Dixie Outlet Mall enters world of VR

The world of virtual reality is about hit the back to school shopping crowd with an adventure experience at Toronto's Dixie Outlet Mall. From August 12 to September 4, visitors to the mall are invited to check out the new VR Experience Lounge as they take a break from their busy shopping time.

A new theme will be offered at the lounge for a difference experience each week and will engage shoppers in the latest virtual reality technology using Samsung Gear VR. Explore oceans, safaris, other travel and more, while uncovering back-to-school offers.  Complimentary wi-fi and snacks. Visitors to the lounge will also be entered for a chance to win a $500 back-to-school shopping spree. Needless to say, this is where we will find the patiently waiting parents.

Dixie Outlet Mall is home to over 120 retailers and is one of Canada's largest enclosed outlet shopping centres. 

TIFFxPOP features high-end VR experiences from around the world

By Sonya Davidson

This summer TIFF brings virtual reality experience in a series of pop-up installations. Part 2 opens July 15 to 17, 2016 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. Titled POP 02: VR + Empathy + Real-World Storytelling is all about real-life storytelling. Experiences are through the eyes of someone else and seeing things from another person's perspective. Installations offer human emotional connections along side technology. A look at how virtual reality meets real life. 

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Virtual & augmented reality researcher Doug Bowman reportedly joins Apple

One of the top virtual reality researchers in the U.S. has reportedly joined Apple, perhaps to speed up the company’s development in that arena. Doug Bowman was recently a computer science professor at Virginia Tech and he was also director of Virginia Tech’s human-computer interaction center for about five years. His focus was said to be on “three-dimensional user interface design and the benefits of immersion in virtual environments.” He’s had experience in fully immersive virtual reality (like those of HTC’s Vive and Google Cardboard) and augmented reality like Google Glass. The video above shows what Bowman has been doing at Virginia Tech.

Some say Apple is lagging behind in virtual and augmented reality software development so hires like Bowman and recent acquisitions in the virtual reality market might be what Apple needs to catch up.

Source: 9to5Mac

Toronto and 14 other cities get Google’s VR for students

Now more than ever we wish we were kids still studying in school. Google for Education is bringing its Expeditions Pioneer Program to 15 new cities, including Toronto (which is the first stop for the program in the country). The tech giant partnered with Subaru to bring the program to different schools in the regions they visit. What the schools get are what Google calls Expeditions kit, these include ASUS smartphones, a tablet for the teacher, router, and viewers that turn the phones into virtual reality headsets. The kits either include Mattel’s new View-Master virtual reality viewers or Google Cardboard. Teachers can choose to virtually show their students over 120 places around the world, including Antarctica, Borneo Rainforest, and the Acropolis, to name a few.

The other cities benefitting from the program include the US cities of Alexandria, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Washington DC. It will also be coming to Denmark and Singapore for the first time.

Source: Google for Education