A source claims the company’s highly-anticipated mixed reality headset will prioritize shorter experiences. Last year rumors began circulating that Apple is in development of its own combination VR/AR headset. As for when we can expect to get our hands on this long-rumored mixed reality device, some sources are reporting a potential 2022 release date, though the company has yet to comment.That said, whileApple CEO Tim Cook has stated that AR technology is “critically important” for the company’s future, it appears as though they have little to no interest in the “metaverse,” aka the future of everything.Image Credit: The InformationIn Mark Gurman’s latest “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, the Apple and consumer tech expert claims that Apple has little to no interest in bringing the metaverse to its mixed reality hardware and will instead be focusing its efforts on delivering shorter experiences best enjoyed in small “bursts.” These experiences could include
Wolf3D, the Estonian startup behind web-based avatar creator Ready Player Me, has closed a $13 million funding round. The company says it will use the funds to further build out its avatar creation tools and eventually allow developers to earn money through the sale of in-game assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Ready Player Me studio Wolf3D has secured a $13 million Series A funding round, which was led by Wise and Teleport co-founders Taavet+Sten, and features participation from GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner, Samsung Next, NordicNinja, Konvoy Ventures, and others. The news was first reported by Venture Beat.
Read Player Me allows anyone to create and customize their own avatar, which can then be imported into social VR platforms such as VRChat, Spatial, LIV, MeetinVR, and more.
Working on both desktop and mobile devices, Ready Player Me presents an easy way of doing so, letting you use the same skin across multiple platforms—some 900+ apps and games now, the company says.
Image courtesy Wolf3D
With the fresh funding, Wolf3D says in a blog post that it will build out its custom content creation tools, invest in avatar art through additional styles and body types, and improve avatar performance.
In addition to building APIs and SDKs to improve the developer experience, the studio says it will also be focusing on making Ready Player Me a “revenue generator for developers” by allowing third-party devs to sell in-game assets and NFTs—cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and can be easily bought, sold and traded.
The company hasn’t said when it will roll out its monetization strategy, however it lists it as “coming soon.”
In the meantime, Wolf3D says its scaling up from 30 people today to over 70, with multiple roles offered across Europe and the US. The latest funding round brings the company’s lifetime outside investment to $16.5 million, following a $2.1 million seed round in July 2020.
This article was originally published on roadtovr.com
Somnium’s PC VR headset allows you to program its sensors and buttons to meet your individual needs.At the beginning of the year, social VR platform Somnium Space began teasing a new VR headset with a unique modular design. During the first-ever Somnium Space Connect event, Artur Sychov, CEO of Somnium Space, gave us a more detailed look at a combination standalone/PC VR headset centered around an open source community-driven software ecosystem.The headset, which Sychov refers to as the “Somnium VR Headset”, is packed with some killer specs and designed specifically for a VR audience that doesn’t want to be tied to a specific app store or be boxed into any sort of platform restrictions. “We wanted to create a headset that you truly own. We didn’t want to lock you down into our ecosystem,” said Sychov. “We didn’t not want to allow you to do things with your own items. If
How much would you pay to live next to your favorite celebrity in the metaverse? In case you’ve been living under a rock, NFTs are taking over the metaverse. At this point, it seems like everyone and their mother is investing in non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrency. This includes famed California rapper Snoop Dogg who—earlier this year—partnered with blockchained-based 3D open world game The Sandbox to launch his own world inside the metaverse.‘The Snoopverse’, as it’s being called, is a portion of The Sandbox metaverse owned and operated by Snoop Dogg. Earlier this month, 122 LANDs (plots of virtual land) and 67 Premium LANDs were put up for auction, allowing early investors the chance to purchase NFT property inside the ever-growing Snoopverse. How much does this land cost exactly? Well, that depends. Much like the actual real estate market, location is everything. Take it from The Sandbox user P-Ape who, earlier
The company’s acquisition could be a major step forward for the metaverse, NFTs, and the digital fashion industry.Nike today announced the purchase of RTFKT Studios, a leading metaverse fashion house best known for its lineup of high-end digital clothing. Since 2020, the company has employed a variety of cutting-edge technologies such as NFTs, crypto, blockchains, and AR technology to establish a one-of-a-kind brand that blends the physical and digital worlds.What began with NFT sneaker drops has since expanded into a full-fledged digital clothing brand.Image Credit: Nike / RTFKT Studios“This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming, and culture,” said John Donahoe, President and CEO of NIKE, Inc in an official statement. “We’re acquiring a very talented team of creators with an authentic and connected brand. Our plan is to invest in the RTFKT brand,
HTC is opening a non-fungible token (NFT) store soon that its says will host all forms of digital art, including AR, VR, and XR pieces.
The store, which will open on December 17th, is set to first offer NFTs featuring the works of Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939), which is being offered as a part of a collaboration with the Mucha Foundation.
Here’s a video in Chinese about the show, displaying some of Mucha’s iconic art.
The store is said to offer complete control over the number of NFT editions and the format of the sale, with both fiat and crypto currencies accepted as payment.
HTC says a new NFT series will come to the store each month until April 2022, which will conclude with what it describes as “a special auction.”
For those of us in the VR space, all of this may seem a bit out of left field for the company, which over the years has built itself a significant niche in creating enterprise VR hardware. HTC is no stranger to jumping on the crypto bandwagon though. In 2019 the company released Exodus 1, a blockchain-focused smartphone that acts as a hardware wallet for storing cryptocurrency among other things.
How NFTs fit into all of that, well, there’s no telling how deep of a commitment the store actually represents. The company’s VIVE Arts initiative has been involved in bringing art-themed content to Viveport, but moreover it bringing VR to cultural institutions in limited-time exhibitions at the Tate Modern, London’s Royal Academy of Arts, Taipei’s National Palace Museum, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, Washington D.C.’s Newseum, and St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum since its founding in 2017.
Granted, NFT auctions are a far cry from bringing art to the masses—they primarily function as crypto-investment vehicles—although the earning potential for both the creators and buyers can’t be overstated.
The storied Christie’s auction house oversaw the sale of one NFT for $69 million back in March, something many NFT creators have hoped to replicate. Whether HTC makes those sort of headlines isn’t certain. At least Alphonse Mucha didn’t exclusively paint bored apes.
This article was originally published on roadtovr.com
Somnium Space and TESLASUIT partner to bring full-body haptics to social VR with the Somnium X TESLASUIT DK1.
Ever since Ernest Cline’s book Ready Player One was released and then followed up by Speilberg’s movie version, VR enthusiasts have been seeking a metaverse experience where they can feel the virtual world around them, whether it be a hug from a friend, a playful punch in the arm, or even laser blast to the chest. Thanks to recent developments in haptic technology, this collective dream is finally becoming a reality.
Bet on games of Blackjack and Roulette in this blockchain-powered virtual casino coming soon to major VR & AR devices.
XR Casino, Inc (“The Company”) has announced an official release date for its cross-platform gambling experience which allows users on VR and AR devices to bet real money on games like blackjack, roulette, and slots from the comfort of their own holographic casinos.
French startup Lynx announced its Lynx R-1 mixed reality headset last year. The standalone headset, which is capable of both VR and pass-through AR, was previously said to launch for business somewhere around the $1,500 price point. Now Lynx says it’s pivoting focus to include both enterprise and consumers, and will bring the headset down “below $1,000.” You can expect a Kickstarter sometime in September 2021, the company says.
Lynx founder and CEO Stan Larroque announced in the project’s July update a few key changes to its upcoming MR headset. You can check out the full 30-minute video at the bottom of the article.
