#virtual-reality

#virtual-reality

The traditional museum experience, pausing in front of an object, and absorbing its history visually or by reading its description, has long shaped how collectors and others relate to cultural treasures. Yet, over the last few decades, digital technology has quietly rewritten many of those rules, changing not only how collections are exhibited but also how they are documented, preserved, and even inherited.

"Storytelling implies one-way communication: I am telling a story and you are listening to it," Hickman told The Drum. "If that's what you want to do maybe don't use an interactive medium to do it. Use a film, use a book, use a blog - tell a story in a medium designed for storytelling. If you're doing it with VR, you have to recognise that no matter what, the person in the virtual world has decision and choice."

In 1992, the original Lawnmower Man was way ahead of its time. Loosely based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, the cyberpunk film turned a neurodivergent gardener into a kind of pre- Matrix badass in a virtual world. Starring Jeff Fahey as Jobe and Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Lawrence Angelo, The Lawnmower Man was a haunting, bizarre sci-fi horror movie, which is utterly unlike anything else in cinema history.

My eyes zero in on a red door, its frame one of the few surviving remnants of a home. I pull it closer to me, and in moments I see a fraction of the house as it once was - now I'm in a cozy kitchen with blurred but welcoming pictures in the background and a grandfather celebrating a birthday. A voice-over tells me that it was Alexander, a grandfather, who painted the door red.

BetterVR is a newly released mod for the Wii U-emulated version of Breath of the Wild that lets you play through the entirety of the game through the eyes of Link himself. You'll need a copy of Breath of the Wild on Wii U, a somewhat powerful PC, the Cemu emulator, and, of course, a virtual reality headset like the Meta Quest 3. But if you have all that, you can now virtually explore Breath of the Wild in a whole new way.

With the use of a bootstrap experimental setup consisting of a large polystyrene ball, a curved computer monitor, and a small straw that dispenses sugar water, Tóth managed to teach a rat how to play the classic 1994 video game Doom II. The rat's movements translated into rotations of the ball, which were then translated into movement inside the iconic first-person shooter. The sugar water served as a treat whenever the rat completed a milestone, like walking down a corridor.

It feels like I've been transported into a scene straight out of a science fiction movie. I'm walking around on a giant centrifuge in space, which I can see the outlines of at the edge of my vision. Beyond it, I see the planet we're orbiting. The pathways I walk on stretch endlessly above and below me, giving me the feeling I'm in an absolutely massive structure.

Bailenson is the founder of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a research center studying the psychological and behavioral impacts of virtual and augmented reality, the latter of which overlays digital images onto the real world. He's worked on experiments aimed at increasing people's focus on climate change for more than a decade, having found some success. His team discovered that when people put on a VR headset and cut down a tree, feeling the vibration of the chainsaw, they use less paper afterward.

A recent study suggests that 65 percent of our daily behaviours are done on "autopilot," meaning that we do them without thinking. These automatic behaviours occur because they are the result of a habitual process. Habitual behaviours are formed through repetition. They can be helpful, like washing our hands, or unhelpful, like biting our nails. Since so many of our day-to-day actions are habitual, understanding how habits form and how we can change them is essential for improving health and productivity.

This brings its usual $400 price down to $299, which, while not the lowest price ever, is still not bad considering all the features the bundle comes packed with. It's open to all shoppers, and you don't have to worry about any delivery charges either. Just be sure to grab it quick. Amazon hasn't specified an end date for this one, but we're not expecting it to stick around for more than a couple of days.

In a chaotic and distressing year, books provided a respite, a chance to commune with works of coherent voice and vision. Some people find it harder to read during days overflowing with one-minute distractions and incessant notifications, but when I took the time, I was rewarded with a slightly bigger foothold in a world of decency, humanity, patience, and compassion. Here are 10 good reasons to give that a try.

The toxicity of his products is exceeded only by his gormless demeanour (let he who is without sin, cast the first stone). Yet, even those who consider him an enemy of humanity must admit that Zuckerberg possesses a talented grasp on the fundamentals of technology trends. Despite the clinical efficiency of his businesses in spreading misery, or perhaps proof of how well the product has been engineered underneath the hood - offerings like Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, it is fair to acknowledge, are tightly-built products.

Artificial intelligence (AI), viewed from an optimist's perspective, is an accelerant for humans; a tool to handle tedious tasks that allow users to spend more time and energy on what really matters. On the current episode of Understanding IP Matters (UIPM), Eric Bear, a classically-trained actor, singer and dancer, and now a kinesthetic artist specializing in primate motion capture, discusses the interplay of creativity and technology. Bear is a successful entrepreneur, industry expert and inventor responsible for more than 100 patents.

"I was like, 'I feel like I've been standing still for 2½ hours already. I need to see some pucks,'" he recalled.

Mountains with predictably purple peaks drew a serrated line along the horizon. Above them iron grey cumulus warned of a gathering storm. On a plain beneath the sloping hill, moving inexorably towards an obsidian wall protecting an alabaster citadel, several armies converged. Ralph turned to the gaunt grey figure standing a few steps away, cocked a sceptical eyebrow and muttered: "Seriously?"

Policing Minister Sarah Jones visited Merseyside on Tuesday, 7 October, to see first-hand how police and partner agencies are using Virtual Reality (VR) to protect young people from knife crime. The visit concluded at Everton in the Community, an Everton Football Club initiative, where Ms Jones experienced a VR initiative designed to dissuade young people from knife crime. Co-developed by Everton in the Community and Merseyside Police, the 360-degree headset experience has reached more than 1,000 young people to date.

Many adults can remember acting out scenes as doctor and patient, or using sticks and leaves as imaginary currency. Those playful moments were not just entertainment-they were early lessons in empathy and taking someone else's perspective. But as children spend more time with technology and less in pretend play, these opportunities are shrinking. Some educators worry that technology is hindering social-emotional learning.

In the history of psychology, some of the deepest insights have come from asking a deceptively simple question: What if you could step into someone else's skin? For decades, psychologists have tried to make society more inclusive by asking people to imagine what life is like for someone different from them, but imagination only goes so far. You can picture what it might be like to roll into a job interview in a wheelchair, or to navigate a crowded hallway with limited mobility,

We live in a world where it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell where reality ends and virtual life begins. Whether you're donning a VR headset to explore new identities or endlessly scrolling through polished images on your social media feed, the lines between self-expression and self-distortion can get blurry. Studies from psychology and neuroscience show that when these boundaries fade, our self-esteem, body image, and mental health can become vulnerable.

Firefighters strap on VR goggles and step into a virtual kitchen fire in a home in a residential area. "We can take these younger members and immerse them into a virtual reality where they see the fire, hear the fire, hearing people calling for help," East Meadow Fire Commissioner John Priest said. "Operate a nozzle and see how it reacts to the fire." The virtual reality program can simulate 60 different fire scenarios. The training includes a high-pressure hose and nozzle, complete with realistic sensations.

Although it's still the number one destination in the country to see weird stuff that the Victorians taxidermied, the Natural History Museum has been quietly getting into cutting edge technology in recent years, with the launch of its Visions of Nature AR experience and immersive film Our Story with David Attenborough. Now it takes a further step into the 21st century via a new collaboration with the popular international virtual gaming chain Sandbox VR (which has three branches in London).