Oculus Rift Inventor Talks About Journey - Business Insider

Oculus VR

Palmer Luckey.

Forget about the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, the real game-changer in video games is a new virtual reality headset called the Oculus Rift.

The Rift is a virtual reality headset unlike any other, sucking you into PC games with an enormous field of view and stunning stereoscopic 3D that doesn't feel forced like in movie theaters.

We tried an early version the Rift out and were blown away, but with only a low-resolution developer kit available, legions of avid fans have been dying for details on the long-awaited HD consumer version, slated to arrive sometime in 2014.

So we set up an interview with the inventor of the Oculus Rift, 20-year-old Palmer Luckey, to talk more about how he turned a device he invented in his garage into a startup worth over $18 million, Oculus VR.

Business Insider:?I know you worked as an engineer at the University of Southern California, but how did you first become interested in the hacker/maker scene?

Palmer Luckey:? So I had been in the hacker/maker scene for quite a few years before I worked there. I mean, most of my life. I was interested in virtual reality for several years even before working at USC, it wasn?t an interest that started there at all. In fact, when I started working at USC, I already had prototypes of the Rift that were very similar to the final design.?

BI: ?You have said before that you have the largest private collection of virtual reality headsets, so were these "Frankenstein" Rifts? Did you combine parts from other head mounted displays, or did you buy parts separately??

Luckey:?A combination. I built a lot of different prototypes. Some of them were modified head-mounted displays from other people. Some of them were built from standard off-the-shelf components with some custom bits.?

BI: And how did you know how to do that?

Luckey:?I?ve been a bit of an electronics enthusiast and maker for a long time. I actually started the forum called ModRetro. It?s an electronics enthusiast community that focuses on modifying vintage game consoles, and it?s actually one of the larger game console modification forums on the internet. I started that site when I was 15. ModRetro was actually founded by myself and one of the people that currently works as an engineer at Oculus. So we've stuck together.

BI: So were you in college when the Oculus Rift started making waves?

Luckey:? At the time I was still taking college courses. I started attending community college when I was 14 or 15, just doing general education stuff like history and mathematics. Then I went on to California State University Long Beach to pursue a degree in journalism. And then I ended up dropping out to found Oculus.

BI: Have you ever been involved in a startup before? It must have been intimidating to start a hardware and software business for the first time.

Luckey:? So there are two things. When I started the company it was just myself, and I did all the paperwork and all the fun stuff, got a tax ID and all that. That was just a pain, but you can do it with the help of the Internet. But then I had Brendan Iribe and Mike Antonov?come on board ? Mike is our chief software architect and Brendan is our CEO ? they have a lot of experience with startups, so they were able to handle a lot of the business side of things, so that I could focus on the VR headset itself.

BI: The Oculus Rift Kickstarter raised close to $2.5 million, and you just recently received an additional $16 million in funding on top of that. What does this mean for Oculus?

Luckey:?We are going to be using these new resources to expand our team, hiring the best people in the industry. We made it a long way with our Kickstarter, but this investment is going to let us deliver a truly world class consumer product.

BI:? What is the average "Palmer Luckey" day like?

Luckey:?The average Palmer Luckey day involves lots of working with all kinds of new components, and new hardware, building prototype head-mounted displays, combined with talking lots of developers, lots of the people who have headsets, and getting feedback from them, and obviously talking to people like you.

BI:?Most of your team consists of software developers and programmers. You?ve mentioned that even your CEO can code. That?s a different approach than many other startups. Do you think that?s part of your success, having everyone involved in such a vital way?

Luckey:?I think it?s a great idea to have a company that?s leaning heavily on the engineering side, rather than having a bunch of people whose job it is to just market the thing or hype it up. Mainly what we?re doing is just trying to make this headset. And I think the kind of jobs we have on the team reflect that.

BI: Online communities, such as the Oculus subreddit, are filled with fans creating and testing their own demos for the Rift. What are your thoughts on the Rift's popularity on online forums?

Luckey:? I?m a huge fan of online communities.?I think that asynchronous internet-based communication forums such as Reddit and other discussion forums are one of the best things that could possibly have happened to collaborative invention. The Rift certainly would not exist without forums. It?s kind of fascinating how you can bring people together from all around the world with some tiny niche interest and all collaborate on something. But I feel like we?re all doing this together.

BI: I know the Oculus subreddit would kill me if?I didn't ask you about the consumer model of the Rift. Your goal is to have higher resolution display without the "screen door effect," which shows the outlines of the display's pixels. At what point do you stop waiting for better or cheaper displays to come out and just pull the trigger?

