Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR)

The Vision Pro, Apple's mixed reality headset, is set to launch in China at some point in 2024. This comes from both the Chinese state media and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple has focused on the Chinese market with aggressive advertising and product discounts.

Apple is at the first major cross-roads since the passing of its late co-founder Steve Jobs 12 years ago. It finds itself still largely dependent on the product lines and businesses that Jobs left behind. Its Vision Pro has received mixed reviews on launch, while it is also facing several other headwinds including a major lawsuit against what the DOJ claims are its anticompetitive practices.

NVIDIA’s AI research team has unveiled a new generative model that can turn text prompts into 3D models within a second, ready (or at least close to it) for applications such as game development, design and robotics. So far, the model has only been trained to generate “animals and everyday objects”, but more categories can be added. The near-instant speed should transform many workflows.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has unveiled the company’s latest AI products and services for the enterprise during GTC 2024 (GPU Technology Conference) in San Jose, CA. The company announced the Blackwell GPU platform as part of their new lineup powering AI in areas such as robotics, drug discovery, and warehouse automation. Advances in autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots were demonstrated.

HTC touts VIVEPORT as the "best place" for developers to make and market their virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) games or apps, not the least as their earnings from doing so are slated to increase "significantly" very shortly. The new revenue share percentage, freshly unveiled at 2024's Game Developers Conference (GDC), applies to new and existing games alike.

Recent rumors and leaks suggest Meta will release a budget version of its VR headset. Currently known as either the Meta Quest 3 Lite or Meta Quest 3S, the new headset looks like a stripped-down version of the Meta Quest 3.

A report from Bloomberg says that Sony has stopped manufacturing new PSVR 2 units due to unsold inventory. The VR headset isn't selling much due to a lack of content and its high price tag.

Hatsumi and Monobanda have held the world premiere of its SoulPaint VR project at South by Southwest 2024. This body mapping experience allowed participants to explore their own bodies and express lived experiences and emotions through art drawn in 3D VR on virtual representations of the self. The project explores the combination of tech, medicine, and art for healing and self-exploration.

Hugo Barra, the former Head of Oculus at Meta has labeled the Apple Vision Pro an “over-engineered devkit” in a lengthy blog post that closely examines its strengths and weaknesses. Overall, as an AR/VR enthusiast, Barra says the arrival of Apple in the spatial computing segment is a good thing as it will spur competition and advance the pace of innovation.

The Goovis G3X is a new VR headset that is designed to be particularly compact and light and thus comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Micro OLEDs from Sony are used, which promise a particularly colorful display.

Honda will introduce the Honda XR Mobility Experience at SXSW 2024 in Austin, Texas on March 10-13, 2024. The experience combines its UNI-ONE, two-wheeled, self-balancing wheelchair with VR goggles. Users can feel real movement as they navigate virtual worlds.

After news of high returns broke earlier this month, an Apple analyst posits that up to 30% of those returns are because “users don't know how to set up Vision Pro. The next-gen Vision Pro is also predicted to arrive by 2027 and be more efficient than the current version.

OPPO has launched the third iteration of its prototype assisted reality (aR) glasses, the Air Glass 3, sporting a lightweight and unassuming design. The device features an AI voice assistant, powered by Oppo’s LLM AndesGPT, as the main interface, and serves up useful information on a full-colour projected display. Oppo has not yet announced any plans to bring the Air Glass 3 into production.

The Apple Vision Pro has proven to be even more complicated to disassemble or re-assemble compared to its iPhone or Mac counterparts. However, as a prominent teardown vlogger claims to have found, the first-gen headset has something in common with its potentially more affordable Apple siblings: the dreaded anti-repair parts-pairing issue.

The RayNeo X2 glasses are now available to international augmented reality fans - albeit not as a retail product. The "AI + AR" spectacles' crowdfunding campaign has kicked off to bring their full-color microLED tech to the global market. They are also backed to deliver yet more world-firsts, Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 power included.

A new emulator that mimics the Nintendo Virtual Boy is now available for software modded 3DS handhelds. The emulator includes support for the 3DS's 3D function, mimicking the faux-VR of the Virtual Boy.

