Virtual Reality is coming to WordPress.com! As of today, you can create and publish your own VR content on any WordPress.com site, starting with 360° photos and 360° videos (beta), and you can view regular photos and panoramas in VR. Our goal is to make publishing VR content as simple as publishing text or photos to the web — just add VR content to your site and anyone with a web browser can instantly enjoy it.
Let’s start with some examples.
Click the “play” button on any picture below and our VR viewer will load. On a regular desktop browser you can then “look around” using your mouse, including in gorgeous full-screen mode. On a phone browser or a webVR enabled desktop browser, you’ll see a VR button in the bottom right — select it and our viewer will render the content in full 3D mode inside your VR gear. So far we’ve tested with Cardboard, Gear, Daydream, Rift, and Vive.
Augmenting your own posts with VR content is simple: Upload VR content to your WordPress site just like you would with any other content, decide if you want to present it in 360 or cinema (panorama) mode, and publish it using the “vr” shortcode:
An easy way to start taking 360° photos today is to use the Google Street View app (for iOS and Android).
The 360 degree views works fabulously barring the zoom in features still We can’t wait to see how WordPress.com users will use VR to tell their stories!
Virtual Reality is coming to WordPress.com! As of today, you can create and publish your own VR content on any WordPress.com site, starting with 360° photos and 360° videos (beta), and you can view regular photos and panoramas in VR. Our goal is to make publishing VR content as simple as publishing text or photos to the web — just add VR content to your site and anyone with a web browser can instantly enjoy it.
A conversation by WordPress with blogger Shivya Nath
In 2011, Shivya Nath left her corporate job in Singapore and jumped head-first into a life of nomadic adventures. Five years on, the Dehradun, India, native has been chronicling her journey on her popular travel blog, The Shooting Star, where aspiring nomads can find well-crafted stories from around the world and resources and tips on supporting a travel bug while on the road.
We recently chatted with Shivya about full-time blogging, solo travel, and why she doesn’t keep a bucket list.. Via Discover.
You’ve been a full-time travel blogger for several years now — what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned about yourself and about travel since taking the plunge?
We take life too seriously. Most of us grow up with checklists of what we are supposed to achieve by the time we’re thirty or forty. We forget it’s okay to mess up and live a little. When I quit my job as a social-media strategist five years ago and decided to experiment with long-term travel and blogging, conversations with my family and friends made me feel a lot like I was shying away from adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it.
But the more I travel, the more I meet people who are choosing less steady, more satisfying paths in life. A common thread is that we all have gone in knowing we might fail, but also knowing that we’ll never know for sure until we try. I met a fisherman in Mauritius who chooses to fish for a living over working long hours for big bucks in a factory, because he loves the sea; in rural Kerala, India, I met a craftsman who is single-handedly keeping a traditional craft alive, even at meager wages, because it is his legacy and calling. As for me, I may not have a fat monthly salary or an MBA or the high life of my banker friends, but my days on the road are full of unanticipated adventures and I love that.
Has your perspective on the places you visit changed as well?
I’ve come to realize that our perception of the world is seriously flawed. In Honduras, notorious for being the “most violent place on earth,” I lived with local hosts who don’t even bother locking their doors at night (their biggest fear is that the neighbor’s dog might steal their chihuahua’s food!). In my solo travels in India, I’ve witnessed overwhelming kindness from people who really don’t have much else to offer. I’ve learnt that judging a place and its people before you engage deeply is like judging a book by its cover. People from around the world, no matter how different from you and me on the surface, have the same heart and the same insecurities — and when we travel without preconceived notions, we discover that in beautiful, unexpected ways.
Shivya taking in the view on a recent trip to Mauritius.
Many people dream about becoming a self-sustaining travel writer, and your blog is full of insight on how to pursue this passion. What do you think is the most important thing aspiring travel bloggers should know about this path?
Travel blogging is a bit like being in a serious, long-term relationship: the only way to make it work is to love it selflessly, commit to it irrespective of the ups and downs, and believe that you can make it.
It’s a lot about loving travel, blogging, and social media in almost equal proportions. Perhaps unlike other genres of blogging, travel blogging often involves working out of beautiful locations — which can seem glamorous in Instagram photos, but in reality involves a tremendous amount of discipline. Imagine being in beach mode on a remote island and having to pull out your laptop on the sunbed to meet self-imposed timelines — I personally think the only way you can psyche yourself into doing that is if you really love spending time creating aspirational content on your blog and social networks.
You’ve amassed an impressive following on your blog but also on other social platforms. Do you treat these different “channels” differently? What role does your blog play in your overall online presence?
