The Metaverse Spectrum Business Conference, Expo, and Pitch Fest will highlight expanding business applications for the metaverse at its virtual conference this coming December. 

The event, which will be held in the metaverse, will include sessions on marketing, product development, training, and recruiting applications of the metaverse.

Speakers will hail from such companies as NVIDIA, Ernst & Young, Sandbox, Decentraland, and Tata Consultancy.

Highlights of the event will include the following:

Lee Margretts will discuss the UK Atomic Energy Commission’s use of the metaverse in the development of a prototype fusion energy plant.

Joe Ferencz of Gamefam will discuss his company’s role in developing a metaverse for Cirque du Soleil.

Teppo Rantanen of the City of Tampere, Finland, will report on the city’s development of a metaverse that will serve as a laboratory for metaverse services.

Frank Diana of Tata Consultancy will discuss the key role AI will play in the development of the metaverse.

Registration for the event can be made at:  https://metaversebusinessconference.com/register/

Registration is free for the content pass, which includes all conference session, keynotes, networking opportunities and the expo hall.

You can watch a short video from last year’s conference below:

The ninth annual OpenSimulator Community Conference presentations and panels start today at 7 a.m. Pacific time on the OSCC grid.

If you haven’t, you can still register to attend. Registration is free.

Conference Schedule

OSCC21 features over 65 speakers sharing innovative content, dynamic short presentations, and panels that all take place Saturday, Dec 11, and Sunday, Dec 12 on the OSCC Keynote regions. View the full conference schedule here.

The schedule also includes community and social events, and plenty of Expo regions to explore over the weekend.

Don’t miss the special HyperGrid Expo in OSCC Expo 2 region with many how-tos, resources, and scavenger hunt landmarks to interesting destinations where you can learn to hypergrid visit throughout the OpenSimulator metaverse. There is also the chance to attend live music during the Saturday evening Music Showcase and many after parties and simulation tours.

New this year is a series of hands-on workshops to be held in Zoom throughout the week following the conference for a chance to dive deeper into related metaverse topics.

Conference Streams

OSCC21 presentation events taking place Saturday, Dec 11, and Sunday, Dec 12 will take place in the OSCC virtual conference grid and will be live simulcast streamed to YouTube.

Get Social

Follow @opensimcc on Twitter and use the hashtags #OSCC21, and post your pictures and snapshots of the day at the OSCC Flickr group. or join the OSCC Discord server, where you can chat with other attendees during and after the event.

Connecting to the Conference Grid

If you registered and requested a new local account be created for the OSCC Conference Grid, you should have received an email with the login details. View this step-by-step video and visit the Login Info page for instructions on how to download an OpenSimulator viewer and more information about how to connect to the grid. If you have a Local Account from a previous OSCC event and have forgotten your password, use the Forgot Your Password link to reset it.

For those accessing the OSCC Grid via hypergrid, the loginURI and hypergrid address is cc.opensimulator.org:8002. Make sure your avatar has fully loaded on your home grid before making the hypergrid jump. If you do not, you may appear as a persistent cloud when you jump to the conference grid.

Optimize Your Viewer

For the best experience, make sure to enable Streaming Media & Music, and turn on autoplay for Parcel and Prim media. Also, turn off media filtering. We also recommend turning your Draw Distance settings down to a reasonable level. The lower your Draw Distance, the better your viewer performance will be. See the FAQs for more information.

OSCC Zone Groups Access

When you login, you will land on your designated Landing Zone region 1, 2, 3, 4, or the HyperGrid Landing Zone. There will be a teleport portal in the Landing Zone that when you walk through will take you to the corresponding Keynote region that you should use for keynote presentations. You should only access the Keynote region that matches your Landing Zone unless you are a presenter or volunteer. Exclusive Access Crowdfunders, as well as Presenters and Staff, will also have access to Staff Zone 1 where special Q&A will take place. See the Online Map for an overhead view of the entire conference grid.

Attending Sessions

When you arrive at an OSCC Keynote region please sit in a chair ASAP during the sessions! The conference grid will perform best if everyone takes a seat in the presentation areas. All of the conference presentations will take place via parcel streaming media, so we recommend that you set your viewer to AUTOPLAY parcel and prim media. In-world voice will be disabled in those areas, so please use text chat for socializing, networking, and asking questions of the speakers. View the full conference schedule here.

OSCC Expo Zones

The conference would not have been possible without the financial support of its Sponsors and Crowdfunders, so please be sure to visit their exhibits and booths in the OSCC Expo Zones to thank them. Explore five regions of booths and activities provided by sponsors and Crowdfunders — and invite your friends who didnâ€t get a conference ticket. The OSCC Expo Zones are open to public HyperGrid visitors.

HyperGrid Learning Resources

Visit OSCC Expo Zone 2 for the HyperGrid Resources section of the conference. There you will find step-by-step help on how to HyperGrid if you arenâ€t familiar with jumping from one OpenSImulator grid to another grid world, as well as helpful website links, and a curated collection of HyperGrid landmarks for those more experienced to explore the interconnected OpenSimulator metaverse.

OSCC Poster Session Expo

You can find accompanying poster materials, resources, gifts, and links from this yearâ€s OpenSimulator Community Conference presenters in a special OSCC Poster Session Expo area located in OSCC Expo Zone 3.

Technical Difficulties

Although the organizers hope everything goes smoothly, it is always possible for there to be technical difficulties during the conference program.

“If this happens, we appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve the issue,” the organization said in a press release. “If you are disconnected from the grid, please wait a moment or two, check the conference Twitter stream at @opensimcc or the OSCC Discord server for updated information, and then try to log back in. We will do our best to resolve issues quickly and stick to the conference schedule.”

AvaCon is delighted to announce the ninth annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2021 to take place virtually on the OpenSimulator Conference Center grid on December 11 and 12, 2021.

The OpenSimulator Community Conference is an annual conference that focuses on the developer and user community surrounding the OpenSimulator software.

Join us and showcase your artistry, innovation, technology, history, archaeology, educational discoveries, and love of life through social venues. Come demonstrate how you use these 3D collaborative spaces in amazing ways!

Call for Proposals for the 2021 conference is open. Please post your proposal by November 1, 2021. At OSCC, we will gaze into the future, inspired by the fire that burns brightly within our 3D community.

OpenSimulator is an open-source multi-platform, multi-user 3D application server. It can be used to create a virtual environment as a 3D world that can be accessed through a variety of clients and multiple protocols. Users can also visit other OpenSimulator virtual worlds across the web by using the Hypergrid protocol. With an expansive architecture of independent, yet virtually connected grids accessible via the Internet, OpenSimulator is the server software for hosting social, educational, creative, business, and technical communities within the embodied, distributed Metaverse.

Organized by the metaverse-focused nonprofit AvaCon, this yearâ€s conference features presentations on the latest software release, visions for the future, and technologies or content today that are shaping the future of the platform.

“Our 2021 conference launches a theme of renewal as we celebrate our dreams for the future,” said conference co-chair Cynthia Calongne. “Join our OpenSimulator community at the conference and share your vision for 2022. At OSCC, we will host speaker sessions, informative panels, and take delight in the artistry, educational designs, business, and technical feats accomplished within your virtual worlds. In the evenings, we dance, and after the conference, our community hosts special events and tours, ending with the holiday party.”

This year the OpenSimulator Community Conference 2021 kicks off with a Friday pre-conference launch event, then two days of fast-paced presentations, panels, performances, and immersive tours that spotlight the best of the OpenSimulator platform and community. In the evenings, we celebrate another year of discovery and wonder as live musicians and DJs host virtual dances and parties. New for 2021 will be a series of curated workshops on technology skills and topics relevant to those using and developing for VR and virtual worlds.

“We are thankful for our wonderful core developers, the viewer developers, our sponsors, the grid owners, streaming videographers, volunteers, artists and designers, scripters, educators, researchers, and residents who make our world come to life!” Calongne added.

OpenSimulator gives each of us the opportunity to realize our dreams and share them in the Metaverse. Join us at the conference and share your vision of the future. Here are a few highlights from last yearâ€s OSCC.

In 2020, we were inspired by recent innovations and fan favorites for OpenSimulator, Firestorm, Singularity, and the third-party viewer development advances for SceneGate, EchoVoice and IMABox from the Infinite Metaverse Alliance and the Thales Group.

For artistry and philosophy, Art Blue and Juliet Surrealdreaming regaled us with Amerika and their dreams for OpenSimulator. They curated art and designed an art experience for sharing the power of 3D spaces. Isabel Valverdeâ€s team shared the power of dance and artistry through their mixed reality participatory performance in Senses Places.

Maria Korolov of Hypergrid Business presented the state of OpenSimulator and hosted the creativity panel. Mal Burns bridged the virtual world communities with the future panel and the importance of social worlds. Kalila Lakeworth took us on the road forward and what it means to live in virtuality.

During 31 speaker sessions and panels, we learned from Gridjumper and Randall that OpenSimulator made it possible for teens during the Covid-19 lockdown to enjoy a virtual high school prom. Kavon Zenovka and Abacus Capalini reminded us of Dystopia Rising & the Portal to the Metaverse. Kay McLennan, Scott Dolphin, and Eileen Oâ€Connor shared how OpenSimulator strengthens their educational programs and simulations.

Sitearm, Zinnia, and Andy bridged the professional and virtual worlds with their creative and imaginative designs, and Sitearm demonstrated the cool integration of content across worlds using Hybrid Tech. Ramesh Ramloll offered tips on how to take virtual worlds into the future.

Rachel Umoren shared recent discoveries in healthcare while Lyr, Spinoza, Delightful, and JJ shared the healing power of community during a pandemic and Spinoza recommended the use of multiple grid architecture for enhanced performance when hosting OpenSimulator worlds.

We were thrilled to see how history and the River Mersey come alive through Graham Mills†shared virtual world experience and to see the learning simulations and technical feats accomplished by educators and researchers. Steve LaVigne and Myron Curtis demonstrated A New Dimension and options for grid hosting.

The art exhibits contributed by talented designers combined with the 3D art experience hosted by Cheops and ADRET WEB ART. In 2020, they shared the magic of immersive artistry and storytelling. Heike Philp featured her imaginative session on the Arthurian Legend, reminding us that noble hearts beat within each of us.

The Community Virtual Library showed us how we are all connected and the value of networking across the Metaverse, while A Marie Vans and Bethany reminded us of what we value in OpenSimulator as they reflected on the advanced in browser-based worlds.

Kayaker Magic gave us tips on how to submit bugs for the OpenSimulator project, and Mike Lorre introduced his vision for Decentraland. The Rez Mela team shared how they create their designs to create compelling spaces.

