Extended Reality (XR) - Page 10

When Apple announced the Vision Pro headset back in June of 2023, the company confirmed very few release details. While Apple was quick to share details about what the headset would be capable of, it didn't say when it would go on sale beyond a simple timeframe of early 2024. We also learned that the Vision Pro would cost a whopping $3499 once it did go on sale, but it was never confirmed when that would be. But now, we might finally know when Vision Pro will hit store shelves.

That's after a new Bloomberg report, penned by the well-connected Mark Gurman, shared that Apple is now aiming for a February release window for what is sure to be its biggest release since the Apple Watch debuted in 2014. The Vision Pro enters a whole new category for Apple, as the original Apple Watch did a decade ago, and it's as-yet unclear whether it will be a success.

Gurman says that production of the new headset has been running at its maximum speed for several weeks now, with facilities in China working on getting the headset ready for prime time. The aim is to have headsets ready by the end of January, with sales then beginning the following month - although it isn't yet clear how far through February that launch will come.

In the latest edition of Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who pens his own Power On newsletter, the tech journalist explains that Apple has begun Vision Pro training sessions for retail employees.

In the newsletter, Gurman writes that Apple has started scheduling two-day Vision Pro training courses for Apple employees in retail stores. Apple has reportedly flown out at least one employee from every Apple Store in the United States to California, where they will undergo the training and then fly back to their respective stores to train the other staff. The goal behind the training, which is scheduled to take place in January, is to make each Apple employee fully competent in the Vision Pro setup, which is custom for each person.

The Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset was announced in June as part of the big annual WWDC event. But it won't go on sale until a vague early 2024 release window and when it does, it'll cost a whopping $3,499. However, plans are reportedly afoot to find a way to slash that price for a future model - and by some margin, too.

It was always to be expected that Apple would seek to find a way to make future Vision Pro models cheaper and now a new report claims that is indeed the case, with a massive 50% price reduction possible as soon as 2025. The company is reportedly already working on a new model with a bill of materials (BOM) that costs half that of the upcoming model, although it remains to be seen whether that saving will be passed on to customers.

DigiTimes reports that there are in fact as many as four new Vision Pro headsets in development, including one that's set to be a direct replacement for the model that is set to arrive next year. However, it isn't clear how many of those will ever see the light of day or if Apple is simply testing multiple configurations ahead of making a final call later in the day.

"I'm the kind of person that likes to take my time during my morning poops," writes Redditor Tall_Whole_5777. Yes, this is that kind of story - albeit through the lens of virtual and mixed reality, thanks to the new Meta Quest 3. In addition to a more impressive display, the latest headset from Meta adds full-color cameras for tracking and Mixed Reality.

In addition to new types of games, Mixed Reality, or MR, is the sort of tech that can project a big or small screen into the world around you. Sit in the comfort of your living room while watching a movie on a cinema-sized screen while still being able to see and interact with your surroundings. You can even head out into the world and order a coffee from an unimpressed coffee shop employee - like this person did.

Or, use the Meta Quest 3 for bathroom-related procedures in what sounds like a surprisingly more sanitary alternative to the usual routine.

When Apple finally took the wraps off of the Vision Pro headset during the WWDC 2023 event on June 5, it had much of what we'd been told to expect by all of the rumors and leaks leading up to it. One of those rumors was of course the infamous hip-mounted battery pack, with Apple seemingly keen to make sure that it didn't overload the wearer's head with too much weight. However, it seems that the company might be planning to get around that problem if a new patent is any indication.

That patent was spotted by the eagle eyes at Patently Apple and appears to make reference to placing the battery fo a headset into its band, rather than the main unit itself. The theory is that Apple would be able to get around the issue of front-loading the weight and making the headset uncomfortable by moving the battery's weight to the back of the head.

This approach also has an added benefit in that it would help to balance out the weight of the main headset component - all of the electronic magic that makes it work, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, and of course those two displays. The patent itself was filed in Europe and references using an attachable headset mount that could house a battery. The result would of course mean that the Vision Pro would no longer need that external hip-mounted battery that some are so worried about. While the battery will no doubt work as intended, the requirement for a cable running to the battery is a concern for people who want to have the absolute most free ofmovements while wearing the headset.

