Virtual & Augmented Reality Posts - Page 1

Eventually, technology will reach the point when both virtual reality and augmented reality won't require headsets; instead, all that humans will need is a special contact lens.

Mojo Vision is pushing that future and with every new technology leap they are bringing it closer to reality. The tech startup wants to skip bulky headsets and move straight into contact lens-based AR with the Mojo Lens. The Mojo Lens projects images on the users' retina with a MicroLED display that is the size of a grain of sand.

This display has 70,000 pixels, measures in at 0.5mm across, and delivers 14,000ppi. The energy-saving technology is also extremely impressive, as it uses only 10% of the energy a normal LED would. On top of that, the MicroLED display can emit 5x to 10x the brightness an OLED display can. Some of the specifications have been listed below courtesy of Hexus.net.

Oculus is ringing in the New Year with some new fresh pricing on its Oculus Go VR headset, with new $149 and $199 pricing.

The Oculus Go 32GB is now just $149 down from $199, while the 64GB version is down to $199 from $249 -- both receiving a $50 price cut for 2020. This isn't a high-end VR gaming headset, but rather an entry-level VR headset.

You won't be playing Half-Life: Alyx or anything on it, but if you wanted to consume media in the virtual world, then the Oculus Go would be your go-to headset. Apps like Netflix, YouTube, and others work beautifully in the all-in-one VR headset. This is something I've personally tested on a plane, and it works pretty damn well. Now, Oculus Go starts at just $149 making it even better.

CES 2020 - CES this year has been non stop with announcements, and Panasonic is here with another one.

Introducing, the world's first Ultra HD virtual reality (VR) glasses capable of displaying High Dynamic Range content. Above you can see that Panasonic's new VR glasses aren't the same as conventional ones on the market now, they are slimmer, more goggle-like and resemble a more traditional pair of glasses.

Panasonic gave a detailed overview of the new product in a press release, saying that the glasses are "UHD high-quality images device capable of displaying HDR images" and, "Equipped with a micro OLED panel co-developed by Kopin Corporation and Panasonic". The glasses also "Achieved natural and smooth images without "Screen door effect", which is a visual artifact of displays, where the fine lines separating pixels become visible in the displayed image".

CES 2020 - Pimax didn't make too many waves at CES 2020 with its new Pimax 5K SUPER headset, but it really should have -- it is a new VR headset with dual 1440p displays at an insane 180Hz.

Pimax's new 5K SUPER is the world's first VR headset with a display re fresh rate of 180Hz, with the dual 2560 x 1440 displays that Pimax have used being LCD RGB stripe matrix panels with low latency and low Screen Door Effect (SDE). The dual 1440p displaiys have a 200-degree FOV diagonally, 170-degree FOV horizontally, 115-degree vertically, and lower FOV modes depending on the use.

The new Pimax 5K SUPER can run all the way through to 180Hz refresh, but it can also drop down to 160Hz -- down from there, it can drop to 120/90/72/64Hz modes. Pimax has full SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 6DoF tracking support, with a built-in 3DoF gyro sensor.

If you want the most insane VR setup imaginable, it would have to be a full-body VR suit and VR gloves -- thankfully, Teslasuit has your back, and well, every other part of your body.

Teslasuit has just announced its new Teslasuit Glove, a new physical pair of gloves that you wear that detect the movement of its user (or in this case, wearer) and provide them with tactile feedback. You can use the glove on its own or with the full VR suit, if you want the full experience.

Teslasuit explains that with its new Glove, wearers can even feel virtual textures thanks to its packed-in "haptics, motion capture, biometry and force feedback". Teslasuit can see its future full-body VR suit and gloves used in tele-control systems or for medical rehabilitation, which the company adds it can even monitor wearers' stress levels and heart rate in real-time, too. I can see these being used for next-gen paintball matches, without the physical pain (or at least much less) of paintball exploding on your body.

It seems like 2020 could be the year of VR hitting the mainstream, with both the Oculus Quest and Valve Index headsets both backordered through to February 2020.

