MeetKai’s Take on the Metaverse

vrcoin on July 20, 2022

We’re seeing a lot of self-proclaimed metaverse platforms launching. Many such platforms are “just” virtual spaces, which many argue isn’t enough to constitute the future of collaborative computing that we call the metaverse. This future, according to most futurists, will also involve things like AI and blockchain, and is built on the real world. MeetKai checks a lot of those boxes. To learn more about the first consumer-facing project from MeetKai, ARPost talked with chairwoman Weili Dai and CEO James Kaplan. Their take on the metaverse was publicly announced earlier this month and is awaiting the beta launch. An Introduction to MeetKai MeetKai has been around since 2018 and actually specializes in business-to-business AI assistant solutions. In this capacity, a number of readers have already used AI services from MeetKai, though behind the label of hardware companies and app developers. “Our core technology has always been in AI and that’s

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

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

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

PSVR 2 Games: Every Announced And Rumored Project

vrcoin on June 3, 2022

PSVR 2 has been announced and is hopefully coming soon, but what about PSVR 2 games?Note: This article was originally published on January 6 and has since been updated. We’ve got a full rundown of all announced and rumored PSVR 2 games to keep track of. We’ll be keeping this list up to date, so check back often. Harnessing the power of the PS5, PSVR 2 will be capable of much more ambitious games than the original headset, which ran on the PS4. But with the device only just announced, Sony is playing its cards close to its chest when it comes to the software library. So far we have only a handful of fully announced PSVR 2 games, but there are plenty of other titles that are rumored or hinted at to talk about too. This list includes rumored PSVR 2 games and also titles that appear on both

AWE 2022: Unity CEO talks about his vision of the metaverse

vrcoin on June 2, 2022

The first day of AWE has just passed by. With the show floor still closed, the highlight of the day has been the speech by Unity CEO John Riccitiello that spoke about the metaverse, telling us what he thinks it is and how he thinks it can evolve. Let me tell you something about it… including the very embarrassing moment I had with him, which you absolutely can’t lose. The Unity CEO on AWE stage to talk about the M-wordAfter the opening keynote by AWE co-founder Ori Inbar, the main stage has been taken by Unity CEO John Riccitiello, who has spoken for half an hour about the

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