Topic: VR
HTC’s top Vive designer is leaving to work on Google Daydream – The Verge (Jan 26, 2017)
It’s musical chairs week in VR, with Hugo Barra leaving Xiaomi to head VR at Facebook, and now an HTC designer moving to Google to work on Daydream VR there. This is one of the hottest areas in tech, and it’s therefore no surprise that it would prompt moves between companies as ambitious people try to find roles in the sector. For HTC, which continues to struggle mightily on the smartphone front and has only a side business in VR, it may become increasingly difficult to attract and retain talent in the face of an onslaught from some of the biggest names in the business.
via The Verge
Facebook has hired former Xiaomi and Google exec Hugo Barra as its new virtual reality chief – Recode (Jan 26, 2017)
Earlier this week, Hugo Barra announced that he was leaving Xiaomi, and now the other shoe has dropped – he’ll be taking over as head of VR at Facebook. It looks like that will make him effectively CEO of Oculus, though I wonder whether he’ll also be responsible for some of the less platform-specific stuff Facebook is working on, like taking Facebook’s social experiences into VR (Mark Zuckerberg’s post about the news features a picture of him and Barra – still in China – together in such a VR environment). Facebook certainly wants to have a major stake in the next user interface, and sees that as VR, but also seems realistic about the fact that no one platform – Oculus or otherwise – will have a dominant role there, and so it needs to evolve Facebook for VR in a way that works on lots of different systems. Whether or not Barra will run this broader set of VR activities at Facebook, hiring him is a big coup for the company – he’s a well-known and well-respected name, especially among developers.
via Recode
I was a VR skeptic (and then my 7-year-old son gave it a try) – GeekWire (Jan 21, 2017)
This is a fun little piece, and strongly mirrors my experiences with my own kids. To some extent, every new gadget or screen-based experience is appealing to them, but VR does have a certain extra something – I think the immersiveness is a big party of that. The reality is that VR is one of those things that’s really hard to take seriously until you try it, but once you do try it, you immediately see potential there. The problem right now is that lots of people are probably having these Day 1 / Day 2 experiences with VR, but there really isn’t enough content out there right now for Day 3 onwards – the novelty wears off fast. Hopefully, it’ll come in time, but a lot of the challenge for VR is that many people will never get the first experience with it this 7-year-old had, and even those that do will quickly run out of things to watch.
via I was a VR skeptic (and then my 7-year-old son gave it a try) – GeekWire
What happened to virtual reality? – Business Insider (Jan 21, 2017)
This piece argues that VR is currently underperforming expectations, and hasn’t panned out the way many of its proponents hoped. In reality (no pun intended), I think most of the companies have been pretty realistic about the prospects for the current generation of VR technology – Facebook in particular has said it doesn’t expect Oculus sales to be material to its overall financial picture, for example. So this is as much about inflated expectations around VR that came from others – observers, proponents, fans – than from the companies themselves. But in some ways that doesn’t matter – the narrative was that VR was finally here and going mainstream, and now it’s becoming that VR is falling short of expectations. The first was misguided, and now the second flows from those misguided expectations rather than from actual performance in the market. VR is still at a very early stage, and though Samsung has sold 5 million mobile VR headsets, it’s mostly still a niche proposition today, limited largely to the hardcore gaming market. It’ll take both technological advances and much more compelling content to appeal to non-gamers.
via What happened to virtual reality? – Business Insider
Qualcomm’s new chip may finally get you to try VR – CNET (Jan 3, 2017)
Qualcomm’s new high-end mobile chip moves its product forward across a number of different categories, but it seems to be emphasizing the AR and VR aspects at its CES presentation. I’m looking forward to getting some more detail on this chip in a briefing later this week, but it looks like extending Qualcomm’s lead in this space at the high end.
via Qualcomm’s new chip may finally get you to try VR – CNET
Lenovo VR Headset Based on Windows Holographic For Close to $300 | Variety (Jan 3, 2017)
This will arguably be the year of piling on in VR, with many companies jumping on a bandwagon led by Sony, HTC, and Oculus. Lenovo, of course, has two possible routes to VR – mobile and PC-based. This article is about a PC solution, but at a price closer to some mobile VR technology than most of the PC stuff out there today. Microsoft does seem to be getting some big names on board, though of course we’re months from seeing how these products actually perform in the wild. See also this piece from The Verge with some more details.
via Lenovo VR Headset Based on Windows Holographic For Close to $300 | Variety
ESPN takes you inside a college football rivalry with VR (Dec 30, 2016)
Though high-quality gaming content exists, other top-notch content for VR is still pretty experimental, so seeing a brand like ESPN investing in VR content is a good sign. For this kind of thing, VR is obviously still a far better fit than AR, and immersive video content in general will be critical for taking VR beyond gaming.
via ESPN takes you inside a college football rivalry with VR
Check out live 360 video on Twitter | Twitter Blogs (Dec 28, 2016)
360 video has been mostly the province of Facebook when it comes to social networks, but Twitter (and Periscope) is now getting in on the action too. It obviously lends itself well to VR consumption too, though the focus for now is consumption through traditional channels. At a time when the things I feel Twitter most needs to do remain undone, it nonetheless keeps releasing new features, especially ones focused on live and video. I’m not sure how much this will move the needle as far as monetization or user growth, however.
via Check out live 360 video on Twitter | Twitter Blogs
Facebook’s Oculus has acquired an eye-tracking startup called The Eye Tribe – Recode (Dec 28, 2016)
Further confirmation that Facebook and its Oculus subsidiary are serious about advancing their VR technology. VR is finally starting to hit the mainstream, but there are still lots of areas where the technology can improve.
via Facebook’s Oculus has acquired an eye-tracking startup called The Eye Tribe – Recode
Magic Leap announces S. Fla expansion, 725 new jobs – South Florida Business Journal (Dec 28, 2016)
Magic Leap has been in the news a lot because it continues to be incredibly secretive about what it’s actually building, its demo videos have turned out to be entirely CGI, and it’s seen some recent executive departures. But this announcement is a sign that as far as the company is concerned, it’s full steam ahead. Magic Leap continues to be one of the biggest (potential) names in AR, while much of the attention is on VR, while Apple also appears to be leaning towards AR, so it’s an important test of whether that bet turns out to be a good one.
via Magic Leap announces S. Fla expansion, 725 new jobs – South Florida Business Journal
Jaunt VR App Launches on PlayStation VR | Variety (Dec 23, 2016)
Content remains a critical component of making VR both mainstream and successful, and Jaunt is one of the interesting companies making non-gaming VR content happen. Getting its content onto all the major platforms is a big step.
via Jaunt VR App Launches on PlayStation VR | Variety