Cotton VR Headphone Covers

Headphone Covers + Merino Sweater Competition

Are your VR headphones starting to look a little worse for wear after being abused for several hundred hours? Fear not! You can now freshen them up with our cotton covers.

The covers are simple to attach over the headphones and secure with elastic for a comfortable fit. There’s no negative impact on sound quality and the covers can be easily machine washed when necessary.

Offered in two sizes (Regular and Large) and two colors (Gray and Green) they are suitable for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap, Samsung Odyssey and more.

Headphone covers are available now and cost $10 for a set containing 4 covers

 

 

cotton covers on oculus rift earphones


And finally, to cure your winter blues…..

Enter our competition to win a Merino Wool VR Sweater every week for the next month!

virtual reality themed merino sweatshirt

For a chance to win…

Simply follow our  VR Lens Lab social media account here:

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2mATilf

Also, keep up to date with the VR Lens Lab team on Facebook!

Facebook:  http://bit.ly/2DCjdkM

T&Cs

  1. Entrants must be following the Twitter account @VRLensLab to be in with a chance of winning.
  2. The first winner will be chosen beginning 9th February 2018 and the last 2nd March 2018 (promotional period).
  3. The winners will be selected in a random draw from all valid entries received during the promotional period
  4. A total of four prizes will be given, one winner chosen each Friday of the promotional period.
  5. No purchase is necessary to be in with a chance of winning.
  6. Winners will be contacted directly via Twitter. They will be asked to provide their size and address information, failure to respond within 5 days will result in a redraw.
  7. Except for the purpose of carrying out the promotion,we will not use entrants’ personal data without the express consent of the entrant.


VR Cover Production Process

Ever thought about the steps it takes to manufacture certain items? Take a behind-the-scenes look into the manufacturing process of the latest VR Cover products. In this day and age, almost everything that is created is done so by autonomous machinery and while it is efficient, we appreciate the human-touch involved in every step from raw material to finished product.


How to prepare for a VR demo - an Infographic

how-to-demo-vr-htc-vive-oculus-rift-infographic2

Whether you’re a business trying to attract potential customers in a unique way or you’re simply preparing for a family games night, follow our Infographic guide to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Before you start, take some time to think about the experience you want to offer and the hardware you’re going to use. If you’re representing a business using VR at an event or exhibition the experience should be different to that which you might show to your family or friends. Consider how long you’d like each person to spend with the headset as well as the logistics of the demo, if you want to show the best of VR and offer a real immersive experience the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are the obvious choices but they do require much more preparation. Alternatively if you’re planning on showing something more simple such as 360 videos consider the Samsung Gear VR which is completely portable and simple to set up.

Don’t forget about hygiene! Whether the same headset is going to be used by hundreds of people in a day or you’re showing an active game to a group of friends, the stock headset foam can easily become disgusting with dirt, sweat and bacteria quickly building up. You’ve got a couple of options, disposable covers will improve hygiene but they’re not the most comfortable and can be distracting.

If you want a more professional looking set up consider the VR Cover PU leather foam replacements and covers. Available for the HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR and now the Oculus Rift, by using PU leather replacements you don’t need to worry about changing covers between uses, simply wipe down with anti-bacterial wipes or create your own DIY natural headset cleaner to ensure the headset stays fresh and clean.


New Oculus Rift Facial Interfaces & Foam Replacements

The wait is finally over for Rift users. We are happy to announce that our facial interfaces and foam replacements for the Oculus Rift are now available. If you were part of, or eagerly followed our Kickstarter progress we are pleased to also offer a new foam replacement that works with our facial interface.

 

Oculus Rift facial interface & foam replacement Premium Set – $75

Oculus Rift Facial Interface Set

As well as receiving a facial interface size of your choice, the two PU leather foam replacements and a VR Cover you’ll also receive our newest Velour memory foam replacements. With this set you’ll have an option for every situation, whether it’s for personal use and you require greater comfort (Velour) or you’re inviting friends over and need a simple hygiene solution (PU leather) you can easily switch the foam replacements between uses.

 

Oculus Rift facial interface & foam replacement Set – $49

Oculus Rift Foam Replacement Set

Choose either a regular or long  size facial interface, with this set you’ll receive two PU leather foam replacements (a thicker and a thinner version) as well as one of our VR Covers. This is set offers the perfect hygiene solution for the Oculus Rift, just wipe the foam pads clean with anti-bacterial wipes when necessary.