I like to think of my blog as the hub of my online presence — the home of my adventures, where I ideally want to lead all my followers.
Besides my blog, I am primarily active on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and have been experimenting with different content and engagement strategies on each. Instagram is for (relatively) longform stories, Twitter for quick observations, and Facebook for a mix of both — and since I’m always on the road, most of my updates are in real time from the location I’m in.
I like to think of my blog as the hub of my online presence — the home of my adventures, where I ideally want to lead all my followers. But I also curate my social channels so that they can exist and engage independent of my blog.
Many recent conversations in the US and elsewhere have focused on street harassment and other visible symptoms of patriarchy. Do you sense differences between how solo male travelers are treated compared to solo female travelers? Is that something that influences the way you design and write about your adventures?
There are certainly differences, though contrary to popular perception, I wouldn’t say solo female travelers are always on the losing end. Personally, I’ve struck up interesting conversations, hitchhiked, and lived with kind locals in many parts of the world. After the initial shock of meeting a female traveling by herself, they went out of their way to connect me with their friends and help me sneak a peek into the local way of life. It’s hard to say if they’d shower the same kind of attention on a solo male traveler. The challenges are different too: the perception of safety tends to influence the kind of adventures I land myself in (often unintendedly), which in turn influences what I write about.
Truth is, the exhilaration I feel on solo adventures in remote parts of the world, without the need for a man to keep me company, in a time where patriarchy (especially in a country like India, where I grew up) is still very pronounced, is perhaps far more liberating than a solo male traveler might ever feel.
A solo traveler needs to know how to take a creative selfie — Shivya took this one in Kumaon, India.
How do you feel about the ever-popular notion of bucket lists? Do you keep one?
I’ve never bothered keeping a bucket list because it’d be so long, looking at it would probably exhaust or intimidate me! I’m usually pretty spontaneous and unplanned with my travels — deciding on my destinations literally a day or two before I fly in. That’s partly because I hate planning into the future (hello, commitment phobia!), and partly because I’m lazy. I love that I tend to travel with a blank slate, without being too influenced by the impressions of people who’ve been to a place before me.
What are your next destinations — and which do you enjoy more: exploring a new place, or rediscovering an old favorite?
I’ll be traveling back to Germany in September, and for the first time to Scotland after that — both for travel-blogging campaigns (and hence planned well in advance). Between October and December, I’m thinking of either heading to Bolivia, since I’ve loved my time exploring other parts of Central and South America, or traveling up north to Bhutan, where the focus on happiness has intrigued me for years.
The thrill of landing in a new place, not knowing what horizons lie in store, is often hard to resist.
I find myself drawn to places that are not high on the regular tourist radar, for they still tend to have a genuine warmth towards outsiders and lend themselves to incredible adventures; my six-month sojourn through Central America in 2014 bore testimony to that.
The choice between returning to a place I’ve loved versus going to a new place is always a tough one. I usually lean towards the former when I’m in work mode; the familiarity helps me to settle in sooner and I feel less tempted to trade work time for exploration time. But the thrill of landing in a new place, not knowing what horizons lie in store, is often hard to resist.
How do you envision the long-term arc of your travel blog? Is it something you can see yourself doing for the foreseeable future, or would you like it to transition into something different?
I’m working on transitioning towards passive income from travel blogging, so I can spend longer stretches on the road without connectivity, yet not burn through my funds. In the long run, I also want to evolve my blog from its entirely personal voice to being more community-driven — a place where other long-term travelers can share inspiring perspectives and compelling stories from their adventures.
Shivya Nath is an inspiration for many who are trying to break out of the status quo and hitting challanges.
Have a look on some more enthusiastic travel bloggers works:
Moon Roy, the blogger at Footloose Forever, documents a visit to Lake Gurudongmar — one of the highest lakes in the world — in the Indian state of Sikkim.
A Screen of Green Leaves shimmer in the Winter Sun as the Gopuram ( a signature feature of Temples in Southern India) looms in the background by Mukul Chand 51 year old entrepreneur who has traveled extensively around the world for work and pleasure can be found on Enchanted Forests.
Learn WordPress in a week
Whether you’re working full-time and juggling family, social and volunteer commitments, mastering WordPress is within your reach – and there are so many resources available for free that if you do have time you have absolutely no excuse!
Thanks to the low barrier to using and working with WordPress, anyone with an idea and time to spare can develop a product or service on top of WordPress and start a business.
“There’s a lot happening in the world right now that would lead us to believe how disconnected we are from each other — but if this map says anything, I believe it’s that connection is real, alive, and important to us all.”
“Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.”