Apple's Vision Pro headset was announced during the WWDC event on June 5 and at the time the company said that we should expect it to be made available to buy in early 2024. We're still waiting for a more concrete timeframe with which to work and it hasn't been forthcoming. However, a new report appears to suggest that we shouldn't expect the headset to break cover until a little later in the year than some of us had hoped.

Apple's vague early 2024 window does leave plenty of wiggle room of course and it could realistically mean anything in the first six months of the year. Still, some would hope for a release in the first few weeks of 2024 but that now seems unlikely based on a report by the normally well-connected Mark Gurman.

Gurman was writing in the weekly Power On newsletter for Bloomberg when he poured cold water on any hopes for a Vision Pro release in January or February. According to him, we should look towards March instead.

Apple's first-generation Vision Pro was only announced a few months ago, and won't be hitting your eyeballs until 2024... meanwhile, we're hearing about the second-generation Vision Pro 2 headset.

MacRumors is reporting some design changes and hardware upgrades to Apple's next-gen Vision Pro 2, which is codenamed "Project Alaska" and device identifier N109, looks like the original Vision Pro. The same look and style is there, while the button placement is unchanged, the speaker placement is "expected to be different," according to MacRumors' sources.

What changes can we expect? The rear straps are simpler in design and appearance, with the new information suggesting the Apple Vision Pro 2 will have flat straps that we see in laptop bags and backpacks used as the rear straps on the new AR headset. Not only that, but there are references to a "non-descript audio accessory, possibly an external speaker".

Apple will have the high-end AR headset market all to itself in 2024 when it launches its new Vision Pro headset, but rumors that Samsung will enter the AR headset business with a new Galaxy AR design make sense, and we can't wait.

The unnamed Samsung AR headset is expected to hit users' heads in December 2024, but in very low numbers against even Apple's surely limited Vision Pro headsets in 2024. The codename of Samsung's new AR headset is "Infinite(muhan)" but it will most likely arrive in the retail form under the Galaxy branding umbrella.

Samsung has reportedly been testing AR headset prototypes with its in-house Exynos 2200 processor. Still, the design was totally generic and didn't hold a flame against the Apple Vision Pro headset. That version is gone, and a newer AR headset is being prototyped as we speak.

SteamVR 2.0 is a big overhaul to Valve's VR platform, bringing most of the current features of Steam and the Steam Deck to SteamVR. From integrated Steam Chat and Voice Chat to an improved store layout, the overhaul will allow Valve to "add new Steam features in the future much faster and more frequently."

SteamVR 2.0 started in beta on September 25, 2023, so it's only been a month of testing before hitting its full release. The updated interface and full integration of Steam's robust chat system with dual-cursor typing, new languages, emojis, and themes are very welcome. Like the recently updated desktop client, it's a cleaner UI that retains that classic Steam look and feel.

Even though VR gaming has taken a back-seat for most in the PC space, with the recent release of the Meta Quest 3 (fully supported on PC and in Steam), the overall state of PC VR is in a good place. However, one has to wonder - with an overhaul to SteamVR like this, is Valve planning to launch a follow-up to its critically acclaimed Valve Index VR headset from 2019?

The future is upon us already, as an individual has walked into a coffee shop and ordered a beverage with a mixed reality headset on.

With the release of the Meta Quest 3, there are many videos circulating online of people performing seemingly everyday tasks, such as cooking while wearing the Meta Quest 3. These individuals are taking advantage of the headset's passthrough capabilities, which is the ability to see a real-time projection of the real-world within the virtual world, giving the illusion of the virtual world overlayed on the real-world.

Now, an individual has taken the mixed reality headset into public by walking into a cafe and ordering a coffee while wearing the headset. That individual was X user @CixLiv, and they recorded the cashier's response, writing in a post on X, "Ok, don't be mad. But someone had to do it". The cashier didn't appear to be too phased by the fact the customer was wearing a bulky headset while ordering a coffee, but according to a follow-up response by @CixLiv, "she absolutely hated me".

