Tag Archives: Virtual Reality

One of the biggest things you need to keep in mind when running your business is that there will be times when you’ll have to use other marketing means. This means that you’ll have to go outside of online marketing, such as social media, and on top of that, there are other factors, too, such as getting others within your industry to know that you exist.

So, with that said, trade shows are one of the best ways to get known by those within your industry, but when it comes to all of this, it’s going to be vital to make it count. So, with that said, you absolutely need to get heads turning so your time at a trade show isn’t a complete waste, and the booths that stand out are the ones that are most successful. So, with that said, here’s how you can make your business capture more attention at trade shows!

Eye Catching Display

This is the first step, and honestly, this is likely going to be the most important step, too. If you want people to stop by, then it needs to grab their attention, and a visually appealing booth is the way to go. You’ll need to Invest in a professional and eye-catching display that reflects your brand identity. Ideally, you’ll want to use bold colours, high-quality graphics, and of course, you will definitely need some clear signage- since this is all going to make your booth visually striking.

Interactive Displays

Honestly, a giant neon sign isn’t going to be enough, and you can’t expect this to be enough, either. The whole point is to engage people and make them want to interact with you, so you need to ensure that your displays are interactive, but there’s something for the audience to do.

Ideally, you will want to allow attendees to experience your offerings firsthand, creating a memorable and immersive experience. There are a lot of ways to fo this, such as games interactive screens, or you can even use VR equipment hire to make it extra immersive. Honestly, with these, hte more you think outside the box, the better.

Technology is Your Friend

In general, it’s every one’s friend, but it’s going to be your best friend during events like this. Ideally, you might want to consider incorporating touchscreens, virtual reality experiences, or augmented reality displays to showcase your products in innovative ways. In general, you can definitely count on technology to create a buzz and attract tech-savvy attendees.

Give Out Freebies

This could be the beloved swag bags that everyone loves getting or even something like a free t-shirt, but in general, this is strongly recommended. So, why not offer attractive giveaways or promotional items that align with your brand? Make sure these items are both useful and unique (so it’s best to skip out on generic logo pens), creating a positive association with your company. Plus, you need to keep in mind that attendees are more likely to stop by a booth that offers something in return.

Gadget Man, HTC, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Flow, Virtual Reality

HTC Vive Flow – Virtual Reality that put Wellbeing at the Forefront

November 4, 2021 Matt Porter Leave a comment

As a person with an avid interest in technology, getting the chance to review a new piece of Virtual Reality kit was very exciting, so when I was invited to review the new HTC Vive Flow a week before their official launch on October 14th, I jumped at the chance!

So on the morning of October 8th, I set off to Dingley Place in London to find out more.

The preview event was hosted at a modern shoot location near Old Street, and it presented as a modern apartment and outside space, which turned out to be an ideal place to experience this new tech.

HTC now have been producing cutting edge ‘room scale’ virtual reality headsets since 2015 and have both consumer and professional solutions available in the marketplace.

Vive Flow uses an Android smartphone as the pointer

Typically, VR headsets are quite large and cumbersome and work in conjunction with hand controllers and connect to a reasonably powerful PC or dedicated console which does most of the legwork, with mainly immersive virtual reality action games. Not something you can readily carry around with you.

Vive Flow - Image Credit: HTC Vive — Vive Flow – Image Credit: HTC Vive

With the launch of the Vive Flow, HTC has turned this whole idea on its head. Rather than focus on 3D action games, instead, HTC has positioned the device primarily in the mindfulness and wellbeing space, with lightweight ‘glasses’ that connect to your Android smartphone (which doubles up as the hand controller).

The glasses themselves are very light, coming in at 180g which I was told was the weight of a bar of chocolate. The front of Vive Flow’s lenses has a mirror finish with a camera hidden behind each lens for motion tracking and a ‘pass-through’ view.

Rather than using a full wraparound design, the Flow fit like standard glasses with speakers built into each arm. The goggles fit very comfortably over the eyes using a soft material, there is also an active cooling system that blows cool air onto your skin when it detects heat increasing.

The Vive Flow uses a very advanced lens system which is one of the reasons why the device is so like, this also allows for diopter adjustment which means many glasses users will be able to use the device without wearing them.

