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Tag: virtual reality

  • Dreams and Desires

    Dreams and Desires

  • Augmented Reality

    Augmented Reality

  • The 5 Stages of VR Transformation

    The 5 Stages of VR Transformation

  • Modern Morals

    Modern Morals

  • Status in the Metaverse

    Status in the Metaverse

  • The Gamification of Everything

    The Gamification of Everything

    Cross-pollination, for the non-scientific, is one of the key foundations of biodiversity on Earth. It is evolution in action—responsible for reinforcing the traits that make plants stronger and ensuring the survival of many species.

    On a far smaller scale—but equally crucial, from a business point of view—technology applications that move across industry delineation generally gets stronger. The traits that make great tech awesome in one domain combined with the unique use cases and experience of another domain result in more powerful and more flexible technology. And it’s not just a one-way street. Tech often moves back and forth across industry segments, and each time it crosses the line, its DNA improves. That means that, ultimately, the original domain tends to be strengthened by cross-pollination, too.

    This is exactly what’s happened with gaming development technology in recent years. And I’m not just talking about best practices. I’m talking about actual purpose-built gaming development technology that’s spread across and penetrated into industries like automotive, e-commerce, entertainment, architecture, real estate and more.

    This cross-pollination has left top-tier gaming tech players like Epic’s Unreal and Unity in a vastly superior position. In fact, it seems that cross-pollination is becoming an integral part of the growth strategy for these and other gaming tech companies. They’re not only betting their tools will shape the next generation of user experience in multiple industries–they’re also making strategic acquisitions that will make this happen.

    What Does Cross-Pollination Look Like?

    Cross-pollination of gaming tech takes a number of forms–some quite overt, others more subtle. For example:

    • The gamification of mobility–Gaming tech is bringing a new level of interactivity and visualization to the automotive industry. For visualizing self-driving, safety testing, visualizing automotive components, creating online showroom visualizations of vehicle interiors and more–gaming tech is deeply integrated into automotive development, manufacturing and retail.
    • The gamification of entertainment–Game development tools are revolutionizing the way entertainment companies develop content. From scene development based on a gaming methodology and gaming engines, to an entire popular series shot in one location using Unreal–gaming tech has radically changed the scene and series development pipeline.
    • The gamification of business software–The gamification of business software is streamlining processes, training and workflows. From companies like Invrsion, which offers game-like virtual reality tools for retail, to Salesforce, which adopted a game motif for key training—business functionality augmented by gaming tech and gaming user experience enhancements are becoming standard.
    • The gamification of education–Learners learn best when they’re having fun–and also when they have goals, targets and achievements to reach for. Sites like Khan Academy and apps like Duolingo have brought gaming tech and methodologies into the virtual classroom, changing paradigms for educators and learners alike.
    • The gamification of everything else–Shopping for clothes online during lockdown? The functionality that lets you “try on” garments is based on gaming tech. Designing a new pharmaceutical molecule using VR augmentation? Gaming tech. Urban design? Yep—gaming tech. And the list goes on.

    Why Gaming? A Unique Technology Incubator

    The question that companies in any industry should be asking is: why is gaming able to create such powerful, flexible and inspiring tech that lends itself so well to cross-pollination?

    The answer is multifaceted. First off, gamers are out-of-the-box thinkers, to say the least, and game developers–well, they broke the box before the gamers even got there. Gaming tech was born in a development environment on steroids—tight schedules, computing intensive processing, insane competition and frequent release cycles. This makes for a space that’s both receptive to new tech and open to new ways of doing things.

    Secondly, gaming is a ridiculously dynamic industry that is undergoing incredible growth, and the pandemic has only accelerated this trend. More money coming in translates to more investment in developing, improving or acquiring tech, as well as to launching more and more new games.

    Finally, in the gaming world, human resources cross-pollination is built in. Game developers move between studios all the time. This spreads tech advancements like–pardon the sensitive reference–a virus. Because if something worked well for you in one job, you’re going to want to use it in your next position.

