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-Joe Dysart
VR Monthly
Virtual Reality Monthly: DIGEST
July 1995
Copyright 1995. All rights reserved. Virtual Reality Monthly and The
Dysart Group.
Welcome to "Virtual Reality Monthly: DIGEST," a monthly online
abstract of the 16-page, hard copy version available from The Dysart
Group.
Designed for the busy professional, "Virtual Reality Monthly: The
World Market's Window on VR" (ISSN 1082-8257) features
insightful, crisply worded articles offering readers the inside track
on the most important developments in every major facet of the
burgeoning VR industry.
What follow's is a sampling of the kind of coverage we offer - as well
as all the info you'll need to subscribe to the hard copy version.
For a free sample of a complete issue of "Virtual Reality Monthly,"
simply email the Editor at: dysart@delphi.com Please include your
business address, phone and fax.
Virtual Reality Monthly: DIGEST
July 1995
VR STILL STRUGGLING FOR "BIG BREAK"
Dreamy eyed VR artists and discerning investors alike were treated
to a harsh dose of reality this May at VRWorld '95 in San Jose, as
VR industry analyst Dr. John N. Latta described an industry that has
yet to live up to its potential in his "State of the Industry Talk."
"Keep in mind, we're five years into VR, and it still hasn't launched
the way people had hoped it would," Latta said. Indeed, evaluating
the remainder of 1995, Latta saw no major breakthroughs in the
offing that would give the industry the jumpstart it needs.
Fortunately, the prognosis for 1996 and beyond is considerably
rosier.
(Full text of article: 1,223 words; includes state of industry chart)
SHAKE-OUT AHEAD FOR VR CENTERS
Operators of VR entertainment centers - the first wave of dreamers
and entrepreneurs that brought VR technology to the masses -
should begin bracing themselves for an industry shake-out.
"The number of players really hasn't changed," says Dr. John N.
Latta, president of Alexandria, VA-based 4th Wave, a VR and high
technology consulting firm. "And unfortunately, a number of major
players are hitting some rough spots."
(Full text of article: 832 words)
VRML: SEEDS OF AN INTERNET REVOLUTION
During the coming year, the Internet's World Wide Web will be
undergoing a revolution. Some may consider that a bit ironic, since
the Web is already considered revolutionary. But apparently, many
of those who have been cruising the Web awhile see no reason why
cyberspace cannot replicate real life more closely, and be rendered
in VR.
So they've invented VRML
Short for Virtual Reality Modeling Language, VRML is going to make
3D on the Net ubiquitous by the Spring of 1995, according to Tony
Parisi, president of San Francisco-based InterVista - and one of the
primary developers behind VRML.
(Full text of article: 867 words)
VR'S PROMISE: INCLUDING THE DISABLED
While most of the VR currently reaching the consumer market can in
many ways be seen as a compelling dalliance, VR for a certain
sector of that market - the disabled - has the potential to be truly
liberating. For Dr. Harry J. Murphy, founder and director of the
Northridge, California-based Center on Disabilities, turning that
promise into a reality has become something of a personal cause.
The catalyst behind the upcoming Third Annual, International
Conference, Virtual Reality and Persons With Disabilities, Murphy
has essentially assumed the role of the disabled's ambassador to
the VR community.
(Full text of article: 827 words)
NO 'BLOWOUT PRICE' FOR COMPELLING VR
As in most sectors of business and industry, VR is turning more
than a few heads in the advertising world. But while some firms
have been bold enough to begin playing around with the technology,
many more are hanging back. Apparently the more timid are a little
overwhelmed by the wonder of it all. And most are not exactly doing
cartwheels after they take a gander at the price tag.
"Custom programming alone starts at $125,000 - and goes up to
astronomically expensive," says Candy Korman, director of
business development with Brooklyn-based CyberEvent Group.
"Plus, a lot of ad agency people I've spoken to are intimated by the
process of creating a VR experience. The trick is understanding the
non-linear aspects of VR. And in the advertising world, that's an
enormous, cognitive leap."
(Full text of article: 878 words)
TORPEDOING SUBMARINE DESIGN COSTS
Used to be, Electric Boat would build full-scale, 600-foot long
wooden prototypes of submarines - over and over and over again -
until the U.S. Department of Defense agreed the design was just
right, and real construction could begin.
Now, Electric Boat simply does it all in VR.
(Full text of article: 863 words)
WAR GAMES BECOME LIFESAVERS
War games simulators designed to train U.S. forces to vanquish
enemy forces are being retooled to save lives in hurricanes and
tropical storms.
Spearheaded by the U.S. Army, the project is the first venture of
Project Plowshares - a $6.5 million technology program aimed at
finding peaceful uses for tools of war.
(Full text of article: 683 words)
NASA EVALUATING EXTRATERRESTRIAL VR
As Voyager I hurtles through space, NASA scientists are depicting
all of its vital signs in 3D with a hybrid VR program expected to
forever change the way the agency monitors spacecraft.
Still under evaluation, the Cyberspace Data Monitoring System
enables flight controllers to 'fly over' 3D graphic representations o f
Voyager I's subsystems, and zoom in for a closer look when trouble
spots flare up.
(Full text of article: 692 words)
ALSO FEATURED IN THE JULY 1995 ISSUE OF VR MONTHLY:
More than 20 breaking news shorts written in "Wall Street Journal" style
on these VR movers and shakers:
-Electronic Entertainment Expo Wrap-up
-Digital World Wrap-up
-Studio 3DO
-Paramount
-Dollywood
-Atari
-Division
-Nintendo
-Interplay Productions
-Loooking Glass Technologies
-Sci
-IBM
-Microsoft
-Virtual I-O
-Steven Spielberg
-Childrobics
-Fun Zone
-CyberMind
-Forte Technologies
-SRS Labs
-DreamWorks SKG
-Cambridge Animation Technology
-SiliconGraphics
-University of Salford
-NuReality
-Showscan Entertainment
-Perceptronics
-Viewpoint
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