Why Virtual Reality Will Compete with the Real World

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/527101/why-virtual-reality-will-compete-with-the-real-world/

Hardware like the headset made by Oculus VR will allow virtual worlds to offer person-to-person interactions that compete with real life.

Recent weeks have been good ones for people interested in virtual reality. The Facebook acquisition of Oculus has galvanized the idea that “something wonderful” will happen if we put on these strange headsets and visually enter other worlds. Of course, most people assume this means gaming.

And it’s true that the upcoming Crystal Cove Oculus headset (which tracks the head’s position and rotation) will immerse its users in the most amazing computer gaming experiences they could have ever thought possible. But that’s not the big part of the story.

After we’ve had the Oculus strapped to our faces for a few months and the novelty has worn off, we might find ourselves asking some important questions: “Where are the other people?” And “Where can I start working and learning and building in here?”

That is where things are going to get interesting.

The Oculus Rift is only one of several remarkable advances in hardware that are going to dramatically change our ability in the coming year to immerse ourselves in a 3-D world. The others include 3-D or 2-D cameras that can capture facial expressions and head movements, and several types of motion controllers that can accurately capture the movements of our arms, legs, and hands.

Companies like Sixense and PrioVR have amazing devices in the works that will follow the motion of the body as accurately and with as low latency as the Oculus presents images to the eyes. We won’t just be able to see these worlds—we’ll be able to touch them.

We’ll also be able to communicate with others while we’re inside these worlds: the Internet is now fast enough to allow us to be in a virtual environment with other people who are accessing it from elsewhere, even halfway across the world.

Updating imagery shown to the eyes with a delay of less than 10 milliseconds relative to head movements generates a magical sense of being “present” in a virtual space. My own experiments have shown that a second kind of presence—the feeling of really being face-to-face with another person—requires an end-to-end delay (including hardware, software, and network transmission) of around 100 milliseconds or less between your movement and their perception of that movement.

Below that threshold, the small head and eye movements that we use with each other while talking in the “real” world can work in a virtual one. We can feel empathy and connection, interrupt each other, and smoothly and rapidly exchange thoughts. At less than 100 milliseconds of delay you can reach out and virtually touch or shake hands with another person and find the perception of the resulting collisions and motion to be perfectly believable and immersive.

If virtual reality can replace (or even improve upon) videoconferencing or long-distance travel as a way of getting together with people, it will surely disrupt and restructure many different basic human exchanges that have nothing to do with playing games.

For many of the everyday things we do—talking face-to-face, working together, or designing and building things—the real world will suddenly have real competition.

Disney's 12 Principles Of Animation, In A Cartoon

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3030106/disneys-12-principles-of-animation-in-a-cartoon

Messaging Apps: Growth And Monetization Trends For Mobile's Fastest-Growing Platforms

http://www.businessinsider.com/searching-for-the-next-whatsapp-in-mobile-messaging-2014-5

Over the past decade, as the mobile industry has grown to billions of users worldwide, messaging has risen to the top of the product heap. WhatsApp and other messaging services could become the next platforms to reach 1 billion users within a year or two. 

But it's more than just free instant messaging that's driving the boom. Really, it's more than even messaging. Like social networks before them, these apps are becoming the hubs for everything global smartphone audiences do on mobile. Messaging apps help people connect with one another, share photos, video chat, and, increasingly — play games, buy digital goods, and even shop offline. It has become a fiercely competitive space, into which Internet giants have poured billions of dollars (including Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp). 

A new report from BI Intelligence takes a deep dive into the messaging wars. The report contains our exclusive estimates for monthly active users for all the top global messaging platforms — including some like Snapchat and LINE, which do not release MAU numbers.

Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

We describe the similarities and differences between 15 messaging apps, include a case study of Japan-based LINE as an example of how this category can monetize and drive hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. 

