Marriott wants you to vacation on a virtual beach

Source: Marriott Hotels

Marriott Hotels is betting the future of travel will be, at least in part, virtual.

The hotel brand is rolling out the Oculus Rift technology at select hotel locations to enable guests to virtually explore the black sand beaches of Hawaii or the city of London. 

But to make the experience more immersive, Marriott is taking things one step further by adding in sensory elements such as heat, wind and mist.

Read More Facebook buying virtual reality firm Oculus for $2 billion

The program works like this: A person stands in a phone-booth like structure dubbed the Teleporter, puts on the Oculus Rift virtual headset and wireless headphones, and is then "teleported" to the destination.

The Teleporter has built in 4-D technology that makes it so the user physically feels different parts of the environment, such as temperature and moisture. 

While Marriott claims this is the first time these technologies are being applied for a travel experience, the idea of using virtual reality for travel is nothing new. 

In June, Second Life CEO Philip Rosedale said at the Singularity Finance Conference that it won't be too long before people actually purchase a virtual reality (VR) property so that they can visit it anytime they want. 

Read More A battle for the future of virtual reality gaming

Given how much momentum, there's been in the VR space this year, Rosedale's prediction may not be too far fetched.

In March Facebook shelled out $2 billion to purchase Oculus Rift's technology. And in June Google revealed Carboard, its own open-source mobile-powered virtual reality headset. Samsung recently rolled out its Gear VR headset, which is also powered by a smartphone (specifically the Galaxy Note 4), but it has tapped Oculus Rift to handle the software.

While it's become the norm for tech giants to jump into the VR space to grow their gaming and entertainment ambitions, a traditional hospitality company like Marriott Hotels may seem like an odd fit to be using the technology.

But the company sees the virtual world as a big opportunity to breathe new life into its brand and possibly even spur new business.

"It's part of our transformation message," said Michael Dail, the vice president of brand marketing for Marriott Hotels. "This isn't the Marriott you once thought of."

Read More Samsung ups the ante with its latest innovations

Dail said that while a long-term VR strategy hasn't been determined for the company, the possibilities are endless.

For example, if someone is planning a vacation, they could use VR technology to check out different destinations before booking a trip, Dail said. It could also be used in hotels to transport guests to new locations, he added.

"It can inspire their decision of where they want to go and it could also be used to enhance their stay," Dail said.

Marriott is kicking off its virtual travel experience Thursday at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, but the Teleporters will be traveling through November at select locations around the country.

"We can be disrupted to ourselves," Dail said. "We want to take things to the next level and we are thinking ahead about the future of travel."

This Anti-Snooping Patent Is the Anti-Google Glass

Image: United States Patent and Trademark Office

Yesterday, wannabe American glassholes with $1500 to spare flocked to buy Google Glass in the still-in-beta device’s one-day public sale. I say “flocked" despite it not being clear exactly who many people had been waiting to get their hands on Glass, though CNN reports that at least one colour, the white “cotton” frame, sold out.

While offering a limited purchase period is a surefire way to raise hype (although I was a little surprised at the lack of buzz yesterday, perhaps because I’m in the UK where it wasn’t available), general reactions to Glass still seemed very divided. Sure,it’s getting cooler, but it’s still raising privacy issues and stirring conflict, with another explorer reportedly attacked for wearing the headset in San Francisco this week.

So while enthusiasts were heading to get their explorer eyes, Geek Wire uncovered a very different (and currently entirely hypothetical) bit of tech—the anti-Glass, if you will. They unearthed a patent filing that details technology to detect and respond to an “intruding camera” that’s trying to sneak a peek at your own devices—and among the inventors listed are a certain Bill Gates and former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold.

Dated March of this year, the filing describes the invention as follows:

The system includes an electronic media display device having a screen configured to display content, a sensor, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to obtain information from the sensor, analyze the information to determine a presence of a camera, and edit any displayed content in response to the presence of the camera.

Basically, if you’re watching something on a screen you don’t want others to see, the system would pick up when a camera was trying to edge in for a look and then edit the content, presumably obscuring it from peeping toms. The patent suggests potentially sensitive content could include “private photographs, private videos, financial records, medical records, or any other content that the person may not want other people to view,” which I’ll leave to your imagination.

While the patent doesn't explicitly mention Glass (as is the norm), Figure 8 above is pretty suggestive. The patent also adds that cameras could also be fixed to buildings and vehicles rather than held by a person. Though with around five million CCTV cameras in the UK, I’m thinking it might just be easier not to view dodgy content in public if you’re that bothered.

