VR

The Future of Work

Two weeks ago, we had a lot of news from big names such as Meta, Microsoft, and Accenture about The Future of Work. What does this mean? Why should we care? Is this for real or just a pipe dream? How can I try it?

I will admit that I was a little surprised seeing Microsoft’s Satya Nadella present alongside Mark Zuckerberg during Meta’s Connect keynote. Are they not competitors? No, not necessarily. In fact, they may need each other right now.

A man wearing a pair of Magic Leap 2 augmented reality glasses with a reflection of a soccer game on the lenses.
Are you ready for the future?

Virtual reality (VR)—and now augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and the all-encompassing extended reality (XR)—has traditionally been sold as a consumer and gaming platform to the general public. Back in 2016, Oculus and HTC took the world by storm with their Rift and Vive platforms, game stores, and lots of hype.

The reality has been, as with many technologies, making money has been tough. Companies realize that to make a substantial profit and solidify their place in the market, a switch to business users is necessary.

Microsoft came out with its groundbreaking HoloLens back in 2016. It was revolutionary at the time—no AR device like this had been commercialized before. Yet this revolutionary platform has had a tougher time breaking into the mainstream. Microsoft first tried to make it a consumer device and quickly switched to business and enterprise. Magic Leap also tried going after the consumer market when it finally released its Magic Leap One in 2018. Two years and barely any sales later, they also pivoted to enterprise. Just like Microsoft.

With the big news from Meta this week Microsoft’s own foray into “mixed reality” is taking another turn. Maybe building a futuristic headset that costs way more than a standard laptop is not going to work right now. And I really like the HoloLens. Alternatively, partnering with another company that can create a more affordable device might have better results in the short term. Long term tech can keep brewing in the background.

What does this mean?

A Beam telepresence robot carrying a Microsoft HoloLens 2 headset.
Maybe this is what we need.

The concept of The Future of Work has many meanings. We have moved from typewriters and phones to word processers and fax machines, then to Microsoft Word and the internet. We went from emailing documents to sharing them in Google Docs or SharePoint. Now we can co-edit documents from anywhere at any time and have hybrid meetings in Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Work is not just reserved for the office anymore.

The Future of Work is a continuation of this evolution. From the static web 1.0 to the interactive web 2.0, the next generation of the internet will include a 3D element that is even more interactive. We have seen it in multiplayer gaming for decades and even work platforms like Second Life. Now we are at a point where the hardware, processing, internet speeds, and needs have evolved enough to make a spatial web possible.

Many of us see the potential of 3D and spatial as part of that future. You can call this the metaverse, virtual worlds, or whatever. The interaction that is possible using 3D opens up more use cases that were not possible before. This will happen in VR and AR. In fact, the augmented future may be the bigger winner. The combination of VR for remote and AR for in person can really be powerful.

Why should we care?

This is a good question. For many of us, there is nothing to do right now. This may be months or years away from affecting you. However, if you want to be a part of learning and shaping and participating in the process of discovery, the time is now.

Using the metaverse or 3D worlds for work may not make any sense for use cases like standard meetings, presentations, or collaboration. However, more specific uses like brainstorming, product development and review, social, demonstrations, and content creation have more immediate utility. The kinds of things that are enhanced by in person meetings but for when in person is not possible.

You can even enhance in person meetings with 3D content. Microsoft showed some of this with the HoloLens. Meta’s Quest Pro shows promise to make that more available to a wider audience at lower cost and with more utility.

Is this for real or just a pipe dream?

Photo of a Samsung GearVR headset hanging on the wall.
Do you remember the Samsung GearVR? We are way past that now.

The technology exists right now for all of this to happen: Virtual worlds, cloud services, XR headsets, and people able to bring it all together. The barriers are expertise, costs, user experience needs, processing power, and mindset. Mindset may be most important: most of this is not ready for prime time. You must have an open mind and be able to accept failure. That does not mean the future is worthless. It just means try something else. Focus on the needs.

How can I try it?

Very easily. In fact, you do not even need a VR or AR headset. You can head over to Mozilla Hubs or Spatial and jump into a virtual world in your web browser within minutes. Or check out VRchat or AltSpaceVR for more of a social experience. These communities are exploring the future for us. You can also be a part of that future.

