Why nineteen? Three reasons. This bubbling new VR energy makes me feel 19 again! 19 is still in the Gen Z’s age bracket  and I will focus on 19 key takeaways that are a result of the different events and reports that have transpired in November 2015. In the event you were busy paying attention to Trump’s rants during this month, this is your chance to catch up. Hoping that your turkey and trimming plans are ready for your Thanksgiving meal before you allow me to indulge you with the summary of VR coverage in Nov and my thoughts.

1. A major milestone for journalism during Nov. NYTimes distributed about 1.3 million Google cardboards to enable their users to experience the new story telling format. In the week following the release of this new experience NYT stock jumped by 7% with an overall 3 month gains between Sept and Nov pegged at 21%. Clearly the stockholders are excited about this strategic offering from NYT. Other publications such as WSJ followed suit. Google Card boards go mainstream via this milestone.
2. YouTube goes virtual: Users can now view 360 degree videos using a $30 headset made of cardboard.
3. 19 is the top end age for Generation Z. 79% of Gen Z are excited about VR offerings according to findings from FastCompany released this month. “What Americans really think of Virtual Reality”.
4. Consumer VR is here. This month marked the release of the new Gear VR. Reports indicate that it has already been sold out in various sites including best buy and Amazon. Way to start the movement!

5. Reported by Techcrunch, the Star Wars virtual reality experience is ready and will be released on Dec 6^th. The Force awakens via Google cardboard!
6. Courage in Story Telling. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of Paris. The new immersive VR film “Finding Hope in the vigils of Paris” will help us connect to the incident and provide a personal experience and remind us that the technology has potential power in story telling if it is used appropriately.
7. On Nov 5^th, Lytro announced Lytro Immerge. According to them this is the world’s first professional Light Field powered solution to provide lifelike presence in VR with Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF), addressing the challenges of live action immersive storytelling.
8. Privately held CCP Games, based out of Iceland raised $30 million to bolster the development of virtual reality (VR) content. New Enterprise Associates led the investment, with participation from private equity firm Novator Partners LLP. Gaming fans following Valkryie and GunJack have found a new reason to smile, as this significant investment will bring more content to Oculus and Playstation VR platforms.
9. MIT Technology review reported a breakthrough story on Nov 11^th about real impact from a virtual reality punch. Researchers in Germany have developed technology for an armband that lets you feel impact from virtual interactions.
10. VR psychonauts; anybody? Motherboard released a cover story about this. Essentially, a niche group of people that are using drugs like marijuana, mushrooms, ketamine, and acid to enhance “presence,” the holy grail of virtual reality. I figure this is one of the dangers that the FastCompany survey points out when it comes to experiencing Virtual reality. According t the survey, half of those surveyed reported they had some form of concern about trying VR. A total of 23% of respondents cited worries about their health, 11% fretted about “losing touch with the real world,” and 5% thought they might get addicted.
11. Virtual Reality based Theater experience coming to a town near you. This month Disney Theatrical Productions, announced that it had commissioned and would be releasing a VR short of “Circle of Life,” the sensory-laden opening number from its long-running Broadway hit “The Lion King.” According to an article in the WIRED, this appears to be an incredible experience.
12. On Nov 11^th, NextVR announced that it raised $30.5 Million in Series A funding backed by Comcast and Time Warner. This will mark a shift in how we experience live streaming of sports and entertainment in the months ahead.
13. USA Today covered a story on Nov x about college football programs using VR and 360 videos to recruit new talent. UNLV, UCLA, Kansas, Syracuse and Ole Miss are among the schools entering the virtual reality recruiting world, though it figures to catch on fast said the article.
14. If Lion king can, others will follow. Cirque du Soleil is using VR to put you on stage in its latest production. Reported by Digital trends on Nov 19.
15. Just as the Syrian refugee story is playing out in the headlines this week, UNICEF is attempting to use virtual reality to bring donors into Syrian refugee camp. This was reported by CBS on Nov 23^rd.
16. TechTimes reported on the 23^rd, that Jason Giambi plans on bringing Virtual Reality Training To Baseball With ‘Project OPS’
17. Nokia plans on launching its Ozo on Nov 30^th. With eight cameras capable of capturing 2K video, the Ozo records both 3D images and sound 360 degrees, to be outputted on VR systems. According to ZDNet, Nokia has been demoing the Ozo at Slush, the Nordic region’s biggest startup event, this month. Visitors to the Helsinki show were able to view content captured on the device on VR headsets.
18. This month also marked a shoutout from Kevin Spacey, our beloved House of cards President who suggested that Virtual Reality has the potential to become the next Netflix and according to Financial review Mr. Spacey has a track record of getting such calls right.
19. It was reported by Carscoops that this year’s Mercedes Benz “Future Talk” focused on virtual reality. During their 2015 Future Talk event, Mercedes-Benz brought engineers, designers, scientists and journalists into a discussion about virtual reality.

