Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, many of those in the technology community have imagined a future state of, if not quasi-successor to, the Internet – called the “Metaverse”. Metverse is a vision of the future networking that sounds fantastical. The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space[1] including the sum of all virtual worlds and the Internet. The idea is to create a space similar to the internet, but one that users (via digital avatars) can walk around inside of and where they can interact with one another in real time. Keeping it simple, the metaverse is a potentially vast three-dimensional online world where people can meet up and interact virtually.
The metaverse was originally conceived as the setting for dystopian science fiction novels, where virtual universes provide an escape from crumbling societies. Now, the idea has transformed into a moonshot goal for Silicon Valley, and become a favorite talking point among startups, venture capitalists and tech giants. Imagine a world where you could sit on the same couch as a friend who lives thousands of miles away, or conjure up a virtual version of your workplace while at the beach.
Tech titans like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are betting on as the next great leap in the evolution of the internet. Although the full vision for the Metaverse remains hard to define, seemingly fantastical, and decades away, the pieces have started to feel very real. Metaverse has become the newest macro-goal for many of the world’s tech giants. Big companies joining the discussion now may simply want to reassure investors that they won’t miss out on what could be the next big thing, or that their investments in VR, which has yet to gain broad commercial appeal, will eventually pay off.
‘Metaverse’: the next internet revolution? article tells that metaverse is the stuff of science-fiction: the term was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel “Snow Crash”, in which people don virtual reality headsets to interact inside a game-like digital world.
Facebook Wants Us to Live in the Metaverse. According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “What is the metaverse? It’s a virtual environment where you can be present with people in digital spaces. You can kind of think of this as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at.” Metaverse vision was the driver behind Facebook’s purchase of Oculus VR and its newly announced Horizon virtual world/meeting space, among many, many other projects, such as AR glasses and brain-to-machine communications. In a high-tech plan to Facebookify the world advertisements will likely be a key source of revenue in the metaverse, just as they are for the company today.
Term Metaverse was created by sci-fi author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 dystopian novel “Snow Crash” to describe a virtual space where people interact with one another through user-controlled avatars. That “Snow Crash” novel coined the terms “Metaverse” and “Avatar”.
Venture capitalist Matthew Ball has also written extensively on what he believes are the main attributes of a metaverse: a full-functioning economy, real-time persistence (no pausing), and interoperability of digital “belongings” such as clothing across multiple platforms. Experts working in the space tend to agree on a few key aspects of the metaverse, including the idea that users will experience a sense of “embodiment” or “presence.”. Read more at The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find it, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite and Big Tech has its eyes set on the metaverse. Here’s what that means
Proponents of the metaverse say there could eventually be huge business potential — a whole new platform on which to sell digital goods and services. If metaverse could be properly realized and catches on some future year, it is believed that metaverse would revolutionize not just the infrastructure layer of the digital world, but also much of the physical one, as well as all the services and platforms atop them, how they work, and what they sell. It is believed that verifiable, immutable ownership of digital goods and currency will be an essential component of the metaverse.
Did you hear? Facebook Inc. is going to become a metaverse company. At least that’s the story its management wants everyone to believe after a flurry of interviews and announcements over the past couple of weeks. Zuckerberg is turning trillion-dollar Facebook into a ‘metaverse’ company, he tells investors article tells that after release of Facebook’s earnings CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a moment to zoom out and wax on the company’s future goals, specifically calling out his ambitions to turn Facebook into “a metaverse company.”
Some pieces of the metaverse already exist. Services like Fortnite, an online game in which users can compete, socialize and build virtual worlds with millions of other players, can give users an early sense of how it will work. And some people have already spent thousands of dollars on virtual homes, staking out their piece of metaverse real estate.
Who will be big if metaverse catches on. Bloomberg article Who Will Win the Metaverse? Not Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook article claims the social networking giant and its CEO have vast ambitions to dominate the next big thing in computing, but other tech giants are in a better position to turn the hype into reality. Facebook’s actual track record on VR tells a story that has not been very promising. The two critical components needed for companies to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise from any potential metaverse are advanced semiconductors and software tools. Facebook is not strong on either front.
There are many other companies with Metaverse visions. For example Oculus’s technology has been surpassed by smaller competitors such as Valve Index, which offers better fidelity. Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella said last week that his company is working on building the “enterprise metaverse.” Epic Games announced a $1 billion funding round in April to support its metaverse ambitions. Companies like graphics chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) and gaming platform Roblox (RBLX) are also playing Metaverse game.
Despite the current hype cycle, the idea is still amorphous, and a fully functioning metaverse is probably years and billions of dollars away — if it happens at all. Another question is are we emotionally evolved enough for it? There is a host of concerns about how the metaverse could be used or exploited. “Are we safe to start interacting at a more person-to-person level, or are the a**holes still going to ruin it for everybody?” “If you can now replace somebody’s entire reality with an alternate reality, you can make them believe almost anything,”
Keep in mind that the metaverse is a relatively old idea that seems to gain momentum every few years, only to fade from the conversation in lieu of more immediate opportunities. Though “Fortnite” and “Roblox” are often described as precursors to the Metaverse, the most significant precursor to the Metaverse is the internet itself.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/ps-vr2/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Threatening to fire Meta employees while selling investors on a different reality.
Mark Zuckerberg touts potential of remote work in metaverse as Meta threatens employees for violating return-to-office mandate
https://fortune.com/2023/09/30/mark-zuckerberg-remote-work-meta-headsets-return-of-office-mandates/?utm_source=facebook.com&xid=soc_socialflow_facebook_FORTUNE&utm_campaign=fortunemagazine&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3ZcDtcfWEXF62HCcwGRk64ZX-uAVkzt6on65lghgkWwJc5bGVkNkYERs0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zuck’s metaverse bet has already cost the company billions of dollars.
FACEBOOK LAYING OFF METAVERSE EMPLOYEES
https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-laying-off-metaverse-employees
EVEN MORE LAYOFFS.
Hard Ware
Facebook-turned-Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may impressed some of us with his latest demo of far more lifelike metaverse avatars last week.
But a peek behind the scenes paints a far more troubling picture of the company’s efforts to turn his VR vision into a reality.
Case in point, as Reuters reports, Meta is laying off employees in its Reality Labs division who were tasked with developing custom silicon.
The 600-member team called Facebook Agile Silicon Team (FAST) was notified of the news on internal discussion boards earlier this week.
While we still don’t know how many jobs will end up being affected, the culling doesn’t instill much confidence in the company’s efforts to flesh out its metaverse, a bet that’s already cost it billions of dollars.
Bleeding Billions
Apart from less-than-stellar VR headset sales and deserted VR spaces, Meta has struggled to develop silicon chips that compete with other companies like US-based chipmaker Qualcomm, which is currently producing the chips for Meta’s headsets.
The FAST team isn’t even the only department struggling to build in-house chips for the company, as Reuters points out.
Last November, Meta also laid off over 11,000 employees, including workers in its Reality Labs division.
In many ways, these latest layoffs shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Zuckerberg warned investors in March that some layoffs may happen “through the end of the year.”
The company recently announced its latest VR headset, the Quest 3, planned for release next week. But whether enough customers will end up shelling out $500 for the device to save the company from bleeding even more money remains to be seen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/googles-augmented-reality-microscope-might-help-diagnose-cancer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is trying to make the next Vision Pro more comfortable to wear and Meta is aiming to release a cheaper Quest in 2024 and true AR glasses in 2025
Apple’s Challenge for the Next Vision Pro: Making It Easier to Wear
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-08/apple-plans-smaller-lighter-vision-headset-meta-works-on-cheaper-quest-3-ar-lnhh1ulx
Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest 3 haven’t even been released yet, but the two companies are already deep into work on follow-up products. Also: A review of the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s only new capability (the Double Tap gesture), and legendary designer Jony Ive invests in an aluminum and stainless steel blender.
