In a time of self-quarantines and social distancing, startups and apps are bringing forth the potential of the digital aspect of our lives. From meeting coworkers using 3D avatars in meetings to touring museums in the comfort of your home, the possibilities of virtualization are endless. All you need to have is a gadget connected to good old internet next to you, to deal with your chaotic thoughts with productive platforms. Moreover what better time to escape into virtual reality than an ongoing pandemic?
Crux of the Matter
Reel Conferences That Feel Real Wouldn’t it be great to meet someone’s virtual avatar moving around and shaking hands with you, without using a hand sanitizer? Well, Spatial is a workspace startup that enables people to meet through virtual reality (VR). The setup lets the 3D avatars of participants with headsets interact with the 2D webcam feeds of those without headsets. Initially, it aimed to serve those in offices to connect with remote team members around the globe and give them a real-time office environment. Now the experience has been made free due to the understandable rise of remote working in the pandemic
Going to Virtual Meditation Retreats In times of this crisis, people stuck with dealing their stress on their own at home, are finding themselves inclined towards meditation apps like Headspace. This popular mindfulness company targets the work-from-home crowd, educators and healthcare professionals and provides calmness techniques, sleep-inducing music, and movement exercises for relaxation.
Headspace is now free for unemployed Americans. Even if you're taking care of your physical health during this pandemic, it's also important to take care of your mental health, too. Headspace announced that its subscription will be free for a year for all unemployed Americans. pic.twitter.com/eSBol0I5k3 — Time Screen (@TimeScreen1) May 18, 2020
Online Fitness Classes, Indoor Gym Experience Bangalore based fitness startup cure.fit’s cult.fit division is helping customers boost their endorphins by allowing them to take workout classes at home, without any equipment. Being free of cost, this platform streams live classes every day by celebrity enthusiasts from the entertainment and sports industry to strengthening experts. Similarly, Fittr from Pune is building an online community of engaged fitness enthusiasts from scratch. Along with dance sessions, the arena also answers queries on food habits and healthy living habits.
Loving @BeCureFit's LIVE classes. Was never sure abt online classes fearing I wouldn't be able to commit. But been regular for 6 weeks now & will def. continue online post COVID. HUGE opportunity for other online fitness influencers to build their own user base https://t.co/c4jiSbdRfv — Joel DSouza (@joelsimondsouza) May 14, 2020
Augmented Reality Museum Tours Last year, the world’s most visited museum, Louvre was in the paparazzi limelight for being more overcrowded than ever. Now when travel has come to a standstill in the lockdown, Google Arts & Culture is providing virtual tours that enable visitors at home to get a private tour without having to brush by anyone’s shoulders. Following suit, operators of tourist attractions are busy providing the worldwide audience with a glimpse of historical sites, national parks, and theme park rides online. Back at home, an initiative of the Ministry Of Tourism, Incredible India is letting citizens witness the national museum artifacts using 360-degree street panoramas.
Take a virtual tour of DC museums to keep the learning going. https://t.co/GLwGLZeVPo #DCtogether — washingtondc (@washingtondc) May 18, 2020
Manipal Museum of Anatomy and Pathology featuring human & animal specimens
Contact Tracing Mechanisms Aarogya Setu App, a Bluetooth-based COVID-19 tracker app has been launched by the Government of India in order to inform the users of the app regarding the risks, best practices, and relevant advisories pertaining to the containment of COVID-19. It fetches the user location at the time of registration, self-assessment, when the user submits his contact tracing data voluntarily through the App or when a user has turned COVID-19 positive.
Have a feeling many Western democracies will eventually adopt Aarogya Setu or a variant. Contact tracing, telemedicine, pandemic info in one app for all citizens. And green codes, which are like passport + vaccination certificate. Without it can’t travel.https://t.co/g264QfTQTU — Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) May 11, 2020
Curiopedia
The term virtual reality was coined in 1987 by Jaron Lanier, whose research and engineering contributed a number of products to the nascent VR industry. Lanier left Atari in 1985 to found VPL Research, Inc., the first company to sell VR goggles and gloves.
Niantic, Inc. is an American software development company based in San Francisco, which is best known for developing augmented reality mobile games. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015. Some of the games by Niantic Inc. are Ingress, Pokémon Go, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
In July 2015, Oneplus launched its flagship Oneplus 2 through a first of its kind VR launch event. Using 360-degree video technology, the launch was presented by Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus as he talked about the company’s ideas and methodology behind its latest smartphone.
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