— Augustine of Hippo
Last Friday, I set up what I expected to be a very simple giveaway on the blog. As a [very honored and excited] contributor to the latest Lonely Planet Travel Anthology, I’d received two copies of the book from the publisher, and to help share in my excitement for being part of the collection, I decided to give away one of the copies here.
I kept the method of entering the giveaway fairly straightforward—I merely asked people to leave a comment on the post, answering the following question:
What was your favorite travel experience?
I wrote up a quick post to announce the giveaway, snapped a few photos of the anthology to use across social media, and hit ‘publish’—after that, all there was left to do was wait.
* * *
For the rest of the day that Friday, I was supposed to be working on an Etsy painting commission—but I couldn’t help taking frequent breaks to refresh the post and see what comments had come in. The last time I ran a giveaway here on the blog, reading people’s responses had been my favorite part of the process, so again my curiosity was high.
And again, my curiosity was not disappointed. Within minutes of publishing the post, there was a comment from my long-time online friend Pauline, sharing about her time on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail through northwest Spain:
“I have SO MANY amazing travel experiences. If I have to choose just one, I think it would have to be from the Camino. Our group of walkers all checked into the same albergue in Los Arcos. Come dinner time, we decided to go to a tiny bar in front of the cathedral. We ended up taking every single seat and keeping the bartenders busy the entire night—it was like our own private party in the middle of Spain. I loved every moment that night, and I’m always in awe of the connections you can make despite language barriers and cultural differences.”
By 10 p.m. that night, the post had around 45 comments. This was about the same number of entries my last giveaway had received, so the quantity wasn’t too surprising—but what did leave me altogether astonished were two other things.
First—the sheer breadth of places that you all mentioned. As I read through the comments, it felt as though I were almost flipping through an atlas: You wrote about Canada and Cambodia, Slovenia and Sri Lanka, Scotland and South Africa. Other memories were from Mexico, Morocco, and Mongolia, and from Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Botswana. It seemed like there was no corner of the world you all hadn’t traversed—from Peru to Portugal to a remote jungle village in Papau New Guinea; from Estonia to Easter Island to the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia.
Although I still had a little work left to do on my commission, I couldn’t help but set it aside one more time and pull out my notebook, which I normally reserve for to-do lists and schedules. With a ballpoint pen, I drew the most hastily drawn map the world has ever seen, settling for the mere suggestion of a continent’s shape instead of the exact shape itself. Then, with a blue highlighter, I went through each comment and placed one blue dot on the map for every one of your experiences.
By the time I was finished, I couldn’t believe what the map held—all in all, your favorite travel memories spanned 36 countries across five continents.
* * *
But it was more than just the breadth of your responses that impressed me so deeply—it was the depth of the stories you shared.
So many of your responses went far beyond simply naming a place—you took the time to tell me why that place mattered to you, and I can’t tell you what an honor it was for me to read every story—once, twice, often three or four times, just to make sure I’d absorbed the details and little moments properly.
And as I kept reading through your comments (which soon tallied somewhere closer to 60 entries from six (!) continents), I was astonished by another thing: That while the location of your favorite travel memories varied greatly, there was one clear and common theme running through them, which had presented itself from the beginning in Pauline’s story about the Camino:
The power of connecting with others on our journeys.
Connection has become the very lifeblood of my vision and vocation, so it was a serious thrill to discover how many of you also place value on connecting with others. Here are just four of your stories that came to immediate life for me on the screen:
“In 1986, our Fiat Ritmo was traveling through Greece, fueled by my father’s love for classic history and my mother’s enthusiasm for beauty and nature. That old car of ours broke down twice, was towed, repaired, towed again, and didn’t manage to bring us to Mycenae in time for a visit. The archaeological site was already closed and the keeper was going home. When the man noticed my father’s delusion, he gave him a lemon as a present “for his little daughter.” To me, such a gift represents hospitality, friendship, and the value of little things.”
— Marianna
“Travel is such a wonderful opportunity to connect with people and one of my most amazing experiences was meeting a family in the village of Cassis in the south of France. My husband and I struck up a conversation with a woman and her young daughter at the train station, joined them and more of their family for coffee and patisserie at their home, stayed for drinks of the local liqueur and talk of family, genealogy, and local history, then returned the next day for a personal tour of the hillside neighborhood. It was such a lovely time, and we treasure the experience and the lasting friendship.”
— Gayla
“My favorite travel experience was on the overnight train from Zurich to Amsterdam this summer. I was leaning out the window in the corridor and a boy came up and joined me. We got to talking and I asked him if he would like to play chess, as I always carry a pocket chess set with me wherever I go. He said yes, and so we settled at the end of the carriage on the floor and played chess for the better part of the night!