Here are some of the top insights on the mobile messaging wars: 

• With elegant distribution through mobile app stores and a simple foundation around the phone's address book, it's relatively easy for new messaging services to sprout and flourish.
• As network effects build, they can quickly amass tens or hundreds of millions of users and put up impressive growth rates. WhatsApp has over 500 million MAUs and LINE recently passed 400 million registered users (and some 229 million monthly active users, according to BI Intelligence estimates).
• Our data show that WeChat, LINE, WhatsApp, and Snapchat are all growing their user numbers in 2014 at a quarterly rate of 15% or higher.
• They also have huge engagement numbers: New Flurry data show that user sessions on social and messaging apps increased 203% in 2013, a faster leap than for any other app category.
• Messaging apps play a key role in cutting through the noise in the crowded world of mobile content and apps. They are gateways to content, games, communication and increasingly — offline activities. 
• Social messages are among the rare mobile push notifications that don't feel spammy and are likely to be among the first read every time they arrive. This is important for impression-based businesses such as advertising. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/searching-for-the-next-whatsapp-in-mobile-messaging-2014-5#ixzz31YQlwpvg

Arduino Vs. Raspberry Pi: Which Is The Right DIY Platform For You?

http://readwrite.com/2014/05/07/arduino-vs-raspberry-pi-projects-diy-platform#awesm=~oE6h9AF7F30qpf

Overview

Raspberry Pi and Arduino were both originally designed to be teaching tools, which is why they’ve become so popular—both devices are very easy to learn to use. 

Arduino, on the other hand, was born in Italy. It was named after the bar where inventor Massimo Banzi and his cofounders first forged the idea. Banzi, a teacher at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, wanted a simple hardware prototyping tool for his design students.Raspberry Pi hails from the United Kingdom. Inventor Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory were frustrated by the dwindling number of students, and the poor skill levels of those students, entering the program. Raspberry Pi was designed to be a cheap, hackable computer for improving tinkering skills. While Upton worked on prototypes from 2006 onward, the first shipment of Pis became available in April 2012.

As teaching tools, both Arduino and Raspberry Pi suitable for beginners. It’s only when examining their hardware and software that it becomes apparent they’re used for very different types of projects. 

Hardware And Software

Here’s an overview of some of the specs that show the biggest differences between the two:

	Arduino Uno	Raspberry Pi Model B
Price	$30	$35
Size	7.6 x 1.9 x 6.4 cm	8.6cm x 5.4cm x 1.7cm
Memory	0.002MB	512MB
Clock Speed	16 MHz	700 MHz
On Board Network	None	10/100 wired Ethernet RJ45
Multitasking	No	Yes
Input voltage	7 to 12 V	5 V
Flash	32KB	SD Card (2 to 16G)
USB	One, input only	Two, peripherals OK
Operating System	None	Linux distributions
Integrated Development Environment	Arduino	Scratch, IDLE, anything with Linux support

The price and size of the two devices are comparable; we already knew Raspberry Pi and Arduino were tiny and cheap. It’s the stuff inside that sets them apart.

The Raspberry Pi is 40 times faster than an Arduino when it comes to clock speed. Even more seemingly damning for Arduino, Pi has 128,000 times more RAM. The Raspberry Pi is an independent computer that can run an actual operating system in Linux. It can multitask, support two USB ports, and connect wirelessly to the Internet. In short, it’s powerful enough to function as a personal computer (though not powerful enough to compete with your Mac or PC). 

It might sound like Raspberry Pi is superior to Arduino, but that's only when it comes to software applications. Arduino’s simplicity makes it a much better bet for pure hardware projects. 

I asked Limor Fried, the founder of Adafruit, a DIY electronics store that offers parts and kits for both Arduino and Pi projects, about her expert opinion on their differences. An MIT educated engineer whose mission in life is to teach electronics to people of all skill levels, Fried knows both platforms better than most. 

“Arduino does have a 'real-time' and 'analog' capability that the Pi does not: This flexibility allows it to work with just about any kind of sensor or chips,” Fried said. “The Pi is not as flexible; for example, reading analog sensors requires extra hardware assistance. There are also thousands of tutorials on hooking an Arduino into just about every kind of part. On the other hand, the Pi benefits from decades of Linux software, so they're both great choices.”

Raspberry Pi can multitask processes—it can run multiple programs in the background while activated. For example, I have a Raspberry Pi that is serving as both a print server and a VPN server at the same time. The Arduino IDE is significantly easier to use than Linux. For example, if you wanted to write a program to blink an LED with Raspberry Pi, you’d need to install an operating system and some code libraries—and that’s just to start. On Arduino, you can get an LED light to blink in just eight lines of code. Since Arduino isn’t designed to run an OS or a lot of software, you can just plug it in and get started. 

On the other hand, you can leave an Arduino plugged in as it conducts a single process for a long time, and just unplug it when you’re not using it. This is why Fried would recommend the Arduino for beginners before she would the Pi:  

“The Arduino is simpler, harder to 'break' or 'damage' and has much more learning resources at this time for beginners,” Fried said. “With the Pi you have to learn some Linux as well as programming—such as Python. The Arduino works with any computer and can run off of a battery. You can also turn it on and off safely at any time. The Pi setup can be damaged by unplugging it without a proper shutdown.” 

