The Top Technology Trends Dominating 2016

 With the year almost running by, lets take a look at the technology trends dominating in 2016.


1. Live streaming

 Live streaming technology, particularly via Twitch, Facebook Live, Periscope, and other similar apps, is developing at a faster rate thanks to a combination of factors that is making live streaming more popular amongst users; some of these factors include the practicality of mobile devices, better Internet connections, and a greater expectation to be “in the moment” in a social media context. As a result, live streaming technologies are coming to a more diverse range of platforms—including social media platforms—and are becoming more efficient, with fewer interruptions and greater accessibility.

2. Virtual and augmented reality

 It was supposed to be a big year for virtual reality (VR) with the emergence of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. To date, it’s seen modest popularity, but nothing that’s revolutionized the way we experience the world. On the other hand, augmented reality apps are starting to see breakout popularity (and Pokémon Go is the major notable example here), bringing millions of users together for a shared physical/digital hybrid experience. VR technology is still new, and there’s always a learning curve, but I believe we’re witnessing our first baby steps into an era with a much blurrier line between the physical and digital realms.

3. Automation, machine learning, and AI

People have been anticipating the onset of artificial intelligence (AI) for decades, and though it’s been around in various forms for the past several years (and even beyond that), we’re now bearing witness to the advanced learning systems that may soon come to define our interactions with technology. Digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, which were mocked just a few years ago, now have a stunning ability to recognize and decipher human speech, and Google updates like RankBrain are now able to update themselves, learning from complex user inputs and making automated adjustments.

4. The Internet-of-Things (IoT)

The Internet-of-Things is a phenomenon driven by the fact that so many everyday items—such as refrigerators and televisions—are now becoming capable of accessing the Internet, or even enjoying “smart” technology. Theoretically, groups of these appliances and devices could be linked together on a single network, resulting in a “smart home” that can be controlled independently by a single user on a single system. This technology could soon revolutionize the way we engage with our environments and interact with each other.

5. Big data and visualization

To be fair, it’s been a few years since “big data” started becoming popular as a buzzword, so it can’t be counted as a trend exclusively in 2016. For the past few years, businesses have been upgrading their systems and investing more to collect greater quantities and quality of data on their customers. This data is useful—but only if it’s interpreted correctly, and only if those gathering it are asking the right questions. Enter the era of data visualization, where advanced software programs and analytics platforms are able to automatically gather and project big data in meaningful ways, helping users form accurate, actionable conclusions.

6. App streaming

App streaming is one of the most interesting developments in the field of online search and mobile user experiences. Google has been pushing the visibility and functionality of apps in its search engine for the past few years, but its recent push to “streaming” apps in search results for users is an insightful indication of where things might develop from here. App streaming allows users to access content to apps they haven’t even downloaded yet, opening a potential door to the eventuality of apps replacing traditional websites as the central medium to gather new information.

7. Better in-app experiences

The dominant apps of our era—like Google and Facebook—are fighting hard to keep their apps in the top ranks, and keep users in those applications for as long as possible. Social media apps are starting to venture into new territory, with better, more diverse messaging experiences, and new functionality that overrides the necessity to leave the app and pursue functionality elsewhere. Most users are finding these in-app provisions helpful, and they’re only going to grow more sophisticated from here.

With these seven trends already in place and shaping the world around us, I can only imagine what wonders are down the pipeline. Of course, some technological trends are bound to fizzle while others continue for many years—but since it’s so hard to focus on the distant future, the short-term future is your best bet for setting goal.

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Xiaomi is reportedly making a virtual reality announcement on August 1

It appears as though Xiaomi is about to jump into the virtual reality market. It’s an opportune time given that Google’s Daydream VR platform for Android is closer to launch than ever. There isn’t a lot of information, but here’s everything you need to know.

Release date

There are no images, specs, design leaks, general information, or anything of the sort about Xiaomi’s upcoming VR move. What we do have is an image purportedly detailing an announcement date of August 1 from GizChina. That’s a day before Samsung unveils the Galaxy Note 7.

Thankfully, since the date is right around the corner, we don’t need to wait too long to see what Xiaomi’s cooking. It’s most likely a VR headset that’s Daydream-certified. Google’s Daydream VR platform needs the right hardware to support it. Google is making its own headset and remote, but it also released a reference kit with specifications for the devices.

Many companies, including Xiaomi, said they will support the certifications for phones. It’s likely Xiaomi will also do so for the headset — if that’s what this is. So far, ZTE’s VR headset and Axon 7 smartphone are the first devices to be Daydream-certified.

Xiaomi just released the Redmi Pro smartphone, a strong entry at a low price of $225 to $300 depending on specs and storage. Knowing the Chinese company, this headset could be priced low, too. Again, we can’t verify this so we’ll just have to wait and see on August 1.