Last week in Power On: Apple has what it needs to launch its own Google search replacement. Paid subscribers learned what the Apple-Epic Games suit could mean for the App Store and got a review of macOS Sonoma.
Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. are on the cusp of launching new mixed-reality headsets, but work is already well underway on next-generation models.
A key focus for Apple is making its device more comfortable to wear — with a smaller and lighter design. The company’s first headset, the Vision Pro, has caused neck strain in testing due to its size and weight. That could turn off consumers already wary of mixed-reality headsets, which meld virtual and augmented reality.
Meta, meanwhile, is looking to reduce the price of future products. Though the upcoming Quest 3 will sell for a fraction of the Vision Pro’s price, it’s still $200 more expensive than Meta’s prior model. The company would like to get the price back down to that previous $300 level, which would help introduce mixed reality to a broader market.
As this showdown looms, there’s confidence within Apple that it has the superior product. The Vision Pro will have higher-resolution passthrough cameras — the component that lets the user see the real world around them — a powerful M2 chip and sharper VR displays. But there are concerns about whether consumers will see a need for the device, especially at its current $3,500 price.
The feeling within Meta is a bit different. On one hand, the company believes it has the better gaming ecosystem — with lots of titles available for the Quest 3 that take advantage of VR. The $500 price also makes the headset far more appealing to mainstream shoppers.
But it’s hard to bet against Apple, and the Vision Pro may lead consumers to embrace mixed reality in a way they haven’t before. Ultimately, Meta can take a wait-and-see approach. Though the company has its own product road map, it could adjust features based on what Apple ends up adding to the Vision Pro and how the technology resonates with customers.
As one person within Meta told Power On, “We’re in the ‘afraid of Apple’ stage” — not unlike how the mobile-phone industry felt just before the iPhone’s release in 2007.
Already, Meta has retooled its strategy to be more like Apple’s. Rather than pitching the Quest 3 as a portal to the metaverse — Mark Zuckerberg’s much-derided vision of interconnected online worlds — the device is now marketed as a tool for gaming and productivity apps. Apple is taking the same approach with the Vision Pro. In fact, Apple’s marketing chief refuses to even use the word “metaverse.”
That said, the Quest 3 has its merits. It’s an improvement over the Quest 2 in nearly every way except for price. The device feels considerably faster and less cumbersome, and it has an elegant approach to mixed reality. And even with the price increase, the Quest 3 is one-seventh the cost of Apple’s product.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Metaversumi ei hurmannut kuluttajia, mutta teollisuusyritysten kanssa treffit ovat vasta alkaneet. Lue blogista lisää. #teliayrityksille
Metaversumi mullistaa teollisuustyön
https://www.telia.fi/yrityksille/artikkelit/artikkeli/metaversumi-mullistaa-teollisuustyon?fbclid=IwAR27kHBn5CIe6QFl8ta7j6yxgsvDn4LRNGwWEskNdWeQ_ltt3tOike16zw8_aem_AQgzZM6wC1NABGZJ05Gn1BHQ4PTdLR5EBED2_yrNw0r9bGeMteDN-lwloUMMHGhJgFz_1IRiQ153qmrFlec-ZU8y
.
Teollisen työn murros auttaa yrityksiä ratkomaan työvoimapulaan liittyviä haasteita, kirjoittaa Telian datayksikön johtaja Tapio Levä. Metaversumi tuo tehtaille esimerkiksi digitaalisia kaksosia ja palvelurobotteja.
Kaksi vuotta sitten kaikki puhuivat metaversumista. Sen piti muuttaa korona-aikaan harjoiteltu etätyö uudenlaiseksi virtuaalitodellisuudeksi. Facebook uskoi metaversumiin, vaihtoi emoyhtiönsä nimen Metaksi, investoi miljardeja sen kehitykseen ja onnistui sulattamaan 70 prosenttia pörssikurssinsa arvosta.
Nyt metaversumi on tulossa, mutta toimistojen sijaan se tulee teollisuuteen.
Teollinen työ on kokemassa renessanssia länsimaissa. Suomi kilpailee vihreän siirtymän investoinneista, ja teollisuus kärsii työvoimapulasta. Tämän ratkaisemisessa teollisen työn digitaalinen murros on avainasemassa. Metaversumi ja siihen liittyvät teknologiat ovat mahdollisuus digitalisoida ja toteuttaa osin etänä teollisuuden asiantuntijoiden kenttätyötä – oli kyse sitten monikansallisesta suunnittelutyöstä tai kaivoskoneiden etäohjaamisesta.
Olennaisena osana on työkontekstiin tuodun merkityksellisen datan yhdistäminen osaksi fyysisen maailman työtehtäviä.
VTT:n johdolla toteutetussa Human Driven Industrial Metaverse -hankkeessa selvitettiin, että metaversumia voidaan soveltaa teollisuudessa esimerkiksi tuotesuunnittelussa, tuotantoprosessien valvonnassa ja huoltotöissä.
Metaversumi yhdistää fyysisen ja virtuaalisen maailman toisiinsa niin, että tiedonvaihto ja vuorovaikutus on sujuvaa ja luonnollista. Perinteisten käyttöliittymien lisäksi se voi pädien tai älylasien kautta hyödyntää myös laajennetun todellisuuden työkaluja. Esimerkiksi tuotantolaitoksen huoltotyöntekijä voi seurata puhelimellaan reaaliaikaisia laitetietoja ja ottaa työhön mukaan laitevalmistajan asiantuntijan videopuhelulla.
Yhtenä uutena käyttöliittymänä metaversumissa ovat digitaaliset kaksoset. Digitaalinen kaksonen tarkoittaa fyysisestä ympäristöstä tehtyä digitaalista mallia, jonka kautta esitetään tietoa ja mahdollisesti myös säädetään ja ohjataan sitä.
Esimerkiksi tuotantolaitoksesta voidaan luoda digitaalinen kaksonen laserkeilauksen (LIDAR) avulla. Siihen voidaan yhdistää rakennuksen tietomallista (BIM) saatava tieto ilmanvaihdosta, sähköistyksestä ja viemäröinnistä sekä sensoreilla kerättävä tieto tuotantotilojen ja -laitteiden toiminnasta,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Roblox CEO David Baszucki says the company is “transitioning away” from remote work, as virtual workspaces aren’t as “engaging, collaborative, and productive” — Roblox — a company that builds a hugely popular virtual experiences platform, recently introduced …
Roblox says employees must return to office because the metaverse still isn’t good enough
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/17/23921001/roblox-employees-return-to-office-metaverse-isnt-good-enough
/ In a letter calling employees back to the office, Roblox CEO David Baszucki says virtual workspaces aren’t as ‘engaging, collaborative, and productive’ as physical ones.
Roblox — a company that builds a hugely popular virtual experiences platform, recently introduced its own spin on video chat, and even created an in-Roblox career center — is “transitioning away” from remote work and will be asking “a number of our remote employees to begin working from our headquarters in San Mateo by next summer,” CEO David Baszucki wrote in an email to staff shared publicly on Tuesday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Meta Quest 3′s better passthrough video means people are again walking in public with face-mounted, video-recording devices, a throwback to Google “glassholes” — It’s happening: people are once walking into public places wearing a video-recording face computer on their heads.
The Meta glassholes have arrived
/ And they’re not using the device I’d expected.
https://www.theverge.com/23920102/meta-quest-3-in-public-privacy-recording-glassholes
It’s happening: people are once again walking into public places wearing a video-recording face computer on their heads. Only this time, the faceputer is sold by Meta, not Google.