Doublepoint has come to Barcelona to announce that WowMouse has upgraded to support for the Pixel Watch 2. The app is rated to turn a user's smartwatch hand into a "mouse" thanks to its support for Wear OS, and, thus, to add a new, touch-free level of control over PCs, mobile devices or VR/AR headsets.

Apple is reportedly mulling the expansion of its wearables range with rivals for devices such as the Oura Ring - not to mention the Meta/Ray-Ban glasses - then again, they may be a long way off compared to others such as next-gen AirPods. To that end, the first-gen Ring from the Cupertino giant might lag significantly behind a Galaxy Ring rumored to make an imminent debut.

Researchers say that companies who are promoting the daily use of headsets like the Apple Vision Pro should exercise “caution and restraint” until further research is undertaken into their effects.

You can now also learn movement sequences from the best. That sounds like a quick shortcut to the laborious process of learning an instrument. But with the intelligent glove presented by researchers at MIT, even more is possible.

Sony has announced four new games for the PS VR 2, which will launch separately in the coming weeks. It has also confirmed gamers will be able to use their headsets on PC later in 2024.

Qualcomm has announced that it will bring its first ever "Automotive Grade" Wi-Fi 7 access point to MWC 2024. The new addition to the Snapdragon Auto Connectivity platform is thus touted to bring cutting-edge bandwidth, interference-free reception and potentially super-fast data transfer rates to the next generation of vehicles.

Once among the best-known mobile device names in its native China, Meizu has now decided that it is time to "go All in" on AI, thereby finally leaving "traditional" smartphones behind. The OEM has unveiled plans for projects such as replacing the anticipated 21 Infinity flagship with its first "AI device" by the end of 2024 and taking brands such as PANDAER along for this new ride.

Apple asserts that its inaugural Vision Pro will be to "spatial computing" as the iPhone was to personal mobile device use. However, if the Cupertino giant was hoping for universal acceptance of its new headset, it seems it is not getting it, as the device is reportly being returned in noticeable numbers.

TCL has launched a new pair of AR glasses called the Nxtwear S Plus. They are successors to the Nxtwear S, and just like the predecessors, you need to connect these glasses to a compatible device. That is, they are not standalone devices like the Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest headsets. But the new TCL glasses are more affordable, coming with a price tag of $399 or £399.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has finally tried out Apple's Vision Pro and compared it to his own Quest 3 in an Instagram video. The competition between Meta and Apple promises exciting innovations. The video shows the strengths and weaknesses of both VR headsets from Zuckerberg's point of view and allows speculation about future developments.

Apple has released a new version of visionOS, its equivalent of iOS or iPadOS for the new Vision Pro. It fixes the ultra-premium headset's famous passcode bug, by which a unit might have even required a trip back to the Apple Store to be unlocked. Nevertheless, its new ability does not compromise its security.

Frame is a newly launched pair of AI-enabled smart AR glasses from Brilliant Labs, featuring a discreet camera and a micro-OLED colour display projected onto the lens. Using a voice assistant and multimodal AI models, it can do a real-time online search for whatever one is looking at, as well as answer queries and translate text or audio. Priced at $349, the Frame competes directly with the likes of Meta’s Ray Ban smart glasses and the Rabbit R1.

YouTuber Luke Miani introduces the VisionBook Air Max Ultra, a concept which adds a bezel-less display to a MacBook Air M2 / M1, making it both lighter and more compact. But how does it work and what are the practical benefits?

Rokid and Hainan Airlines have partnered to offer passengers the world's first AR flights from February 7 until March 31, 2024. Using Rokid Max glasses connected to the portable Rokid Station, passengers can watch a variety of entertainment in flight on a virtual 360-inch screen.

Apple’s EyeSight feature has been marketed as a key point of differentiation between its Vision Pro headset and other AR/VR headsets already on the market. However, in practice, the feature does not work anywhere near as well as it appears in Apple’s advertising.

Vision Pro early adopters have found - to their horror - that their new $3,500 is incapable of playing immersive spatialized pornography.

Rocket Homes and Wayfair have announced that they see the Vision Pro's (astronomical) value as the ideal new platform for their respective sales apps. Accordingly, those with Apple's first-gen headset can now view their next dream home in virtual and/or augmented reality (VR/AR) with Real Estate Search, then make it their own with the Decorify app.

