutions have not yet been released. Therefore, 映维网 is interested in Lanman's assessment of the current state of these technologies and their applicability to future AR and VR headsets.
5月Oculus将展示下一代VR显示技术:响应式显示+眼球追踪

报告:7.7% AR-VR投资流向女性CEO初创公司

VR/AR市场分析机构Greenlight Insights公布了一份关于在融资方面女性CEO的企业情况的报告。报告指出,在2017年,VR和AR初创公司获得了约19亿美元的融资,其中7.7%的投资流向了由女性作为CEO的初创公司,相比2016年的4.6%有所增长。Greenlight Insights的分析师认为,虽然女性CEO的VR和AR企业在成功融资的数量方面呈增长趋势,但这一比例仍然较低。WXR Venture Fund的合伙人也表示,尽管女性创业者在XR领域的融资比例高于整体的女性创业者,但仍然低于8%。报告的发现凸显了女性创业者在融资过程中面临的挑战,同时也突出了XR行业的积极增长动力。
报告:7.7% AR-VR投资流向女性CEO初创公司