Luckey:?So it?s not necessarily a price thing. We?re out there trying to select the absolute best panel that we can. It's not that the difference between the most expensive panel on the market and the cheapest panel on the market is so huge that we should be making decisions based on that. And there are ways to remove the screen-door effect without necessarily just increasing the resolution. What you?re really trying to do is increase the fill ratio of the display, so that there?s more emissive area than non-emissive area. So it?s going to continue to get better. You could get rid of the screen door effect on a 720p display if it were properly designed.? I can?t share exactly what we?re doing, but we?re working on it.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/oculus-rift-inventor-talks-about-journey-2013-7

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Russia's overlap of law and politics

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, left, tries pancakes, brought by his supporters as he was released in a courtroom in Kirov, Russia Friday, July 19, 2013. A Russian court on Friday released opposition leader Alexei Navalny from custody less than 24 hours after he was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison. The release came after a surprise request by prosecutors, who said that because Navalny is a candidate in this fall's Moscow mayoral race keeping him in custody would deny him his right to seek election. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, left, tries pancakes, brought by his supporters as he was released in a courtroom in Kirov, Russia Friday, July 19, 2013. A Russian court on Friday released opposition leader Alexei Navalny from custody less than 24 hours after he was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison. The release came after a surprise request by prosecutors, who said that because Navalny is a candidate in this fall's Moscow mayoral race keeping him in custody would deny him his right to seek election. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, right, embraces his wife Yulia, as he was released in a courtroom in Kirov, Russia on Friday, July 19, 2013.A Russian court on Friday released opposition leader Alexei Navalny from custody less than 24 hours after he was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison.The release came after a surprise request by prosecutors, who said that because Navalny is a candidate in this fall?s Moscow mayoral race keeping him in custody would deny him his right to seek election. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

MOSCOW (AP) ? In the minutes after opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to prison, the Russian stock market took a dive. When a court released him a day later, share prices dropped markedly again.

Russia's legal system is awash in the uncertainty that makes markets nervous. The courts appear open to political manipulation and the laws sometimes resemble legalistic head-fakes ? nominally enacted for enlightened reasons, but in practice applied to silencing dissent and inconvenient voices.

A look at some cases of the uneasy intersection of law and politics:

NAVALNY

The merits of the embezzlement case against the energetic anti-corruption blogger and charismatic opposition figure were widely questioned and his conviction on Thursday was quickly criticized in the West as a political put-up job. Ironically, it was his release that seemed to be the clearest evidence of a political agenda.

The release was justified by the court on the grounds that keeping Navalny behind bars would deprive him of the right to pursue his campaign for this fall's Moscow mayoral election. By giving him at least temporary freedom Russia could bolster its claim that it does actually seek pluralism and full democracy, despite allegations that it's deliberately moving to authoritarianism.

Russian lawyers were suspicious, saying the release of Navalny on these grounds ? and at the request of prosecutors ? was unprecedented. Pavel Chikov, a lawyer who's a member of the presidential human rights council, went so far as to call it "nonsense."

"Most probably, this decision was dictated by political motives," he told the state news agency RIA Novosti.

PUSSY RIOT

Russia has laws promoting religious tolerance. Members of the country's most politically vehement punk band ended up in prison because of one.

Just before the 2012 election that returned Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin, the band barged into Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral to screech out a "punk prayer" against him.

The Russian Orthodox Church is so closely tied to the government that offending believers in essence becomes a political act. So the conviction of three band members on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred superficially defended the sensitivities of the devout, but had a strong political taint. They were sentenced to two years in prison, though one has been released on parole.

GAY PRIDE

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but gay activists' annual requests to hold marches routinely are banned on the grounds of public security. The argument is that animosity toward gays, especially among conservative Orthodox groups, remains so strong that any such march would provoke a violent reaction. When unauthorized march attempts take place, thugs do indeed start throwing punches within moments ? but police appear more concerned about arresting the activists than holding back the attackers.

That may change, and not in gays' favor. The lower house of the national parliament has passed a measure calling for banning gay pride rallies outright.

ADOPTIONS

In banning the adoption of Russian children by Americans last year, Russian lawmakers claimed they were protecting beloved tykes from abuse and death at the hands of adoptive parents whom U.S. authorities are too apathetic or disorganized to bring to justice. But the warmhearted concern came amid cold political fury.

The ban was part of a measure rushed through parliament in retaliation for a U.S. law allowing sanctions on Russians identified as human rights violators. Distress about the adoption ban overshadowed the more overtly political provisions of the Russian law, which also calls for the closure of non-governmental organizations receiving American funding, if their activities are classified as political.

WWII

It was seven decades ago that Nazi Germany fell to an offensive driven largely by the Red Army, but the war is still alive in Russia's official culture. Massive annual commemorations of the victory ? and periodic equally elaborate observances of major battles such as Stalingrad ? allow Russians to bathe in the pride of a great and grueling achievement.

Awkwardly, though, the commander-in-chief was one of history's most despised dictators, Josef Stalin. In the Putin years, Russia has significantly blurred that distinction to the point that referring to the Soviet army's brutality and its seizure of the Baltic states is seen as an insult to the modern state.

