Yes, you heard it right, people are making their travel plans based on Pokemon Go, an immersive Augmented Reality (AR) game that allows gamers to go on a virtual treasure hunt through some of the world’s most frequented public spaces, say, NYC’s Central Park or Paris’ Bois de Boulogne. You might dismiss this as a gaming fad or passing trend, but Pokemon Go has longevity. Founded in 2016, Pokemon Go grossed more than $6 billion in revenue between 2016 and 2020. And it still has a stable number of committed users. Sure, it’s just gaming, so it will probably be confined to a niche of the nerdy cosplaying types. Wrong; it is not just steering travel itineraries of gamers; it is an indication that AR is reaching a critical mass as a social and immersive technology, like a Pikachu “Pika Pika” cry in a coal mine or a Dragonite call on Fire Island. Yes, this technology has its quirks. For one, it uses smartphone cameras and screens as an interface, but this rapidly evolving technology will reach maturity sooner than you think. The Apple Vision Pro is called an XR or mixed reality device. However, it is an augmented reality […]
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Speceterras was featured in a CNN Article By Kate Springer, CNN “On a future trip to Europe, imagine exploring the Accademia Gallery in Florence guided by a talking “David” sculpture or embarking on a digital treasure hunt through the streets of Paris. Requiring only a phone and internet connection, augmented reality (AR) can add another layer of intrigue to our travel experiences. Specterras Productions, which strives to make the world’s natural and cultural wonders more accessible via technology, is already bringing such experiences to life. “With AR, you can create animated busts at a museum – in the future, you’ll be able to walk up to a sculpture of Alexander the Great or Herodotus and interact with the art via your mobile phone, kind of like ‘Night at the Museum,” Michael Breer, chief creative officer at Specterras, tells CNN Travel. AR and virtual reality (VR) became more mainstream during the Covid-19 pandemic when museums and destinations introduced interactive virtual experiences for would-be travelers.” Read the Full Article on CNN.com
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This is the village of Dozza, a small but remarkable town in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Dozza hosts a biannual art festival, called the Muro Dipinto, inviting muralists from the far reaches of the world to adorn the stucco walls of this medieval enclave. Murals are almost necessarily public-facing, and as a result, often take on more spiritual and/or political themes. Murals and frescos have long been a source of Italian national pride, historical tradition, and technological innovation. In the 14th century, a technology developed in Italy called Fresco Secco would result in artists being able to capture a level of realism previously unattainable using traditional fresco methods. Immersive Artistic Expression Fresco secco provided several advantages over the prevailing method of the day, which required the muralist to commit pigment to plaster while the plaster was still drying. This meant that muralists had to paint within a very confined and hurried window, and revisions would not be possible once the plaster set. In many ways, The Last Supper represented the culmination of the fresco secco method. And while it is easy to get lost in the obscurity of technological shop talk, it is important to understand […]
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I half-jokingly asked an oyster farmer, “Do you reckon I should get a tax write off for buying oysters and mignonette? I mean, am I not doing an ecological service by eating oysters?” He laughed and said, “Yeah, you really should. It serves the environment much better than eating cheeseburgers!” This may have been a sort of tongue-in-cheek exchange, but having thought about it a bit, it isn’t such an outlandish idea. An individual adult oyster filters about 50 gallons of water per day–a staggering quantity considering their diminutive size. The general public is also becoming more conscientious about the environmental impact of the food they put in their mouths. In part, that is why so many environmentalists are encouraging people to eat less red meat, eat in season, and buy local. Oyster cultivation is an arduous task, or as I like to say, a labor of love, but the results are both very tasty and of service to waterways that supply our streams and rivers. Oysters are like the nitrogen-busting swat teams of our estuarine waters. To give you an idea of the scale of the nitrogen-related issues and their impact, it is important to take a step back. […]
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“I crashed into a South American mountain and lived — without ever leaving my couch” - the title of a wonderful review by Stav Dimitropoulos at Experience mag for our Patagonia VR app. Thanks Experience Mag for the coverage - we’re glad to hear you enjoyed it!
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If you don't believe climate change has serious implications for humanity, I have a Believe Big, Receive Big "20-day devotional" self-help program from Joel Osteen to sell you that will entirely transform your life!
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