Page 64 - AVN January 2016

“Our biggest value propositions are
the quality and branding
capabilities of our viewers.”
—Michael Donohue, senior VP sales &
marketing, RubyVR
FEATURE
RubyVR Enters Headset Game
Custom products at core of RubyVR’s offerings
With Google’s blessing and a strategy for branding in the new era of virtual reality,
RubyVR is launching this month with a suite of custom printed VR Viewers.
The team behind RubyVR specializes in customizing its line of VR viewers for any
kind of brand, message or website.
Manufactured in Berkeley, Calif., the RubyVR viewers have received Google’s official
endorsement, paving the way for the venture that will make virtual reality content
accessible to the masses without the need for expensive hardware.
“A couple years ago
we talked to Google
about making a Google
Cardboard-certified
device that has their
stamp of approval,”
explained Michael
Donohue, the senior vice
president of sales and
marketing for RubyVR.
“We’re located near them
in the Bay Area. We have all the processing and fabrication machines. … It’s a natural
evolution into this space.”
Donohue said RubyVR’s ability to create large quantities of made-to-order viewers
makes it an ideal source for companies, studios and talent ready to make their mark in
the emerging VR content landscape.
“Our biggest value propositions are the quality and branding capabilities of our
viewers,” Donohue said. “We can take anything—any artwork, any customization you
would want—and use it as an advertising, marketing or experience extension tool
through branding.”
With the RubyVR Headset consumers can use the smartphone already in their
pocket; it works with all smartphones 4-6.5 inches, including Android and iPhone.
The RubyVR Headset also features dual lenses designed to independently adjust to
correct a wide variety of vision problems while users enjoy an immersive experience.
The team behind RubyVR began exploring VR opportunities in April 2015, turning
its attention to the adult industry in January during the Internext Expo in Las Vegas.
Since then, RubyVR has been in advanced talks with a few of the biggest players in
the still burgeoning adult VR space. At press time, RubyVR was in the final stages
of launching a RubyVR Mailer test campaign in association with BaDoink VR. The
campaign entails a giveaway of a basic viewer that folds into a flat piece of cardboard
with lenses that is mailed to a limited number of BaDoink customers.
“It’s not the full experience, but it’s a good first take on what VR can look like,”
Donohue said. “What we’re trying to pull off with this product is to get VR into more
hands than what it’s in today, and use it as a springboard to a more immersive viewer.”
The company behind RubyVR brings a wealth of experience in high-speed printing
and case making for a range of premium consumer and office products to the venture.
But even with annual revenues topping $15 million and a worldwide client base,
Donohue said taking on Samsung, HTC and Oculus Rift in the headset game is a tall
order.
“That’s the challenge …how
do we take that small footprint
we have and leverage our
marketing to get the biggest
bang for our buck?” Donohue
said. “It points us toward a little
bit more target marketing,
which is one reason why the
adult entertainment industry is
interesting for us.”
Donohue believes RubyVR, which also features a PopUp model that collapses to a
convenient size and “pops up” into a fully functioning viewer when opened, can be a
key marketing tool for adult companies’ VR efforts.
“It takes people who don’t know about VR or don’t have a clear perspective on
where they want to go with it, and gives them a cool experience at minimal cost,”
Donohue said.
“There could be an actress with a serialized picture and her signature and it
becomes a collector’s item. We have the on-demand ability to mass produce these
things.”
Currently, consumers can buy the RubyVR viewers directly off the RubyVR.com site.
— Dan Miller
64 | AVN.com | 6.16
User Discontent
Oculus Rift’s ‘Terms of Service’ raise questions
As the whole VR fan world knows by now, that
multi-national, multi-billion-followed social
media company, Facebook, bought out Oculus
in March of 2014, and in so doing, acquired
the company’s Oculus Rift technology.
However, Oculus/Facebook’s terms of service
have created quite a stir in the online VR fan
community—not to mention Congress.
The main bone of contention is the
company’s claim on user-created content.
While admitting that Oculus/Facebook doesn’t own user-created content,
nonetheless, the terms of service state, “By submitting User Content through the
Services, you grant Oculus a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual (i.e. lasting forever),
non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free and fully sub-licensable (i.e. we can grant
this right to others) right to use, copy, display, store, adapt, publicly perform and
distribute such User Content in connection with the Services. You irrevocably
consent to any and all acts or omissions by us or persons authorized by us that may
infringe any moral right (or analogous right) in your User Content.”
In other words, if you, as a creator, make content that you created through Oculus’
service, Oculus can do pretty much anything it wants with it, and doesn’t have to pay
you a dime for it. And while the company “has no responsibility or liability for User
Content made available through the Services,” and “no obligation to screen, edit or
monitor such content,” it does reserve the absolute right to “remove, screen or edit
User Content at any time and for any reason.”
Hence, lotsa luck trying to upload your adult content through Oculus!
“Based on the wording of the Terms of Service, a creative developer could make
a piece of interactive artwork that Oculus could then use for an Oculus ad without
the artist’s permission,” noted Gizmodo’s Andrew Liptak in early April, adding that
creative works are how some people earn a living, and it seems clear that Oculus is
no respecter of its users’ copyright rights.
It doesn’t have a lot of respect for their privacy, either. Since the Oculus Rift
is a gadget you use while connected to your computer, while you’re watching
Oculus content, those same terms of service allow the company to monitor and
automatically collect a lot of data on your devices. Oculus is staking out its territorial
rights even to the extent of stating right up front that it may monitor not only what
you’re watching, but also your location, and even “Information about your physical
movements and dimensions when you use a virtual reality headset.”
And if you agree to Oculus’ terms of service, you’re agreeing to all that!
One of those concerned about those terms is Minnesota Senator Al Franken,
who on April 7 wrote to Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe, stating in part, “I believe
Americans have a fundamental right to privacy, and that right includes an
individual’s access to information about what data are being collected about them,
how the data are being treated, and with whom the data are being shared.”
He went on to ask several questions, including why Oculus needs to know where
its users are located, what their “physical movements and dimensions” are, and why
it has to eavesdrop on conversations between users?
The company responded to Franken in a self-promotion-laden letter, stating that
“maintaining people’s trust is critical,” and that “privacy and security are core to
our product and company principles.” As to Franken’s specific questions, Oculus
maintains that its location-based information collection is “necessary for Oculus to
provide services to people around the globe,” noting that certain apps and content
may be banned from certain areas—a ban which Oculus respects—and that knowing
a user’s location allows it to customize language and pricing to the user’s area.
However, with respect to Oculus collection of users’ “physical movements and
dimensions,” the company claims that they’re a “necessary tool to deliver a safe,
comfortable, and seamless VR experience[] to people,” and calls it “the core of
providing an immersive and realistic virtual reality experience.” But as to how long
it retains and stores users’ information, the company essentially says it will retain
such data until the customer him/herself asks that it be removed. It also claims
that it shares “de-identified and aggregate data” with others (including its owner,
Facebook) in order to aid in future VR product development, and states that it has
“implemented numerous state-of-the-art people’s information and keep our networks secure.”
However, considering some of the massive information hacks that have taken
place at companies like Target, Anthem Blue Cross, Sony, JP Morgan and even the
U.S. government, Oculus’ words may not quiet customers’ (or Franken’s) fears.
— Mark Kernes
security systems designed to protect