Source: Digital Trends

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Minecraft is Now on Samsung's Gear VR headset

Oculus has announced that the open-world hit is now available on Samsung's virtual reality headset. Officially dubbed Minecraft: Gear VR Edition, the game is said to support the same features as the Pocket Edition, including its creative, survival and multiplayer modes, as well as the character skins your familiar with.

In addition to that, Minecraft: Gear VR Edition will let you pick between a first-person or theater view (which is the default), depending on how hardcore you feel when you're about to start building and exploring in virtual reality. Oculus CTO John Carmack, who last year revealed that this version was in the works, said in a blog post, "My strongest memories of being inside VR are from the time I've spent exploring Minecraft on Gear VR. Experiencing it in virtual reality changes it from an abstract activity to a visceral one."

If you have a Gear VR, Minecraft can be yours from the Oculus Store for $7.







Source: Oculus
Via : Engadget

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Samsung Gear VR gets even better internet with WebVR support

With all the coverage lavished on "proper" VR devices like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, it might be too easy to forget the VR headset that was already in the market way ahead of those two. Made by Samsung in partnership with Oculus, the Gear VR is almost like a poor man's VR (though the real poor man's VR would be the original Google Cardboard), lettings users experience VR more easily.

Provided they have the latest Samsung smartphone, of course. Now Samsung is expanding its headset's coverage by adopting what is to be the VR standard for the Web called, what else, WebVR.

With Mozilla as one of its biggest proponents, WebVR is an attempt to more or less standardize web browser access to virtual reality before it becomes too wild and wide to corral. Technically, it's a set of Javascript API for doing as such. It's still a work in progress and, until recently, was available only for experimental versions of Firefox and Chromium. Now add Internet for Gear VR that list and remove the "experimental" label.

The Gear VR has long had an Internet browser of its own, but that was a rather plain one that really simply let you, well, browse web pages. On the other hand, real virtual reality content could only be enjoyed on the headset using content curated by Samsung or Oculus, which isn't really a lot. WebVR has the potential to expand that scope to any VR content that can run inside browsers using the Javascript API.

That said, Samsung admits that the browser so far only supports the deprecated API, which means the parts that will soon be obsolete. This first release, however, will hopefully serve as the launchpad for updating to more recent WebVR APIs in the near future. However, WebVR itself is still in its infancy, so not everything might work as desired.

In addition to supporting WebVR, Samsung Internet for Gear VR also gets some other features in the latest update. One nifty feature is that any web page you are browsing on the Samsung Internet browser for Android will automatically show up on the Gear VR browser when you attach your smartphone to the headset.

Unlike the Samsung Internet for Android app, which is available from the Galaxy App store, Samsung Internet for Gear VR has to be installed or updated via the Oculus Store Android app.


Source: Samsung
Via: Slashgear

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Alibaba wants to integrate virtual reality into its e-commerce services

It seems that every day brings another story of a company embracing the upcoming virtual reality revolution. This time, it’s Chinese firm Alibaba that is climbing aboard the VR train, as the e-commerce giant has just announced the launch of its own virtual reality lab, called GnomeMagic Lab.

As reported by TechCrunch, Alibaba’s new arm will work with its shopping businesses to integrate the virtual reality platform into the shopping experience. The idea being that consumers can use a VR headset to recreate the sensation of shopping in a bricks-and-mortar store from the comfort of their own home.

According to former Facebook engineer Zhao Haiping, who is now a part of GnomeMagic’s team, the system could enable customers to shop somewhere like New York’s Fifth Avenue without actually having to be there.

GnomeMagic Lab won’t just be a way to transport users to virtual recreations of famous shopping locations, either. Alibaba will also be using the technology to create VR visuals of hundreds of its products, giving consumers a much better idea of what the real-life versions of goods will look like.

Additionally, Alibaba is looking at using virtual reality in other applications, such as video with Youku Tudou and entertainment via Alibaba Pictures. It was reported that Amazon is also looking at building a VR platform for its video services, as the US company is seeking a senior software development manager to help build the virtual reality experience within Amazon Video.

With the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR all set for release soon, and the ever-increasing rise in the number of people buying smartphone-powered headsets, it looks as if companies are banking on 2016 being the year virtual reality takes off.


Source: Techcrunch
Via: Techspot

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Pre-Orders Are Now Open For HTC Vive

HTC’s $799 Vive virtual reality headset opened for pre-orders this morning. The headset will begin shipping April 5 in the US, just a week or so after the consumer launch of the the Oculus Rift, which launches March 28.

Pre-orders can be placed on the HTC site today for shipment to the US and 23 other countries.

The $799 package includes the headset, a pair of controllers and two “Lighthouse” laser-tracking sensors. The bundle also includes (while supplies last) a trio of quick-and-fun games that show off some of the flexibility offered by the Vive’s room-scale tracking and motion-tracking: office destruction physics game Job Simulator, whimsical puzzle game Fantastic Contraption, and Google’s 3D painting tool Tilt Brush.