Apple announced the Vision Pro headset during the June 5 WWDC event but it won't go on sale until early in 2024. When it does, it'll cost a huge $3500 which is going to price a whole lot of people out of it. However, Apple is already rumored to be working on producing something a little cheaper in the future. Details are hard to come by right now, but a new report might have some insight into how Apple intends to cut some of the price moving forward.

That report comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and the Power On newsletter, with the claim being that Apple will aim for a lower price point that could actually be half that of the initial Vision Pro model. Gurman says that internal Apple discussions have aimed at a $1,500 or $2,500 price point.

To get there, Apple is reportedly ready to remove the EyeSight feature, an external display that shows a representation of the user's eyes on the outside of the headset. It's also thought that Apple might want to cut costs by removing some of the external cameras and sensors that will ship on next year's first version.

The Meta Quest 3 has just launched, and early word on the latest generation of the popular VR headset has been positive. The Verge review is positive, with the key takeaway being that it's "better than its predecessors in almost every way." Tom's Guide shares similar sentiments in its review, praising the "improved graphics and superior performance [compared to] the Meta Quest 2."

Per the specs and hardware, which adds mixed reality features via color cameras that sound very promising, the Meta Quest 3 not only improves the display and touch controllers but delivers double the performance of the Quest 2. However, like the Quest 2, the new Meta Quest 3 can be hooked to a PC to take advantage of superior discrete hardware and play VR games like Half-Life: Alyx.

Most achieve this via a single long Meta Quest Link cable that offers play-and-charge functionality over USB-C. Thanks to the Meta Quest range being an affordable VR option with simple-to-set-up inside-out tracking and motion controls, it's no wonder the headset is currently the most popular VR PC gaming solution on Steam (as seen in the latest Steam Hardware Survey results). But what about wireless VR, wire-free PC VR gaming with the Meta Quest 3? It's possible thanks to devices like D-Link's DWA-F18 VR Air Bridge.

The Apple Vision Pro headset is going on sale in early 2024, we're told. And when it does, it'll ship with a pair of displays that feature a variable refresh rate with a maximum of 100Hz. Although it probably won't spend much of its time at that rate.

That's according to a new report by MacRumors based on a tweet by a social media user going by the name of @M1Astra. They say, based on code that they've found in the latest visionOS beta, that the Vision Pro headset will feature two displays that can dynamically adjust their refresh rates based on their surroundings. In specific cases, they will increase it to 100Hz, but the majority of the time will be spent at 90Hz.

The code found in visionOS displays a string of text that suggests the headset will adjust the refresh rate to 100Hz in order to compensate for the 50Hz flicker caused by artificial lighting. The code also suggests that the headset will be limited to 90Hz when used in Travel mode, a feature that will be enabled whenever the headset is used on an airplane.

Apple's Vision Pro headset was first announced during an event in June 2023 and it will finally go on sale in early 2024, the company claims. It'll cost a whopping $3500, but that isn't the only awkward thing - if you wear prescription glasses, you'll need to order extra Zeiss lenses for use with the headset.

That means that there is no room for people to wear their existing glasses when they put the headset on their faces. Apple wanted to make the headset as small as possible which meant not leaving space for anything between the face and the headset's displays. But a new report claims that Apple is already working on fixing the problem, although it isn't perfect. In the future, people might be able to order a Vision Pro headset with their prescription built in.

That's according to the latest Power On, a weekly newsletter from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. According to him, Apple's desire to slim the device down meant leaving no space for glasses. And the future fix could see Apple offering built-in lenses. However, there are problems with such an approach.

Apple's Vision Pro AR/VR headset won't go on sale for another few months at best, with an early 2024 release window leaving plenty of wiggle room. However, the company continues to get its ducks in a row ahead of time and its new visionOS beta 4 release has confirmed a new feature that will try and dip into the pockets of new headset owners.

A new 9to5Mac report says that a new message has been found in the latest visionOS beta 4 release that warns users that their current headphones or earbuds aren't the best way to listen to audio from their headset. Instead, it'll tell them that they should consider picking up a new pair of AirPods Pro to get the most out of that headset.

