The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 26, 2020

A new FCC listing appears for an HTC Vive headset. And in fact, a new request to FCC for a new device has arrived from HTC. FCC certifications are requested before releasing an electronic device in the US (to certify that it is safe to be used), so this is a clear sign that HTC is going to release a new headset soon.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 17, 2021

Image by HTC Vive). HTC launches Vive Focus 3 and Vive Pro 2. In the end, the rumors were correct and HTC launched two headsets at VIVECON: the Vive Pro 2 and the Vive Focus 3 Business Edition. But this device got also some criticism: first of all , HTC has not released new controllers and still sells it with the old Wands.

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

NOVEMBER 20, 2016

Since it was first available , the HTC Vive room-scale VR system has been priced at $800. ” That means at Microsoft Stores, Amazon.com , Gamestop, Newegg.com , Micro-center, and Vive.com the system should ring in at around $700 plus tax. Tagged with: $700 , Black Friday , htc , sale. But on Friday Nov. But on Friday Nov.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 22, 2024

I have already started playing with this little toy, and I will write my impressions very soon on this blog (probably Friday or Monday). More info The Vive Focus Vision has been released HTC has decided to release the Vive Focus Vision the same week as the Quest 3S. What a great week for XR with the release of the Quest 3S!

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 7, 2024

Or maybe “relaxed” is not the right word to use, considering the little drama on Microsoft’s headsets. Top news of the week (Image by HP) Microsoft officially drops support for its Mixed Reality headsets Microsoft has just released the infamous Windows 11, version 24H2 update. I think this speaks a lot.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Today I host a new post by my friend and VR professional Rob Cole , who has already published many interesting posts on my blog, including a review of Pimax Sword controllers , a series of hack on how to modify the Valve Index , and his experiements in creating new innovative controllers for SteamVR. HTC Vive Trackers (Image by Rob Cole).

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Road to VR

SEPTEMBER 10, 2016

Microsoft has announced plans to bring support for WebVR to Edge, which succeeds Internet Explorer as the default web browser in Windows 10. See Also: Microsoft ‘Holographic Shell’ Aims to Immerse You in Windows by 2017. See Also: Google Shows HTC Vive Running at 90 FPS in Chrome with WebVR.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 27, 2023

Ok, of course, I’m kidding, but, you know, the possibility of saying the wrong name is so high that my proposal actually starts making sense… Top news of the week (Image by HTC Vive) HTC reveals inside-out-tracked Tracker With a totally unexpected move, HTC has revealed a new kind of Tracker.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 11, 2022

As it is a tradition of this blog , I’ve prepared a big roundup of the best news in XR from this year’s CES! HTC Vive Wrist Tracker. HTC Vive Wrist Tracker (Image by HTC). HTC has made an announcement at this CES and it has been a pretty cool one. Qualcomm and Microsoft partnership.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

The past week has been a pretty interesting one for the tech world: between Microsoft Ignite, Unity Unite, and the OpenAI drama, there has been a lot to follow. I’ll try to summarize all of that, especially for what concerns the announcements related to our XR space.

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VRWorld

OCTOBER 27, 2017

This week, Microsoft announced the launch of Microsoft Reactor in San Francisco —the flagship hub for the tech giant’s efforts in mixed reality (MR). “We are at the threshold of the next revolution in computing,” Liz Hamren, corporate vice president of Microsoft Devices Marketing, wrote in a blog post.

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Road to VR

JANUARY 19, 2018

The program, which was introduced in a brief post on the Oculus developer blog , has begun to accept applications via this form. without limitation, Oculus, Google, Microsoft, Valve, Steam, HTC)”, venture capital, or crowdsourcing. Oculus is aiming to reduce the barriers to entry into VR development for small teams. “If

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

MARCH 8, 2017

Microsoft’s HoloLens is still very much in an early stage, and interesting new ideas and uses for the device are being discovered by the week. The studio wanted the kind of control you can get with VR controllers like the HTC Vive’s six degree of freedom (6DOF) wands but for HoloLens. Tagged with: HoloLens , microsoft.

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

JUNE 5, 2017

There are a lot of VR developers out there who had moved to Microsoft-powered machines to dive deep into VR development, and today’s announcements should provide major incentive to dive back into the Apple ecosystem.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

More info (Snap announces new Spectacles glasses — Road To VR) More info (Snap announces new Spectacles glasses — Upload VR) More info (Ian Hamilton reviewing the device) More info (A comment on the launch video of the device) HTC announces Vive Focus Vision HTC has announced its latest standalone headset: the Vive Focus Vision.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Image by HTC Vive). HTC is probably going to announce Vive Flow. With a surprise move, HTC Vive has started teasing the launch of a new product. 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. Send me hugs while I’m still human!

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XR Today - Virtual Reality

MAY 29, 2023

Additionally, Microsoft has included AI-powered avatars for people using its Teams platforms, enabling people’s real-time interactions in meetings. Companies such as Varjo, Magic Leap, Meta, Pico, and HTC VIVE rely on AI to assist in foveated rendering. into their services and platforms.

