Virtual & Augmented Reality and 3D News - Page 4

Amazon is building a headset or smart glasses that they're describing as "magical and useful, new-to-world XR consumer product" in new job listings, even calling it a "new-to-world smart-home product".

One of the job listings reads: "You will develop an advanced XR research concept into a magical and useful new-to-world consumer product". Another job listing says they're looking for someone for their "XR/AR devices" and that whoever secures the job will be part of a "greenfield development effort" that includes "developing code for early prototypes through mass production".

Amazon is after a UX designer, someone that will be tasked with "the core system interface along with end-user applications spanning from multi-modal interfaces to 3D AR entertainment experiences" and that applications should be able to "think spatially, with 3D design experience in motion design, animation [and] AR/VR, games" and more.

The project has been unveiled by ICON, a 3D printing construction company based out of Texas.

Named House Zero, the 3D-printed home is located in Austin, Texas, covering over 2,000 square feet. It has three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and an attached dwelling with an additional bedroom and bath. To build the house's walls, ICON used its proprietary cementitious-based material, "Lavacrete," with steel to reinforce the structure and insulation.

"House Zero is ground zero for the emergence of entirely new design languages and architectural vernaculars that will use robotic construction to deliver the things we need most from our housing: comfort, beauty, dignity, sustainability, attainability, and hope," said Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON.

Apple's upcoming AR headset has been in the headlines in a confusing way lately -- first, it was launching this year, then it wasn't -- and now it's completed important production tests, and could launch later this year.

The upcoming AR and VR headset from Apple has completed its second-phase engineering validation tests (EVT 2) which ensures that the prototype headsets meet Apple's strict design goals and specifications. The new report is coming from DigiTimes and its usual industry sources, who added that Apple's upcoming AR headset could launch by the end of 2022.

In the reports just weeks ago, the Apple AR headset was reportedly going through overheating problems and could be due to the two chipsets inside -- one of them being a 4nm chip, the other a 5nm chip -- both designed by Apple and made by TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company). We could see a very limited launch, with small numbers by the end of 2022, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how this plays out over the coming months.

Sony has finally revealed the design of the PS VR2 headset. We've previously seen an early version of Sony's new 6-DoF Sense controllers, and now we have the final look of the headset to go with it. The Sense controllers have a distinctly round shape, and the new headset keeps the same aesthetic. Sony said the "orb" look of the hardware is meant to represent the 360-degree view that players experience inside the headset.

As you would expect, the PS VR2 headset shares the same styling as the PS5 console, with its white and black contrasting accents. Sony said that it put a significant amount of time and effort into refining the ergonomics of the headset. The weight of the PS VR2 is balanced between the headband and the visor to ensure it stays comfortable for long game sessions. The new headset will include a lens distance adjustment dial and a pupil distance adjustment to help you get the right fit for your eyes. Sony said the PS VR2 is a more compact device than the previous version despite the additional features like the IPD adjustment and the force feedback rumble motor. Sony also made a point to note that the new headset has improved ventilation.

"When I started to work on the design for the PlayStation VR2 headset, one of the areas I wanted to focus on first was the idea of creating a vent in the headset to let air out, similar to the vents on the PS5 console that allows airflow. Our engineers came up with this idea as a good way to allow ventilation and avoid having the lens fog up while players are immersed in their VR games. I worked on many design concepts to achieve this, and in the final design, you can see there is a little space in between the top and front surface of the scope that contains the integrated ventilation. I am really proud of how this turned out and the positive feedback I have gotten so far. I hope our PlayStation fans will also agree, and I can't wait for them to try it out."

- Yujin Morisawa, Senior Art Director, SIE

Facebook, I mean Horizons, I mean LifeLog, I mean Meta have announced that the social networking -- and VR giant -- is putting the finishing touches on the world's fastest AI supercomputer.

The new AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) is already being built and expected to be online by mid-2022, where it is already being used to train huge models in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision for research -- Meta's aim with RSC -- is that it will one-day train models with trillions and trillions of parameters.