I’ve tried out the Vive quite a few times and have loved what I’ve seen. It offers a much more rich out-of-the-box experience than the Oculus Rift thanks to its included wireless motion controllers which allow you to move your virtual hands with ease. The $599 Rift currently includes an Xbox controller as its primary input device, the company has not yet announced a ship date for its similarly-featured Touch wireless motion controllers.

Worth reiterating is that you need a gaming PC with decent specs to power the Vive, HTC recommends that your PC rocks a Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics card at a minimum. Valve has put together a nice little system checker to see how well your PC can run VR content so if you have any questions about your specific rig best to give the system test a whirl. HTC has specified that they will likely follow Oculus’s move and begin selling VR-ready PCs bundled alongside the headset, but nothing has been announced yet.




Source: Techcrunch

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Lebron James and Oculus team up for new behind the scenes VR film

Lebron James’ quest to bring an NBA title to the city of Cleveland is still in progress but you can now see the hard work he’s putting into accomplishing that goal through a Samsung Gear VR headset.

A new 12-minute video named “Striving for Greatness” puts you behind the scenes of LeBron’s workout regimen. From Yoga to shootarounds to work in the pool, you’ll see what it takes to be King James.

Striving For Greatness: An UNINTERRUPTED OriginalI was born with God given talent, but I PROMISE you that when the bright lights go down I am grinding it out and working my tail off to get better. I will never cheat this game… Catch the full series on UNINTERRUPTED #StriveForGreatness #UNINTERRUPTED #IPROMISE

Posted by LeBron James

The VR experience was created in collaboration with Oculus, and can be downloaded via its store. Milk VR, Samsung’s proprietary virtual reality video app, is also hosting it.


Source :The Next Web

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HTC's Delayed Vive VR Headset Launching April 2016

HTC announced in a blog post that its Vive VR headset won’t see a commercial launch until April 2016.

When the company first showed off the developer edition of the Vive in March, it said that it would begin selling the headset by the end of this year.

In August, gaming giant Valve, which is partnering with HTC to develop the Vive, revealed plans to offer a limited number of headsets to consumers before 2015 was out, but that didn’t happen.

The Taiwanese hardware maker says it’s still committed to delivering the Vive. It said that it’s been shipping developer kits to game and content creators and will launch its second iteration at the CES expo in January.

HTC notes that it will also make 7,000 more developer kits available next year ahead of the Vive’s commercial launch.

The company hasn’t explained the reason behind the delay, but pushing the launch date to April means that it might be late to the VR party: Oculus and Sony are set to stock shelves with their headsets early next year. If HTC can’t be the first to launch a VR headset, it better build a damn good one to take on its rivals.


Source :The Next Web

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Samsung Launches First TV Ad for Gear VR Headset

For some time now, the promise of Virtual Reality gaming and entertainment has been heading to shelves in stores all over the place “soon” and now, it's finally here. While the Oculus Rift has been available as an expensive Developer's Kit for a while now, and Google's Cardboard is readily available and cheap, a fully-realized product has been a long time coming. The Gear VR is that very product, and while it launched last year with support for the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge, it wasn't that easy to get hold of and with support for just two phones it was almost as niches as the Oculus technology that powers it. Now it's back, and on general sale for just $99.99, which isn't too bad considering the high prices that some have been predicting for the likes of the Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus.

This version of the Gear VR works with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 line of devices, which should ensure a lot more eyes to fill given the popularity of Samsung's latest devices. With the Holiday Season just around the corner, it's no wonder that Samsung is gearing up (get it?) to sell bucket loads of the Gear VR. To get things started, the South Korean giant has released a simple 30-second TV spot (watchable below) to show off the Gear VR and offer glimpses at what it can do for your world of entertainment. In the short ad, it seems as though the Gear VR is super-easy to use, and while it is pretty simple to set up and use, it's not your everyday plug-and-play sort of experience.

The Gear VR is no doubt going to sell well, for such a niche product at least, and it's interesting to see that Samsung are one of the first companies to offer a fully-realized product for virtual reality. Needing just the phone you use every day and the headset to get a pretty accurate and tailored experience for an extra hundred bucks is compelling. How many of these end up under Christmas trees and in wrapped-up boxes is unclear, but it's good to see that something like this is finally hitting the market from a recognizable name.

Source :Android Headlines 

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EA Games holding back on Virtual Reality … for now

Since the release of the original Oculus Rift DK1 headset a few years ago, more and more game developers and publishers around the world have announced their intention to jump aboard the heavily hyped VR train. Surprisingly though, EA Games, one of the world’s largest gaming corporations, has been much more hesitant, and it has now said it won’t be jumping on to the bandwagon until it knows what the destination is.

