Hardware

Valve Index VR Headset Coming this Fall

Valve has recently announced their upcoming next gen headset the Valve Index, an impressive display and improvement over the HTC Vive series and in the words of Valve, “Fidelity first.” The full package including headset, base stations and controllers comes in at a price-tag of $999 which can be Pre-Ordered on Steam. Shipping dates off Steam say September, but that’s also subject to change.

The headset this time around isn’t going OLED but instead LCD with a resolution improvement of 1440×1600 per display instead of the standard 1080×1200. The Vive Pro also has the same resolution at 1440×1600 but isn’t LCD, and from what Valve has said, LCD offers 50% more sub-pixels then OLED, resulting in greater sharpness for the same rendering cost.

The Valve Index Headset runs at 120Hz with full back-compatibility to 90Hz, as well as an experimental 144Hz mode. Higher framerates improve realism and optical comfort, allowing longer and more comfortable play sessions.

The Valve Index will also come with a much improved FOV, physically adjustable IPD (distance between eyes) and eye relief (distance from lens to eye) lets you optimize the field of view for your face. With these features, as well as the dual-element lens and canted optics, this headset provides 20° more FOV than the HTC Vive for typical users.

As for the Cameras on the Valve Index, it includes stereo, global-shutter RGB cameras made for computer vision, enabling applications like high-quality stereo pass-through. Also there’s a front expansion slot for a USB 3 Type-A port – specifically made for tinkerers and makers. Valve said more details about this will be coming in the near future, but it seems like they’re giving game devs, nerds and the curious a means to potentially “mod” or “tinker” with the device, pretty cool…

The audio also seems much improved from previous designs, this time offering “off-ear immersion” where the headphones don’t physically touch the ear, allowing sound to freely flow and interact with the geometry of your own head and ears.

Also no physical contact means cooler temperatures and a big improvement in comfort, each speaker’s position is also adjustable to find the sweet-spot if needed.

The controllers for the Valve Index have also been re-designed to enable natural interactions, high-fidelity hand presence, and long-term comfort from what Valve said. Valve Index Controllers combine complex sensor inputs to give you smarter hands in VR, unlocking a wide variety of new interactions, experiences, and gestures. Each controller uses 87 sensors to track hand position, finger position, motion, and pressure to determine user intent.

The Valve Index Base Stations 2.0 will offer more coverage, increased range and FOV. From what Valve said, with two base stations you can enjoy a 400% larger play space, compared to the previous generation. The Base Stations are also expandable, you can add a 3rd or 4th base station if needed to cover a tricky spot or to enhance the experience in bigger rooms and areas.

Compatibility Note: Valve Index Base Stations are only compatible with 2.0 tracking capable hardware. This currently includes Valve Index and HTC Vive Pro hardware.

Tech Specs for The Valve Index Headset:

Displays

Dual 1440 x 1600 LCDs, full RGB per pixel, ultra-low persistence global backlight illumination (0.330ms at 144Hz)

Framerate

80/90/120/144Hz

Audio

Built-in: 37.5mm off-ear Balanced Mode Radiators (BMR), Frequency Response: 40Hz – 24KHz, Impedance: 6 Ohm, SPL: 98.96 dBSPL at 1cm.

Aux Headphone Out 3.5mm

Microphone

Dual Microphone Array, Frequency response: 20Hz – 24kHz, Sensitivity: -25dBFS/Pa @ 1kHz

Cameras

Stereo 960 x 960 pixel, global shutter, RGB (Bayer)

Field of View (FOV)

Optimized eye relief adjustment allows a typical user experience 20º more than the HTC Vive

Optics

Double element, canted lens design

Connections

5m tether, 1m breakaway trident connector. USB 3.0, DisplayPort 1.2, 12V power

Tracking

SteamVR 2.0 sensors, compatible with SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 base stations

Inter-pupillary Distance (IPD)

58mm – 70mm range physical adjustment

Ergonomic Adjustments

Head size, eye relief (FOV), IPD, speaker positions. Rear cradle adapter included.

