Tribeca Film Festival to stage immersive set after earlier postponement

The Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan is no longer fully postponing its event - at least virtually, anyway.

The festival is reviving part of its virtual reality (VR)-focused Immersive programme after it was initially postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic by releasing fifteen of the VR short films it had chosen as a part of this year’s festival as free downloads on Facebook's Oculus Quest and Oculus Go headsets.

A statement from the festival read: "While New York...

6 April 2020 | Brands

ASICS goes to VR for latest product launch

ASICS has launched three new innovative sports shoes: METARACER, METARISE, and METASPRINT, all launched in Sunrise Red colour scheme. The shoes, which were originally planned to reveal at ASICS Innovation Summit in Tokyo, have been previewed in VR, so that the media, athletes and shoppers can experience the range up close and personal – in the virtual innovation lab of the ASICS Institute of Sport Science.

The Kobe ASICS Institute of Sport Science comprises of scientists,...

1 April 2020 | Advertising

Porsche introduces VR experience for customers to explore new Taycan model

Porsche has announced the launch of the Taycan VR Experience, which aims to let customers view the new Porsche Taycan model up close and even under the bodywork by making use of VR goggles.

Customers can trace the contours of the latest model by wearing the goggles, as well as experience the Porsche styling for themselves.

Robert Ader, head of customer relations at Porsche said: “The Taycan is the beginning of a new era at Porsche – and it is only appropriate...

12 March 2020 | Brands

All Nippon Airways to introduce VR safety training to enhance risk prediction and worker safety

Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced that it will soon be introducing virtual reality (VR) training designed to help its mechanics predict future risks and also improve safety in all aspects of aircraft operation.

According to the company, the latest VR Safety Training System will make use of 3D simulations of work environments in order to build real-world scenarios based on common work-related accidents. Those workers who would be participating in the VR training...

10 March 2020 | Brands

NexTech AR collaborates with Poplar over new brand advertising initiative

NexTech AR Solutions has joined hands with UK-based AR collaborative platform Poplar wherein the latter will utilise NexTech AR’s advanced WebAR technology, while NexTech AR would leverage Poplar’s brand new AR campaign creation platform.

David Ripert, CEO and co-founder of Poplar and ex-head of YouTube Spaces, EMEA, at Google, said: “We are thrilled to become partners with NexTech AR, whose web-based 3D visualisation tool will empower our global AR creator...

11 February 2020 | Advertising

Pinterest launches AR feature to allow users to virtually try on shades of lipstick

Pinterest has introduced a new AR feature that enables users to try and apply different shades of lipsticks virtually on their smartphone application.

Dubbed as Try On, the application is the first AR filter on the social networking site’s mobile application that will build on its other product discovery tools, such as visual search that can match items in a picture to product catalogues.

To allow its users to “try on” a variety of lipstick shades,...

30 January 2020 | Advertising

Accenture and Qualcomm collaborate to pilot extended reality product for event planning

Accenture and Qualcomm Technologies have partnered with InterContinental Hotels Group to assess a solution that uses augmented and virtual reality to reinvent the event planning experience.

Accenture’s extended reality (XR) practice has developed the XR Event Planner solution in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, which will place event planners, buyers and hotel sales staff side-by-side in a virtual reconstruction of an event space, allowing them to remotely envision...

24 January 2020 | Applications

PwC predicts AR and VR to add $4.1 billion into UAE economy by 2030

A recent study by PwC has predicted that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will together add $4.1 billion into the UAE economy by 2030, which will enhance the country’s GDP by 1%.

It says that AR and VR would significantly influence employment in the UAE, which will generate over 42,000 jobs in the country over the next decade.

Ali Al Hosseini, chief digital officer at PwC Middle East, said: “AR and VR technologies will improve how organisations in...

13 January 2020 | AR

Mastercard reveals new augmented reality app to show card benefits to users

Mastercard has revealed its latest augmented reality (AR) app that aims to allow cardholders to see, explore and access the various benefits of their credit card.

The app, announced at CES last week, offers a photorealistic AR experience to its users taking them to a 360-degree virtual environment, where a series of interactive portals brings their card benefits to life. It was found in the ‘J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study’ that rewards continue to...

13 January 2020 | Advertising

Abu Dhabi culture and tourism department secures world record for largest AR screen

Abu Dhabi has been awarded the Guinness World Record for installing the world’s largest augmented reality (AR) screen in London.

The AR screen, which used the Piccadilly Lights digital billboard and ran across 5,904 square feet, captured images of people near the statue of Eros in the city’s Piccadilly Circus and placed them digitally by using 3D AR overlays, among some of Abu Dhabi’s most famous tourism landmarks.

Ali Al Shaiba, acting executive director of...

3 January 2020 | AR