Virtual reality

StretchSense built an actually comfortable hand-motion capture glove • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Gaming, metaverse, New Zealand, Robotics & AI, Social, Virtual realityNo Comments

New Zealand-based StretchSense, a maker of hand motion capture technology, believes virtual and augmented reality are going to replace the smartphone as the dominant way we interact with digital worlds and each other. And when that happens, we’ll need natural ways be immersed in those spaces, which means being able to touch and control virtual stuff with your hands. The startup has built a glove that captures the intricate motions of human hands, along with the software that then translates those movements into an animation. Currently, StretchSense’s tech is used by more than 200 gaming and visual effects studios worldwide to create realistic hand gestures for everything from sign language videos to cinematic fight scenes to virtual health and safety training. In fact, it was recently used to make Snoop Dogg’s ‘Crip Ya Enthusiasm‘ music video. Benjamin O’Brien, co-founder and CEO of StretchSense, told ZebethMedia he thinks StretchSense can “be the future of human machine interface for virtual worlds by building garments, not devices.” StretchSenses’s glove is made using the startup’s proprietary stretchable sensor technology that precisely measures the human form. Before it’s been sewn into the glove, the stretchy material looks and feels like elastic rubber with some light black lines running through. Those black lines are referred to as a stretchable capacitor — a capacitor is the same type of sensor used on the screens of smartphones to measure the amount of energy the screen is storing based on where you put your finger down, which is how it works out what you’re touching. In StretchSense’s case, when the material stretches with hand movements, the amount of energy it can store increases. “If you can measure the amount of energy that this can store, you can then work out its geometry very, very, very accurately,” said O’Brien. I tried the glove on myself during a demo in Auckland and can admit that it was indeed a comfortable fit, which O’Brien says isn’t always a given in the hand motion capture world. “The really core advantage is that we actually make garments, not devices. And by that we mean we make garments that are comfortable to wear, that don’t interfere with movement, that don’t break easily, and don’t have hard, lumpy bits of plastic,” said O’Brien. “And so the way we were able to beat out the competition in the motion capture space, if you look at any competitive product, it’s got all these lumpy bits of plastic all over and interferes moving the hand, it breaks easily. And it’s based on technology that just doesn’t naturally conform to the body.” StretchSense closed a $7.6 million Series A investment Thursday, led by Scotland-based Par Equity with participation by existing StretchSense investors GD1, the NZ-based venture capital firm, and Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency. The startup intends to use the funds to grow out its center of excellence in Edinburgh which is focused on AI and spatial computing and will work on machine learning problems to constantly improve the product — things like making a finer and more accurate capture of details, lowering the threshold of the uncanny valley in animations, and transitioning from a 2D screen to a 3D virtual world. The startup is also working on developing a haptic glove which it will launch into VR training next that will stimulate both touch and motion in virtual worlds. “We want to be the future of how people control and influence and touch virtual worlds, but you have to ground that in realistic business models,” said O’Brien. “And so realistic business model number one was content creation for gaming and movie studios. Number two for us would be VR training. And that’s all about solving the retraining crisis where you have people with shorter and shorter careers, but the complexity of those jobs is increasing. So you’ve got this issue where you actually need to be able to train people really quickly and often in time-critical, safety critical situations where there’s money or lives at stake.” Once StretchSense has built a viable business in the VR training sense, the startup hopes to use a next iteration of that tech to move into the VR gaming and experience space. “We want to create tools that the creators of the metaverse will use to build amazing virtual spaces and experiences,” said O’Brien.

VR gaming startup ForeVR Games raises $10M to grow its library of Wii Sports-like titles • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in Gaming, meta quest, Virtual realityNo Comments

While Meta tries to convince users to attend virtual work meetings in its metaverse, ForeVR Games, a VR gaming startup with casual games like bowling, darts and cornhole, is a reminder that virtual reality is supposed to be fun. ForeVR announced today a $10 million Series A funding round, which is being put towards building its gaming portfolio and cementing itself as the “Wii Sports of VR.” Lobby Capital led the Series A funding round with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Galaxy Interactive. The new capital brings the company’s total raised to $18.5 million. Angel investors include Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, and founders of Twitch, Emmett Shear and Justin Kan. Much like Wii Sports, ForeVR games are designed to be easy to play. Since launching in 2020, ForeVR has released three games – ForeVR Bowl ($20), ForeVR Darts ($10), and the newest addition, ForeVR Cornhole ($15). ForeVR games can be played single-player or multiplayer on the Meta Quest or Meta Quest 2. Players can unlock skins for their cornhole bean bags/boards, darts and bowling balls, listen to music through YouTube-powered jukeboxes, as well as explore different “halls” and bowling lanes, such as bowling in Atlantis or playing darts at a British pub. Plus, the games are all connected, so if a player owns multiple ForeVR games, they can meet up with friends through in-game portals, allowing them to “bowl on the moon and then head directly to a ForeVR pool hall in Texas through the portals,” CEO and co-founder, Marcus Segal, told ZebethMedia. Thanks to the company’s latest funding, the “ForeVRse,” as Segal likes to call it, will continue expanding. The company is set to launch its fourth title, ForeVR Pool, a virtual reality 8-ball pool game for all ages, on November 17. It will be available in the Meta Quest Store for $20. Earlier this month, Meta boasted that of the over 400 apps in the Quest Store, over one-third are making millions in revenue. Although Segal wouldn’t reveal exactly how much revenue ForeVR has earned, he told ZebethMedia that it surpassed the $1 million mark. Segal also said that since legs are coming to Meta’s avatars, ForeVR plans to “leverage that technology” when the time comes. Image Credits: ForeVR Games