While the Raspberry Pi shines in software application, the Arduino makes hardware projects very simple. It’s simply a matter of figuring out what you want to do. 

Working Together

The ultimate answer when deciding between the Pi and Arduino is, “Why choose?” If you’re looking to learn about electronics, each one will teach you something different.  

According to Fried, Raspberry Pi and Arduino are complementary. She suggested a scenario where the Arduino is the sensory workhouse, while the Pi doles out directions:

Author Simon Monk, who has written dozens of books on both Pi and Arduino, blogged a tutorial for getting Raspberry Pi to talk to Arduino in just a few lines of code. It makes use of a Python library, PySerial, that the Arduino foundation recommends as the easiest way to get computers to talk to Arduino. “They work great together,” Fried said. “The Arduino is best for motor driving, sensor reading, LED driving, etc while you can have an Internet-connected Pi drive it, a mini computer that can play videos, music or send emails with ease.”

Once you’ve got that down, the possibilities are infinite. You could homebrew beer, with the Arduino controlling the sensors and the Pi managing the brains of the operation. You could also create a platform for making robots that are much more capable than plain Arduino or Raspberry Pi bots.

Community

Both Raspberry Pi and Arduino have large, active communities surrounding them. Not only are they used in schools and universities, but also in hackerspaces worldwide. 

Here are some of the places you can visit to get Raspberry Pi support and project ideas:

• The Raspberry Pi Foundation — FAQs
• The Raspberry Pi Foundation — Project Forums
• Learn Raspberry Pi with Adafruit
• Element 14 (Pi’s manufacturer) Raspberry Pi Community
• The Raspberry Pi Wiki

Here are some of the places you can visit to get the same for Arduino:

• Arduino’s Official Getting Started Guide
• Arduino Playground
• Arduino Official Forums
• Learn Arduino with Adafruit
• r/arduino on Reddit

10 mobile marketing statistics to help justify your budget

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/04/10-mobile-marketing-statistics-help-justify-budget/?utm_source=social&utm_content=435&utm_campaign=pro-copypaste&utm_medium=referral

1. Spending on mobile advertising will grow substantially year-over-year across industries

In 2014, mobile advertising is expected to grow 75.1 percent to $31.45 billion, which makes up nearly one-quarter of total digital ad spending worldwide.

According to eMarketer, Google and Facebook are responsible for a majority of this growth in mobile ad spend. Both companies saw their net mobile ad revenue increase by $6.92 billion in 2013.

Takeaway:

This is a strong indication that organizations allocating marketing spends to mobile-focused channels are seeing a strong ROI from their efforts.

Although these statistics are predictions, they rely heavily on the explosive growth of advertising dollars regularly being allocated to mobile channels.

This most likely indicates that these channels are working for these businesses to drive measurable results or they wouldn’t continue to allocate their budgets to them.

Mobile ad spending will continue to grow as advertising platforms like Facebook begin to expand offerings to suit the needs of advertisers like adding call-to-action buttons to their ads and the other constant improvements to both ad units and tools.

2. Consumers are less likely to comparison shop when using a mobile app

According to comScore, 46 percentof shoppers say they are less likely to shop around for other options when they’re using a company’s mobile app. This data was compiled from a survey of more than 3,000 U.S. online shoppers that asked them questions about their shopping behavior.

Takeaway:

It is time to begin either spending advertising dollars on driving more installs of your mobile app or developing a mobile app to begin with. Consumers are less likely to abandon a shopping experience on your mobile app as they are on a mobile website.

It’s recommended that you drive mobile traffic to your app to decrease the likelihood that your customers will shop your competitor’s products and services.

Focus your spend on the development of a mobile app or driving traffic to an existing app using mobile app install ads on Facebook, through the new Twitter app card ads or elsewhere on mobile.

3. More than half of consumer time spent on the Internet is on mobile devices

Consumers today spend nearly 60 percent of their time on the Internet on their mobile devices, as compared to their desktop or laptop computer, tablet and other devices.

Takeaway:

There is no reason why your business should not be focusing at least half of its advertising spend on mobile channels because that’s where your audience is active online today.

It’s important to measure the ROI of your mobile marketing through lifetime value, or LTV, since there are typically many touch points when a customer converts on a mobile device and this must be taken into consideration when understanding the cost of conversions as part of your budget.