    The Takeaway

    In both the natural and business worlds, cross-pollination is necessary for survival. Gaming tech is leaking into other industries for one key reason: it is frequently superior. And this cross-pollination of gaming tech benefits both the industries that adopt it and the gaming industry itself.

  • Integrating the Impactful Immersive Experience Team

    Integrating the Impactful Immersive Experience Team

    Immersive: providing, involving or characterized by deep absorption or immersion in something (such as an activity or a real or artificial environment) — Merriam Webster Dictionary

    We immerse a teabag into hot water to brew tea, but when we speak of the “immersive experience” we’re not planning to boil anyone. We may, however, make them feel as if they’d been boiled, or frozen, or hurtling through space, enjoying the beach or any of many other experiences. What we are really talking about are digital-based immersive experiences.

    The First Immersive Experience

    From July 1930 when Orson Welles first asked, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows …” or January 1933 when actor Brace Beemer first intoned, “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when from out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver! The Lone Ranger rides again!” radio was the first analog immersive experience.

    It was immersive because the audience employed their imaginations to add imagery to the spoken word and the sound effects. While listeners knew these were fictional tales about fictional characters, they became immersed in the stories because they exhibited what poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge first described in 1817 as “the willing suspension of disbelief.”

    Coleridge posited that if a writer could infuse a “human interest and a semblance of truth” into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative.

    Television and movies leveraged that same willingness to achieve even more immersive experiences.

    While these are all examples of entertaining immersive experiences, it wasn’t long before these turned up in practical applications. As an example, astronauts learning to rocket to the heavens first experienced those travels in a flight simulator that combined film imagery and audio to create the impression that the user was actually in the rocket.

    Digital Immersive Experiences

    The actual word “immersive” wasn’t used much until the mid- to late-1980s, a time when Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Apple, IBM and others were busily introducing new personal computers and game consoles.

    Computer-based gaming was perhaps the precursor, or even the first example, of digital immersive experiences. Players often entered a catharsis in which they perceived themselves to be existing in a fantasy world. The image quality created by the software continued to become more and more lifelike and real to enhance that perception of participation.

    Now retailers are beginning to leverage immersive experience technology to help customers shop by showing them what garments might look like—on themselves. Varying colors and accessories instantly by clicking at a kiosk or computer screen.

    Many training courses and support activities are leveraging immersive technologies to augment the student or practitioner experience. A technician in the field can don a headset and see the support expert’s hands showing them exactly what to do and where. NASA has astronauts walking around on a virtual Mars. Students sitting at home feel like they’re in a classroom with the instructor and other students. Peloton customers mount their home spin-cycle in their family room and participate in a class now occurring in a New York studio.

    Many producers of software describe the importance of the user experience to the success of their products. Citrix, for example, designed its entire product suite around the idea that the mobile user experience should closely approximate the on-premises user experience, even though available bandwidth differed widely between the two. Today’s virtual desktop experience, which manifests in many ways, follows that design ethic. It’s worth noting that Citrix continues, to this day, to find ways to improve video and audio transmissions between the data center and the user in a constant effort to enhance the user experience.

    Extending the DevOps Model

    Beyond the “continuous improvement” goals of the DevOps model of computer and software management is the idea that the developers who write the code and the operators who make sure it runs well on the network infrastructure must work in concert to rapidly identify, quantify and resolve all issues.

    Immersive experiences take this concept further, extending the integrated team to include not only the coders and operators, but also the artists and writers who create the written, audio and visual content and the subject matter experts who assure the veracity and integrity.

    Like game developers, this extended team must work together in concert to assure that the content is appropriate, the code is efficient and the delivery is continuous, flawless and totally secure. Even the slightest latency may damage the user’s willingness to believe.

    Channel Choosing

    This team must also determine best practices for developing and delivering experiences through appropriate, effective and impactful channels. In the 1930s, the only vehicle was radio. In the 1940s, image was added to sound with the introduction of television. Opportunities exploded starting in 1969, with the introduction of what would become the global internet.