“Last yearâ€s conference was a terrific success with two days of presentations, panels, exciting expo, and Hypergrid experiences, hundreds of attendees within the 3D virtual world conference space, and thousands more watching on via live video stream.” said conference organizer Joyce Bettencourt. “We will be building on that success by offering more opportunities for the community to come together, learn, and be involved, and furthering our outreach to attract new users. With the continued interest surrounding virtual reality technologies, we want the VR community to know that OpenSimulator is a great platform for building the open metaverse.”

Conference organizers also invite everyone in the community to register, sign up to volunteer, or become a sponsor of this yearâ€s event.

For more information please see the conference website at http://conference.opensimulator.org.

ABOUT OPENSIMULATOR

OpenSimulator is an open-source platform that supports the creation of collaborative, immersive, distributed, and social 3D virtual environments over the Internet. OpenSimulator software is now the basis for many virtual “grids” of varying sizes and purposes.  http://opensimulator.org

ABOUT AVACON

AvaCon, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the growth, enhancement, and development of the metaverse, virtual worlds, augmented reality, and 3D immersive and virtual spaces. We hold conventions and meetings to promote educational and scientific inquiry into these spaces, and to support organized fan activities, including performances, lectures, art, music, machinima, and much more. Our primary goal is to connect and support the diverse communities and practitioners involved in co-creating and using virtual worlds, and to educate the public and our constituents about the emerging ecosystem of technologies broadly known as the metaverse. http://avacon.org

A sonic art exhibit title “Synapse” will have its grand opening at the Nuna Art Gallery on 3rd Rock Grid  This Sunday, June 14, at 11 a.m. Pacific Time.

This exhibition is an interactive sound installation where viewers are part of the work. Created as a collaboration between Lorin Tone, whose sonic installations grace a number of grids, and Nunaâ€s curator Alia Soulstar, Synapse is described by Soulstar as “a music that challenges music.”

The grand opening will feature presentations by gallery curator Alia Soulstar and artist Lorin Tone. Tone is a well-established virtual sonic artist, with another work in the Nuna Gallery and also in Second Life.

Its sonic component lacks melody, harmony, tempo, counterpoint or any of the other features normally considered integral to music. Instead it sets up an “ambient field of disorganized sound” where each listener becomes the organizing principle for their own sonic experience. Lorin has tuned the instrument but you, the listener/viewer, are the composer.

Visually the installation draws attention to granular brain architecture. A synapse is a site of transmission of electrical nerve impulses between neurons.

Neurons hold information—all of your cognition, memories, models and symbols are stored in your vast library of brain cells. What makes you unique as a person is your extreme potential for original and creative thought, which comes from having such a vast store of information connected by so many possible pathways. There are 86 billion neurons in a human brain, with five to seven dendrites per neuron and 40 synapses per dendrite. That constitutes a near infinity of wired and unwired pathways a thought can take on its journey through your grey matter.

In Synapse you are invited to rewire a sonic network by moving through it as an agent of free will.

After the grand opening, the exhibit will be on indefinite permanent display at the gallery.

Hypergrid addresss: grid.3rdrockgrid.com:8002:The Nuna Gallery.

About the artist

Lorin Tone understands how important sound and sound effects are in virtual environments. A steampunk aircraft that hums, groans and hisses as it chugs past creates more magic than one that slides quietly across a quiet sky. A virtual forest with creaking branches, wind, water sounds and birdsong is more magical than a silent one. Itâ€s a no-brainer really. Why donâ€t we apply the same attention to environmental sounds that we apply to other aspects of building our paradises?

Tone has compiled huge libraries of sounds for Second Life and OpenSim which he distributes through his various stores. He makes custom sounds too, on request, and uses randomizers and sequencers to make them as natural sounding and seamless as possible.

He also works with visual artists to create sound sculptures that exploit the unique potential of virtual reality. His work Aurora, an artistic collaboration in Second Life with Elicio Ember—featured by the Hannington Endowment for the Arts in 2019—was picked up by the Nuna Gallery on 3rd Rock Grid for permanent display. It is described in the Nuna exhibition notes as “a beautiful mesmeric meditation, an elegy, a calm that addresses a storm.”

With a background in sound engineering after formal training at BYU, Chico State, Stanislaus State and Santa Cruz, training in classical organ and harpsichord, Tone is also a former orchestral percussionist and a pipe organist, and he has played in numerous bands. He has worked in video editing where he developed a nuanced understanding of the relationship between image and sound.

You can find his Unknown Country store in Second Life, and, in OpenSim, at Digiworldz’ Westwood Towers, Discovery Grid’s Whiskey Bay and 3rd Rock Grid’s Shopping Geode.

Press release: VIRTUAL REALITY START-UP IMMERSIONN OPENS FOR BUSINESS

New Discovery Engine for Immersive VR Content Launches with ‘Immersive Journalism†Partnerships with Dagens Nyheter and Euronews

6 January 2019, London: Immersionn, a content discovery engine for virtual reality, today announced that it had officially launched its platform for subscribers and VR content creators.

The unique platform, which can be found at www.immersionn.com, and accessed via smartphones, virtual reality headsets and laptops, consists of a high-quality immersive VR browsing experience that combines VR and the web to enable a first-of-its-kind spatial user interface that aims to make VR content accessible to everyone.

In a market dominated by VR gaming, Immersionn makes VR content across a range of diverse topics such as art, culture, education and news available from one location. Immersionn is launching with immersive journalism partnerships with news outlets including Dagens Nyheter and Euronews with more to be announced in due course.

“There is nothing out there that lets people discover VR content easily through a VR interface. Everything is closed and proprietary and content discovery is delivered in 2D which not only misses the point of VR but impacts the consumer experience,” said Alexandra Hussenot, CEO and Founder, Immersionn. “At Immersionn we want to open up VR for everyone and let people experience this amazing immersive world for themselves and discover new 360-degree content that they have never seen before across a range of different topics.”

Fragmented market

Currently, VR content is hard for users to discover. The market is fragmented and content is only accessible from a small number of international companies via their proprietary platforms and devices.

Consequently, there is no system in place to curate or recommend new content across different platforms, meaning that consumers are unable to browse and discover new immersive content for themselves.

Content distribution is also only made available via 2D online channels or through dedicated applications to VR headsets or smartphones meaning that the content browsing experience is viewed in formats other than VR. 

Immersionn aims to address this by becoming a centralized, open and device-agnostic platform for all immersive content.

5G for VR

With fast speeds and low latency, 5G networks are the perfect use case for VR and the opportunity to stream VR content instead of downloading it will improve the user experience and uptake.

Immersionn uses WebVR which utilizes these fast speeds to deliver an incredible experience to end users and is perfectly placed to capitalize on the growth of 5G  networks.

5G networks are currently being deployed around the world with mobile industry trade association, the GSMA, estimating that 5G will account for an estimated 15 percent of global mobile connections by 2025.

Immersive journalism

Immersionn has launched a comprehensive ‘immersive journalism†offer to subscribers and has agreed initial deals with international media outlets including Dagens Nyheter and Euronews with the aim of becoming the central hub for immersive journalism discovery around the world. Immersive documentaries and news gives viewers a unique perspective on world events by enabling them to experience them in 360 degrees. 

“VR journalism lets us tell stories that are otherwise hard to tell. It lets us show audiences exactly how it feels to be in Japan while North Korea is firing missiles overhead or stand eye to eye with a North Korean border guard. Iâ€ve been struggling to tell these stories as a photo/videographer for years but with VR I feel that Iâ€m closer than ever before and the impact is powerful,” commented Lars Lindqvist, VR producer and photojournalist at Dagens Nyheter. “Being able to reach new audiences is very important for Dagens Nyheter and we are exploring this exciting new field of journalism and want as many people as possible to experience it.”

“As an international media organization, we strive for our journalism to engage people wherever they are, and this is true for our most innovative formats as well. Thanks to Immersionn, the content from our award-winning immersive journalism workflow will be able to be discovered more easily, and thus reach more and more people attracted by the VR format,” commented Thomas Seymat, Euronews VR editor.

VR and content creators

Immersionn is supporting the development of new immersive content by VR content creators. The platform helps creators to monetize their content and get it discovered by new audiences. Uploading new content to the platform is also a simple process. Each content creator can submit it to Immersionn and if it is a fit with the editorial line it will be published and promoted within days. Subscribers to the platform will also be in control of what content they discover and not have content fed to them based on previous searches.

About Immersionn 

Immersionn is a virtual reality discovery engine for VR content. By combining VR and the web, Immersionn enables a first-of-its-kind spatial user interface, that will re-invent the way content libraries are explored. In a sector dominated by gaming, our aim is to help people to discover new VR and 360-degree content that they have never seen before across a range of different topics including news, art, education and culture.

Hypergrid address: cc.opensimulator.org:8002.

Conference schedule

#OSCC19 features over 60 speakers sharing innovative content, dynamic short presentations, and panels that all take place Saturday, December 14th and Sunday, December 15th within our OSCC Keynote regions. View the #OSCC19 Schedule here.

The schedule also includes community and social events, and plenty of Expo regions to explore over the weekend!

Don’t miss the special HyperGrid Expo in OSCC Expo 2 region with many how toâ€s, resources, and scavenger hunt landmarks to interesting destinations where you can learn to hypergrid visit throughout the OpenSimulator metaverse.

There is also the chance to attend live music during our Saturday evening #OSCC19 Music Showcase and many after parties and simulation tours.

Conference streams

#OSCC19 presentation events taking place Saturday, Dec. 14, and Sunday, Dec. 15 will be live simulcast streamed to YouTube.

Get social

Follow @opensimcc on Twitter and use the hashtags #OSCC19 or #oscc, and post your pictures and snapshots of the day on our Flickr group. or on our new Discord server where you can also chat with other attendees during and after the event.

Connecting to the conference grid

If you requested a new local account be created for the OSCC Conference Grid, you should have received an email with the login details. See the Login Info page for instructions on how to download an OpenSimulator viewer and more information about how to connect to the grid. If you have a Local Account from a previous OSCC event and have forgotten your password, use the Forgot Your Password link to reset it.

For those accessing the OSCC Grid via hypergrid, the Login URI and hypergrid link is cc.opensimulator.org:8002. Make sure your avatar has fully loaded on your home grid before making the hypergrid jump! If you do not, you may appear as a persistent cloud when you jump to the conference grid.

Optimize your viewer

For the best experience, make sure to enable Streaming Media & Music, and turn on AUTOPLAY for Parcel and Prim media. Also, turn off media filtering. We also recommend turning your Draw Distance settings down to a reasonable level. The lower your Draw Distance, the better your viewer performance will be. See the FAQs for more information. We also have some additional tips for those who might have trouble viewing some video and streaming media in world.