Tech Specs for the Valve Index Controllers:

Inputs

A Button, B Button, System Button, Trigger, Thumbstick, Track Button with Force Sensor, Grip Force Sensor, Finger Tracking, IMU

Ergonomics

Adjustable strap with pivot, antimicrobial tech fabric

Connections

USB-C, 2.4GHz Wireless

Battery Life

7+ hours

Charging

900mA fast charging, 1100mAh capacity Li-Ion polymer battery

Tracking

SteamVR 2.0 sensors, compatible with SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 Base Stations

Haptics

HD LRA

Tech Specs for Valve Index Base Station 2.0:

Range

FOV

160º x 115º

Expandability

Up to four base stations, up 10m x 10m playspace

Power

12V, compatible with existing HTC Vive power supply

May 18, 2019 0 comment

Exclusive Hardware News

Oculus Quest Announced for Spring 2019

written by Evan Marcus

Wireless VR is upon us folks and the Oculus Quest will be one of the first truly wireless HMD’s on the market at a price of $399 without those annoying cords! Of course the HTC Vive Pro will also have wireless capabilities but at a much higher starting price targeted at more of the hardcore gamer crowd, and the current Oculus Go is wireless but with overall lower specs. Granted the official move to wireless VR was just a matter of time and much needed in the space to move things forward.

The Oculus Quest will be a full standalone VR system with positional tracking and hand controllers. The Quest requires no PC, no wires, and no external sensors, not to mention 50 titles to start with for launch. Also apparently the tracking range is huge at 4000 square feet of space from what Barra described. Barra also mentioned porting games from the Rift to the Quest will be an easy feat, so we shall see.

Oculus Insight is the breakthrough technology that powers inside-out tracking, Guardian, and Touch controller tracking. This system uses four ultra wide-angle sensors and computer vision algorithms to track your exact position in real time without any external sensors.

The Oculus Quest will provide a display resolution of 1600×1440 per eye which is on par with the Oculus Go. Oculus Quest has also boosted their built-in audio with enhanced sounds and deeper bass. Overall, the Rift is still the most powerful which connects to a PC through a graphics card, while the Oculus Go is more affordable and easier to jump into VR, the Oculus Quest seems to be a nice fit in between the Go and the Rift.

The Quest is definitely a good mid tier move for Oculus and most likely will bring in many new people to VR. Now that Oculus has 3 products with 3 different price ranges, it definitely paves the way for mainstream VR on their platform.

Another exciting note is the planned titles for the Oculus Quest, not just VR games but a broad variety of genres which should please most people. One of the big ones is the Star Wars Exclusive ‘Vader Immortal‘ which is a VR series launching on the Oculus Quest in 2019. There’s many more titles planned like a Dark Knight Trilogy, Call of Duty and Blade as well.

March 3, 2019 0 comment

Exclusive Hardware Syndicated

VR, AR, AI, LBVR Summer Sizzles

written by Charlie Fink

There was so much compelling news in the world of VR and AR this July I couldn’t possibly cover it all with the usual depth and relish to which readers have become accustomed. This is one of those cases where by the time I returned from vacation most of the July recap below wasn’t really news anymore but this news, taken as a group, is a testament to the continued entrepreneurial energy being lavished on immersive tech and illustrates how things come over the transom to me in no particular order.

This story contains news and commentary about new tricks from old dogs, like Dave & Busters, and new companies we’ve never heard of, like Looking Glass, who are developing Digital Assistants, Artificial Intelligence, and new Motion Capture techniques.

Jurassic World LBVR at Dave & Busters

Dave & Busters launched Jurassic World VR motion platform experience at all 111 Dave & Buster’s domestic locations. I spent an hour in Dave & Buster’s in Times Square last Wednesday and went through the simulation twice. It’s terrific. Best 5 minutes of VR $5 will ever buy you. D&B is not terribly crowded, as you would expect, at 9pm on a weeknight, but there was a crowd of thirty people waiting to board the bonafide theme park quality ride in the midst of the massive arcade. People loved it. Grandmothers and six-year-olds. Loved. It. Screaming their heads off and very, very present in Jurassic World. And they didn’t shoot anything but pictures.