Those were 19 of some of the best virtual reality related news stories for the month of November. And if you are still with me, heres’s my change to make it nineteen and change.

Who is the average reader for New York Times? According to Pew Research study in 2012, Regular readers of the NYT tend to be younger than average. Nearly 32% of the regular Times reader are younger than 30. 38% of the readers have a family income of at least $75,000. The excellent response from the NYT readers that experienced their first 360/VR experience via cardboard correlates to the findings form fastcompany ‘s survey. 70% of millenials, 70% of Gen X and surprisingly 64% of the baby boomers are interested in Virtual reality. 40% of the survey takers are willing to spend up to $400 dollars for a VR headset. That is really promising.

Although most Gen Zs may not be subscribing to NYT yet, they are clearly following virtual reality very seriously with 79% of the millenials calling the experience “Cool” and willing to try it. According to CMO study earlier this year, Gen Z folks, also have more to their passions than gaming. 60% of these kids want their jobs to impact the world, 26% of 16 to 19 years olds currently volunteer and 76% are concerned about humanity’s impact on the planet.

The study also suggests that more than a quarter of America’s population currently belongs to Gen Z and on an average this generation receives $16.90 per week in allowance.

I looked at the Top 100 most populated cities in US and totaled the population to roughly fewer than 212 million. If you assumed that 25% of these folks are Gen Z’s, that certainly accounts for 53 million kids and growing. Also if you were to assume that 45% of this age group can actually be your typical VR consumer (Ages 11 through 19), that sums up to 24 million kids. At $17 per week allowance, that’s a staggering $21 billion dollars a year. Even if these youngsters spend only 20% of their money on cool VR related items, that is still close to $5bn in annual spend.

66% of the kids ages six to eleven say online gaming is their main source of entertainment, according to Sparks & Honey report. I don’t blame these kids. I remember playing PONG with two “paddles”(lines on the screen) hitting a ball( a dot) back and forth. That was it! That was the whole game. Pretty immersive eh!

Here’s why I think that this is important as we make more progress in VR and other immersive experiences. As lucrative as the potential market sizing exercise looks, I am reminded of the quote from Daniel Kahneman, “We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness”. As consumer brands start to target these young consumers via new VR offerings, I wonder if we are shifting people away from reality via our consumerism under the pretext of innovative technology.

With teenage obesity in rise, how does the new platform for gaming help the new generation, especially the kids with less self control. Maybe it’s a good thing that the stuff sitting on your face doesn’t feel comfortable enough for you to sit on a chair and play all day long.

It is not difficult to see that the headlines in Nov point to a very fast changing ecosystem when it comes to virtual reality and 360 experiences. While a lot of innovations are on the way focused on entertainment and gaming, the platform is also enabling humane and social causes and connections such as the UNICEF story and the Paris coverage by New York Times. Only Time will tell where we end up but we all do have a chance and voice to shape the outcomes as consumers in this new and powerful offering as we move forward.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!