Meta will release a new consumer grade VR headset next year • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 26, 2022Posted in Hardware, meta, Quest 2, Virtual realityNo Comments

A follow-up to the Quest 2, Meta is launching another consumer grade virtual reality headset next year. The company announced this during today’s Q3 earnings call, in which the company marked yet another $3 billion quarterly loss to its metaverse investments. But CFO David Wehner says that some of this continued cost can be explained via Meta’s continued investment in new hardware development, including another consumer-grade headset that will come out next year. Just weeks ago, Meta unveiled the Quest Pro, a $1,499 headset that is targeted toward power users, especially those who will use it to work. But existing headsets like the Quest 2 are aimed to immerse average people in the company’s dreams for the metaverse. Right now, the Quest 2 retails for $399, but this summer, Meta hiked the price by $100 to try to make up for lost costs. We don’t know much more about Meta’s new headset, aside from the fact that… it’s in the works! But in the lead up to the Quest Pro, previously referred to as “Project Cambria,” Meta dropped a whole lot of breadcrumbs to hype up the powerful headset, so it’s only a matter of time before we learn more. “There’s still a long road ahead to build the next computing platform. But we’re clearly doing leading work here. This is a massive undertaking and it’s often gonna take a few versions of each product before they become mainstream,” Zuckerberg said on today’s earnings call. “But I think that our work here is going to be of historic importance and create the foundation for an entirely new way that we will interact with each other and blend technology into our lives, as well as the foundation for the long term of our business.”

Meta files to dismiss FTC complaint over acquisition of VR fitness company Within • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in meta, Social, Virtual reality, WithinNo Comments

Meta submitted a request to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint about its acquisition of Within. The Los Angeles virtual reality firm makes Supernatural, a rhythm game-turned-workout app that, in our humble opinion, is a legitimately excellent use of VR. It makes sense why Meta wants to absorb the company, but the FTC has raised concerns that it may be an anticompetitive acquisition. “Meta and [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg are planning to expand Meta’s virtual reality empire with this attempt to illegally acquire a dedicated fitness app that proves the value of virtual reality to users,” the agency wrote in July. Today, Meta filed a request in the Northern District of California court to move forward with the deal despite the FTC’s complaint. At first, the FTC argued that the acquisition would limit competition in the VR fitness market. The agency wrote, “Meta already participates in this broader market with its Beat Saber app, as does Within with its premium rival app Supernatural. The two companies currently spur each other to keep adding new features and attract more users, competitive rivalry that would be lost if this acquisition were allowed to proceed.” But the FTC filed a new complaint last week and removed these allegations. If we want to get technical about it, Beat Saber isn’t really a fitness app — some people just break a sweat because the game requires a lot of fast arm movement, but Beat Saber wasn’t built with exercise in mind. The games just draw comparison because they’re both rhythm games. In any case, Meta capitalized on the FTC’s less intense filing by arguing that the complaint shouldn’t stand in the way of the acquisition. If Meta were to acquire Within, then the FTC would have a much more difficult time forcing the merged companies to separate. “Having abandoned its claim that Meta and Within compete for fitness consumers, the FTC proceeds only on the claim that Meta and Within could compete, and that the fear of such competition drives Within and others to compete more strenuously,” Meta’s filing says. But the company’s lawyers argue that, per legal precedent, “perceived potential competition” hasn’t stood up in court as grounds for blocking a vertical merger. “The FTC alleges only that generalized fear of possible entry by Meta is a spur to competition,” the filing says. Meta has waged an enormous bet on virtual reality; in 2021, the company spent over $10 billion in its Reality Labs division, and it’s not seeing anywhere near that amount in revenue. At its developer conference this week, the company formerly known as Facebook unveiled its high-end VR headset, the Quest Pro, which retails for $1,499.99. Meta Motion to Dismiss by ZebethMedia

Here’s what you missed at Meta Connect 2022 • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in Apps, meta, Meta Connect 2022, Virtual realityNo Comments