Kudos to Dave & Buster’s for cooking the whole deal up with Universal Studios, The Virtual Reality Company, which did the content, and motion platform integration, and to VRStudios which provided the VRcade Attraction Management Platform.

I spent some time wandering around D&B and playing games after experiencing Jurrasic World, courtesy of a very generous D&B manager. None of these amusements compared to the experience just had. The VRCompany informs me they have already had 0ver 600 thousand patrons. Doing some quick math, that’s a gross of three million dollars and counting. No wonder people are excited about Location Based VR.

Meet Looking Glass – AR on Your Desktop Without Glasses

I had a chance to meet with Looking Glass Factory co-founder and CEO Shawn Frayne who gave me a demo of Looking Glass’ Holographic desktop Display for volumetric content. The device, targeting 3D content creators, is available for pre-order in limited quantities on Kickstarter until August 24th. I usually don’t write about Kickstarter campaigns, having been burned more than once, but in this case, I tried the product and recommend it without hesitation. It’s compatible with 3D creation programs like Maya, Unity, and Blender.

Look ma! No glasses! It’s a real Hologram on my desk.

The AR display allows users to preview 3D objects, characters, and models and show them to clients, coworkers, or audiences without a headset. Most importantly, with its 50-degree field of view, a number of people can view the 3D simultaneously. Frayne told me the image is created with light field and volumetric display technology which creates 45 views of the object. Coupled with a Leap Motion Controller, the 3D objects displayed can be manipulated with the users’ hands.

Looking Glass passed its Kickstarter goal of $50,000 in a couple of hours. $509,969 has been pledged so far. Models will start shipping in September and continue as inventory is replenished from China through December. After the pre-order window is over, the Standard (8.9 inch) model is $600 and the Large (15.9 inch) goes for $3,000.

The Brooklyn, NY startup has raised $13 million in funding from investors like Brad Feld’s Foundry Group, Lux Capital, SOSV, and Uncork Capital.

Sanar – Intel – Smithsonian Create Virtual Burning Man

Intel, The Smithsonian and Sansar have teamed up to bring the art of Burning Man into VR.

Jason Gholston and Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) Curator Nora Atkinson met me in a virtual replica in Sansar of SAAM’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC, to share their current exhibit, “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man”. Unlike the exhibit in IRL this show will never close. Intel provided a valuable assist by processing the photogrammetric capture of the pieces in the exhibit, while massive virtual world Sansar provided the VR platform for the virtual gallery. I would note you can enter Sansar on your laptop. You do not need a VR rig to see this, although that is the best experience.

Burning Man is an annual event in the western United States at Black Rock City – a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada, approximately 100 miles north-northeast of Reno. I’ve always wanted to go. The exclusive annual event is a veritable nerd Woodstock, where art and technology meet in the desert for exhibitions, events, and community. One of the striking qualities of the exhibition is the scale of the art there. People cavort in colorful costumes around the large-scale art and working conceptual contraptions. In addition, many art pieces are mobile and/or interactive and some even travel around to many of the hundreds of campsites formed by the convergence of thousands of RVs and campers. Tickets to Burning Man are sold by lottery on their website. Many are re-sold on StubHub, Craigslist, and eBay for hundreds of dollars over face value. If you’re inclined to pay a premium, you can still go later this month: Burning Man takes place on the 26th of August through the 4th of September.

In VR, the art doesn’t have to be trapped in gallery but can reside instead in its native habitat in the Nevada desert.

With support from Intel and Sansar (which is part of Linden Lab, which created and operates Second Life), SAAM was able to virtually recreate pieces from the exhibition in striking detail, at realistic scale, heretofore unachievable without being present at Burning Man.