 

Oculus Rift foam replacement Velour – $29

Oculus Rift Velour Foam Replacement

These Velour foam replacements are designed specifically for our facial interface. They’re the most comfortable way to enjoy the Oculus Rift and are offered in a set of two. Each set contains one thicker pad containing memory foam and one thinner foam pad which increases field of view. For improved hygiene these pads are fully machine washable.


10 Ways to Enjoy Virtual Reality

Life is a wonderful, precious gift. A miracle and a mystery all at the same time. Why are we here? Where did we come from? Most of all, why is it so boring?

Every day you wake up, like the day before. You brush your teeth (we hope), and isn’t that the same toothpaste as yesterday? You catch up on the news or Facebook (this is a euphemism for going to the bathroom, while at the same time being an apt description of what is happening in there) just like yesterday and every day before. Then you go to work and fight to keep awake as you do that same boring old thing you’ve done day in and day out since the beginning of time! Or so it feels, amirite?

Well thank goodness that Virtual Reality (VR to those in the know) has finally arrived and thanks to this wonderous technology you may never have to endure the unbearable ennui of that other VR… Vanilla Reality. I just made that up. Pretty good isn’t? It’s better in Virtual Reality.

Because we are so accustomed to our workaday lives we may find it difficult to fully appreciate all that VR has to offer. So we’ve put on our thinking caps and come up with ten, non-standard, anything but boring, ways to use VR. The very idea that virtual reality could become common and stagnant seems utterly presposterous, but nevertheless, we feel you should get up off your couch once in a while and take full advantage of this wonderous new technology.

Without further ado, or trips to the thesaurus, here is a list of ten ways to enjoy VR!

1. Together In Bed
Let’s face it. Bed’s are boring. The same dull thing night after night after night. No doubt you lay in bed staring at your loved one thinking, “how long can I endure this monotony?” But what if you weren’t laying in your bed staring into the near comatose eyes of your significant other? What if you were instead staring into the pixelated eyes of a Creeper who was about to blow you to smitherenes? Or what if your bed was actually some sort of space ferry that could fly and deliver cargo around an alien planet? Would you be bored then? I think not. Just make sure that you and you’re now enthused loved one don’t smash your headsets together in your newfound childlike vigour.

2. While in the Bathtub
Well here we are again. Another Wednesday, another bath night. Yawn. But wait! This time will be different. This time you are armed with your Gear VR and a copy of Ocean Rift. Feel the sensation of water on you body as your eyes feel the sensation of virtual water in your magic goggles of wonder and enchantment! Was that a shark? Was it a whale? No! It was an adorable Sea lion. Reach out and pet it. Augh! Immersion destoryed. No hands in mobile VR yet. Forget I said that reach out and pet it part. Rewind. It’s an adorable sea lion. Look, but don’t touch please. He will eat you if you move. Just remember that actually submerging your head while in VR is a bad idea unless you hate VR and love destroying expensive electronics.

3. During your commute
You’re on the bus, or the train, or riding shotgun in the carpool on your way to work. Regardless of the actual situation you are thinking to yourself, “how did I end up here? I had such big dreams! Can’t I start again?” No! Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous. Instead, pull out your VR goggles, pop in your smartphone and become someone else, somewhere else. You’re not boring old you driving to your hum-drum job, you’re a secret agent in training, using a jetpack to fly over the city blasting robots. Or maybe you’re piloting a spacecraft taking out alien scum and saving the universe. Thanks to virtual reality, the dreams of your youth now seem too small. And also you want to throw up.

4. In Bed, But By Yourself
Maybe you don’t share your bed with anyone. If that’s the case there is no one to complain when you don your VR goggles, head into a deep cave in Minecraft, and toss your blankets over your head to get that full immersion. No more burying yourself in tears of boredom. Now you can bury yourself in amazement thanks to virtual reality.

5. Walking your Dog
Every dog owner knows that if you go anywhere near the dog’s leash he will go crazy. Walking is exciting when you’re a simple animal whose hobbies include sleeping, eating and sniffing butts. But for us more complex creatures walking can be an excercise in tedium and ho-hummery. Why not turn your daily walk into an event worthy of a full body tail wag by bringing your VR along? Use the pass through camera to add a tiny amount of lag to your life. Who needs alcohol now? And depth perception? You had that since you were a baby. Now you can find out what life is like in glorious 2D. You’ll be asking yourself, is this what it’s like to live in a movie? And of course it isn’t, but what fun to think about such things instead of just waiting for the dog to poop!

