Virtual reality was the talk of the show floor at Computex in Taiwan this year. HTC was showing off three slick new VR experiences for its Vive headset, Microsoft was talking up the future of Windows Holographic, and we saw plenty of new VR headsets and even VR-friendly backpacks. But it wouldn’t be a trade …
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Oculus’ upcoming improvements to the Samsung Gear VR headset will happen step by step, not in one fell swoop. When you add up the plans, which Oculus shared with press at a small event in San Francisco earlier this week, you start getting a sense of where the company wants to take VR, both on the phone-based Gear VR and …
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When CNET opened its San Francisco offices for its first VR day, more than 1,000 readers signed up to try out this new technology. Now Oculus, one of the leading makers of virtual-reality headsets, which Facebook bought for $2 billion, is working with Best Buy to offer demonstrations to customers at its stores starting May 7. The company said it …
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The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive aren’t as different as you’d think. Both top-tier VR headsets use a pair of lenses to magnify a pair of screens that display images from similarly powerful gaming PCs. And now, you can play games designed for the Oculus Rift on the HTC Vive, too — even games that were supposedly exclusive to the …
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Facebook wants you to take a selfie in virtual reality. The social networking giant is building apps that make it easy to share photos with people using its Oculus Rift headsets, which put a screen so close to people’s eyes that it tricks them into thinking they’re actually in a computer-generated world. One app the company showed off at its …
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Download the audio version of today’s episode:Facebook Messenger isn’t just for friends. It’s also for having awkward conversations with company chatbots. Mark Zuckerberg revealed some examples of how bots will operate in Messenger, along with other ways Facebook is expanding its reach. Watch CNET Update below for a quick recap of the biggest news from Facebook’s F8 conference: Now playing: …
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I’m a virtual dreamer. Hardware makers are flooding the market with virtual reality headsets and computers powerful enough to render the detailed graphics they display. VR is filled with immersive and expansive promise. It’s most definitely the future. But it isn’t reality. Reality involves the simultaneous experience of multiple senses. When I walk on the beach, I feel the dampness …
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Tyler flew to San Francisco from Kansas for the day just to test out the Oculus Rift. Stephanie tried the HTC Vive to see if it was as immersive as it’s been billed by reviewers. And Jesse stood in line three times so he could try out the Rift, Vive and Samsung’s Gear VR. It’s been a big few weeks …
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You may not choose to dissect your new $600 Oculus Rift VR to see what makes it tick. But anyone who needs to go inside to make repairs shouldn’t find the effort overly taxing. Released this week, the first consumer version of Facebook’s Oculus Rift virtual reality headset immerses you in a 3D world where you can play games, explore …
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The future of tech is here, and it may not be as much fun as you think. To join in, you’ll need to strap a black, 1.5-pound mask to your face so you can have an out-of-body-like experience that might make you vomit. There’s also the chance you’ll trip on the 13-foot-long cord that connects the device to a PC. …
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