Virtual & Augmented Reality News - Page 1

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.

Apple's upcoming AR headset is meant to be a game-changer and would replace the iPhone over the next 10 years -- and is now facing delays of "at least a few months" according to sources of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg reports from the usual "people familiar with the situation" that Apple is "potentially delaying its first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2015". Apple was meant to unveil its next-gen headset that would combine the worlds of virtual and augmented realities at its WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in June 2022, and a release later this year... but that isn't happening anymore.

The new Apple AR headset is reportedly facing "development challenges" that include overheating, cameras and software "have made it harder to stay on track" according to people involved in the project. The sources said that these issues could force Apple to delay the announcement of its AR headset until later this year, or even into 2023 -- while the headset itself is pretty much confirmed to be delayed into 2023 at the very earliest.

HTC announced a new product at CES that will bring the capabilities of its Vive Tracker pucks to its standalone Vive Focus 3 headset. The new Vive Wrist Trackers will be available soon.

HTC loves to bring out accessories for its VR hardware. Last year, the company launched the Vive Focus 3, the first US-bound 6-DoF standalone headset from Vive. The Focus 3 is a competent device that was well received by reviewers. Standalone headsets are shaping up to be the future of the VR medium but switching away from the PC platform meant losing accessory support. The Vive Wrist Trackers should solve many of those problems.

The new Vive Wrist Trackers attach to your wrist and allow your headset to keep better track of your arm motion, especially when using hand-tracking over the included controllers. The Vive Wrist Trackers have LED lights just like the controllers, which allows the headset to track their position with its tracking cameras. The trackers also have a high-frequency IMU, so you don't lose wrist tracking when the cameras lose sight of the trackers.

It looks 2022 might be the start of a VR hardware innovation race. Today at CES, Shiftall, a subsidiary of Panasonic, introduced the MaganeX VR glasses, a compact VR device with micro OLED displays and all-plastic pancake optics. If this is where VR tech is going, we're in for some exciting new gadgets.

The Shiftall MaganeX features dual 2560 x 2560 micro OLED HDR displays from Kopin Corporation. These 1.3" displays are built directly on the chip (display on chip - DoC), which helps keep the form factor and weight to a minimum. The MaganeX headset also features all-plastic pancake optics from Kopin, which further reduces the device's size requirements and weight compared to most existing VR headsets.

"It is necessary for VR glasses to be lightweight and comfortable to wear as well as deliver life-like images in order to be widely accepted to consumers,"said Takuma Iwasa, CEO of Shiftall. "Kopin's unique 2.6K x 2.6K OLED display and all-plastic Pancake optics are the key to achieving these objectives. We are very pleased with our close partnership with Kopin for the development of our VR glasses."

Sony finally revealed the specs of the PSVR2, and it's a HUGE upgrade from the first one. Sony's next VR headset will put current-gen VR headsets to shame.

It's no surprise that Sony has been working on a new VR headset. The company teased the first details about a year ago, and it was pretty evident that a new PSVR was coming even before the PS5 hit the market. Today, at CES, we finally got some solid specifications about the new headset.

Sony announced that the upcoming headset would officially carry the name PlayStation VR 2, and the fancy controllers would be called PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers. The new headset is supposed to give gamers a "greater sense of presence" and allow them to "become more immersed in their game worlds."

The hype train for Apple's upcoming -- and hopefully game-changing -- AR glasses continues, with new rumors today teasing new renders of Apple's new AR glasses.

In the new renders by designer Ian Zelbo, Apple's mixed reality glasses give us our best look yet. They look premium AF, and have a very Apple AirPods Max headphones look and I'm digging that. Inside, Apple's new AR headset is expected to rock their in-house M-series processor -- which will be powerful enough for high-end gaming and media consumption.

Apple's new AR headset renders by Ian Zelbo were uploaded in the glorious 8K resolution, so we have a huge 7680 x 4320 in fresh new renders. If Apple's new AR headset ends up looking like this, and I really think it will, we're in for a helluva ride in 2022/2023+ with XR headsets (AR, VR, MR). We need a major force like Apple plinking into the market, especially if recent rumors that the Apple AR headset "could replace the iPhone in the next 10 years".

The human brain continues to keep the benchmark crown. Scientists have found that a colony of, 800,000 to one million, human brain cells stored in a petri dish can perform better at a simple video game than an AI counterpart can. These human brain cells that were cultured in a petri dish and assisted by microelectrodes have been able to to be "taught" how to play the video game, "Pong".

New Scientist has reported that researchers at Australian based Cortical Labs have been growing these "small puddles" of brain in petri dishes, and that they have now taught one such petri dish colony to play "Pong". It has been stated that typically it takes an AI around 90 minutes, but the "DishBrain" was able to be taught in an impressive five minutes. In the experiment, the colony sits on top of arrays of microelectrodes which provide stimulation by sending electrical signals to either the right or left array to indicate the location of the virtual ball.

The "DishBrain" responds by releasing impulses to move the paddle which allow the electrodes to analyze the activity and enable the simulation to respond. On the downside, the researchers have noted that a well written AI could still demolish the "DishBrain" colony, once properly trained. The researchers whom are cited by New Scientist, have referred that the colony is "living in the Matrix." This viewpoint is possible since that while the "DishBrain" plays the simplified, single-player version of 'Pong', the colony is actually tricked into believing they are the paddle that hits the ball in the game.

A new VR headset maker is making a big splash jumping into the market. A relatively unknown VR headset company called Arpara launched a Kickstarter today, and it was fully funded within 15 minutes. There seems to be a hunger for micro-OLED VR headsets.

There's a new VR headset maker in town, and it's not messing around. Arpara launched a Kickstarter campaign to help bring two new VR headsets to market: an all-in-one device and a tethered device. The unique part about these headsets is the screens that they use. Arpara equipped its hardware with 5K micro-OLED panels, allowing for a much smaller headset design.

The Arpara All-In-One and Arpara Tethered headsets offer similar specifications. Both devices feature the same screens and lenses, offering motion controller options. The Micro-OLED displays are just 1.03-inches each, which means they take up less space and weigh less than the displays you would typically find in a VR headset.

The all-in-one device uses built-in cameras for spatial tracking and motion controller support. The headset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, just like the Meta Quest 2 and the Vive Focus 3. With the processing unit inside, the headset weighs just 380 grams. The tethered version of Arpara's 5K Micro-OLED headset sheds the internal processing components, making the headset even lighter at 200 grams.