The new USB-C 2nd-gen AirPods Pro are the only ones that support lossless audio when connected to the Vision Pro as confirmed last month. That's due to an upgraded H2 chip that allows for audio to be sent over the 5GHz band, allowing for more bandwidth. The Vision Pro headset will be the only product at launch that also uses that band for lossless audio, and Apple seems keen to make sure that customers know about it.

The creator of Facebook and now CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has sat down for a remote interview with Lex Fridman on the Lex Fridman podcast.

The first-of-its-kind podcast was conducted in the Metaverse, where both Zuckerberg and Fridman assumed photorealistic avatars that are spawned into a virtual world where they can seamlessly communicate. Notably, both Fridman and Zuckerberg undertook a complex computer scan of their face to create what Zuckerberg calls a codec, which contains a virtual photorealistic avatar.

Fridman and Zuckerberg discuss the nature of reality and how this technology could impact the future of remote communication. Fridman says that one of the first things that come to mind when using this technology is being able to communicate with loved ones, and the next thing is being able to talk to loved ones "that are no longer here".

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has appeared on the Lex Fridman podcast to demonstrate bleeding-edge technology currently being developed at Meta.

When Zuckerberg first announced the creation of the Metaverse, the market didn't necessarily respond as well as the Facebook creator may have anticipated, especially following the release of Meta-created VR experiences that were cartoonish, lacked detail, and overall very barebones. However, Zuckerberg is seemingly on the way to reversing that bad taste in your mouth when you hear the word Metaverse with the release of a new technology that enables seamless communications with photorealistic avatars.

The Facebook creator sat down for a podcast with Lex Fridman to demonstrate the technology, where Zuckerberg and Fridman can be seen wearing the Meta Quest Pro headset and communicating with each other through photorealistic avatars from different cities. So, what is exactly happening here? Zuckerberg explains that he and Fridman were required to take a computer scan in Pittsburgh, which mapped all of the individual's facial expressions, muscle movements, aesthetics, and more to create a custom codec.

At Meta Connect 2023, Meta CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg was on hand to confirm that the Meta Quest 3 all-in-one VR headset is also now a mixed-reality device and is launching on October 10 starting from USD 499.99 for the 128GB version and USD 649.99 for the larger capacity 512GB model.

Yes, the new Meta Quest 3 headset features cameras on the front, with full-color passthrough to deliver mixed-reality experiences on top of serving as the next-generation all-in-one VR headset from the company. Meta notes that this full-color Passthrough presents your surroundings with 10 times more pixels than the Quest 2.

Of course, the main functionality of the Meta Quest 3 will still be as a VR headset. On that front, the new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform delivers double the GPU processing power than what's possible with the Quest 2 - alongside other features like faster loading for games.

Buying a new Apple Vision Pro headset might not get more affordable quite as quickly as we had hoped if a new report by a well-connected display analyst turns out to be accurate.

The Vision Pro headset was announced in June and was immediately slapped with a price that makes it out of reach for many. The starting price of $3,499 is a lot, but there were rumors that Apple already had plans for a cheaper version that would give more people an opportunity to get a headset of their own. However, a new report now claims that might not be happening after all.

Writing in a Medium post analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple may have canceled the low-cost version of its Vision Pro. If that's the case, it will mean that Vision Pro headset growth will be affected with anticipated 2025 growth simply not happening at all.

When it launched in 2019, the Valve Index was one of the most advanced VR headsets to hit the market - bolstered by excellent software support in the form of SteamVR. With the per-eye resolution of 1440 x 1600 pixels, wide field-of-view (FOV), and high refresh-rate support, it's still a capable headset. Not to mention Valve's excellent Index Controllers being designed specifically for VR.

However, with multiple wires to connect the headset and tracking reliant on base stations that you need to wire and power, even on Steam, the Index has been overtaken by the more consumer-friendly Meta Quest 2. The Quest 2, like the recent PSVR 2 headset for the PlayStation 5, adopts an inside-out tracking approach (with the latter offering full eye-tracking) with a single-cable solution.

In the case of the Quest 2, the option to go wireless. This makes recent updates and changes to SteamVR exciting, pointing to a massive overhaul. And with new battery information and rumors surrounding Valve's "Deckard" headset hardware swirling - Steam VR 2.0 and the Index 2.0 could be here soon.