XR pioneer Avi Bar-Zeev has been at the forefront of Spatial Computing for over 30 years: from launching Disney’s groundbreaking Aladdin VR ride in the early 90s and crafting Second Life’s 3D worlds to co-founding Keyhole (Google Earth) mirror-earth spatial browser, co-inventing the Hololens AR headset in 2010 and leading the Experience Prototyping team for Apple's Vision Pro and more from 2016-19.

Bar-Zeev's so ubiquitous he's been affectionately called the Forrest Gump of XR.

On today's show, Bar-Zeev returns to the podcast and illuminates his journey through immersive tech from those early days to his latest role as Founder and President of the XR Guild, a 501c3 nonprofit, his response to the urgent need to bring more thoughtful and ethical practices into emerging platforms and AI.

The XR Guild's Ethical Professionals Mixer is sold out. Zero to Start is proud to have joined primary event sponsor LA SIGGRAPH, and XRA as a "bronze" co-sponsor.

• Heading to AWE USA 2025 ? Road to VR readers can still get an exclusive 20% discount on tickets: https://geni.us/7ijTS - Ben Lang

Thanks for listening! Subscribe to Zero to Start on your favorite podcast platform.

• Follow our podcast page on LinkedIn!

AWE JUNE 9th:

• 10:30 AM - 04:30 PM | Room 204 | XR Guild and Virtual World Society - UNCONFERENCE

Catch Avi and other guild members at these AWE panels:

JUNE 10:

• 04:30 PM - 04:55 PM | Room 102A | For XR/AI Makers, the Secret Sauce is Ethics - Aysu Unal - AiSU, Avi Bar-Zeev - XR Guild

JUNE 11:

• 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM | Builders Nexus Stage - Expo Hall |
  AI x Metaverse: Advancing Spatial Intelligence, Spatial Computing, and Beyond in Synergy

FEATURED LINKS

• Our AWE playlist !
• AWE Day One podcast guide!
• XR Guild
• XR Guild Library 2.0
• Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
• Neely Purpose Driven XR Library

CONNECT WITH SICILIANA:
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sicilianatrevino.com

On today's show we're spotlighting our AWE day one itinerary. Elevate your conference vibe with our AWE playlist !

Heading to AWE USA 2025 next week? Road to VR readers can still get an exclusive 20% discount on tickets: https://geni.us/7ijTS - BEN LANG

JUNE 10 ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS

• 09:00 AM - 09:25 AM AWE USA 2025 Welcome Keynote - XR Is Going Mainstream! - Ori Inbar - AWE & Super Ventures
• 09:30 AM - 09:55 AM Accelerating the Spatial Computing Revolution for Developers and Enterprise - Ziad Asghar - Qualcomm
• 10:00 AM - 10:25 AM Bringing AI and AR Into the Real World Through Spectacles Evan Spiegel - Snap
• 10:30 AM - 10:55 AM Project Aura & More: XREAL’s Vision for the Present and Future of XR - Chi Xu - XREAL
• 11:00 AM - 05:30 PM Expo, Playground, Gaming Hub
• 01:30 PM - 01:55 PM From Storytelling to StoryLIVING: Our New Reality | Vicki Dobbs Beck - Lucasfilm & ILM
• 02:00 PM - 02:25 PM Evolving Bystander Signaling Norms and Industry Standards in the Era of AI - Dena Feldman - Meta
• 02:00 PM - 02:55 PM PANEL: The Next Revolution in Graphics: How 3DGS Changes Everything (Gaussian Splatting)
• 02:30 PM - 02:55 PM Beyond the Banner Ad: How AR is Reshaping Brand Engagement - Tom Emrich - The Next Dimension
• 03:30 PM - 04:15 PM AWE Wellness Walk with Caitlin Krause: A Somatic & Spatial Journey into Digital Wellbeing - Caitlin Krause
• 04:30 PM - 04:55 PM For XR/AI Makers, the Secret Sauce is Ethics - Aysu Unal - AiSU, Avi Bar-Zeev - XR Guild
• 05:00 PM - 05:55 PM PANEL: Igniting Cultural Institutions: AfroFuturism & Lincoln Center
• 5:00-5:25 pm From Code to Conduct: Building Healthy Communities in VR Games - David Neubelt | Another Axiom (Gorilla Tag)

How can we create XR experiences with purpose and why does it matter?

