Interesting articles about VR – week #25

How consumers are about to revolutionize casual gaming. Again.

How many of you remember what the gaming ecosystem looked like in 2007? There were consoles, PC gaming, Macs were practically a no-show except for “light” games, and mobile gaming was ports of 8 bit gaming engines and evolved versions of snake.

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Jaron Lanier Explains What Could Make VR ‘A Device Of Nightmares’

To say Jaron Lanier is a pioneer of the VR industry is a bit of an understatement. His achievements include popularizing the term virtual reality and starting VPL Research, which was among the first startups creating VR hardware back in the ’80s (the company literally created an “EyePhone“).

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To the Dismay of Its Audience, Magic Leap Livestream Dodges Key Questions

Years of Magic Leap’s hype-building seems for many to be turning from excitement to disappointment, as the company continues to evangelize its AR headset with little attempt to demonstrate what it’s actually like to use it. During the company’s latest livestream where it was teased that viewers would get to “meet Magic Leap One,” mundane details like power buttons and LEDs were talked about as the hosts dodged or ignored the audience’s most pressing questions.

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Sony Opens AR & VR Capture Studio with Tech from Dell, Deloitte Digital, & Intel

The 7,000 square-foot facility on the Sony Pictures Studios lot will house Sony Corporation’s research and development efforts in volumetric video and customizable set scanning for augmented and virtual reality content creation. In addition to being the new playground for Sony’s engineers, Innovation Studios will enable the company to develop new business in proprietary entertainment technology.

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Vive Wireless Adapter Expected to Launch by Late Summer, Battery Detailed

After revealing the Vive Wireless Adapter earlier this year, the company confirmed this week at E3 2018 that the device is on track to launch by late Summer, and offered up some details on the device’s battery and operation.

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Microsoft’s Next-Gen HoloLens is Codenamed Sydney; Arrives Q1, 2019

It was a little over a year ago, that I broke the news that Microsoft had stopped the development of HoloLens V2 and was pushing forward to V3. Since then, I have been asked about a million times for more information about the upcoming device but if you know where to look, the company is developing the hardware in broad daylight.

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The 3 Biggest Challenges Facing Augmented Reality Today

With the hype surrounding Apple and Google’s (admittedly very cool) AR tracking tech now in the hands of tens of millions of developers and users, you might be tempted to think that immersive augmented reality experiences—delivering the promise of wild AR concept videos we’ve seen over the last decade—are just around the corner. While we are closer than ever, the truth is there’s years of R&D and design work still standing between us and immersive AR for the mainstream. Here’s an overview of some of the key challenges being worked on today.

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Within leverages WebVR to offer device-agnostic VR videos via the web

Until recently, finding new virtual reality content to watch has generally required use of a VR device maker’s app store, but Within wants to change that by bringing VR content to a traditional web interface. Working in collaboration with Mozilla, Within is launching a WebVR-powered version of its website, capable of serving high production value VR videos to different brands of headsets — and computers without headsets — without the need for an app.

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The Ultimate Guide to the World of VR

So much of the VR conversation is dominated by Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and HTC. But there’s plenty of little guys, too! Take a look at our list of VR hardware and software coming from lesser-known companies and start ups on the cutting edge.

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VR helps us remember

Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that people remember information better if it is presented in VR vs. on a two-dimensional personal computer. This means VR education could be an improvement on tablet or device-based learning.

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4 false narratives confusing our understanding of mixed reality

A couple weeks ago, I moderated a panel at the inaugural SplitX: VR/AR Summit, where we explored the false narratives that have been souring the milk, so to speak, in the mixed reality industry for several years now and which have served to aggravate an already volatile market and extend its hype cycle by setting startups and companies up to fail.

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