OSCC Zone Groups Access

When you login, you will land on your designated Landing Zone region 1, 2, 3, 4, or the HyperGrid (HG) Landing Zone. There will be a teleport portal in the Landing Zone that when you walk through will take you to the corresponding Keynote region that you should use for keynote presentations. You should only access the Keynote region that matches your Landing Zone unless you are a presenter or volunteer. Exclusive Access Crowdfunders, as well as Presenters and Staff will also have access to the Staff Zone 1 where special Q&A will take place. See the Online Map for an overhead view of the entire conference grid.

Attending sessions

When you arrive at an OSCC Keynote region please sit in a chair ASAP during the sessions! The conference grid will perform best if everyone takes a seat in the presentation areas. All of the conference presentations will take place via parcel streaming media, so we recommend that you set your viewer to AUTOPLAY parcel and prim media. In-world voice will be disabled in those areas, so please use text chat for socializing, networking, and asking questions of the speakers. You can view all #OSCC19 sessions on the schedule here.

OSCC Expo zones

The conference would not have been possible without the financial support of our Sponsors and Crowdfunders, so please be sure to visit their exhibits and booths in the OSCC Expo Zones to thank them! Explore five regions of terrific booths and fun activities provided by our sponsors and Crowdfunders – and invite your friends who didnâ€t get a conference ticket! The OSCC Expo Zones are open to public HyperGrid visitors!

Hypergrid learning resources

Visit OSCC Expo Zone 2 for the HyperGrid Tour & Resources section of the conference. There you will find step by step help on how to hypergrid if you arenâ€t familiar with jumping from one OpenSImulator grid to another grid world, as well as helpful website links, and a curated collection of hypergrid landmarks for those more experienced to explore the interconnected OpenSimulator metaverse.

OSCC Poster Session Expo

You can find accompanying poster materials, resources, gifts, and links from this yearâ€s OpenSimulator Community Conference presenters in a special OSCC Poster Session Expo area located in OSCC Expo Zone 3.

Technical difficulties

Although we hope everything goes smoothly, it is always possible for there to be technical difficulties during the conference program. If this happens, we appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve the issue.

If you are disconnected from the grid, please wait a moment or two, check the conference Twitter stream @opensimcc for updated information, and then try to log back in. We will do our best to resolve issues quickly and stick to the conference schedule. No matter what happens, weâ€re sure the day will hold plenty of surprises!

Our thanks

A tremendous thank you to the OpenSimulator developers, and all of our speakers, sponsors, crowdfunders, volunteer staff, streaming team, and attendees! We hope you enjoy the conference program and weâ€ll look forward to seeing you in-world or on the web today!

Please reach out to us with any questions during the event at opensim@avacon.org

Conference organizing committee

Joyce Bettencourt | Rhiannon Chatnoir, Conference Co-Chair
Cynthia Calongne | Lyr Lobo, Conference Co-Chair & Program
Barbara Truman | Delightful Doowangle, Conference Organizer
Buffy Bye | Buffy Beale, Volunteer Greeters Organizer
Jeroen Frans | Frans Charming, Website & Scripting Tech Guru
Michael Bailey | Marcus Llewellyn, Grid Tech & Streaming Coordinator
Mal Burns, Streaming & Production Logistics
James Lloyd | James Atlloud, Video & Streaming Tech
David Fliesen | Sun Tzu, Content & Community

Our amazing sponsors

AvaCon Inc.
OpenSimulator
UC Irvine Institute for Virtual Environments and Computer Games
Rockcliffe University Consortium
SUNY Empire State College
LLOUD LLC
PurePowerStreams
Virtual Outworlding

Join us this weekend for the 7th annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2019 celebrating the community and development of OpenSimulator opensource software.

OSCC19 features over 60 speakers leading presentations, workshops, panel sessions, music, and social events across the diversity of the OpenSimulator user base. View the #OSCC19 Schedule here.

Attending the conference event is free, but those wishing to financially support the conference can still sponsor or participate in our Crowdfunder Campaign when registering. Participants in the Crowdfunding Campaign will receive a variety of thank you gifts depending upon their level of participation, including conference VIP seating, and the ability to have a virtual expo booth at the event. Your conference sponsorship or crowdfunder contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law for US residents.

Community Social Events have already begun and the main #OSCC19 Presentations take place this weekend! View the #OSCC19 Schedule here.

OSCC19 presentation events taking place Saturday, Dec. 14, and Sunday, Dec. 15 will be live simulcast streamed to YouTube Live.

Registration is now open for the Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium.

This Colloquium is a free event — held on December 1, 2018 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Central Time – in the AvaCon Grid Quaternary Stadium, and is also a community event affiliated with the upcoming Open Simulator Community Conference.

Still, seating is limited – so reserve your space now!

Featured speakers at the Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium include:

• Joyce Bettencourt (Nonprofit Commons)
• Cynthia Calongne (Colorado Technical University)
• Valerie Hill (Community Virtual Library Database)
• Crista Lopez (University of California-Irvine)
• Kay McLennan (Tulane University)
• Eileen Oâ€Connor (SUNY Empire State College)
• Andrew Stricker (Air University)
• Barbara Truman (University of Central Florida)
• Rachel Umoren (University of Washington).

Contact Kay McLennan (kmclenna@tulane.edu) to learn more about the Mainstreaming Virtual World Learning Colloquium.

You can watch a video from last year’s OSCC conference below, a presentation on the techniques used to create multi-use case study simulations in an OpenSimulator grid.

“We estimate that on average 1.5 new VR studios open for business somewhere in the world every day.”

“Regardless of what you or I may think about it the big brands are the ones sitting on the money to pay for top notch VR. And they are very much incentivized to pay.”

Press release: The rumors of VR’s death have been greatly exaggerated

The number of 360 video and VR studios is growing at an explosive rate. On average 1.5 studios are started somewhere in the world every day. VirtualRealityMarketing.com now lists 1784 studios in 72 countries, up from just 99 studios when it launched in 2015.

It seems like we are reading about the death of VR on a weekly basis now. But from this company’s perspective, VR is steaming ahead full speed.

“Itâ€s astonishing to see the number of VR studios launching at such a rapid pace,” said VirtualRealityMarketing.com co-founder Rick Berglin. “We started our directory back in 2015, before HTC Vive and Oculus had even launched, with 99 studios as members. Fast forward a couple of years and we have more than 1700 members. We estimate that on average 1,5 new VR studios open for business somewhere in the world every day. And VR is just getting started.”

“People always talk about the VR industry, and wonder if VR is dead or if itâ€s thriving,” said Terry Proto, co-founder of VirtualRealityMarketing.com. “Personally, I think that looking at the AR/VR world as a whole is missing the point.  Rather, I find itâ€s about how the new immersive tools and technologies are affecting all the other industries. if you look around, you see lots of really exciting of use cases for these technologies that start to have a real impact across several business verticals. In the end, itâ€s not about the VR industry but rather all about what VR and AR can do for everyone else.”

There is no way of knowing the exact number of VR producers out there, he added. But as the most comprehensive directory in the world, VirtualRealityMarketing.comâ€s membership numbers are a pretty good indicator of the overall trend.

Since the launch of the directory the company has seen seen some changes in the composition of its members.

“When we first launched, we had some survivors from the first VR wave in the 90’s along with some new ambitious studios waiting to jump on the next wave,” said says Rick Berglin. “Over time, we saw how VR and 360 video producers started to pop out of the ground. What happened next was that existing creative agencies and production companies started jumping on the bandwagon and adding VR and 360 to their list of capabilities. To us thatâ€s a signal that VR and 360 video is starting to go mainstream in the marketing world.”

Brands will drive high quality VR forward, he said.

“VR experiences cost a lot of money to produce,” said Berglin. “Regardless of what you or I may think about it the big brands are the ones sitting on the money to pay for top notch VR. And they are very much incentivized to pay. Itâ€s every marketer’s dream to be able to totally immerse your audience in a universe of his or hers making. If you do it right you will have people actively coming back for more, telling their aunt and her cat and its siblings to try your brandâ€s VR experience too.”

The only thing missing at the moment is mass adoption on user side, he said.

“Once we have comfortable, good quality headsets at affordable prices we will see an explosion of quality VR content from brands all over the world,” said Berglin. “When we get 5G internet and consumers donâ€t even have to download their content but can stream high quality experiences directly, things will get really interesting.”

The company released a set of statitics today based on its view of the marketplace.

The top 5 countries with the most VR/AR/360 studios

• United States: 554 studios
• United Kingdom: 271 studios
• Canada: 105 studios
• France: 85 studios
• Germany: 83 studios

The top 5 cities with the most VR/AR/360 studios

• London: 139 studios
• Los Angeles: 124 studios
• New York: 101 studios
• Paris: 61 studios
• San Francisco: 41 studios

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As the November 1 opening of the Santorini 1st Digital Bienniale art festival approaches, organizers have made available the 28-page preview book free exclusively for Hypergrid Business readers: download it here.

Read the original festival announcement here.

#Neighbourhood: Art is a political act

Digital and real worlds will handshake at Santorini on November 1st. That handshake comes in two ways: art and politics.

For #Neighbourhood, the motto of the 4th edition of the Santorini Biennale, a new set was created out of the 36 contributions that have been submitted to 1Biennale. On a mass of land, eight islands have been set around Santorini, their names touch politics: Agathonisi, Chios, Kalymnos, Kos, Leros, Lesvos, Samos, Symi. They are known as the refugees†islands, most of them located close to the Turkish border.

When the elusive guests of the Grand Opening will stay on Santorini, this island called as the one close to heaven, the other ones will rez out of the sea. They carry the Pavilions and Artist Cubes of the Art Show Immersivia2. The name stands for Immersive Interactive Art. This way the contributions to 1Biennale have found their final showing.

Art Blue, the curator of this immersive happening, will announce the winners for The Long-Legged Maskitt Award for immersive Art. The Maskitt is a statue made in bronze by Bryn Oh. The public voting ends on October 30. The location map is Visit 1Biennale on the Metropolis Grid.

The hypergrid address is hypergrid.org:8002:Visit 1Biennale.

Timeline

At 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the machinima Touching Reality, created by the Italian Videographer WizardOz Chrome will be presented in Second Life at the Surreal Art Gallery. The video will be shown on media-on-prim. At 1:30 p.m., the Grand Finale happens live in Metropolis Grid, presenting the lands and the winners for the Maskitt Award.

The short story “To be an owl would be nice” will be aired by the voice of DJ PaintHorse.

