Virtual Environments Networked Virtual Environments and Virtual Worlds

Focusing on Virtual Technology

I am always keen to learn about new virtual technologies and there are several great conferences coming up focusing on just that. Below is an overview on a few of them that I culled from the conference web sites.

Virtual Edge Summit 2010 (http://virtualedgesummit.com/) – February 2010

Virtual Edge Summit 2010 is the only event that focuses exclusively on providing education, training and solutions for planning and producing virtual events, meetings and communities.  Over 2 days, dozens of experts will share their expertise with you, and be available for one-on-ones. The Virtual Edge Summit is Produced by the Virtual Edge Institute

The VirtualEdge.org website and Virtual Edge Summit event provide an easy and informative ‘Due Diligence & Best Practices’ destination for all stakeholders interested in virtual events, meetings and marketing.  

Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference (http://www.vwbpe.org/) -  March 2010

The VWBPE Conference provides opportunities for virtual world communities to showcase projects, courses, events and research that lead to best practices in education. The end result of collaborating, sharing, and co-construction of knowledge during the conference is the creation of innovative and immersive environments in which virtual world residents can learn, work, and play.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 12:46PM PST

Telepresence Comes Knocking

     If you are reading this, there is a good chance you have used a Cisco Telepresence system to make sales calls or review details with clients. The effect that Telepresence has had on the corporate world has been undeniable.  The unprecedented success of Cisco Telepresence is now expanding outside of the corporate office and into a living room near you.  

Read More.

Posted by Daniel Gerson at 09:45AM PST

Live Virtual Executive Chat with Marthin De Beer

30 minutes after the opening Networkers at Cisco Live keynote being broadcast live on 26 January in Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual ends Marthin De Beer, SVP, Emerging Technologies, Cisco will be availalbe to take your questions live. During the keynote, Marthin De Beer will spell out Cisco’s Video vision and strategy, innovations in creating a media-ready network and how we will enable customers to prepare their networks for increased demand and use of video.

To join the Live Exec Chat go to the Global Event News Booth and click on the Live Exec Chat link in the content menu. You can get to the Global Event News booth via banner ads through out the virtual space, by scrolling the World of Solutions floor, or via the left hand expandable Exhibitors navigation menu.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 09:47AM PST

World-Class Training, Virtually

On Tuesday, January 26 Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual will host a full day of world-class training, keynote presentations, live executive chat session, and a virtual World of Solutions with live virtual staff. This is a great opportunity for you to participate in an exciting event without leaving your desk.

During this one-day live-virtual hybrid event taking place in parallel with Networkers at Cisco Live Barcelona you will hear compelling keynotes from two technology visionaries streamed live in the Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual Auditorium.  Marthin De Beer, Senior Vice President, Emerging Technologies Group delivers the Cisco keynote.  Bruce Thomas, Director of the Wearable Computer Laboratory, at the University of South Australia, will share his knowledge and vision of wearable computers, augmented reality and virtual reality. There will also be several live technical sessions for attendees to view, see below.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 10:59AM PST

Going Virtual at CES 2010

If there ever was a geek-utopia, it would no doubt look very similar to CES.   Big booths, big announcements and even bigger TVs.  CES 2010 in Las Vegas is being hailed as one of the better shows in the past few years, with all companies big and small releasing high-tech devices.    Unfortunately I could not physically attend, but thanks to the thousands of bloggers and live video streams, I was able to experience much of it virtually.

If you ask most people what the overall theme was at CES this year, they would most likely say 3D.   While 3D was the most talked about technology at the show, I would disagree that it was the overall theme.  I feel convergence was the real star at CES.    Internet connected TVs, new media center devices, video conference TVs, even Twitter on your TV.  The living room just got more connected. 

Read More.

Posted by Daniel Gerson at 07:08PM PST

Live Keynote on Augmented Reality from Networkers at Cisco Live Barcelona 2010

Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual will feature a live keynote on 26 Tuesday 2010 at 2:45pm CET featuring Professor Bruce Thomas, Director of the Wearable Computer Laboratory at the University of South Australia. His team of researchers and enthusiastic Phd students push the research and development boundaries of wearable computers, augmented reality and virtual reality.

Bruce joined the Wearable Computer Laboratory in 1998 and during his time there invented the first outdoor augmented reality game AR Quake, and that is just one example of some very cool projects the team at the Wearable Computer Laboratory have or are working on.

Read more to watch a video showing AR Quake in action!

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 01:58PM PST

Avatar Pushes Augmented Reality

The new James Cameron movie, Avatar, is a next generation film that truly blurs the line between animation and reality.   Add to that mix the elements of new 3D technology, and you see why Cameron waited for the technology to catch up to his vision of the planet world Pandora.   

The movie is not only pushing the boundaries of progressive movie making, but the marketing effort associated with the movie is tremendous.   The movie has a full array of cross brand promotions with major food outlets, as well as a line of augmented reality action figures.   

Read More.