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Road to VR

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

Pixvana, a Seattle-based startup creating a cloud-based processing and delivery platform for VR video, today announced a $14 million Series A funding round led by Vulcan Capital with participation from Raine Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, Cisco Investments and Hearst Ventures, and existing investor Madrona Venture Group.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 7, 2021

Just to make you understand how much money this could mean, my reader Sir Gamedev has sent me a link where one of the previous Xbox executives has revealed that the initial undercost sales of the first Xbox units cost Microsoft between $5B and $7B. More info (HTC Vive Pro 2 review) More info (HTC Vive Pro 2 review?—?cached

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

MARCH 1, 2017

One of the biggest questions surrounding Microsoft’s mixed reality platform, Windows Holographic, is if it will support the company’s mysterious Project Scorpio. We spoke to Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow at Microsoft, ahead of this announcement. Tagged with: GDC , microsoft , project scorpio.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 21, 2021

More info (FRL Official blog post) More info (Road To VR reporting and commenting the news) More info (Ctrl+Labs’s Dino Game Early Demo) More info (ETH’s experimental wristband). As it had promised on my blog last year , its cool Nreal Light AR glasses have finally arrived in Europe. Image by Microsoft). News worth a mention.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 4, 2023

Because if Apple is just going to repeat the same use cases of the HTC Vive and Meta Quest 2, but selling it at $3000, it is just going to fail spectacularly. I’m just wondering how Microsoft is still supporting the project and if there will be a MRTK 4. But the big question is the “how”. How is Apple going to sell this headset?

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 13, 2023

I’ve very limited time, but luckily this week has not been very relevant for the ecosystem, so I’m managing to write this newsletter anyway Top news of the week (Image by Microsoft) AltspaceVR shuts down In one of the saddest moments of the latest years in VR, AltspaceVR has closed its doors.

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 22, 2024

And it didn’t end very well: the first headset was made by HTC and Valve, and as soon as HTC realized that much of the VR money was on software, it launched its own store: Viveport. The only other example we had in XR of a software platform working on all headsets has been SteamVR.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

Image by Microsoft). Microsoft ramps up distribution of HoloLens 2 and Kinect For Azure. Microsoft is working to improve the distribution of its latest devices: HoloLens 2 and Kinect For Azure. HTC Vive celebrates the holidays giving 100% rev share to developers. Other relevant news. Donate to the Ghost Howls on Patreon!

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 24, 2020

You can imagine that after it has been released through two official blog posts, an enormous backlash from the community started to happen. That’s why even Microsoft took Epic’s stances : Microsoft uses UE4 to develop some products also for Apple devices, and this decision hurts also its business. The same on Twitter.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 31, 2021

Today I host a new article of the amazing Rob Cole, passionate maker and ergonomics expert from Immersion Mechanics , already the author of amazing posts on this blog, especially about the ergonomics of the Valve Index. It’s designed for use with HTC Vive and Vive Pro, Valve Index, and Pimax headsets. Image provided by Rob Cole).

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UploadVR Between Realities podcast

DECEMBER 7, 2016

Microsoft is looking to unify manufacturers around using Windows to power mixed reality headsets, with a plan to support HMDs featuring a wide range of specifications. Microsoft at its Windows Hardware Engineering Community event (WinHEC) in Shenzhen, China, also announced a partnership with Chinese VR headset maker 3Glasses.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 25, 2020

OMG, it’s almost 3 years that I write these roundups… the first week peek was exclusive for my blog subscribers and it featured as best news the release of Google Blocks and in the other news something about Samsung Gear VR… how much time has passed since then! Image by Microsoft). This is the 150th Week Peek! News worth a mention.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 2, 2023

More info News worth a mention Information leaks on Vive’s inside-out Tracker There is a new leak about the inside-out tracked Vive Tracker that HTC teased a few months ago. On October 17th people will be able to buy the new Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses starting from $299. And as you can imagine, the leaks come from him, always him: Brad Lynch.

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XR Today - Virtual Reality

APRIL 19, 2023

Additionally, Microsoft has included AI-powered avatars for people using its Teams platforms, enabling people’s real-time interactions in meetings. Companies such as Varjo, Magic Leap, Meta, Pico, and HTC VIVE rely on AI to assist in foveated rendering.

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ARPost

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

See Also: Redefining the Future of Location-Based Entertainment With HTC VIVE Focus 3 and The Park Playground “Virtual reality is often perceived as being limited to the world of gaming. We’re already seeing key metaverse players coming together in the collaboration between Meta and Microsoft.

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AllThingsVR

JANUARY 17, 2017

Weekly Funding Roundup: Valve Acquires 3D Audio Company Impulsonic, Microsoft Acquires 3D Data Optimization Specialists Simplygon, Spaces Grabs Another $6.5M & 8i Appoints New CEO 1) The HTC Vive is finally getting integrated headphones later this year, and co-creator Valve’s latest acquisition could help you get the most out of them.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

More info Microsoft is still committed to HoloLens 2 All this bad press about Microsoft leaving Mixed Reality has made the company release a press statement in which it states its commitment to HoloLens 2, IVAS, and mixed reality in general. Don’t miss them! Learn more Hand tracking is now available also in three.js

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 5, 2021

Microsoft signs a $22B deal with the US Army. We all know that Microsoft is building AR glasses for the US Army : a modified version of HoloLens 2 called IVAS, that is ruggedized, with a wider field of view (80° x 40°), and feature additional sensors (for instance to provide thermal vision). Well played, Microsoft.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 1, 2024

This would be pretty disruptive, because up to now every standalone headset has been a walled garden with its own store and hardware, with the only exception being HTC trying to distribute its Viveport store to some other Chinese devices. Basically, Google could try to be for standalone devices what Steam has been for the PC VR ones.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 22, 2020

But in the enterprise space, it has always been behind the competition of companies like HTC or Pico. Oculus has accompanied the Oculus For Business launch blog with a report by IDC highlighting how VR adoption (shipments of commercial headsets) in the enterprise sector has grown 92.5%

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