Facebook (now rebranded as Meta) has a new VR headset in the works, but it’s not designed as a replacement to the Quest 2. Think of it more as a more expensive, future-forward pro model. At the company’s developer-focused Connect conference, amid broad news of the company’s plans for a cross-device metaverse and next-generation smart glasses (and a name change as …
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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 …
Read More »Meta: Facebook’s new name focuses on metaverse
Facebook wants to look toward the future, and it’s taking on a new name to emphasize that. Facebook is renaming itself Meta. After weeks of intense scrutiny brought on after a whistleblower leaked thousands of internal research documents and memos to regulators, lawmakers and the press, Facebook tried to turn a page by focusing on its futuristic technology. To Mark …
Read More »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 …
Read More »Varjo Aero aims to push the envelope for high
How good can VR look? That answer has a sliding scale. Most everyday headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 look sharper and better than ever; others, like the HP Reverb G2, take another leap for simulation accuracy. Then there’s the Varjo Aero, a $1,990 headset arriving by the end of this year — where image quality (and price for the non-business …
Read More »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 …
Read More »HTC Vive Flow wants to be your portable VR escape glasses
It has been six years since HTC made its first VR headset. But the company’s latest product, the Vive Flow, takes a totally new approach. The phone-connected VR glasses, coming later this year for $500, can make their own prescription adjustments. That means you don’t need to wear glasses at all, provided the Flow’s prescription-adjusting range fits your eyes. And, …
Read More »HTC’s new VR headset appears to have leaked days before reveal
HTC is widely expected to unveil its new Vive Flow VR headset on Thursday, but we may already have an idea of what it looks like, thanks to images posted by prolific leaker Evan Blass. The first batch of images Blass posted to Twitter appears to show the headset with a tether connection to another device, perhaps something portable like …
Read More »iPhone 13 is further proof that the phone is quietly turning into an AR machine
If Apple made one thing clear during Tuesday’s iPhone 13 launch event, it’s that the cameras and processors on these new phones are going to be a big deal. Apple’s keynote even included a short film by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and cinematographer Greig Fraser that was shot on the iPhone 13 Pro to show off its new camera tricks. …
Read More »Virtual Mark Zuckerberg showed me Facebook’s new VR workplace
I got to meet Mark Zuckerberg two days ago, during a meeting in a conference room along with a handful of other tech reporters. He talked about the metaverse and the future of work. That’s not all that unusual. What was unusual is that the CEO of Facebook beamed into our demo session on a shaft of light — and was a …
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