The following is an excerpt from a new book by festival organizer Ervare Farroretre, Living in a Coded World, where the full story is found. The story features an AI who cares about the artworks created by humans, artworks presented right now in 1Biennale. Despite the loving side of the owl AI, you may see some dystopian elements, however, the full story of the book shows otherwise.

The Grand Opening

Art Blue steps to the podium and says, “I welcome you to 1Biennale and I give word to Neruval, the keeper of the time capsule of Art.” Then the owl, Neruval, speaks.

To be an owl would be nice

I have the hardest job in the world, maybe even in the universe; I must tell people that they will die. You know everyone dies, but I am the one telling them when. I sit in my office and the next person who is sent comes in. A mother with her child. I am sure you know by now what will happen. I will speak with the mother but is it all about her child. Sending her to the play area during the talk? Letting her see her mother crying? For sure it would be not the first time that the child sees her mother crying. Is there another cure? A stronger one? You may know that this talk happens in the future but is made for today. There is no one. The strongest cure failed. There is no cure left. Thatâ€s the point when they sent them to me. From Mayo Clinic, El Camino, Fortis Memorial, Johns Hopkins, Anadolu, Bumrungrad, Stanford, UCLA, Wooridul Spine, Hackensack, from Charite or whomever can afford such a talk, as a talk with me includes “the procedure.”

I run on femto speed, the ones they send run on milliseconds. You know by now that I am an AI, an Artificial Intelligence. Only an AI can handle this. A human would go mad, would go insane in time. For the time of the talk I bring them, the mother and her child, to nano speed. They will not see any difference. There is no day cycle, no timer in the room working. I can set sunrise, I can set sunset, I can set the time, I can set the place. This time I place them in Gaudiâ€s Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagradaand show the Pavilion and the Art cube that is ready for the child, to bring her in. Yes, I am Art. Art stands for Artificial Intelligence, this is the Origin of me. Dan Brown shows you all the way to the future in Origin and, yes, if you have read it you know it is true, a big part of the story happens in the Sagrada, the most famous cathedral where different styles and epochs intersect, so why shall I not place the child there in one of Gaudiâ€s masterpieces? The code needs a storage. I could upload her to San Junipero, to the TCKR machine, but I know the mother wants a different place, one close to heaven. You suspect I am Winston, the AI of Edmond Kirsch? You are close. I am made by the same creator. My name has also 7-letters, but that would be a different story. I know the human brain, I know of the urge to set an imprint in the code of life. So, I show what was once made by the most gifted builders at the beginning of the Digital Anthropocene. I place the Pavilions and Art cubes in a row. I immerse the mother and the child in them and play Radim Sychra Hand pan & percussion.

As I have set them both on nano speed cycles I can handle 100,000 cases a day. I have sheer endless time for each of them. “As long as you need, to find the right cube,” I say. “Check out which cube you like and I can make a lot of combinations work.” You must know that not each Art cube works well in every Pavilion, despite the call Art Blue made for 1Biennale. It looks not so fitting to have Cherry Mangaâ€s cube in Space Cadetâ€s Cloud Atlas, as the Pavilion has a medieval house facade. The facade look is great for the Molly Bloom museum inside. Some combinations are often chosen because they blend well like Cica Ghostâ€s Pavilion People with Gem Preizâ€s Fractals Isometrix.

I show them in the most beautiful way how life can be, how life will be in this artistic environment. The makers of the artworks stand there guiding, explaining, telling their life story, as they have once been, in a true copy of themselves, inviting, promising, ensuring the mother that for her girl will happen “something great.” Characters from the Sand Bible, even Gina Inviere, the commander of the rain and bomb No. 20 comes to life. Each Pavilion stands for a world, each cube inside for a life setting. Brain- and Biodominance theory triggers what happens in the afterlife.

“Art Blue was ahead of his time,” you say? Not really, he just rezzed a box and invited each maker to click on it. By doing so a complete copy of the avatar, including hair and cloth was created and stored as an XML-file. Nara Nook gave him the NPC-copy kit and Juliette Surreal-D made the bots, as they are called at this time. I animated the bots, gave them a voice, I added all you need to feel for the best Hollywood ways you might say, and I added, with all modesty, much more. I added the heartbeat. I added life.

Every time I know of course the decision someone makes in advance, or will make to be grammatically correct, when it comes to the death talk. When one can afford the procedure. An artist might call it the creation of an Artefact. An Artefact created by the Bainbridge Procedure, stored and kept updated over time. When one enters my office, I read their brain. All the traces of their brain. I can handle quantity. I do it all in femto cycles. Some need a few petamillion of them, but thatâ€s noting if you, the one coming, run on milliseconds. For the talk I accelerate them; I speed them up, so it does not get so boring for me. The mother says the Pavilion of Bryn Oh might be nice as there are three long legged Maskits fiercely protecting the Art cube inside.

And the cube? Tutti? Second Hand Tutti with Nomi inside? Thatâ€s obvious, but the child does not want this. “What?” I say. “What?” I had already read her brain and she does not want sweet Nomi? Every child loves Nomi, so why not? I look to the mother. The mother wants to persuade her child that she will be sitting in a bursting frame of Tutti and get to look to the world outside. From time to time, a train will pass by, the one from the ArtFest, people sitting on it, winking. That is just a picture, dear reader. Donâ€t stick to it. Everything you dream of happens inside the cube. In all of them. It is Art, you know. “Artificial Intelligence at your fingertips,” Bill Gates would say if he could ever say anything again.

I shake my head at the mother. “Let her speak,” I say. “It will be fine.”

The child says, “I want to become a coder and create a Nomi like Tutti.” But her lifespan, you know. How shall she become a coder? No one in ages has become one. As I said, I run on femto, humans on milliseconds. How shall anyone ever be able to code? The best medicine can give them 180 years, then the substitution of skin and organs ends. The mother knows of course that her child canâ€t become a coder or any of her other kids — she has three, so my talk is focusing on the fact that she will still have a great need, and her girl will be fine in the other world. Now the question of coding hits me out of the Blue. Such a question, such a wish, never came up before in any death talk. I look to the child and the child looks up, saying, “I know I have to die. Why does everyone make such a fuss about it or hide the fact from me, like I am stupid?”

I know the mother is about to say, “But you are a child.” I give her a wink. Her mouth only opens, but no words come out. I say, “Looks like you are smart, a super smart girl.” I make an artificial pause, you know I run on femto, I waste a few 100,000 cycles and then say, “I can make you become a coder.”

I see the eyes of the girl widen, turning to yellow, glowing, and I see the eyes of an owl. “To be an owl would be nice,” she says.

Rockcliffe University Consortium Conference to Return to San Francisco on November 9-10, 2018

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Annual Rockcliffe University Consortium Conference ‘The Future Present†is happening November 9-10, 2018 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California. Educators registering for the conference can expect hands-on and networking opportunities, unique learning through experiential activities augmented with technology, all amidst a showcase of tools and strategies for designing learning in a digital age.

Unlike other conferences, The Future Present will offer registrants a different lens from which to view San Franciscoâ€s historic Fort Mason Center, the famous Fishermanâ€s Wharf, Golden Gate Park, and the California Museum of Sciences with an augmented reality game. Through the use of technology, imagination, and reality, the Rockcliffe University Consortium Conference peeks into the future to showcase how technology can be applied towards curriculum development in ways that are practical, affordable, and scalable.

“Over the past 10 years we have proven the value of attending conferences virtually,” said Kevin Feenan, President, Rockcliffe University Consortium. “Now, itâ€s time to redefine how in-person conferences should differentiate themselves by blending the best that experiential learning and technology have to offer.”

Educators, educational designers, and technologists should not miss the opportunity to register and attend this yearâ€s inaugural kick-off of this new approach to learning about education and technology. Registration closes September 30, 2018.

To find out more, or to register, please visit the conference website at https://rucc.confcenter.org/2018futurepresent/.

About the Rockcliffe University Consortium

Rockcliffe University Consortium is an online organization dedicated to the advancement of technology in education. Rockcliffeâ€s uniqueness is in how we make use of accessible technology to support adult learner education that is affordable on a teacherâ€s salary, and scalable on a studentâ€s budget. Our goal is to provide a supportive environment which allows anyone with an interest in education, and being of service to others, to prototype new ideas and new innovations necessary for understanding the digital literacy skills for a digital future. To find out more, please visit https://urockcliffe.com.

Survey: Enterprise Companies Seeing Strong Return on Investment in VR & AR

LONDON – Businesses working in areas such as automotive, construction, manufacturing and retail are seeing a good return on their investment in virtual and augmented reality, according to an industry survey by VR Intelligence. The survey targeted senior-level business execs in VR & AR, aiming to filter through the hype and get to the core of what’s really happening in immersive tech.

As VR and AR continues to break down the barriers to mass consumer adoption, itâ€s in enterprise where the technology is seeing the most immediate growth. This has been a widely reported trend, backed up by this new survey – where 83 percent of current enterprise end-users say they see benefits in VR, 69 percent say they see benefits in AR, and 86 percent plan to invest more.

The survey interviewed almost 600 VR and AR professionals, giving insights into where companies are seeing growth, where they intend to invest next, the challenges towards mass adoption and the industries integrating most effectively.

Some key survey findings include:

• The majority of current enterprise VR & AR end-users report that the technologies are having a positive impact on their business, with 86% claiming they’ll be investing more in immersive tech
• Enterprise businesses already using XR technologies are much more likely to invest more than businesses yet to start using XR technologies (86% versus 46%), suggesting ROI is strong.
• 67% of enterprise VR solution providers and 70% AR providers report stable and strong growth. However, growth on the consumer side was slightly less, with 42% (VR) and 36% (AR) reporting results that were weaker than hoped.
• Education is showing the most growth – both in demand for immersive tech and supply of immersive services
• Price and lack of content still seen as the major barriers to consumer adoption – but less of a concern than they were in 2017
• Field of View, Motion Tracking and Eye Tracking are deemed some of the most important technologies needing to be developed – yet also some of the least currently being invested in

“Consumer uptake is yet to fully take off and the results highlight some of the areas needed to improve, in order for it to do so,” said VR Intelligence director Rich Goddard. “But the overwhelmingly positive feedback from enterprise is encouraging for everyone and shows strong signs of immersive tech beginning to truly fulfill its potential.”

The survey was produced in conjunction with VRX 2018, the senior-level B2B event for VR & AR execs, in San Francisco this December 6-7.

About VRX and VR Intelligence

The VRX event series launched in 2015 and focuses on strategic business and tech opportunities as virtual reality takes hold in gaming, consumer entertainment and enterprise. It is specifically designed as a high-level networking environment for senior-level decision makers to connect and do business.