Posted by Daniel Gerson at 08:43AM PST

Virtual Holiday Cheer

Going home for the holidays and celebrating during the holiday can be challenging for folks. The cost and time off for travel as well current living arrangements, such as soldiers overseas or expats working in other countries, can dramatically limit the sharing of ‘merry holiday’ times. Technology can help bridge these geographic and economic gaps to enable a ‘jolly good time’ for all. Virtual environments and technology enable us to connect with our loved ones, visit our home town for a nostalgic tour, go on a much needed vacation, engage in charitable activities, and celebrate the holidays.

I have some great examples as well as a personal story to share.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 12:18PM PST

Virtual Environments Go Mobile

There is no question that virtual platforms are extending the value and reach of physical events, but what about extending beyond the laptop?   Mobile devices have now reached the level needed to act as a direct connection into the event itself.   Within Cisco Live Virtual, we began to see this trend, as attendees looked to the virtual space as well as Twitter, to ask a myriad of event-based questions during the event.   

Read More.

Posted by Daniel Gerson at 06:58AM PST

Interacting Virtually

When Microsoft surface first came on the scene I was excited to say the least. It seemed like allowing individuals to touch software interfaces in order to interact with a tradeshow booth demo was an obvious evolution. In some of the research I’ve been doing lately it is clear the evolution continues.

There are some interesting concepts being presented or in use at events that go beyond the obvious uses of augmented reality for registration, navigating the venue, and connecting attendees on-site. For example imagine a kiosk at an event where you can leverage materials (either downloaded beforehand or available at the kiosk) that allow you to instantly create a 3-D model of a product that you can manipulate and control. This doesn’t have to be limited to just a 3-D model of a product it could also be an interactive example of a concept or solution or an artificial intelligence that can engage with the person at the kiosk. Of course this is contingent on the event producer enabling technology on site.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 11:10AM PST

Evolution of the Twitter Wall

  Conference attendees are no strangers to Twitter; it’s used to disseminate information, organize gatherings, and sometimes let out heartfelt emotion.  Tapping into that pulse of information is a great way to create a clear and hyper realistic view of your attendee consciousness.    The widely used “Twitter Wall” concept, projecting a twitter based feed on a wall or giant screen, has been demonstrated at many different events and conferences. This week, my quest for new and evolving technologies has me thinking about the next stages of the Twitter wall concept.   

Read More.

Posted by Daniel Gerson at 09:32AM PST

Virtual Worlds is now Virtual Environments

So you may have noticed a name change for this blog has taken place. Wondering why? Well the main driver is that virtual worlds does not really cover all of the topics being discussed in this blog. This blog started out mainly focusing on virtual world activity but has grown in scope since its launch in 2007. We have posts on virtual web based environments (mostly as relates to events), augmented reality, gaming, and of course virtual worlds so it seemed only fitting to change the name to more accurately reflect the content being shared.

The growth of the topics covered via this blog became very clear when I went to create this round up of articles on all things virtual. The articles included cover:

• augmented reality systems to make driving safer (including a video demonstration)
• the potential impact on carbon emmisions via the use of virtual meetings and events
• online gaming to reward kids for practicing positive social behaviours
• the trend towards virtual hyrbid event as an extension of a physical event

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 02:42PM PST

Virtual Fan Mail

For those event planners working on virtual environments to complement their physical events it’s nice to get affirmation that you’re strategy and implementation are on track and being received positively by your audience.

Don’t get me wrong of course event planners want feedback whether positive or negative but when someone takes the time to submit a positive comment it means a lot. Just like anything in life we are always more apt to share feedback when we are unhappy (kind of like me with airlines) so when someone takes the time to provide a kudo you know you hit the nail on the head for that user.

Here are a couple of comments from Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual users received over the last month or so on the platform and the 21 October Ask the Expert event just held!

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 09:04AM PST

Virtual Ask the Expert on October 21

Don’t Miss the Upcoming NetPro Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert Event in Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual

Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual is already your anywhere, anytime resource for technical information, networking with your peers, and learning more about Cisco products.

Join us on Wednesday, October 21 at 10:00 a.m. PDT for a live, interactive NetPro Ask the Expert event in the Auditorium of Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual. Edison Ortiz, Routing and Switching CCIE # 17943, Network Consulting Engineer, Advanced Services at Cisco will be discussing Campus QoS with Cisco Switches, providing background and discussion on QoS as the foundational network infrastructure technology required to support the transparent convergence of voice, video and data networks.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 12:32PM PST

Watch the Live Keynote Featuring Guido Jouret, CTO, Emerging Technology Group

Next week you can join hundreds to thousands of your peers from all over the world in the Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual Auditorium as Guido Jouret, Chief Technology Officer of Cisco’s Emerging Technology Group delivers the opening keynote for Networkers Australia and New Zealand. The keynote takes place on Monday, September 28, at 3:30 PM PDT/Tuesday, September 29, 8:30 AM AEST.

Read More.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 08:44PM PST