    Today we can categorize virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and more into immersive experience options. It’s one thing to have a 360-degree camera; it’s another to put it into the hands of a talented 360-degree photographer or videographer. Developers are starting to design impactfully for Oculus Rift, Microsoft HoloLens and other immersive devices.

    Even the tools people use for everyday communications are becoming more immersive. Where once you could text someone, but then had to change to other software and hardware to call them, today’s unified communication solutions create a far more immersive environment. Now you can start by texting to each other, then switch to voice and/or video with a click, share applications and edit content together with a click and even add other users by click.

    How to Increase Immersion

    It stands to reason that the more human senses you stimulate, the more immersive the experience becomes. Adding image to sound as we moved from radio to television certainly resulted in greater audience immersion. Theaters are experimenting with combining 3-D projection with seats that move and shake in accordance with the on-screen action. Only the olfactory sense has not been treated yet, but how long can it be before the introduction of “smell-o-vision”?

    Effective creation of immersive experiences requires software developers, network designers and implementers, writers, photographers, graphic layout experts, subject matter experts, social engineers and behaviorists to work together effectively. The combined creativity in a team like that will, itself, be thoroughly immersive.

    — Brad Mallard

  • VR Development Guide: Choosing the Right Engine

    VR Development Guide: Choosing the Right Engine

    Creating virtual 3D worlds has been a dream of programmers for many decades. Virtual reality, once a faraway fiction, is becoming a reality. Failures such as Nintendo’s infamous Virtual Boy are now a distant memory, and major successes including PSVR and Google Cardboard have become the norm for the emerging technology. In fact, Statista projects incredible growth for virtual reality, estimating that the market will expand to $40 billion by 2020.

    Creating Your Own VR Apps is Possible

    Creating your own virtual reality applications is more possible now than ever. The cost to participate in virtual reality, for both consumers and developers, has lowered dramatically in recent years, and a plethora of tools is now available for new development teams to enter the fray.

    One of the most important elements to your virtual reality development process is the engine you use to build with. Unless you have unlimited time and unlimited resources, it’s in your best interest to use a commercial engine rather than create one yourself.

    Developing VR Apps with Premium Engines

    Akin to other development environments, there are many free-to-use and open source engines at your disposal. You’ll have plenty of options to choose from, but you’ll need to educate yourself about these tools to ensure you’re making the best project in regard to your specifications.

    The Unreal Engine and Unity have been used for myriad 3D video games and virtual reality applications. They have been classic choices for video game development and even for mobile app development.

    The Unreal Engine is free to use and allows development teams to create their own interactive applications at no cost. Once your application is developed, however, you’ll have to share a small percentage of your profits with the Unreal team.

    How to Build VR Apps Without Coding

    Interestingly, you can code your entire application with simple logic alone through the use of their Blueprint Visual Scripting functionality. With Blueprints, you can design programmatic actions, methods and computer behavior without writing a single line of code.

    This design feature isn’t available on any other major engine. If you have a design-heavy team, filled with more analytical designers and artists than programmers, you may want to consider using the Unreal Engine.

    Why Unity is a Developer Favorite

    Unity, a similar engine yet underpowered when compared to Unreal, allows developers to use their engine for a small upfront fee, but you won’t have to pay out any royalties once you’ve purchased the program. To use Unity, you’ll need to have a team with strong C# skills.

    If you don’t have a strong background in C# and don’t have the funds to bring on a more experienced C# programmer, you should strongly consider using the Unreal Engine. If your team has the programming ability and design ability, Unity can be a great and relatively low-cost option that sacrifices little in terms of quality.

    There are Great Open Source Options, Too

    If you’re looking for the lowest cost possible, you’ll want to investigate completely free engines. Video game engines such as Godot may be serviceable, but virtual reality compatibility is not completely assured. You’ll have to devote more time and resources into editing the engine your needs.

    Completely open source virtual reality-ready engines are also available for use. Apertus VR is one such example. It’s a set of embeddable libraries that can easily be inserted into existing projects. OSVR is another virtual reality framework that can help you begin developing your own virtual reality games. Both OSVR and Apertus VR are fairly new creations, however, and you may experience bugs and other issues you would not encounter with Unity or Unreal.

