Beyond The Headset

For those immersed in the VR industry, Robert Scoble is a man who doesn't need an introduction. Known for his tech blog Scobleizer, Scoble has taken part in just about every conference and panel and visited tons of companies in the game. His work takes him around the world, interviewing top tech execs and innovators and getting an insider look at R&D labs. He's shared his insights about VR, AR and mixed reality with the world, authoring the book The Fourth Transformation: How AR and AI Will Change Everything. For this interview, I asked him to share his insights with us.

Nate Burba is the CEO and Co-Founder of Survios, one of the forerunners—if not leader—in VR gaming today. His company's immersive experiences taking gaming to the next level. His successes resulted in AAA hits like Raw Data, a co-op first-person shooter proclaimed as VR's first hit game. Additionally the company is creating groundbreaking gaming technology (cue, Sprint Vector) which is making gameplay more fluid and lifelike than ever.   I had the chance to talk to Nate about Survios, how the company got started, what the industry was like in the past versus now—and we even dished a little about giant robots. Scroll on to read through our discussion.

While many think that consumer grade Augmented Reality is still many years out, Meta believes differently. Meta is only a few months away from shipping the Meta 2 headset and the reviews are already promising some very exciting stuff. Ryan Pamplin is Meta's VP of brand evangelism. Overseeing evangelism, building partnerships, and monitoring developer relations. Ryan and I discuss his fascinating professional and personal history, from his past company creating commercials for the Super Bowl to his friendship with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and of course we discuss all of the amazing work that they're accomplishing at Meta with some of the most advanced AR at this point in time.

Google is known for lots of things. Online search engine, cool internships, Android, Cardboard, Chrome. But what a lot of people might not be aware of is googles involvement in the education space, with Google Drive being used in almost every single educational institution, and Chromebooks being the most popular device among students.   Lyman Missimer is Chief of Business development, Education at Google. I first saw Lyman speak at the Columbia Entreprenuership festival on VR back in April 2016 and he was part of the panel that initially spurred my interest in VR to begin with.    Lyman and I discuss what Googles plan is for educational VR, and how Google Expeditions is being used by teachers to take virtual field trips around the world. Many companies and individuals look to Google for leadership in various fields, so if you want to know what they're up to I suggest you give this a listen.

Many of us in the Virtual and Augmented Reality industry are constantly thinking and experimenting with various methods on how to get the best immersion, the best experience. Whether we're developing next generation video games, or trying to heal PTSD, we all need to understand what the core elements of Virtual Reality immersion is. At the University of North Carolina they've been researching VR tech since before (some of us) were born. Yet, so many companies dive into VR headfirst without thinking for a second about consulting with minds who have been invested in this technology for dozens of years. Richard Skarbez just finished writing his dissertation at UNC on Place Illusion and Plausibility Illusion. Essentially what creates these illusions inside our heads and allows us to believe we're somewhere else. This is essential to every VR experience out there and sometimes I wish more people would pay attention to the research.

This is a fascinating glimpse into the world of AppliedVR with their CEO Matthew Stoudt. AppliedVR provides a virtual reality platform that focuses on enhancing patient experience, increasing efficiency, and maximizing health care value. The initial perioperative platform is designed to engage the patient during all stages of procedures in hospitals and surgical centers, offering patients drug-free alternatives to manage pain and anxiety associated with medical procedures. Matthew knows what he's talking about when we talk about the enterprise applications of VR and why it might be more relevant than consumer VR - at least in the short run.

Kenneth H. "Ken" Perlin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, founding director of the Media Research Lab at NYU, and the Director of the Games for Learning Institute. His invention of Perlin noise in 1985 has become a standard that is used in both computer graphics and movement. We discuss what peak VR might look like, Which industry do you think  will benefit most from VR? And how VR is simply another step in the evolution of mediums serving us informationIs there anything about the way the industries emerging that you don't like? And whether or not VR will substitute human to human communication..

Larry Cutler has been at the forefront of the entertainment industry for dozens of years starting at Pixar and then Dreamworks. Cutler cofounded Baobab Studios alongside his longtime friend Maureen Fan when they realized that VR was finally ready for some primetime application. Google released the animated VR short Invasion! as a launch title along side the Google Daydream. Invasion! features a bunny rabbit named Chloe that thwarts the invasion of earth by aliens.  Invasion!, directed by Eric Darnell who also wrote and directed the Madagascar films had an incredible launch and has proven to many the power of VR animated movies and how strong emotional bonds can be forged with characters in a short period of time.

Shane Scranton and his co-founder Nate Beatty, originally founded IrisVR to help architects visualize space while taking advantage of new VR technologies. Since they've launched they gotten a ton of incredible feedback from architects, construction companies, and engineers.  Shane and I discuss what it was like making the initial pitches to construction companies, what it was like being a VR centric company in the Startup accelerator Techstars, and what the atmosphere is like raising money from Venture Capitalists — and why West Coast VCs might be more accommodating than East Coast VCs.