By Ryan Nakashima, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Discovery is unleashing the first videos for its virtual reality network, Discovery VR, a fledgling service that is testing the limits and capabilities of the immersive format.
The videos debuting Thursday on DiscoveryVR.com, YouTube and on Android and iPhone apps, reveal some of the promise of the medium, which covers every angle you could possibly look and is navigable by moving a smartphone around you or even clicking and dragging the viewing angle around with a mouse.
In the short video, "Shark Shipwreck," sharks swim around and above you – one even bumps the camera rig – as a narrator explains that the scent of food is being released by a diver nearby. Details that might not be obvious, like the parasitic fish that swim along the underbellies of sharks cruising overhead, are revealed when you swivel and look around.
In "Freeboarding: San Francisco," viewers are put on the helmet of a skateboarder cruising down San Francisco's famously winding Lombard Street. Looking backward or staring at fans lining the road doesn't get you into an accident.
And you might be surprised at which direction outdoorsman Les Stroud enters the picture in "How to Survive the Wild," because the forest scenery and burbling brook are entrancing on their own before he walks in unnoticed and starts discussing the day's survival lesson.
Conal Byrne, Discovery Communication Inc.'s senior vice president of digital media, says the point of the project is to determine what works in the emerging format, including finding out what could make someone feel ill or disoriented.
"It needs to be repeated that we're experimenting a lot," Byrne says. "There are borders and boundaries that we're really going to try to push."
In addition to computers and mobile devices, the Discovery VR content can also be viewed using virtual reality headset devices, such as Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR, which are on sale now, as well as Facebook's Oculus Rift, which is expected early next year.
Some content will be linked to existing shows such as "Survivorman," ''Gold Rush" and "MythBusters" and others are original creations that will exist in categories like the thrill-seeking Adventure and placid Planet. Discovery VR plans to unveil new content every week at least for the next 12 months, Byrne says.
Canada orders TikTok’s Canadian business to be dissolved but won’t block app
Canada announced Wednesday it won't block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but is ordering the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it is meant to address risks related to ByteDance Ltd.'s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
"The government is not blocking Canadians' access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content. The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice," Champagne said.
Champagne said it is important for Canadians to adopt good cybersecurity practices, including protecting their personal information.
He said the dissolution order was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada's national security. He said the decision was based on information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada's security and intelligence community and other government partners.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of local jobs.
"We will challenge this order in court," the spokesperson said. "The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive."
TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny... Read More