In Central California, there is a town called Indio. In Indio, there is a festival called Coachella, one of the most celebrated music festivals of the year. Can you make it to Indio and Coachella this year? If not, virtual reality may be able to help.
Thanks to an alliance between Vantage.tv and Coachella, you can stream this music festival on a VR (virtual reality) device. You will need to download the Coachella VR app. This app gives you a tour of the festival grounds and guarantees features that will put you close to the action without the raucous crowds. The app has libraries of performers on the card. It has live stream of Coachella’s top performers in 3D VR with a 360 degree panoramic format. The app can be used and viewed through Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR and other major VR headset entities. Vantage.tv wants to be a leader in VR technology. They believe partnering with a popular music festival will help them stand out in the competition. But other major events are cashing in on the VR movement. The NFL and NCAA has enabled game watching through VR. Amusement park giant Six Flags also has a virtual reality roller coaster.
But Coachella is the first major music venue to broadcast through VR. So Vantage.tv will be at the forefront in this area. Personally, I’m still a little weary of VR, because I believe it could be so addictive it can separate you from RR (real reality). But if you’re going to promote VR, Vantage.tv has a great way of doing it. Obviously, not everyone has the time, money, or energy to go to a festival like Coachella. So using VR to bring Coachella to them is good for the two companies, good for the performers and good for the fans. Would you choose to watch on your couch in peace or be around a rowdy crowd?
Another Super Bowl has come and gone. The ads have come and gone. But this year’s ads won’t be as memorable, according to the hashtags.
Hashtags were in 45% of Super Bowl ads, compared to 50% last year. Twitter and Facebook led the social media way, though neither were mentioned that much. A website called MarketingLand counted 60 different ads between the first kickoff and the end of the game (pre-game festivities weren’t counted). Of those 60, 27 had hashtags, 21 had their ad’s website, 3 had their Twitter and 3 had their Facebook posts. This is the lowest count since MarketLand started conducting such research in 2012. That year, only 12% ads had hashtags of them. Of course, four years ago, many of us were still trying to figure this social media thing out. Movies went heavy on the social media. The main movies advertised were Jungle Book, Independence Day Resurgence, and X-Men Apocalypse. They had at least one hashtag, URL, or social media symbol. Another movie, Jason Bourne of the Bourne Identity franchise had none of those. In fact, the majority had none of the those. The rest only had one: either a hashtag, URL, or social media siting. Only one ad, T-Mobile, had a hashtag, URL and social media siting.
So are hashtags a trend in commercial that is fading? I don’t know. But I know this year’s Super Bowl commercials left a lot to be desired. Look at the Doritos commercial. Are they going to convince me Doritos are so good they will make a pregnant woman give birth early? What a joke. And don’t even get me started on those prescription drug commercials they had. Haven’t the pharmaceutical companies saturated and invaded the advertising market enough? Maybe social media companies were just ashamed to be a part of that. I was ashamed at looking at some of those commercials. Is the ad hashtag trend winding down? Or were the Super Bowl commercials just that bad?
Twitter is another company that’s growing up. Late in 2015, they’ve announced changes to make the social media conglomerate even better. According to BuzzFeed, Twitter could introduce an algorithmic timeline sometime in February 2016.
So that nobody gets confused, an algorithmic timeline is very different than a chronological one. The algorithmic timeline will put tweets in the order it thinks people want to see. For instance, it’s Super Bowl weekend. So if someone tweeted about the Super Bowl yesterday, you may see that in your Twitter feed before you see a tweet about what someone had for lunch an hour ago. We don’t know if the algorithmic timeline will be optional or required. This June 2015 article argues this could elevate Twitter’s popular content. Since becoming the new CEO in October 2015, Jack Dorsey has sought out new ways to revolutionize Twitter. Since October 2015, the company replaced term favorites with likes. There’s also talk of ending the 140 character Tweet limit. I don’t know if that would be shortened or expanded. But Twitter’s algorithmic timeline has already been tested among some Twitter markets. Now, it looks like it’s about to expand to all. Twitter leaders and spokespersons decline to comment.
But Twitter followers and consumers are commenting on Twitter’s algorithmic timeline. Most aren’t happy with this potential change. One person said she should be able to control what’s on her feed, not have Twitter control it for her. Another person believes this is going to ruin Twitter. A meteorologist complained this would be a huge problem, especially if a severe weather warning comes up. One man said this is a just another way Twitter will let celebrity tweets go in front of others, and silence regular people. In fact, I haven’t read any comments or postings saying the algorithmic timeline is a good idea. Twitter, listen to your consumers. Without your consumers, there would be no Twitter. The people don’t want this sort of timeline. Some even suggest it could be the beginning of the end of Twitter. So why is Twitter so bent on forcing something the consumers don’t want?
Believe it or not, even techies are interested in the Super Bowl (at least most of the ones I associate with). Did you really think it’s?all about Star Trek and Doctor Who with us? It’s not. So for the big American sports holiday coming up, here are some tech guides and tidbits.
