Skip to main content

Tour the White House in virtual reality with the Obamas as your guides

white house obama vr
Image used with permission by copyright holder
President-elect Donald Trump may be taking over the White House next week, but you can still get one last look at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue while President Barack Obama resides there — and in virtual reality, no less.

Filmed by Felix & Paul, a VR film studio that has a number of 360-degree content under its belt, “The People’s House” is available to everyone as a 360-degree video, and thanks to a partnership with Oculus Studios, Gear VR and Oculus Rift owners can watch the tour with their headsets.

The video is a tour of the White House led by both Barack and Michelle Obama, who not only talk about the building’s history, but about their time spent in it for the past eight years. It’s not the first VR short film made by Paul & Felix to feature President Obama. “Through the Ages” takes the cake, and it showcases the president celebrating the National Parks Service Centennial at Yosemite.

The White House video, which was filmed in November and December, isn’t the final version — the full-length video will come later this year, but the production studio wanted to make sure a part of it is available before Obama leaves office. The current version on Facebook clocks in around eight minutes, and the full version is expected to be around 20 minutes long.

The full version will also feel more real, and have more depth, as it will be available in stereoscopic 3D. It’s unclear when it will be available, but for now, you can enjoy a personal tour of the White House led by the 44th President of the United States and the first lady here.

Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
Microsoft patents a virtual reality floor mat that could be paired with an Xbox
oculus quest review lifestyle 4

Microsoft has recently filed a patent for a virtual reality floor mat — and the most intriguing aspect is the patent’s suggestion that it could be used with a gaming console like the Xbox.

The patent, which was filed by Microsoft on April 2, 2018 and published last week on Thursday, October 3, is for what the technology company refers to as a “virtual reality floor mat activity region.” While the use of floor mats in virtual reality isn’t a new concept, the Microsoft patent indicates that its floor mat will have more features than just simply providing a way to help VR gamers stay within the safety of their designated play spaces.

Read more
Google will begin labeling AI-generated images in Search
Google Search on mobile

AI-generated images have become increasingly predominant in the results of Google searches in recent months, crowding out legitimate results and making it harder for users to find what they're actually looking for. In response, Google announced on Tuesday that it will begin labeling AI-generated and AI-edited image search results in the coming months.

The company will flag such content through the “About this image” window and it will be applied to Search, Google Lens, and Android's Circle to Search features. Google is also applying the technology to its ad services and is considering adding a similar flag to YouTube videos, but will "have more updates on that later in the year," per the announcement post.

Read more
Best VPN deals: Save on NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark
A close-up of a computer monitor displaying a generic VPN.

VPNs have been becoming quite big in the last few years, and a lot of that is due to so much content online being geo-blocked, but now, some of the best VPN services have started offering a lot more. Beyond just access to to geo-blocked content, a VPN can offer things like ad blocking, an anti-virus, and even double-layers of obfuscation to help keep what your browse away from prying eyes. Luckily, there are a huge amount of VPNs out there to pick from, and we've gone out and collected some of our favorite VPN deals so you can pick and choose the one that works the best for you.

Nord VPN 12-month basic subscription -- $60, was $139

Read more