6. At The Dinner Table
Back in the olden days, before VR, you used to have to endure eating meals with the same people up to three times a day. Someday, when VR is as ubiquitous as today’s cellular telephones, I’m convinced that those days will be dubbed The Dark Ages: Part Deux. But you don’t have to wait for that. With modern VR and hand tracked controllers you can not only eat with whomever you please, you can eat whatever you please. Not impressed with the Brussels sprouts served by your mom? Throw on your headset and suddenly you are eating pizza served to you by that favourite actress of yours, or a creepy, lifeless computer simulated version of her… but we’ll get there. We’ll get there.

7. While on the toilet
As mentioned in the introduction, no one just goes to the toilet anymore. Can you be any more 1990’s? But how many more times can you read inspid Facebook updates from people who think their ham sandwich is newsworthy? Oculus claims their product is focused on seated experiences. Sounds like a match made in heaven to me. Just plug your computer into the outlet in the washroom (sorry UK folks, maybe get an extension cord?) and suddenly the toilet can be anything. Maybe it’s a throne you sit upon and command a kingdom. Or a seat on a rocket ship as you experience the moon landing (or should I say “moon landing”? Am I right, YouTube?) As a bonus, if you’re having a bit of trouble with the works, you can always play one of the many horror experiences and scare the sh… well, get things moving.

8. At The Dentist
Dentists would be boring of they weren’t so terrifying. They put on a good show of being a part of modern medicine, but when it’s time to go to work they pick up the same tools the dinosaurs used for torture and then you, for some reason, let them stick those tools in your mouth and hurt you for 45 minutes. A recent study that may or may not be real, recently concluded that people who wear VR while having dental work done are total nerds. It’s also been said* that VR at the dentist can reduce anxiety and even pain. There aren’t many apps that work well in a reclined position, but there are video apps that will work so maybe you can find a documentary about clowns and be reminded that dentists are not the scariest thing out there.

9. During Boring Meetings
What happens at a meeting? You sit around a table, listening to some white-haired old guy point at some pictures and say things like synergistic, value added this, coversion opportunities that. At least I think that’s what happens. I don’t go to meetings. But you don’t have to go to meetings to know that they are boring and in need of some VR. Let everyone else sit around that table wondering what the heck oldylocks is talking about and you kick back at the beach, listening to the water as is laps against the shore. Best part, no sunburns and no seagull poop.

10. On A Rollercoaster
If you’ve ever been on a roller coaster you are probably aware that they can put you to sleep slightly faster than strong cough syrup. Up the hill, down the hill then up the hill again. Seriously? Didn’t we just do this? Oh look a loop! Nice try! That’s just a really steep hill. ks;fghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Sorry about that. I just feel asleep on my keyboard from thinking about a rollercoaster. If the idea of being at the top of a high hill looking over the boring old earth yet again has you wanting to rest your head on the pad of the bell ringing game while Mr. Muscles gives it his best shot, then I have good news! VR can help here as well. In fact, the good folks at Six Flags are riding my wavelength and have tackled this problem head on by adding VR to some of their snorecoasters. (Totally just made that up too. I’m on fire!) Pilot a fighter jet as you defend the earth from an alien invasion or cheer on Superman as he deals with yet another mess from that scoundrel, Lex Luthor. Either way it’s better than looking at the tops of stupid old trees.

Well there you have it. Ten ways that VR can make this dull, drab existence we call life a little bit more palatable. These ideas are just to get your brain juice pumping so that you can come up with more ideas of your own to improve your life with VR. Right now, VR technology is somewhat limited, but don’t worry! Someday we will be able to jack directly into the machine and create our existence on the fly. I suggest getting some good experiences now so that when that day comes you have something to draw on. Otherwise your created world will just be you riding a rollercoaster on the toilet, looking at pictures of ham sandwiches while some old dude drones on and on about actionable this and put-a-pin-in-it that. And no one wants that.