For EA, it’s all about market size. If the uptake of VR is slow or minimal, competing in that space may be difficult, and it may be harder still to turn a profit.

“There’s some challenges still and I think the biggest challenge is just the size of the market,” EA’s CFO, Blake Jorgensen said in a chat withGamesIndustry.biz. “We don’t make games anymore for the Wii or the Wii U because the market is not big enough. The PS Vita — the Sony product — we don’t make games for that anymore because the market is too small, so it’s all about the size of the market.”

Related: VR will replace smartphones someday, predicts Oculus founder Palmer Luckey

Indeed as ground-breaking and exciting as virtual reality is, the current marketplace for those using VR hardware is in the low hundreds of thousands, and even that’s only if you factor in both Oculus Rift headsets and the Gear VR. While the commercial launch of virtual reality hardware next year will boost that to likely over a million units, no one knows if that will occur one month after launch, or a year after.

There will be quite a few hurdles and stumbling blocks to overcome in the early days of virtual reality, too. It’s a technology that has to be tried to be believed, and that limits its exposure. There is also the ever-improving, but still present issue of nausea, with some users experiencing stomach-sickness in poorly crafted games and experiences. That too many slow the adoption rate.

VR is also a restrictive technology locally, in that you can’t see anyone around you when using it. That’s fine when you are by yourself, but it removes much of the local-social elements that are possible with traditional console gaming.

Despite all of this, developers like Epic Games, Crytek, Ubisoft, and a number of other big names, not to mention a multitude of smaller ones, are all working on games and experiences that launch with or soon after commercial VR hardware. So they have been happy to take the jump.

Do you think EA’s hesitation will cause it be left behind in the early stages of the VR race?

Source : Digital Trends 

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​Oculus founder: Virtual reality gear will displace smartphones

Today people line up for hours to buy a smartphone that embodies the latest in high technology. Years from now, that phone will seem like a relic as people switch to virtual reality technology, predicted the founder of one of the highest-profile VR efforts.

"I believe it's going to be more ubiquitous than the smartphone," said Palmer Luckey, founder ofOculus virtual reality company that Menlo Park, California-based Facebook acquired for $2 billion in 2014.

It's a bold to predict the demise of a device that ships today by the billion, but virtual reality and augmented reality have what it takes, Palmer said Tuesday at the Web Summit tech conference here. VR presents an artificial, but seemingly real, 3D world through a headset that can track a person's head movements to ensure a sensation of full immersion. AR, advocated by startups like Magic Leap and by Microsoft's forthcoming HoloLens product, overlays a virtual view atop the real world.

"Eventually AR and VR technology will converge and combine. You'll wear it all the time or carry it around with you all the time," and the VR gear will absorb the functions of today's smartphones even as it adds new abilities, Luckey said. "I'd be very surprised if 50 years from now we're still all carrying around slabs in our pockets when you can just project a virtual environment."

VR is a hot computing trend, heavily hyped as the future of gaming, learning and communications. TrendForce analyst Jason Tsai projects sales of 14 million VR devices in 2016, led by the Oculus-based headsets, the PlayStation VR from Japanese electronics giant Sony and the Vive from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC.

To succeed broadly, though, VR gear will have to become cheaper, shed its reliance on a tethered PC, and find a way to overcome the social stigma that can come with attaching bulky electronic goggles to your face.

Progress will come, Luckey said.

Today's VR requires a high-end PC costing at least $1,000, he said. "Most people don't have that. In five or six years, most computers people own are going to be capable," he said. VR will start as a niche market, but eventually "almost anybody is going to have it."

Luckey, wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, brings a youthful exuberance to a technology passion he's had since boyhood. "VR is a science fiction technology," said Luckey, who is 23. "It's right up there with space travel and time travel and artificial intelligence and flying cars."

Even when it's not as good as the real world, it's often better than what people actually have a chance to experience, he argued. Visiting a virtual Paris is an improvement over no Paris at all.

Source :CNET 

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Virtual reality: So near, yet so far

The biggest competition for virtual reality is something it'll never beat - the real world.

As many readers of this blog like to point out, a virtual reality environment will never be a substitute for actually experiencing something.

No-one, even in the corridors of Oculus Connect, a conference for the virtual reality industry, would suggest otherwise.

Owned by Facebook, Oculus is credited with breathing new life into the virtual reality industry which had faded out after an almost cringe-worthy first-go in the nineties. Its headset, the Oculus Rift, hits shelves next year. Anticipation is huge.

But today we had a reminder of just how far we are from enjoying anything that comes even close to producing an fully-immersive world - one that can recreate common human feelings and emotions; the sense of being somewhere else, with other people, feeling different sensations.