The LTV of consumers is important to consider, especially with mobile, since they may interact with your business on one channel, but not yet convert until interacting with your business twice more on other channels until they convert a few weeks later.

In other circumstances, a one-time shopper can become a lifelong customer by simply being re-engaged on mobile in the future.

Since consumers are using mobile more extensively today, it’s important to understand the LTV each customer can bring to your business if properly reached with the right messaging on the mobile channels where they’re most active.

4. The growing intersection of mobile and the retail experience becomes a bigger priority

Alex and Ani, a lifestyle and accessories brand, improved sales by 318 percent with a mobile point-of-sale (POS) system. The mobile POS system allowed store associates at Alex and Ani retail locations to use iPod Touches to checkout customers.

Instead of having three POS terminals at a store location, they are able to checkout customers at 25 locations throughout their stores using a mobile device operated by store associates.

Takeaway:

Your mobile marketing can potentially affect the success of your brick-and-mortar stores offline, creating a cohesive and enjoyable experience for your customers.

Allocating your marketing budget on mobile can help generate value and utility for your customers online and in-person, which can lead to increased sales, customer engagement and a stronger LTV from your customer base.

5. Mobile traffic will grow significantly in the next five years with no end in sight

According to the Ericsson Mobility report, growth in mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2019 will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 45 percent.

With these calculations in mind, it’s estimated there will be 10 times the amount of total mobile data traffic by 2019.

Takeaway:

Companies of all sizes have no choice but to start advertising and building an active community on mobile in order to remain relevant and engaged with their customers.

If you aren’t quickly moving to create an active presence on mobile, your competitors will likely outpace you in the coming months and years with their existing mobile campaigns as your business tries to catch up with the market and its explosive growth.

6. Video will continue to represent a majority of activity occurring on mobile devices

By 2018, mobile video will represent 69 percent of all mobile traffic, which is an increase from 53 percent in 2013. Last year, users watched about two hours of video per month on their mobile phones.

Takeaway:

The question many businesses ask when tasked with using mobile to market themselves is What should I actually be doing on mobile to market my company effectively? One of the best answers is advertising with video in a variety of ways.

Video advertising on mobile is a must in order to capture the attention of a majority of users using mobile devices, whether through pre-roll ads, branded video content or the effective distribution of video content with the right publishers.

With the right strategy, mobile video has a strong ROI that can produce results in the long-term for your organization. It’s all about creating and distributing video content with a goal of longevity as opposed to focusing too heavily on virality.

Video should already be a significant part of your marketing mix today, if not, here’s more on the value of video for your content marketing strategy.

Video is a viable option for marketers to reach their audiences, especially at the scale of mobile, since it caters to the different consumption patterns of users, it develops messaging that can meet the unique nuances of various platforms, it can add an additional revenue stream for your business and can help build a long-term relationship with your customers.

7. Facebook mobile users continue to exceed Facebook desktop users

Facebook recently reported that it has one billion monthly active users on its mobile apps, as well as 200 million monthly active users on Instagram.

Takeaway:

With Facebook’s large network of all types of users, as well as comprehensive targeting capabilities to reach them, it’s a no brainer that it will continue to be a powerful channel for reaching your customer base on mobile.

Facebook saw a major boost in advertising revenue from mobile app install ads, since it is working effectively at driving users to the mobile apps of organizations that have difficulty achieving visibility in the app stores.

Facebook also introduced mobile app ads that encourage Facebook users to revisit downloaded apps, which has helped to increase engagement with many organization’s app offerings.

Take into consideration the unique targeting capabilities Facebook offers for reaching the right persona on their mobile phone, based on their past interactions with your website or similarities to your existing customers.

8. Redeeming mobile coupons is on the rise

In 2014, one in four mobile phone users will redeem a coupon via a mobile device. According to eMarketer estimates, the number of smartphone coupon users rose by 66 percent in 2012 and continues to rise year over year.

Takeaway:

Increased mobile phone usage has made claiming coupons and offers on-the-go more convenient for consumers looking for deals from their favorite brands. It’s a prime opportunity to reach your customer base while they’re shopping online for your offerings, or similar products from competitors.

One of the best opportunities mobile coupons provide for your business is presenting them to customers as they shop your brick and mortar stores in person. They are already visiting your business, which makes it a prime opportunity to incentivize them to make a purchase.

