Jim Squires’ Post

Q4 2023 for #AR #VR. Meta's Quest 3 edges closer to mainstream adoption, priced at a competitive $500, making it 6x cheaper than Apple's Vision Pro. What is your preference? #MetaQuest3 #AppleVisionPro

🎮 BREAKING: PICO XR, the VR headset manufacturer owned by Bytedance, is reportedly facing internal chaos and has cancelled its promising in-house VR game, Blitz Rhythm. 🔑 The game's development and its abrupt termination — Pico had been working on a VR game similar to Beat Saber called Blitz Rhythm for two years. — The game featured motion trackers developed by Pico, allowing players to use their entire body, including their legs. — The game was in its closed beta phase in Europe with around 80 to 100 players, and had thousands of players in China. — Feedback was reportedly positive, and the game was nearing a release-ready state. — From October 20th to 22nd (just three weeks ago), the Blitz Rhythm developers held a Meet & Greet event at the Pico office in Barcelona. This was also the weekend that the first report of Bytedance's plans to abandon Pico surfaced. “The developers were still laughing about it,” our source says. — However, on the 7th of November 2023, the entire development team was laid off and the game's development was cancelled. 🔑 Bytedance's shifting focus — Reports suggest that Bytedance no longer sees a profitable future in virtual reality. — Despite this, Pico is set to continue producing VR headsets, indicating a potential sale of the core company to mitigate losses. 💭 A reality check for VR? The VR industry is no stranger to sudden shifts and changes. The cancellation of Blitz Rhythm and the layoffs at Pico are unfortunate, but they also serve as a reminder of the volatility and unpredictability of this still emerging industry. As the dust settles, it will be interesting to see how Bytedance's decision impacts the wider VR landscape. Here's hoping the talented team from Pico finds new opportunities to bring their innovative ideas to life. 👉 Read the full story on MIXED. #virtualreality #mixedreality #metaverse #gaming #technology Image: DALL-E 3 - Dark Days at Pico - prompted by DEEP CONTENT

Hyper-individualized experiences on a widespread scale – A bit of an oxymoron? Maybe. But I also think it’s the future of VR entertainment. Imagine going to your see your favorite artist in concert, And being the only one in the room. Now imagine being able to get a bird’s eye view from the balcony, Sit in the front row, or hang out on stage with the band during the show. Or going to a baseball game, And staring down the pitcher from home plate. That’s what I envision as VR capabilities continue to expand. Frankly, it’s made me start to understand why Mark Zuckerberg is dumpling billions of dollars into Meta every year – it may not be working just yet, but anyone who can get ahead of this will have unlimited potential. What do you see for the future of VR? Some things we buy: 💻🖱️⌨️🖥️🎧🎤 #EZComTrust #ewaste #refurbishment #liquidation #purchasing #electronics

Meta knows how to make people fall in love with their products. And with the Quest 3, they're doing it again. Just a few weeks before the launch. Meta announced some promising updates for buyers of the Quest 3: upper body tracking and AI-estimated legs. Yes, you heard right. That means the headset will be able to track your upper body and torso movements, giving you realistic full-body movements in simulated environments. Imagine being able to punch, block, and throw kicks in a VR boxing game, or dunk a basketball like a pro. It's going to be amazing. With an expected starting price of $499.99. Would you be purchasing Quest 3? #meta #vr #developer

Summary: This article discusses the impact of Apple's entry into the AR and VR market and how it has affected the competition. Key takeaways: Apple's entry into the AR and VR market has increased the attention and pressure on the competition. The Meta Quest 3 is significantly cheaper than Apple's Vision Pro, highlighting the distinction in terms of audience. Meta has been successful relative to the market but must continue to evolve to stay competitive. Counter arguments: The Meta Quest 3 does not come close to the Vision Pro in terms of hardware. The $500 price point for the Quest 3 is still too high to be considered truly mainstream. #XR #AR #meta #virtualreality

Meta Connect 2023: 4 things we expect to see at the Meta Quest 3 launch event | TechRadar: Meta Connect 2023 has been scheduled for September 27, where Meta will unveil its new Meta Quest 3 headset. The event will also provide insight into future products, including software that may not be available for several years. Expectations include details on the Quest 3's specifications, pricing, and software compatibility. Additionally, Meta might announce the availability of Microsoft Office apps on the Quest platform, Xbox game streaming in VR, and advancements in Horizon Worlds, while teasing AR hardware. However, the potential launch of a Meta Quest Pro 2 seems unlikely, considering the recent cancellation of a prototype. - Artificial Intelligence topics! #ai #artificialintelligence #intelligenzaartificiale

Big day for Meta tomorrow at #metaconnect; with Apple on its heels, it's time to make some moves. I suspect most of the air will be pass-through AR and AI-enhanced UX/UI with the Quest 3 (which will ship in a few weeks). We'll see if they can untwist the confusion that is Meta Horizons. I'm curious about the IG story post from Mark yesterday showing a crispy passthrough AR video of what looks like the LEGO Group! (below - but haven't seen much chatter about it) PS. It's still mind-blowing to me that guests cannot participate in Meta Connect via headset. Talking about the future of human connection through a Facebook livestream is sad. #metaverse #vr #virtualreality #ar #metaconnect23 #spatialcomputing #applevisionpro #ai #oculus #quest3

However this all plays out, 2023 will almost certainly be regarded as a pivotal year for AR and VR. And in a world where a $500 price point qualifies as cheap, Meta continues to be the best solution for casual extended reality. Read about the Meta Quest 3 from Brian Heater here: https://tcrn.ch/3F8gKz1 #TechCrunch #technews #Meta #Quest3 #AR #VR

Meta, the artist formerly known as Facebook, has unveiled the Quest 3 headset, a $500 unit that features full video pass-through for mixed reality experiences. Much cheaper than Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro, its main pass-through rival, the device promises to bring metaverse-ish capabilities to a much larger audience, but consumers remain skeptical. Most metaverse pitches attempt to sell the audience on a world where users simply strap on a headset and can get lost in different worlds – interconnected by some sort of backend that allows for persistent experiences across different instances. Of course, we have heard this pitch before, and while there might be some improvements in the user experiences, which are currently rather janky, the key enabling technology here are the headsets. With the Quest 3, Meta has added some $200 to the price tag, but crucially, has enabled proper mixed-reality functions, by way of the video passthrough. Early reports suggest that the experience is a good one, which allows for the real world around the user to be brought into the experience. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eGPMnUXm #metaverse #metaquest #mixedreality #VR 

Things that make you got mmmmmmmm...Meta is now resorting to giving away it's latest VR headset dubbed the Meta Quest Pro to developers at a recent Roblox conference. 👀 The device went on sale in October of last year at $1500. Since then, sales have been lackluster and as reported by Wayne Ma from The Information in July, supposedly Meta isn't ordering new Quest Pro components. Not a stellar result by any means. Also, the Meta Quest 3 is on the way next month, to sell at $500. And let's not forget the Apple Vision Pro coming in early 2024 with an even higher price tag of $3,499. Of course, price is just one facet. Click here for a better side by side comparison: https://lnkd.in/d9rCzYBw #vr #meta #apple