As VR and AR keep accelerating, companies making creative virtual world apps like Horizon Worlds and VRChat are finding a wild and sometimes hard-to-govern mix of user-made spaces that are sprouting up fast. In the world of AR, we might start seeing shared virtual experiences, too, overlaid with places in the physical world. Snap’s AR …

For the first time since 2020, Apple unveiled an updated iPad Air. (Read our full review of the 2022 iPad Air here.) Introduced at the company’s “Peek Performance” event last week, the new, nearly 11-inch tablet is outfitted with 5G support, an M1 processor and a Center Stage front-facing camera. For now, the iPad Pro 2021 is the 2022 Air’s closest …

The iPad Pro, iPad and iPad Mini all received an update last year, but Apple forgot the iPad Air. That is, until Tuesday, when the company announced a new iPad Air during its “Peek Performance” event. It looks like it was worth the wait — and, maybe, the best iPad for its price. iPad Air $559 at Amazon The Air …

VR has a kid problem right now. As more children use headsets like the Oculus Quest 2, there are more kids entering social VR platforms and chats where almost no kid profiles or safety settings currently exist. Meanwhile, harassment in the metaverse is turning into an increasing problem. HTC’s new Vive Guardian feature, announced today, looks like a small step in …

Several months after Meta’s Horizon Worlds social VR app entered public beta, Meta is starting to exhibit metaverse art experiences made with its own metaverse tools. A project created by VR sculptor Gabe Gault is the first of what Meta describes as a series of cultural and art experiences that will be launching inside Horizon Worlds. Gault’s work, called “I Am …

A new wave of VR headsets is expected this year: the PlayStation VR 2, Meta’s pro-level VR headset called Project Cambria and maybe Apple’s long-rumored device. There’s one thing all of them will likely have in common: eye tracking. The kind of consumer VR headsets you could buy for everyday use haven’t had eye tracking before. Yes, there are headsets that …

As many tech companies tout metaverse concepts that promise new ways to virtually interact, existing virtual worlds are starting to enforce new policies to deal with behavior problems that are already happening. AltspaceVR, a social virtual worlds platform acquired by Microsoft in 2017, is making changes to protect visitors. Some of those changes include shutting down public spaces that AltspaceVR has used …

Maybe Samsung’s newest Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra should have been a Chrome tablet, instead of an Android tablet. The massively large-screened 14.6-inch tablet looks practically laptop-size with its keyboard. But looking at this new tablet being announced at Samsung’s latest Unpacked event, it reminded me of how many features it has that iPads — even the iPad Pro — still lack. …

Samsung’s latest smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 4, runs a new OS codeveloped with Google. But, despite promises of better Google integration, it didn’t support Google Assistant when it launched. That will change soon: You’ll be able to ditch Bixby and use Google Assistant in the “coming months,” according to news from Samsung alongside its latest S22 phones and tablets at …

Apple is bullish on lidar, a technology that’s in the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro, and Apple’s iPad Pro models since 2020. Look closely at the rear camera arrays on these devices and you’ll see a little black dot near the camera lenses, about the same size as the flash. That’s the lidar sensor, and it delivers a …