1. Telepresence is one of the several promising applications for VR and AR industry folk, but vulnerabilities could stymie that application. Five new vulnerabilities have been found in telepresence robots from Vecna Technologies. These gaps in security allow a hacker to gain full control of the robot, “giving an intruder the capability to alter firmware, steal chat logs, pictures, or even access live video streams,” according to ZDNET. Vecna has reportedly patched two of the five vulnerabilities and its addressing the other three now.  -- ZDNET

2. Vuzix’s Blade Edge AR smart glasses were originally to be released in 2017, but will now ship next month, with the Blade General due in January. The Blade glasses are significant in part because they are “the closest thing yet to a standard pair of sunglasses,” according to VentureBeat. But despite the small form factor, the glasses pair with a smartphone to overlay map directions, weather and patient data, restaurant menus, notifications and more to the right eye field of vision. -- VENTUREBEAT

1. Steam has launched a new frame smoothing method via its Beta channel that helps VR applications on the platform run at a higher FPS rate. The system is called “Motion Smoothing.” While similar to Oculus’ “Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW),” it’s different in some important ways, according to Valve’s Alex Vlachos: “We feed the last two frames from the application to the GPU’s video encode chip to generate motion vectors (which are very rough), then [Valve and Oculus each have their own] methods for filtering those vector fields and applying them to the most recent application frame to generate a new frame.” This new method applies to Vive and Vive Pro headsets, which don't have access to Oculus and WMR's methods. -- ROAD TO VR

2. Microsoft has received a patent for a new VR text input system that uses a radial design and predictive text to improve the much bemoaned experience. According to Digital Trends, the new system is similar to the Surface Dial, and is laid out for 10 finger inputs, making it ideal for any controller-based text entry, whether that’s in VR, AR or on a screen. The patent was filed in March, and Digital Trends points out that as a potential software fix, it wouldn’t take much to add this technique to existing devices and platforms. -- DIGITAL TRENDS

3. The Weather Channel is back again with another VR/AR-like animation that puts one of their on-air personalities directly into virtual danger. As The Verge puts it, these Weather Channel animation go viral in part because they’re “existentially frightening” in ways that normal newscasts aren’t, since the animation brings the view “inside the danger.” If it convinces Californians to not ignore very real wildfire evacuation warnings, then it’s tech put to good use. -- THE VERGE

4. I’m sure we’ll understand this better eventually, but researchers at Cornell University have found that VR makes cheese taste better. Seriously. One caveat though: the experiment was less about whether VR makes food taste better, and rather whether VR could be used to simulate different environments for food testing at a lower cost than physically relocating the test subject. -- TECHCRUNCH

About 50 panelists who used virtual reality headsets as they ate were given three identical samples of blue cheese. The study participants were virtually placed in a standard sensory booth, a pleasant park bench and the Cornell cow barn to see custom-recorded 360-degree videos. The panelists were unaware that the cheese samples were identical, and rated the pungency of the blue cheese significantly higher in the cow barn setting than in the sensory booth or the virtual park bench.

9. 360 video from National Geographic: Free Solo 360

"Immerse yourself in the experience of free solo climbing Yosemite’s famous El Capitan alongside Alex Honnold in this breathtaking 360 video. ➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe" -- YOUTUBE (ht VRFOCUS)

10. Exciting things happening at JESSDubai, so excited to see what Bambury does next...

"Ok folks I have some pretty big news to share... After 11 years at @JESSDubai, the time has come for me to take the next step in my career and thus I'll be leaving the school at the end of the academic year to move full time into the #VR industry..." - @steve_bambury (ADE, MIEE, Top 100 #VR Influencers 2017, #GESSAwards + #BETTAwards Winner, @edtechdigest Trendsetter 2018, #CPDinVR host, @JESSdigitalUAE@Virtualiteach

3. Ludenso’s $99 AR headset Kickstarter campaign has been fully funded in a day. The “MagiMask” is an evolution of the company’s work on predecessors, according to the company’s founders: “Having spent almost two years developing MagiMask and its tracking system, we are now at the manufacturing stage and to ensure an on-time delivery we using our previous manufacturing partners...We have done all the developmental and technological hard work and are now just getting ready to manufacture.” It seems the market is ready as well. -- VRFOCUS

4. Wingnut AR’s “Pest Control” is shaping up to be one of the early standout apps for the Magic Leap headset. The experience tasks users with squashing bugs that appear in the user’s surroundings, according to Next Reality: “If Mica was the most profound Magic Leap experience I had, and Dr. Grordbort's Invaders was the most polished, Wingnut AR's Pest Control was definitely the most fun, in a way entirely unique to head-mounted AR.” -- NEXT REALITY

9. The fabled "Knuckles" controllers out in the wild...

"Oh Hello #SteamVR #VR" - @skyworxx (VR Developer at @SUPERHOTTHEGAME, Proto Award Winner - personal: Gravity Lab, Aussie Sports VR, Nighttime Terror, Technolust, reloadbAR - Opinions are my own)

10. More and more research is proving this fact, and we humans need all the help we can get...

"The greatest gift of human beings is that we have the power of #empathy" ~ Meryl Streep. @PacificStand reports new research shows #VirtualReality can increase empathy for the homeless: http://bit.ly/2OyDPTN  #VR #digitalreality" - @IEEEDigitalReal (IEEE Digital Reality is the go-to source for all things #VR, #AR, mixed reality, 360-degree media, immersive, and other future potential reality technologies.)

1. Qualcomm has announced a new family of 60GHz WiFi chips that could have big implications for VR and AR. The new chips are capable of delivering speeds of over 10Gbps, which would greatly improve VR/AR content streaming to standalone headsets. Additionally, Qualcomm says the 60GHz standard can support WiFi sensing applications, bringing gesture recognition, room mapping, location detection, facial feature detection and more to VR and AR headsets. -- VRFOCUS

2. Intel has launched its Tech Learning Lab at the Bronx Academy of Letters with hands-on workshops out of a custom mobile container truck. Attendees are able to participate in lessons about AI, coding and robotics, making use of VR stations, PCs and IoT smart whiteboards, according to VentureBeat. The mobile lab is scheduled to travel to schools and other education spaces in Oakland, California and elsewhere through December 15. -- VENTUREBEAT

3. The recently announced “MagiMask” from Norwegian company Ludenso may not be the golden goose it first appears to be, according to Next Reality. The site points out that Ludenso’s single magnification lens solution appears to make certain AR experiences impossible, or at least more difficult without spending more money--for instance, many AR apps have on-screen controls that are vital to the experience. Since the “MagiMask” uses the smartphone as the viewable screen, those controls would be obstructed. Still, for $99, it still could prove very useful for passive AR viewing experiences, according to Next Reality. -- NEXT REALITY