The 10 Most Sweat Inducing VR experiences

Virtual Reality is in its infancy and there are a lot of things that will probably emerge in future headsets that we can only dream about now. If you’ve spent any amount of time in VR then you are probably with me in hoping that tiny little air conditioners inside the headset will be one of those things. But until then, sweat and VR are going to remain awkward bedfellows.

That being the case it would seem the only reasonable thing to do is sweat as much as you possibly can while using your VR. So slap on your VR Cover and dive into one of these games that through exertion wil turn your forehead into Niagra Falls

Dreadhalls10. Dreadhalls – You are in a dungeon filled with terrifying creatures and eerie noises. You have an oil lamp and a map that doesn’t tell you where you’re going, but will tell you where you’ve been. All you have to do is find the exit. The problem is you have no defense against the creatures aside from running and barricading yourself in a room. Dreadhalls is out on the Rift and the Gear VR and while it’s seated experience, it is a genuinely frightening and intense experience that is very likely to make you sweat.

Skeet VR Target Shooting
9. Skeet: VR Target Shooting – This game isn’t overly active, but having to manually pump your shotgun and aim your gun not with an analogue stick, but with your arms brings more activity to video games than most of us are used to.

 

 

Windlands8. Windlands – If you’ve ever dreamed about being Spiderman, but in nature instead of New York, then you will probably want to check out Windlands. On the Rift it’s a pretty laid back game that is unlikely to make you break a sweat, but load it up on the Vive and you may find yourself getting a little bit of a workout as you flail around trying to grapple the trees and make your way across the level. This is especially true if you turn your body rather than using the controller to turn.

Holopoint7. Holopoint – Holopoint is a game where you are a Samurai with a bow and arrow. You shoot glowing blue cubes and they explode, sending a laser back at you that you have to dodge. After you’ve shot a few cubes, glowing blue samurai start to attack. There are even boss fights. By the time you are done playing this game your heart will be hammering and your pores gushing like you’ve just finishe Sweatin’ to the Oldies with Richard Simmons… or whatever you kids are doing at the gym these days.

Audioshield

6. Audioshield – Audioshield doesn’t task you with pretending to play an instrument, or even dancing. Instead, it has you using a coloured shield in each hand to block the corresponding coloured projectiles, all to the rhythm of the music. It’s possible that if you are smooth enough it may look like dancing, but smooth or not, you are going to sweat playing this game.

 

Waltz of The Wizard5. Waltz of the Wizard – As the guys from Tested say after playing this game, “VR gets fitness for free.” What they mean by that is games that you would not think of as being overly active experiences become a workout on the Vive simply because you have to move around to play them. You may not sweat profusely while playing this game, but you’ll stil make a mess of your foam.

 

Thrill of the Fight4. Thrill Of The Fight – This one is a no brainer. It’s a boxing game in which you have to throw punches and block the punches of other players or dodge and weave to get out of the way. The only way this could be more of a work out is if you were in a real ring dodging real punches. You might be more motivated to exert yourself in that case.

 

Maximum Override3. Maximum Override VR – In Maximum Override VR you are a kaiju, or Japanese monster. A giant alien towering over the city and your job is to abduct a certain number of people, which you do by squashing them. Everything in the environment is destructable so you can fulfill your fantasies of knocking down buildings and just going on a rampage. Of course, rampaging is quite a workout and you’re bound to work up a sweat here.

 

Budget Cuts2. Budget Cuts – In this game you’ve broken into a facility where you’ve applied for a job and you aim to approve your own job application. The trouble is, the facility is patrolled by murderous robots that will kill you on sight. Hopefully the job pays well. To get your application approved you will have to use your teleportation gun and any weapons you can find to either avoid or take out the robots. When you want to enter a cramped space or open a safe under a desk you will have to physically duck. To throw knives you will have to make throwing motions with the controller. All this activity, when combined with the summer heat, is sure to dampen your facial foam.

Hover Junkers1. Hover Junkers – In Hover Junkers you are trying to survive by hovering over the surface of the planet on a ship and collecting junk that you use to fortify your ship or sell. There are other junk-collectors out there though and if you run into them you’ll have to take them out or be taken out by them. You have weapons but because this is VR you will need more than your thumbs to aim them. And if you want to duck behind cover you are going to have to actually duck behind cover. As these encounters are the main point of the game you can expect to be doing a lot of ducking, shooting and sweating.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is exhausting. That’s just a little workout joke. Anyway, playing any of these games is sure you leave you in a mess if you don’t take the proper precautions. Protecting your facial interface foam with a cover from VR Cover is the best place to start. Head over to our store to check out our various options.


