- ECB chief backs bank mergers amid UniCredit, Commerzbank talk
- China stocks soar on stimulus, but US and Europe retreat
- 100 dead in storm Helene damage, flooding across US southeast
- China stocks soar on stimulus, Europe slides on automaker woes
- German antitrust watchdog steps up monitoring of Microsoft
- Nepal's urban poor count cost of 'nightmare' floods
- E.Guinea, Gabon clash at ICJ over oil-rich islands
- New blow for UK's Starmer as growth data disappoints
- China's top banks to tweak mortgage rates to boost housing market
- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
Augmented books, Wallace and Gromit show VR future in Venice
The rapid evolution of virtual reality was on display in Venice this week, with visitors brought into the world of Wallace and Gromit and watching books come to life before their eyes.
Running alongside the world's oldest film festival, Venice Immersive is tucked away on a former quarantine island that transforms each year into a showcase for the latest frontiers of entertainment.
This year showed how quickly the tech is evolving.
Some experiences had users interacting with the virtual environment using hand controllers. Thus "Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway" plunged them into the world of the famous animated duo.
Players become Gromit, helping him fix his hapless owner's contraptions and rescue them from an accidental trip to Mars.
"The interactivity in those worlds is increasingly precise and diverse," said Venice Immersive co-curator Michel Reilhac.
"Makers are finding ways to hijack the technology and use it in really unexpected ways."
Another experience used VR helmets to put several people at once in the studio of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, allowing them to snoop around his workshop and watch as his famous Barcelona cathedral rose up spectacularly around them.
AI was an inevitable talking point, with one experience using a mix of two AI apps, ChatGPT and Midjourney, to ask users about their deepest thoughts before creating a bespoke story and images based on their answers.
- 'Leap of faith' -
One of the most technologically impressive was "Jim Henson's The Storyteller".
Visitors don augmented-reality glasses to watch a 3D film come to life on a special book they hold in their hands, moving through different chapters as they turn the pages.
It is the latest innovation from VR pioneers Felix and Paul Studios, who have created immersive tours of the International Space Station, the Obama White House and LeBron James's training sessions.
The interactive book was another "leap of faith", co-founder Paul Raphael told AFP.
"We wanted to realise the dream of what an augmented book could be," he said -- but that required "pushing the technology so much further".
Cameras in the glasses read the surface of the pages and track their position in real time, which the algorithm, designed from scratch, uses to calculate where to overlay the constantly moving 3D images.
"The performance and speed at which it needs to happen is kind of insane," said Raphael.
With the emergence of new headsets from Apple and other companies, he believes augmented books could soon become widely available.
"It's early days and there's so much ground to cover," he said.
"Even after 10 years, it feels like we could do this our whole lives and still just scratch the surface."
- 'No longer solitary' -
The festival highlighted social experiences, particularly VR Chat, an online platform allowing users to meet and play in virtual worlds.
"VR immersive is no longer a solitary experience," said Reilhac.
"It's gained a social dimension -- and that's where it will find its 'killer app' that wins over a much bigger audience."
As the tools evolve, creating these virtual worlds has become much easier, with free templates available for newcomers to use.
"There is so much available technology now that it can be easily adopted by people who are not professionals," said co-curator Liz Rosenthal.
They welcome the recent shift of attention from the metaverse to artificial intelligence.
"The hype has moved on to AI, which is great, because it's weeded out the people who were into immersive just for the hype," said Reilhac.
As the tech evolves, there is a "greater depth of quality in the creative side," added Rosenthal.
"People are here because they're passionate. It's an exciting time to be in this space."
L.Peeters--CPN