A bill making its way through parliament would criminalize criticism of Soviet actions during the war. In theory, that would defend the honor of those who sacrificed and suffered. In practice, it could protect those who rule in the present.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-07-19-Russia-Law%20and%20Politics/id-406489e04e6e41d6917fd57097ab290b

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Online series 'House of Cards' makes Emmy history

This image released by Netflix shows Kevin Spacey as U.S. Congressman Frank Underwood in a scene from the Netflix original series, "House of Cards." If Netflix's "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development" become the first online shows to reap Emmy nominations Thursday, July 18, it will be a watershed moment for programs that don't need television sets to make a splash. (AP Photo/Netflix, Melinda Sue Gordon)

This image released by Netflix shows Kevin Spacey as U.S. Congressman Frank Underwood in a scene from the Netflix original series, "House of Cards." If Netflix's "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development" become the first online shows to reap Emmy nominations Thursday, July 18, it will be a watershed moment for programs that don't need television sets to make a splash. (AP Photo/Netflix, Melinda Sue Gordon)

This undated publicity image released by Showtime showsJennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan, left, and Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan in a scene from the final season of "Dexter," airing Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on Showtime. (AP Photo/Showtime, Randy Tepper)

This image released by CBS shows Jim Parsons, right, and Simon Helberg in a scene from "The Big Bang Theory." Parsons was nominated for an Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series on, Thursday July 18, 2013. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy ceremony will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. It will air Sept. 22 on CBS. (AP Photo/CBS, Michael Yarish)

This image released by FX shows Louis C.K. in a scene from "Louie." Louis C.K. was nominated for an Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series on, Thursday July 18, 2013. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy ceremony will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. It will air Sept. 22 on CBS. (AP Photo/FX)

This publicity image released by Showtime shows Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan in "House of Lies." Cheadle was nominated for an Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series on, Thursday July 18, 2013. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy ceremony will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. It will air Sept. 22 on CBS. (AP Photo/Showtime, Michael Desmond)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Netflix's "House of Cards" made Emmy history Thursday with a top drama series nomination, the first time that television's leading awards have recognized a program delivered online as equal in quality to the best that TV has to offer.

The nomination, one of nine nods earned by the political thriller, is a marker in the unfolding revolution in how we get and watch video entertainment.

The most Emmy nominations, 17, went to "American Horror Story: Asylum." Close behind was "Game of Thrones" with 16 nods, while "Saturday Night Live" and the Liberace biopic "Behind the Candelabra" earned 15 nominations each, including nods for stars Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

"House of Cards" stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright received acting bids, along with a number of other primarily big-screen actors who have migrated to TV for powerhouse projects, with Douglas and Damon among them.

Another Netflix series, "Arrested Development," didn't earn a best comedy series but scored three nominations, including one for star Jason Bateman.

Joining "House of Cards" and "Game of Thrones" in the best drama series category are "Breaking Bad," ''Downton Abbey," ''Mad Men" and last year's winner, "Homeland."

"Mad Men," which last year missed out on the best drama trophy that would have been its record-setting fifth, eclipsing fellow four-time winners "Hill Street Blues," ''L.A. Law" and "The West Wing," gets another shot this year.

The major broadcast networks were shut out of the prestigious category, a repeat of last year and a particular blow with the entry of Netflix's streamed drama. "Boardwalk Empire" was the only show not to return in the category, its spot claimed by "House of Cards."

In the comedy series category, nominees are "The Big Bang Theory," ''Girls," ''Louie," ''Modern Family," ''Veep" and "30 Rock," recognized for its final season. Another outgoing comedy, "The Office," didn't receive a best series nod.

A 6-year-old TV academy rules change allows online entries to compete with cable and broadcast programs, although so far Internet shows have popped up only in lower-profile categories. That changed with the 65th Primetime Emmys.

"It certainly is a marker of the new era. ... It will send shock waves through the industry," said Tim Brooks, a TV historian and former network executive, predicted on the eve of the nominations.

They were announced by Aaron Paul, a previous winner for "Breaking Bad" and nominated again this year, and, in a surprise, Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris. He filled in "House of Cards" actress Kate Mara, kept in Santa Fe, N.M., by a plane's mechanical malfunction.

Patrick, an in-demand emcee, earned his own bid for hosting this year's Broadway's Tony Awards.

Joining Spacey in the contest for best drama series actor are Hugh Bonneville of "Downton Abbey"; Jon Hamm of "Mad Men"; Jeff Daniels of "The Newsroom" and Damian Lewis of "Homeland," last year's winner.

Kevin Bacon, one of the big-screen stars trying their hand at TV, was not recognized in the category for "The Following."

Actresses nominated for their drama series work besides Wright include Vera Farmiga of "Bates Hotel"; Michelle Dockery of "Downtown Abbey"; Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men"; Connie Britton of "Nashville"; Kerry Washington of "Scandal"; and last year's winner, Claire Danes from "Homeland."

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy ceremony will air Sept. 22 on CBS.

___

Online:

http://www.emmys.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-07-18-Emmy%20Nominations/id-11501e753d59481caf9e7104131dc580

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