Shopping in VR

When Virtual Reality (VR) is mentioned games are the first thing that come to mind for most people. But VR can and will do a lot more than just games. This series is about some of the non-gaming uses for VR that currently exist and that may exist in the near future. Today, we are looking at shopping in VR.

People already love shopping online. Web based retailers like Amazon are surpassing Walmart in valuation and eCommerce sales are estimated to be $414 billion by 2018. Online shopping is great for the sort of things you would have bought from a catalogue in the olden days, but what about when you want to actually see something before you buy it? And not just a picture, but a virtual representation with proper dimensions, perhaps in lighting similar to what you would see in a store or at home where the item will be used? This is where VR stands to shine.

Virtual reality is a tech that allows the user to be digitally transported to another place and interact with people and objects in that place almost as if they were really there and when used properly this could be a real boon to retailers. The CEO of YouVisit, a company that creates VR content for hundreds of brands, has said that “that interactivity leads to immersion, and that immersion leads to conversion.” And a report by Ericsson on consumer trends in 2016 shows that half of smartphone users are interested in VR shopping and would like a 3D virtual selfie that can be used to try on outfits when shopping online. Sixty-four percent said that they would like the ability to see an items actual size and form when shopping online. It seems that people are ready to embrace VR shopping if it can be done well.

Alibaba, the Chinese online shopping juggernaut, is testing out a new virtual reality shopping app called BUY+. With it users can shop in over seventy different e-stores, paying for the items using Alipay, Alibaba’s mobile payment app that already has half a billion users. In fact, they plan to make it so that so that shoppers will not even have to remove their headsets to complete their payments if they have an AliPay account.

In May of 2016, eBay Australia and Myer, released what they claim is the first Virtual Reality department store. Rather than a fully realized virtual rendering of a store, it’s more like a mind graph with items it has learned you are interested in based on previous shopping experiences sorted into categories which takes the place of departments in a brick and mortar department store. The app was powered by your cellphone and an eBay branded Google Cardboard which they dubbed “shopticles”, though any Cardboard compatible headset would work and the YouTube trailer for the service showed people using it in the Gear VR as well, though no official Gear VR app was released.

Thomas Cook Travel Agencies decided to see how VR would work for them by commissioning VR studio Visualise to create several 360 VR films for them. These videos were set up as five minute mini vacations in their UK, Germany and Belgium flaship stores. They dubbed the experiences “Try Before You Fly” and they found a jaw-dropping 190% increase in people booking holidays after trying it in VR.

IKEA likes to stay on the forefront of tech having previously used one of their catalogues as a marker for a smartphone or smartpad based augmented reality app that allowed you to place virtual furniture in your real living space (viewable only on the device, of course.) With the HTC Vive they have gone further, creating an app that allows you to customize a virtal kitchen that you can actually walk around in, open the drawers, pull items out of them and so on. While it is still just an experiment and far from replacing the massive IKEA outlets in major cities, it does give a cool example of how shopping in the future could be done.

When the technology improves VR could become even more appealing to brands and stores because no longer will physical space need to be a constraint or a cost. And when a physical location is required it could be much smaller without the requirement to display all the items they want to sell on shelves. Instead shoppers could don a VR headset and enter a virtual store with an infinite number of rows or levels showing off as much as the vendor desires without having to pay increased rent or utilities. What space they do have could be dedicated to stock with a small front area for customer service. Stores could be tailored to the user. For example, do you want to walk around a bookshop like you would normally or would you prefer being able to scroll through only those that interest you while sitting on a couch in the woods or on the beach? Certainly people smarter than I will be able to come up with other ways to use VR for shopping that will make shopping more convenient and enjoyable for the customer and more profitable for the vendor.

Sources:
http://time.com/4273885/virtual-reality-shopping/
https://www.nchannel.com/blog/retail-data-ecommerce-statistics/
http://retailnext.net/en/blog/brick-and-mortar-vs-online-retail/
https://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2015/consumerlab/ericsson-consumerlab-10-hot-consumer-trends-2016-report.pdf
http://vrscout.com/news/virtual-reality-shopping-alibaba-buy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAuiXhJPnr8- eBay and Myer VR Department Store
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81cl2IkwzTo
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/this-company-wants-to-make-hands-free-shopping-in-vr-a-reality/ar-AAiWjtJ
http://visualise.com/case-study/thomas-cook-virtual-holiday


Prescription Lenses in VR

VR Lens Lab
One of the most important aspects of virtual reality is the visuals. Without those you just have a set of headphones. But if you are someone who needs glasses to bring reality into focus, you might find VR less than accommodating.