Conclusion

On its surface, the Meta keynote may not have been exciting to the general public and those deep into VR gaming. Yet it signals a shift in the industry. Gaming and social may have built up the industry and shown us what is possible, but business will fund the industry to the next level. This is not bad, it is not wrong, and is not atypical. Technology starts on the consumer side and once it has matured will transfer over to the workplace. I welcome our XR overlords.

VR Jones

Playing some Sports Scramble

My kid gets it.

Virtual reality is fun. VR is useful. VR is immersive.

He loves jump into VR to play baseball or bowling in Sports Scramble. He really loves wandering around Wander to see a 360 street view of almost anywhere in the world and at different dates in the past. His favorite is Richie’s Plank Experience where he can not only ride an elevator all day but also call up the creepy drill guy and giant spider.

I think he gets the value of VR in its purest form. You can be anywhere, be anyone, and experience any time. He loves VR.

Wandering in Wander, somewhere along a highway.

Using XR to Get Away: Elevator Jones in the Era of Social Distancing

360 photo

My son loves elevators. I call him Elevator Jones. Before COVID we’d go to the malls, office buildings, hotels, Metro, and anywhere else that elevators existed and take dozens of rides. We would record the outing with my phone, a video camera, or my trusty Samsung Gear 360.

We cannot go anywhere during this pandemic. He does not quite understand what this means, though he accepts it…to a point. He keeps asking when we can go back to visit the mall, ride the elevators at the office building, and stay at hotels again. I do not have an answer for him.

In my earlier post Escaping with Virtual Reality I wrote about using XR—Virtual Reality (VR) specifically—for social and entertainment. An extension of that is getting away. For my son that has a therapeutic effect.

If you have videos, use ‘em

We had taken quite a few videos before the pandemic happened, both regular style and 360-degree videos. He already loved reviewing those videos at home on his iPad and in our Oculus Quest VR headset. Now they are critical.

Boy wearing a VR headset watching videos of elevators
Elevator Jones in an Oculus Quest

You may already have some photos and videos you’ve taken in the past. If you’re lucky you have some 360 videos too. Either way, you can pop them into your VR headset and immerse yourself in another world. A pre-COVID world.

He loves watching videos we took together of elevators, my office, and the amusement park. While he would prefer to go there in person, this is an effective stand in for the real thing. At least for now.

The Internet of Content

If you do not happen to have photos and videos you can use there is plenty to find on the internet, including videos of the 360-degree variety.

In fact, if you are an elevator buff like my son there are literally thousands if not millions of elevator videos on YouTube to enjoy. YouTubers such as Diesel Ducy, JimLiElevators, and Floridian Elevators have been posting videos for years. There are hundreds if not thousands more. They have massive followings online. It’s a beautiful community. I started the Elevator Jones channel on YouTube to add to the pile. Maybe one day I’ll be able to add more.

360-degree photo of the CNN Center in Atlanta
A 360-degree photo from our trip to Atlanta

My son also loves malls. There are videos from folks such as Dan Bell and Sal that document the rise and decline of malls. This is a topic that fascinates me too. I grew up in the mall era. I love watching videos of dying malls, abandoned malls, closed malls. Another great escape are videos of abandoned places by the likes of Mobile Instinct and Bright Sun Films.

Getting into the 360-degree and VR side of things, check out the YouTube VR site. NextVR also looks promising, but we may have to wait and see what Apple does with them. Check out AFS-USA Explore. Companies like Ascape are making VR videos for the travel industry and many of these are on YouTube VR.

Give it a try

Just because you are stuck at home and not able to go to your favorite destinations does not mean you cannot visit those places. Pull out the photos and videos you took. Put them on your VR headset. Find some new content online. Try out a new VR travel app.

The world is still out there. You just need to look.

Escaping with Virtual Reality

Oculus Quest

With the arrival of COVID-19 in the United States, we have hunkered down at home, the kids are out of school, and we are not going anywhere for a while. We hope this pandemic ends sooner than later. But at this point nothing is guaranteed. Do what you need to do to be safe, keep your family safe, and help quell this global threat to our health.