Over the weekend, as buyers got their first uninterrupted stretches of time with the new Meta Quest 3 headset, some started posting videos of themselves interacting with the real world instead of playing games.
Sure, it’s cool to blast low-poly baddies breaking through your walls, but isn’t it more technically impressive that Meta’s new headset lets you cook a meal or sweep your floors or enjoy a fancy coffee on a beautiful day without ever taking off the machine? That’s what the Quest 3’s full-color, low-latency passthrough video allows.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wes Davis / The Verge:
The FCC unanimously approves a petition by Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and others for access to the 6GHz band for Wi-Fi tethering for AR and VR headsets — The FCC has unanimously approved plans by several tech companies to use the 6GHz band for wireless devices.
FCC greenlights superfast Wi-Fi tethering for AR and VR headsets
/ The FCC’s approval comes years after tech giants petitioned for access to the 6GHz band for Wi-Fi tethering.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/19/23923015/fcc-6ghz-approval-very-low-power-devices-apple-google-meta
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/neoscope/vr-hoarders-practice-throwing-garbage
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s been two years since Carmack made this warning… and looking around at the state of the “metaverse,” history has so far exonerated him.
“I have pretty good reasons to believe that setting out to build the metaverse is not actually the best way to wind up with the metaverse.”
(From 2021)
John Carmack issues some words of warning for Meta and its metaverse plans
“But here we are, Mark Zuckerberg has decided that now is the time…”
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/10/john-carmack-sounds-a-skeptical-note-over-metas-metaverse-plans/?utm_brand=ars&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3S9Z0MjDAxTFRx1nE2Fg5qgZHkXb-iw0dvlQ8QIGQH94ybYnqHAPYMjdU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Although VR has yet to reach the stratospheric heights its cyberpunk fantasy promised, the latest wave hasn’t been a high-profile failure either.
(From 2022)
What happened to the virtual reality gaming revolution?
VR hasn’t taken over the world, but that doesn’t mean it has failed.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/10/what-happened-to-the-virtual-reality-gaming-revolution/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_social-type=owned&utm_brand=ars&fbclid=IwAR0aCA1ef5JkIbe63fB6C5LJcFzc5TJQ2dDW_fN1xAMA0h5D0s2NgPmMDLI
Six years ago, consumer virtual reality seemed set to be the next major tech breakthrough.
With the demonstration of his impressive prototype Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD) in 2012, Palmer Luckey managed to instantly erase the poor image VR had garnered from ‘90s movies like The Lawnmower Man and woefully premature commercial curios like Nintendo’s Virtual Boy. This led the Kickstarter campaign for the first Oculus developer kit to balloon past its $250,000 funding goal on the way to a final haul of $2.4 million. Two years later, Oculus accepted a $2 billion buyout offer from Facebook.
The lead-up to the 2016 launch of the first consumer version of the Oculus Rift (the CV1) only raised consumer VR’s profile further. Analyst predictions were bullish, going so far as to say that the VR market would be worth $150 billion in just five years.
Six years later, VR has yet to reach the stratospheric heights its cyberpunk fantasy promised. But the latest wave hasn’t been another high-profile failure, either. Meta’s Quest 2 headset has helped significantly revitalize consumer interest in the sector with its user-friendly experience and relatively low price (though it’s not as low as it once was), with its Oculus Store supporting a handful of bona fide VR-native hit games.
When the Rift CV1 was released, evangelists proclaimed that VR wasn’t just going to revolutionize games—it would change the world. (Goldman Sachs said in 2016 that mass adoption of VR hardware alone would overpower the $99 billion TV market by 2025, and it was hardly the only company making such lofty claims.)
But an instant revolution was never in the cards, as Road to VR executive editor Ben Lang told Ars. “The expectation among the nascent industry was that it was going to be this crazy takeoff,” Lang said. “But as happens with very new technology, until you can go from pure hype—like, ‘this is going to change everything,’—to really finding specific useful cases, it never becomes this instant, overnight thing.”
Back in 2016, it seemed that every major tech company was eager to carve out its piece of the VR pie.
Despite improvements to hardware designs over the next few years, the initial appetite for VR consumption out of the gate was nowhere near what investors had been counting on. The future would have to wait.
When it comes to reducing that friction, the 2019 release of the standalone Oculus Quest was a true game-changer, according to developers we talked to. “It’s better to think about Quest 2 as a console,” Cloudhead Games CEO Denny Unger told us. “That’s really what it is. It’s an all-in-one VR console.”
Facebook released its last tethered Rift headset in 2019, discontinuing the line in favor of the console-like, all-in-one path exemplified by the Quest line. Lang sees it as a needed course correction after 2016’s false start.
“By moving to standalone, Meta acknowledged that PC wasn’t working [for VR],” he said. “That was a conscious effort to start eliminating the biggest friction issues [and] PC troubleshooting nightmares—who knows if their USB controller has enough throughput? So eliminating PC wasn’t just cheaper; it was easier to set up.”
If there’s a single product defining the state of VR in 2022, it’s the Quest 2. Meta’s second all-in-one headset, released in 2020, reigns over the VR space, accounting for as much as 90 percent of HMD sales, according to a June report from the market research firm IDC.
All told, the Quest 2 has sold around 15 million units so far, according to IDC Research. To put that number into some context, that’s roughly on par with estimated lifetime sales of the Xbox Series X|S in late 2020 and only slightly behind 22 million sales for the PlayStation 5 in the same timeframe. Then again, the Nintendo Switch has sold about 52 million units since the Quest 2’s launch (and tens of millions more before it).
Still, Quest 2 sales are more than double the sales of its nearest VR competition, PlayStation VR, which sold approximately 6 million headsets since its 2016 launch. It’s also about 15 times the conservative estimate Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe once predicted for sales of the first Rift.
The explosive success of the Quest 2 has completely changed the tenor of the VR software market, according to Survios CEO Seth Gerson. “[VR] went from a 500,000 unit installed base in 2017 to more than 14 million today,” Gerson said in an email. “That is real growth.”
“Is Xbox mainstream? I have yet to find anyone who says it is not,” said Gerson, whose studio has made a name for itself with popular licensed VR titles like Creed: Rise of Glory and The Walking Dead: Onslaught. “Our larger [VR] games sell more than 2 million units of software alone. With new devices and more hardware coming online next year, you can start to add millions of additional units per title.”
Beyond the current success, Gerson is confident that VR is just now on the cusp of a much bigger moment. “As I look at our weekly sales numbers this year, I only see volumes increasing, to the point we have to adjust our yearly forecast upward,” he said. “Immersion is the future. It is the paradigm shift, and the inflection point was last year.”
Setting new standards
The success of the Quest 2 comes down to several factors. The lack of major rivals releasing comparable headsets around the same time certainly helped, as did a pandemic-led boom in demand for immersive entertainment at home.
But the Quest was also given a big leg up thanks to one major technical innovation: inside-out tracking. Unlike most earlier headsets, which required external cameras to keep track of head and hand positions, the Quest hardware uses algorithmic data and camera sensors embedded in a headset to detect the physical environment around a user.
Since the release of Quest, the market has shifted to the point where every single VR headset in development today is expected to use the feature.
Unger said the Quest 2’s standalone design is a major factor in VR continuing to gain new users. “You have a stable of games without the need to buy an expensive PC, you can hook it up to a computer, you can throw it in a backpack and take it to a friend’s house—it does all of the things you need VR to do,” he said. “So you’re seeing a refocusing of the industry to get their heads around what ‘standalone’ means. Everybody’s going to be working on standalone devices from this point forward.”
Running on Qualcomm’s mobile-centric Snapdragon XR2 chip, the Quest 2 can’t compare to the sheer pixel-pushing power of a tethered VR headset. For most average users, though, that level of over-the-top performance is less important than price and ease of use.