    Conclusion

    Developing virtual reality applications is incredibly hard work, but with a bit of persistence and with some help from experienced developers, you should be able to get the hang of the virtual reality development process.

    While you can’t control a great deal of what happens within the development process itself, you should make absolutely sure that your framework is well laid out.

    Selecting an engine or virtual reality framework that works for your team is a decision that requires a great deal of time and effort. Take your time weighing the pros and cons of the tools available to you. Moving forward will mean you’re committing yourself and your team to a specific engine. That sort of decision has a lot of weight in the development process.

    — Anthony Coggine

  • The Impact of DevOps and Continuous Testing in 2018

    The Impact of DevOps and Continuous Testing in 2018

    At its core, DevOps is meant to touch an entire organization; however it’s heavily weighted in the software development life cycle (SDLC). That’s why DevOps is going mainstream in 2018. Companies are making the business benefits of DevOps a top priority—it’s all about delivering value to the customer faster through maximum automation of the release cycle/processes. And that begins with organizations realizing that to mature their DevOps processes, they need continuous testing as part of their continuous integration practice.

    Cross-platform Engagement and IoT Will Mean More Devices—and More Apps

    With organizations shifting processes and innovation to a mix of digital technologies—a concept known as digital transformation—consumers are engaging with different apps across various platforms 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Add in the rise of internet of things (IoT) devices, which allow for seamless transitions across smartphones, TVs, tablets and other devices. Now is the time for optimum user experience (UX).

    In 2018, industries such as financial services, health care, retail and automotive will fully embrace IoT. We may also see new types of applications replacing current ones, as consumers and developers embrace the constantly evolving innovative capabilities coming in 2018. However, until the C-suite implements the tools needed to keep up with the growing demand for cross-platform upkeep and testing, other industries will experience slow adoption.

    A critical step in delivering flawless UX is testing, and lots of it. Never has there been more to test, measure and develop than in this digital revolution we are seeing today.

    Frequent New Releases Will Require Even Faster Updates

    As the number of platforms consumers engage with rapidly grows, so does the pressure for developers to ensure apps are running as they should at all times. Same goes for the pace of cloud adoption: Cloud test labs will need more sophisticated capabilities, meaning more platforms and blind spots which require continuous optimization to ensure market readiness. This need for faster turnarounds on update releases and bug fixes will multiply in 2018.

    To maintain and grow customers and profitability, CIOs must recognize the importance of empowering developers with the tools and time to implement continuous testing across the SDLC. Tools, such as those powered by automation and the cloud, increase efficiencies and free up time developers previously spent on manual quality-checking, allowing them to ensure the apps they are producing are keeping up with consumer expectations. If users feel their app is not delivering on the experience they want, they will delete it and move on to the next competitor, which has a direct negative impact on the company’s bottom line.

    Outdated Technologies Will Make for Even Slower Updates

    There is a suite of new tools being introduced to the market for all stages of the SDLC in the hopes of keeping up with the heightened speed of testing. As many DevOps environments struggle to adapt their pipelines to these new tools, many are powered by emerging technologies including machine learning and automation. In 2018, developers should ditch outdated infrastructure and processes in favor of more modern architectures, including implementing microservices.

    Modernizing pipelines will allow developers to design in next-gen engagement methods such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) without compromising velocity.

    AI Will Experience Its Shining Moment (for Some)

    In the coming year, AI will start to move from a theoretical concept to a commonly applied technology, especially within the DevOps space. However, developers first must understand what they want AI to help them accomplish—and how—within the SDLC and across the DevOps pipeline. One logical place to start is figuring out how they can best leverage it to analyze test automation strategies.

    The value of a well-oiled, or not-so-well-oiled, DevOps process can make or break an organization. As the new year begins, be sure to include the IT leadership in these conversations to ensure developers are getting what they need, when they need it, to keep business moving as usual. IoT, AI and the cloud are just a few things to keep in mind as the industry moves to implement the latest tools in 2018.

