The New York Times unveils its new AR experience for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

The NYT just debuted its first augmented reality experience: a preview piece for the Winter Olympics, enabling readers to meet world-class Olympic athletes–including figure skater Nathan Chen, big air snowboarder Anna Gasser and short track speed skater J.R. Celski–as if they were paused in mid-performance.

NYT readers are now able to meet world-class Olympic athletes–including figure skater Nathan Chen, big air snowboarder Anna Gasser and short track speed skater J.R. Celski–as if they were paused in mid-performance
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According to the NYT, using a smartphone camera, AR storytelling gives users the chance to explore information in new ways, with less swiping and clicking and more movement and gestures, and invites readers to engage with journalism like never before.

The New York Times just debuted its first augmented reality experience: a preview piece for the Winter Olympics
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“There’s no question that these are early days for AR, but our work so far suggests that this emerging technology has real potential to help our readers experience the news differently, helping them understand the world more deeply,” says Steve Duenes, assistant masthead editor at The New York Times.

“The Times has been among the most innovative digital storytellers for many years. On desktop, mobile, in our exploration of data visualization and other forms of visual journalism, including virtual reality, we’ve been committed to creating the most compelling and vibrant report possible, and this experiment in AR is a part of that,” adds Duenes. “We cover today’s most compelling news events from around the world, and now our readers can get closer to these stories and subjects, from a possible border wall to a figure skater’s quadruple jump. They can take in the size, shape and details of the objects at the center of our coverage.”

Ralph Lauren, an Official Outfitter of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, also gives readers the chance to see Team USA ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani in AR as they model the official Ralph Lauren Team USA Opening Ceremony Parade uniforms. T Brand Studio collaborated with Ralph Lauren on the creative design and concept to enhance user-experience. The Ralph Lauren AR interactive, which was produced by New York Times Company experiential design agency Fake Love, is the first AR experience from an advertiser to live inside The New York Times app for iOS.

NYT readers can get closer to these stories and subjects with AR, from a possible border wall to a figure skater's quadruple jump. They can take in the size, shape and details of the objects at the center of the coverage
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“In continuing to explore and support innovation across all aspects of our business, we partnered with The New York Times to launch the cutting-edge Olympics AR experience, we’re excited to build innovative ideas that bring the Olympics to life for the consumer in new and exciting ways,” said David Lauren, the company’s chief innovation officer.

The New York Times developed the AR experience leveraging Apple’s ARKit, which is now available to hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads users with devices running iOS 11. They also say the experience will be coming to Android soon, built with ARCore. A comprehensive guide to AR at The Times is available here.

The New York Times developed the AR experience on Apple’s ARKit, which is now available to hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads users with devices running iOS 11. Thehe experience will also be coming to Android ARCore soon
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For companies looking to leverage Augmented Reality and other immersive technologies, Tech Trends offers a comprehensive range of Virtual Reality Consultancy services 

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Experience the Winter Olympics in Augmented Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

A collaboration between IBM and the New York Times T Brand Studio showcased the work of female STEM pioneers through AR.

The Outthink Hidden experience is available through the T Brand Studio AR app which can be download for free on iTunes and Google Play. It works like a virtual museum where people can explore a range of 3D graphics, written stories, and audiovisual narratives to find out the tales behind 10 key innovators in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The app was inspired by the recently released film Hidden Figures, which tells the true story of how three female African American mathematicians who programmed the first-of-its kind IBM mainframe at NASA in the early 1960s and played a key role in the historic mission that put John Glenn into orbit.

“We were inspired to use this app to share the stories of unsung STEM innovators who have changed the lives of people around the world.” said Ann Rubin, Vice President, Branded Content and Global Creative, IBM.

Perhaps by shining this spotlight on this untold tale of the 1960s Space Race, we can help to inspire greater interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, specially amongst women. It fits into a broader range of initiatives such as Stemettes, whose co-founder Anne-Marie Imafidon has been recognized with an MBE in the latest New Years Honours list and the important work in education advocacy championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, which was movingly reflected in her final official speech last week.

Perhaps by shining a spotlight on this untold tale of the 1960s Space Race, we can inspire interest in STEM
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The New York Times has been pushing VR content for a while now, but this is their first major AR initiative, and it potentially allows them to reach a wider audience, by enabling people to experience immersive content without need for a separate headset. It instead deploys sensors to activate a digital layer that augments the space using 3D images, audio, video, and descriptive text, displaying these using just the mobile device screen.

Dorothy Vaughan taught herself and others how to program NASA’s IBM mainframe
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The AR content is activated on those mobile devices thorough special print editions of the New York Times and 150 “geofenced” locations across the U.S. in cities such as New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco as well as notable STEM hubs like NASA Langley Research Center, Kennedy Space Center, the Computer History Museum in San Francisco and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science, or universities including Duke, Cornell and Princeton.

The app highlights the story and accomplishments of three of the film’s “hidden figures” including Dorothy Vaughan, who taught herself and others how to program NASA’s IBM mainframe, in addition to other STEM pioneers including Bessie Blount Griffin, who invented a feeding device for injured World War II veterans and Sara Josephine Baker, who changed the way the world thought about public health, creating the role of the school nurse.

“When we spoke to IBM about their work with ‘Hidden Figures, we recognized that this was an opportunity to bring users into the experience of the film and the remarkable women it showcases,” Said the New York Times’ Senior VP of Advertising and Innovation Sebastian Tomich.

Getting women involved in STEM remains an enormous challenge even in the 21^st Century. So it remains crucial that we not only support grassroots initiatives like KizCode – which enable girls to learn and contribute through key skills such as coding –  but to provide inspiration and role models that this next promising generation of female scientists and technologists can relate to, and be inspired by.

Getting women involved in STEM fields remains a great challenge
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To find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your enterprise, Tech Trends offers bespoke Virtual Reality Consultancy support

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Augmented Reality Brings STEM Heroes to Life appeared first on Tech Trends.