“You don’t buy a console if you want the very best 4K graphics,” Lang said. “But you’re going to get that smooth, consumer-friendly experience. So that’s what Meta’s doing. And if we’re talking about adoption, I think they’re demonstrating 100 percent that this is the way to go—you’ve got to cut that friction down big time.”
Milk noted that his mom uses Supernatural more than he does, an anecdote he thinks serves as a strong reason to support standalone hardware as the standard. “If my 75-year-old mom and others like her are buying this headset from Best Buy, setting it up themselves and using it on a regular basis, I’d say you have a mainstream device,” he said.
Despite the sales success of individual games, some observers worry that VR users are mainly sticking with one or two killer apps without bothering to expand to a wider library of titles. For instance, Milk mentioned how a significant number of Supernatural players aren’t interested in the wider world of VR at all and don’t really touch their headsets except for workouts.
The narrowness of some players’ VR libraries complicates the question of defining what “mainstream” success for VR looks like.
Gerson listed off a slate of advancements all coming to the fore at once. Alongside typical upgrades to internal components like higher-res screens, more powerful chipsets and heat displacement solutions, bleeding-edge features like eye tracking, and foveated rendering (which produces visuals based on where a user’s eye is focused, significantly cutting down on processing load) are being rapidly integrated into the latest HMDs.
“All of those features benefit consumers and make experiences magical,” Gerson said. “We are forever moving toward that Turing test moment, and at that point, we will see a ubiquity in spatial computing, like when we went from smartphones and Blackberries to iPhones and Android devices.”
VR presented a new world of design challenges to solve, from player vection (moving or turning in a direction at a specific speed to prevent nausea) to making experiences that suited the medium in the first place.
In traditional corners of the industry, Unger thinks some studios weren’t ready for this shift. “If VR was going to be a success at the level that people were hoping it would be, it would have crushed a number of [development] processes,” he said. “Entire production departments, entire skill sets at traditional 2D gaming studios worth hundreds of billions of dollars—they would have to rethink their entire process to build these things.”
The trickle-down process meant company-wide retraining from engineering to marketing, he added.
“I know the traditional 2D gaming conglomerates were thinking, ‘Oh shit, this comes with a bunch of knock-ons and consequences to my bread and butter,’” Unger said. He used EA’s sports games as an example. “How do they recontextualize that for the VR market?”
Survios has approached this bottleneck by building engineering solutions for hardware, firmware, middleware, and software in-house. “To date, there is no Unreal Engine of Immersive Technology,” Gerson said, referring to Epic’s versatile, near-universally adopted game engine. “That technology layer does not exist commercially at the moment, so we built one. That is a heavy lift. But it’s an additional layer to the development pipeline, enabling a more cost-effective, efficient, and approachable processes for immersive worlds. And that is our future.”
Even today, Unger doesn’t think designers who “get” VR are all that common.
“That skill set is really hard to come by, even though we’ve been, as an industry, doing this for nine-ish years,” he said. “Most developers just don’t have the breadth of knowledge to do it properly, so you come away with a bad experience.”
Unger specifically highlighted three all-too-common design mistakes: taking camera control away from the user, dialing in an improper speed for vection, and porting of existing games with VR functionality merely slapped on. “We honestly have a really good guidebook now for why this stuff happens,” he said.
And as for ports? “Every time you’re converting something [designed for a 2D screen] to VR, it almost universally falls down,” he said. “It’s wrongheaded to start the journey that way; you have to understand [VR's] strengths and design for them.”
The pitfalls of a decades-old dream
Ports aside, considering best practices in VR brings up an entirely separate but related problem: Its long history in pop culture and sci-fi is saddled with baggage. That means it’s almost impossible for an average VR user to approach this tech with zero preconceived notions. McNeill thinks this is a problem that’s almost exclusive to a medium with such tangible “presence.”
“You might get a lot of people who said that swinging a sword in VR is going to be great,” he said. “But if you just play the naive version of that, people get disappointed.”
And where does Zuckerberg’s metaverse fit in? With recent impressions of Horizon Worlds looking more meme-worthy than revolutionary, it’s anyone’s guess. But Eiche doesn’t think it’s going to start from anything Meta is pitching.
“The metaverse is not going to be what you think of as a metaverse at first,” he said. “Look at World of Warcraft. That went from, ‘Oh, this is a fun game,’ to weddings suddenly happening inside it. But it’s not going to be meetings—meetings suck. They’re going to be the last thing that enter metaverses.”
As nebulous as the concept may be, Eiche cautions that metaverses can present a slippery philosophical slope.
“You have to be very careful when you’re pitching a digital replacement for life,” he said. “People want to live better; they don’t want you to create some sad replacement of their life. Ready Player One was a dystopia, not a goal.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andre Elijah created a virtual reality yoga app, with avatars of top instructors teaching various poses as well as pilates and mindfulness.
But users may never see it. Meta Platforms Inc. killed it just before launch time when Meta learned Elijah had talked with Apple Inc. and ByteDance’s Pico about launching the app on their competing VR platforms, he alleges in a lawsuit.
Meta canceled his AEI Fitness app days before its unveiling at Meta Connect, the world’s biggest VR conference, Elijah says. He says the conference would have propelled it to the top of the VR fitness app market, eventually reaping him tens of millions of dollars.
https://fortune.com/2023/10/12/meta-killed-metaverse-yoga-app-after-developer-talked-to-apple-lawsuit-alleges/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=fortunemagazine&utm_medium=social&xid=soc_socialflow_facebook_FORTUNE&fbclid=IwAR3zV6BLrcxI7BkRN6aAiQfwLzLITA_2yr5dSn7j7K9Z4h1WBlfPaZso5Mo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Meta’s Reality Labs reports Q3 revenue down 26% YoY to $210M, vs. $299.3M est., and operating loss of $3.74B, vs. $3.9B est.
Meta’s Reality Labs loses $3.7 billion in third quarter as Zuckerberg’s big bet keeps bleeding cash
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/25/metas-reality-labs-loses-3point7-billion-in-third-quarter.html
Key Points
Coming into the third quarter, Meta’s Reality Labs division had lost more than $21 billion since the start of last year.
Meta debuted its Quest 3 VR headset in September, pitching it as a technically superior version of the older Quest 2 device.
The Quest 3 starts at $499, which is $200 more than the Quest 2 but $500 cheaper than the high-end Quest Pro VR headset.
Meta
continues to push the metaverse as the future. In the present, it keeps racking up losses.
In its third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, Meta revealed that its Reality Labs unit, which develops metaverse-related technologies, recorded a $3.74 billion operating loss.
Revenue in the virtual reality and augmented reality division dropped 26% from $285 million a year earlier, to $210 million. Analysts were expecting sales of $299.3 million and a $3.9 billion operating loss, according to StreetAccount.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed the company’s name to Meta two years ago, declaring the metaverse “the next frontier.”
While Meta is pouring billions of dollars a quarter into VR and AR to try and turn Zuckerberg’s dream into a reality, the market remains nascent. Developers who attended Meta’s recent Connect conference for mixed reality told CNBC that Apple’s upcoming entry into the VR market could catalyze the industry and push it into the mainstream.
Meta debuted its Quest 3 VR headset in September, pitching it as a technically superior version of the older Quest 2 device. The new product contains an improved “passthrough” feature that creates more of a mixed reality experience.
The Quest 3 has a starting cost of $499, which is $200 more than the Quest 2 but $500 cheaper than the high-end Quest Pro VR headset.
