Extended Reality (XR) - Page 14

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.

The project has been unveiled by ICON, a 3D printing construction company based out of Texas.

Named House Zero, the 3D-printed home is located in Austin, Texas, covering over 2,000 square feet. It has three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and an attached dwelling with an additional bedroom and bath. To build the house's walls, ICON used its proprietary cementitious-based material, "Lavacrete," with steel to reinforce the structure and insulation.

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."

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.

Meta released the Meta Avatars SDK 9.0 on December 10, and with the new release, all Unity developers can implement the new avatar system.

Meta's new Meta Avatars SDK fully overhauls the previous avatar system. This is the fourth iteration of the avatar system from Oculus/Meta. When the Rift first launched, avatars were monochrome silhouettes. When Oculus launched the Go, it added color to the avatar system. Then with the launch of the original Quest, we got slightly more realistic avatars that included mouth animations for better communication.

The new avatars have a more cartoony art style, but with support for body-tracking to bring more expression to your digital self. The Meta Avatar system uses a custom IK (inverse kinetics) algorithm to interpret hand and controller movement and a facial animation system driven by the sound of your voice. In addition to the cosmetic overhaul, the new Meta Avatar system gives you a persistent digital persona that represents you in all Meta content. The Meta Avatar system has been used for several months by select developers. PokerStars VR, GOLF+, Epic Roller Coasters, Synth Riders, and ForeVR Bowl have been part of a private beta since Aprilthat supported the new avatars. Now, any developer working with Unity can add support for Meta Avatars.

Keanu Reeves really, really doesn't want Facebook (or Meta now) to think it was the creator of the metaverse... The Matrix Resurrections star made some big comments about the metaverse, and Facebook (sorry, again... Meta) and their role in creating the future.

When asked about the metaverse by The Verge in their interview with The Matrix Resurrections stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, Keanu said: "can we just not have metaverse be invented by Facebook".

He was asked by The Verge "you're not a fan?" to which Keanu replied: "No, but just the concept of metaverse is like way older than that. It's like a way older, and so for that moment to get to... I'm just like, 'Come on, man'".

Keanu Reeves is a major character in Cyberpunk 2077, which is all about the future: technology, implants, future vehicles and cars, VR, AR, and everything in between.

But does Keanu Reeves have a VR headset? Yep. Does he use it? Nope. In a recent interview between The Matrix Resurrections stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, Reeves talked about VR headsets, VR for the world, and even VR porn. The part you need to watch begins at around 16:04 into the video.

The Verge asked if Keanu had a VR headset, to which Reeves said: "I do, and I don't. I know that any VR technology that I'm using is 5 years old and lame. I'm sorry, never used to be lame, it's probably now modernly lame, but there's so much kinda data collection tools that are in these experiences to help make the product better".

Keanu Reeves is famously in Cyberpunk 2077 and was asked during his recent sit down with The Verge if he played video games, to which he said no... he does own a VR headset, but doesn't use it, but is very interested in the world of VR porn.

The discussion got there as he was asked about the fact that online, gamers wanted to be able to have sex with Keanu Reeves' character in Cyberpunk 2077, but developer CD PROJEKT RED couldn't do that because it would be breaching Reeves' contract. You can watch the VR porn part of the video at the 16:50 mark.

But Keanu's thoughts on it were: "Oh my God, it's always nice when it's nice. Think of how much money is in porn, right? So you could not even have to be there, and people could have digital sex with your digital avatar. What's that, what's it called right now (probably referring to OnlyFans)? For a members-only you could do a whole thing".

Innersloth, the team behind the insanely popular Among Us, made a surprise announcement at the Game Awards. With the help of Robot Teddy and Schell Games, Among Us is being rebuilt into a virtual reality multiplayer experience.

"We are grateful to the community who continues to share our game with friends and family and support us," said Victoria Tran, Community Director at Innersloth. "Schell Games has a legacy of creating award-winning virtual reality titles, and we couldn't be more excited to create a brand new Among Us experience for our existing fans and new players. We can't wait for players to become crewmates in a first-person environment."

"This new 3D experience will place you and our suspicious spacebeans in the heart of the Skeld, with all of the core mechanics of teamwork and betrayal you know and love. The VR edition will continue to support the multiplayer experience too, of course! Now you can really have an emergency meeting together."

The latest release of the Oculus SDK includes experimental access to a new feature called Spatial Anchors, which allows the Quest to use points of reference in your room that persist between sessions. The new SDK also includes the Voice SDK API.

Earlier this week, Meta released the Oculus SDK 35.0, and with it comes two new features for developers to experiment with. The Voice SDK API allows developers to add voice controls to their games and apps. The Voice SDK includes support for automatic speech recognition, has 50 built-in intents, entities, and traits, and comes with a Unity plugin to facilitate integration.

The new Oculus SDK also includes an experimental version of the Spatial Anchors feature, which allows the Quest 2 to retain tracking orientation between sessions. With Spatial Anchoring enabled, the Quest 2 can identify environmental features as persistent marker points to maintain the tracking orientation even after rebooting the headset.