Photogrammetry was used to capture the museum pieces, which include a sixty-foot tall metal statue of a woman, and a fully operational antique bus converted into a cinema. Photogrammetry is a process of capturing spaces and things with thousands of still photos taken from numerous angles. The images are crunched by a program that stitches the photos together into a detailed 3D space or object, which can be edited and enhanced.

Behind-the-scenes videos from the making of this experience, developed by Intel’s in-house creative team, Agency Inside, are available on YouTube:

The art of access, featuring the exhibit’s curator, Nora Atkinson

The art of The art of ‘Truth is Beauty’, featuring artist Marco Cochrane

The art of photogrammetry, featuring Academy award-winning photogrammetrist, Greg Downing

Lenovo’s New Smart Home Device Delivers Google’s Suite Of Digital Assistants

Lenovo opened a new front in the virtual assistant war between the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Enter the new Lenovo Smart Display with Google Assistant, which hit the shelves of major retailers (but not Amazon) last week. Like the Amazon Echo Show, the Smart Display addresses the “pain point” of speaker-only assistants. “We think the Smart Display can be the home’s IoT control center,” Lenovo’s Carly Okerfelt, Senior Product Manager, told me during a demo July 19th.

With Google Assistant as the interface you can control your nest with Nest.

The Smart Display is sleek. There’s no battery. No keyboard. It’s not a pad. It’s a smart speaker with a screen. You use your voice for just about everything from, setting calendar reminders, making to-do lists, pulling up old Google Photos, and listening to music or podcasts. If you’ve got a Nest enabled home, you’ll be able to access the remote cameras, shut off the lights, and set the thermostat.

Lenovo extols use cases like finding recipes for cooking, listening to the news, pulling up directions, and easily connecting to Duo, Google’s answer to Facetime. As a kitchen assistant, the Lenovo Smart Display utilizes Google apps you may never have heard of, like Google Shopping Lists, and Google Expenses. Reviewers from The Verge, Cnet, Digital Trends, and TechRadar singled out the kitchen assistant abilities of the Smart Display. After all, how can you scroll to a Youtube video or a recipe with your hands covered in cake batter?

Let your voice do the scrolling while your hands are covered with flour.

The screen can provide a richer experience around using a voice assistant. Ask for nearby restaurants and the Lenovo Smart Display shows you a list of options while the embedded Google Assistant reads them off. You can use your finger or your voice to get more specific venue information, such as directions and pictures. You can also use Lenovo’s display to make video calls or watch videos on YouTube.

The stylish Smart Display comes in two flavors, a $249 10″ screen or an 8″ priced at $199. The 7″ Echo show lists for $229, but Amazon is the only place selling it at that price. It has recently been discounted at Best Buy and Macy’s by $100 to $129.

At the same time, Mayfield Robotics announced this week the premature passing of its uber disappointing Kuri, the doe-eyed $800 home robot, basically Smart Display on wheels. I feel bad for the first adopters who took a chance on Kuri, believing the company’s claim it had developed a robust ecosystem for new apps.

Happier times. Two months ago. 2 May 2018; Kaijen Hsiao, CTO, Mayfield Robotics with Kuri the robot on the AutoTech & Talk Robot stage during day two of Collision 2018 in New Orleans. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Human Interact Lab Is Building The AI Platform Of The Future

Yao Huang, CEO of Venture Capital Group and Incubator The Hatchery, is an International Business Consultant with strong ties to China. She has an impressive record of brokering deals between large Western companies and the Chinese government.

Yao and I were recently introduced by a mutual friend, and she was kind enough to give me a crash course in AI two weeks ago over soup dumplings in Manhattan. Yao is personally leading The Hatchery’s investment in Chicago-based, Human Interact, and acting as its CEO.

Yao Huang, CEO of Hatchery VC and Human Interact, which is creating AI applications for numerous business vertical.

Human Interact is building an AI platform with tech that originated at Microsoft. This short video explains it better than I can (link). And this short video (link) shows off Human Interact’s amazing AI-enabled VR experience, Starship Commander, which Human Interact developed to demonstrate the power of the platform they are building. It’s the dialogue, the ability to talk to the character that’s so interesting and potentially disruptive to so many verticals.