I taught him a new version of chess my sister and I invested called anti-chess. I learned so much about Switzerland from him, and we talked about everything Swiss—Swiss cheese, Roger Federer, the Bernina Pass. Next morning, he asked for my name just so he could give me credit when he taught anti-chess to all his friends. We wished each other the best of luck and parted ways. I don’t know anything about him, except that he made one mundane train journey through Europe very memorable for me!
Both Zurich and Amsterdam were beautiful to me, but I feel on any journey, it’s the people that make the trip magical.”
—Manalika
“One of my favorite travel moments arose from disappointment. I had made my way to Iskenderun, Turkey, late last winter, following rumors of the possibility of passage to Israel via boat. No boat, so I decided to head back north. I had five hours to fill on my last day in town and there was this one view that had been on my mind since I had arrived.
I make my way to the pier and settle in to sketch the waterfront and mountainous backdrop. I’m getting into the groove, soaking in the sun, weeding through the details, and at some point between outlining the view in pencil and picking up my pen to start inking, I am surrounded by wide eyes, curious smiles, and Turkish chatter. A group of kids had snuck up and wanted to see what I was doing.
I smile back, apologize for not knowing what they are saying, and hand over my stack of finished, painted postcards as a way to engage without words. They love the one with the pelican from Izmir. I get an idea. I point at my pen, then at them, miming drawing in the air, and get a round of enthusiastic nods and wider smiles.
I dig deep into my pack for extra paper, the parents have drawn closer at this point, questions of where I’m from, am I a student? Nope, tourist. One-word sentences back and forth, their English better than my Turkish. Out comes the paper, I hand around pens, and we’re huddled around my bench sketching away.
At some point drawing turns into a language lesson, I learn the words for bird (kuş) and foot (ayak), and I am being called abla (‘sister’—I love this Turkish custom). Drawings are signed and gifted to me, cheeks are kissed, I thank the parents for stopping, grateful for the connection, disappointment at not finding the boat forgotten.”
— Genevieve
* * *
By the end of the weekend, I knew I had to do something—to honor your stories, and to thank you for taking the time to share them. And I decided that the perfect ‘something’ was to create a more finished version of that first messy map I drew.
Illustrated maps have long been a favorite sketching project of mine, but never before have I created one specifically for this blog. Usually, each red dot on one of my maps has the name of a place beside it. This map is a little different, though—next to each red dot below is one of your names, marking the location of your favorite travel experience. And each illustrated ‘vignette,’ or what I like to call the small sketches embedded in the map, also stands for one of the places you wrote about.
As I sat on the floor of San Salvador’s airport on Monday—painting the map during another seven-hour layover on my way back to Uruguay—I couldn’t help asking myself: Is this the start of something new? Perhaps we can all keep collaborating, sharing our stories and creating art that speaks to a real spirit of community and connection. (And if that sounds like something you’d like to see more of on this blog, please feel free to let me know.)
There’s a lot happening in the world right now that would lead us to believe how disconnected we are from each other—but if this map says anything, I believe it’s that connection is real, alive, and important to us all.
* * *
Thank you again for sharing your stories! I’ve also uploaded a high-res version of the map here, so please use or share it any way you like, or even print it out…nothing would make me happier.
The moon is a familiar sight in our sky, brightening dark nights and reminding us of space exploration, past and present. But the upcoming supermoon — on Monday, Nov. 14 — will be especially “super” because it’s the closest full moon to Earth since 1948. We won’t see another supermoon like this until 2034.
The moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical so sometimes it is closer and sometimes it’s farther away. When the moon is full as it makes its closest pass to Earth it is known as a supermoon. At perigree — the point at which the moon is closest to Earth — the moon can be as much as 14 percent closer to Earth than at apogee, when the moon is farthest from our planet. The full moon appears that much larger in diameter and because it is larger shines 30 percent more moonlight onto the Earth.
Video>
The moon is a familiar sight, but the days leading up to Monday, Nov. 14, promise a spectacular supermoon show. When a full moon makes its closest pass to Earth in its orbit it appears up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter, making it a supermoon. This month’s is especially ‘super’ for two reasons: it is the only supermoon this year to be completely full, and it is the closest moon to Earth since 1948. The moon won’t be this super again until 2034!
The biggest and brightest moon for observers in the United States will be on Monday morning just before dawn. On Monday, Nov. 14, the moon is at perigee at 6:22 a.m. EST and “opposite” the sun for the full moon at 8:52 a.m. EST (after moonset for most of the US).
