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    Consumer Electronics Topic Type Video

    Better Living Through Virtual Reality

    Seniors in Minneapolis pilot a virtual reality program for wellness

    Harry Goldstein
    Celia Gorman
    30 Mar 2018
    gadgets medical devices audio gaming type:video virtual reality wellness apps elder care wellness VR 360 video

    Residents settle into swivel chairs in a beauty shop on the campus of Ebenezer, a senior living community in the heart of the Minneapolis, Minn. They strap on Samsung Gear VR headsets. With a couple of clicks on the side of their goggles, they are transported to Stonehenge. Or find themselves sitting on the deck of a paddle boat cruising down the Mississippi River. Or standing on stage with violinist and vocalist Gaelynn Lea as she sings a haunting ballad.

    Some rock back and forth in their chairs, narrating aloud the scene in which they find themselves. Some squeal in delight. Others fall totally silent, craning their necks this way and that, immersed in a new experience.

    They’re all part of a virtual reality for wellness pilot overseen by Joel Prevost, the administrator for Ebenezer’s Minneapolis campus, and Chris Mangold, Ebenezer’s lifelong learning coordinator.

    “We focused on a group of around 30 seniors who would be part of the original study,” Prevost explained. These residents experienced virtual reality twice a week for one month, in sessions that lasted about 10 minutes each. Once a week, participants were asked about their feelings of wellness. About 90 percent of the pilot participants reported increased feelings of relaxation and well-being that lasted long after their VR session was over.

    The startup behind the trial, Minneapolis-based Visual, provided the mobile phone-based VR rig, which comes loaded with their proprietary software  that allows the residents to click through a menu of scenarios. That menu features content created by Visual in the last year with partners like Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Opera, USA Dance, and the comedy venue Brave New Workshop.

    It’s not exactly Ready Player One’s OASIS virtual world. The VR experience itself is limited to 360-degree videos that let the user look around a scene. But it’s enough to give the residents a taste of what VR can do.

    “You feel like you’re part of [the scene],” says Ebenezer resident David Zimmer. “And it’s real easy to forget that you’re sitting in a chair looking through some goggles.”

    The spillover effects from the VR experience surprised Visual’s president Esra Kucukciftci and founder/CEO Chuck Olsen. “People were more likely to socialize with friends and family—we presume because they had something to talk about that’s not, like, who broke their hip. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, did you go to the Louvre?’” says Olsen.

    Speaking to a reporter, several enthusiastic participants expressed a desire for Visual to make the 360-degree experience a true VR environment, where they could interact with what they see and potentially with avatars of other residents or family and friends outside of Ebenezer.

    Visual is exploring the development of a true VR experience, which Olsen says will take much more powerful VR computers and headsets. For now, the company is focused on making their current product more social.

    “Step one will be, everyone is seeing the same content at the same time and can talk to each other,” says Olsen. “We want to do avatars, but that adds a lot of processing overhead that would be taxing to the devices, so that’s the next step.”

    As for the residents of Ebenezer, they will continue to have access to Visual’s wellness VR package and equipment that can take them out of their community in the frozen North and transport them to places they might otherwise only dream of seeing in reality.

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    360 Video: Zoom Over Zanzibar With Tanzania’s Drone Startups

    Come along for the ride as drones soar over the farms and schools of Tanzania

    Evan Ackerman
    Evan Ackerman is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Since 2007, he has written over 6,000 articles on robotics and technology. He has a degree in Martian geology and is excellent at playing bagpipes.
    Michael Koziol

    Michael Koziol is an associate editor at IEEE Spectrum where he covers everything telecommunications. He graduated from Seattle University with bachelor's degrees in English and physics, and earned his master's degree in science journalism from New York University.

    Eliza Strickland

    Eliza Strickland is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum, where she covers AI, biomedical engineering, and other topics. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

    09 May 2019
    6:56
    Photo: IEEE Spectrum
    drones gadgets type:video East Africa drones mapping Tanzania Africa delivery drones 360 video

    With 360-degree video, IEEE Spectrum puts you aboard drones that are flying high above the Tanzanian landscape: You’ll ride along as drones soar above farms, towns, and the blue expanse of Lake Victoria. You’ll also meet the local entrepreneurs who are creating a new industry, finding applications for their drones in land surveying and delivery. And you’ll get a close-up view from a bamboo grove as a drone pilot named Bornlove builds a flying machine from bamboo and other materials.

    You can follow the action in a 360-degree video in three ways: 1) Watch on your computer, using your mouse to click and drag on the video; 2) watch on your phone, moving the phone around to change your view; or 3) watch on a VR headset for the full immersive experience.

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    Robotics Topic Type Special Reports Video

    360 Video: Go on a Mission With Zipline’s Delivery Drones

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    Evan Ackerman
    Evan Ackerman is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Since 2007, he has written over 6,000 articles on robotics and technology. He has a degree in Martian geology and is excellent at playing bagpipes.
    Michael Koziol

    Michael Koziol is an associate editor at IEEE Spectrum where he covers everything telecommunications. He graduated from Seattle University with bachelor's degrees in English and physics, and earned his master's degree in science journalism from New York University.

    Eliza Strickland

    Eliza Strickland is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum, where she covers AI, biomedical engineering, and other topics. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

    06 May 2019
    IEEE Spectrum
    drones type:video East Africa drones Rwanda delivery drones Zipline 360 video

    With 360 video, IEEE Spectrum takes you behind the scenes with one of the world’s first drone-delivery companies. Zipline, based in California, is using drones to deliver blood to hospitals throughout Rwanda. At an operations center in Muhanga, you’ll watch as Zipline technicians assemble the modular drones, fill their cargo holds, and launch them via catapult. You’ll see a package float down from the sky above a rural hospital, and you’ll get a closeup look at Zipline’s ingenious method for capturing returning drones.

    You can follow the action in a 360-degree video in three ways: 1) Watch on your computer, using your mouse to click and drag on the video; 2) watch on your phone, moving the phone around to change your view; or 3) watch on a VR headset for the full immersive experience.

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    A Techie’s Tour of New York City

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    Stephen Cass is the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum. He currently helms Spectrum's Hands On column, and is also responsible for interactive projects such as the Top Programming Languages app. He has a bachelor's degree in experimental physics from Trinity College Dublin.

    17 Oct 2018
    A Techie's Tour Of NYC
    www.youtube.com
    type:video New York City DIY tourism videos rockets Nikola Tesla history technology events hackerspace new york city nikola tesla nyc tourist video nyc tourist guide tech tour nyc video nyc tech tour

    Do your travel plans include New York City? Are you a techie? If the answer to those questions is yes, let IEEE Spectrum be your guide! We've put together a list of some of our favorite places to visit, including important locations in the history of electrotechnology (New York was once the center of the electrical and electronic world) and places where fun and interesting things are happening today. See where Nikola Tesla lived, check out cutting-edge artists working with technology, or take the kids to see an Atlas and Titan rocket.

    All the locations are accessible via the subway, and many are free to visit. If you do visit, take a selfie and post a link in the comments below.

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    © Copyright 2022 IEEE — All rights reserved. A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.