Holosuit Offers The First Full Body Motion Capture Suit & Gloves

Finally, I just gotta give a shout out to Kaaya Tech, led by CEO Harsha Kikkeri, who has finally made a full body mo-cap suit, including jacket or jersey, pants, gloves and haptic feedback, for cheap. The whole suit is $1,399, and the gloves alone $99 and will interface via Bluetooth or WiFi with any computer, tablet, smartphone or XR device. Their successful Kickstarter just ended, but the gear is for sale at their website https://www.holosuit.com/h_s_shop/.

With CEO of Kaayatech Harsha Kikkeri checking out the data glove and mo-cap suit.

Kikkeri, a former Microsoft executive who worked in the robotics division, has bootstrapped the entire project. In addition to the traditional B-to-B market for prosumer mo-cap solutions, the company envisions diverse use cases for training, medicine, and leisure. Kaaya Tech has partnerships in place for factory training, military simulation training and disaster response, surgery and paramedic training, a cricket academy and game development.

“The controller remains the Achilles heel of mixed reality, with cumbersome and unnatural handheld devices only tracking your hand movement in a limited range,” said Kikkeri. “We designed HoloSuit from the ground up to provide an unparalleled immersive, full-body and bidirectional AR/VR/MR experience.” Rocking my High Fidelity avatar with a full body mo-cap suit is something I can’t wait to try.

Charlie Fink is a former Disney & AOL exec and Forbes columnist. In the 90s, he ran VR pioneer Virtual World. He’s the author of Charlie Fink’s Metaverse, An AR Enabled Guide to VR & AR.

August 7, 2018 0 comment

Education Exclusive Hardware

Vive Libraries Program launches in California and Nevada

written by Evan Marcus

HTC Vive has recently announced the Vive Libraries Program, which will start bringing VR to over 100 libraries in California and Nevada. Vive has donated 100 Vive headsets to public libraries across the state bringing VR to more people.

“This generous contribution by Vive is helping bring a virtual world of adventure and learning to communities across California. As more virtual reality stations take root across our library system, we are seeing positive learning impacts and visitors that are genuinely excited about technology and education.”

— Greg Lucas, California State Librarian

On the content side, Vive Studios has developed over 35 VR titles on the educational and experimental front, which will be available on the Viveport platform. This is a generous step in the right direction for individuals that don’t have access to premium VR content and great overall for libraries to adapt moving forward. Hopefully this can reach every state on the national level but it’s a good start. Below are titles that will be available in the Vive Libraries Program including a video.

Vive Libraries Program Content List

Adventures in Space

Amazon Odyssey

Ancient Adventures

Berlin Wall: The Virtual Reality Experience

Beyond Tokyo

Buzz Aldrin: Cycling Pathways to Mars

Calcflow

COSM Worlds within Worlds

Earthlight VR: Spacewalk

Everest VR

Jam Studio VR

Lifeliqe VR Museum

Lumen

Lunar Learning & Earthly Robots

MakeVR Pro

Mars Odyssey

Masterpiece VR

Masters of Design

Modigliani VR: The Ochre Atelier

Newton’s House of Forces

Oceans of Wonder

Operation Apex

Rad Robots

Realities.io

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Remind VR: Daily Meditation

SculptrVR

Stonehenge VR

Super Puzzle Galaxy

Take Flight!

The Night Cafe: A VR Tribute to Van Gogh

The Physiology of the Eye

TrueScale

Unabomber: The Virtual Reality Experience

Unbound

Wisemind

June 21, 2018 0 comment

Hardware News

Qualcomm Announces New XR1 Platform giving portable AR/VR a major boost

written by Evan Marcus

Qualcomm has announced its XR1 platform that will give portable VR a major boost. Currently the Oculus GO is using an older Qualcomm chip (Snapdragon 821 Processor) that is more along the lines of smartphone use, but the XR1 will bring AR and VR applications closer to the levels of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. This is a big step in the right direction for portable VR and should help advance higher end AR/VR projects at a cheaper price.