If you’re not an early riser, no worries. “I’ve been telling people to go out at night on either Sunday or Monday night to see the supermoon,” said Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. “The difference in distance from one night to the next will be very subtle, so if it’s cloudy on Sunday, go out on Monday. Any time after sunset should be fine. Since the moon is full, it’ll rise at nearly the same time as sunset, so I’d suggest that you head outside after sunset, or once it’s dark and the moon is a bit higher in the sky. You don’t have to stay up all night to see it, unless you really want to!”
This is actually the second of three supermoons in a row, so if the clouds don’t cooperate for you this weekend, you will have another chance next month to seethe last supermoon of 2016on Dec. 14.
Video>
Nothing beats a bright and beautiful “supermoon.” Except maybe, three supermoons! 2016 ends with a trio of full moons at their closest points to Earth.
NASA scientists have studied the moon for decades. A better understanding of our moon helps scientists infer what is happening on other planets and objects in the solar system. “The moon is the Rosetta Stone by which we understand the rest of the solar system,” Petro said.
LRO has been mapping the moon’s surface and capturing high resolution images for more than seven years. Extensive mapping of the moon aids scientists in understanding our planet’s history, as well as that of planetary objects beyond the Earth-moon system.
“Because we have the Apollo samples, we can tie what we see from orbit to those surface samples and make inferences about what has happened to the moon throughout its lifetime,” Petro said. “The samples tell us how old certain lunar surfaces are, and based on the number of impact craters on those surfaces, we can estimate the ages of the rest of the moon. Furthermore, we can then apply those models to estimate the ages of surface on other planets in our solar system — all by studying the moon!”
Weather permitting, on Sunday, Nov. 13 and Monday, Nov. 14, you’ll be treated to ashowstopper supermoon that will be the closest moon to Earth in almost 70 years. We won’t see a supermoon like this until 2034, so this is a great opportunity to preserve and share the event with a great photo.
Bill Ingalls, NASA’s senior photographer and a fixture at NASA Headquarters has traveled all over the world for more than 25 years photographing missions for NASA.
Bill’s #1 tip for capturing that great lunar photo: “Don’t make the mistake of photographing the moon by itself with no reference to anything,” he said. “I’ve certainly done it myself, but everyone will get that shot. Instead, think of how to make the image creative—that means tying it into some land-based object. It can be a local landmark or anything to give your photo a sense of place.”
It means doing a lot of homework. Bill uses Google Maps and other apps – even a compass — to plan where to get just the right angle at the right time.”
Bill often scouts locations a day or more in advance, getting permission to access rooftops or traveling to remote areas to avoid light pollution.
You don’t have to live near an iconic landmark or talk your way onto a rooftop to get the perfect shot. Instead, work with what you have. Ingalls trekked to Shenandoah National Park in 2009 to photograph Comet Lulin and faced a challenge. “I had just basic equipment and saw all these people with great telescopes making a picture I could never get. So what could I do differently?” Ingalls aimed his long lens between the trees, using the red light of his headlamp to paint the forest with a long exposure. The result was magical, with National Geographic naming his comet image one of the top 10 space photos of the year.
Bill recommends personalizing the experience by using people in the shot. “There are lots of great photos of people appearing to be holding the moon in their hand and that kind of thing. You can get really creative with it,” he said.
viewing will still be super after sunset on both Nov. 13 and 14, with only subtle difference in the moon’s size and brightness. So this will provide lots of opportunity to experiment with different locations, exposure times and foregrounds.And if it’s cloudy on Sunday night, you can always try again on Monday.
Smartphone Capturing
Is it hopeless to attempt a supermoon image with a smartphone camera? Ingalls says, “It’s all relative. For me, it would be maddening and frustrating–yet it may be a good challenge, actually. You’re not going to get a giant moon in your shot, but you can do something more panoramic, including some foreground that’s interesting. Think about being in an urban area where it’s a little bit brighter.”
To get the right light balance of the moon on newer iPhones and other smartphones, “Tap the screen and hold your finger on the object (in this case, the moon) to lock the focus. Then slide your finger up or down to darken or lighten the exposure.”
Digital SLR photography
For digital SLR photography, Ingalls uses the daylight white balance setting for capturing moonlight, since sunlight is being reflected. For those with longer lenses he advises, “Keep in mind that the moon is a moving object. It’s a balancing act between trying to get the right exposure and realizing that the shutter speed typically needs to be a lot faster.”
So go try your hand on a camera and come out with an eye catching photograph of present Supermoon
In one of Ingalls’ most iconic and widely-viewed images, this supermoon is seen as it rises near the Lincoln Memorial on March 19, 2011.
Arrested Developments 