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The announcements

Oculus and Facebook made a range of announcements relating to VR today. Here are the most significant:

• Minecraft. Veteran games maker John Carmack, now chief technology officer at Oculus, described Minecraft coming to Oculus as the biggest "win" they've had. It didn't come easy - Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella had to sit down and iron out some issues before the deal was done.
• Netflix, Hulu and others signed up. The on-demand giants are on board with VR - you'll be able to watch titles on the likes of Netflix and Hulu within the headset, giving the impression of watching it on a huge screen. Many have questioned how comfortable that would be after more than about 15 minutes.
• A $99 (£65) Gear VR. Aside from the premium Oculus Rift headset, due to be released early next year, Oculus and Samsung have created the Gear VR, a low-cost headset that uses a Samsung smartphone to power the visuals. It's not the full VR experience, but it's intended to be gateway for newcomers. The next headset will be $99 and work with Samsung's Galaxy S6 range.
• Oculus Ready. The Oculus Ready PC programme is a stamp of approval designed to help people buy computers that will be good enough to power VR. PC makers onboard include Asus, Dell and Alienware.

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To hammer this home, Oculus' chief scientist Michael Abrash took a refreshing approach to his keynote - outlining all the things Oculus could not yet do.

The problems are so great the team is not even trying to solve them - something for the next generation to tackle.

One is providing a sense of smell, a sensation so integral to experiencing, and later remembering, a new place.

Another challenge is the ability to taste something, or hear realistically in a way that does not feel as if we're just wearing headphones. Perhaps the biggest barrier is a sense of touch.

Haptic technology is only just beginning to recreate basic touch sensations - but it remains that in VR, it's going to be years before you'll stop putting your hand through virtual tables, killing the illusion in an instant.

Tough crowd

But virtual reality enthusiasts shouldn't feel disheartened.

Right now, VR is what Space Invaders is to Call of Duty. They're both games, sure, but they're worlds apart. The now-primitive blip-blip-blip of 1970s arcade games were the building blocks needed to get us to where we are now.

And so the feeling among Oculus Connect is that this is just the beginning, and there's still a long way to go.

Gamers and the wider public may take a while to reach the same level of excitement felt within the industry.

Mr Abrash told delegates that they're living in the "good old days" of VR - a time that will be looked back upon as the start of something significant.

Except it's not quite the start. We've been here before. Journalists in the 1990s were writing about VR as the next big thing just as I am now. But the technology wasn't ready then.

Is it now? There are a few veterans prowling the halls here, enticed back to the action after some time away. One was Greg Panos, who has been studying virtual and augmented reality for over two decades.

I asked him if this latest wave of VR was any different to what happened in the 90s.

Yes, he said - the difference now is that VR is good enough, and cheap enough, for companies to start making some serious money. And so it starts.

The first battleground for VR will be gaming. Therefore the best games will win - in theory - so efforts from HTC Vive headset could disrupt Facebook's ambition. HTC has partnered with legendary games maker Valve, and so the games should be terrific. And the Vive goes on sale first.

Sony is jostling in, too. Its Morpheus headset has two things going for it. One, it's tied to the already immensely successful PlayStation 4, and so will likely be bundled with the console.

Shrewd move

But with the announcements made today, Facebook is giving itself a huge headstart in a new, exciting world of entertainment.

Deals with Netflix and Minecraft could give Oculus the edge, even if other competitors have better hardware, as has been the suggestion. Content, as always, is king. Vive and Morpheus will need to compete with that.

The possibilities are mind-blowingly enormous - from gaming to tele-presence, education to blockbuster movies, Facebook is trying to nurture a platform that one day could rival the mobile app ecosystem in its scale.

But - and it's a big but - Facebook still needs to pull it off. One year on from Facebook's purchase of Oculus VR, we've still not seen the technology really hit the market in any meaningful way. That means Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg's $2bn bet in VR bet is still wide-open.

Will that purchase be seen as a shrewd move on par with Google's bargain-tactic $1.65bn purchase of YouTube in 2006?

Or will Oculus be Mr Zuckerberg's MySpace - a service with great early momentum, bought by NewsCorp for $580m, only to be later offloaded for $35m? It was a newcomer that took what MySpace started and made it much much better, killing the business in the process.

That newcomer being Facebook, of course, Mr Zuckerberg certainly knows how this game works.

It's presumably why he appeared, unannounced, at Thursday's event, seemingly with one key purpose - to manage the expectations of developers, the press and the public.

"All of you are inventing the next major platform," he told delegates. "This is going to go very slowly.

"Facebook is committed to this for the long term."

He doesn't expect "millions" of units to be sold - at least not for a while.

He was there to reassure developers that even if things don't pick up and make millionaires straight away, he's committed to sticking with it.

But he's not the only one - and it could be competitors that take what Oculus has started and does things better - giving Mr Zuckerberg the MySpace treatment.

