Thursday, February 23, 2017

Virtuality Reality is Still a Teaser for Apple

There's an increasing number of 360 videos embedded in Web sites and I wouldn't care much except one of them is Russia Today which I read quite a bit.  Since it has seemed to be growing, I figured I would take another look to see if support for it on a Mac is any better.

The punchline is Oculus Rift is still about $600 and still doesn't work on a Mac so the geeky headset is out for desktop Macs.

You can use a geeky VR headset with an iPhone but not an iPad and this takes hipster to the outer limits since the iPhone is teeny tiny to fit in your pocket.  So where do you put that clumsy VR headset as you're wandering about but not using it.  Does the mobile convenience mean you can use it in the park where you can put on the headset so you can't see the park anymore.

The technology is exceptionally iffy but there are many headsets for twenty to forty dollars for use with teeny tiny systems.  It's odd that development proceeds quickly there for devices which are designed for movement while there's relatively little for devices which are not.


There is 5KPlayer for MacOS and it's a free program which permits downloading 360 video from YouTube such that the player can view it.  That seems a cunningly awkward way to look at anything so more review of the program is needed.  There are others to review as you like.  (Digiarty:  Best Five 360 Video Players for 360 Degree Videos Playback)

It seems the software will display 360 video in some kind of 2D matrix which sounds like a whole lot of hassle for not much.  That remains to be seen and I'll pursue it further.


It's unusual that the Mac desktop environment seems to be the orphan stepchild since it's been years since Oculus but still nada for Mac.  Regardless of your opinion of Macs, there are millions of them so it seems myopic for business to ignore that market but that looks like the situation.  I didn't look any harder for a VR headset for Mac after Oculus since that one goes for $600.  It's not likely there will one for much less than that or Oculus would have collapsed.

The phenomenon isn't worth $600 to me since it makes video like a cruise ship in terms of being a captive.  I don't like the concept at all of that level of withdrawal from reality.  Even in a moviehouse with everything focused toward watching the movie, we're still generally aware of our surroundings.  With those VR headsets, you're even using noise-canceling headphones to make the immersion as complete as possible but that also implies a total withdrawal from reality.

Even LSD doesn't go that far since reality will be warped visually and mentally but you're still in it while you're trippin' and you're participating in it even if in ways inexplicable to those around you.


Ed:  right, so we're all going to die because of VR video?

The situation may not carry quite so much melodrama but it has potential since the risk isn't death but becoming egregiously boring as the risk of ever socializing with one's fellow humans gets steadily more distant.  Timothy Leary didn't suggest 'tuning out' and yet they're doing it coast to coast, apparently in increasing numbers judging by the spread of 360 videos.

Ed:  is this a revisit to the Plague of Complacence theme?

The very same.  They do the same thing with their iPhones in which they constantly dicker with the electronic Universe but that's at the expense of the real one.  When they do that in a movie theater, I wonder why they went to the movie in the first place if it's not their wish to be fully engaged.

Ed:  it's not possible to get any more fully engaged with a movie than with a VR headset!

The Rockhouse thinking is that's gone from one extreme to another.  Engagement at that level with the movie means there's detachment from reality and there's also detachment in endlessly dickering with the electronic Universe while ignoring the movie.

Ed:  it's great for porno!

I don't see why except maybe you would need the ability to look forward and back / up and down when you're having sex with the Fifty-Foot Woman but otherwise probably not.  It might be useful for watching "Caligula" but I've never made it that far in trying to watch it since it has an easy win for Too Twisted for Me.


The general Rockhouse review just now is I would have thought about paying twenty or so for a headset since then I could watch the 360 videos on RT but otherwise the technology can wait.  It still looks like a high level of chaos just now.

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