Virtual & Augmented Reality News - Page 1

If you can imagine a not-too-distant dystopian future where crimes like VIRTUAL murder are punished in the REAL WORLD as REAL crimes... well, don't read this news... because that's exactly what some of the most influential people on the planet are talking about right now.

The United Arab Emirates minister of artificial intelligence, Omar Sultan Al Olama, said that he believes people who commit "serious crimes" in the metaverse should be punished as real-world criminals. Al Olama said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos: "If I send you a text on WhatsApp, it's text right? It might terrorize you but to a certain degree it will not create the memories that you will have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from it."

He added: "But if I come into the metaverse and it's a realistic world that we're talking about in the future and I actually murder you, and you see it ... it actually takes you to a certain extreme where you need to enforce aggressively across the world because everyone agrees that certain things are unacceptable".

ZOTAC has just unveiled its new 4th Generation of VR backpacks with the introduction of the new VR GO 4.0 backpack. Check it out:

The new ZOTAC VR GO 4.0 backpack has been designed with the most advanced technologies, with some upgrades to the hardware, design, and more. We have an Intel Core i7-11800H processor (8C/16T), an NVIDIA RTX A4500 with 16GB GDDR6 memory, 16GB of DDR4 RAM + 512GB M.2 SSD + Windows 11 Pro pre-installed.

ZOTAC does provide the ability to upgrade your storage + RAM, adding in some top and side-loaded I/O ports. The company has used an "intelligent thermal design" with padded support and strap, as well as "sweatproof wearable materials". It wouldn't be a new VR backpack without ZOTAC's in-house SPECTRA 2.0 RGB lighting, with a battery good enough for up to 50 minutes of playtime.

The military's version of a metaverse doesn't quite align with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta's vision for a virtual world for us to inhabit.

Credit: Red 6

Using augmented reality (AR), two fighter pilots completed a high-altitude drill a few thousand feet high over the desert of California on May 10th. Flying a pair of Berkut 540 jets and donning custom AR headsets, the pilots were shown virtual refueling aircraft in the sky, allowing one of the pilots to practice a refueling maneuver with the virtual aircraft while the other observed.

The augmented and virtual reality (VR) technology, head-mounted displays and artificial intelligence (AI) powered environments are being developed by Red 6 and allow pilots to take part in virtual dog fights against enemy aircraft and more while pulling several G's. Red 6 is developing a platform that will allow them to display various scenarios in AR and VR, while using lower latency and higher reliability hardware than consumer-grade AR and VR headsets.

AMD's new low-power APU with Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 graphics has been spotted, this time inside of the Magic Leap "Demophon" augmented reality (AR) headset.

The new AMD Mero APU has been referred to as a "silicon copy" of Van Gogh, the APU that powers Valve's portable Steam Deck gaming console. AMD Mero packs a quad-core Zen 2-based low-power CPU, with an integrated RDNA 2-based GPU.

Locuza, who provides die shot analysis, says that Van Gogh has more IP blocks enabled -- including more Compute Vision hardware, or more PCIe lanes -- so Mero could be a custom variant of Van Gogh, made for the Magic Leap AR headset.

Amazon is building a headset or smart glasses that they're describing as "magical and useful, new-to-world XR consumer product" in new job listings, even calling it a "new-to-world smart-home product".

One of the job listings reads: "You will develop an advanced XR research concept into a magical and useful new-to-world consumer product". Another job listing says they're looking for someone for their "XR/AR devices" and that whoever secures the job will be part of a "greenfield development effort" that includes "developing code for early prototypes through mass production".

Amazon is after a UX designer, someone that will be tasked with "the core system interface along with end-user applications spanning from multi-modal interfaces to 3D AR entertainment experiences" and that applications should be able to "think spatially, with 3D design experience in motion design, animation [and] AR/VR, games" and more.

Apple's upcoming AR headset has been in the headlines in a confusing way lately -- first, it was launching this year, then it wasn't -- and now it's completed important production tests, and could launch later this year.

The upcoming AR and VR headset from Apple has completed its second-phase engineering validation tests (EVT 2) which ensures that the prototype headsets meet Apple's strict design goals and specifications. The new report is coming from DigiTimes and its usual industry sources, who added that Apple's upcoming AR headset could launch by the end of 2022.

