DevIppo AR/VR Meetup #4 Recap – August 30th, 2024
On Friday, August 30th, from 6 PM to 10 PM, I hosted the 4th DevIppo meetup. Despite a typhoon looming that weekend, causing many to cancel, I decided to go ahead with the event. The smaller number of attendees actually allowed for more in-depth discussions.
Getting Started
The first hour was a relaxed start, with attendees chilling out, eating pizza, and drinking beer, creating a laid-back atmosphere.
Presentation Highlights
1. Sergei Meza: Founder of Oliver AI
Sergei Meza, founder of Oliver AI, showcased a new Apple Vision Pro application he released on iOS. The app transforms images and videos into spatial media. As the lead developer, Sergei shared the challenges of creating VR applications, such as hardware limitations, the difficulty of releasing on iOS, and setting up a paid subscription model.
One of the attendees tried out the Apple Vision Pro for the first time and enjoyed the experience, although they might not be purchasing it soon due to the device’s cost of around ¥600,000 ($4,000 USD). The developers present gained an honest, expert opinion on this new technology.
If you’d like to follow Sergei Meza or collaborate with him, you can find him on LinkedIn.
2. Sunny Bhasin: Marketing Development at Snapchat Japan
Sunny Bhasin, from Snapchat Japan's marketing development team, focused on how Snapchat implements AR in their app. Although not an engineer, Sunny has extensive experience in startups in Japan.
He introduced the "Lens Web Builder," a web-based tool that allows non-technical creators to make unique AR filters. He also demonstrated various ways Snapchat uses AR in real life, including:
- A QR reader that activates a unique AR experience.
- AR experiences triggered by geolocation.
- AR experiences for finding friends at festivals.
The Q&A session following Sunny's presentation lasted quite a while, as many developers had questions. The key takeaway from his talk was the importance of collaboration between business, marketing, and development teams. With Sunny's unique experience in tech startups and the curiosity of the skilled developers who attended, it was easy to see the potential for legitimate business ideas emerging from the discussions.
Final Hour
In the final hour, we continued our conversations over more drinks and leftover pizza, diving deeper into tech-related topics. Despite having only nine attendees, we had some fascinating discussions. One special guest was Gabriel Shiguemoto, Art Director at BIRDMAN, who was particularly interested in how AR is being used in current tech and business.
Conclusion
The goal of this meetup was to share ideas and opinions on how AR/VR is being utilized in tech and business today. After the event, it felt like we all had valuable and engaging discussions.
二次会: After event pub
The after drinks 5 of us went to a near by pub in Shibuya "Hobgoblin", Tyrone [NZ], Sunny [JP], David [UK], Kabir [Nepal] and Sergei [Honduras]. Over a beer we discussed various topics such as working in Japan, cultural differences & how to increase your income.