Tag Archives: oculus

Samsung is killing off its XR apps

Samsung XR is being killed off, with the apps slowly bringing features to a close before fully terminating the service on Sept 30. From this week, 360-degree video is now unavailable, premium video purchases are suspended and updates have stopped for all Samsung XR and Samsung VR video clients, Samsung said Monday. From Jun 30, …

Read More »

Apple buys NextVR, which broadcasts sports and music in virtual reality

Virtual reality got a little more real Thursday, with news that Apple bought the VR streaming sports company NextVR. The California startup is mostly known for partnerships with the NBA and Wimbledon to stream live sports from specialized cameras set up courtside to people’s headsets at home. The effect is meant to make people feel as though they’re sitting in premium seats, …

Read More »

Supernatural VR fitness app worked me so hard I forgot to breathe

Supernatural, a new virtual reality fitness game you can play in your home, isn’t playing around. I sweat so hard I have to guzzle five glasses of water for every 15-minute workout. The first time I tried it, I was so sore the next morning I had trouble walking downstairs. I sometimes get so immersed bopping and throwing my arms …

Read More »

Tribeca’s VR film festival has arrived: How to watch on your headset

A rocket to space. A disturbing reflection on suicide. A struggle for work in South Korea. A fairy tale told in outer space? You never know what you’re going to get in the still-untamed world of 360-degree art films, and for years, I’d hop over to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York to check out a new collection via …

Read More »

Now is the perfect time to bring back phone VR

Once upon a time, everyone wanted us to use our phones as VR headsets. Do you remember this? There was the folding, giveaway Google Cardboard, that ended up in magazines and promo giveaways. There was Samsung’s Gear VR, sold alongside every Samsung phone. There was Google Daydream View. I wrote a eulogy for phone VR last year, because for the …

Read More »

HTC Vive Cosmos XR blends AR and VR using a snap

HTC and its Vive headsets have walked a strange middle ground in VR: not quite affordable mainstream, not fully enterprise, and still part of the SteamVR ecosystem alongside its competitor, the Valve Index. The Vive Cosmos, originally announced at CES 2019, continues that path, but is also taking things in a new direction. The Taiwanese company will make swappable faceplates for …

Read More »

Add 128GB of external storage to your iPhone or iPad for $26.77

You can never be too rich or too thin or have too much storage on your iPhone or iPad. What might have seemed like sufficient space when you bought the device can soon start to feel like not nearly enough. Suddenly there’s no more room for apps, photos, videos and the like. Fortunately, there’s an inexpensive way to expand the …

Read More »

Facebook reportedly expects Oculus hardware delays from the coronavirus

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Facebook’s popular virtual reality headset, Oculus Quest, has frequently been out of stock. Now supplies of the headset may face more delays due to the coronavirus, which could affect production of the hardware.   The virus has killed nearly 640 people and infected …

Read More »

Eye tracking is the next phase for VR, ready or not

Virtual reality seems like it’s undergone a dramatic refocusing over the past year: away from PCs, and toward do-it-all self-contained headsets like the groundbreaking Oculus Quest. A very Oculus Quest-like standalone VR headset ended up on my face at CES in Las Vegas, one of a number of VR demos I tried at the show. The Pico Neo 2 Eye …

Read More »

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners explores undead New Orleans in VR

If you’re looking for a little VR survival horror action, you can take a stab at The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. It hit Steam and the Oculus Store on Thursday, and you can play with Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest (this requires a Link cable) and HTC Vive. It’ll reach PlayStation VR in the spring, with an Oculus …

Read More »