VR Intelligence is the worldâ€s leading network of senior level decision makers in VR, AR and immersive tech, brought together at the annual VRX events in San Francisco (December) and Amsterdam (April). The companyâ€s year-round dialog with the industryâ€s biggest tech innovators and forward-thinking strategists, allows for the production of market leading events, insights from industry thought leaders and game-changing business connections.

Pornhub Awards Show to bring Virtual Reality to the Masses

Combining live VR streaming and a massively multiuser VR virtual world will deliver two breakthroughs for the premier of the Pornhub Awards Show on September 6, 2018

Vancouver, B.C. – In the latest example of the power of porn to launch new technologies, adult megasite Pornhubâ€s first-ever awards show will be the worldâ€s most technologically advanced and globally accessible show. Pornhub is throwing the entire weight of their network behind a show that is set to ignite the virtual reality revolution.

While VR has had a tough time gaining traction with consumers, this muscular push by Pornhub to further expand its role as the world leader in content delivery may finally change all that. The streaming clip giant will be  dedicating its front page to a multi-hour awards show that will encourage users to interact with the world’s top porn stars in virtual reality.

Not only will viewers be able to watch the show in real time from their choice of four different 360-degree positions (including one backstage location, creating a virtual back-stage pass), but anyone with a computer powered headset such as the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, will be able to actually attend the show in a massively multiuser social VR replica.

“This is the first ever event where hundreds of thousands of VR users can come together and interact with each other and with the porn stars in such a futuristic way,” said Brian Shuster, executive producer of the Pornhub Awards Show. “The platform, Oasis.game, is the product of more than 15 years of development and more than $50 million of investment. It is a system designed to usher in a new era of Virtual Reality, and this awards show is how we have chosen to launch this platform to the public.”

The Red Carpet VR broadcast starts at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time and the Pornhub Awards Show will begin at 7:30 p.m. Pacific TimeT on September 6 with around 500 of the world’s top porn stars in attendance in Los Angeles. The event will showcase multiple technological breakthroughs by broadcasting four simultaneous live 360-degree streams of the show, where until now, broadcasting even a single live 360-degree stream has proven virtually impossible. To accomplish this feat, the show has engaged the world’s premier VR studio, HoloFilm Productions.

“With more than 30 patents on technologies that we’ve developed for virtual reality, we are confident in our ability to deliver this ground-breaking video component to the tens of millions of viewers that are expected to watch the show,” said Anna Lee, President of HoloFilm Productions, LLC.

The hosting of a computer generated replica of the Belasco Theater that is capable of holding thousands of simultaneous VR avatars from around the world is an entirely different challenge. The Pornhub awards show has solved this problem by turning to Utherverse Digital, Inc., a world leading VR software development company. Utherverse built a platform for the event at https://www.oasis.game, which opened to the public earlier this month.

“The experience for VR users within the Oasis will be like something straight out of science fiction,” said Shuster. “It will look and feel like players are actually at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, mingling with each other and with the award winning porn stars. This will finally deliver what virtual reality has been promising for so many years.”

For regularly updated information about the awards, categories and nominees, please visit www.pornhub.com/awards.

About Utherverse Digital

Utherverse Digital is the leading developer of the Virtual World Web (VWW), a software platform
which currently consists of more than 110,000 independently operated virtual reality business-worlds
and millions of personal virtual worlds including the Oasis(tm) that is available for download at
https://oasis.game. The company was formed in 2002 with the goal of supplementing the flat web with
a VR web that could bring a new kind of efficiency to businesses and users in entertainment, education,
commerce and charity.

About HoloFilm Productions

HoloFilm Productions is a leading-edge Virtual Reality entertainment production and post-
production company, specializing in creating the perfect VR Experience and live streamed VR events.
With a production facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, HoloFilm Productions is an all-in-one
solution for Virtual Reality production with the ability to produce a wide range of content that all
feature NoSick Technology. More information is available at http://www.holofilmproductions.com

About Pornhub

Founded in 2007, Pornhub is the leading free, ad-supported adult video streaming website, offering
viewers the opportunity to upload and share their own videos. With over 5 million videos and over 90
million visitors a day, Pornhub truly is the best adult site in the world. Pornhub has built the largest
dedicated membership base in the adult community, with over 10 million engaged and loyal members,
offering viewers a fun and sophisticated social experience directly in site, complete with messaging,
photos, achievement badges and much more.

Citing changes in the social fabric of the hypergrid, Han Held announced in the official AvatarFest Google Plus group that 2018 would be the last year of AvatarFest, the annual OpenSim festival celebrating end user creativity.

“VisionZ has folded, Hypergrid Business is decreasing focus on OpenSim, the HG Safari has wound down and I feel in my heart and I feel in my bones that itâ€s time for AvatarFest to join them,” Held said in the post. “2018 will be the final year that I hold this festival. It is time to pass the torch and make room for something else.”

Eryn Galen is still involved with the event but Held would be acting as the sole contact and warned to expect some bumps this year.

“This summer I am handling both AvatarFest and managing Second Lifeâ€s Confederation of Democratic Simulators, a democratically-managed user-run estate,” said Held. “As a result I expect to spend the summer getting hit from all sides and not knowing which way is up.”

Held praised the people who have participated in AvatarFest to date.  “I’ve done the Second Life birthdays for years, and been to the Linden Art exhibits and several events on the hypergrid as well, but what I’ve seen from y’all stands toe to toe with anything on those events, and often better!”

As of August 6, all performer slots are filled but volunteers are still encouraged to sign up to mingle and to act as greeters.

The performer schedule for AvatarFest 2018 is:

Friday, Oct. 5: Dj Strannik
Saturday, Oct 6: Torben Asp
Sunday Oct. 7: Han Heldâ€s DJing debut

In addition, while a number of exhibitor slots have already been claimed, but there are still many more to be filled. The area will be open for building on August 17. The deadline for exhibitor applications is September 8, and those interested should apply via the AvatarFest website.

AvatarFest will officially open to the public on October 5, and will run through November 30. It is accessible via hypergrid teleport to avatarfest.net:6000.

“We will probably wait a few days after that to give participants a chance to claim their assets, but then everything will be wiped clean, even the OARâ€s,” said Eryn Galen. “The only exception might be the website, but that has not yet been decided.”

Links and announcements about AvatarFest will be posted in the AvatarFest Google Plus group.

The 1st Digital Bienniale immersive interactive art exhibit will open to the public on September 20 on the Metropolis Grid.

There is also companion physical world event organized by Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art on September 17 for press and contributing artists. There will also be a OpenSim basics workshop that day for artists, teachers and creative people. Berlin web engineer Daniel Jung, also known as “Art Eames” in world,  will lead the workshop, which will feature a web-based OAR loader so that region builds can be swapped with a mouse click via a web browser.

A book featuring the exhibits, Living in a Coded World, is available in PDF for $8 and as a large glossy hardcover collectible volume for $350.

The Biennale spans a nine-region area on the Metropolis Grid accessible via hypergrid teleport, created by Biennale co-curator Juliette Surreal-D.

It includes a number of different pavilions created by OpenSim builders Art Eames, Barry Richez, Betty Tureaud, Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost, Hyde Hackl, Paul Atreides & Erico Lecker, Space Cadet, Uan Ceriaptrix, and Venus Adored.

OpenSim artist Art Blue first announced the idea for the exhibit at the 2017 OpenSim Community Conference. Other OpenSim artists participating include Betty Tureaud, Blue Tsuki, Cherry Manga, Elle Thorkveld, Freewee Ling, Gaianed, Gem Preiz, Jadeyu Fhang, Kerupa Flow, Lampithaler, Louis Wu Cyberklon, Moewe Winkler, Molly Bloom, Paul Atreides, Pipilotti Winslet, Rory Torrance, Seraph Kegel, Sh Tutti, Thoth Jantzen, Tryad Destiny, Vagabond Wanderer, and Venus Adored.

Cherry Manga, known as the driving force for the arts in FrancoGrid, contributed the Cherry Tree for the Grand Opening build. This build, also made by Juliette Surreal-D features as a static set the Maskitt Pavilion by Bryn Oh with the artist cube Tea Time with Tutti by SecondHand Tutti and a dynamic build, the Pavilion Mondrian Recoded by Art Eames which recreates the first interactive art machine made by Herbert W. Franke in 1979 on a Texas Instruments TI 99/4. Mondrian features the Magic particle emitter machine, created by Venus Adored. On a click you can become your own Visual Jockey. Also you will find a miniature on the land, the Chicken, by PatriciaAnne Daviau, the long time coordinator at Linden Endowment for the Arts. The miniature is hold by a statue made by Fushia Nightfire.

Prizes will be awarded for the best Pavilion and the Best Artist Cube through public voting. Art Blue will also give a Curatorâ€s Choice Award.

The bronze award statue was created by Canadian Artist Bryn Oh, originally in digital format, and is named Long-Legged Maskitt.

“Essentially, the idea is that at our stage in development, we seem to be able to do amazing technological and genetic things but in some ways, we release these technologies faster than we control them,” said Bryn Oh. “The Long-Legged Maskitt is a genetically manipulated creature which stands a few stories tall and walks the polluted environments of the world where my narratives take place. They filter and feed on the polluted air through its gas mask mouth. Walking industrial cities and clean-up sites while slowly purifying.”

The public voting for the Maskitt Award will start September 20 and end October 30, 2018. On November 1, the awards will be handed out at the grand opening of Santorini Biennale, an arts festival in Santorini, Greece. Italian videographer WizardOz Chrome will also show machinima based on the exhibits from 1st Digital Bienniale at the Santorini festival.

The Adult Grid has changed its name to Tag Grid. We can still be reached on our old URL and we are in the process of changing the whole site to reflect the new name.

We have changed the name as many people have been scared of the word “adult” in the name as we were perceived as a porn grid. This is not what Tag Grid is about as you will see if you visit us — we are “a virtual world built of dreams.”

We offer a very warm welcome to all. We are still a closed grid for people over the age of 18 only and all our Tag-owned regions are adult rated, but that does not mean you will see sex everywhere you go. Tag has more of a mature and classy nature.

The grid is owned by Constanza Amsterdam, Darieth White and Lord Sullivan since December 2015 and the grid started in 2014. White has been the developer since the beginning. We have all worked hard with the staff and mentors and residents to create a great relaxed and fun place to be, where everyone has a voice and community is first.

We will announce a new logo design competition on Wednesday, August 1, for the website and for Tag Grid.

We have a marketplace, mainland rentals for those that do not want a full sim, welcome and education centers and many free areas to use and most importantly a warm welcome from all.

