Items tagged with Oculus-VR
The tech industry seems to be on a virtual reality kick here recently, and we’ve seen companies like Google (with YouTube 360-degree videos) and GoPro (with the 16-camera Odyssey virtual reality rig) fully embrace immersive viewing technologies that put you at the center of the action. Today, Facebook is the latest to give Internet users a new way to experience content by bringing 360-degree videos directly to the News Feed. Facebook users can experience 360-degree videos on Internet browsers using your typical notebook or desktop computer, and via mobile devices like iPhones and Android smartphones. Using a traditional Internet browser, you can drag the cursor to change the angle of the video....
Read more...
When Facebook bought Oculus VR, there was an uproar from the community, with serious concerns that the heartless, data-hoarding behemoth run by Mark Zuckerberg would ruin the amazing potential of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Facebook countered by hinting that it had huge plans for the Oculus platform far beyond mere gaming. It’s humorous, then, that one of the first new uses for the virtual reality headset announced since the merger is as a gimmick in a Chuck E. Cheese game. It will be used in that ticket-grabbing booth thing, called the Virtual Ticket Blaster. Lucky kiddos will don the Rift headset, and a cloud of tickets will blow up around them. In this version of the game,...
Read more...
Armed with Facebook’s deep pockets and strong backstop, Oculus VR is much better able to poach talent from big companies than when it was just an exciting startup (John Carmack notwithstanding). The big get for this week is Adrian Wong, who left his post as a lead electrical engineer at Google[x], where he worked on Google Glass, to join the Oculus team. Credit: Brandon Chan via TechCrunch As reported by TechCrunch, Wong announced on Facebook (oh, I get it now) that May 2nd was his last day at Google, and now his LinkedIn profile confirms that he’s moved over to Oculus. Wong worked on the systems, camera, and RF for Glass, and on the Explorer Edition of the specs he was in charge...
Read more...
This isn’t about cool virtual reality games anymore. When the news first broke of Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR, the knee-jerk reaction from many fans of the Oculus Rift was to feel betrayed that this grassroots tech company, funded in part by its individual supporters, was going to be part of a huge, lumbering entity that mines data and sells it. People were worried that the Oculus Rift would no longer be “cool”, like if your favorite band signed up to exclusively write commercial jingles. But with some time to process things more, it’s clear that although the above is still true to an extent, this is about ideology in the age of data more than...
Read more...
The announcement that Facebook bought Oculus VR felt like a suckerpunch to the gut for many ardent fans of the Oculus Rift and all the amazing work that the Oculus team has been doing, and even more people have bemoaned the acquisition as a death knell for the once-promising VR project. However, you can count Valve veteran Michael Abrash among those who believe that this move is actually very much a good thing. Abrash has left Valve and gone to work for Oculus VR as its Chief Scientist--this, just days after the acquisition was announced. In a lengthy and fascinating blog post, Abrash discussed his reason for leaving Valve and joining Oculus VR by way of his personal history with VR and those...
Read more...
Facebook is snapping up Oculus VR, maker of the hotly-anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming headset. For those immediately worried that Facebook will ruin Oculus Rift, fear not: Mark Zuckerberg assured the world in a post that not only will Facebook be accelerating the Oculus Rift gaming platform, it will be leveraging Oculus VR’s technology into other spaces, as well. Zuckerberg calls Oculus VR a communication platform, and he sees the technology expanding in powerful new ways. “After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or...
Read more...
