Welcome to another edition of What We’re Reading, Marxent’s weekly series featuring staff members highlighting the best articles, videos, music and more they saw over the prior 7 days. This week, those finds included stories from MIT Technology Review, YouTube, Gizmodo, CNBC and many more. Up first, it’s …
The Best Thing We Read This Week:
Will you soon get your news in Virtual Reality? Huffington Post think so, and has launched its new RYOT page as a home for VR and 3D content that puts the viewer right in the middle of the action. HR Administrator Sarah Pennington has been checking RYOT out, and says, “This is a really amazing website that is trying to accomplish two things using Virtual Reality films: 1. Be a news source that doesn’t make you feel hopeless and depressed, and 2. Help nonprofits spread awareness about their work. RYOT currently has 60 Virtual Reality films. Before I started working at Marxent I thought of VR only as a type of gaming platform, used only by ‘techy’ people. Now that I have been here for almost 2 months I see that it is so much more, and is being used in so many different and amazing ways.”
The Best Things We Listened To This Week:
Joe Johnson, Marxent’s raconteur-ish Marketing Creative Director, recommends the latest release from Bastille for you listening pleasure. “Better known for their hit single ‘Pompeii,’ this B-Side that sources the Old Testament soars and swells anthemic like the rest of their fantastic Bad Blood album, but draws on the emotion and tone of a Troubles-era Belfast bar dirge,” Joe says. “‘Daniel in the Den’ feels blood soaked and tragic, epic and personal, all at the same time.”
Marxent 3D Artist Drew Robbins has been following the Voices of VR podcast for a few years now. “I love this podcast because it keeps me excited and up to date with the most current VR/AR news and research,” he explains. “Kent Bye the host interviews leading professionals from all Industries impacting Virtual Reality, from redirected walking to motion sickness, Kent covers it all. I would recommend checking out the Top Ten list to start with.”
But Wait, There’s More …
Marxent Sales Director Nick Pfeiffer offered up this “very cool” 3 minute video of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussing the success of Pokémon Go, and the future of gaming opportunities and the HoloLens for technology companies.”
The smartphone wars and actual real-world wars collide, as the Army has announced it’s ditching Android for Apple’s iPhone.
Could Virtual Reality really replace pain killers? According to a new study by the MIT Technology Review, and shared by Marxent Sales Direct Jeff Morrow, VR was recently found to be as effective as narcotics in stopping pain.
Forget goggles — Wichita State University has a projector-based VR cave that you can experience without headgear.
Marxent QA Analyst Ang Boehmer saw this video on Facebook last week with the following explanation: “One morning while reading a newspaper, Jarbas saw a photograph of birds on an electric wire. He cut out the photo and was inspired to make a song using the exact location of the birds as musical notes. He was curious to hear what melody the birds created. He sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the newspaper. It ended up winner of the YouTube Play Guggenheim Biennial Festival.” Click play and have a listen — it’s incredible.
And Finally …
What’s the one weird job interview question companies are asking now? In the linked video, Method co-founder Eric Ryan talks about his company’s corporate culture. “It was an interesting read/watch, especially after Marxent’s Q3-Q4 Planning/Updates meeting,” says Data Analyst Josh Howell. “Around the 17:30 mark is when he starts talking about weird as part of their core culture.” Josh then shared a few key quotes, including:
- “The way I thought about it is the biggest risk to the company was always the next 10 hires.”
- “If we are not different, we are dead.”
- “You want to hire people you really believe in but also people that you can trust.”
- “Weird people are the most different people out there. Weird people change the world.”