FILE PHOTO: One of many Qualcomm buildings is shown in San Diego, California, U.S. on November 3, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

The XR1 chip will provide higher resolution 4K display while allowing the user to be more inside the space with 360 degree viewing, granted its all dependent on what manufacturers decide to do with the chip. Oculus GO should see a nice boost once they implement the XR1 and hopefully other portable devices will utilize the higher end chip for AR/VR needs.

The XR1 chip should see the light of day around early 2019 depending on how things pan out, but overall this gives companies a cheaper alternative and a higher end portable solution which is much needed in the space.

May 30, 2018 0 comment

Entertainment Hardware News

HTC Vive Pro Official Release Date Pre-Orders & Price Announced!

written by Evan Marcus

Well it’s official folks, the HTC Vive Pro has been announced with an official release date, pre-orders have opened up and the price of $799.00 has been confirmed. The bad news…It’s just the headset only, no controllers or extras that we know of at this time.

What’s included right now? The HTC Vive Pro will include the headset, cleaning cloth, link box, power adapter, DisplayPort cable, USB 3.0 cable, mounting pad, user guide, safety guide and warranty card.

In the future we’ll most likely see bundles for the HMD with controllers and other accessories, but right now it seems to be just the basics. Even so, for us this is still incredibly exciting, going from tethered and hardlined VR to “soon to be” wireless is a massive step forward for the VR space as a whole and comes at a perfect time right after the theatrical release for Ready Player One on March 29th.

*Nobody will get truly wireless VR with the HTC Vive Pro until the wireless adapter is released, but the updated resolution and hardware from the Vive Pro will be a good start.

Speaking of Ready Player One, HTC Vive and Warner Bros announced a strategic partnership in which HTC Vive will be the exclusive VR partner for all content. Vive will produce multiple pieces of VR content tied to the world of Ready Player One and will be available on the Viveport platform. Read the full press release here

If you want to Pre-Order the HTC Vive Pro, you can do so here: https://www.vive.com/us/product/vive-pro/

VIVE PRO SPECS

Unprecedented presence with Hi-Res and 3D spatial audio
Stay immersed comfortably with higher display resolution, easy-to-use headset & cable design, and improved ergonomics
Chaperone technology
Free to move around wirelessly with VIVE Wireless Adapter*
*VIVE Wireless Adapter sold separately.

Headset Specs

Screen:	Dual AMOLED 3.5″ diagonal
Resolution:	1440 x 1600 pixels per eye (2880 x 1600 pixels combined)
Refresh rate:	90 Hz
Field of view:	110 degrees
Audio:	Hi-Res certificate headset Hi-Res certificate headphone (removable) High impedance headphone support
Input:	Integrated microphones
Connections:	USB-C 3.0, DP 1.2, Bluetooth
Sensors:	SteamVR Tracking, G-sensor, gyroscope, proximity, IPD sensor
Ergonomics:	Eye relief with lens distance adjustment Adjustable IPD Adjustable headphone Adjustable headstrap

Recommended Computer Specs

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4590 or AMD FX™ 8350, equivalent or better.
Graphics: NVDIA® GeForce® GTX1060 or AMD Radeon ™ RX480, equivalent or better. View the complete list >
Memory: 4 GB RAM or more
Video out: DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB ports: 1x USB 3.0 or newer port
Operating system: Windows® 8.1 or later, Windows® 10

March 21, 2018 0 comment

Exclusive Hardware

HTC VIVE Pro Announced at CES 2018

written by Evan Marcus

HTC has announced its latest beauty, the HTC Vive Pro today at CES 2018. The main features being it’s magically wireless and includes a pair of higher resolution screens at 2880×1600 (a 78% increase), compared to the original Vive with a resolution of 1080×1200.