The company is positioning its Quest headsets as a more affordable way for people to experience VR compared to Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which will cost $3,499 when it debuts next year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ZUCKERBERG’S METAVERSE IS BLEEDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, DOCUMENTS REVEAL
https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerberg-metaverse-billions-losses
Almost exactly two years ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook’s name to “Meta” to signal a sea change in his metaverse-focused operational priorities — and in the ensuing years, there’s arguably not much to show for it besides bulky headsets, half-baked VR experiences, and tens of billions of dollars in losses.
And the losses keep piling up. In the company’s Q3 earnings report, Meta reported a whopping $3.74 billion operating loss on its Reality Labs division, which has been tasked with building out Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/darpa-vr-cognitive-attacks
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrew Romero / 9to5Google:
MediaTek announces a partnership with Meta to develop chips for AR smart glasses; the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 — Meta is looking to expand on what AR smart glasses could actually accomplish, and a new partnership with MediaTek proves that the company is taking it seriously.
MediaTek is partnering with Meta to develop chips for AR smart glasses
https://9to5google.com/2023/11/16/mediatek-partnering-with-meta-ar-smart-glasses/
Meta is looking to expand on what AR smart glasses could actually accomplish, and a new partnership with MediaTek proves that the company is taking it seriously.
During MediaTek’s 2023 summit, MediaTek executive Vince Hu officially announced a new partnership with Meta that would allow the brand responsible for the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to develop something more capable of augmented reality or mixed reality experiences.
As the current generation exists, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses feature a camera and microphone for sending and receiving messages. However, the next generation of Meta smart glasses are likely to have a built-in “viewfinder” display to merge the virtual and physical worlds, allowing users to scan QR codes, read messages, and more. Beyond that, the company wants to bring AR glasses into the fold, which presents a much broader set of challenges.
To accomplish this, a few things need to change. AR glasses need to be built for everyday use and optimized to take on an industrial design that looks good but can pack enough tech to ensure a good experience. As it stands, mixed-reality headsets are bulky and take on a large profile. Ideally, Meta’s fully AR glasses would be thinner and sleeker.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerberg-metaverse-billions-losses
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.telia.fi/yrityksille/artikkelit/artikkeli/metaversumi-mullistaa-teollisuustyon?fbclid=IwAR0mWgaSkt7MMJhyV82jIXEYj06caDiavb_NJ7wmTlky0r1-24sbkVJfzeo_aem_AZMU3vPLgYXY5latOXV6cVKHxTSOoMDpUo2GbI68WVlmHX7rrjxPPsv3E8Zt7LgWhqZfIgSBUfB7V9e2kNUHcgz2
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uuden auton esittely suomalaisen it-firman lisätyssä todellisuudessa oli hämmentävä kokemus
Kaj Laaksonen12.11.202310:30LISÄTTY TODELLISUUSDIGITAALINEN TEKNOLOGIAPUETTAVA TEKNOLOGIAXRAR
Korealainen Kia toi uuden sähköautojen lippulaivamallinsa Suomeen ensin virtuaalisesti ja vasta myöhemmin fyysisesti. Auton esittely lisätyssä todellisuudessa toimi yllättävän uskottavasti.
Vain tuoli on totta. Kian uusi lippulaivamalli EV9 esiteltiin Suomessa lähes kokonaan lisätyssä todellisuudessa. Fyysisesti paikalla oli vain istuin, tosin sekin jostain toisesta automallista. VARJO
@
Mitä ihmettä Mikrobitin toimittaja tekee korealaisen tila-auton esittelytilaisuudessa? Totta puhuen, vaikka tilaisuuden pääesiintyjä Kia EV9 on hieno auto, ei se yksinään ollut riittävä syy lähteä sen esittelyyn.
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/uuden-auton-esittely-suomalaisen-it-firman-lisatyssa-todellisuudessa-oli-hammentava-kokemus/275923e6-95cd-4398-aade-a15774cce850
Tomi Engdahl says:
Etätyön seuraava askel on virtuaalitoimisto: näyttö, näppäimistö ja hiiri ovat pian historiaa
https://www.helsinginuutiset.fi/paikalliset/6326618
Virtuaalitoimistot olisivat teknisesti jo mahdollisia, jos yritykset haluaisivat ottaa ne käyttöön.
Kotisohvasi muuttuu konttorituoliksi ja viereesi ilmestyy työtoveri. Ei tarvitse näpytellä viestejä Teamsissa, voit kertoa asiasi suoraan – aivan kuin olisitte oikeasti samassa toimistotilassa.
Virtuaalista todellisuutta ja reaalimaailmaa yhdistävät työpaikat voisivat teknologian puolesta olla jo mahdollisia jo nyt. Kaikki on kiinni siitä, mitä yritykset ja ihmiset haluavat, sanoo Aalto-yliopiston sähkötekniikan professori Yu Xiao.
Virtuaalitoimisto on työpaikka, jossa työntekijöillä on päässään lasit ja kuulokkeet, joiden kautta he saavat näkyville fyysisen työtilan lisäksi virtuaalista sisältöä. Kukin voi fyysisesti olla omassa kodissaan, mutta kokemuksen tasolla samassa tilassa.
Lisätty todellisuus, augmented reality, tarkoittaa sitä, että fyysisen todellisuuden päälle lisätään virtuaalista todellisuutta. Vuonna 2016 lanseerattu Pokemon Go -peli käytti hyväkseen lisätyn todellisuuden mahdollisuuksia.
– Yhdistetty todellisuus, mixed reality, on kehityksen seuraava vaihe. Kaikki suuren yritykset kilpailevat keskenään ja yrittävät lanseerata laitteita yhdistetyn todellisuuden käyttöön, Yu Xiao sanoo.
Seuraavan sukupolven yhdistetyn todellisuuden laseissa muun muassa sensorit seuraavat käyttäjän kasvoja ja silmien liikettä.
– Nyt esimerkiksi virtuaalisissa kokouksissa käyttäjän avatarilla on samat ilmeet kuin käyttäjällä, Yu Xiao sanoo.
Käyttöliittymäkin muuttuu. Aikaisemmin näppäimistön, hiiren ja näytön kanssa työtä tehtiin kaksiulotteisessa maailmassa.
Xu Yiao kuvailee muutosta niin, että yhdistetyssä todellisuudessa virtuaalinen maailmakin on kolmiulotteinen. Laitteessa saattaa olla käden liikkeen tunnistimet. Edessä virtuaalisena näkyviä kolmiulotteisia objekteja voi kädellä nappaamalla liikutella minne vain.
Kirjoitustakaan ei enää tarvita, vaan puheella voi hoitaa kaiken. Ja kun objektia katsoo tarpeeksi pitkään, niin se aktivoituu.
Virtuaalitodellisuuden mahdollisuudet ovat yritysmaailmassa jo nyt käytössä esimerkiksi perehdytyksessä.
– Jos esimerkiksi teollisuusyrityksessä on uusia työntekijöitä, he eivät aina pääse harjoittelemaan suurien koneiden kanssa. Se voisi olla vaarallistakin. Yritykset näkevät virtuaaliharjoittelussa suoria hyötyjä, koska se parantaa tuottavuutta ja turvallisuutta, Yu Xiao sanoo.
Toimistotyön korvaaminen on hänen mukaansa mutkikkaampaa.
– Esimerkiksi USA:n Piilaakson it-firmat haluavat nyt, että heidän työntekijänsä palaavat etätöistä toimistolle. Kysymys on siitä, että mikä on työnantajan näkökulmasta lopulta tuottavampaa.
Laajennetun todellisuuden ja yhdistetyn todellisuuden laitteet ovat vielä hyvin kalliita, Yu Xiao toteaa. Näiden lisäksi ainakin vielä tarvitaan myös tietokoneet ja puhelimet. Lisäksi uusien laitteiden kanssa pitää ostaa myös koko palvelu.
