Nice to see United Kingdom using a predictable trajectory. Dismayed by so many other nations just crapping all over the planet without consideration though. The lack of foresight is frustrating.
They're not really crapping all over. Orbits at different altitudes rotate around the planet from precession so any satellites spread out randomly over time.
I wonder if they could have an orbit high enough to move away from earth with some kind of drag cables dangling from them into low orbit to counter the outward movement. Would that work?
These orbits have vastly different speeds though. Consider a high geosynchronous orbit vs. something like ISS which goes around the Earth in an hour or two.
but you are towing the cable and you'd only get so far down for the counteraction of force from gravity to pull on the cable. Would speed or friction on a cable be a problem.
There was a really good Thunderbirds game for its time on the inferior Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k. I was amazed all those years ago by its puzzle gameplay design. You can play it here.
Edit : to set up controls since it's not noted on that page, you'll need to press R ( Redefine keys! ) and that'll get you started!
How to play : you swap between thunderbird 1 and 2 each ship by pressing spacebar ( default ) or whatever you configured it to. You'll notice the ship selected in the bottom left corner of the screen.
I agree with this being a user and a VR dev myself. A couple of things that make the experience somewhat tedious is that you can't really get comfortable if you are on a sofa and then decide to lay down and turn side-to-side. Which you can just watching a movie or playing a game casually using a TV etc.
Another reason personally also, it is more tedious to develop games for VR wearing and taking off the HMD all the time. I can imagine this would deter other developers not wanting to make VR games, it's already a slow painstaking process to make games already.
I think also the amount of apps you have to switch on your desktop if using PC also means you keep taking the HMD on and off before you begin to play. Too many barriers to entry when it should be a convenience thing, wear and go!
Not everybody is physically fit/young/healthy or wants to just do physical gaming which i think leads to lack on incentive to use VR too. I personally play most games now via my monitor or projector screen and use VR for simracing as there really is no comparisson here. So VR Great for sim cockpit type games, flying and racing but for everything else, it's back to good old pancake mode monitor instead.
May i ask out of curiosity. Do you see dreams? I personally can see shapes if i concentrate while im awake and close my eyes and can spin them around like looking at a 3D model in some kind of viewer for instance. It's not perfect and how long i can hold that mental image for depends. I can do this with my eyes open too, similar to augmented reality but much fuzzier and again limited to the length of time i can hold that image for in my mind.
I'm more of an artist than a coder, but do both. I find it harder to code than i find creating 2D or 3D objects in something like blender for instance. But visually i can mental map nodes etc. to assist me in coding.
As for voices, inner monologue or attaching voices to comments i read is pretty much natural thing for myself. I assume we all did that to some degree but clearly not. It's interesting how we see our world and understand it. In your case it must be different. I'm intrigued really how you make sense of things without visually creating associations in the mind etc.
I very rarely dream, but I have had dreams, and definitely seen people, places, things in there. So I think I have relegated shapes/colors/visuals to just dreams. Clearly I am wrong.
Wait, does this mean daydreaming is people actually seeing things? Do you daydream? When I daydream I like to create 'what if' scenarios and follow them to conclusions.
> and close my eyes and can spin them around like looking at a 3D model in some kind of viewer for instance.
> But visually i can mental map nodes etc. to assist me in coding.
This is amazing! I've daydreamed (ha!) about having an ability to render objects in my head and manipulate them like a computer but you already do that. I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm envious.
So I am in this middle ground, where like you I cannot for the life of me actively picture anything in my mind's eye. I close my eyes and it is black, blank, and lifeless. My wife, for example, can close her eyes and recall my face perfectly. I have read about some artists being able to essentially trace what they are picturing in their mind's eye, though it seems that some incredibly talented and famous artists also have had aphantasia!
Anyway, the middle ground for me is that despite not being able to conjure vivid (or any) mental imagery, I have vivid dreams and daydreams. So it seems that if I am tired or my mind is wandering, some mental canvas unlocks, but not while I am alter and paying attention.
> Wait, does this mean daydreaming is people actually seeing things?