Last year at Meta Connect, the company then known as Facebook dropped a bombshell: it would now be known as Meta and focus on building the “metaverse.” After investing billions of dollars into the future of virtual reality, the rebranded Meta came back this year for its next big announcement: legs. Yes, avatars are going to get legs — our disembodied torsos will finally assume their bipedal form. Okay, fine, we all know that the biggest announcement today was the anticipated Meta Quest Pro, a high-end VR headset retailing at $1,499.99. But in between its new hardware and… legs, Meta unveiled a number of updates in its plan to dominate virtual reality. Here’s what CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives revealed at Meta Connect 2022: The Quest Pro is shipping out this month. After months of buzz, Meta unveiled the upcoming Quest Pro headset. With Meta’s last headset, the Quest 2, the company’s goal was to produce an affordable, consumer-grade product. But the mixed reality Quest Pro is Meta’s chance to flex the result of all the money it’s invested into Reality Labs. Microsoft is partnering with Meta to bring workplace tools to VR. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, joined Zuckerberg at Meta Connect to announce that Windows apps, a Teams integration and Xbox Cloud Gaming will come to Quest. Users will also be able to use progressive web app versions of tools like Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. Avatars in Microsoft Teams. Meta is really doubling down on this whole “working in VR” thing. Who’s the audience for a $1,499 headset? Corporations, maybe. Meta said it deployed 60,000 Quest 2 headsets as part of a partnership with Accenture, and it’s building a “Meta Quest for Business” subscription product next year. “There’s an opportunity for a VR headset designed from the ground up to be great for work, as well as playing games and hanging out,” Zuckerberg said. CTO Andrew Bosworth seems to be on the same page, noting that one day, VR headsets might replace our desktops all together. We’ll believe it when we see it. Meta finally revealed some revenue numbers. Until now, Meta has been pretty cagey when it comes to revealing any financials about its metaverse (unless if it’s the SEC asking). Today, the company said that its Quest Store has made over $1.5 billion on sales of games and apps. That sounds impressive, but consider that just last quarter, Meta invested $2.8 billion into virtual reality. It’s time to get swole. Exercise is an unexpected use case for virtual reality. There’s a lot to be skeptical about when it comes to Zuckerberg’s intense metaverse push, but VR fitness apps like Supernatural are actually very fun. Now, Meta is releasing a product bundle to help you be… less sweaty when you’re boxing in your headset. For $69.99, you get a wipeable facial interface, wrist straps and adjustable knuckle straps. Is that really worth $69.99? I don’t know, is the Quest Pro really worth $1,499.99? We’ll see. Image Credits: Meta Meta lands a partnership with NBCUniversal. As part of a multi-year deal, the streaming app Peacock is coming to Quest. Meta also said that it will develop experiences around IP like The Office, Universal Monsters, DreamWorks, Blumhouse, Halloween Horror Nights. Share videos from Horizon Worlds on Reels. We’re not sure who wanted this, but sure. Why not. In all seriousness, it could be a good way for Meta to simply raise awareness about what Horizon Worlds is and how (a small number of) people are using it. But Horizon Worlds is kind of boring at best, so we don’t see this catching on. Image Credits: Meta But what if legs could change everything? Yeah, Horizon Worlds is a pretty cringe-worthy attempt at convincing people that the metaverse is cool. But what if our disembodied torsos finally had legs? In the next update to Meta’s avatars, we will finally look like real people. Kind of. “Seriously, legs are hard!” Zuckerberg quipped during the presentation. Well, if you’re eager to edit some spreadsheets, hop on Teams calls in VR and stretch your new digital legs, the Quest Pro is available for pre-order now and is expected to ship October 25.

Meta partners with NBCUniversal to bring you into “The Office” • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in Apps, meta, Meta Connect 2022, nbcuniversal, Virtual realityNo Comments

We already know that Meta wants us to go to the office in in virtual reality — but what about The Office? As part of a multi-year partnership with NBCUniversal, NBCUniversal’s streaming app Peacock is coming to the Meta Quest virtual reality headset. “Starting next year, Meta and NBCU will co-create experiences around The Office, Universal Monsters, DreamWorks, Blumhouse, Halloween Horror Nights and so much more,” said Vishal Shah, Meta’s VP of Metaverse, at the Meta Connect event. Fans can engage with this content through the social VR app Horizon Worlds, as well as at Universal Studios theme parks in real life. This partnership could help Meta capitalize around existing fandoms to get them to buy VR headsets, but Meta didn’t provide much detail about what these VR experiences will entail. A Halloween Horror Nights-themed experience could capitalize on VR’s unique ability to make horror even more horrifying (I mean, it is immersive). And, since DreamWorks is in the mix here, may we suggest a Shrek game?