This story is part of The Year Ahead, CNET’s look at how the world will continue to evolve starting in 2022 and beyond. Anyone who tells you what the metaverse will be is either guessing or kidding themselves. “The topic lately fills me with frustration,” says CNET’s Scott Stein, our resident expert on virtual worlds. …
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As far as Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts were concerned, it was pretty slim pickings when it came to the Oculus Quest 2. The best we saw was a free gift card with purchase, but no actual drops in price. While the 128GB model stubbornly remains at $299, if you’re committed to getting your hands on one of these …
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It’s been two years since Facebook — now Meta — first showed off its VR metaverse app, Horizon Worlds. The app, which was in private beta until now, is at last open to the public starting Thursday. The virtual meeting space and gaming hub is a familiar mix of existing VR social apps such as Rec Room, AltSpace VR and VRChat, but its …
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When co-founder Jack Dorsey returned to Twitter as chief executive in 2015, he made it clear the social media company needed to constantly reinvent itself. “The world needs a Twitter that not only remains relevant,” Dorsey said during a conference call that year, “but thrives and continues to redefine what came before it.” Parag Agrawal became Twitter CEO with Jack …
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VR visuals can only look so good, given current display technology, and we may already be approaching their limit. But what about our other senses? Facebook parent Meta’s dream of an immersive metaverse makes big promises, but current VR interactivity is limited. The Oculus Quest’s controllers, for example, still feel more appropriate for gaming than work. After immersive video, mixed …
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Facebook is adding new tools designed to let creators make more money from their work, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post Wednesday. He also took the opportunity to once again call out the 30% cut Apple takes on transactions, saying it makes life harder for creators. Facebook is adding a promotional link for creators offering a subscription and letting them …
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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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Apple’s long-rumored AR-VR headset may be arriving next year. According to a new report from notable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone-maker is aiming to put Wi-Fi 6 and 6E support into the device, which could arrive at some point towards the end of 2022. In a note to investors, spotted by MacRumors, Kuo writes that Meta (formerly Facebook), Sony and …
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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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This story is part of Making the Metaverse, CNET’s exploration of the next stage in the internet’s evolution. Facebook’s iconic thumbs-up sign at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters now bears a blue infinity-shaped symbol along with a new name: Meta. The corporate rebranding, unveiled Thursday at Facebook’s Connect conference, is part of Facebook’s headlong sprint into the metaverse, a virtual …
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