Yes, they are usually seeing similarly to seeing in a dream. Seeing with the minds eye as they say. You don't usually lose awareness of your surroundings, what you are seeing in reality just becomes more of a background process while you visualise a daydream.
Thank you for sharing... today feels like having a 'life altering' view. I think this will also help me relate to and work with people around me when presenting, remembering, etc. in terms of expectations.
Stenzek who created the duckstation emulator moved over to PCSX2 and the updates from him and others have made that emulator really impressive in my humble opinion. It just seems a bit odd to make a comparison like this. Is there something i'm missing as to why you would compare either?
Its basically changelog notes with each update to the emulator ( usually daily ) and has been very active in recent years. You can also find a wealth of information and upates of various computer and console emulators on reddit r/emulation and that'll have what i think you are looking for.
Guys, I don't mean to sound miserable, but please don't turn this into Reddit comments with puns and jokes. Lets keep the signal-to-noise ratio optimal.
I do wonder if all these AI generating content software will be the end to artists, animators, media creators etc. I guess for a lot of things it will, but I wonder if people will want an AI or organic created content. Akin to how hand-made crafts are still desirable as opposed to mass produced textiles etc. eventhough the mass produced stuff is cheaper.
I guess there is room for both. But likely much less organic v AI created. Maybe we will see labels placed on content with " natural made " or something a long those lines as a selling point in the future.
I got an Oculus Rift CV1 In 2016 and started developing VR interactive sims using the Unity Engine and found the dev process tedious. There are many times you need to wear the HMD and take it off, look at code, then into unity UI and back to 3D modelling app etc. It's a slow repetitive pattern.
As others have mentioned, the eyes / camera motion sensors and telemetry tracking HMD felt like invasion of my privacy too.
Everytime i finished a session of dev for VR or playing some VR games I would use home made cardboard caps to cover the motion sensors and disconnect the HMD after use. It was a chore to do this every time though.
When facebook added their first firmware update to my Rift, It became sluggish to use. I returned it and was refunded. I then bought a 3D projector and use face tracking camera instead so i can look around still like you do in VR and have a higher fidelity experience playing racing sims etc. Also for space games, the big screen feels like I'm using a view screen on the starship enterprise.
Its convenient, It's more social too because others can share the experience. For now this suits my needs. Hopefully one day i will look forward to getting a true next gen VR HMD and hopefully one that competes with meta on pricing and without the privacy compromise.
Couple of you asked how to set up headtracking. So here goes!
Head tracking 6DOF on compatible trackIR games.
Should be able to work also with none trackIR games using joystick emulation to map to the head tracker.
So this is an entry level tracking method and will hopefully
cost you nothing to try as long as you have...
Install both software follow instructions in the links provided above.
There are ways to improve the experience by using higher refresh rate cameras
A cheap way is to buy a PSEYE ( old playstation camera ) for $5 - $10
Which has 120hz refresh rate for smoother tracking. You can also take it antother step forward and
mod the camera by removing the IR filter lens from the camera to get superior tracking. I've personally
not needed to do this with my PS Eye camera because it works ok once you've tweaked the above software settings.
You can create a more immersive experience by using a 3D display/projector and using reshade https://reshade.me/ (Just make sure to tick the 3d depth shader when installing). Now your flatscreen games are 3D with 6DOF headtracking.
Did the same in 2016 - 2019 using libovr and qt with opengl and had the same experience. We worked mostly in the viewport however and only did vr sessions as needed as for the most part it was the same when iterating. I also believe it messed up my eyes a bit as it can be quite straining for prolonged periods.
I owned quite a few headsets but I got rid of them over time, the novelty wears off quickly and it's a good way to captivate people new to it but the setup quickly gets cumbersome and impractical for day to day use unless you have a dedicated space for it.
If privacy is an issue for you, there are non-Facebook/open-source-based headsets being developed out there :]
> I bought a 3D projector and use face tracking camera instead so i can look around still like you do in VR and have a higher fidelity experience playing racing sims etc.
Is this a custom setup? It sounds pretty cool / you should consider making a video showing it off.
