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Vacationscene.com selects IPIX virtual tours

Interactive Pictures Corporation (Nasdaq: IPIX), a world leader in immersive imaging for the Internet, announced today that VacationScene.com, a leading vacation rental Web site, has chosen IPIX? technology as their virtual tour standard. The 360¡ x 360¡ IPIX? images allow potential guests to browse different accommodations as though they were walking through the rooms before making their reservations.

Interactive Pictures’ IPIX? technology delivers an immersive IPIX? image that allows viewers to ‘step inside’, looking in any direction from left to right or floor to ceiling, and feel as if they are actually in the picture. The VacationScene.com site allows visitors to choose from properties in Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, Aspen, the Bahamas, the French West Indies, and parts of Mexico. A visitor may view one or more photos of selected properties, often including room interiors, and external views that also show the surrounding neighborhood. Through the virtual tour, visitors can get a comprehensive feeling for a property’s style and special amenities.

According to Tom Griffin, CEO of VacationScene.com’s owning company, ActiveCurrents.com, the IPIX? images on the site are the best way imaginable to select a vacation home. “Consumers love our IPIX? Virtual Tours. VacationScene.com is just an easier way to locate a property, see what it looks like on the inside and book it online in a secure environment. When you are getting ready to rent a home for $2,000 a night, you want to see more than a flat picture and IPIX? images put them inside the picture,” said Griffin. “IPIX? Virtual Tours let them actually see the property as though they were standing right in the middle of it. You can’t get that perspective from even the best printed brochure.”

Sales agents use the IPIX? Digital Camera Kit to capture 360¡ x 360¡ views of the home in minutes. With the easy to use IPIX? Kit the agent takes just two pictures using a fisheye lens on a standard digital camera and builds them into an IPIX? image in seconds right in front of the client. Agents can then post the Java image on VacationScene.com for consumers to view on the Internet with any version 3.0 or above browser.
“Working with a leader like VacationScene.com demonstrates how IPIX? Virtual Tours can create a competitive advantage for travel industry Web sites,” said Interactive Pictures Chairman and CEO, Jim Phillips. “The ability to ‘be there’ before you get there lets people make the most informed choices about their vacation plans, and that results in travelers who are more satisfied with the vacation property they choose. It’s a winning situation for everyone.”

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