    About the Author / Eran Kinsbruner

    Eran Kinsbruner is the lead technical evangelist at Perfecto and the author of the “Digital Quality Handbook.” He is a software engineering professional with nearly 20 years of experience at companies such as Matrix, Qulicke & Soffa, Sun Microsystems, General Electric, Texas Instruments and NeuStar. He holds various industry certifications such as ISTQB, CMMI, and others. Eran is a recognized mobile testing influencer and thought leader. He is also a patent-holding inventor (test exclusion automated mechanism for mobile J2ME testing), public speaker, researcher and blogger. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn and check out his professional mobile testing blog.

  • 5 Development Trends Reshaping Testing

    5 Development Trends Reshaping Testing

    There’s no shortage of new development trends, but virtual reality, containers, big data, hyperconnected apps and IoT are affecting testing the most today.

    If you like change and challenge, it’s a fun time to work in software. Some technology developments, such as cloud computing, have been gaining speed slowly over many years. That steady progression has meant that developers can stay on top of trends easily and be informed about market changes. Other areas, such as containers, have come to fruition much faster without as much notice. Development teams have had to scramble to stay ahead of these trends, hoping to capitalize on a their efficiency gains while staying ahead of the curve. Here’s a look at five important software trends which are having a profound effect on testing.

    Containers

    Docker made containerization cool and exciting in 2013, even though containers have arguably been around for many years, if not decades. Developers love containers because the technology makes it much easier to set up and install software in different environments, such as in the public cloud or in a private data center. Containers wrap up all of the infrastructure components that otherwise would be installed separately into one easily portable package with a common standard. And since multiple containers can run on the same hardware without creating problems, you can do more with less infrastructure. Typically, containers can move between different environments with relative ease—a nice benefit for multicloud infrastructures. Containers have evolved quickly from an experimental platform to a mainstream infrastructure technology, with many major businesses taking advantage of containers to deliver their product at scale.

    Testing considerations: It’s hard to find much at fault for containers when it comes to facilitating software testing. Because of the ease in setting up test environments and moving code from one environment to another during the production cycle, testers can work much faster. Before containers, there was a lot more waiting around by both developers and testers. When it takes two weeks to set up an environment for a testing cycle that took two hours, teams would tend toward less frequent releases or would do less testing. Now, it is a matter of minutes to set up a testing environment. This is great for companies and development teams that value testing and want to test more frequently with greater access to a variety of environments.

    Another boon with containers is stability. In the past, bugs sometimes appeared due to configuration errors from setting up dev/test environments. Given the plug-and-play nature of containers, there’s little if any concern about the proper configurations being completed before a testing environment can be used. Security has been an ongoing concern with containers, especially in highly regulated sectors such as health care, government and financial services. In those cases, companies may have to support two versions of the code—one in a containerized platform and one in a more traditional virtual or bare-metal environment. We believe this will be a short-term situation as containerization technology matures and becomes adopted across all industries.

    Big Data

    Whether you want to use this vague and overhyped term or not, big data is simply a new way to refer to larger than normal data sets. Big data became a big trend as the hardware and software to store and manage it got a lot more powerful and cheaper, and the cloud shift helped to centralize data sets into one location. Some large companies and research organizations are seeing interesting results from big data projects already, whether in more targeted drug development (precision medicine) or just-in-time environmental data for farmers. Now, every Tom, Dick and Harry is trying to get into the big data market, which means there are too many solutions to count. A natural weeding-out process will occur over the next few years, as the prominent big data players and NoSQL standards converge into two or three leading providers.

    Testing considerations: Big data applications bring value through the way they manage and/or analyze data, not so much through the user interface. Therefore, testing for big data applications is going to require more technical, database-oriented skills. Those skills are also different from the typical relational database skills of the past, given the fact that big data platforms typically are designed to manage structured and unstructured data. These are open source tools and systems such as NoSQL and Hadoop, along with large vendor systems such as SAP HANA. Testers in this field will need to be constantly adapting learning these new technologies.

