How virtual reality is making its way into tourism industry

You can parasail and paddle-board using virtual reality content produced by Florida’s Visit St. Pete/Clearwater Tourism Board. You can land a jet on Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia, then go swimming with tropical fish in the Great Barrier Reef. You can watch the opening song “Circle of Life,” recorded at a live Broadway performance of “The Lion King,” and peer around the theater at everything from the aisles and audience, to the performers and props, to the conductor and backstage. And even if you can’t afford Dubai’s luxury Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel, you can take a 3-D online tour of a royal suite, lobby, helipad, bar, spa, restaurants, marble staircase with cheetah-print carpet and rotating canopy bed.

“VR is taking the world by storm, similar to what mobile did seven years ago,” said Abi Mandelbaum, CEO of YouVisit, which has created over 300 VR experiences for destinations, from Vatican City to Mexico’s Grand Velas Riviera Maya. “Virtual reality is the most realistic experience you can have of a place without being there. It’s powerful. It gets people excited and engaged and interested in having that experience in real life.”

Virtual reality offers immersive, 3-D experiences via videos and images with 360-degree perspectives, using a $100 headset from Samsung or a virtually free cardboard contraption designed by Google. You need your own smartphone, and the $100 headset works only with certain Samsung models. You can also watch VR videos online with a 360-degree view, though they’re not as immersive as using a headset because you’re not shutting out your surroundings.

Whichever your method, by moving the device or cursor in different directions, you can see the sky, the floor, down a hallway or around a corner. Mandelbaum said the average user spends 10 minutes on a VR experience, “an eternity” in the digital world.

Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, created a VR experience to introduce a new ride, Lightning Rod, billed as the “world’s fastest wooden coaster.”

“You can take your phone and spin it up and down, look behind you, to the left or right, to get an idea of what this ride is like,” said Dollywood spokesman Wes Ramey, comparing the VR experience to looking at photos or reviews before booking a trip. “The ride will not open until March, but this builds buzz around it. It gives people an opportunity to ride it virtually before it’s completed.”

Mall of America in Minnesota is launching its first VR videos this month, showing its onsite aquarium, Nickelodeon Universe theme park, Santa exhibit, a shopping wing and a choral performance. Carnival Corp.’s new Fathom brand, which plans voluntourism cruises to the Dominican Republic and Cuba, is working on VR content that shows participants in onshore activities like planting seedlings in a reforestation program, reciting English with school children, dancing to Latin music and sharing a meal with locals.

Because so few consumers own viewing devices, some VR producers set up at trade shows, shopping malls, pop-up stores and even on the street where they can provide the headsets. The Miami-based Newlink public relations firm created a VR experience for the Dominican Republic that can be seen on YouTube in a simple 360-degree version, but the company also showed it at trade shows, supplying VR headsets so viewers could get the full effect. As a marketing technique, said Newlink spokeswoman Lourdes Perez, “it is the next big thing.”

Is there a risk that viewers will be so satisfied by the VR experience that they won’t need to see the real thing? Visitors to Seattle’s Space Needle observatory sometimes focus less on real views of the city out the windows because they’re so mesmerized by virtual views on the observatory’s walls, screens and videos.

But Mandelbaum’s not worried. When YouVisit set up tents in Manhattan where more than 1,000 visitors used VR headsets to experience a Carnival cruise, “the reactions were incredible. They would say, ‘I didn’t know I could do all that on a cruise.’ Once they see what it’s like, they’re more inclined to book.”

Blueair unveils Pro XL air purifier at Rs 1,50,000

Blueair has announced the launch of Blueair Pro XL air purifier at Rs 1,50,000. The Blueair Pro is an addition to company’s Pro series – Pro L and Pro M- priced at Rs 1,10,000 and Rs 80,000 respectively. The models are designed for different room sizes.

Blueair’s flagship Pro XL can purify a room as large as 1180 square feet of impurities such as PM2.5 dust particles, chemicals and viruses every 12 minutes. The company says that the device cleared smoke at 800 cubic feet per minute (cfm), dust at 950 cfm and pollen at 900 cfm during testing.