Source :BBC 

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CNN will live stream the Democratic debates in VR

CNN has announced that it's going to live stream the full Democratic presidential debatein VR on October 13th. The move comes after the success of VR highlight clips that the channel made available following the recent Republican debate. As with the previous event, the network has teamed up with NextVR, letting users of Samsung's GearVR to experience the hot, political action as if they were sat in the Las Vegas audience. CNN hasn't revealed if it's planning to ask Bernie Sanders to leap towards the camera to make the whole thing more immersive, but a little part of us can hope, right? 

Source : CNN 

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Disney invests $65 million to help make virtual-reality movies the next thing

If virtual-reality headsets catch on, Disney and other entertainment companies want to be ready. Ina Fassbender/Reuters/Corbis

The stream of cash flowing into virtual-reality startups just got a boost, and this time it's for a camera maker whose technology could help change the movie industry.

Jaunt, a Palo Alto, California, startup that makes cameras that can shoot video in 360 degrees, has received a $65 million investment by the Walt Disney Co. and other media-focused investors in Europe and China. All told, the startup, which makes hardware and software for virtual reality, has now raised more than $100 million since it was founded two years ago. The company says that makes it the best-funded player in the emerging field of "cinematic" virtual reality.

Jaunt will use the influx of cash to "greatly increase production" and advance its camera hardware and software tools, the company said in a press release.

The startup's ultimate goal is what makes Disney's investment on Monday significant: Jaunt wants to make virtual reality the next way we watch moviesand television.

That might sound like a startup's pie-in-the-sky vision, but then again it's not every day companies get an eight-figure investment led by one of the world's largest media companies. Disney owns a media empire spanning ESPN, ABC, Pixar Animation Studios and LucasArts.

Jaunt isn't the only company attracting these types of investments. The amount of money flowing into virtual reality has exploded.

Virtual- and augmented-reality-focused startups worldwide have received more than $1 billion since the beginning of 2014 after collecting less than $250 million annually for years, according to startup research firm CB Insights.

Venture capitalists don't seem likely to stop the trend. The most active investor in virtual reality,Rothenberg Ventures, announced earlier this month that it planned to spend another $10 million on virtual-reality-focused startups. Other startups that have received funding include Magic Leap, which has raked in $592 million from investors including Google and Andreessen Horowitz for its headset that promises to marry computer-generated images with what we see in the real world.

Tech giants Sony, Google, Samsung and Facebook's Oculus all plan to release their own virtual-reality headsets within the next year. Their challenge now? Making sure that consumers have something to do with their new high-tech gadgets.

For its part, Jaunt is trying to position itself as the company that will help power the content that people might one day be watching in virtual reality.

The company already works with Disney-owned ABC News and, in addition to its Palo Alto headquarters, it opened a studio in Los Angeles to produce "live-action" virtual-reality experiences. It also makes a camera that can see in 360 degrees, potentially helping to spur a new range of live-action videos.

Source : CNET 

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PlayStation VR is the new name for Sony's Project Morpheus

Sony's virtual reality headset has a new name. Previously referred to as Project Morpheus, the hardware has been rebranded as PlayStation VR. The Japanese company announced the hardware's new name at its Tokyo Game Show press conference today, and confirmed that the hardware, along with a number of games that utilize it, will be available on the try on the show floor.

PlayStation VR will compete with virtual reality headsets from a number of manufacturers, including Facebook's Oculus Rift, and the Vive, developed by HTC and Valve. Sony has yet to announced a specific launch date for PlayStation VR, but had previously stated it will be out in 2016.

Source : The Verge

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Canon gets into the consumer VR game

Canon might not be a contender in the field of consumer VR right now, but a prototype seen on the show floor at this week's Canon Expodefinitely promises good things in that arena. The development unit sports two 5.5-inch LCD panels, each coming in at 2,560 x 1,440 for a total 5K resolution -- topping many devices already on the market (or coming soon).

The VR unit isn't ready for primetime just yet, though. The current model lacks any kind of built-in audio, requiring users put on a pair of external headphones to get the full experience. And it's not a headset so much as it is a handset -- grips on each side allow users to hold it in front of their face. The plus side to this arrangement is that the eyepiece is way more comfortable for glasses-wearers.

The demo video placed me in a large golden room with a domed ceiling, placed in the center of a flamenco performance. The VR unit sports a 120 degree view, and to that effect I was able to turn my head all around to look at each performer individually, including one particularly intense guitar player situated directly behind me. The image was incredibly bright and sharp, as befitting its high resolution, but there was a disconcerting bit of blur whenever I redirected the handset to look at something new -- not as bad as say, earlier versions of the Oculus Rift, but still a noticeable flaw in an otherwise attractive experience.