First off, it’s going to be in Santa Clara, CA. That’s in the heart of Silicon Valley. The Super Bowl venue this year is Levi’s Stadium. That’s the most technology sound venue in the US. They’re expected to serve 1,200 Wi-Fi access points and the consumption of 16TB of mobile data. But you’re not going to Santa Clara. Most of us aren’t. You’re in luck. You can stream the game for free, thanks to CBSSports.com. There’s no need for a cable subscription, a username, a password, or anything of that kind. Yep, you can have Super Bowl 50 on your desktop, laptop or tablet free of charge. You’ll even see all the anticipated commercials. Smartphone viewing will only be available through Verizon and the NFL Mobile App. Get your social media on at Twitter’s @SuperBowl. There’s no telling who you might be debating with. Ever hear of Comedy Central’s Kay and Peele? You’ll know them by this Sunday. They’ll be providing unofficial commentary. It’s unofficial because obviously, it’s not backed by the NFL.
The Super Bowl is growing up, especially in technical circles. Even all the commercials will be streaming; only a fraction of them did last year. Do you think it was a coincidence the Silicon Valley’s Levi Stadium was chosen to host Super Bowl 50? I think not. The Super Bowl of pro wrestling, WWE’s Wrestlemania, was held there in March 2015. That was no coincidence either. It’s a brilliant move to get America’s biggest sporting events as tech savvy as possible. Expect this trend to continue in all sports. Will Super Bowl 50 give Silicon Valley the boost it needs?
But in 2016, most Americans will be watching the Super Bowl on high-definition TV. One NPD Group study says 1 in 18 Americans want to upgrade their TV just for Super Bowl 50. In the competing cities, Denver and Charlotte, the stats will be several times higher. The most popular, not to mention expensive choice is the LG E6 OLED 4K Smart TV. It’s 65 inches, razor thin, has outstanding HDR color, and has the new LG webOS 3.0 Smart TV platform. This high-def TV will cost you around $7,000. Looking for something cheaper? You can get the Vazio M Series. It still has all the high-def quality you’re looking for, but for as low as $549, and that’s for the 43 inch model. If you want the best sound available, it’s suggested you get the Sony X930C. It’s been praised for it’s fluid speakers, high-resolution audio, and surround sound speakers. This 65-inch high def TV will run you anywhere between $2,800-$3,800. It was built for PlayStation gaming, but obviously, can be used for the big game.
There are far more options to choose from, but according to TV experts, these are some of the top options. Things have changed since my parents and grandparents gathered around the old black and white TV. Things have changed since me and my friends gathered around the old big, bulky color television. I’m glad we have options, but I think the best option is the Vazio M Series. It’s seems like the only affordable option, when you look at the top options. You could get financing and/or people could take a collection to raise thousands on a super expensive TV. Can’t you just take care of that with a Vazio M Series? Would you get a brand new high def TV just for one game?
As of yesterday Google has shipped out 5 million Google Cardboard VR viewers. I can only imagine how many DIY or ?knock off? versions have been sold also. If you?re not familiar with Google Cardboard let me explain the mechanics of it. Google Cardboard VR viewer is simply a couple pieces of cardboard cut and pre-bent into three or so specific shapes. You bend it into the box shape it specifies and put it together with Velcro, magnets, a couple lenses, and a rubber band. Once it?s made you just close your phone up inside it then simply look into it through the lenses. When using one of the many apps that have been created to go with it you view a 3D virtual reality world. It?s a very cool concept but I?m not convinced it actually worth buying. It seems much more cost effective to just download Google?s instructions and make one yourself. Most people would probably prefer to buy one and do it the easy way but an actual Google Cardboard viewer will cost you between $14.99 and $23.50 according to the google page. There are cheaper DIY versions you can get off EBay or other websites but they?ll still cost you anywhere from $3.00 to $9.00 and in most cases even when you can find it for cheaper they?re getting shipped from overseas countries like china where it?ll take at least a week for you to get it. I?d much rather spend the 3 hours or so it takes to make one from scratch. I know personally I already have most of the materials needed for it around me right now. Not to mention there?s also the sense of pride of being able to hold it up in the end and say ?look at this, I made this myself!? Which is much better than spending 3 minutes putting the premade one together and saying ?look what I just spent $15.00 on!? in my opinion.
Besides the cardboard device itself Google has definitely started something great. There are multiple apps out now that you can use in the viewer. This concept started off as a single app that you could only download through the google play store, and now there are dozens if not more you can get not only through Google Play but also from the App store on iPhones. You can walk the Great Wall of China, or even go deep sea diving and experience all the undersea creatures. You can ride a roller coaster, or shoot zombies as if they were really in front of you. There are plenty of YouTube videos that work with the viewer to make you feel like you?re right there in front of your favorite musician or band, or watching a skateboarder do awesome tricks. You can watch a painting being done from start to finish if you?re into that, or zoom around a race track all the while never having to leave your couch! More and more new virtual reality apps are popping up every day. As cool as it is, I think I?ll leave the 3D in the movie theaters for now. But it does make me wonder, with Google cardboard picking up popularity does this mean we could be seeing virtual reality games on our gaming consoles sooner rather than later? Or are we still years away from seeing virtual reality on such a larger scale in our homes?