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Each lens has a high-resolution display at 3.2k combined (2x 2.1” LCD 1600 x1600 per eye). The displays refresh at 75mhz and have a field of view of 100 degrees. Onboard storage is 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM.

The glasses are designed to be powered via an adapter, they do contain a battery for management purposes rather than completely wire-free use.

I tried 5 different modes of use.

Mindfulness and Chillout Area – I experience the mindfulness side of this technology where I was transported to a beach someone exotic and watch the sunrise, whilst I was gently coached on my breathing and reached a really nice calm place!
Disney+ – Here I was able to experience the full cinematic version of the Disney+ streaming platform and had a chance to watch a segment of Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds. The video quality was exceptional as was the surround sound. It was very impressive!
Pirates – This was a VR pirate game where I had to shoot cannonballs at pirate ships – Lots of fun!
V&A Curious Alice – This was an interactive experience in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was really good fun again, you can find out more here.
Lo-Fi Cafe – I really liked this experience, it was an incredibly immersive and calming experience. I was sitting in a Cafe with a steaming coffee in front of me, music playing on a record player, an open book on the table and a laptop. There were empty tables which I was able to transport over to. I could also surf the internet in a VR browser. I could also draw and write in thin air. Most importantly, I found it really relaxing. Living in a house that can be very very noisy, I really felt I could actually take myself away from the hustle and bustle of life into that virtual cafe and watch the rain running down the window and just relax.

I realised more than anything was that VR has indeed reached a point when the brain can be fooled enough to be calmed into a sense of relaxation wherever you might be. In a workplace, busy home or even on a transatlantic flight. I was very, very impressed.

HTC Vive Flow Working in LoFi – Image Credit HTC Vive

The Vive Flow is priced at £499, which is no small amount of money, but comparable with other headsets on the market.

I have a set arriving soon, so expect an in-depth look very shortly!

More information can be found HERE

App of the Week, Competition, Gadget Man, Podcast, Review, Technology, Uncategorized, Wearables

The Gadget Man – Episode 52 – Google Cardboard and Google I/O 2015

Audio June 1, 2015 Matt Porter 1 Comment

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Google Cardboard V1 can be assembled in 6 steps

This week I talk about Google Cardboard and Google I/O Extended from Adastral Park. The event was the brainchild of Mark Thomas at Coderus, they are situated on the Innovation Martlesham also.

Google I/O Extended are events which enable people to experience the keynotes of I/O in Silicon Valley in their own countries. BT provided some amazing facilities to web cast the event to a large auditorium and Coderus were on hand to demonstrate some amazing Google products such as Chromecast and the Nexus Player. We also enjoyed Google themed cupcakes and sandwiches which were delicious.

After the keynotes were finished, there was a question and answer session hosted by Jim Milne from Innovation Martlesham and featured guest speakers from the tech area to answer questions and queries about the direction that Google is taking and there were some very interesting discussions about the nurturing role we can all take with young people to help encourage a new generation of UK based IT expertise.

For those of us that waited until the very end of the evening, we were very pleasantly surprised to receive our very own Google Cardboard to take away.

Google Cardboard is a VR system developed by Google engineers David Coz and Damien Henry in their 20% time. It was first released at Google I/O 2014 developers conference.

This year, Google have updated ‘Cardboard’ to support phones of up to 6 inches screen size and now it works with the Apple iPhone (but check your screen size is big enough!). Google Cardboard headsets cost about £12 to construct and the plans and specifications are freely available to buy online for about a tenner.

They are very simple to use, you install the Google Cardboard app on your smartphone, then slide it into the back of the ‘device’. There is normally an NFC tag with the headset which automatically identifies itself and tells your phone it is ready to work in ‘3d’.

The two lenses built into Cardboard focus onto the screen on the phone and produces the impression of stereoscopic 3d.

The apps are the real gem in the whole idea and there are hundreds available and most provide and incredibly immersive experience, it’s a fantastic opportunity to try out VR and at a low entry cost it means it’s accessible to everyone with compatible smartphone.

Thanks to Mark Thomas and everyone at Coderus for the evening, it was very interesting. You can find out more about the company by visiting their website here or following them on Twitter here

Matt Porter, The Gadget Man – AI, Technology News and Reviews