Beyond Today's VR Gear

Improbable Insights

Let's take a break for photography for a day, though this topic is peripherally related, as we do mention VR cameras briefly. Oh, yeah, and my Nikon D500 should be in my hot little hands by the time this posts. So we've got a bit about photography in our Tools discussion. Meaning People are receiving their first wave units of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. But what's next for virtual reality? Will the hype and interest hold on long enough for better gear to make its way into the product pipeline? Will we ever have a holodeck? And what about wiring your brain right into the net? Eric and I bat ideas back and forth furiously as we think on what next gen VR and beyond really means. Will augmented reality and virtual reality eventually merge? How can we make VR audio better? What about including senses beyond sight and hearing? The future looks amazing, but also fraught with likely dead ends and disappointed users. Tools Eric's been fooling around a lot with maker tools, to the point of learning how to sew. But he's also building his own LED lighting, trying to improve his soldering technique, and tinkering with an older Amrel programmable DC power supply. Oh, yeah, and his HTC Vive should be in his hands as you read this. My Nikon D500 body is slated to arrive this week, and I'm eager to try out all these shiny new lenses. I've also taken delivery of a Lexar 2000x (280MB/s write) 64GB SD card and a Sony 64GB 2nd gen XQD card. I've downloaded both Nikon D500 manuals (the standard manual and the 200+ page menu guide). Now all I need is the body itself. Fun So I ragequit out of an XCOM2 Ironman game. My squad triggered a party of enemies apparently standing in the sky. I'm guessing they were standing just above the skybox. They could shoot my party, but none of my shots would connect, despite the enemies looking completely in the open. Thanks for the bugs, Firaxis! I've also started up Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. It's too early to draw any real conclusions, but it appears deeper than I expected. Finally, the classic two-player board game of cold war conflict, Twilight Struggle, is now out in electronic format, on Windows, iOS, and Android. The AI is pretty decent and the game also supports online play. You really should give this one a try; it's superb. Eric's reading Hieroglyph: Stories, a collection of science fiction stories with positive messages, plus he's returning to Seveneves, determined to finish this time. We also discuss just how sublime the Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack is. On the gaming front, he's been on a Terraria kick with his son, Nick, who may finally be surpassing Dad in the game. The writing is on the wall...