Last week's MeaningfulXR conference at UC Davis and in VRChat brought together a dynamic XR community from across the globe to explore the answers and featured some of the latest academic research using XR across disciplines including education, psychology, design, AI, health and wellness, tracking data and more.

On this special episode, I’m sharing the audio recording of our MeaningfulXR panel, Creating platforms and apps to better people's lives

Led by Carsten Becker, Faculty, Media Design and Extended Reality USC Iovine & Young Academy and featuring Avi Bar-Zeev, XR Pioneer, founder and president of the XR Guild.

I highlight some of the exciting projects I saw on Day One of the conference and Carsten shares his industry insights, the importance of ethics and purpose driven XR, as well as how to overcome building and investment challenges for new XR students and builders.

We also hear from Carsten’s Neely Center student mentees who are designing purpose driven XR for social impact.

Special thanks to Robby Ratan and the MeaningfulXR team!

Thanks for listening! Subscribe to Zero to Start on your favorite podcast platform...

Follow our podcast page on LinkedIn!

FEATURED CONFERENCE PROJECTS/CREATORS:

• Reimagining Land Acknowledgment: Co-Designing Location-Based AR with Indigenous Communities - Kai Lukoff, Sean Hauze, Madison Nguyen, Isabella 'Amne Gomez
• CN Vision: A Novel AR Tool for Enhanced SLP Neuroanatomy Learning - Maura Philippone, Jesse Sanderson
• Immersive Religion: Enhancing Religious Literacy through Extended Reality -John Soboslai
• Navigating Ethics in Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) Design for Dyslexia Interventions - Aurelia O'Neil

FEATURED LINKS:

• MeaningfulXR Conference
• Neely Purpose Driven XR Library
• Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
• XR Guild
• XR Guild Library
• VIDEO Lightning talk: A Deep Dive into Eye-tracking in XR with Avi Bar-Zeev - Stanford Cyber Policy Center

CONNECT WITH SICILIANA:

• LinkedIn
• sicilianatrevino.com

Today’s bite-sized episode is a quick shout out to the Meaningful XR conference happening Thursday May 22nd and Friday May 23rd at the UC Davis International Center and virtually in VRChat.

On Friday at 12:30pm I’ll be joining the panel, Creating platforms and apps to better people's lives

Led by Carsten Becker Faculty, Media Design and Extended Reality at USC Iovine & Young Academy

Featuring Guljaha Shaik Neely Fellow 2024-25 and recent MBA graduate from the USC Marshall School of Business

And friend of the podcast Avi Bar-Zeev XR pioneer, founder and President of The XR Guild, a non-profit that seeks to support and educate professionals in XR on ethics and most positive outcomes for humanity.

Thanks for listening! Happy installing... Subscribe to Zero to Start on your favorite podcast platform Follow our podcast page on LinkedIn!

FEATURED LINKS:

MeaningfulXR Conference

Neely Purpose Driven XR Library

Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making

XR Guild

Digital Wellbeing -Caitlin Krause

Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

CONNECT WITH SICILIANA:
LinkedIn
sicilianatrevino.com

It’s Game ON with GDC in San Francisco at the Moscone Convention Center, March 17th through the 21st.

On our first episode of 2025 we’re checking out

• The Top Game Developer Trends heading into GDC 2025
• The Meta Horizon Start Guide to GDC
• XR events and other happenings featured on gdcparties.com

Find out why you don’t have to have a GDC pass to enjoy some of the best gaming industry panels and networking of the year!

Thanks for listening! Happy installing... Subscribe to Zero to Start on your favorite podcast platform Follow our podcast page on LinkedIn!

FEATURED LINKS:

The Top Game Developer Trends heading into GDC 2025 - Beth Elderkin, GDC

Future Realities Summit at GDC - GDC

Unity GDC Events - Unity.com

Niantic at GDC - Niantic

Staying Safe and Healthy at GDC - GDC

GDC Vault- GDC

Meta Horizon Start Program - Meta

"Best part of a conference isn't on the agenda" - Andy Fidel, LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH SICILIANA:
LinkedIn
sicilianatrevino.com

----------------------

*not sponsored by Meta, Unity or GDC.

Happy New Year's Eve! Before the clock strikes midnight I'm sharing a quick message of thanks and appreciation to all of my guests this year and to you, the listeners, who've downloaded episodes in 37 countries across the world.

Our top listeners are from the U.S., Germany, Australia, Canada and the UK.

