Category Archives: Blog

Fun Times!

Posted on by

It’s been a great month for the VR community with fun times to be had both near and far!

While the Digital Den team has been quietly working on moving forward with new development in our own shop a lot of things have been going on elsewhere.

Here’s a recap of what’s been up around town lately…

Last week Mary got to go visit Rob Lindeman’s HIVE lab at WPI…
http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/212175182/

These are a few of the snaps Mary took of Rob, one of his rigs and, yes, a sound vest!

Then this week Mary attended Boston VR Meetup’s Bar Night with Game Over Boston at the East End Grille in Somerville on November 25th to kick-off a long holiday weekend…
http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/218617122/

Here are a few of shutterbug Mary’s snaps from that event too!

On other fronts, Jaunt VR (who visited the Boston VR Meetup last month) teamed up with Paul McCartney to create an impressive demo of virtual concerts! Check it out…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJMIbsqyvS4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaL3OHAurM

You can find out more about this work in this article Paul McCartney’s Candlestick Park Footage Gets Virtual Reality Release (Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone)

You can also learn more and get the app at Jaunt VR

Of course, December is shaping up to be a great time too!

We will be going to Boston VR Meetup’s next event with AltspaceVR at the Microsoft NERD Center on December 16th…
http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/218620744/

We are also very excited about the upcoming release of Samsung Gear VR just in time for the holidays :-)

Stay tuned!

What’s up?

Posted on by

A lot actually!

It’s been a busy fall at Digital Den, and here are some of the highlights…

In-house…

The development studio has finally come together and is now all setup and working.

Nathaniel settles in.

Nathaniel settles in.

Nathaniel has also just received his Oculus Rift DK2, yeah!

We are currently in the preliminary phases of defining our first fun “demo” in Unity for the Rift, and work on that will get underway in the coming months.

Out and about…

There has been a lot happening on the VR scene in general and especially locally.

The Boston VR Meetup hosted a visit by Jaunt VR at Hack/Reduce on October 15th.

http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/207496722/?oc=evam

 

They demonstrated their new 360 video technology and showed demons on the Rift.
Other members of the Meetup also showed off their newest work too.

Then the Boston Unity Group hosted Ray Brierly at the MIT Stata Center.

http://www.meetup.com/B-U-G-Boston-Unity-Group/events/209247582/

 

His entertaining and informative presentation, Sensory Input – Making Games That Can See, Hear and Feel, explored some of the more unconventional ways to get input into Unity (e.g. Motion controls, camera and audio input). His fun demo of a Twitter feed “3D blocks” visualization was definitely a major hit!

2014-10-27 18.57.31

Ray Brierly, Boston Unity Group Meetup, MIT Stata Center October 27, 2014

Finally, just today, October 28th, Condition One officially launched their first VR documentary for the Rift entitled Zero Point, and it looks like it could be a real game changer. You can read a Mashable story about the release here. If you have a Rift, this is a definite “must see!” Check it out on Steam here!

So, it’s been a busy and exciting October, and November is shaping up to be even better!

Please stay tuned…

Sensorama!

Posted on by

On Thursday, September 25th the Cambridge Marriott Hotel introduced Boston to their new implementation of Mortin Heilig’s Sensorama concept. They dub the project “Travel Brilliantly,” and the idea is to fully immerse users in virtual travel experiences using the Oculus Rift VR Headset combined with sound, heat, mist and, yes, even motion!

2014-09-25 18.20.19

It was fun to go to Hawaii, and they even send you a link to a video of your experience.

Here are some YouTube videos that describe the project, give behind-the-scenes information and show what the experience looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9725H0ls7c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWxSOjfqMvI

There are also stories on Boston.com and Yahoo! about the project.

Marriott’s press tour to major cities with the rig will definitely bring more awareness about the Oculus Rift to the general public. It will be interesting to see whether or not that exposure will translate to wide-spread adoption when the Oculus Rift and its’ cousins become available for purchase over the next few years…

Holodeck?

Posted on by

Digital Den hosted Which way to the holodeck? on Friday, August 22 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Around twenty attendees got to have fun chatting with each other and playing with some geeky toys like the Oculus Rift. The evening included a presentation by Mary Hopper in which she gave her entertaining take on the current state of Virtual Reality. The talk concluded with an announcement that Digital Den is evolving away from an initial focus or research and event hosting and moving towards more of a focus on development of original software (i.e. doing the “D” in R & D :-) )

 

Immersion 2014

Posted on by

Digital Den took their Immersive Interfaces exhibit to LA for this year’s Immersive Education Initiative’s Immersion 2014 conference that ran over the weekend June 6th – 8th. The conference was hosted by The Getty (J. Paul Getty Museum) and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and the Western USA Chapter of the Immersive Education Initiative (iED West). It was a wonderful event where many fantastic speakers shared their perspectives on the state of immersive education today, and the exhibits all gave attendees a taste of the current state of the art. Special thanks to Nick Potvin for helping to make the Digital Den exhibit a great success!