    Virtual Reality

    Investors have funneled $8.8 billion into the sector since 2012, according to SuperData Research. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung and HTC are all in the game. The market is segmented between VR, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) and consists of both traditional (PC/console) and mobile device applications. VR is a fully immersive, fully virtual experience that mimics reality, while AR and MR are different variations of blending real and virtual environments together. VR applications aren’t just for gaming anymore: We now are seeing the technology being used for product design and collaboration, tourism/travel and entertainment, including film.

    Testing considerations: VR is an emerging technology still, with many different types of platforms, no clear leaders and no real standards in place. That makes it more difficult for developers and testers to make strategic decisions around technology. As well, there aren’t any great tools for automated testing in these environments yet. Therefore, the need for manual and real-world testing will add time and cost to the project. Yet, investing in doing this right is critical for ensuring optimal user experience. In virtual reality environments, it’s difficult to simulate experiences, such as testing for motion sickness, without actually playing with the real devices. This is especially challenging with the newer mobile platforms, such as Google Cardboard, which incorporate a viewing device that transforms the mobile phone into a VR headset. That experience simply can’t be simulated accurately on a PC, a common testing strategy for other mobile apps. Companies testing mobile VR apps may need to invest in the purchase of dozens or hundreds of different mobile devices to gain an accurate picture of how the application performs for most users.

    Hyperconnected Apps

    Web-based and consumer apps comprise the bulk of hyperconnected apps, characterized by having deep, often real-time integration with other applications. Instagram and Facebook, Gmail and Google Calendar, Salesforce and their wealth of apps—these are just a few examples of hyperconnectivity. The advent of REST APIs has facilitated far easier and cheaper integration so any company can build a platform of third-party software in ways they couldn’t have imagined five or 10 years ago. Similarly, with the explosion of the app economy, including open source software, it doesn’t make good economic sense to write 100 percent of code in your application any longer. Product value is increasing the result of how developers can patch together different technologies in innovative ways.

    Testing considerations: Given the importance of APIs in hyperconnected applications, a primary testing consideration will be ensuring the performance validity of those connection points. It’s imperative for both developers and testers to be aware of API update schedules and to test those updates immediately for any negative impact on the application. Beyond API testing, load and performance testing are also important considerations for hyperconnected applications, which typically involve heavy and/or unpredictable transaction processing. Overall, these types of testing are much more technical in nature than manual UI testing and will require testers to expand their skill set to optimize value.

    Internet of Things (IoT)

    The interest in (and hype) for the IoT sector rivals the largest IT trends, such as big data. Initial applications have focused on connecting devices, such as home lighting and thermostat systems, which use sensors to stream data to smartphones. Over time, we will see more device-to-device connections such as a thermostat collecting data from a smoke detector to ensure that the house isn’t on fire if the temperature rises dramatically. Products such as Amazon Echo and Google Nest might be at the heart of many new consumer-based IoT applications, but there is also ample potential in sectors such as utilities, health care, industrial equipment and government (a.k.a. smart city initiatives).

    Testing considerations: As IoT applications mature, connectivity complexity will grow. IoT applications can involve many components: the hardware of the smart device or product and the software that controls it, along with the user applications that interact with the product. When troubleshooting an issue or vulnerability, a tester must investigate the applications that collect, analyze and display the IoT data, the various network connections across which that data travels, the IoT appliance’s hardware and its software. Hardware testing must incorporate typical scenarios such as what happens to the user experience when a device starts to run low on battery or goes offline. Testers will be most valuable when they have experience in both hardware and software testing; alternatively, an organization can have two teams of testers but they must be in very close contact. IoT apps should also be configured to collect and deliver more alerts and logging data than mobile apps, due to the higher number of components involved. This will make it easier to prevent, troubleshoot and fix problems when they arise.

    About the author/Kevin Dunne

    Kevin Dunne picKevin Dunne is VP of Strategy and Business Development at QASymphony.