WT has been searching the globe far and wide for new and awesome wearables. The WT | Team has recently spotted a few celebs playing around with some cool gadgets. Besides the most popular Apple Watch and Fitbit accessories celebs have been using wearables to entertain their fans.
Reggie Watts is one of the first to try VR performing. He first tried in May of 2016. Taking the approach of creating a virtual space for avatars to meet and dance. He controlled his avatar from his home and asked fans to join in via their VR headsets. In collaboration with AltspaceVR, they reported that about 1200 people tuned-in. Overall the performance went well with a few glitches in the beginning. It is stated that if this type of collective entertainment needs to have a few bandwidth errors resolved if the virtual crowd were to extend into high numbers.
Other celebs, like U2 and The Weeknd, are playing with VR are using 360-degree video. This is essentially a deeper version of Snapchat for viewers can take their phone and spin in circles to see what everyone is doing. The down-side is you are virtual stuck where the 360-degree camera is in the real space. Even so, this is a great way for celebs or entertainment festivities to be shared with fans that were not able to travel. NextVR is a great platform for celebs to use if they like 360 degree cameras – they are already streaming live sports matches at an impressive rate. It is said that a few record companies (Universal Music Group or iHeartMedia) will soon be signing partnerships to bring this new tech into their services.
Have you been to the recent Coldplay concert or the Taylor Swift 1989 tour? If so, then you have experienced the power of “connected crowds.” There are two companies leading the force in connected ticket/LED bands: Pixmob and Xyloband.Both companies have an LED band that works as your concert ticket that are embedded with LEDs. Some magic person behind the scenes can control how the band lights up in consideration to all the other bands in the audience. The effect is a mind-blowing stadium filled with stars and imagination. These bands are not limited to concerts, some sports and enterprise companies are hoping on the wagon to increase interactive entertainment for their event. Pixmob has both LED and sound inside the band. They offer 2 different solutions for under or over 1500 attendees and 3 different forms (wristband, beach ball or pendant). They use wireless infrared technology to connect all lights and work to create a human screen. Its seems like just recently, PixMob added SparkApp that can be downloaded to any smartphone and control the band inside or outside the event. In comparison, Xyloband is able to be shipped to your venue in the form of lanyards, bands or inflatable balls. All bands are connect via RF and speak to a special receiver. You can hire an LED technician and request certain effects or do it yourself via their laptop app.
All super cool work happening backstage. It seems like each year there is more and more attraction to wearables. The next move will be entertainment and celebs are the key holders in making sure the technology is used in the best way.
