Facebook today announced the launch of a voice search feature for its Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset and Samsung’s Gear VR headset. It’s available now in beta for people who use English as their primary language, the Oculus team said in a blog post. “This feature lets you perform voice searches from Oculus Home...
Category: News
Virtual and augmented reality news
How Climbing Mt. Everest in VR Helped Me Treat My Crippling Fear of Heights
Trauma and its long-lasting effects have been a personal interest of mine for some time now. The way in which our under-developed brains process it has such powerful and dramatic effect. Throughout my adult and teenage life, I have had a fear of heights, also known as acrophobia. Whenever I stood on the top floor...
The Number of VR Companies Grew 40 Percent in 2016
The Venture Reality Fund reported that the landscape of companies it tracks in the virtual reality market grew more than 40 percent in 2016. The largest area of growth was in content companies that create apps for head-mounted VR displays, said Marco DeMiroz, cofounder of The Venture Reality Fund with Tipatat Chennavasin. The fund invests...
Enterprise AR Requirements workshop Day 2
The focus of Day 2 was Software Requirements which was brilliantly managed by Roland Joseph from Proctor and Gamble. The day started with a real buzz of anticipation. The evening networking and demo event created new partnerships and friendships, and conversations continued over breakfast. As each requirement was explained, there were detailed questions, insights and...
Use These 3 Lessons From the Past to Create the Future of VR
VR hardware prices are decreasing. New premium headsets are entering the market. 6DOF mobile is making its way to consumers. 2017 is laying the foundation for a VR content explosion that will usher in a new wave of VR developers. Creating for a new medium, which is still in the midst of discovering itself, can...
Features Worth Seeking in an Augmented Reality SDK
By Albert Wang Developing apps for Augmented Reality is no easy task. It’s still a fairly new market and it can be challenging to find a Software Development Kit (SDK) that fits all of the needs of a developer. Interest in AR SDKs has intensified since last year, when one of the leading solutions,...
Field in View: VR Concerts Need To End Ticket Scalping ASAP
Three things you need to know about me: I love VR, I love food, but man do I love Pearl Jam. Probably (definitely) a bit too much. If you’ve spent any time with me in the flesh then I apologise about how much I’ve probably raved about them to you. This week frontman Eddie Vedder...
Tobii Recommends Explicit Consent for Recording Eye Tracking Data
The eye tracking company Tobii had some VR demos that they were showing on the GDC Expo Hall floor as well as within Valve’s booth. They were primarily focusing on the new user interaction paradigms that are made available by using eye gazing to select specific objects, direct action, but also locomotion determined by eye...
‘Obduction’ Adds Motion Control, Coming to Vive and Oculus Touch This Month
Cyan’s spiritual successor to Myst is launching with all-new motion control support on March 22nd for HTC Vive and Oculus Touch. The game originally released on Steam in August 2016, receiving initial VR support for the Rift in October. Following in the legendary footsteps of Myst and Riven, Obduction presents an ideal VR setting, taken...
Leap Motion’s New 180-degree Hand-tracking Comes to Qualcomm’s Latest VRDK Headset
Qualcomm has debuted an updated version of their VR Headset Reference Design now with Leap Motion’s new 180-degree hand-tracking to bring gesture control to mobile VR headsets. The new headset and Leap Motion tracking module was shown off during last week’s GDC 2017. Qualcomm’s VR Headset Reference Design has been upgraded to the company’s new...