Our Top podcast episode of 2024 is:
Retail Therapy: My inner child said no to a $4500 Apple Vision Pro

Followed by:
Apple Vision Pro's paradigm shift with Ash Baccus-Clark, Speculative Researcher and Creative Strategist, ABC Worldwide

Launching JADU on mobile: a first-of-its-kind multiplayer AR fighting game, with Sarah Stumbo Huth, Gameplay Engineer, Jadu AR

Optimizing XR Development: The Power of Automated Testing with Shane Evans, Cofounder, GameDriver

DECEMBER 2024 NEWS

Android XR: The Gemini Era Comes to Headsets and Glasses - Google
Android XR Resources Thread - @tom_krikorian
Hands on: Samsung's XR headset - Ben Lang, Road to VR

Into the Scaniverse - YouTube
Building Into the Scaniverse in Niantic Studio - 8th Wall Blog

Images & Ideas: A New Partnership With James Cameron's Lightstorm Vision - Meta

AWE's The Future of VR Sports/Esports with Sonya Haskins - LinkedIn Livestream

Quest 2/3s/3 Software Update Issue - Meta Community Forums

NEW VR FITNESS WORKOUTS!

SynthRiders Experience - Barbie Dance'nDream DLC

Jane Fonda X Supernatural - YouTube trailer

TaeBo Reboot - Billy Blanks

Thanks for listening! Happy installing 2025.

I recorded this episode on the afternoon of Election day in the US...

During the storms of change and chance I take shelter in making VR, buying vinyl and listening to The Cure.

So I’m in the midst of making a creepy crawly experience based on Lullaby from The Cure’s Disintegration album to match my post-halloween haunted garden.

However, on today’s episode I wanted to briefly reflect on what I learned - and earned - from returning the Apple Vision Pro back in February.

We highlight a couple of Apple Vision Pro takes on the latest development challenges.

On the next episode I’ll dive into building a quick demo with Meta’s newest VR headset, the Quest 3s, the stand-alone, mobile mixed reality headset with color pass-through starting at just $299.

The new Cure album, Songs of a Lost World is all cued up for listening later, so let's get started!

You can support Zero to Start by subscribing on your favorite podcast platform, give us a rating, and share this episode with your community.

Follow our podcast page on LinkedIn!

Thanks for listening, happy installing!

CONNECT WITH SICILIANA:
LinkedIn
sicilianatrevino.com

DESIGN TOOLS:

• FIGMA
• BEZI
• SHAPES XR

FEATURED LINKS:
Songs of a Lost World - The Cure

Meta Quest 3S - Meta

Tim Cook Admits Truth About Vision Pro Following Lackluster Sales - MacRumours

Vision Pro, W#F is happening? - Tom Krikorian

Apple Vision Pro Development - @tina__nigro

Elevtr.com

VIDEO: The Secret Money Saving Rule I Learned in Japan - Vincent Chan

VIDEO: You'll Save More Money As Soon As You Watch This - Vincent Chan

PODCAST: Retail Therapy: My Inner Child Said No to a $4,500 Apple Vision Pro

PODCAST:#1489: "Gorilla Tag" Design Philosophy & Embodied Gameplay Deep Dive with Kerestell Smith - Kent Bye, Voices of VR podcast

Since 2018 Virtuleap has been at the cutting edge of combining neuroscience and virtual reality to help increase attention levels, and address cognitive illnesses, disorders, and learning challenges.

On this episode, Amir Bozorgzadeh, Cofounder and CEO of Virtuleap is back to tell us all about the release of Cogniclear VR, an immersive cognitive screening test that uses gamified scenarios to assess a wide range of crucial cognitive abilities and collect extensive cognitive and behavioral data to enable early intervention, for better health outcomes.

We dive into the ongoing challenges of:

• designing accessible apps for cognitive testing
• sustained attention decline and mental health with the rise of "TikToK Brain"
• the double-edge sword of leading a start up at the intersection of emerging tech and healthcare

And how Virtuleap has survived industry changes like “a reed in the wind.”

You can support Zero to Start by subscribing on your favorite podcast platform, give us a rating, and share this episode with your community. Follow our podcast page on LinkedIn!

Thanks for listening, happy installing!

FEATURED LINKS:

Virtuleap.com

VIDEO: Cogniclear VR Trailer

Impact of EnhanceVR on working memory and inhibitory control of young adults with intellectual development disabilities.

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

Improving Brain Health with Enhance VR - Zero to Start podcast episode

Birdly simulator

CONNECT WITH AMIR
LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH SICILIANA
LinkedIn
sicilianatrevino.com