An immersive experience with Windows Mixed Reality

By Sonya Davidson

It was an unlikely gathering, or so you would think, of women ready to explore what's new in mixed reality. When Microsoft approached me to see if I was interested in a personalize experience of the new Windows Mixed Reality with friends, I was curious. I also decided to go against the expected when they mentioned I could invite a few friends or family members along for the fun. 

You would probably expect me to bring my family of boys. Nah, they're too predictable. I already know they would be interested. So, I decided to bring a few other ladies to see just what would happen. After all, we all know that moms are the ones who are figuring out gifts this time of year. It may come as a surprise that each woman I asked to joined me JUMPED at the opportunity to see the latest technology. With varying knowledge of augmented reality and virtual reality, there was definitely a strong interest in learning more especially when we see potential of spending more quality time WITH our friends and families. 

Click to read more ...

2017 Super Bowl teaser ads roll out

The excitement is building for the upcoming Super Bowl game (February 5, 2017) between the Patriots and the Falcons. Of course many are also looking forward to the ad campaigns that are equally as entertaining. Advertisers are paying upwards of $5 million (US) for a 30 second spot that will air during the game on television and online.... and that doesn't include production costs. Is it worth it? Apparently so!

CNN  reported a whopping 111.9 million viewers watched last year game on TV. That said, it didn't count for any online streaming or those who watched at bars and parties. Regardless, we love the ads. 

It's game on! We're starting to see teaser ads rolling out and here are a few that have already caught our attention... 

Click to read more ...

Oakley and Intel bring AI to eyewear

While bringing in mixed reality to glasses seems like a logical choice, that isn’t the approach Oakley and Intel are relying on voice control, audio, and artificial intelligence. The new Radar Pace glasses makes use of AI to serve as a virtual coach and an app to collect and show real-time data, feedback, instruction, and motivation. The glasses make use of things like integrated gyroscope, accelerometer, and barometer/pressure sensor monitors to provide the feedback.

The Radar Pace can put together complete workout plans, allowing you to set your goals for endurance, speed, and strength. It’ll adjust based on how you’re doing or whether you’ve missed a workout or haven’t pushed as hard. As expected, the glasses will let you listen to music on your phone, interact with Siri or Google Now, and answer calls. But you aren’t required to engage with the paired app during workouts, since it is used more to show performance and provide feedback taken from data recorded from the Radar Pace and other paired sensors. The Radar Pace retails for US$450 (around CA$600).

Source: Digital Trends

Windows 10 PCs coming out next year will have Windows Holographic access

Mixed reality is almost upon us. Microsoft Windows head Terry Myerson announced at Intel’s annual developers’ conference that the company is partnering with intel to allow Windows 10 PCs coming out next year to have support for mixed-reality applications. What mixed reality is, as defined by Recode: “The key term for mixed reality, or MR, is flexibility. It tries to combine the best aspects of both VR [virtual reality] and AR [augmented reality], wrapped up in a marketable term that sounds marginally less geeky than its cousins. In theory, mixed reality lets the user see the real world (like AR) while also seeing believable, virtual objects (like VR). And then it anchors those virtual objects to a point in real space, making it possible to treat them as "real," at least from the perspective of the person who can see the MR experience.”

The upcoming PCs will have the holographic shell built in—this is the same operating system running on the Microsoft HoloLens headset. PCs will work with a head-mounted display and run all Windows Holographic apps and this will be enabled by “6 degrees of freedom devices,” which are input devices to add positional tracking alongside other traditional input forms like clicking and pointing. And it’ll be widely available, too. So you don’t require a high-powered machine needed by some of today’s VR headsets. The Microsoft demo video at the conference showed Windows 10 Holographic running at 90FPS on a tiny Intel NUC desktop PC.

Source: TechCrunch + The Verge