Virtual & Augmented Reality and 3D - Page 8

The Apple Vision Pro isn't just for having fun around the house or out in public, it has practical uses within hospitals, according to a recent report from Business Insider.

The report details a success story of surgeons at London's Cromwell Hospital using Apple's first-generation product to assist in two micro spinal procedures, which has been deemed a first in the UK and Europe. The two surgeons, Mr. Fady Sedra and Mr. Syed Aftab, used the eXeX software, which is an AI program designed for surgical organization and workflow optimization to enable hands-free access to important documentation on the patients and about the procedure.

According to Aftab the experience with working with the eXeX software greatly improved the way the surgeons were "able to deliver care to our patients" and the software provided a seamless interaction that has led to "improved efficiency within the Complex Spine team". This achievement highlights the potential for the Apple Vision Pro within workplaces and the multitude of use cases Apple's spatial computing software can provide users.

VR gaming is here to stay, but the technology still feels like it needs a few elements to become a 'must-have.' That said, playing in a true virtual space can be transformative even while using the most affordable solutions. As fans of the technology, we've followed the development and progress of Virtuix's Omni One, which delivers a "full-body VR gaming system."

Per the name, the Omni One is an omnidirectional treadmill that gives you 360-degree movement so you can walk or even run in a virtual environment without having to worry about what's going on in the real-world. Freedom of movement for VR gaming is one of the reasons why thousands have pre-ordered the complete Omni One system (priced at $2,595), which includes a customized Pico 4 Enterprise headset.

With all pre-orders to be fulfilled during Q1 and Q2 of this year, the Omni One system is set to launch in late Q2 2024. With that, Virtuix has announced the full launch lineup for the Omni One, 35 games in total, including the well-received Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord and Breachers.

A team of NHS surgeons at private Cromwell Hospital in London used Apple's new Vision Pro headset during an operation, a first for the UK.

The team at Cromwell Hospital used the new Apple Vision Pro during an operation on a male patient and his spine, navigating the surgery using augmented reality. A scrub nurse used the Apple Vision Pro headset to keep track of the process and choose the right tools.

The AR headset allowed the nurse to see the real-world with virtual screens displaying important information, with Suvi Verho, the lead scrub nurse at London Independent Hospital, told the Daily Mail that Apple's Vision Pro headset was a "gamechanger" and that "It gives you confidence in surgery," adding "It eliminates human error. It eliminates the guesswork".

Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset is a powerful, high-end device with cutting-edge microOLED display technology. It can deliver incredibly immersive visuals with unmatched clarity. Apple's claims that Vision Pro gives you the equivalent of a single 4K TV per eye is backed by a recent iFixit teardown of the device, which details that each pixel on each tiny display is the size of a single red blood cell.

With leaked 'Bill of Materials' reports indicating that it costs Apple around $456 to obtain the two microOLED 4K display panels from Sony, it's not hard to see why the Vision Pro is sold for $3,499 USD. Sony is Apple's only supplier of microOLED panels, which could be the case for a while because Samsung is predicting that it will take at least three to four years for the tech to become commercially viable.

"The market potential of micro OLEDs installed in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is considerable, but I think the market will start in earnest around 2027 to 2028," Samsung Display CEO Choi Joo-sun said at a recent Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) event.

If you're the proud owner of an Apple Vision Pro you now have Apple's first major software update available for download. The update, visionOS 1.1, has been in beta testing for a little while now and today Apple made it available for everyone who wants it. The Apple Vision Pro is currently only available to those in the United States of course so there's no global release here.

The new software update can be installed by opening the Settings app on the Apple Vision Pro before selling the General option and choosing Software Update. The headset will need to be removed in order for the update to progress but don't worry, a progress bar will appear on the outside of the headset so that you know how things are getting on and when the update is complete.

This new visionOS 1.1 software update brings with it a number of improvements, not least to the Persona feature. Still in beta, this new update improves how hair and makeup appear while the neck and mouth have also received some attention. Apple also says that the rendering of eyes for EyeSight has been improved while the option to enroll a Persona hands-free has now been added to the configuration options.

