Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Alex.
1. Oculus Rift is Finally Reality
Gamers will be excited to hear that Oculus announced yesterday that its Rift headset will be available for consumer purchase in the first quarter of 2016, at an ‘affordable’ price.
They have also introduced new hand-held sensors, called Oculus Touch, so that as well as being able to see the virtual world, you’ll be able to ‘touch’, ‘feel’ and ‘interact’ with it, for example holding ‘virtual objects, such as a gun in a shooting game’. Ooo-errr!!
2. Banter-iffic
Despite previously claiming not to know what it is and not being interested, Harry Redknapp has recently joined Twitter, and ‘it’s everything you everything you could have ever hoped for’.
3. Teleportation, Anyone?
Have you ever wanted to see the world through someone else’s eyes? Well now you can, thanks to an app called Periscope. It enables you to step into the shoes of other users, so you can see what they are seeing or doing right at that moment. That’s right; rather than being merely a video of a past event, Periscope connects you with other currently online users, so you can watch their live broadcasts. It isn’t a passive experience either; as you’re directly connected to broadcasters, you can ‘see what they see, hear what they hear, and hopefully feel what they feel’. In addition, you can interact with them by sending messages and hearts (?) to show your love for a broadcast.
I’ve had a play around with the app and it’s strangely addictive. Watching what goes on behind the scenes during a live news broadcast on NBC, or seeing the road whizz by as someone shows you their road trip makes you feel a little bit more connected to the people behind the slick news broadcast on TV, and the holiday photo’s on Facebook. In an age where social media means more and more people are connecting virtually rather than physically, this is an app which, somewhat, bridges the gap. I even popped in to a quiz being held by an Australian broadcaster, which had participants from all over the world, answering questions live and in real time. Pretty mind-boggling. I guess it’s sort of a cross over between Twitter and Skype.
I have to say, Periscope could be great for companies wanting to add personality to their brand by giving their audience a look ‘behind the scenes’. However, controlling live content is hard, and the results could do some companies more harm than good.
4. Hikers Get Cheeky
If you don’t want to get banned from Malaysia, just make sure you don’t anger any spirits – unlike one group of Western tourists.
On 30th May, 10 or so hikers took on Mount Kinabalu, a site believed to be sacred by locals, stripping down when they got to the top. They didn’t count on how seriously the locals take their beliefs and customs, however – when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Mountain last Friday, it was immediately blamed on the hikers and their risqué antics, for so crudely ‘disrespecting’ the spirits of the sacred site.
Locals were further angered when one of the hikers
‘…Posted video on YouTube and a post on Facebook in which he ridiculed “deranged p*****” who “linked earthquakes and mountaintop nudity”.He received angry comments and even death threats on social media.’– via SkyNews
Just goes to show, be considerate about what you post on social media, wherever you are.
For anyone looking to visit Malaysia or Mount Kinablu any time soon, a traditional cleansing ritual will take place to appease the spirits and cleanse the mountain. So you should be safe, as long as you remain fully clothed.
5. Sexploration
The implications of this story are interesting, as it
“…could play a key role, for example, in helping us get to other planets outside of our solar system that might take hundreds of years, and subsequently multiple generations, to reach.”
However I’m not sure that’s where the concept started… Careful, the Business Insider article could be NSFW, depending on your workplace!
