The XR Week Peek (2023.05.15): Google confirms headset with Samsung, Ultraleap teases a new device, and more!

It’s time for another roundup of amazing XR news. Are you ready? Top news of the week (Image by Google)Google announces important AI and XR news at Google I/O This Google I/O has seen immersive realities back to the menu. During the keynote, CEO Sundar Pichai and his collaborators announced interesting features both for AR and VR. I’ve written a dedicated news roundup article dedicated to Google I/O today, so I won’t go deep into details here and I invite you to read that post (linked here below) if you want to have the details about the news. But to summarize, the most important XR-related tidbits have been: Google confirmed that is still working with Qualcomm and Samsung to build an XR headset. More information about it is coming “later this year” Project Starline, the booth to have volumetric 1-to-1 calls has been improved and optimized. Some journalists have tried it and

The XR Week Peek (2023.04.24): Apple headset to have iOS apps, Pico launches Pico 4 Pro in China, and more!

This week we had quite a few interesting pieces of XR news. From the nth rumor on the Apple headset to the announcement of the Pico 4 Pro in China, there have been a few things happening that you as an XR enthusiast can’t miss. Here in this roundup, of course, you can find them all. And together with them, you can also find a giveaway of keys for the audiobook about the metaverse by Luis Martins! :O Top news of the week (Image from an Apple event)Apple headset to run iOS apps The rumored launch of the Apple headset is getting closer, so the rumors about it are intensifying. The usual Mark Gurman has published an interesting report about it, in which he talks about the applications that should be available on the device. This is the list of apps, kindly reported by my friends at RoadToVR: iPad apps adapted for mixed

The XR Week Peek (2023.03.27): Vive inside-out Tracker announced, Pico’s launch in the US delayed, and more!

This has been quite an interesting week. We had at the same time the Game Developer Conference (the GDC) and the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) by NVIDIA, so we had lots of announcements about 3D technology in general and also about XR. Since there are these two conferences with a very similar name happening at a similar time and a similar place, I wonder why they don’t unify them in a single one called GTDC, or GXC, or something like that. Ok, of course, I’m kidding, but, you know, the possibility of saying the wrong name is so high that my proposal actually starts making sense… Top news of the week (Image by HTC Vive)HTC reveals inside-out-tracked Tracker With a totally unexpected move, HTC has revealed a new kind of Tracker.  The Tracker is one of the most successful products sold by HTC: it is mostly used by the VRChat community people

The XR Week Peek (2023.03.20): Meta to perform new layoffs, Google Glass to shut down, and more!

I’m back in Italy! My time at SXSW has been great, but now it’s time to be back to the usual routine. I still feel a lot tired because of the jet lag and the little sleep I had in Austin, but this is pretty normal, and in one week or such this feeling should go away. And I’m sure that the support from all of you will make me feel better even sooner 🙂 Top news of the week (Image by Meta)Meta to lay off people and focus more on AI It’s been a tough week for Meta. Mark Zuckerberg has communicated to his employees that in this “Year of efficiency,” the company is laying off another 10,000 people and canceling 5,000 open job positions. The layoffs will start affecting the recruiting departments in March, then the tech employees in April, and in the end, the business people in May. Together with

The XR Week Peek (2023.01.31): New rumors on Apple headset, Quest Pro price drops, and more!

I’ve read a lot of articles and XR news this week, but actually, at the end of the day, nothing relevant has happened, except for the usual rumor about Apple… so you can close this roundup now… no ok, I’m kidding! It’s not been the most exciting week ever for XR, but there is still some interesting piece of news here below for you to enjoy.  And by the way, on the personal side, things are going well for me! Utopia has just announced that I will be one of the mentors of their metaverse masterclass, and I’m pretty happy about it. Top news of the week (Image by The Information)New Apple headset rumor talks about natural interactions and content creation tools Rumors and leaks about the upcoming Apple headset are being wisely slowly spilled week after week to keep the attention on the headset high. And this week new reports about Bloomberg

The XR Week Peek (2023.01.23): Microsoft shuts down Altspace and MRTK, and more!