In the reports just weeks ago, the Apple AR headset was reportedly going through overheating problems and could be due to the two chipsets inside -- one of them being a 4nm chip, the other a 5nm chip -- both designed by Apple and made by TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company). We could see a very limited launch, with small numbers by the end of 2022, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how this plays out over the coming months.

Sony has finally revealed the design of the PS VR2 headset. We've previously seen an early version of Sony's new 6-DoF Sense controllers, and now we have the final look of the headset to go with it. The Sense controllers have a distinctly round shape, and the new headset keeps the same aesthetic. Sony said the "orb" look of the hardware is meant to represent the 360-degree view that players experience inside the headset.

As you would expect, the PS VR2 headset shares the same styling as the PS5 console, with its white and black contrasting accents. Sony said that it put a significant amount of time and effort into refining the ergonomics of the headset. The weight of the PS VR2 is balanced between the headband and the visor to ensure it stays comfortable for long game sessions. The new headset will include a lens distance adjustment dial and a pupil distance adjustment to help you get the right fit for your eyes. Sony said the PS VR2 is a more compact device than the previous version despite the additional features like the IPD adjustment and the force feedback rumble motor. Sony also made a point to note that the new headset has improved ventilation.

"When I started to work on the design for the PlayStation VR2 headset, one of the areas I wanted to focus on first was the idea of creating a vent in the headset to let air out, similar to the vents on the PS5 console that allows airflow. Our engineers came up with this idea as a good way to allow ventilation and avoid having the lens fog up while players are immersed in their VR games. I worked on many design concepts to achieve this, and in the final design, you can see there is a little space in between the top and front surface of the scope that contains the integrated ventilation. I am really proud of how this turned out and the positive feedback I have gotten so far. I hope our PlayStation fans will also agree, and I can't wait for them to try it out."

- Yujin Morisawa, Senior Art Director, SIE

Facebook, I mean Horizons, I mean LifeLog, I mean Meta have announced that the social networking -- and VR giant -- is putting the finishing touches on the world's fastest AI supercomputer.

The new AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) is already being built and expected to be online by mid-2022, where it is already being used to train huge models in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision for research -- Meta's aim with RSC -- is that it will one-day train models with trillions and trillions of parameters.

RSC will help super-fuel Meta's AI researchers that will be capable of being fed trillions of examples, where it will use AI to work through hundreds of languages across the planet, seamlessly analyze text, images, and videos together, develop new augmented reality (AR) tools, and so much more.

Apple was poised to release its new AR headset later this year but due to overheating and production issues, the AR headset has been delayed into 2023 -- but Apple will still crush Samsung in AR according to an industry analyst.

Kim Gwang-soo, an analyst at eBest Investment and Securities said: "Big tech companies, rather than smartphone manufacturers, are leading XR devices because they have the necessary content and platforms. Google has an operating system Android, Microsoft has Xbox and Sony has PlayStation. It's risky for Samsung to roll out XR devices, so it has no choice but to stick to foldable smartphones".

There are other players in the AR and VR headset game, where past, present, and future companies include: Facebook/Oculus/Meta, HTC, Valve, Microsoft, Sony, Qualcomm, and soon... Apple. Samsung doesn't seem to be too worried about not leading in AR or VR, as it is leading in so many other categories the company is probably waiting to see how the market reacts to Apple's huge AR headset release, and has something planning in the wings.

Apple's new AR headset seems to be delayed from an announcement and release this year, to a possible announcement and now a release in 2023 according to the latest reports -- but what about inside the Apple AR headset?

Inside, Apple will be using two custom chips running together -- both made by TSMC -- the first, would be a 4nm chip while there will be a secondary 5nm chip. The new report is coming from industry insider Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that there will be a mass-produced 4nm chip from TSMC, while another 5nm SoC would require less power and do other basic tasks on the AR headset.

The new Apple AR headset will reportedly use a high-end 96W USB-C power adapter, something that comes with the higher-end 14-inch MacBook Pro. The 96W power adapter means we should expect Mac-levels of computing power, with the 4nm and 5nm TSMC chips inside.