Before it was Meta, it was Facebook; before it was the Meta Quest, the popular VR headset was known as the Oculus Quest. After Facebook rebranded to Meta, it also removed all Oculus branding and moved to a single Meta/Facebook account for logging into the VR platform.

Moving Oculus-only accounts to Meta took place a while ago, with all digital purchases, details, and other information carried across. However, several users have still not made the transition, and for those VR users, their Oculus accounts (with all data, info, and purchase history) will be deleted at the end of this month.

Meta is sending notifications to those who haven't migrated their accounts, warning them of the cut-off date. "On 10/31/22, we emailed you regarding your Oculus account and the need to migrate to a Meta account," the notification states. "Your Oculus account is now scheduled for deletion on 3/29/24."

The Apple Vision Pro virtual and augmented reality headset is now on sale across the United States with prices starting at $3,499. That gets buyers the 256GB model while anyone who needs additional storage can choose to pay more for the 512GB or 1TB models. But with the prices so high, you might be wondering how much it costs Apple to build such a product. And now we might have the answer.

Apple obviously makes plenty of profit on such a device, but that doesn't mean that the Apple Vision Pro is cheap to make - far from it. Featuring two 4K HDR displays and an array of sensors and cameras, the Apple Vision Pro is a complex bit of kit. And according to a new report, it costs a cool $1,542 to build.

That's according to a CNBC report citing research firm Omdia, at least. The report says that the bill of materials for the headset is a costly one, with those 1.25-inch Sony microLED displays accounting for a good chunk of the money. The report notes that each display costs Apple $228 which means that each headset is full of $456 worth of displays alone.

The Apple Vision Pro has been on sale for a few weeks and it's already seen a couple of software updates land. But those updates haven't been big, feature-laden ones and that will instead likely come later this year. If Apple follows the pattern that we expect, the visionOS 2.0 software update will be announced at WWDC in June before being released to the public in September. And a new concept posted to the X social network gives us some ideas of what we could see. Or, at the very least, some new features that we would like to see Apple add in a later software update.

The new concept was shared by Parker Ortolani and includes a number of improvements to the Home Screen, notifications, multitasking, and more. And while it's unlikely that these changes will all arrive, it's clear that the Apple Vision Pro and visionOS software experience has already very much captured the imagination.

One of the first things that jumped out to us when looking at the concept is the ability to automatically unlock a paired iPhone when wearing the headset. With Face ID unavailable, having the headset automatically unlock the iPhone like an Apple Watch can would be a huge improvement.

The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset has only been on sale for a few weeks and hasn't yet reached a month on the market, but there are already a few issues starting to crop up. Thankfully, most of those issues appear to be software-related which means that Apple will be able to fix them by releasing new updates over the coming weeks and months. But the latest issue to crop up is different, and it's a worrying one at that.

The issue at hand is a phenomenon that has started to crop up online and particularly on Reddit, with users reporting that their headsets are starting to crack. To be specific, the front cover glass that sits atop the EyeSight display is cracking in some instances, and seemingly of its own accord.

Users report that the headset's glass is cracking in a straight line around the halfway mark with no sudden impact or drops causing it. Some users say that their cracked glass was spotted after leaving the headset plugged in and charging and then returning to the device later. Others suggest that the crack could be related to the extra tension placed on the glass when the head straps are being tightened.

If you've just spent $3499 on Apple's revolutionary new Vision Pro headset, you'll want to at least try some games on it... this is where Apple has highlighted 12 of the 250 games that are designed for spatial computing that are available on the Apple Vision Pro through the Arcade game subscription service.

Apple explained: "Spatial games built specifically for Arcade on Apple Vision Pro unlock amazing new gameplay opportunities by blending digital content with the physical world. visionOS delivers powerful spatial experiences with a brand-new three-dimensional user interface and input system controlled entirely by a user's eyes, hands, and voice".

"Players are able to slice apples with their hands as their living room transforms into their very own dojo in Super Fruit Ninja, tee up the perfect shot as they move freely around a quirky golf course right in their home in WHAT THE GOLF?, escape into a mesmerizing audiovisual experience in Synth Riders, and so much more".