Like many products at Canon Expo, the VR unit is still a work-in-progress with no set release plans. But given the amount of design polish and ergonomic consideration present in the demo unit, I wouldn't be surprised if the company has something to offer consumers soon.

Source : Engadget 

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HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift: which is better?

Virtual reality is no doubt the next big technology that disrupts our world. There are needs for it everywhere: entertainment, business and government, and it could even prove useful in everyday human interactions.

Companies are already making great strides in virtual reality even though the technology is still in the early stages of development. Oculus and HTC are just two of the companies making VR waves.

We recently had a chance to look at the HTC Viveand the consumer Oculus Rift, both of which claim to offer the next big leaps for the future of gaming. But how do they stack up against one another? Read on for a complete side-by-side breakdown of the two VR viewers, and which comes out on top in each category.

Round 1 - Hardware

The Oculus Rift is still months from release, estimating an official launch sometime in Q1 2016. However, Oculus has revealed the final specs the 2016 consumer model will sport.

The headset will have 2160 x 1200 resolution, or 1080 x 1200 over two OLED displays for each eye. That works out to 233 million pixels per second with a refresh rate of 90Hz. Additionally, it has 360-degree positional head tracking and a 100-degree field of view. Unlike the HTC Vive, the Rift is meant to be used while sitting down in conjunction with Oculus' Touch controllers - though there have been experiences that let you stand and play.

The Rift does need to be plugged into a computer running Windows 7 or higher to work. You will need a GPU equivalent to the Nvidia GTX 970/AMD 290 or better. Other hardware requirements include an Intel i5-4590 processor, 8GB+ of RAM, 2x USB 3.0 ports and HDMI 1.3 video output.

The HTC Vive features similar 2160 x 1200 resolution, or 1080 x 1200 over two OLED displays for each eye. It has a 90Hz refresh rate, over 70 sensors (e.g. an accelerometer, a gyroscope, etc.) for fluid and seamless movements, and will operate in a 15ft x 15ft tracking space if you have the supporting wireless cameras. Various front-facing cameras will help identify objects in the area around you as part of the headset's Chaperone safety system, which aims to protect users from colliding into walls or any other objects, allowing you to safely use the Vive while moving around.

HTC's Vive also needs to be tethered to a PC running Windows, GNU/Linux, or OS X via an HDMI cable. The Vive will likely require similar, if not better, specs to the Oculus Rift due to the latency-free wireless demands.

Winner: While both offer powerful hardware, it's too early to tell which will have the edge.

Round 2 - Design

The Oculus Rift has a lightweight and compact design. Velcro straps are easily adjustable, there is comfortable padding for the faceplate and removable headphones are adorned to the sides of the headset. As far as design goes, it's not the most immaculate looking device. It's essentially a big, black brick sticking out from your face. However, it's certainly more compact than other options coming to the market.

The HTC Vive is lightweight, and there are 37 visible sensors on the front of the device for seamlessly connecting to the infrared wireless cameras for the 15ft x 15ft tracking space. Similar to the Rift, there are adjustable Velcro straps, and comfortable padding on the faceplate. As for the design itself, the Vive is actually worse off than its Rift counterpart. Not only is it also a big, black object sticking out from your face, it's a lot bulkier.

Winner: Oculus Rift because it's slightly less bulky and more refined.

Round 3 - Controllers

The Oculus Touch are the companion controllers to the Rift, helping immerse users deeper in the VR experience. However, an Xbox One controller will ship with the Rift, as the Touch controllers will be sold separately later on. The Touch controllers feature a half-moon design (they're called the Half Moon prototype, after all), are lightweight, wireless, and sport a lanyard similar to what you find on a Wii remote.

One of the best things about Oculus Touch controllers is the natural haptic feedback, and as far as input mechanisms go, you have an analog trigger, an analog stick and two additional buttons. Oculus Touch work well enough, however, there are currently still bugs, latency issues, and the wireless connection seems to drop periodically. These issues should be ironed out by the headset's Q1 launch, for Oculus Rift's own sake.

The HTC Vive controllers take on a more traditional design over the Touch's half-moon style. For instance, there's a single analog trigger for your index finger and a wheel below for your thumb. The wheel is used for scrolling through menus, adjusting your zoom in games, and more. It also functions as a selector for menu and game options, and gives off a satisfying click. They're very responsive, work flawlessly, and should be even better by the time they're announced in October.

Winner: Despite the issues, Oculus Touch takes the edge for unique design and immersive feel

Round 4 - Gaming

As with any technology that claims to be the future of gaming, there needs to be plenty of software available. Fortunately, Oculus has its own in-house film studio working on creating virtual reality films for the headset, although we're not sure when we'll see the first VR film from the studio.

