More VR Support

We have seen the links in the Sansar Atlas that let you send people to a Sansar Experience. But, once there they meet the hassle of download, install, try to re-find the experience… not good.

Now the Firefox browser supports Rift and Vive. That puts us a step closer to having a clear path from the web into VR.

Read more at Road to VR: Today’s Firefox Update Brings Rift and Vive WebVR Support to Everyone.

Braidon Bay - Catterline - Aerial Photosphere 08-08-2017a
Braidon Bay – Catterline – Aerial Photosphere 08-08-2017a

Google is launching VR support in Chrome for Android and Daydream.

You’ll notice the VR people are assuming you know a lot about VR and they leave a lot out of their writing.

Desk top users, if you want to know if your Firefox is updated or ready to update, open the browser’s HELP and look in ABOUT.

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VR News 2017 w30

Oculus is pushing updates. A beta update is available allowing a user to combine their Oculus and Steam games in one library. That will be handy.

VR User Case

As it is now I have problems getting Stream VR working on my Gear VR. It does not like the Gear VR’s controller. So, I’ll have to get the Beta and see if it relieves the problem. My hope is because Gear VR and the Oculus store are integrated that will carry over to Steam games in the library.

Get More information from Road to VR, Oculus 1.17 Update Will Let You Launch SteamVR Apps From Oculus Home.

Did Photobucket Just Screw You?

An article about a change over at Photobucket just popped up in my news stream. Seems free Photobucket accounts can no longer embed images… you will have to pay for that privilege.

Photobucket – Stopping embedded image service – 2017

But, are they screwing you? No. They have given us free service for years and can no longer afford to do that. So, they have started charging for their service.

If you were/are a Photobucket (PB) user you probably didn’t worry much when you saw this post in PB’s blog.

At Photobucket, we are committed to providing the best experience and services for all of your photo and image needs. We have updated our Terms of Service, effective June 20, 2017. Please take a moment to review our updated terms and policies as they may affect your account.

Yeah… that’s a big effective warning. NOT! Like everyone reads ToS…

There is a longer more informative post here. Since these articles are not dated it is hard to know how much of the user base’s outrage is real and a response to fake-news.

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Oculus Rift Market Traction?

Is Oculus capturing the VR market? No, but may be. A good analysis is at Road to VR: Rift Sale Eases Buyer’s #1 Concern, But All-in Cost Still Hinders Mainstream Traction.

[vrview img=”https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2254/32524369200_5c3ffe5e20_o_d.png” ]

The TL:DR

Simplified, the big road block to mass acceptance is PRICE. The next biggest obstacle is Content Quality.

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Second Life – The 360 Viewer – Add Image Metadata

Taking 360 images is way easier with the new RC viewer. But, figuring out what to do with the image so you can see it is a serious PITA. I’ll give you HOW TO using Photoshop, which is pretty painless, and several other easy ways to make the image usable as a 360-image. The process works in most of the Adobe tools that allow you to access File Info.

First here is my first snapshot with the new viewer.

sl360 Picture - RAW Image
sl360 Picture – RAW Image

It kinda subtle (not), but you might notice this isn’t displaying as a 360-image. The problem is the metadata Flickr needs to know this is a 360 image. It is missing. The Lab is adding that part of the viewer code now. So, the latest version of the Linden 360-Viewer as I write this is version 5.1.0.506743. It stiches the image together for us. But, does not yet add the needed metadata. 

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