Neil Schneider

Dr. Michael Madary, Responsible Consumer VR Experience Working Group Lead

“Immersive technology holds great promise for new forms of education, social interaction, medical treatment, and artistic expression. My own work, in collaboration with the ITA, is about enabling the well being of end users and the positive outcome of technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. We are all still learning what this powerful media is capable of, and the alliance provides a valuable opportunity for technology and content makers to build the required tool sets for safe and viable experiences.” – Dr. Michael Madary, Responsible Consumer VR Experiences Working Group Lead.

Dr. Michael Madary, one of the foremost experts on virtual reality (VR) ethics, is leading a new ITA working group to develop safe practices and responsible consumer targeting for VR content and products.  Dr. Madary works on the ethics of emerging technology, especially immersive technology such as virtual reality. His research is interdisciplinary and draws from philosophy of mind, psychology, and neuroscience. In February 2016, in collaboration with Thomas Metzinger, Michael published the first code of ethics for research and consumer use of VR, which received widespread media attention. He has published widely in the philosophy of perception, including a book, “Visual Phenomenology,” currently in production with MIT Press. Read More

Starbreeze Studios’ Walking Dead demo at Immersed 2015, sourced from Tom’s Hardware

Immersive Technology Alliance member Starbreeze AB and Acer Inc. have signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture for the StarVR Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Display (HMD). The two companies are going to collaborate on the design, manufacturing, promotion, marketing and sales of the StarVR HMD to the professional and location-based entertainment market.

“Since our launch in June 2015, we have had an amazing start with StarVR. By partnering with Acer we shift gears yet again to firmly position us as the leader in top-end VR experiences. Acer is an excellent, experienced and prominent hardware partner that will accelerate us in realizing and producing a high-definition, high-fidelity VR headset,” said Bo Andersson Klint, Starbreeze CEO. “We’ve been working with a clear roadmap for our VR strategy from day one, and are now about to realize one of the first major collaborations we set out to achieve. The future for StarVR is now set and extremely exciting.” Read More

“We are delighted to join the ITA community. We have been leading innovation in 360-degree panoramic imaging for more than 15 years. Collaborating with a large ecosystem of component vendors, optics, sensors, processors, module makers and product manufacturers, we work to put in the hands of everyone the ability to capture 360° videos, share easily and experience through VR platforms. Our patented technology combines 360° panomorph optics and immersive viewing functionalities to expand possibilities for VR and beyond.” – Alessandro Gasparini, Executive Vice-President, Chief Commercial Officer.

ImmerVision specializes in 360-degree panoramic imaging, and license their patented panomorph optical and software technology to global lens producers, product manufacturers and software developers. Panomorph lenses are the only ones that can be adapted to any camera, any sensor, and any consumer, commercial and government market.

The ITA is very excited to welcome ImmerVision to the alliance!

FMX is easily the premier event for networking and learning from market leaders and pioneers working in digital media and technology. This year, The Immersive Technology Alliance has been honored to work with their content development team to help build their program pertaining to virtual reality and immersive tech, though thanks to their team’s hard work, most already know to make their way down to FMX each year. It’s just the place to be! Read More

Dominic Eskofier, Realities.io Co-Founder

ITA Member Realities.io won the top prize of $15,000 at Nvidia’s GTC conference.  This is very exciting stuff!

After being launched on Steam, the Realities.io team beat out the competition of over 60 virtual reality companies in the Nvidia VR showcase at GTC.  Realities.IO ran a very popular HTC Vive demo during last year’s Immersed Europe, and everyone who has seen their work with photogrammetry has been tremendously impressed.  A big congratulations to all involved!