Sweet. My son and 14 yr old grandson are very tech savvy, but I scooped them this time.
When they tried my (first ever) Virtual Reality Headset (Samsung VR Gear) that uses my Samsung S6 phone as its engine, they each just kept saying, “Wow, I want this!” The phone clips into the headset, and the headphones plug into the phone. Samsung made an agreement with Occulus to provide the software. You can choose to “experience” Paul McCartney in concert, standing a few feet from his piano. I especially liked turning around behind me to watch the drummer instead of Paul. I picked up some tips watching him drum up close. It was also fun to watch the concert sound and camera men working hard, and then I’d look at the crowd reactions (mostly screaming girls). I watched the one song many times because there was so much going on; it was a fun place to revisit.
You can play the videos you took on your phone, or REALLY 3D movies. These play on a HUGE screen in front of you in ultra high def. You can look around and see the empty theater seats and the projector at the back. Just when you get used to it, you look down and your legs are missing – just the empty seat below you.
I really enjoyed an Occulus free VR video of flying low over Greenland watching a herd of wild horses run across open fields, then swooping in to see some waterfalls, then glaciers and mountains. You look down and can see the plane’s wheels, then up to the horizon and clouds, then to the other side of the plane.
Samsung also provides many free still 360 VR “photographs.” I now like spending time in a little town square in Budapest, or at sunrise in Maui, or in the plaza outside the Louvre in Paris. These are frozen VR photographs so you can study all the people around you, and really notice the artistic architecture or natural beauty in every direction.
Because the (newer) cell phones have the power to run the software, there is an explosion of VR headsets that just hold the phone and separate your right from left eye. Check out this VR headset list available TODAY at Amazon. The Google one is made of cardboard! With VR you are at a disadvantage if you wear glasses as I do. My headset has a focus adjustment, as well as volume, and touch pad controls that won’t be found on a cardboard unit. No sooner had I brought home, played with, and showed off the Samsung VR Gear, when I began to read about the HTC unit coming soon. (Worth reading to blow your mind.)
How will this technology affect veterinary medicine? I think it will REVOLUTIONIZE primary and continuing education. Imagine watching a procedure or surgery where you can freeze it, and walk around the case 360 zooming in and out as desired. One app miniaturizes you then takes you inside the brain to view diseased neurons. I would love to record, as well as study demonstrations of handling difficult animals. You can freeze, slo-mo, back up, etc. and see it from any angle any number of times. Tomorrow you will be able to have a “one-on-one” programmed conversation with the top experts in the world on any subject. However, I suspect the most common use for veterinary staff, like everyone else, will be the pure fun of the experience.
Rolan
