Adam Draper is the founder of Boost VC, which a technology accelerator that has funded over 70 VR companies and over 100 crypto companies since 2012. He's been in a really unique position to understand how blockchain technologies and the more immersive virtual and augmented reality technologies are both approaching an inflection point. But he also sees that these two technologies are on a convergence path towards creating a decentralized metaverse. I had a chance to catch up with Draper to talk about how virtual reality needs to be a foundational aspect of talking about how it enables a more immersive and embodied experience of whatever the metaverse ends up evolving into. We also debate many different deeper philosophical and ethical aspects of the crypto world that I had some personal reservations about.

Adam Draper is the founder of Boost VC, which a technology accelerator that has funded over 70 VR companies and over 100 crypto companies since

I talk with Joey J. Lee & Elliot Hu-Au about a paper they published in Frontiers of Virtual Reality called “E3XR: An Analytical Framework for

I talk with Joey J. Lee & Elliot Hu-Au about a paper they published in Frontiers of Virtual Reality called 'E3XR: An Analytical Framework for Ethical, Educational and Eudaimonic XR Design,' which looks at the intersection of XR ethics, best practice approaches for applying immersive XR technologies for technologies, and how to create experiences that promote human flourishing and eudaimonia. Their paper provides a great survey of a broad range of citations on the intersection of technology and ethics, and a first take of separating between the range of must-have ethical considerations as well as some of the more nice-to-have aspects of eudaimonia. Where exactly that line is between issues that are more ethical and ones that are more eudaimonic is a question that I believe will depend on the specific context that will change from project to project as there are different tradeoffs in mitigating harms across different intersectional identities and demographics.

The WebXR Design Summit was a 9-hour series of talks about immersive design & experiential design that was organized by Ben Erwin and his WebXR Polys Awards team on October 12th. I was the host and moderator for the day, but also helped to curate a few sessions including a fireside chat with two immersive design professors Doug North Cook, Program director & Assistant Professor of Immersive Media at Chatham University, as well as Robin Hunicke Game Designer and CEO of Funomena as well as Full Professor at UC Santa Cruz, and the founding Director of the Art + Design: Games & Playable Media program.

The WebXR Design Summit was a 9-hour series of talks about immersive design & experiential design that was organized by Ben Erwin and his WebXR

The Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS) is holding a hybrid event where the IRL component in LA starts today October 15th, and the virtual festival starts on October 22nd. FIVARS has been curating independent and avant-garde immersive stories since 2015, and I had a chance to talk with founder, executive director, and chief curator Keram Malicki-Sánchez who provides some highlights of the interactive and 360-degree video featured pieces at FIVARS. The interactive pieces will only be available at the West Hollywood location in LA, and all of the 360-degree videos will be available remotely.

The Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS) is holding a hybrid event where the IRL component in LA starts today October 15th,

HTC is launching the Vive Flow today available for pre-order $499 and launching in early November. They're 6-DoF 'immersive glasses' weighing 189 grams that are meant to be the tablet of VR. You have to bring your own power supply, and so you'll need either a battery pack, pug it into a USB port, or use your phone's battery. It's intended to carve out a new market for VR for folks who are focused more on lifestyle applications like watching a 200-inch cinema screen on an airplane, immersive meditation apps, casual gaming, or productivity apps.

HTC is launching the Vive Flow today available for pre-order $499 and launching in early November. They’re 6-DoF “immersive glasses” weighing 189 grams that are