News Roundup: Met Museum, Facebook Video, Google Chrome VR, and Wireless Power Transmission
Here at AMT Lab, we’re giving you a one stop shop for all tech and arts related news. Here is this week's edition:
The Met Museum in NYC recently changed their policy so that 375,000 works of art (already within public domain) are available for online viewing. The pieces range from famous paintings by Van Gogh and Monet to photographs of artifacts. The Met Museum adopted Open Access in 2014, when 400,000 images were made available. This addition nearly doubles the size of the Met’s unrestricted online collection and suggests a positive future for the relationship between open access initiatives and the cultural sector.
Every day, the integration of virtual reality into our daily lives becomes more of a reality. Google recently announced the addition of WebVR to their browser, which allows certain websites to be viewed through virtual reality. Though not required, the websites are best experienced with a smart phone plugged into a Daydream View Headset. VR websites include Bear 71 and Matterport.
The latest tweak to Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm will affect the way videos are presented. Videos that appear on Facebook will begin to automatically play with sound. Facebook executives have presented this change as a logical next step because their users are increasingly accustomed to consuming news through video. The auto-play sound will be able to be turned off in settings.
An enchanted castle with the magic to charge your smart phone may not be a fantasy much longer. Disney Researchers are leading the change in wireless power transmission with technology that could have the ability to charge electronic devices connected to wifi networks. The new method is still being tested but was detailed in a report published on February 15, 2017. In addition to eliminating the need for cell phone charging chords, this technology could expand the capability of robots.