The XR Week Peek (2022.07.11): Meta removes Facebook login on Quest, Cambria may launch without controllers, and more!

vrcoin on July 11, 2022

I send you all a big hug for the beginning of this new week! I hope this news roundup may give you some interesting info about XR… and also some smiles 🙂 Enjoy your summer! Top news of the week (Image by Meta)Meta to substitute mandatory Facebook account with mandatory Meta account on Quest This week finally Meta has given us a follow-up on its previous promise of removing the mandatory Facebook login on Oculus Quest. And the big news is that next month, this rule will be removed, and finally, the VR headset will be separated from the social media, with much rejoice of many people in the VR community.  Anyway, personal accounts on Quest aren’t going anywhere: every Quest user should create a mandatory Meta account, and also a mandatory Meta Horizon profile, which will be used every time you access the Horizon social VR worlds. It is optional for users to

My doubts about the Apple headset and mainstream VR

vrcoin on July 6, 2022

The hype for the Apple visor is very high, and everyone is waiting for it as a kid waits for Christmas. Poised to arrive around January 2023, it is considered by many the savior of XR, the hardware that will show the real possibilities of immersive realities and make finally VR mainstream. I was thinking about this topic this morning, and I want to share with you my stream of thoughts about Apple making VR mainstream, especially highlighting my doubts about it. I agree with you all that Apple will give a big push to XR. Its upcoming hybrid AR/VR visor is expected to have very interesting features, and I have heard myself some intriguing rumors about it. It is rumored to feature a powerful M2 processor, a high-definition screen, and many sensors… so it seems a little technical jewel. And we know how Apple cares about UX, so I

The XR Week Peek (2022.07.04): Big tech companies perform budget cuts, Mojo tests its smart contact lens in-eye, and more!

vrcoin on July 4, 2022

Today is the 4th of July, an important day for all my friends from the US! I wish all my American friends to celebrate well.  I want to dedicate this newsletter article to my friend Mathew Olson, who at The Information kickstarted the “Reality Check”, a newsletter about XR which I received 3–4 times a week in my e-mail, and that was very well done. It has been one of my favorite newsletters about XR and I admit I have “stolen” sometimes some news from there. Mathew is now going on a new professional adventure and will stop curating that newsletter, and I just want to write these few lines to say how I am grateful for the good job he did in informing me and all the XR community. Good luck with your new job, Mathew! Top news of the week (Image by Niantic)The economic situation is forcing major tech companies

The XR Week Peek (2022.06.27): Meta shows its R&D prototypes, Apple shows nothing as usual, and much more!

vrcoin on June 27, 2022

It’s hot and the drought is creating some issues here in northern Italy. But I had a nice weekend, plus I’ve been chosen by Onalytica as one of the top 5G+XR influencers on Linkedin, so I think of this and I stay happy. Top news of the week (Image by Meta)Meta showed prototype headsets from its R&D department With a completely unexpected move, Meta has given us all a glimpse of some prototypes created by its R&D department. Mark Zuckerberg himself has performed this marketing push, in which he claims that the company is working hard to make sure that its headsets will be able to pass the “Visual Turing Test”, that is that the visuals they offer become indistinguishable from reality.  To perform this ambitious goal, Meta is trying to tackle four different problems (thanks to Road To VR for this summary): Varifocal: the ability to focus on arbitrary depths of

Watch The President Of Ukraine Deliver A Speech In AR

vrcoin on June 21, 2022

Volumetric video brings former comedic actor and current Ukrainian President to life on your coffee table.With the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia putting a strain on Ukrainian resources, President Volodymyr Zelensky has begun reaching out to the global technology community for support in rebuilding the county’s digital infrastructure. And what better way to capture the hearts and minds of Europe’s top tech investors and corporate leaders than with a cutting-edge presidential address?Recently, Ben Nunez, co-founder and CEO of Evercoast, a company specializing in volumetric video capture, visited Kyiv to record an official presidential address from the man himself using the company’s proprietary cloud software platform. The result is a hyper-realistic 3D digital human complete with animation as well as audio.“Ukraine is a chance for a global digital revolution,” said Zelensky in the speech; “a chance for every technology company and a chance for every visionary to show their value,