This unexpected turn of recent events has given me a little extra time to tinker with the tech toys around the house. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I collect a lot of stuff. I am also lucky to have access to various devices for my job. Typically, I do not always have (or make) enough time to test everything out as much as I’d like. The lack of commute and cabin fever this past week have changed things a bit.

While I work with XR (eXtended Reality) at work, in particular Augmented Reality (AR) and the Microsoft HoloLens 2, I have let my use of the consumer side of Virtual Reality (VR) lapse a bit. Now that I have extra time—and motivation—to tinker and get distracted, I am getting back to using some of the apps I’ve setup for work and the kids. This reminded me how much this technology can enable engagement and escape to aid psychological and physical well-being.

Virtual Reality can be a Great Escape

I fired up my Oculus Quest and attached it to a gaming laptop to test out the Oculus Link feature. Browsing around the apps in the library, I found Google Earth VR. What a great way to get out of the house without leaving the house. I’m hooked. Again.

These sorts of apps are great for escape: you can visit anywhere in the world, watch videos on YouTube of events and places back in time, and even participate in live events in virtual spaces like AltSpaceVR, Wave, and NextVR. You can even catch up with your friends to watch a movie in the Oculus Quest or have a social hour in one of the many meetup apps like Bigscreen.

You can also watch VR and 360 videos in YouTube or upload your own photos and videos to the VR headset. I have a Samsung Gear 360 camera to take videos and photos and upload them to the Oculus Quest. My son loves revisiting our adventures.

I got my wife to try out VR again and it impressed her

I have planned to write about virtual collaboration apps like Spatial, Doghead Rumii, HTC’s Engage, and Glue. That’s not what I am talking about here. I mean entertainment and socializing. Think travel, concerts, and meetups with friends. You do not need to go anywhere but can get some semblance of escape.

Then there is the whole game genre. That is what most people think of when they think of VR. We downplay that at work to talk about training, design, and collaboration because those uses are more appropriate in the professional setting. But we also talk about therapy and medical uses. You know what is therapeutic? Playing games. Connecting with people. Getting out of your head and out of your house and going somewhere else. VR can do all of this.

Virtual Reality is more available than ever…if you can get a headset

VR once was relegated to those in the know and those with the means. Nowadays, the Oculus Quest and Go make it amazingly simple to get yourself into VR. Even the newer HTC, Oculus, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets are easier to setup and use than the original HTC Vive and Oculus.

The only problem of late is supply and demand. The demand was high for headsets like the Oculus Quest for holidays 2019. When the coronavirus started, production that was already delayed was affected and devices went out of stock. They have come back periodically. For example, on Friday 3/13 Oculus.com had some in stock but they ran out quickly. You can currently find devices for a 50% premium on Amazon and eBay. Most people are out of luck though.

If you are lucky enough to have your own device, or have access to one to borrow, pull it out again to investigate what it can do for you.

Right now my go to recommendation is the Oculus Quest, if you can get one. They are $399 list for a 64GB model and $499 list for a 128GB model. Anything higher means stock is restricted so people are taking advantage. It may still be worth the cost if you want something sooner than later.

If you already have a gaming PC or laptop with a good graphics card, or want get one and have a higher budget, you should look at the Oculus Rift S and Windows Mixed Reality headsets like the Samsung Odyssey+ and HP Reverb. If you really want high quality graphics, the HTC Vive Pro Eye or Valve Index are for you, if you have the right graphics card.

Put me in VR, I’m ready to play

Besides the fact that there are plenty of other ways to play games, interact with people, and engage with content, why do we need VR?

Well, we don’t. But it is a worthwhile addition to the list. I am willing and ready to re-engage with VR as a consumer, not just as a professional. For the next four weeks or more my whole family will be home. This may keep us from driving each other crazy. Maybe we’ll learn something too.

Epilogue

I am not ignoring Augmented Reality. There are plenty of AR apps for your phone and tablet, including games and learning apps. Soon enough we’ll have AR headsets that will be even more engaging. Right now, though, VR is where the real engagement is at. Especially if you want to get away from the real world for a while.

Get some VR now

Key:

  • Most  = aka most popular headsets, the Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, PC-VR
  • Most + more = Popular headsets plus others like the Oculus Go and/or Playstation VR
  • PC-VR generally includes the HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality support

Travel apps

Social/event apps

Games