The filing does suggest, however, that you could instead get an alert when a camera is around, which might be a little more useful—and potentially interesting just as a tracking device to see how watched you are. It also includes a diagram of such a device integrated into an ATM to detect if someone’s trying to film the screen as you use it, which also suggests how it might be appropriated as a security tool.

Of course, this being a patent filing, it’s all just ideas for now, so don’t get your hopes up to have some sort of magic camera detector by the time Glass inevitably hits the mainstream. But like anti-drone burqas and anti-facial recognition make-up, it’s further evidence that as technology evolves, so does anti-technology technology. In the future, as things come full circle, we’ll presumably be seeing cameras with technology that’s anti-camera detecting technology. 

TOPICS: patents, Google Glass, cameras, CCTV, Futures, anti-technology

Future of Glasses, Wearable Technology 2015 - (Future Are Here)

May The Force, and Safety Goggles, Be With You

Since Luke Skywalker first picked up a light saber in 1977, we’ve dreamed of wielding the laser sword made famous in the “Star Wars” movies—“an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” And while the technology isn’t quite there yet, we’re getting closer.

WickedLasers.com

For around $200, Shanghai-based WickedLasers.com will ship you its latest laser device, known as the Spyder III Pro Arctic and looking suspiciously like the beloved science-fiction weapon. Using a blue-laser diode taken from a powerful film projector, the Spyder III emits a 445-nanometer wavelength beam of up to one watt in power. Or, as the WickedLasers site explains:

“Don’t let the Arctic name fool you, this laser possesses the most burning capabilities of any portable laser in existence. That’s why it’s also the most dangerous laser ever created.”

With Father’s Day right around the corner, the “most dangerous laser ever created” may sound like the perfect gift for the supervillain who has everything (though more powerful lasers exist for industrial and research purposes). But remember that every young Jedi must endure an exhaustive training montage sequence before going to town on his enemies with a light saber.

Wicked Lasers says the Spyder III isn’t to be taken, ahem, lightly, and posts photos of two surly-looking fellows arrested for pointing lasers at aircraft. The Spyder III is a Class 4 laser, meaning it’s so strong that it can cause blindness and color-perception problems, including the inability to perceive the color green for four to six months. Also, at a thousand times stronger than sunlight on skin, it can burn skin and may even cause skin cancer.

So Wicked Lasers adds an FDA-mandated safety sticker on the device, includes a pair of safety glasses and warns that you shouldn’t make direct eye contact with the beam. Or expose it to bare skin. Or shine it at anyone. Or shine it at reflective surfaces. And don’t use it near airports, highways or construction sites. Really, they say, it should be used only by “individuals who have appropriate laser safety training and product familiarity in using Class 4 lasers.”

But other than that, they add, “As a general concept, owning a laser is pretty fun.”

And that fun is illustrated on the site, using videos that show Wicked Lasers products doing such disparate tasks as burning holes in trash bags, popping balloons, cutting electrical tape and igniting matches. Not exactly the sort of swashbuckling space adventure we imagined.

The FDA states on its website that laser pointers should be within the first three classes of lasers, I, II and IIIa—though the classification system the agency uses, with Roman numerals, is slightly different from the newer classification that uses modern European digits.

The agency doesn’t address Class IV laser products as consumer devices, as such powerful lasers have previously been used only in laser light shows and industrial and research lasers. But regarding Class IIIb lasers, until recently the strongest level of laser pointers, the agency’s site says:
“Class IIIb hand-held lasers are too dangerous for use as pointers or amusement articles. Furthermore, promotion of Class IIIb or IEC Class 3B products for pointing or amusement violates FDA requirements and United States law. Manufacturers of such products may be required to repair, replace, or refund the purchase price of violative products distributed in the U.S. These products are also subject to detention and seizure by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection when imported.”
Classes IIIb and IV products, the FDA says, “should be used only by individuals with proper training and in applications where there is a legitimate need for these high-powered products.”

Wicked Lasers didn’t return calls for comment.

Sky News in the U.K. spoke with laser safety expert John Colton, who termed the Wicked Lasers product “horrendously dangerous.”

“Under no circumstances should they be on sale on the internet,” said Mr. Colton, director of Lucid Optical Services, which offers technical training and consultancy in fiber optics and laser safety.

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