Finally, advertising your coupons, deals and offers on mobile devices is still an extremely new method of marketing to your customer. Therefore, there is far less struggle with competitors to reach your audience with mobile coupons and as a result, an opportunity to achieve greater visibility with your campaigns.

9. Twitter was born on mobile and continues to offer opportunities for growth on these devices

According to Twitter, 76 percent of Twitter users login via mobile devices. To date, Twitter users are sharing 500 millions tweets per day.

Takeaway:

This means that advertisers should focus a majority of their spend on Twitter ads on mobile as opposed to desktop. It is important to allocate a spend for both desktop and mobile, but place more of your spend on Twitter mobile ads and continue to adjust throughout the duration of the campaign.

According to the Wall Street Journal, conversion costs can vary widely on Twitter, depending on the vertical and your optimization efforts. Take this cost-per-conversion into consideration when segmenting your advertising budget and applying it to each mobile marketing channel.

With proper management and integration with the Twitter ads API across existing advertising channels, businesses are able to actually measure the impact of their monthly Twitter advertising campaigns.

10. A majority of mobile searches result in immediate action

According to iAcquire, 70 percent of mobile searches lead to action on a website within one hour of when the search was conducted. The study suggests that mobile users doing searches are more motivated to take immediate action than someone searching from a desktop or laptop computer.

Takeaway:

First and foremost, this statistic stresses how important it is for your organization to have a mobile-friendly website to ensure a person is able to take an appropriate action with your business.

If a mobile phone user is visiting your website to find the location of your stores and your website isn’t mobile-friendly, your business could be missing out on attracting potential customers.

Second, this speaks to the effectiveness of mobile advertising at helping to drive awareness, app downloads, increase purchases and more since the intent of a user to perform an action is much stronger.

There are fewer distractions on a mobile screen, therefore certain actions taken on a mobile device get more attention from a mobile user than they would on a desktop or laptop.

As an advertiser, there are many opportunities to gain the attention of a potential customer with such a small screen, fewer opportunities for distractions and a stronger intent, whether from a pre-roll ad on a YouTube video or an in-feed ad in their favorite publication.

Los Altos School District Tries Out Virtual Reality in the Classroom

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Class-Action-Los-Altos-School-District-Tries-Out-Virtual-Reality-in-the-Classroom-257601401.html

The STEM Lab (short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) at Gardner Bullis Elementary School in Los Altos is the site of an unusual class project.

“So my animal was a dolphin,” sixth grader Adam Mekay explains to a first grader.

Adam and his classmates are among the first kids in the country to use a new 3D educational display.

“These are some of the body parts of the dolphin,” Adam continues as he pulls apart a 3D representation of a dolphin. “It’s really awesome how it’s shown here.”

The Los Altos School District is doing a pilot program to test zSpace, a learning tool that uses polarized glasses and a stylus to create an immersive educational experience. “It’s actually like I haven’t imagined it before,” Adam says. “I never knew technology was this advanced.”

STEM teacher Amy Shelley says her students have been wowed by the technology. “I tell them, ‘turn your hand and see the inside of it.’ And they, like some of them jump back in excitement at what they can explore,” she says.

On the day of our visit the sixth graders are using zSpace to make presentations about marine life to their class buddies, the first graders.

“They couldn’t believe there was an actual like, lobster in front of them,” says sixth grader Grace Souders. “My buddies - they actually tried to touch it.”

The zSpace system tracks the location of the user’s glasses and generates a real-time 2D display of the students’ 3D experience.

“When computers came along we stopped interacting spatially and started looking at things that were stuck to a screen or behind a screen,” says zSpace director of educational solutions Elizabeth Lytle. “And with zSpace that barrier is removed.”

Sixth grader Brandon Son is a fan. “It feels like you’re kind of picking up the actual fish and just taking it apart and it feels like you’re right there with the animal,” he says.

The district doesn’t know definitively yet if zSpace improves learning outcomes, but early signs point to success.

“A lot of them will come in at lunch and use zSpace on their own time,” says STEM teacher Shelley. “And they’re just finding tons of different things that they can explore.”

“I just think my school is really lucky to be able to have it,” Grace says.

As for the cost, the zSpace STEM lab setup costs $25,000 to $50,000.

The pilot program in Los Altos continues through next school year and will expand to include all schools in the district.

zSpace is also in use at UCSF and Stanford for research and medical education.

Camera tricks on future cars

http://money.cnn.com/video/pf/2014/04/30/augmented-reality-cars-rear-view-mirror-computer-display-cameras.cnnmoney/index.html?iid=GM