A viral video shows a Tesla Cybertruck driver wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset while driving and interacting hands-free with an app. The reckless behaviour has raised eyebrows and prompted a response from the US government.

Apple's fluffy $199 travel case makes perfect sense considering what JerryRigEverything's durability test and somewhat brutal teardown uncovered today. Anyone spending $3,500 on the first "Spatial Computing Headset" should handle it with the utmost of care, because Apples "laminated glass" scratches like plastic on the outside and replacement is another $799 on top.

OpenAI has unveiled a new ChatGPT app for Vision Pro, which marks the advent of AI in AR. Users will able to download the ChatGPT app from the visionOS App Store for free.

We can laugh all we want about the first videos mocking early adopters of Apples brand new Vision Pro headset in various public places but we might need to get used to people showing off their first and probably not last spatial computing headset, even in unsafe environments. Despite Apples explicit warning, a video of an early adopter getting arrested operating the headset while driving a Tesla already went viral less than 24 hours after broad availability.

Developer Christian Selig has just released Juno, a dedicated YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro, weeks after YouTube stated that it will not be developing one. A more refined alternative to opening the YouTube website on Safari, Juno’s UI matches visionOS and provides most of the functionality one would expect. The app costs a one-time $4.99 to download.

A vlogger has gone beyond the ever-growing plethora of Apple Vision Pro unboxings and/or walkthroughs to reveal that the ~$3,500 headset is a surprisingly high drop risk. Then again, if it does fall, it might stand a good enough chance of survival - provided the user doesn't care about quite all its functional or structural integrity.

Meta says it welcomes the launch of the Apple Vision Pro as it could help drive further sales of its own Quest-branded range of spatial computing headsets. The company says it would like to position its headset as the ‘Android’ alternative to Apple’s offering that offers a more affordable entry point into the technology.

TORRAS asserts that its upcoming Apple Vision Pro accessory range is worth holding out for as the best way to keep one's $3,499 headset as mint and fully-functional for as long as possible. The OEM claims to have thought of everything in these terms, from relieving potential neck-strain to making sure the "spatial computing" is as clear as possible at all times. The line also contains an innovative way of keeping the Vision Pro going for longer.

Freeaim has updated their Freeaim VR shoes with improved features. VR users can more confidently walk about in SteamVR worlds by taking steps in real life. Improved stability turning, sidestepping, and taking tiny steps allow beginner gamers to take baby steps on their way to utilizing the full power of these wheeled VR shoes.

Microsoft has expanded availability of its Microsoft Mesh to all Microsoft Teams users after a limited rollout. Mesh allows users to participate in 3D meetings using avatars and interact within customizable, virtual reality environments. Remote workers wearing Meta Quest VR headsets can participate in 3D while those without in 2D all without leaving home.

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have developed a virtual reality grocery shopping simulator that measures declines in cognitive and motor abilities that occur as one ages. This opens the door to improved tests that will better measure and detect decline in patients earlier.

Disney Imagineer Lanny Smooth has unveiled the Holotile VR treadmill for multiple users. This device users to stand on the platform and walk in any direction for any distance during VR sessions and games without physically moving off the treadmill.

CheckMag The Apple Vision Pro, priced at a substantial $3,499, represents one of the most significant tech releases of the year. If you're thinking about making a purchase, it's crucial to have a solid grasp of what to expect from this headset. Below are 5 key considerations to keep in mind when placing your pre-order.

Despite expectations, Apple has failed to sell out of its Vision Pro on launch day. This is despite estimates of day 1 availability being limited to between 60,000 and 80,000 units.

With the Vision Pro going official on Apple’s website, a number of previously undisclosed details have now become public, including its weight. The headset has now been revealed to weigh about as much as a 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

With the official launch of the Apple Vision Pro underway, Apple has revealed the apps that will come pre-installed on the device. Early adopters may be surprised to learn that only 15 of Apple’s stock apps have been optimized for ‘spatial computing.’

Sony has added PC compatibility to its mocopi tracker system for 3D VR motion capture. Originally targeted to smartphone users, the new beta feature expands compatibility to laptops and desktops running SteamVR, SlimeVR, and VRChat.