Road to VR

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Not only is the company’s just-launched cloud streaming service headed by Jason Rubin, a former Oculus executive, but VR cloud streaming is being talked about at the highest levels of the company. That expansion will start in 2021 with the addition of action and adventure games.

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Oculus Latency Gaming Strategy 363

Road to VR

APRIL 6, 2022

It seems the Oculus brand is finally departing physical retail. While Quest 2 boxes emblazoned with the new Meta name and logo are already on store shelves in the US, the swap from Oculus to Meta still has a ways to go. That Meta Support’s job, though they help you fill out Oculus bug reports for Oculus devices.

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Retail Oculus Amazon 314

Road to VR

APRIL 12, 2021

Today during the company’s GTC 2021 developer conference, Nvidia announced that its CloudXR tech is now available on Amazon Web Services, and it’s coming soon to both Microsoft’s Azure cloud and Google Cloud. Today Nvidia also said it will soon launch CloudXR 2.1

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Microsoft Google AR Latency 364

AR Insider

MARCH 30, 2021

This traces back to Facebook’s Oculus acquisition in early 2014 that kicked off the current wave of excitement….including That excitement culminated in 2016 after the Oculus acquisition had time to set off a chain reaction of startup activity, tech-giant investment, and VC inflows for the “next computing platform.” Warming Up .

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Wearables AR Strategy Apple 363

The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

It works connected to a phone, and while it doesn’t have any kind of tracking embedded, for tasks like watching Netflix it can be very useful (Thanks David for the tip); Amazon has announced the Echo Frames, its smart glasses that let you speak with Alexa. Oculus Link gets updated to 90Hz. Other relevant news. Image by Facebook).

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AR Oculus Augmented Reality China 310

The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 17, 2022

The FTC has opened an investigation on Meta about its anti-competitive practices related to applications that propose services similar to its ones on the Oculus Store (Pepperidge Farms remembers when YUR was de facto cloned by Oculus Move). Looking back at augmented reality in 2021. New hands-on from CES. Some XR fun.

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Survey Apple Sony AR 540

AR Insider

MARCH 16, 2021

This traces back to Facebook’s Oculus acquisition in early 2014 that kicked off the current wave of excitement….including That excitement culminated in 2016 after the Oculus acquisition had time to set off a chain reaction of startup activity, tech-giant investment, and VC inflows for the “next computing platform.”

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AR Google Data Examples 344

The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

Meta’s earnings report for 2021 has both lights and shadows. We were all waiting for it, and then it finally arrived: Meta has finally released its earning reports for 2021, and for the first time it treated its Reality Labs division as a separate entity, so we know how well it is performing. Top news of the week. Image by Meta).

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Virtual Reality Microsoft Data Machine Learning 403

The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Facebook has started today enforcing the “Facebook login” rule , asking Oculus users to merge their Facebook and Oculus accounts. So I imagine a Quest 2 where you can avoid having a Facebook account, but you can’t use the Oculus Store, or all the most important apps and games , and so you are de facto forced to use it.

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AR Google Machine Learning Augmented Reality 512

The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 4, 2021

The company has set up a virtual event on the platform ENGAGE (of which HTC is an investor) for October, 14th 2021 at 8 am PDT. The new Oculus device was by the way another piece of hardware that was by chance “leaked” in a timely way so that to excite everyone for Facebook Connect 2. Facebook hires the first Oculus Ambassadors.

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HTC Oculus AR Gaming 379

AR Insider

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

All the big tech players — Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon — are in the game as well. Companies like Ikea, Target, and Amazon have already used ARKit, mostly for placing virtual furniture in a room to see if it fits. 2021 Predictions: AR Glasses Evolutionary, Not Revolutionary. Facebook Connect: The AR Angle.

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Augmented Reality Amazon Apple Virtual Reality 198

The Ghost Howls

MARCH 2, 2020

To make you understand how these features are incredible, Qualcomm has stated that “the [XR2] reference design has 2x the CPU and GPU performance, 4x more video bandwidth, 6x higher resolution and 11x AI improvement compared to our current widely adopted XR platform [the Oculus Quest ]”. Oculus fixes two of the greatest issues of Oculus Link.