If your frames are small enough then you can cram them into the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, but if you do you may wind up scratching your lenses and forever marring your VR experience. Do what is a glasses wearer supposed to do?

Well, the first thing that you should do is try the headset without using you glasses. Many people have been reporting that they were surprised to find they didn’t even need their glasses in VR. In fact, I am one of the people who wears glasses for real reality, but finds them unnecessary in virtual reality. However, if you try this and find that things are still blurry and no amount of IPD or lens depth adjustment seems to help, then you will need something else.

You may be thinking that you could use contacts. And that is true, you could. But unless you are already using contacts it’s an expensive option and if you are like me and astigmatism is your problem, it can be even more expensive. On top of that, a common complaint with contact lenses is that they dry your eyes out which can result in very sore eyes.

So, you don’t want to risk ruining your glasses or VR headset lenses or dealing with the potential discomfort of having the facial interface on the headset press your frames. You also don’t want the cost and bother of getting set up with contact lenses which will only dry your eyes out anyway and lead to shorter sessions and sore eyes. You also probably don’t want to shell out another four-thousand dollars for Lasik eye surgery. There is still one more option. Adding your prescription lenses to your VR headset.

VR Cover has joined with Gauss Eye wear to create VR Lens Lab (https://vr-lens-lab.com/) which has designed easy to use lens inserts for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. They simply click into place inside the headset and once inserted they hold themselves in place. You can order your prescription right on the website with various optional coatings and have them delivered to your door. It is the most economical way to ensure that you are getting the best experience possible with your VR headset. And if you want to show of your headset, simply take them out.

VR Lens Lab

Bringing your glasses into your VR headset will ensure that you are comfortable, but comfort isn’t everything. Hygiene is also important. Once you have your prescription lenses head over to VR Cover (https://vrcover.com/shop) and pick up some covers to ensure that the facial interface on your Rift or Vive remains like new while your face is protected from the grime and germs that are sure to show up after continued use.


How to set up a VR Space - HTC Vive

Setting up a space for VR will be very much dependent on which headset you have. The space requirements for the Vive can be much more than that of the Rift. This guide is here to help you determine what you need when setting up for your room of the future.

The Vive can be set up for standing room only, but that’s not what the Vive was built for. If you want the best use out of the Vive you are going to want to set up what has been dubbed roomscale. Roomscale refers to a set up that allows you to walk around your physical play space and have that movement translated into the virtual world. You can scale this play space but is has a minimum requirement of 1.5m x 2m which is pretty sizable. This area has to be clear of furniture and anything else that you might trip over or walk into while in VR.

You also need to set up your lighthouse base stations at diagonal corners of your play space so that they can see each other. There can be nothing ocluding the view of one to the other. In the event that this is not possible there is a sync cable that you can run between them. If you have low ceilings or something hanging from the ceiling in your play space this may be necessary for you, but as that means you will have a wire stretching across your room that you either have to figure out how to hide or else just leave it sitting there messing up the space, going wireless is the best option if at all possible.

There are various options for setting up your Vive base stations. The first, cheapest and easiest option is to use the mounting hardware come in the box and screw your base stations to the wall at the corners of your play space. But if you can’t because there are no walls there, or the walls are concrete, or you just plan on travelling with your Vive a lot and mounting and unmounting the base stations on the wall is both impractical and unappealling then you can mount them on a standard camera tripod. These take up more space, but they are more portable and they will save your walls. I have seen it recommended that you could use 3M Command Adhesive Strips, but I wouldn’t advise that as the base stations are pretty heavy, they vibrate and if you’ve set them up properly, the floor is a long way down should the adhesive let go and your base stations fall to the floor.

A nice, but not necessary touch to add to your play space is a mat that is the same size as your playable area. This is a good way to indicate to others in the household where things should not be placed, as well it will give you some tactile feedback about your play area.