“As outdoor air pollution hits outrageously high levels in cities across the world, research confirms Blueair’s contribution towards helping people stay healthy and at optimal immunity in the home and at work regardless of outside or inside air contamination,” Bengt Rittri, Founder and CEO of Blueair said.

Blueair Pro XL comes with HEPASilentTM technology, which can purify the air without making any noise. It also has an ‘Air Intelligence Module’ that automatically adjusts air purification performance depending on the amount of pollutants in the air.

ENRG launches smart fitness band Actiwear at Rs 2,999

ENRG has announced Actiwear, a smart fitness band that can track workouts, amount of calories burned, distance travelled and sleeps patterns. It is a sleek band priced at Rs 2,999 and is available at http://www.enrg.in, Amazon and Shopclues.

Must Read: The billion dollar club of Indian startups: From Flipkart to Shopclues

The device features a OLED touch screen. It is Bluetooth enabled and users can also keep a tab on messages and incoming calls through real-time notifications. It is compatible with both Android and iOS. The company says that the battery in Actiwear can last up to five days.

Actiwear is water resistant and comes with the sedentary alerts features, which sends alerts about when users are completely inactive. It shows date, time, distance in km and calories. Actiwear comes with camera control capability and contact notifications display on the screen.

Panasonic SC-HTB3GW-K Soundbar launched in India at Rs 4,190

Panasonic has launched SC-HTB3GW-K Soundbar, a bass-reflex multi speaker unit at Rs 4,190. The 20W speaker comes with metallic punch hole front grill and chrome finished sides.

Must Read: Netflix: Here is the complete list of TV shows, movies you can watch in India

Ashish Sasidharan, Product Head, Consumer Electronics, Panasonic India, said, “In its unrelenting pursuit of providing an enriching experience to music enthusiasts, Panasonic India has introduced SC-HTB3GW-K Soundbar in India. The Soundbar has compact powerful and clear vocal features which lets the listeners to get immersed in enjoyment while watching their favorite movie, show and game.”

Photos: Coolpad Note 3 Lite: Check out the 5-inch Note 3 phone with fingerprint scanner

It features separate controls for voice and bass. The master volume supports easy-to-use feature through its remote control. The speaker is equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology, which allows integration of TV with smartphone, tablet or other compatible devices.

Apple iPad Pro is nothing more than a companion device: Microsoft

Microsoft was one of the initial partners during Apple’s giant iPad Pro launch. The company took to the stage alongside Apple’s Phil Schiller to demonstrate it’s Office productivity tool undermining the fact that iPad Pro is direct competitor to Surface Pro range of devices.

Read: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 finally arrives in India at a starting price of Rs 89,990

Now, Microsoft has now come out with a statement which calls the iPad Pro as little more than a companion device. Even the reviews for Apple’s iPad Pro were mixed. Critics called it great but not a must buy like original iPhone and original iPad.

According to Forbes, a CES executive has called Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 as a more complete device than iPad Pro. While Surface Pro 4 can handle desktop class applications like Adobe Premiere, on the iPad Pro there is only a lite version called Adobe Fix.

Must Read: Netflix India: Here is the complete list of TV shows, movies

Microsoft says Surface Pro is a full PC while iPad Pro isn’t a computer. Interestingly Apple even made a stylus called Pencil for iPad Pro but developers are yet to take great advantage of it.

Even at the time of writing the best app to ever take advantage of stylus on digital canvas is StaffPad. Arguably the best music writing app is still a Microsoft Surface exclusive.

Microsoft says Surface Pro is a full PC while iPad Pro isn’t a computer.

Also Read: Coolpad Note 3 Lite launched at Rs 6,999: One of the cheapest phones to offer fingerprint scanner 

Apple started selling iPad Pro just this November so it’d be just too early to call it a failure or failed product. Like other Apple products, developers could write great and powerful apps for the device and make it a grand success.

