2017-11-30
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Virtual reality (VR), which can be referred to as immersive multimedia or computer-simulated reality, replicates an environment that simulates a physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world, allowing the user to interact in that world. Virtual reality is the umbrella term for all immersive experiences, which could be created using purely real-world content, purely synthetic content or a hybrid of both. CG VR is an immersive experience created entirely from computer-generated content. CG VR can be either pre-rendered and therefore not reactive—in this way it is very similar to 360° video—or rendered in real time using a games engine. Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.
VR headsets—such as Sony's Morpheus, or Facebook's Oculus Rift—block out the surrounding world and, making use of an old trick called stereoscopy, show slightly different images of each to a user's eyes. That fools his brain into creating an illusion of depth, transforming the pair of images into a single experience of a fully three-dimensional world. Motion trackers, either mounted on the headset or externally, keep track of the users’ head, updating the view as he moves it around; optional hand controllers allow him to interact with virtual objects. The result is a reasonably convincing illusion of being somewhere else entirely.
Augmented reality, by contrast, does not dispense with the real world, but uses computers to improve it in various ways. AR, by design, maintains its users' connection with the real world, and that means that a headset is not necessary. Heads-up displays are an early example of AR, but there are others: VeinViewer, for instance, is a medical device that projects images of a patients’ veins onto his skin, to help doctors aim injections.
Google has developed Expeditions, a virtual reality platform built for classrooms. Students can use Cardboard to take guided tours of famous cities like Barcelona, Spain, or inaccessible places like space.
The Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC) specializes in VR exposure therapy, particularly in the treatment of fear of flying. The center utilizes a real, repurposed commercial airliner seat. Patients undergoing psychotherapy are belted into the seat and equipped with a head-mounted display, at which point they are taken through the entire experience of a flight, from take-off to safe landing.
Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity
Cyberspace is an increasingly hostile environment. In 2015, a PwC study of U.S. organizations found that 79 percent of respondents had detected a security incident during the year.Cyber-attackers are leveraging automation technology to launch strikes, while many organizations are increasingly using AI to aggregate internal security findings and contextualizing them with external threat information. Unveiled to the world in April, AI-Squared is a collaborative project between MIT’s Computer Science and AI Laboratory (CSAIL) and a machine-learning startup known as PatternEx. Its function - to identify cyber-attacks.
