Business

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.

This ComputerWorld Hardware article takes a look at products shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Most of them are devoted to new ways to input data to a PC or gaming console, including a variety of inputs via voice commands or gestures that are registered via video detection and neural interfaces. Systems like Second Life and Activeworlds were also demonstrated as systems businesses can use for training employees, holding meetings and demonstrating products to consumers.

This CNNMoney.com article reports Microsoft is working on a new visual-simulation platform, Microsoft ESP, which will brings immersive games-based technology to training and learning, decision support, and R&D modeling for military and commercial aviation organizations. From the article: "Microsoft Corp. today announced plans for a new visual-simulation platform, Microsoft ESP, available in January 2008. Microsoft ESP enables the innovative use of visual simulation for immersive learning and decision-making, supports PC-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software, and enables simulations to be built faster and more cost-effectively.

This washingtonpost.com article takes a look at a Second Life lawsuit concerning six virtual merchants who are suing Thomas Simon of Queens, N.Y., for an undisclosed amount of money, claiming he stole the computer code for products they sell in their virtual stores. From the article: "Like the next installment of Terminator, we all knew this day was coming: the first-ever Second Life lawsuit. Sure, it involves people who aren't real stealing products that aren't real, in a virtual world that barely resembles our own. Still, this is America! Since when has reality been required for legal action?

This trainingzone.co.uk article by Graeme Duncan, chief operating officer at Caspian Learning, argues that 3D games are a realistic and essential solution for corporate training programmes. From the article: "As organisations learn to cope with ever-changing product ranges, additions to health and safety policies, new financial regulations and legalisation compliance issues, they face the challenge of finding more effective ways to train their large and dispersed workforces.