Of course, this is not the first time that we’ve seen Apple and Microsoft come together in the recent past. At the September launch of the new iPhones and the iPad Pro, Apple had sprung a surprise addition to its list of speakers with Microsoft’s Kirk Koenigsbauer making an appearance to talk about the productivity side of the iPad Pro.

RUSSIAN HACKERS SHUT DOWN UKRAINE’S POWER GRID

As many as 80,000 residents in western Ukraine lost power for 6 hours on December 23. Cybersecurity firms SANS ICS and iSight Partners have attributed the blackout to Russian hacking group Sandworm and its malicious software, BlackEnergy 3.

Cyberattacks on power grids and other critical infrastructure are not new, but this most recent attack seems to be the first use of cyber as a weapon with kinetic effects during an ongoing conflict, highlighting the growing importance of cybersecurity.

While an analysis of the cyberattack is ongoing, BlackEnergy 3 has a history of targeting information control systems.

For the Prikarpattiaoblenergo electric company in Ukraine, the malware and its subcomponent KillDisk shut down computer operating systems, which in turn ended up shutting down the local electrical grid. Hackers also sought to make it impossible for customers to report electrical issues to the electric company by blocking out the company’s phone system.

There may be other businesses that have been affected by BlackEnergy 3, as certain malware can have cascading effects. Luckily, the reported effects of the cyberattack have so far been relatively short-term.

Cyberattacks against Ukrainian, EU and NATO officials in 2014 have been attributed to the samehacking team. Hackers in Russia have a tendency to set their sights on areas most relevant to Russian foreign policy—in Ukraine’s case, the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and ongoing Russian-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

BlackEnergy 3 wouldn’t be the first successful cyberattack that’s had kinetic damage (outside an ongoing regional conflict)—and it may not be the last.

Recent news reports highlight the continued efforts of hackers, such as those from Iran, to gain information on critical infrastructure in order to cause damage—for example, the cybertheft of passwords and blueprints from a number of power plants or illicit access to dam control systems.

Critical infrastructure may be targeted by those such as hacktivists, nation states or state sympathizers, or domestic and international businesses.

Disrupting critical infrastructure control systems to the point of causing kinetic damage is no easy task. It takes knowledge of both the operating systems used and the spokes and cogs that run the machine. But as cyberattackers and malware grow and evolve at a very rapid pace, and malicious actors gain access to blueprints, operating manuals and resources from those interested in causing damage, the risk of a successful attack increases.

While the power outage in Ukraine was short-lived, there will be serious implications of similar successful attacks. The hackers, while said to be within Russia, also have international ties.

It’s important for the U.S. and the international cybercommunity to work together to prevent cyberattacks of this type.

Scientists propose a device that can create detectable gravitational field

Scientists have proposed a thoroughgoing device which they say could create detectable gravitational field, an advance that may change physics and shake up Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Until now, a scientific advance like this was a dream of science fiction, but it could open up many new applications such as telecommunications with gravitational waves that would allow calling the other side of the world without going through satellite or terrestrial relays, researchers said.

At present, scientists study gravitational fields passively. They observe and try to understand existing gravitational fields produced by large inertial masses, such as stars or Earth, without being able to change them as is done, for example, with magnetic fields.

This led Andre Fuzfa from Namur University in Belgium to attempt a revolutionary approach – creating gravitational fields at will from well-controlled magnetic fields and observing how these magnetic fields could bend space-time.

In his study, Fuzfa has proposed, with supporting mathematical proof, a device with which to create detectable gravitational fields. The device is based on superconducting electromagnets and therefore relies on technologies routinely used, for example, at CERN.

Although this experiment would require major resources, it could be used to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity. If successful, it would be a major step forward in physics – the ability to produce, detect and, ultimately, control gravitational fields, researchers said.

People could then produce gravitational interaction in the same way as the other three fundamental interactions (eg electromagnetic and strong and weak nuclear forces), ushering gravitation into a new experimental and industrial era.

The research was published in the journal Physical Review