“Tag Grid is a virtual world where support is fast, where solutions are found, the staff and mentors are friendly and very helpful and will always communicate with each other to solve peoples in-world problems,” said grid resident Katia Boop.

“Tag is so unlike a lot of grids over time it has become an extended family for me,” said resident Emily Slinkycub. “Not many places in a virtual world where you are remembered by name and missed when you aren’t here.”

Come and have a look at TAG grid and see for yourselves what TAG Grid can offer you.

https://taggrid.org
https://taggrid.online

https://the adultgrid.com

Tranquility has unveiled their newest addition, Halcyon, a Gloebit-enabled region with a hypergrid shopping mall.

It has more than 20 stores available for creators who wish to sell to the whole OpenSim community.

Three different size stores are in place to accommodate small or large needs. There are also larger stores available on request for creators who need more space.

To visit the mall, go to Tranquility Welcome by logging in directly after creating an account, or by teleporting in from any hypergrid-enabled grid to tranquility-grid.info:8002.

There is a teleporter and landmark giver on the welcome region.

Once there, wander around the area, and if you find a store you like, just “pay” the rent box and you will be the official tenant of the space, and will also receive a group invite. Contact Jadore or Christian Dior or any of the advisers in-world, who will ensure everything is set for you to open up shop.

Tranquility Grid, established this past January, is renowned for being friendly and peaceful.

With sexism still strong in the gaming industry, a Europe-based 3D model marketplace is looking to create a welcoming place for women developers in the surging virtual reality industry.

With almost as many women using virtual reality as men — 14 percent versus 20 percent, according to a study by EY — the VR industry does not seem like it should be a boys-only playground. But in many areas, it still is.

Neilda Pacquing, a developer and UI/UX expert in VR, has rallied CGTrader, one of the largest 3D model marketplaces in the world to provide a more welcoming environment to women developers.

It all started as she was looking for realistic 3D models of women for a VR self-defense project.

“During a search for 3D female assets on marketplaces, I was shocked to see that the best quality models were adult content,” she said.

Neilda is vocal about the discrepancy of how males and females were represented as 3D models.

“I made a side-by-side comparison for [female and] male assets and the results shocked me,” she said. “There is a big gender gap in technology today. I feel that in order to fix that, we should take steps to make content that is inclusive, accessible, and usable.”

Neildaâ€s comments did not fall on deaf ears, as the team at CGTrader decided to take action.

After reviewing their models, CGTrader saw that the percentage of nude female models, 20 percent, was almost ten times larger than the percentage of nude male models — 2 percent. However, the overall number of male models was higher, by 25 percent.

Sales data from CGTrader also showed that, in recent years, the demand for VR-ready models is increasing steadily. And, with more than 40 percent of VR users being women, and more of them developing VR experiences than conventional games, there is a real demand for female-friendly content.

Nevertheless, it seemed like designers, in large part, are not aware of the needs of developers working on VR experiences for women.

“Weâ€re trying to bring awareness to the oversexualization of women in 3D. We hope that by talking about the issue and taking action right now, we will help to create an equal playing field in VR,” said Dalia Lasaite, CEO of CGTrader.

“Of course, everyone is free to work on any models they want, but our search and sales data show that there is more demand for casual models of women walking, sitting or standing, not the nude ones,” said Dalia.

To encourage designers who create female models, the company has partnered up with leading 3D software and service providers Allegorithmic, Marmoset, Quixel, Cebas, 3D-Coat and Fox Renderfarm and created the 3D Female character challenge – a friendly competition where designers and design students from around the world can win software licences and other prizes by creating non-sexualized models of realistic and fantasy female characters.

This year’s AvatarFest, an annual celebration of OpenSim creativity, opens its doors this Saturday, September 23, at noon Pacific time.

The third annual festival begins with two days of entertainment this weekend, followed by a 30-day-long exhibition.

The event is hypergrid-accessible, at avatarfest.net:6000, and will features singers, poets and DJs from around the metaverse. The full list of events and performers is here.

“This year has presented a challenge for many of us,” said Han Held, co-organizer of AvatarFest. “All of us come to the hypergrid in general – and AvatarFest in particular - to help make the world a more positive and sharing place. Iâ€m grateful to our performers, volunteers and exhibitors not just for helping make AvatarFest a success, but for making the hypergrid a fun place to spend time in.”

Performers include poet Oshi Shikigami, singer Truelli Telling, and DJ Rosa, DJ Sofee Supermarine and DJ Strannik.

“There is always something new, something different each year,” said Eryn Galen, AvatarFest co-organizer. “We again have some amazingly talented people showing off their projects. I agree with Han in that it is important to have positive impulses in this world and also something more than parties in OpenSim. This is what AvatarFest is all about and I am proud to be a part of it.”

More than 20 artists will be exhibiting at this year’s festival, including the well-known creators Leighton Marjoram, Cherry Manga, and Jamie Wright. The full list of artists and other exhibitors is here.

Last weekâ€s lawsuit against UploadVR

This is an issue endemic to the entire tech industry, but is particularly critical in VR because this sector is in its infancy.

“Women are losing out on funding, jobs, and opportunities to make an impact,” said Maria Korolov, president of Women in Virtual Reality and editor of Hypergrid Business. “Meanwhile, VR companies lose their insights, perspectives, and unique talents. With a tech talent shortage and competition from other countries, the U.S. virtual reality sector cannot afford to waste this resource.”

“Innovation and business success have been shown again and again to benefit from diverse leadership,” said Jeanine Cowen, VP for curriculum and program innovation at the Berklee College of Music. “Incidents like these should be seen as a reminder to investors and companies alike that having women in key roles is a significant factor that leads to a healthy and productive work culture. As the VR space continues to take shape, we all must be diligent in providing ample opportunities for women and diverse voices as we work to build a cultural norm of respect for all people in this important new media.”

There are more women working in virtual reality than in some areas of technology, and there are both men and women working to address gender issues, said Stephanie Llamas, VP of research and strategy at SuperData Research.

“However, there still exist echo chambers in many companies where there is no advocacy for diversity,” she said. “If this does persist, this could end up hurting VR adoption and consumption. If we want to expand the VR audience, content creators will need to use different content to target different demographics. Itâ€s difficult to do that if companies do not promote and consider different internal points of view.”

According to the lawsuit, UploadVRâ€s workplace environment was toxic and hostile to women, a charge that the company denies.

“We donâ€t know the full facts of this case yet, but if any company is found to condone this sort of behavior there should be serious consequences,” said Wendy Powell, a virtual reality researcher at the University of Portsmouth. “This type of behavior is damaging to the entire industry, and stories like this should be a wake-up call to all companies to examine their own practices.”

Some in the tech industry dismiss the problem of sexual harassment because they havenâ€t personally experienced or witnessed it, but that is a mistake, said Helen Situ, founder and editor of Virtual Reality Pop, who recently wrote a column about the issue.

“We say ‘theyâ€re only doing this for the money†or ‘this hasnâ€t happened to me so it canâ€t be true,’” she said. “That is insane.”

Women who experience harassment or discrimination should document the events, and file complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said Donna Waters, owner of Proof of Concept Optical Engineering.

“Itâ€s easy to laugh off misogyny at first, but donâ€t,” she said. “It is not harmless and it will kill your career.”

The EEOC provides guidance for employers as well, through a network of small business liaisons, she added.

About Women in Virtual Reality

Women in Virtual Reality was founded 2014 as a networking and advocacy organization with a mission of increasing the visibility of women in virtual reality and attracting more women to the field. Website: http://www.wivr.net

VisionZ HG Magazine will be celebrating its second anniversary on March 15 from 1 to 3 p.m. Pacific time on the 3rd Life Grid.

“Our focus is on all things happening in the Hyperverse, those spaces connected via the hypergrid protocol,” said editor Sunbeam Magic.

The event will feature a live performance by singer Rosy Oâ€Grady at 1 p.m. and DJTommy Seetan at 2 p.m., and will include a visit by the HG Safari.

The teleport address of the event is 3rdlifegrid.com:8002:EyE eMagine.

VisionZ racks can be found in grids and individual simulators around the Hyperverse. The entire rack is full perm. To receive just the contents simply click the rack. The magazine is wearable as a HUD.

“We are always interested in guest writer articles and any events and places of interest our readers may enjoy reading about,” said Magic. “If you wish to be on our staff, let us know.”

Press release: vTime Now the Most Widely Available VR Social Network with Launch on Google Daydream

Liverpool, UK –  vTime, the VR Sociable Network, today becomes the most widely-available VR social network in the world as it launches for Google Daydream.

Used by people in 195 countries, vTime is the only VR social network available across all mobile formats, and is now available to download for free from the Google Daydream and Google Play stores. Offering its users the easiest way to chat, share, broadcast and record in virtual reality, vTime is now live on five VR platforms: Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, iPhone and Google Daydream.

“Weâ€re very proud to reach this significant milestone within 12 short months of launching on our first VR platform,” said Managing Director Clemens Wangerin. “With the trajectory of mobile computing over the next few years as compelling as it is, and the phone already established as the most important device you own, we believe the ease-of-access to mobile VR will continue to mark it out as the most accessible form of VR for quite some time, with vTime perfectly positioned to capitalize on that.”

The launch on Daydream follows a flood of significant updates for vTime. November saw vTime become the first VR social network to launch on iOS – available now for the iPhone 5S upwards. The expansion saw vTime pass half a million downloads the day before its first birthday celebration on December 22.

The immersive and easy-to-use network also added pioneering new feature vCast. This open beta feature allows every vTime user to broadcast their VR podcasts, panels, talk shows and more to the entire community. Unlike traditional live-streaming platforms, vCast viewers can watch the action from a prime position in any of vTimeâ€s 18 environments. With full spatial audio and rotational tracking for viewers, vCasters can be joined by up to three other guests, and can bring in their own flat and 360 images to use within the broadcast. For viewers, vCast offers the ability to view content without directly taking part.

vTimeâ€s latest early access feature push also gives each user the ability to record their session or vCast in full 360, and then publish the content to their public library, meaning viewers are free to enjoy the event an unlimited number of times at a time that suits them, and as if it were live.

As well as furthering discoverability for content and content creators, further updates coming this year will also see the introduction of producer tools, which allow a second vTime user to take up the production mantle. Leaving the host free to do what they do best, the producer can bring in guests, content, messaging, and even external social media feeds for real-time interaction.

Working over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi, the free app is currently out on Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Google Daydream, iPhone, and Oculus Rift (DK2 and CV1). Completely cross platform, vTime will be available on all major VR platforms soon, with support for HTC Vive coming soon.