Finally, you’re going to want to show off your Vive once it is set up. That means passing the headset from person to person. The Vive comes with 2 facial foams but even then, it won’t be long until you are strapping a pad to your face that is soaked through with the sweat. To prevent this from happening and increase the life span of your Vive facial foam you can grab a VR Cover. There are several varieties to fit different situations. For comfort we have cotton covers and 18mm Memory Foam replacement pads. For large conference demos or just showing off to your excessvely sweaty friends, we have waterproof covers, which include the 18mm Memory Foam replacement pads.

Head on over to https://vrcover.com/shop to grab your VR Cover for your Vive, Rift or Gear VR.


VR in Medicine

Virtual Reality is a versatile medium. Previous articles have shown how VR can be used for more than just gaming, but you may still be left with the impression that VR is a fun toy, something to play with but isn’t of any practical value. This article will dispel that idea by showing that not only can VR have use outside of pure entertainment, but that it can in fact be very beneficial. While there are several ways in which this can be demonstrated, the focus here is on VR in medicine.

Virtual Reality is young and so is its presence in medicine. VR could become a very important part of all aspects of medicine in the future but perhaps the place that is currently most affected is medical training. Virtual reality is providing opportunities to train in ways that might not have been possible before. For example, when used for CPR training participants felt more connected to the virtual victim than when they just watched on TV and as a result they felt better prepared for the real thing. VR will also help doctors to train for potentially dangerous procedures that previously would have had to be practiced on live patients while procedure is being performed. An example of such training would be for intubation. This is something that can’t be practiced on a cadaver because the patient has to be sitting up but VR allows doctors in training to practice without having to do it on live patients and risking tracheal perforation.

At the present time VR is mostly used for training but it will be used for diagnostics as well in the not too distant future. One area that will be greatly impacted is telemedicine. Telemedicine allows doctors and nurses to provide healthcare from a distance using telecommunication technology. The practice has existed for quite some time, having been practiced with phones and radios in the past and more recently with video calling. But advances in virtual reality have allowed doctors to be virtually present in a much more real way and work is being done to let doctors touch and feel patients while on opposite sides of the planet. Already there are things that doctors can look for in VR without having to be in the same space as the patient. VR will also allow doctors to work on patients with highly contagious diseases without being put in danger themselves.

Surprisingly, virtual reality has been shown to be as good or better than drugs for pain management. In 2008 Lt. Sam Brown was deployed to Afghanistan where on the last day of his mission his Humvee ran over an IED and he was set on fire winding up with 3rd degree burns over 30% of his body. During recovery he endured more than twenty-four painful surgeries, but the worst part was wound care and physiotherapy. He was concerned that he might become addicted to pain killers so his doctor suggested he try a virtual reality game called Snow World.
Snow World is a game that involves travelling through a frozen environment tossing snowballs at penguins, snowmen, wooly mammoths and other surprises all while listening to the music of Paul Simon. The idea is that patients have their senses overloaded with the game and music so they don’t have enough attention to focus on the pain while they are being treated. It might sound like ridiculous pseudoscience, but it actually works. Not only do patients report much less pain while in the game, but brain scans indicate much less pain activity in the brain while in the game. In fact it seems to work as well or better than pain medicine.

But VR isn’t only useful when dealing with physical pain, it is actually being used to deal with mental pain as well. Psychologists are experimenting with VR to treat patients with anxiety, phobias and PTSD. Fernando Tarnogol, a psychologist from Argentina, designed a program called Phobos which combines virtual reality and exposure therapy. It is used to treat phobias and anxiety disorders by exposing the patient to different types of stimulus in order for them to learn to manage their anxiety.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center uses Gear VR to transport patients to other places, even other worlds. They also have videos about art and creatures under the sea. The idea is to “find ways to use technology to improve the value of care at Cedars-Sinai and beyond.” This isn’t just about making the hospital stay more pleasant, it is also about making it more affordable by reducing the resources that are used or shortening the length of stay for patients.

Sources:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemedicine
Virtual Reality: Just What the Doctor Ordered? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn1mHMr0y-s
Virtual Reality | Cedars-Sinai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpcNhnU-Aaw
Real Future: The Amazing Future of VR Medicine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcc0h_W2Sa4
Wounded soldier uses video game to ease pain: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/rock-center/49849152#49849152
Firsthand: http://www.firsthand.com/portfolio/pain.html