Want to try VR?
Virtual Reality is only just getting started!
On a trip back home from Phoenix, I followed a sign across Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor Airport to experience VR by Facebook because love it or hate it, Virtual Reality is the future! Whether it's considered a hype or a problem with a promise, it is unreal. The power of genius computer technology is being put to work by some pretty smart people of this planet.
My previous experiences with VR have been with the Google Cardboard, the Samsung Gear VR, and Facebook Oculus Rift. The videos and experiences ranged from the mundane to the incredible. For instance, I watched a surfing film in VR. Going in and out of the water without actually getting wet or being cold was definitely sweet! And in another, I witnessed a giant dinosaur roaming around me. Just seeing that creature so up-close and personal made me want to close my eyes. It was real, yet so unreal.
At the Facebook VR booth, I was handed the Gear VR that went around my head and covered my eyes, and a pair of Sennheiser headphones to listen in. A short 2 minute marketing film took me into space, onto a raft streaming down a river with other families in South Asia and then whisked me into the living room of a very friendly family, and finally, back to the time of the dinosaurs. Knowing how dizzy and disorienting it can be as you witness a whole new world in 360 - physically going round and round or moving your head up and down and all over the place - there were 2 sets of railings to hold on to, should the need arise.
Many VR applications have started coming to life. My realtor friends are going to have their lives simplified. Imagine sending clients on a 360 tour of the houses you want to sell to them. Or even shopping - esp. for products you normally want to see before you buy. Video games and movies might never be the same. The world of Doctor Strange in 360 VR would be mind-blowing. Places of worship I always wanted to go to but never took the time to go to - Vaishno Devi in India or Mecca/Medina or a mass at the Vatican would be so unique. There is something to say about working hard for the experience and traveling in real life, but in my opinion, the VR experience is going to make me want to go to the Pyramids or the Amazon rainforest or Machu Picchu even more than I did before. CAN.NOT.WAIT!
