[From Toyota, where the press release includes another photo and a 1:15 minute video] New Driving Simulator from Toyota TeenDrive365 Uses Oculus Rift to Bring Dangers of Distracted Driving To Life Marks the First Time Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Technology Is Being Used to Educate The Public about Safe Driving January 14, 2015 DETROIT – Today at the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota launched its new TeenDrive365 distracted driving simulator with Oculus Rift, marking the first time the virtual reality technology is being used to educate the public – teens and parents alike – about the dangers of distracted driving. A…

[From Road to VR, where the story includes more pictures and a 5:50 minute video] Visionary VR is Reinventing Filmmaking’s Most Fundamental Concept to Tell Stories in Virtual Reality January 5, 2015 by Ben Lang Several of the founders of the VRLA Meetup are today launching Visionary VR, a technology and content development studio which is reinventing the language of filmmaking for effective storytelling in virtual reality. The frame. It’s a simple, but incredibly powerful concept within the world of filmmaking, one that has endured for film’s history of more than 100 years. The frame is the edge of the screen,…

[From The Creators Project blog, where the post includes more images] Giant Billboards Paint a Discordant Portrait of Mongolian Desertification By Emerson Rosenthal — Jan 13 2015 A large-scale museum diorama popped up in the Mongolian plains, challenging the unending ebb and flow of history by making apparent the borders between the actual and the ideal. Created by Paris-based Korean photographer Daesung Lee, the giant billboard that anchors his Futuristic archaeology project is adorned with images of desertification in Mongolia—that is, the places where, due to environmental and human factors, the drying landscape is threatening centuries-old traditions. “Environmental changes directly…

[From Slashgear, where the story includes more pictures and a 2:48 minute video] Oculus Rift Crescent Bay hands-on with 3D Audio Chris Burns Jan 12, 2015 We entered the room Oculus VR had prepared for us not knowing exactly what we were in for. Not the Samsung Gear VR – surely not – that’s already nearly a consumer product. Instead, Oculus had a padded room ready for us. Not because the SlashGear team is ready for straight jackets, but because this demonstration required that we be in as quiet an environment as possible. This demonstration – of the newest Oculus…

[From Kill Screen, where the story includes more images and a video] Sci-fi film corridors re-purposed as a videogame maze by Chris Priestman January 05, 2015 Corridors are a significant architectural space in a lot of science fiction films. Perhaps you haven’t considered this before given the brevity of their screen time. And that’s largely due to the corridor’s purpose as an interstitial space that connects rooms, meaning they are usually walked or ran through, and not dwelled upon. One of the first lessons in filmmaking is to cut out any unnecessary footage when editing, and the example used is…

[From The Creators Project blog, where the post includes more images and a 0:58 minute video] Find Missing Masterpieces Inside the Museum of Stolen Art By Becky Chung — Jan 7 2015 You’re strolling through a gallery space and out of one corner of your eye, you spot a sculpture of a pastoral landscape painting. In the next room stands an abstract bronze sculpture. “For looted art go to your right, for art theft go to your left,” says an invisible woman who guides you through the exhibit. This is not an ordinary museum: it’s the home of artworks whose…