About vTime

vTime is the VR sociable network that allows anyone, anywhere to socialize with family and friends in virtual reality. Bringing people together virtually since December 2015, vTime is enjoyed by users in over 195 countries.

Experience a growing library of incredible destinations, and personalize your avatar, as you chat with others in the virtual world. Broadcast your sessions with vCast, and record them for others to enjoy on demand. Platform agnostic, vTime supports PlayStation VR, Google Cardboard, Google Daydream, iPhone, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift, and will add support soon for HTC Vive soon.  www.vTime.net

Press release: vTime Becomes The Most Widely Available Virtual Reality Social Network As It Launches on iPhone

LIVERPOOL, U.K. – vTime, the VR Sociable Network, today brings its flagship mobile VR title to iPhone, making it the most widely-accessible social network in virtual reality. Available to download for free from the App Store, vTime is now available globally for the iPhone 5S and above, including iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

vTime is a VR social network that allows anyone, anywhere to spend quality time with family and friends in virtual reality. Launched on December, 22, 2015, vTime offers its users the easiest and most immersive way to meet, chat and share in virtual reality.

iPhone users will join vTimeâ€s already established community of Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift, and Google VR users. With just under half a million downloads in less than a year, vTime users have collectively already spent decades of time meeting, chatting and sharing images in beautifully realised virtual environments.

Using either a VR headset, or vTimeâ€s Magic Window mode (which allows you to vTime without a HMD), iPhone users will have access to all of vTimeâ€s current functionality, including the ability to share images from their device, and hang out within their own 360 photos. iPhone users will also be able to road-test an early access version of vCast – vTimeâ€s new and unique ‘broadcast yourself in VR†feature, set to launch with more functionality before Christmas.

iPhone sign-ups can also take full advantage of vText, vTimeâ€s private messaging service, which allows you to stay in contact with other users whether theyâ€re online or offline. The networkâ€s recently revamped avatar customisation system is also on offer, featuring billions of bespoke facial combinations to fine-tune your virtual self, and bring more of what makes you unique to the metaverse.

vTime Managing Director Clemens Wangerin said: “vTime has come to define virtual engagement for the huge amount of people who already communicate through our network every hour of every day, and all around the world. Weâ€re fiercely proud of the experience vTime delivers to our users and weâ€re thrilled to bring vTime to iPhone in time for the holidays. Google VR, formerly known as Cardboard, has been a great platform for us since we first launched, and itâ€s a natural evolution to now bring vTime to the other 50% of the mobile ecosystem. Mobile offers the easiest and most accessible onramp to virtual reality, and vTime is a true landmark of what mobile VR is capable of. With VR tipped as one of the top trends this Christmas, the impulse purchase price point of Google VR headsets will introduce another big wave of people to social VR, and weâ€re proud to be the ones welcoming them on iPhone.”

The launch is the first of two major updates in December, with a first birthday update pegged for later this month. As well as a few seasonal surprises and events, new feature vCast will launch with extended functionality. vCast allows every user to create, broadcast, record and publish their content for the entire network in virtual reality. Viewers get to experience events and talks from around the world, both as they happen, and on demand. Already available with limited functionality in early access, vCast democratises VR broadcasting by creating a new channel for podcasts, chat shows, panels and more.

Working over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi, the free app is currently out on Samsung Gear VR, Google VR, iPhone and Oculus Rift (DK2 and CV1). Completely cross platform, vTime will be available on all major VR platforms soon, with details for vTime on Daydream and HTC Vive still to be announced.

Download vTime for iPhone here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vtime/id1047740411?ls=1&mt=8

Explore our sociable network here: www.vtime.net Follow us on Twitter: @vTimeNet Follow us on Facebook: /vTimeNet

About vTime

vTime is the VR sociable network that allows anyone, anywhere to socialize with family and friends and other users in virtual reality. Bringing people together virtually since December 2015, vTime is enjoyed by users in 195 countries.

Experience a growing library of incredible destinations and personalize your avatar as you chat with others in the virtual world. Platform agnostic, vTime supports Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR and iPhone, Oculus Rift (CV1 and DK2), and will add support soon for Daydream and HTC Vive.www.vTime.net

Press release: Registration is now open for the 4th annual OpenSimulator Community Conference

AvaCon is pleased to announce the third annual OpenSimulator Community Conference, to take place virtually on the OpenSimulator Conference Center grid on December 10 and 11, 2016.

The OpenSimulator Community Conference is an annual conference that focuses on the developer and user community surrounding the OpenSimulator software. Organized as a joint production by Core Developers of OpenSimulator and AvaCon , this yearâ€s conference will focus
on the visions for the future and technologies or content today that are shaping the future of the platform. The conference is one concentrated series of talks on the main stage in the areas of Creative, Education, Techie, and Experiential.

“Last yearâ€s conference was a terrific success with more than 600 attendees within the 3D virtual world conference space, and thousands more watching on via live video stream.” said conference organizer Joyce Bettencourt. “This year we hope to build on that success by offering more opportunities for the community to be involved and doing more outreach to attract new users. With all the interest surrounding the Oculus Rift, Vive, and other virtual reality technologies, we want the VR community to know that OpenSimulator is a great platform for building the open metaverse.”

The OpenSimulator Community Conference 2016 features keynotes from core developers of OpenSimulator and others in the virtual reality technology space, along with a series of dynamic short presentations and panels that spotlight the best of the OpenSimulator platform and
community.

Registration for this yearâ€s conference is now open, as well as opportunities to sponsor and exhibit.

Watch a promo video for the conference below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2e8lweakKE

About OpenSimulator

OpenSimulator is an open-source platform that supports the creation of collaborative, immersive, distributed and social 3D virtual environments over the Internet. OpenSimulator software is now the basis for many virtual world “grids” of varying sizes and purposes.

About AvaCon

AvaCon, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the growth, enhancement, and development of the metaverse, virtual worlds, augmented reality, and 3D immersive and virtual spaces. We hold conventions and meetings to promote educational and scientific inquiry into these spaces, and to support organized fan activities, including performances, lectures, art, music, machinima, and much more. Our primary goal is to connect and support the diverse communities and practitioners involved in co-creating and using virtual worlds, and to educate the public and our constituents about the emerging ecosystem of technologies broadly known as the metaverse.

Press release: VisionZ Holiday edition will be available on December 3rd

Holiday events on the hypergrid will be featured in the next edition of the VisionZ magazine, due to hit in-world kiosks on December 3.

“The VisionZ staff will be celebrating the various holiday festivities and we know you will also,” said editor Sunbeam Magic, “so we are combining the November and December issues.”

Magazine racks can be found on 3rdlifegrid.com:8002:EyE eMagine, hypergrid.org:8002:yes we can and hg.osgrid.org:80:Lani, among other locations.

The magazine is also looking for contributors.

“VisionZ is always interested in people who want to tell us about their projects and interests as well as guest writers,” said co-publisher Minetheree Athanasios. “If the hyperverse excites you and you have something positive and interesting to share on a regular basis, please let us know.”

Region owners are also welcome to set out new magazine racks.

“You are free to set a rack out and if you do, please add the hypergrid address in the comments so that people will know where to find it,” said Athanasios. “If you know of interesting places we did not report, please also add it to the comments here.”

The magazine’s main office is located on 3rd Life Grid, at 3rdlifegrid.com:8002:EyE eMagine. Other information can be found here.

Sunbeam Magic recently joined Mal Burns, Maria Korolov and James Atloud on the Inworld Review last Sunday.

Watch the InWorld Review episode with Sunbeam Magic here:

Press release: Space, a new virtual world, launched today with free regions

LONDON — Space, a browser-based virtual world platform from Sine Wave Entertainment, opened to the public after two months of private beta and seven years of development with a free region offer.

“Space is built for the creative community,” said Sine Wave Entertainment CEO Adam Frisby, best known as one of the founders of the open source OpenSimulator virtual world platform. “We were creators, building and selling virtual goods in other virtual worlds. Now we have built the platform we always wanted.”

Space, based on the Unity platform, offers unlimited-size regions with a maximum concurrency of 100 avatars. Users can access Space from all major browsers as well as desktop clients on Windows and Macintosh computers. The company plans to also support Linux, iPad, Android and virtual reality devices in the future.

Early reviews of the platform have been positive.

“I am really impressed with Space,” said Bernhard Drax, the producer and host of Drax Files: World Makers. “Wandering though hundreds of avatars with no lag is insane! This is a must-be world for every digital creative.”

Space also offers the ability to create and design news interactive locations via a Unity-based suite of editing tools.

Sign up for a free creator account here.

The company offers an extensive collection of video tutorials for content creators as well as a documentation Wiki.

“I have tried several platforms,” said Cynthia Stagner, director of the Silicon Valley Media Group. “The Space team knows what we need for education, training and entertainment. It is a dream come true. A one-stop-shop.”

Watch a promotional video about the platform below:

About Sine Wave Entertainment

Sine Wave Entertainment is based in the U.K., with additional offices in Shanghai and Sydney. The company has a long track record of innovation in immersive virtual environments, including significant contributions in the creation and development of the OpenSimulator open source virtual environment platform. The company also started retailing virtual goods in virtual worlds, including IMVU and Second Life, in 2006.

Press release: University of Notre Dame and NextVR Deliver Football in Virtual Reality for the First Time

Legendary collegiate football program teams with leading virtual reality content provider to present highlights from Oct. 15 Notre Dame vs. Stanford game
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — University of Notre Dame football and NextVR, the leader in broadcasting live events in virtual reality, announced they will deliver several virtual reality features from the Oct. 15 Notre Dame vs. Stanford football game at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The virtual reality coverage provides fans with an opportunity to experience highlights of one of the most celebrated football programs in America.

Multiple NextVR virtual reality cameras will surround the field to provide viewers with different angles and vantage points transporting fans onto the sidelines and into the action. NextVR will release several highlight packages throughout the game in virtual reality, concluding each quarter with audio commentary from University of Notre Dame alumnus, Heisman Trophy winner and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Tim Brown and NBC announcers.

Notre Dame and NextVR deliver football in VR for the first time

“We are pleased to be working with NextVR, in conjunction with our long time media partner NBC Sports, to pilot new fan experiences that bring them closer to the action,” said Dan Skendzel, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Media and Branding.

“Our mission is to seek partnerships that will provide fans with unprecedented access,” said Brad Allen, Executive Chairman of NextVR. “Notre Dame fans are among the most passionate in sports, making this relationship a significant milestone for Notre Dame and collegiate football fans.”

In addition, NextVR will offer exclusive content from Brown. Fans can access behind-the-scenes virtual reality game day experiences including tailgating, the Notre Dame player walk to Notre Dame Stadium and other pre-game festivities, all of which will be available on-demand in mid-November.