UploadVR is reporting that Facebook has told customers ordering Oculus Quest headsets that they won't get their new all-in-one VR headset until February 2020, while other online stores are out of stock. The higher-end Valve Index is no different, where even if you buy it from Steam direct, you won't receive it until February 2020 -- just in time for Half-Life: Alyx.

Could it be that 2020 is the year VR really takes off? With both the Oculus Quest and Valve Index headsets effectively sold out until February 2020 in the United States, it seems so. Has the hype of Half-Life: Alyx driven VR headset sales this much? I would dare say so, and even as an Oculus Rift and HTC Vive owner, I'm wanting to pull the trigger on a new Valve Index just for Half-Life: Alyx alone.

Magic Leap has burned through its $2.6 billion in funding so far without a consumer AR headset on the market, with the super-secretive startup recently signing over its IP to JPMorgan Chase as collateral. But now Magic Leap has made another... er... leap, from consumers to businesses with its AR headset.

The company is launching a new Enterprise Suite that will include the Magic Leap 1 headset itself, two years of dedicated support, device management tools, fast AR headset replacements and extended warranties. There will be a bunch of AR-friendly apps from third-party developers that will work on the Magic Leap AR headset, too.

Magic Leap is wanting some of those real Benjamins right away, charging $2995 per headset for its Enterprise Suite. Magic Leap is thus shifting focus (at least for now) away from consumers and its Magic Leap 1 headset, over to businesses with the flex in the Enterprise Suite and a $2995 per headset charge.

Half-Life: Alyx might be VR's biggest game yet. Although it's entirely in VR, it won't be a radical departure for the series--the same linear focus will be intact. That doesn't mean the game won't be massively replayable, though.

Half-Life games have always been replayable experiences, mostly due to multiplayer. Half-Life: Alyx won't have any multiplayer, but it will have the staying power of VR that offers a new dimension of interactivity. VR isn't just about playing, but how you play and actually engage with the environments around you. It's much more pronounced than the different chaotic anything-can-happen mechanisms in place for a static FPS; you're actually in the frenetic gunfights, you're actually involved and not just a player sitting behind a screen. In this way Half-Life: Alyx will be a fundamentally replayable game despite having the traditional beginning, middle, and end structure of any singleplayer experience.

In a recent interview with The Verge, Valve confirms that Half-Life: Alyx is indeed a linear game. There's no funky live elements here or online hooks. Just a straight campaign that tells more of the expanded Half-Life story.

Beatsaber, the virtual reality game that pits players against a whole bunch of different musically generated blocks, has had its developer bought by Facebook.

According to a new tweet by the official Oculus Twitter account, Beat Games Studio will now be joining Facebook's Oculus Studio as an independently operated studio in Prague. Oculus further welcomes Beat Games to Facebook on their blog post that says "what the community has come to love about Beat Saber will remain intact" and that "Beat Games will continue to ship content and updates for Beat Saber across all currently supported platforms, now with even more support from Facebook."

Mike Verdu also commented on what they assumed to be the most FAQ's. Some of the answers are in regards to mods being available on Beat Saber. Verdu says that both Beat Games and Oculus know the value of mods for Beat Saber players and will continue to support them if they fall under their legal guidelines and policies. "We're going to do our best to preserve the value that mods bring to the Beat Saber player base". If the mod is found to breach any of their now updated policies it will be removed.

Ever thought about animals wearing virtual reality headsets? I haven't, but some farmers clearly have as reports are coming out about cows wearing VR.

Farmers in Moscow strapped their cattle up with some modified VR headsets to examine whether or not they have an impact on the cow and the milk they produce. The farmers programmed the VR headsets to show a simulation of summer fields, and tuned the colors that were being shown to be appealing to the cows eyes. The farmers were testing whether the simulated summer fields had an impact on the cow when the landscape they were actually in were just a normal farm.

The findings, while they are quite basic are still findings. The cows appeared to have less anxiety and were much more relaxed. Unfortunately, it wasn't discovered if the VR headsets combined with the now higher level of relaxation caused the cows to produce more/higher quality milk. Since the study was conducted there are more experimental plans set in place to find out if VR headset wearing cows produce more milk being or if the overall quality is increased.