There’s also plans to release SteamVR’s 2.0 Sensor Tracking which will allow players to have up to a 10 by 10 meter radius. To add to the mix is a 2nd front facing camera which doesn’t seem to have a use case yet, but could provide developers with the ability to utilize the 2nd camera for advanced features like depth tracking and more.

The other noticeable feature which gives me great excitement is the attached hi-res headphones with a redesigned head strap and integrated 3D-Spatial Audio. Similar to the Oculus HMD, the Vive now comes with solid headphones attached rather then spending extra for the deluxe audio strap like the original Vive.

In addition to the HTC Vive Pro, comes the Vive Wireless Adaptor which will give a truly wireless VR experience available for the Vive Pro and the Vive. Features for the Vive Wireless Adaptor include Intel’s WiGig technology and operates in the interference-free 60Ghz band, which from what Vive’s blog says reduces latency and provides better performance.

In addition to the HTC Vive Pro announcement comes HTC’s updated Viveport VR experience which seems like a major overhaul considering earlier versions of Viveport had issues and many users preferred Steam instead. This is HTC’s chance to redeem themselves for the Viveport platform, and from the video below, it’s looking very cool.

Also announced at CES was Vive Video with VIMEO that brings some well needed features to the Vive, and considering VR Video overall still needs resolution improvements, this is a step in the right direction with the Vive Pro’s increased resolution and 4K streaming video from Vimeo. Overall this is major news for HTC and the Vive Pro HMD and it will no doubt keep Oculus on their heels as plans for Wireless VR come to fruition in 2018.

January 9, 2018 0 comment

Hardware News

Rift drops to $399 with new Wireless ‘Oculus Go’ Headset Forthcoming

written by Evan Marcus

Today was a big day on the VR front as Mark Zuckerberg spoke at the Oculus Connect 4 Conference earlier in San Jose, which was also live-streamed on Facebook. For news, the Oculus Rift price will be permanently dropping down to $399, which effectively improves on the Oculus Summer Sale for anyone who missed it.

One of the reasons for the continued price drop was the mention of a new wireless standalone headset called “Oculus Go”, which will be coming in at around $199 in early 2018. Granted the Oculus Go won’t compare to the Oculus Rift just yet, but should be compared more to Gear VR and a step in the right direction for wireless VR in general.

Having lower end wireless VR will increase mainstream adoption at a much quicker rate which is why we’re seeing price drops across the board from the higher end HMD’s like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. If all goes well, higher end wireless VR should become a reality towards the end of 2018 but for now cheaper hardware is needed and is a good thing for the VR landscape to grow. This is a big step for Facebook and if sales take off for the Oculus Go, it could be a game changer for the company.

October 11, 2017 0 comment

Business Hardware News

HTC Vive drops price down to $599

written by Evan Marcus

Following in Oculus Rifts footsteps, HTC Vive has lowered it’s original price of $799 down to $599, a $200 price drop in order to stay competitive with Oculus.

HTC Vive is still about $100 more then Oculus but it’s a big step in the right direction, not only for consumers but for the vr industry as a whole. 2 of the biggest high end HMD manufacturers have dropped their hardware price which means both companies are looking to bring in potential buyers who were on the fence.

This could also be a look forward as both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are preparing for Wireless HMD’s in 2018.

Link to Vive’s US Storefront: https://www.vive.com/us/product/vive-virtual-reality-system/

August 21, 2017 0 comment

Hardware News

Leap Motion gets $50M for VR/AR hand-tracking tech

written by Evan Marcus

In a recent article from Techcrunch, writer Lucas Matney goes into detail about Leap Motion, the San Francisco based tech startup that has currently raised over 95 Million for it’s hand tracking technology. The startup has investors like J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Andreessen Horowitz to name a few on it’s side. The firms are taking bets that hand tracking will be the future of VR and AR which would take the place of the keyboard and mouse and of course clunky VR controllers that most high end VR setups currently have.

Read the full article below:

Leap Motion nabs $50M for its VR/AR hand-tracking tech

July 17, 2017 0 comment

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