Very interesting to read this. I am a DnB DJ and eventhough I'm hearing impaired, I can still beat match because the snappy snare hits and sub bassline flows through me. It is also the optimal range of my hearing. Everything above 1Khz is practically gone. I also found it easier to communicate in clubs because everybody was on the same level of not hearing because of how loud the sound systems are. It put us on an even playing field, with one advantage. We have more practice to lip read others and pick up on body language.
as one who has actually experience the full range of hearing and having lost it in varied decreasing frequency range and reducing decibel level … TWICE over my lifespan, you would be wise to investigate Cochlear Implant as soon as economically feasible.
Most US health plan insurance companies will defray the cost of CI surgery (starts at $33,000 total) by knocking 80% off; 90% off, if having a premium health plan).
I’ve actually gained something that I never had before: higher frequency (8Khz+) so now I can distinguish between similar IPA inflections like e, v, b, t, p, Z, and d; and that is the greatest feeling in the world.
You may also pick up strange things like staircase creaking, distant flatulent, different insect buzz, and best of all, distinguishes bird song.
The only downside is that if you were musically-inclined, pitch-perfect, or a musical-savant, then you WILL be disappointed because instead of an average human being able to discriminate some 1000 different audible frequency, you will be limited to around 32 narrow bands. Behind the ear processor will fully capture the full hearing spectrum and spread that across those 32 bands. This is where CI-specialized audiologist will spend a couple of months doing the “map” those hearing frequency span into your limited number of bands.
But hey, it is far better to hear further and recapture your missing frequency range just to be able to interact with society verbally, assuming you have had that trained experience. Also another factor is your prior childhood auditorial exposure and the extent of your speech and language development then; all are easily recaptured through CI-specialized speech therapists depending on your willingness to relearn; Most do.
Of course, it goes without saying, you can alternatively learn how the Deaf culture functions with Federal assistance of making phone calls for you, adding signaler throughout your house (think SmartHome), and pick up a new language called American Sign Language. I’ve done all that as well.
So, CI may be your best option. Contact your local audiologist to get started.
Thanks for the advice. I've had hearing impairment for about 22 years. My life now is somewhat reclusive simply because of hearing loss. I used to go to clubs but not anymore, I got old. I still own a pair of technics 1210s and working on my own virtual reality turntables (video)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uvtDoKJKO0xzIs08g0e_HMDMAna.... I've taught myself to code and create video graphics etc. Allowing me to still be creative. I don't know if i would go the route of cochlear implants, the thought of surgery scares the hell out of me to be honest. I'm used to living the way i do now. I wouldn't wish a lonely life on anybody but you do get used to it. Thanks again for the advice though, i appreciate your effort. thank you!
One last thing, as a suggested quality of life improvement for a chronic hard of hearing in US or Canada, one can make phone calls with confidence by using a Federal-sanctioned relay operator.
CaptionCall app will let you converse using your own voice with the caller and type back what they are saying. I find that to be an excellent tool in the last bridge of divide between HoH and hearing world. Use it all the time to interact with DMV, doctors’ appt desk, and voice mail systems.
Even with my now superhearing, this tool is actually less stressful than trying to decipher their voice myself. Kinda like a messaging app but with voice one way and text and voice stream the other way.
Sure thing. It took me eight years of silence and age of 50 before I decided to take the plunge. And that’s after pouring over my entire life choices (introvert, extrovert, and in between).
So far, no headache but lots of positive gains. And I got the best of both worlds (silent and hearing).
Good luck. I can always relate.
And music is still remain a tonic of the mind albeit now a wider range of frequency spectrum but dovetailed into 32 narrow bands.
Thanks again for the advice. I live in England, I'm sure there is something similar regarding caption call app. Ultimately I'm looking forward to Augmented reality with realtime transcoding for subtitles/close captioning. As long as i can read the text above peoples heads, similar to speech bubbles would make a hell of a difference understanding others.
As for my DJ virtual turntables. The idea behind them is to use in virtual reality with finger tracking. So they work just like the real world counterpart. I have the drumkit working already using oculus touch controllers. I'll try and wire up the synth next, but that will be more problematic because of my hearing or lack of. Thanks again for the kind words about my project and thank you for the advice. I appreciate that very much.