Welcome to another roundup of AR/VR news of the week! I’m still writing from China, and this week I spent the Chinese New Year here… it was an interesting experience, and if you lost my funny story about it, you can still have a look at it in my dedicated post.  Wishing you all a very positive and special year of the rabbit, I leave you with the most important news of the week in AR and VR! Top news of the week (Image by Microsoft)Microsoft lays off 10,000 employees and shuts down its mixed reality projects This is seriously a bad period for the tech industry in general, and of course also for mixed reality. Because of the bad economic conditions, the less digital post-pandemic world, and all the other problems we at this point know too well, Microsoft had to perform massive layoffs. 10,000 employees will lose their job before March:

The XR Week Peek (2022.12.19): Carmack leaves Meta, HTC teases its headset, and more!

These days I’m crunching like hell, so this edition of the newsletter will be with very minimal commentaries. Next week, things should be better… in the meanwhile, send me hugs 🙂 (And btw if the header image made you curious… this is a fully modular SteamVR controller built by Rob Cole: https://skarredghost.com/2022/12/16/project-modular-open-vr-controllers-2/) Top news of the week John Carmack leaves Meta John Carmack has completely left Meta. He did that by writing a message in which he criticized the inefficiency of the company and his inability to make the company change its course by preventing bad decisions. This is a huge loss for the whole VR ecosystem.  (And btw John, if you are reading this newsletter… thanks a lot for all the huge work you did in this field, and thanks for your honesty in all this time!) More info (News on Upload) More info (News on Engadget) Other relevant news HTC to reveal

The XR Week Peek (2022.12.13): Upload Winter Showcase had many VR announcements, Pico prepares for the holidays, and more!

I want to dedicate this newsletter to the memory of Rob Crasco, one of the best members of our communities, which has gone away too soon. He has always been supportive of me, and by speaking with him on Twitter and Linkedin I’ve always learned something new. He will be missed by all of us. On the last Twitter post on his timeline, there is a GoFundMe campaign to support his wife, in case you want to be of any help. May he rest in peace. Top news of the week (Image by Upload)Upload VR Winter Showcase brought many pieces of news about VR games Upload VR has organized another one of its amazing VR game showcases. In this one, there have been many news about VR titles, some of which are distributed by relevant companies in our industry, and others made by indies. None of the news announced there has been

The XR Week Peek (2022.11.07): PSVR 2 will cost $549, HoloLens are probably dead, and more!

Yesterday I discovered that a friend of mine wants to propose as “Vitillo’s law” or “Skarred’s law” the law that every innovative technology we are waiting for is always coming in “5 to 10 years”. I would love for that to become an official Murphy’s law, but I’m sure that even if the XR community started adopting it now, the law could become popular only in 5 to 10 years…  That said, let’s dig into the pieces of XR news of this week, which has been pretty interesting… Top news of the week (Image by Sony Interactive Entertainment)Sony announces price and release date for PSVR 2 Sony Interactive Entertainment has finally announced that PSVR 2 will be launched on February 22nd, 2023 for $549. Interested people in selected markets will be able to preorder the device starting from November, 15th 2022.  Together with this announcement, Sony has also announced 11 new games that will

The XR Week Peek (2022.11.01): Quest Pro gets released, Quest 3 slated for 2023, and more!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! Even if it is not part of the Italian tradition, probably Halloween is the right festivity for me, since I’m a ghost :). And in fact, for me, this one has been a pretty cool week: HTC Vive has selected me as one of the top 100 VR influencers (whatever this word means), Adello magazine featured me in its online publication, and today my company Vrroom will be a host of the afterparty of the Unity Unite event, with a concert of Blu DeTiger inside VRChat (Look for Unite2022 tag and you’ll find the world). So many exciting things are happening and I’m thankful to you all for the support you are giving me ❤ Top news of the week (Image by Meta)Quest Pro launches, but the reaction of the community is mild On October, 25th, the Meta Quest Pro has been officially launched, and the people who preordered it