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Hand tracking AR Oculus HTC 295

ARVR

APRIL 5, 2021

This traces back to Facebook’s Oculus acquisition in early 2014 that kicked off the current wave of excitement….including That excitement culminated in 2016 after the Oculus acquisition had time to set off a chain reaction of startup activity, tech-giant investment, and VC inflows for the “next computing platform.” ExpiCulture?—?Developing

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Wearables AR Strategy Apple 130

Upload VR

MARCH 5, 2024

I tried PlutoSphere back in 2021 just before it launched, and found that when using a nearby datacenter it felt essentially identical to Virtual Desktop with a PC on my local network. Facebook Won’t Allow Cloud VR Streaming On Oculus Store Or App Lab A new Oculus policy forbids cloud VR streaming on both the store and App Lab.

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Strategy Amazon Oculus Technology 133

The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 2, 2022

Introduced in March 2021, Vive Tracker 3.0 cable extender left over from my ownership of an Oculus Rift CV1 with a 3-camera tracking setup. The other option for an easily bought object was “HTC’s Racket Sports Set” which they’ve stopped selling on Amazon and only seem to sell directly as a special item.

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Virtual Reality HTC Controllers Data 507

ARVR

JUNE 21, 2021

For example, Oculus, one of the leaders in developing VR headsets, offers rooms and parties for Gear VR where you can meet with your friends in a virtual private space. Since Oculus is owned by Facebook, it is easy to connect with your friends. You can get a Gear VR headset for $129 on Amazon. ExpiCulture?—?Developing

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Technology How To Augmented Reality Virtual Reality 130

The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 23, 2020

It will be a great time for us, as when there was the Oculus Share, and every experiment could have big visibility easily. As for the big names, I expect that Facebook, Apple, and the others will still wait : reports talk about these companies releasing their headsets from 2021 on. GIF about the North Focals 2 (Image by North Focals).

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Augmented Reality Magic Leap AR Microsoft 419

ARVR

MARCH 24, 2021

This traces back to Facebook’s Oculus acquisition in early 2014 that kicked off the current wave of excitement….including That excitement culminated in 2016 after the Oculus acquisition had time to set off a chain reaction of startup activity, tech-giant investment, and VC inflows for the “next computing platform.”

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AR Data Google Automotive 130

Upload VR

OCTOBER 13, 2022

Of course, platform-building tech giants don’t have a great track record in gaming, with Google’s Stadia effort shutting down, Apple disappointing gamers for decades, and forgettable efforts from Amazon.

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Gaming Amazon Microsoft Immersion 104

ARVR

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Enterprise AR: 7 real-world use cases for 2021 Highly Motivated As background for Facebook’s training wheels play, one of its motivations traces back to its failure to build and market a hardware device in the smartphone era. How Augmented Reality (AR) is Reshaping the Food Service Industry 3. ExpiCulture?—?Developing

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Training AR Augmented Reality Wearables 130

AR Insider

OCTOBER 31, 2019

An Apple AR headset has been a mainstay of the rumor mills for several years, and we expect Facebook to be creating an AR Oculus device. ARtillery Intelligence predicts $14B of consumer AR revenues by 2021, with only around $2B of that from hardware sales. Finally, what kinds of Transactions will happen in the AR Cloud?

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Magic Leap AR Microsoft Apple 159

VRScout

JUNE 13, 2021

Yesterday, Upload hosted its third annual E3 VR Showcase as part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming event, revealing a generous amount of new information for 18 VR games on Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR, and SteamVR headsets. Green Hell VR is scheduled to launch later this year on Oculus Quest and PCVR headsets.

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Gaming Oculus Immersion Amazon 470

EnterpriseWear

DECEMBER 4, 2018

This year was going to be the year of augmented reality, but by the end of 2018 market analysts were pointing to 2020 or 2021 as the “golden year” of AR. Just three months ago, the company revealed it’s putting 17,000 Oculus Go headsets in Walmart stores for employee training. The company’s direction is unclear. Body-worn.

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Magic Leap Training Wearables Immersion 58

Road to VR

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

Here’s our concise roundup of Black Friday 2021 VR headset sales and VR game sales. Black Friday 2021 VR Headset Sales. Like previous years, this year Oculus isn’t offering a discount on Quest 2 itself, but there’s still savings to be had. Amazon (enter OCULUS50 at checkout). Amazon – $900.

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Gaming Amazon HTC Oculus 360

The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 27, 2021

Oculus Quest 2 had a great Christmas. The VR ecosystem can end 2021 with a big smile on its face. The sales of Oculus Quest 2 have been great during the holidays , and the Quest has been a Christmas gift very much appreciated by kids (but wasn’t there an age limit?). A look back at 2021. (Image from Reddit).