Toinen asia, joka saattaa estää laajennetun ja yhdistetyn todellisuuden tulon työpaikoille, on työntekijöiden hyvinvointi, Yu Xiao sanoo.
– Vaikka kaikki sanovat, että nämä lasit ovat hyvin mukavia ja helppoja käyttää, kukaan ei ole tehnyt laajempaa käyttäjätutkimusta. Mitä jos käytät laseja kahdeksan tuntia päivässä? Kuinka kommunikointi kollegoiden kanssa sujuu fyysisessä maailmasa, jos olet ollut pitkään virtuaalisessa maailmassa? Parantaako se todella hyvinvointia, ei vain fyysistä, vaan myös henkistä ja sosiaalista hyvinvointia?
Uusi teknologia otetaan käyttöön sitten kun sille on hyvä syy, Yu Xiao sanoo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kuopiolainen Satu Nisu kyllästyi myymään porakoneita – nyt hän tekee läpimurtoa rajusti kasvavalla alalla, josta harva edes tietää https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/art-2000009982957.html
DIGITAALISET vaatteet toimivat niin, että kuluttaja lataa itsestään valokuvan palveluntarjoajan alustalle. Sen jälkeen palvelu mallintaa digitaalisen vaatteen valokuvassa olevan henkilön päälle. Kuluttaja saa valokuvansa takaisin sähköpostilla ja voi käyttää sitä virtuaalisessa ympäristössä.
Vaatteen mallinnusmenetelmästä ja ominaisuuksista riippuen käyttäjät voivat käyttää valitsemiaan vaatteita joko pelkästään valokuvissa tai siten, että vaate mukautuu myös liikkeeseen. Nisun ja Vainikaisen vaatemallisto sopii käytettäväksi ainoastaan valokuvissa.
Digitaaliset vaatekappaleet luodaan 3D-simuloinnin ja -suunnittelun avulla. Menetelmä varmistaa saumattoman ja elävän näköisen ulkoasun. Tätä menetelmää muotoilijaksi valmistuva Sanna Vainikainen on opiskellut opinahjossaan Savoniassa Kuopiossa.
DressX:n lisäksi muita suuria digitaalisen muodin alustoja ovat muun muassa Fabricant ja Auroboros. Suurimmat markkinat digitaalisille vaatteille ovat Yhdysvalloissa ja Aasiassa sekä Euroopan maista Ranskassa ja Britanniassa.
Sanna Vainikainen uskoo, että digitaaliset vaatteet yleistyvät myös Suomessa, sillä digitaalisuus on jo nyt vahvasti osana tavallisten ihmisten arkea.
– Digitaalisia vaatteita voi käyttää esimerkiksi Zoom-videopuhelussa, hän sanoo.
Maailmalla digitaalisia vaatteita käyttävät muun muassa verkkopelaajat ja somevaikuttajat sekä ympäristöystävällisen ja kestävän muodin puolestapuhujat. Muotitaloille digitaaliset vaatteet ovat jo arkipäivää: mallistoja esitellään virtuaalisissa muotinäytöksissä ja mainoskampanjoissa.
Vainikainen näkee virtuaalisissa vaatteissa monia hyötyjä.
– 3D-simulointi vaatteilla vähentää suunnitteluvaiheessa prototyyppien ja sitä kautta myös jätteen määrää. Yritykset voivat esimerkiksi ottaa käyttöönsä virtuaalisia vaatteiden sovitustapoja ja se vähentää logistisia kuluja esimerkiksi palautusten osalta, Vainikainen kertoo.
Nisu lisää, että digitaaliset vaatteet antavat sekä suunnittelijoille että kuluttajille mahdollisuuden tehdä uudenlaisia kokeiluja.
– Veikkaan, että suomalaisetkin innostuvat muutaman vuoden sisällä hankkimaan itselleen digitaalisia vaatteita fyysisen garderoobin oheen. Siinä missä muotitalon fyysinen luomus maksaisi tuhansia euroja, voi sen saada virtuaalisesti päällensä kolmenumeroisella summalla.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Valmet Automotive valmistautuu metaversiumiin
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2023/11/24/valmet-automotive-valmistautuu-metaversiumiin/?utm_campaign=valmet-automotive-valmistautuu-metaversiumiin&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&fbclid=IwAR0eHd9SHqX3XIvUXID7HNcFGxxiqvoM-0A0Dr5D9Ojw8Gf9n8OKNu_ogIs
Valmet Automotiven Uudenkaupungin autotehtaalla on pilotoitu uudenlaista virtuaalitekniikkaa. Osana hanketta robotti on tehnyt tehtaan innovaatiokeskuksesta lidar-skannauksen. Hanke on osa VTT:n ja Telian MURO-innovaatioprojektia, jossa testataan uusimpia virtuaalitekniikoita 5G-verkkorobottien avulla.
Pilotissa 5G-verkkoon liitetty palvelurobotti skannasi Valmet Automotiven Uudenkaupungin innovaatiokeskuksen noin 70-neliöisessä hitsausrobottisolun ja koko alueen uusimman lidar-tekniikan avulla. Digitoidussa maailmassa voidaan nyt liikkua VR-lasit päässä tai seurata sitä koneen näytöltä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish headset manufacturer Varjo announced its XR-4 headset today, which comes in 3 versions—including €13,990 “Secure Edition” that can function completely offline (for secretive skunkworks and mad scientist lairs alike).
Varjo’s New AR Headset Is Built for Secret Labs Auto-focus cameras and enhanced field of view promise next-level immersion
https://spectrum.ieee.org/varjo-xr-4?share_id=7976498&socialux=facebook&utm_campaign=RebelMouse&utm_content=IEEE+Spectrum&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0yRZ_dwLiCs26WE_W9gkaPP67EojWEtIoLGA46l6LY6fNNXS2XuUhyKiw
The Meta Quest 3 is a capable, accessible mixed reality device. But if you’re a mad scientist working on a secret project in an underground lab, it’s not going to cut it.
Finnish headset manufacturer Varjo has a solution: the XR-4, a new generation of flagship mixed-reality headsets built for unusually demanding users. Varjo, based in Helsinki, serves up displays with record-setting pixel counts, auto-focusing cameras, and a “Secure Edition” that looks like it was ripped straight from a Bond film. The goal? A photo-real mixed-reality experience that lets designers, researchers, and creatives build and work with objects that don’t yet physically exist.
“How do you design a car without a clay prototype? How do you sell a yacht you haven’t built yet? How do you train a pilot to fly a plane that’s still on the ground?” says Patrick Wyatt, Varjo’s chief product officer. “Jobs you do right now with physical things, we’re virtualizing those.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suomi halajaa metaversium 2.0:n suunnannäyttäjäksi
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2023/12/01/suomi-halajaa-metaversium-2-0n-suunnannayttajaksi/
Teknologiarahoittaja Business Finland, VTT ja Oulun yliopisto sekä yli 400 muuta suomalaista toimijaa ovat tehneet metaversumi-aloitteen, jonka avulla Suomesta halutaan tehdä alan 2.0 tulevaisuuden suunnannäyttäjä. Suomessa halutaan keskittyä teknologian lisäksi metaversumin eettiseen ja vastuulliseen kehittämiseen, joissa fokus olisi yksityisyydessä, käyttäjäturvallisuudessa ja yhteiskunnallisissa vaikutuksissa.
Metaversumi on todellisuuden digitaalinen kaksonen ja arvioiden mukaan internetin seuraava vallankumous. Se koostuu kahdesta peruselementistä: lisätyn todellisuuden (XR) teknologioiden aikaansaamasta immersiivisyydestä eli uppoutumisesta virtuaalimaailmaan sekä digitaalisesti luoduista virtuaalimaailmoista.
