Business

From the Harvard Business Blog: "In a tight economy, with companies spending much less on IT, the tech giants will take growth wherever they can find it. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Cisco and HP are in a pitched battle for customers for their high-end teleconferencing systems. According to the report, it's "one of the few technologies that has benefited from the downturn, growing 30% from last year as businesses look to reduce travel expenses."

From this New York Times article: "Uh-oh! Another big bank is the subject of a depositor run amid charges its chairman has run off with customers’ money. Thankfully, this scandal is taking place in Eve Online, a space-age virtual reality created by CCP, a games developer and Iceland’s coolest company. But these troubles in the ether may offer some valuable lessons for earthly banking and regulation.

Eve is one of the more successful multiplayer online games. Some 300,000 people — as it happens, nearly equal to the population of Iceland — pay $15 a month to navigate characters that pilot intergalactic spaceships, manufacture and trade goods, mine resources and enter into big alliances, or bloody battles, with one another.

This cxotoday.com article talks about the virtual reality centers being used by the automotive and defense, as also various museums across India. From the article: "The centers have attracted attention of CXOs in the healthcare segment, said M.M Prasad, general manager and head-India Business, Systems Integration Services, Tata Elxsi.

A lot of people are involved at various stages before a product is actually launched in the market. For example, in the auto industry, an image is created, data is stored, and the image is then converted into 3D and circulated among the stake holders. Compared to past when people had to fly from distant places for meetings to discuss changes in design or other technicalities, virtual reality is enabling a lot of industries cut down on the travel cost.

This TG Daily.com article talks about at a tool developed to measure reality of virtual worlds. From the article: "Raleigh (NC) - A research team led by Dr. Mitzi Montoya of North Carolina State University has developed a way to put a number on how realistic online virtual online words are. His measure of realness is being sought after by corporations to identify better training tools and ways to conduct business. The idea is that virtual environments cost less than moving people around the globe, lodging them, etc. If businesses pick up on this idea of going virtual, then how soon until we will see a major push toward perfecting the technology? And how far away are we today?

This springwise.com article reports South-Korean product designer Hanyoung Lee has come up with a concept (an unimplemented business idea) so-called the Virtual Wall which could projects a curtain-like, two-dimensional image of giant people crossing the street instead of showing a red light. From the article: "South-Korean product designer Hanyoung Lee has come up with a safety device that could make traffic lights obsolete, or at least improve their effectiveness. His so-called Virtual Wall is designed for busy city streets. Instead of showing a red light when it’s time for pedestrians to cross the street, Lee’s Wall projects a curtain-like, two-dimensional image of giant people crossing the street.

This thenorthwestern.com article takes a look at Kimberly-Clark's Innovation Design Studio in Greenville: a state-of-the-art center equipped with advanced virtual reality technology that allows the consumer products firm to test merchandising layouts and chart a shopper's product choices all without the time and expense of constructing physical mockups or conducting ponderous in-store surveys. From the article: "Kimberly-Clark Corp. is working virtual miracles for its clients and partners these days.

This Human Productivity Lab article compares the commercially available telepresence systems. From the article: "U.S. News and World Report has published a superb article on telepresence by Liz Wolgemuth entitled: "Telepresence" Enhances Video Conferencing. In that article, Wolgemuth quotes me on a variety of telepresence topics. There was one quote which I felt needed to be expanded upon:

"Cisco competes with HP, Polycom, Teliris, and other entries in the telepresence market. The larger companies all make similar systems at slightly varying prices," says Howard Lichtman, who runs both a research consultancy, the Human Productivity Lab, and a publishing arm called Telepresence Options in Ashburn, Va.

This Journal Record article reports Oklahoma City Community College is investigating a possible deal with Eon Reality to provide a training ground for 3-D and virtual reality technology. From the article: "The deal is a long way from done, but if it comes together, OCCC students could have an opportunity to get a jump-start in the development and use of 3-D animation – skills that are expected to be in high demand in the very near future.

The deal could also give the college access to software that was developed for corporate sales and training applications, but could just as well be used to help train future nurses and auto mechanics.

Eon Reality Inc., based in Irvine, Calif., is a privately held interactive 3-D visual content and virtual reality company started in 1999.

This Telepresence Options article takes a look at the everyday applications for 3D visualization technologies. From the article: "AS SCOTT ROBINSON WATCHES the video of a surgeon delicately cutting the pericardial membrane while the patient's heart beats away, there's only one thing on his mind. "If I were having this procedure, I'd really want my surgeon to have a good view of depth," Robinson says."You go a little too far, and it's game over."

This Baseline article looks at how learning the personal, behavioral traits of multiple, online personas will be important to the future of business-to-consumer strategies and practices. From the article: "Bill is a gear head.

If you want to sell a car to Bill—a professional in his early 40s—you need to come at him specs first. Don’t talk to him about cup holders and fold-down rear seats. When you find Bill, a.k.a. TrakBurner115, in the Edmund’s CarSpace.com forums, talk to him about horsepower and foot-pounds of torque. Talk to him about how many other car enthusiasts are salivating for the same vehicle.

Stone is a head banger.