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Unity Oculus Virtual Reality Gaming 516

VRScout

JANUARY 5, 2021

2021 is absolutely packed with exciting releases, from VR adaptations of tentpole franchises to highly-anticipated originals built from the ground up for VR headsets. Whether you’re on the Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, or a SteamVR headset, you’ll find there’s plenty of VR gaming to look forward to over the next 12 months.

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Gaming Oculus Indiana Arizona 313

Road to VR

NOVEMBER 26, 2020

We’re keeping an eye on the best Oculus Quest 2 Black Friday 2020 deals, don’t blink or you might miss the best Quest sale of the year! The Best Oculus Quest 2 Black Friday 2020 Deal. It doesn’t look like Oculus will be discounting Quest 2 hardware this year, instead the company is focusing on game deals.

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Oculus Gaming Arizona Amazon 363

The Ghost Howls

MARCH 1, 2021

They “will incorporate some of the key features found in the DualSense wireless controller, along with a focus on great ergonomics”; There will be a “new generation” of games and experiences for it; It is still under development and won’t launch in 2021. MWC Shanghai 2021 showcased some XR technologies. More info (Qualcomm AR Viewer?—?Road

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Sony Oculus Unity AR 412

The Ghost Howls

MAY 17, 2020

Apple glasses are coming in 2021–2022 and they are incredibly sleek. He says that Apple AR glasses will come in 2021 and that he has seen them. Out of nowhere, Epic Games has teased the next version of Unreal Engine, Unreal Engine 5, due to be released in 2021. Oculus Link now works with USB 2.0. Top news of the week.

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Apple Unreal Oculus Tools 373

The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 17, 2019

Image by Oculus, from Road To VR). John Carmack leaves Oculus. In a surprise move that no one was expecting, the god of programming John Carmack has decided to leave Oculus. More info (John Carmack leaves Oculus) More info (Carmack stating he’s not satisfied with VR pace) More info (Damo9000’s sarcasm on the news).

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Magic Leap Oculus AR Apple 323

The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 19, 2021

HTC advertises it as a headset for relaxation and productivity because it wants to position it as a different product than a gaming machine like Oculus Quest 2. The first comes from the major consultancy brand Accenture, which has just announced that it is going to deploy 60,000 Oculus Quest 2 headsets for the training of new employees.

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Magic Leap HTC Training Virtual Reality 544

The Ghost Howls

APRIL 26, 2021

This week has mostly been in the sign of Oculus, with many news and updates from the brand controlled by Facebook. Even if most of this roundup will be about Oculus, I have decided to put another brand on top of it and it is Magic Leap. It will be released to selected partners in Q4 2021 and to the general public in Q1 2022.

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Magic Leap Oculus Unity Gaming 387

The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 19, 2020

Oculus Go price cut down to $150. Facebook has permanently cut down the price of the Oculus Go to $150 , the same price that made it sell incredibly well on Amazon during the Cyber Monday. More info (Oculus Go price cut) More info (Xiaomi laying off the team dedicated to Go). Top news of the week. Image by Engadget).

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AR Oculus Magic Leap Microsoft 223

AR Insider

MAY 31, 2021

The lower-cost locomotion option, Cybershoes , is now on Amazon for $349. Since it features no computational unit and no battery, it can be smaller and lighter than “shoebox” headsets like the Oculus Quest. VRTO 2021 presents the Flotilla. Users wear overshoes with ball bearings in the soles and run on a hard plastic dish.

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Apple Conference AR Strategy 373

The Ghost Howls

APRIL 12, 2021

score on the Oculus App Lab now. In the meanwhile, if you can, go giving 5 stars to the cube on App Lab … who knows if Facebook may consider promoting it on the main Oculus Store…. As for the controllers, they look like a mix of the Oculus Touch and the controllers of the Vive Focus Plus, with some important ergonomic adjustments.

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HTC Google Razer Oculus 450

The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 8, 2020

Oculus and Respawn Entertainment teased it in 2017 at OC4 describing it as an AAA war game. Throughout this year, we got always more info about it: at first the name, then the setting (WWII), then compatible platforms (both Oculus Store and Steam), and finally, this week, even some info on the multiplayer modes. VR is dead.

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AR Google Japan Gaming 366

The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 25, 2022

As someone who has spent a lot of time using different PCVR controllers like Wands, Index, Windows MR, and different versions of Oculus Touch, I wondered: how would these Sword controllers compare? Pimax headset listed on Amazon (Image by Amazon, provided by Rob Cole). Google searches are very revealing.

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Controllers Haptic Amazon Software 434