Uusi Metaverse Initiative by Finnish Ecosystem -hanke on luotu yhteistyössä yli 400 suomalaisen metaversumi-ekosysteemin jäsenen sekä suurten ja pk-yritysten kanssa. Mukana ovat myös alan suuret nimet Nokia ja Kone sekä lisätyn todellisuuden teknologioita kehittävät Varjo ja Dispelix.
Metaversumi-hankkeen toteuttaminen alkaa vuonna 2024 viidellä Metaverse in Action -ohjelmalla, joiden perustana on kaksi horisontaalista toimenpidettä: keskittyminen metaversumin teknisen infrastruktuurin ja alustojen kehittämiseen ja standardointiin sekä uusien liiketoimintamahdollisuuksien ja verkostojen rakentamiseen.
Kolmessa vertikaalisessa toimenpiteessä edistetään puolestaan metaversumi-teknologioiden käyttöönottoa suomalaisilla teollisuudenaloilla, tutkitaan niiden käyttöä ennaltaehkäisevässä ja yleisessä terveydenhoidossa ja koulutetaan Suomen kansalaisia metaversumin hyödyntämiseen tulevaisuutta varten.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://kaaoszine.fi/kissin-taru-nykyisessa-muodossaan-paatokseen-yhtye-tulee-jatkamaan-uraansa-virtuaalisina-avatareina/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR23Df0mZF2tERyaqcjGEXWLUJJNEPplz4lo5dDQtByiBRf0Rb5QGaF9txo#Echobox=1701601050
Tomi Engdahl says:
I’m Finally Excited About VR Again! – Bigscreen Beyond Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdBnkxxImwI
PS VR2? I don’t want to use a Playstation 5. Valve Index? Too Big. Meta Quest 3? I don’t want to deal with Mark Zuckerberg’s wackiness. Thankfully, a new headset to end all headsets has reared its tiny little head. The Bigscreen Beyond is an incredible headset with 2 micro-OLED displays, pancake lenses in the tiniest package we’ve yet seen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Coding In VR | Meta Horizon WorkRooms With Meta Quest 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Ju_ckGAXw
Today I’m trying Meta Quest 3 for programming using meta workrooms. It is still in beta but it works pretty well. The best thing that I like about it is how you can isolate yourself from your environment and can truly work in a distraction-free environment using this headset.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Six Days Working From the Metaverse: Quest 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0sBh7nuez8
Will working from the Metaverse revolutionize our work life, or is it just a fleeting fantasy? Join me in this nerdy adventure to find out!
Comment with your thoughts. Are you ready to take on the Metaverse?
0:00 Work from Metaverse
00:03 Introduction and Challenge Overview
01:33 Gaming in the Metaverse: Battleground
02:29 Day 2: Virtual Webcam and Meeting Experiences
04:15 Day Three: Challenges
05:27 Googly Eyes: A Family Project
07:41 Day Four: Back to Work
09:44 Day Five: It’s Friday
11:06 Day Six: Video Editing in the Metaverse
12:16 Final Thoughts: Pros and Cons of Working from the Metaverse
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Valve Are Planning To TAKEOVER The VR Industry…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcgeqyNEZzc
Tomi Engdahl says:
Choosing a VR headset just got a lot harder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvQF1JG8z8I
Varjo dropped a bombshell that is going to shake up the industry. Good luck.
The BEST VR Headset in the WORLD Just Got BEAT! – The Varjo XR4 has Arrived!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoiEhoxKXTc
Hello and welcome to TUESDAY NEWSDAY! Your number one resource for the entire week’s worth of VR news! Today we have probably one of the craziest weeks of VR news we’ve had in a long time. New Vive tracker ultimate has launched, Valve launched Steamlink, Assassins Creed Nexus launched, VRChat gets some huge changes and best of all, Varjo’s newest headset the XR4 has also launched- follow up to the XR3, what I would call “The Best VR Headset in the world”.
00:00 Intro
00:59 SquareSpace Ad
01:40 STEAMLINK!
03:05 THE VARJO XR4 HANDS ON
09:16 VIVE ULTIMATE TRACKERS
10:42 BIG VRCHAT CHANGES
12:35 QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Tomi Engdahl says:
Biggest New Meta Quest 3 Games of 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH8L4Afjizs
Meta Quest 3 – 1 MONTH Later… is it worth it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CaasarxQKk
Tomi Engdahl says:
VIVE Ultimate Tracker First Impressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G1HdaWONQA
After much waiting and anticipation, the camera-based trackers from VIVE have been released. But how good is the tracking and overall experience? While third party platforms aren’t supported yet, I’ve had the opportunity to use them with the XR Elite for the past few days. In this video, I discuss my experience with using the trackers, and also address some issues others have been experiencing.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:45 Unboxing
3:10 First Impressions
5:06 Minor Issues
5:54 Outro
Tomi Engdahl says:
Full-Body Tracking in Standalone VR: VIVE Ultimate Tracker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yQPYFiwZms
Bring your movement into VR with high-precision full-body tracking. Experience more immersive gameplay with the first self-tracking tracker from HTC VIVE. Powered by computer vision, the VIVE Ultimate Tracker uses inside-out tracking to pinpoint its position.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15698-varjo-on-valmis-applen-haasteeseen
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony is also integrating advancements in imaging, sensing, and display technologies, to harness real-time rendering through game engines. https://ie.social/4Zl0O
Sony unveils new spatial headset and visualization space for creators
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/sony-unveils-new-spatial-headset-and-visualization-space-for-creators
Japanese electronics giant Sony showcased some of its innovative products and technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas.
The company’s session centered on introducing advanced solutions for visual production and spatial content creation. It also delved into strategies for enhancing fan engagement within communities like anime, sports, and games. Additionally, the session covered initiatives in the realms of entertainment and safety, aiming to propel advancements in the mobility space.
Expanding creativity
Sony unveiled Torchlight, an innovative visualization space powered by cutting-edge technology from Sony Group and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Torchlight empowers filmmakers to craft digital scenes before actual filming, utilizing Unreal Engine and virtual cameras, such as the Virtual Production Tool Set.
This seamlessly integrates virtual environments with on-set production, leveraging Sony’s VENICE camera.
Spacial content creation
Sony Corporation is developing an immersive spatial content creation system featuring an XR head-mounted display with 4K OLED Microdisplays and video see-through function, along with optimized controllers for 3D object interaction. Sony says the device will offer a “crisp viewing experience” and “intuitive interaction for 3D design”.
The system, powered by Snapdragon’s new XR2+ Gen 2 platform, targets supporting creators in advanced 3D content creation, with plans to collaborate with developers, including Siemens.
“We designed our Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 to deliver 4K display resolution, cutting-edge graphics, and unparalleled performance to enable creators to build innovative spatial content that will transform all industries for the better,” said Said Bakadir, Senior Director of product Management of QualcommTechnologies, in a statement.
Set to launch in 2024, Sony and its partners will provide additional details on specifications, pricing, launch dates, regions, sales channels, and software compatibility in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/News/Press/202401/24-002E/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Vision Pro M2 Chip Said to Have 10 GPU, 8 CPU Cores
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/15/vision-pro-m2-chip-10-gpu-8-cpu-cores/?fbclid=IwAR1EuvcQ5b0_mRi13A1DWXHj9owawD9HGFrtNxo7eRBc0qE39n0b4EyIPpk
The Apple Vision Pro runs on an M2 chip equipped with ten GPU cores and eight CPU cores – the same version used in Apple’s higher-end MacBook Air models. That’s according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.