How to experience the Notre Dame vs. Stanford football highlights in virtual reality

Fans can download the virtual reality experience of the Notre Dame vs. Stanford game on the free NextVR platform for Samsung Gear VR, which is available in the Oculus Home app store. Check the NBC Sports Channel on NextVR for game highlights and additional feature experiences. For more detailed instructions, go to http://www.NextVR.com/GetVR.

About NextVR

NextVR enables the transmission of live, long-form virtual reality content in broadcast quality – leading the way for live and on-demand VR to become a mainstream experience for sporting events, concerts, cinematic productions and more. Launched in 2009, NextVR has more than 36 patents granted or pending for the capture, compression, transmission and display of virtual reality content. NextVR’s platform allows the fully immersive content to be streamed with pristine quality using current home and mobile Internet connections. NextVR was founded by veterans in stereoscopic imaging technology, software development and an award-winning filmmaker. For more information, go to www.nextVR.com.

About Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame’s longstanding historical success in football features 11 consensus national championships captured over the course of six different decades. The Irish title tradition dates back to Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen who collaborated on Notre Dame’s first consensus crown in 1924. The Irish have produced seven Heisman Trophy winners — and no college football program in the country can claim more. Notre Dame has produced more first-team All-Americans (190), consensus All-Americans (99) and unanimous All-Americans (33) than any other program in the nation. The Irish also rank No. 1 all-time in television appearances, as well as No. 2 in victories and all-time Division I winning percentage.

Press release: VisionZ October issue hits stands on Saturday

Halloween is the focus of this monthâ€s issue of VisionZ Hyperverse Magazine due out on Saturday, October 15.

Typically, after a few days, the racks can be found all over the Hyperverse, here are a few key locations, including at 3rdlifegrid.com:8002:EyE eMagine, hypergrid.org:8002:yes we can and hg.osgrid.org:80:Lani.

The racks not only distribute free copies of the issue, but can also be copied themselves and placed on other regions.

“We do this for free because we want to share with people how interesting the Hyperverse is,” said editor Sunbeam Magic, adding that the magazine comes out each month at around this date.

This month, Halloween is the big topic, but there are also other happenings of interest.

“This is also the time for the Oktoberfests,” Magic said. “They can be a lot of fun and often include various activities as well as sight-seeing.”

There is no cost for the publication, which is produced by volunteers.

“We do not sell ads, or in any way get compensated for our efforts,” Magic said. “We do this in the spirit of sharing that so many have paved the way for. The magazine is more of an affair of the heart, our ‘pay it forward’.”

Each issue also includes some silly stuff, she said, such as a cartoon or an article.

There is also a shopping section, a Q&A, and guest contributions.

Ideas are always welcome.

“Feel free to suggest people, regions and events that we can try to fit in the magazine prior to the 10th of each month,” said co-publisher Minetheree Athanasios.

“If being a guest writer interests you and you have something positive and interesting to discuss that is related to the Hyperverse, please let us know,” Athanasios added.

The publication is also looking for regular contributors.

“If you think you would enjoy being on our staff and adding other perspectives, please ask, we like diversity,” said Magic.  “We want to help people to collaborate and meet like-minded people.”

VisionZ started publication in March of 2015 and currently has eight people on the staff. The main office is located on 3rd Life Grid, at 3rdlifegrid.com:8002:EyE eMagine and more information can be found at HG-VisionZ.com and in this overview.

Mal Burns also mentioned the magazine at an InWorld Review show last month, which you can watch below:

“You are free to set a rack out and if you do, please add the hypergrid address in the comments so that people will know where to find it,” said Athanasios. “If you know of interesting places we did not report, please also add it to the comments here.”

Press release: IMAX and ODEON & UCI Cinemas to launch first IMAX VR center in Europe

Groundbreaking Agreement Ushers in Next-Generation of Immersive Entertainment Experiences to ODEONâ€s Printworks Multiplex in England

LONDON – IMAX Corporation today announced an agreement with leading European exhibitor, ODEON & UCI Cinemas Group, to install the first pilot IMAX VR center in Europe at its Printworks multiplex location in Manchester, England. The center, which the parties are planning to open by the end of 2016, will deliver guests immersive, multi-dimensional VR experiences, including entertainment content and games.

The IMAX VR Experience features a unique combination of premium technology that lets users see, feel, move and play in new worlds in a powerfully immersive and realistic way, much like IMAX theatres offer moviegoers a differentiated and best-in-class film experience. IMAX is working with Acer and Starbreeze AB to incorporate next-generation headset-mounted display technology that offers industry-leading resolution and an extra-wide peripheral field of view.

IMAX will provide the centre an ongoing array of new, premium interactive content experiences that are expected to range between 5 and 15 minutes in length each. The Company is in advanced stages with several content developers, including Hollywood studios and gaming publishers, to produce and distribute high-quality VR experiences to its centres. IMAX also plans to eventually incorporate premium content resulting from the cinema-grade virtual reality camera that it is currently developing in partnership with Google.

“For nearly 50 years, IMAXâ€s mission has been to give audiences – of all ages and across generations – a reason to get off their couches and leave the comfort of home to go out to the cinema. Todayâ€s agreement with ODEON marks an important milestone in our continued effort to deliver differentiated entertainment experiences – now through location-based VR,” said IMAX Corp. CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “We are extremely pleased with the significant progress weâ€ve made on this initiative in this short period of time and believe this commitment from such a significant European exhibitor is a testament to the interest and potential of this offering. ODEON is a longtime partner that shares our vision in delivering guests the ultimate in premium experiences and we look forward to ushering in the next evolution of immersive entertainment with this test center.”

The center will employ a new modular design – proprietary to IMAX – that will consist of several “pods” to allow multiple players to enjoy interactive, exciting, moveable VR experiences. The pods, which are designed to optimize user mobility and interaction in virtual environments, can be adapted for specific content experiences – whether single or multi-user.

“Weâ€re always looking for new ways to give our guests an even more immersive experience, so are very excited to be hosting Europeâ€s first IMAX VR centre at ODEON Printworks” said Paul Donovan, CEO of ODEON & UCI Cinemas Group. “We have a longstanding close relationship with IMAX which creates unforgettable experiences in many of our cinemas across Europe, so we are delighted to be alongside them again, at the cutting edge of innovation, to introduce and pilot awesome new technology which will delight our guests.”

IMAX is in the process of launching its first showroom and pilot IMAX VR centre in Los Angeles and is targeting to open additional test facilities in China, Japan, the U.S., the Middle East and Western Europe in the coming months. The Company plans to use these pilot locations to test several factors including the overall customer experience, pricing models and the types of content featured. If successful, the intent is to roll out the concept globally to select multiplexes as well as commercial locations such as shopping centers and tourist destinations.

About IMAX Corporation

IMAX, an innovator in entertainment technology, combines proprietary software, architecture and equipment to create experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seat to a world youâ€ve never imagined. Top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theatres to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and, as such, IMAXâ€s network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe.

IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, with offices in London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. As of June 30, 2016, there were 1,102 IMAX theatres  in 69 countries.

Press release: The World Chess Championship Match 2016 to become the first of any sport to be broadcast in 360-degree Virtual Reality

The World Chess Championship Match, to take place in New York in November of 2016, is to be broadcast live in 360-degree virtual reality, a global first for any sport.

The virtual reality broadcast of the match, which will take place between Magnus Carlsen of Norway and his challenger Sergey Karjakin of Russia, will be exclusively available through Worldchess.com.

“We are proud to announce that chess, one of the oldest sports in the world, is creating a global first — a totally new and immersive way of watching a contest that will captivate hundreds of millions of new and existing fans,” said Ilya Merenzon, the Chief Executive of World Chess by Agon Ltd, the commercial rights holder to the World Chess Championship.

World Chess has teamed up with Livestream to create the unprecedented viewer experience that will place the audience closer to the action than ever before.

As well as the 360-degree video stream there will be a number of other cameras within the players†arena to provide multiple angles on the match.

The online broadcast will include commentary in multiple languages, with guest appearances from celebrity chess fans, a chess analysis engine so viewers can gain an insight into the players†strategic decisions, as well as a host of other features.

“Everything we are doing is designed to enable viewers to get into the minds of the players,” said Merenzon. “This is the first Chess World Championship for the smartphone generation.”

Livestream, the leading provider of live video services, is the broadcasting partner of the Championship Match.

“We are excited to be the streaming partner for the World Chess Championship at a time when the broadcast and overall presentation of the game is being transformed by Agon,” said a spokesperson for Livestream.

Chess fans can sign up to receive the VR broadcast by registering at www.worldchess.com. A season pass for the 12 round Championship Match will cost $15, or $1.25 per game. The pay-per-view model with advanced premium features, such as full 360-degree broadcast, is expected to significantly add to the commercial prospects of chess as a global sport and increase its
appeal to brand partners.

A basic free live broadcast of the Championship Match will also be available to view. It will include a live representation of the game and will be made available to select broadcasting partners and chess federations that agree to join the World Chess affiliate program.

“We are investing into the 360-degree broadcast because we believe that it is a major commercial opportunity for a sport which has required additional revenue streams to fulfill its global potential,” said Merenzon. “The millions of dollars in extra revenue that our new model will bring into the game will be re-invested in player prize money, events in the World
Chess Championship cycle and in grass roots initiatives. But we also want to ensure that as many people as possible can follow the Match and recognize that not everyone is prepared to pay to follow the Championship Match – thatâ€s why we will offer a free broadcast as well.”

The 360-degree virtual reality broadcast will be available to view by anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer or VR device.

“In my opinion, chess has the potential to reach and engage a much broader audience than what we see today,” said Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Champion. “To succeed with this, innovation, and most of all quality in the production and transmission, are key elements.”

The full information about the Championship Match broadcast and subscription options is available at worldchess.com/nyc2016.

About FIDE

The World Chess Federation or Fédération Internationale des Echecs, (FIDE), is recognised by its members and the International Olympic Committee as the international federation in the domain of chess, the supreme body
responsible for the sport of chess and its Championships. FIDE has the sole rights to organize the World Chess Championships and the Chess Olympiads.

About Agon Limited

Agon Limited is the official partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and owner the World Chess brand as well as commercial rights holder to the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle. The company aims to develop and commercialize chess, create favorable environment for partners, players, and brands, and to significantly expand the broadcast coverage of the sport.

About Livestream

Livestream is the only comprehensive livestreaming solution, providing the streaming platform, hardware, studio software, best-in-class support, production services, and analytics to any person or organization with the desire to reach a global audience. Livestream is trusted by over 30,000 customers, from local communities to global brands, and streams over six
million events a year.