VCF SE 2.0

Posted on by

Wow, what a great time! I’ve just returned from Vintage Computing Festival Southeast 2.0 that was held Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4, 2014 in Roswell, GA. It was sponsored by the Atlanta Historical Computing Society and Computer Museum of America. I gave my presentation Computer Museums: Here and there, now and then… then had fun visiting with Lonnie Mimms (Computer Museum of America), David Greelish, Alan Hightower and Brian Stuart (Atlanta Historical Computing Society).

Here is another attendee’s very well done photo gallery of the VCF exhibits…
Retro Innovations Store’s Photo Album

The Computer Museum of America’s Apple Pop-Up Museum was particularly inspiring…
Computer Museum of America’s Apple Pop-Up Exhibit

There was one point where I even found myself holding this Apple I in my lap!
AppleI

All in all, it was a very impressive event!

“Sampler”

Posted on by

Digital Den hosted two “New Computer Museum Sampler” events on Friday, March 14 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Around 35 guests attended to see a sample of the New Computer Museum’s exhibits over the course of the day. An afternoon session featured playtime with Digital Den’s collection of fun interfaces, vintage games and educational software, while an evening session included a presentation about the exhibits, progress, plans and potential partners such as the Cambridge Historical Society and Cyberarts. In addition to Digital Den’s Vintage Computing, Children’s Machines and Immersive Interfaces exhibits, there were also exhibits provided by Adam Rosen of Vintage Mac Museum and Dan Hermes of Art Technology New England. Adam Rosen of Vintage Mac Museum was also kind enough to help sponsor the catering in the evening. Many thanks to Adam, Microsoft for the space, and of course, all of our attendees for your continued support!

Here is a gallery of the festivities!

Spring!

Posted on by

It’s finally almost spring and time to return to celebrating computer history in the Boston/Cambridge area — please join us for one of these events on March 14th!

New Computer Museum Sampler, Afternoon Introduction & Playtime
Friday, March 14, 2014, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Microsoft NERD Center 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Come see and hear about a sample of the New Computer Museum’s exhibits! The afternoon session will feature a short introduction starting at noon and then playtime with Digital Den’s collection of cool interfaces (Power Glove, Kinect, Oculus etc.), fun games (NES, Wii, xBox etc.) and educational software (Logo, Oregon Trail etc.). This session is ideal for students and newcomers who have never seen the collections. Lite lunch will be available.

New Computer Museum Sampler, Evening Update & Social
Friday, March 14, 2014, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Microsoft NERD Center 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Come see and hear about the New Computer Museum’s exhibits, progress and plans! The evening session will start with a brief presentation followed by playtime with a sample of collections provided by a variety of exhibitors. This session is for dedicated supporters and stakeholders as well as newcomers and students. Lite snacks will be available.

Watch for more spring events to be posted soon!
Please join the New Computer Museum Meetup & RSVP… more …

Playtime!

Posted on by

Digital Den sponsored a NEW Computer Museum Meetup on Saturday, December 14th, and there was a good turn out despite the descending snow storm.
 
There were both old and new faces there to play with Digital Den’s interface collection.
Attendees
 
Digital Den team member Nathaniel Pierce helped attendees with the Oculus Rift!
Nate
 
Exhibit-oculus
 
There was also a complete Rock Band setup …
Exhibit-rockband
 
…and the hands-free interfaces were up and running too!
Exhibit-force
 
Thank you to everyone who came out and made the event a great success!

Playtime!

Posted on by

Greetings Digital-Den Supporters!

Here is a quick update and invitation…

First, do not be fooled by the quiet — there is a lot happening behind the scenes with Digital Den’s work to sponsor the creation of a NEW Computer Museum. The search for funding and a more permanent location has intensified, and Mary Hopper is meeting with the representatives of many organizations in Cambridge this month. Many options for both funding and locations are being explored. Just one of the long-term options for a location is acquiring space in the Foundry Building that is owned by the City of Cambridge. The NEW Computer Museum is now on record as among the potential tenants for the building. You can watch the progress of this initiative at this web site: http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/Projects/EconDev/foundrybuilding.aspx

Second, Digital-Den will hold a special event on Saturday, December 14th from Noon to 1 PM at Metropolitan Storage, 134 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. This “Playtime” will feature hands-on demos of Digital Den’s unique interface collection — if all goes well, the new Oculus Rift will even be up and running! Please join the NEW Computer Museum Meetup if you have not already and RSVP… http://www.meetup.com/NEW-Computer-Museum/

Finally, thank you to everyone for your support over the last six months – it really has helped to make it likely that the Boston/Cambridge area will have a NEW Computer Museum by this time next year!

Cheers!
Mary