Tag Archives: augmented-reality

Qualcomm is building a bridge between phones and smart glasses. Here’s how it will work

A ton of companies are racing to get people interconnecting in an immersive metaverse using smart glasses. Right now, few even exist that can work with the phones in our pockets, though. Qualcomm’s latest initiative called Snapdragon Spaces seeks to act as the glue between phones and future smart glasses, with a focus on supporting …

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Microsoft Teams is getting avatars, launching in VR and AR next year

There really isn’t a “Zoom for VR” yet, despite many companies working on offering virtual meeting rooms. The mainstream work tools most people use haven’t made the leap. Facebook, which is trying to push its entire company into the metaverse, doesn’t have one yet. Meanwhile, Microsoft is finally pushing Teams into a VR/AR-bridged tool that’s arriving in beta form in the …

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Meta’s chief of Metaverse tells us what the future holds for the former Facebook

Facebook was renamed as Meta this week, as part of a broad push to focus on the cross-device multiverse vision for social networking that Mark Zuckerberg has talked about for months. The name change, announced at the company’s developer-focused Connect virtual conference, happened in the same week that a cache of internal documents pointed to Facebook’s role in perpetuating hate speech, …

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Facebook, pivoting to Meta, wants to pivot the Oculus Quest and AR too

The Oculus Quest (soon to be Meta Quest) started as a head-mounted game console, but now its parent company Facebook (renamed Meta) is trying to push the platform further by connecting with you across VR headsets, AR headsets, metaverse avatars and in other ways. The timing for the annual VR- and AR-focused Facebook Connect conference couldn’t be worse, with the …

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Facebook goes Meta: What is the metaverse and why is Big Tech obsessed?

This story is part of Making the Metaverse, CNET’s exploration of the next stage in the internet’s evolution. Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash is about a pizza delivery man by day, VR superhero by night, who lives in an online universe called the Metaverse. “So Hiro’s not actually here at all. He’s in a computer-generated universe that his computer …

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Facebook, now Meta, is expanding smart glasses research into cars via BMW

Facebook (now renamed Meta) is still trying to make AR-enabled, AI-assisted smart glasses happen. The company announced plans to field-test its camera and sensor-studded Project Aria research glasses in more places, with neural input wristbands, and even in cars. These plans for even more data-hungry glasses were announced during a week where a trove of leaked internal documents has reignited …

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Facebook says it’s developing true AR glasses

Facebook is working on a pair of true augmented reality glasses under an effort that it’s calling Project Nazaré. The social network announced the project during its Facebook Connect keynote on Thursday. The company says that while there’s still a lot of work to be done, people will eventually be able to use the glasses to do things like host an AR …

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Disney’s pop

After scanning a circular code on a movie poster with my iPhone, a preview button popped up showing a cloud of Eternals characters hovering in the air above my desk. An app download invitation followed that. Disney’s AR tie-in to its new Marvel movie, Eternals, is an iOS-exclusive demo that aims to be for augmented reality-based movie tie-ins what virtual …

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Oculus Quest 2 is a great game console. Can it be more?

The year has gone by in a blink and, throughout it, Facebook’s VR headset remains one of my favorite pieces of tech. As Facebook pushes to reinvent itself, perhaps even rename itself amid recent turmoil, and makes a new wave of AR/VR communication the backbone of a metaverse, the Oculus Quest 2 seems like the little $300 device at the center …

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Facebook’s 3D social metaverse will be partly built in Europe

Facebook will be building its metaverse out of Europe — at least in part. The company announced in a blog post Monday that it will be hiring around 10,000 people from within the EU to fill highly skilled roles working on Horizon Worlds, a 3D virtual play space, over the next five years. The idea of a metaverse — a …

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