Tomi says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2024/01/17/kymmenen-6g-kirjaa-ilmaiseksi-uusin-vrsta-ja-metaversiumista/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says that Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Loop, and Copilot features will be available on Apple Vision Pro on February 2
Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, and more are coming to Apple’s Vision Pro at launch
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/31/24057122/microsoft-apple-vision-pro-office-apps-microsoft-365
/ Microsoft is ready for day one support of Apple’s latest hardware, and even adds AI-powered Copilot features.
Microsoft is launching a suite of its Microsoft 365 apps on Apple’s Vision Pro headset later this week. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Loop, and Microsoft Teams will all be available in the App Store for Apple Vision Pro on February 2nd — the same day Apple’s new headset is available in stores.
Apple Vision Pro owners will also be able to access an AI-powered version of Copilot while using the headset, including the ability to create drafts, summarize documents, and generate PowerPoint presentations with your voice.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Interviews with Disney executives about Apple Vision Pro, how the device is changing the studio’s production pipelines, future plans for the device, and more — Years in the works, the new Disney+ app has an immersive new twist. But the company sees it as one small step into a new entertainment medium with rich possibilities.
Inside Disney’s big bet on Apple Vision Pro and spatial computinghttps://www.fastcompany.com/91021619/disney-apple-vision-pro-app
Years in the works, the new Disney+ app has an immersive new twist. But the company sees it as one small step into a new entertainment medium with rich possibilities.
Last June, when Apple streamed the unveiling of its Apple Vision Pro “spatial computing headset” during its WWDC conference, a special guest was part of the festivities: Disney CEO Bob Iger. His appearance wasn’t exactly a shocker. After all, the two companies have had a famously friendly relationship for many years. Moreover, Disney prides itself on being an early adopter of new technologies—a trait dating to its earliest days, when Walt Disney himself was quick to embrace cinematic innovations such as sound and color.
During the stream, Iger introduced a video vouching for Disney’s support of the Vision Pro. It featured several spatial-computing experiences that Apple’s headset might theoretically enable, from an at-home version of Disney World’s Main Street Electrical Parade to a basketball game’s action recreated in a 3D hoop-to-hoop view. But there was also one piece of concrete news: the Disney+ streaming service would be available on Vision Pro from day one.
With its twin 4K displays, precision eye tracking, hand-gesture input, and 3D VisionOS environment, it’s obvious that Vision Pro is the result of years of effort on Apple’s part. What’s less apparent is that the company also began helping Disney plan its presence on the headset long before most people knew it as anything more than an intriguing rumor.
Tomi says:
Apple Vision Pro Teardown…It Broke?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WruHes5MdGA
In this video we teardown the brand new Apple Vision Pro, assess how hard it is to repair, disassemble and reassemble. Will we break anything along the way? hopefully not because this headset costs over $3500.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Fans Horrified to Discover Vision Pro Can’t Play VR Porn
“3,500$ chastity belt.”
https://futurism.com/apple-vision-pro-vr-adult?fbclid=IwAR3ychZeHqRsP4GInqA5RFX8720Ui-AJe3KoVf4XUoKxiJ_P_JBHghsMWB0
A 3D porn enthusiast mused the night before receiving their Apple Vision Pro headset that they were spending their “last night suffering” with their Meta Quest 3 — and was in for a very unwelcome surprise upon discovering the pricey goggles don’t support VR porn at all.
As the unstoppable crew over at 404 Media report, some of the folks who purchased the $3,500 headsets and intended to use them for lewd ends have been complain about the lack of porn on the Vision Pro.
The concept of immersive 3D porn has long tantalized consumers and content creators alike. As VR technology creeps ever closer to actually being awesome, the community of people craving those adult experiences seems to have grown — and with it, apparently, their expectations.
It didn’t take long for that user — who went on to found the r/applevisionnsfw subreddit to try to crack the case — and others like them to figure out that the headset’s maker precludes not only porn apps, but also, inexplicably, web-based VR porn as well. Someone even called it a “3500$ chastity belt,” replete with several clown emojis.
As 404 points out, Apple founder Steve Jobs’ hawkish anti-porn stance, which he called a “moral responsibility,” seems to be holding firm with its latest big-ticket offering, making it not all that surprising that people can’t download VR porn apps directly to their Vision Pros.
But as other immersive porn fans have mused, it’s “pretty shocking” that they haven’t been able to get web-based alternatives to work.
As the report explains, Apple has since 2022 allowed the use of WebXR, the API that VR porn makers typically use, on its Safari browser. Vision Pro is supposed to support it as well, but it apparently doesn’t.
To be clear, browser-based porn does load on the Vision Pro’s browser — but the simulated screen is flat, rather than immersive in the way these horndog headset-wearers want it to be.
There are some dedicated VR porn connoisseurs who have changed settings in Safari to optimize WebXR themselves, but even they say their limited success has been full of glitches and isn’t much better than the flat 2D porn that does load on the Vision Pro’s browser.
In the meantime, however, the Singapore-based sex toy brand Lovense did announce that its “Lovense Remote” app is optimized for Vision Pro,
Tomi says:
Be gentle with the Apple Vision Pro – ITS PLASTIC!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmcWMjBpYBU
Tomi says:
Using Apple Vision Pro: What It’s Actually Like!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtp6b76pMak
Everything you need to know about using Apple Vision Pro
Tomi says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Appfigures data: 52% of Vision Pro-only apps are paid downloads, vs. 5% of apps in the wider App Store, with an average price of $5.67
Over half of Vision Pro-only apps are paid downloads, far more than wider iOS App Store
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/12/over-half-of-vision-pro-only-apps-are-paid-downloads-far-more-than-wider-app-store/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGVjaG1lbWUuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJMZevVzp3QppLycVFq9mC8mKfDsE6GEexiHjfz1qpzSoosAyNScqQo4kwG2bTBQLDtqSbwsVloEnNt8XJzMPJ4l1cKFKNvfm-fM-QiEy7ze3m4wE8xysv1KWMznO3_y2Oqauulp13ARgChyYx3dmqGG4FLZp9WOBJznI31uGyS6
Apple’s Vision Pro offers consumers a new way to interact with apps via spatial computing, but it also offers app developers a way to generate revenue without subscriptions. According to a recently released report from app intelligence firm Appfigures, over half of Vision Pro-only apps (52%) are paid downloads — a surprising percentage given that across the wider App Store, only 5% of apps monetize this way.
In addition to the large group of paid downloads, 35% of Vision-only apps didn’t monetize through the App Store, and 13% offered subscriptions.
The analysis examined all the apps optimized for the Vision Pro, including the more than 700 apps optimized for the new device, meaning those apps that are Vision Pro-only and others where the developer optimized an existing app to work on Apple’s VR/AR headset specifically. However, it did not include the roughly 1.2 million iOS apps that work on the Vision Pro, but weren’t modified by their developers.
Including iOS apps that were modified to include a native Vision experience, only 17% were paid downloads, and 58% were monetized with subscriptions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Heath / The Verge:
In a video, Mark Zuckerberg shares his thoughts on the Vision Pro, saying Quest 3 “is the better product, period”, highlighting Apple’s tradeoffs, and more — Now that it can be strapped to our faces and worn in strange places, opinions about Apple’s Vision Pro are flying left and right.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/13/24072413/mark-zuckerberg-apple-vision-pro-review-quest-3
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/02/13/stepping-inside-art-in-vr-and-the-workflow-behind-it/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15869-tamperelainen-testi-todisti-applen-vision-pro-on-kilpailijoita-nopeampi
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT PhD Student Hacks Apple Vision Pro Days After Release, Reveals Potential Jailbreaks And Malware Threats
Student Hacks Apple Vision Pro
https://in.mashable.com/tech/68954/mit-phd-student-hacks-apple-vision-pro-days-after-release-reveals-potential-jailbreaks-and-malware-t