How Virtual Reality Upgraded My Life
1. I no longer watch normal movies on my 80-inch screen. Now, every time I watch a movie I do it in a million dollar, 100-foot movie theater, and most movies are in 3D.
Fine, you got me, I don't actually own a 80-inch TV, but I do own a 65-inch one, which is still quite respectable as far as TV sets go. I also own a top of the line home theater system (I don't want to name brands here, but let's just say it's about as top of the line as you can go). And yet, the experience I get when watching my large-screen TV doesn't even come close to what I can do with my smartphone, a Samsung Gear VR headset, and a pair of decent noise-cancelling headphones. Because it doesn't really matter how many inches your TV has: the point is that it'll still be measured in inches, while you can follow this Samsung Gear VR guide to unlock Netflix's VR Void Theater, which lets you watch movies in an enormous screen floating in mid air, put you in front of a screen several stories tall.
Other VR apps, like 360 Video put you inside a huge movie theater, and, of course, are capable of rendering videos in 3D. Even if I did have a 80-inch TV, watching videos like this is still better unless you have friends over.
2. On my lunch break, I take a quick trip to Hawaii using StreetView VR in order to relax and take in a bit of sun.
I like to actually take my lunch break. By which I mean that in addition to eating lunch I like to step away from work and focus on something else for a little bit. Ultimately, this just makes me more productive. I used to eat out just to change my mind. But since I'm usually quite busy, I can't go very far, and eating out gets expensive.
With the StreetView VR app, though, I can now travel far and be completely immersed in pleasant, relaxing destinations, all inside of my self imposed 45-minute lunch break. I just put on my Gear VR and take a stroll on the beaches of Hawaii or down the streets of Downtown San Francisco. StreetView VR renders Google Street View in VR and, lets me explore just about any destination from the comfort of my desk. An employee told me I look somewhat silly sitting at my desk with a VR headset on during lunch, but since I couldn't see her, I didn't even notice – I was exploring Paris's Latin Quarter that day.
3. When I can't see my friends in real life, I no longer post on Facebook about it, I hang out with them in the virtual space of AltSpaceVR, where I can genuinely interact with them.
Facebook is no longer what it used to be: I used to spend hours stalking my friends on Facebook – I mean... catching up on their lives – but in the last few years, much of the magic of the social network has dwindled. These days I see more ads than anything else. I think that as our generation has gotten over the original novelty of Facebook, we've come to understand its limits as a means for connecting people. So, what's next for the online social universe?
Social VR.
Apps like AltSpaceVR, which is now available on Samsung Gear VR, let you hang out with you friends in Virtual Reality. Whether I'm playing dungeons and dragons in a shared virtual space or enjoying a "virtual coffee" with my pals, this technology really does bring people much closer together than Facebook's photos and posts ever did, while overcoming the muteness of videoconferencing. Now, don't get me wrong. It's still not quite like actually being in front of other people, but it gets much closer than anything else. It really does create a space for true social interaction that goes beyond text and images.
4. I no longer take regular pictures. Instead, I take 360º videos with my Theta S camera... so I can really return to any place that I have visited in the past and FEEL as if I'm there.
I like taking pictures. They really capture the moment. But until now, pictures were always limited by the fact that they could only ever capture one specific angle of a given place. Traditional pictures always therefore leave something out: whatever's behind the camera's lens. Panoramic and wide-angle pictures make up for that, and nowadays it's easy to take them with just a smartphone, but I feel that there's always something a little bit artificial about a really long, horizontal picture of a place that is, in fact, not horizontal.
Now, with my newest toy, the Theta S camera, I can easily take pictures that literally capture everything surrounding the camera. This device is equipped with two opposite-facing cameras that produce a single, integrated image in 360 degrees. The other day, I went up on my building's rooftop and took a picture of Montreal's skyline. It redefined the notion of a skyline: more like a skycircle!
I can't wait for my next vacation... I'm thinking the Alps would produce amazing 360 pictures.
How has virtual reality changed your life?
