Virtual reality is quickly becoming the new technological frontier. Tech companies everywhere seem to be racing to get their foot in the VR door. However, virtual reality has a set of challenges and hurdles that it must overcome in order to work well. It should be noted that VR is heavily dependent on being very fast, very accurate and very good-looking. If it isn’t, the viewer will feel motion sick or disconnected from the world that VR is trying to create.

Now that we can actually build VR headsets that begin to meet these requirements, we are seeing a rising interest in VR. As it rises, so does the interest in creating new media to be experienced in using virtual reality. Journalism is a medium built on relevance. Journalists should always be finding new ways to tell stories and deliver content. It is a goldmine for storytelling. What better ways to tell a story to someone than to put them right in the center of it?

Virtual reality is a powerful tool for journalists. The consumer isn’t just reading or watching something play out; they’re experiencing it. The immersive nature of VR allows for people to connect with the subject matter on a much deeper level than just reading about it. The experience is emotional, speaking more to our instinct than our intellect. The possibilities for storytelling here are legion, and any storyteller wanting to do something more interesting than their peers should surely be considering the sheer power of VR.

The question of virtual reality, though, is not how powerful it is. That is immediately apparent. The question of VR is one of viability and availability. Telling stories must be easy to do, and access to those stories must be readily available. This is the biggest challenge that VR faces. If the tools to tell a story with VR aren’t easy to pick up and learn, VR will fail. If VR technology isn’t both top-of-the-line and affordable, VR will fail.

Accessibility was one concern for Thomas Hallaq, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications, who said that current VR technology, is pretty exclusive right now. Despite that, he said he doesn’t think the exclusivity of this technology will be a problem in the long run.

“I think it’s very promising,” Hallaq said. “We’re seeing more technology become accessible, and more people having access to that technology. Just look at smartphones.” Like radio, TV and the Internet before it, virtual reality will change the way we tell stories.

Your car is a necessary part of your life． You use it every day． Of course， you want to hold on to it so you make sure it has the latest alarm and immobilizer （汽车防盗器）．But despite all these， cars like yours are still stolen every day． In fact， in this country，one car is stolen almost every minute! And if your car is stolen， you only have a 50：50 chance of seeing it again．

Each year，car crime costs nearly £3 billion． Of course， if you're insured （保险），you won't lose out， or will you？ Firstly， you will have to pay extra insurance later on， and then you may not be offered the full amount by the agent． You will probably have to hire a car and you will also lose he value of the contents and accessories （配件）in the car．

Now comes the solution． An RAC Trackstar system， hidden in one of 47 possible secret locations in your car， is the key to our system． If your car is stolen， radio signals are sent at twenty﹣second intervals from the car to the RAC Trackstar National Control Center via a satellite network． Then a computer gives he vehicle's exact location， speed and direction．

The RAC Trackstar National Control Center， which operates 24 hours a day， 365 days a year，will immediately inform the police in the area where the car is located． Because the police receive information every twenty seconds，they will always know the vehicle's location． Once the thief has been arrested，your car will be returned to you．

RAC Trackstar is unique in being able to provide the National Control Center with details of the exact location of your car， its speed and direction． And speed is the key to successful recovery of a stolen vehicle． RAC Trackstar Control will immediately tell the police if you report your car stolen and under the 24﹣hour Guardian Option． It will also tell you if your car has been stolen． RAC Trackstar's constant updates mean the police are kept informed of the car's location． All these greatly improve your chances of seeing your car again．

Qualcomm has demonstrated mobile internet speeds of 1Gbps using a 5G smartphone chip. The chipset manufacturer claims this is the first working 5G data connection on a mobile device. The fifth generation of the mobile network does not yet exist, but it promises faster data speeds and more bandwidth to carry more web traffic. Qualcomm is describing the demonstration as a “major milestone”, but one expert is playing it down.

1Gbps is equivalent to 1,000Mbps, and this speed would enable you to download a one-hour TV programme in HD from BBC iPlayer in less than six seconds. “It’s not a big deal,” Prof. William Webb, an independent consultant and author of the book The 5G Myth: When vision decoupled from reality, told the BBC. “5G is not yet clearly defined; they’ve just postulated what they think it will look like. It’s not 5G in its final form, so it’s premature to say it’s a 5G demonstration.” Prof Webb added that speeds higher than 1Gbps were already achievable on 4G For example, Huawei’s Kirin 970 chipset offered mobile speeds of up to 1.2Gbps when used with compatible (相容的) network equipment. Qualcomm said the demonstration, at its laboratories in San Diego, had used its first dedicated 5G chip, the Snapdragon X50 NR modem chipset, on the 28GHz millimetre wave spectrum band.

“This demonstration... was only the first data connection on this 5G mode,” said a spokesman for the firm.

“When it is finished and ready to ship to smartphone makers, it will be capable of 5Gbps speed, which no 4G LTE chip currently available can support.

“What our announcement represents is the first steps we are taking to counter sceptics like Prof Webb: yes, millimetre wave 5G is a promising technology for mobile devices and networks, and our achievement proves the steady progress we are making.”

What is 5G?

Today’s 4G mobile networks currently make use of the sub-6GHz frequencies, but these are now heavily crowded. Mobile operators are running out of capacity to carry the huge amounts of web traffic generated by consumers on billions of mobile devices, in addition to data being sent from internet-enabled sensors in smart devices.

The specifications for 5G have not yet been set out by the global mobile standards body, 3GPP, so various parts of the industry are trying different technologies, with the hope that 5G will be ready by 2019. Some of the technologies involve optimising the current 4G network by making the transit of data more efficient, in order to offer greater capacity and higher speeds. But there are also plans to make use of the currently unused 28GHz and 39GHz millimetre wave spectrum bands, which are found in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared (红外线的) waves.

Millimetre waves offer far more bandwidth than the sub-6GHz frequencies, but the radio signal becomes worse if data is transmitted over more than a few kilometres. “There are many different definitions of 5G, some of which could be put into effect by 2019, and those that wouldn’t be, such as millimetre wave, which will probably take a lot longer,” said Prof Webb.

Qualcomm takes issue with this analysis, saying that it aims to have millimetre wave-capable smartphones in users’ hands before July 2019, when it expects the first compatible networks to have become available.