The XR Week Peek (2022.06.20): Roblox may come to Quest, Meta launches Avatar Store, and more!

vrcoin on June 20, 2022

It seems that in many countries of the world this weekend was Father’s Day… so my best greetings to all of you that are fathers! It’s curious that actually in Italy we celebrate this in March… but who cares, whenever is the day, it’s always good to celebrate our daddies 🙂  I’ll be very upfront with you: this week in XR has been very boring, so you won’t find super-news here below, but there are some interesting things that have happened in our ecosystem anyway. One of them is that I’ve become for the third year a judge of the VR Awards! Yay! I am very thankful for the trust that AIXR puts in me, and I can’t wait to begin the judging process. Top news of the week (Image by Roblox)Roblox may come to Meta Quest There is a rumor that is circulating this week: Roblox may come to Meta Quest. I don’t

AR Technology Invades The Legendary Cannes Film Festival

vrcoin on June 18, 2022

Locate one of Niantic’s AR viewfinders to unlock fun experiences using the company’s Lightship VPS technology.The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event that has been showcasing creative excellence in communications, advertising, and connectivity between people and brands since 1954. In addition to celebrating hard work and creativity, the event includes big networking opportunities and award ceremonies as well as a swanky opening and closing gala.Each year in June roughly 15,000 industry leaders from 90 countries make their way to France to join in the festivities. This year, organizers plan on augmenting the festival with a slew of interactive AR experiences that attendees can discover throughout the festival area and unlock thanks to a new partnership with Niantic.As a partner, Niantic will lean on 8th Wall technology, which was acquired by Niantic back in March to deliver captivating WebAR experiences you can access on your smartphone without

The XR Week Peek (2022.06.13): Apple doesn’t show its AR glasses at WWDC, Meta delays its AR plans, and more!

vrcoin on June 13, 2022

I’m finally back in Turin! I miss a bit the joys of traveling and especially all the amazing people I met, but I have a lot of cool things I have to work on here, so I’m glad I have again the time to do them! And regarding this… would you be interested in working with me? We at VRrOOm are hiring to do our innovative XR events, check the “Friends” section of this newsletter if this opportunity can interest you! Top news of the week (Image by Apple)Apple has not announced any glasses at WWDC Every year, we have the same ritual: we wait for an event by Apple, hoping to hear some news about an upcoming XR device, then nothing happens in this sense, we are disappointed and so we hope for a new reveal next year. This WWDC has not been an exception in this sense, and now all

The XR Week Peek (2022.05.30): Niantic launches VPS, Pico launches Neo 3 Link, and much more!

vrcoin on May 31, 2022

Hello everyone from San Jose, California! I’m here ready to attend AWE… tomorrow I’ll start having the first meetings, and then from Wednesday, the real deal will begin! Don’t forget to read the coverage about it on my blog… Before leaving you to the news, I have to publicly compliment Emerson for having given the most correct answer to my contest. I made a troll Twitter contest in which I used some regular sunglasses gifted by Nreal to my friend Eloi Gerard and asked people what smart glasses were they… he guessed may be Nreal or just a pair of regular sunglasses, so he went close enough. Emerson, you have the eternal glory for this. Top news of the week (Image by Niantic)Niantic releases Visual Positioning System Niantic has finally launched its VPS (Visual Positioning System), a solution that will allow developers to create AR applications that are persistent and shared in

The XR Week Peek (2022.05.16): Meta teases Cambria, Google shows new AR features, and more!

vrcoin on May 16, 2022

This has been a week full of interesting news. But before digging into them, let me show you the first episode of The Spatial Show, the comedy show about the metaverse organized by Ori Inbar in which I took part. If you watch the video, you can see me say stupid things about XR… well, more or less as I do every day in my life…  Have fun! Top news of the week (Image by Mark Zuckerberg)Zuckerberg teases Project Cambria Mark Zuckerberg has teased Project Cambria, the upcoming headset by Meta. In a video published on Facebook, he showed himself wearing the headset and let us also see what he was seeing inside, with some footage directly from his point of view. To hide the real appearance of the device, his face wearing it was pixelated: the most interesting things in life are always pixelated, as in the hentai movies. Zuck has also