Additionally, the Oculus Rift has a number of games being natively developed for it. So far, there are over 200 games, including titles like EVE: Valkyrie, Airmech VR, and more. Many developers are working to bring their games to the Rift, but the steep $350 for the Development Kit 2 is a turnoff. Despite its growing game offering, one thing Oculus doesn't have in its arsenal is the backing of popular digital distribution platform, Steam.

The HTC Vive is being developed in conjunction with SteamVR, which is a big name to have in your back pocket. There are already over 171 games that claim to have VR support in the Steam store, and the list will only get bigger as we get closer to launch. SteamVR will give HTC Vive the platform it needs to succeed, not only because of the reputable name, but Valve's big push for the virtual reality space will no doubt overtake the amount of software available to the Rift. After all, Valve is giving away free developer kits, which eliminates the $350 risk for the Rift DK2.

The Vive also has an advantage in that it can be used with Windows, Linux and OS X, whereas the Rift is limited to Windows 7 or higher. Over time, the Vive will no doubt win as far as quantity of games go, simply because of the sheer amount of developers publishing to Steam.

Winner: HTC Vive by a long shot

Round 5 - Price and release dates

The Oculus Rift doesn't have a set launch date, only an estimated release sometime in Q1 2016. Pre-orders for the virtual reality headset will open up later in 2015 but Oculus VR has yet to confirm a price. The company's Development Kit 2 models cost $350 (£400, AU$460), so it wouldn't be surprising to see the final consumer model cost marginally more than that. Another element to consider is that the Oculus Touch controllers won't come with the headset and will release separately later, likely for at least another $100 (about £65, AU$135).

The cost of the Rift and Touch controllers aren't the only equipment you need to think about. If you don't have a powerful Windows machine, you'll need to look into upgrading the hardware or get a new rig all together. With the requirements the Rift is asking for, some of these computers can easily run past $1,500 (about £968, AU$2022).

The HTC Vive has a more official release window set for this Christmas. There's been no word on pricing, however, except that HTC is prepared tostart at a "slightly higher price point" before bringing the cost down. Like Rift, there are extra costs with the Vive if you want the wireless cameras for tracking. The controllers are also being released separately, details of which will beannounced in October.

Much like the Rift, the Vive will require premium hardware that will no doubt surpass $1,500 (about £968, AU$2022) if you're replacing your machine. However, it might be able to work on low-end Steam Boxes, considering Vive's is partnership with SteamVR.

Since the Vive has a Christmas release window, it will arrive at consumers' doors much faster than the Rift, giving it that much-needed edge.

Winner: HTC Vive for releasing sooner, though it remains to be seen if it's truly ready when it comes out

Conclusion

While both the Vive and Rift won two rounds, that doesn't necessarily make one better than the other. Virtual reality is an impressive technology, and we're beginning to see some big leaps for the future of gaming, especially with the HTC Vive and its partnership with SteamVR. The Rift and Vive are still just dev units, but they work extraordinarily well and will only improve as we get closer to a consumer release.

The only real downside to both headsets is that they're tethered to a PC and also require a powerful machine to use. However, this could change in future renditions of both products, making them more accessible to consumers.

Source: Tech radar 

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Lionsgate Films and Payday publisher Starbreezeannounced that they have teamed up to develop a virtual reality first-person shooter based on the hit Keanu Reeves-led action film John Wick. The game is expected to launch on most commercial VR headsets in Spring 2016.

“We're thrilled to partner with the best of the best in VR and game development with Starbreeze, WEVR, and Grab, who are collaborating with the movie's producers to ensure an exciting, immersive and authentic virtual experience,” said Lionsgate President of Interactive Ventures & Games Peter Levin. “John Wick is the perfect cross-platform property to extend into the fast-growing gaming world, and we believe that a cutting edge VR game will deepen fan engagement and accelerate John Wick's evolution into one of our next big action franchises.”

Development is being spearheaded by Grab Games, primarily a creator of mobile titles such as Hero Havoc and Gold Miner Go! and WEVR, the VR production studio responsible for the impressive theBlu: Encounter, a deep-sea demo which was used to show off the HTC Vive VR headset earlier this year. Starbreeze, the Stockholm-based developer and publisher behind the Payday series of heist games and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, will publish. Starbreeze and Lionsgate have already collaborated on a John Wick DLC character pack for Payday 2.

Few details about the game have been announced, but it will feature the characters and story of the John Wick film, centered around “the infamous Continental Hotel.” A preview of the game will be shown off as part of the HTC Vive World Tour this summer all around the United States and Europe. A demo will be available when the Vive launches later this year (it is not clear whether this is the same demo being shown as part of the tour) through SteamVR. The full game is then expected to launch in Spring 2016.

John Wick stars Keanu Reeves as a retired hit man who gets back into the game to exact revenge on some gangsters that screwed him. It was a surprise hit that we really enjoyed. A sequel is currently in development, indicating that it is already in the process of becoming a multimedia blockbuster franchise.

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