Can’t be at the DNC? Watch it in 360-degree virtual reality instead

By Lulu Chang Published July 26, 2016

Wish you were in Philadelphia right now experiencing all the booing of the Democratic National Convention in person? Well, now you can be part of the action, sorta. It’s all thanks to Digital Domain and its curated live-stream of the 2016 DNC in 360-degree virtual reality. This marks the first time that the convention will be made available in such a medium, and continues with this year’s political trend of truly embracing technology. After all, with Twitter live-streams, robot reporters, and the like, it’s almost — almost — as though American politics has entered the 21st century!

Digital Domain will make a free video stream available both by way of the DNC mobile apps (available on the iOS App Store and Google Play), as well as the official DNC website and YouTube channel. Viewers will be privy to 360-degree camera views, and highlight videos will also be made available for on-demand viewing.

Recommended Videos

“Politics has always been shaped by grassroots activism, and using this new immersive technology gives everyday voters a chance to feel more connected to the candidates and their speeches than ever before,” said Daniel Seah, CEO of Digital Domain Holdings Limited. “We are proud to partner with a renowned organization like the DNC to share the 2016 convention with virtual reality audiences worldwide.”

Indeed, this year’s conventions have already attracted more attention than any in recent memory, and it seems that plenty of people will be interested in tuning in and getting a sense of the convention grounds.

“For a nation of voters, and particularly millennials, virtual reality and immersive video are becoming commonplace in this modern era,” said Andrew Binns, chief innovation officer for the Democratic National Convention Committee.

“Digital Domain has provided this crucial aspect to our suite of coverage, providing a high-tech element that builds excitement and helps drive viewership and potentially even voter turnout.”

Former Contributor

Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…

Topics

Computing

Microsoft has begun rolling out Copilot Code for building apps with natural language

The workplace-focused vibe coding tool can pull context from emails, documents, meetings, and chats.

Microsoft introduced Code last month as one of the three core parts of its revamped Copilot app. The app was pitched as an easy-to-use coding agent that lets users describe what they want to build in natural language, like an app, a tracker, a dashboard, an automation, or a workflow, and Copilot would build it for them.

Essentially, it's a workplace-focused vibe-coding app that turns existing work into a functional app, and Microsoft has begun rolling it out through the Frontier program.

Computing

AI agents are acting like rogues and causing a huge headache for US banks

US banks block AI agents over fears they could make unauthorised financial moves

Banking

US banks are facing a new kind of digital headache: artificial intelligence agents attempting to access customer accounts and perform actions that may go beyond what users intended. As AI tools become more capable of navigating websites and carrying out tasks independently, financial institutions are scrambling to prevent them from crossing security boundaries.

According to a report published by Axios on October 22, major US banks have detected third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts without authorisation. Some agents reportedly appeared to attempt actions independently of user instructions. The banks involved have not publicly detailed every incident, and there is no evidence that the reported activity resulted in widespread theft of customer funds.

Computing

Canva enters the AI image generation race with Craft, and it’s thinking beyond pretty pictures

The new model plans layouts before generating images, with precise editing and support for 30 aspect ratios.

Canva Craft Featured Image

AI can generate all kinds of pretty pictures, but getting it to spell a headline correctly or keep a poster's layout intact can be another story. Canva wants to fix that with Canva Craft, its first in-house image generation model. Rather than focusing primarily on photographs, Craft is designed around the posters, presentations, social media graphics, and other visual content people actually create. The goal is simple: spend less time fixing AI's mistakes and more time making something useful.

Canva Craft plans before it generates