RSC will help super-fuel Meta's AI researchers that will be capable of being fed trillions of examples, where it will use AI to work through hundreds of languages across the planet, seamlessly analyze text, images, and videos together, develop new augmented reality (AR) tools, and so much more.

Apple was poised to release its new AR headset later this year but due to overheating and production issues, the AR headset has been delayed into 2023 -- but Apple will still crush Samsung in AR according to an industry analyst.

Kim Gwang-soo, an analyst at eBest Investment and Securities said: "Big tech companies, rather than smartphone manufacturers, are leading XR devices because they have the necessary content and platforms. Google has an operating system Android, Microsoft has Xbox and Sony has PlayStation. It's risky for Samsung to roll out XR devices, so it has no choice but to stick to foldable smartphones".

There are other players in the AR and VR headset game, where past, present, and future companies include: Facebook/Oculus/Meta, HTC, Valve, Microsoft, Sony, Qualcomm, and soon... Apple. Samsung doesn't seem to be too worried about not leading in AR or VR, as it is leading in so many other categories the company is probably waiting to see how the market reacts to Apple's huge AR headset release, and has something planning in the wings.

Apple's new AR headset seems to be delayed from an announcement and release this year, to a possible announcement and now a release in 2023 according to the latest reports -- but what about inside the Apple AR headset?

Inside, Apple will be using two custom chips running together -- both made by TSMC -- the first, would be a 4nm chip while there will be a secondary 5nm chip. The new report is coming from industry insider Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that there will be a mass-produced 4nm chip from TSMC, while another 5nm SoC would require less power and do other basic tasks on the AR headset.

The new Apple AR headset will reportedly use a high-end 96W USB-C power adapter, something that comes with the higher-end 14-inch MacBook Pro. The 96W power adapter means we should expect Mac-levels of computing power, with the 4nm and 5nm TSMC chips inside.

Apple's upcoming AR headset is meant to be a game-changer and would replace the iPhone over the next 10 years -- and is now facing delays of "at least a few months" according to sources of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg reports from the usual "people familiar with the situation" that Apple is "potentially delaying its first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2015". Apple was meant to unveil its next-gen headset that would combine the worlds of virtual and augmented realities at its WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in June 2022, and a release later this year... but that isn't happening anymore.

The new Apple AR headset is reportedly facing "development challenges" that include overheating, cameras and software "have made it harder to stay on track" according to people involved in the project. The sources said that these issues could force Apple to delay the announcement of its AR headset until later this year, or even into 2023 -- while the headset itself is pretty much confirmed to be delayed into 2023 at the very earliest.

HTC announced a new product at CES that will bring the capabilities of its Vive Tracker pucks to its standalone Vive Focus 3 headset. The new Vive Wrist Trackers will be available soon.

HTC loves to bring out accessories for its VR hardware. Last year, the company launched the Vive Focus 3, the first US-bound 6-DoF standalone headset from Vive. The Focus 3 is a competent device that was well received by reviewers. Standalone headsets are shaping up to be the future of the VR medium but switching away from the PC platform meant losing accessory support. The Vive Wrist Trackers should solve many of those problems.

The new Vive Wrist Trackers attach to your wrist and allow your headset to keep better track of your arm motion, especially when using hand-tracking over the included controllers. The Vive Wrist Trackers have LED lights just like the controllers, which allows the headset to track their position with its tracking cameras. The trackers also have a high-frequency IMU, so you don't lose wrist tracking when the cameras lose sight of the trackers.

It looks 2022 might be the start of a VR hardware innovation race. Today at CES, Shiftall, a subsidiary of Panasonic, introduced the MaganeX VR glasses, a compact VR device with micro OLED displays and all-plastic pancake optics. If this is where VR tech is going, we're in for some exciting new gadgets.

The Shiftall MaganeX features dual 2560 x 2560 micro OLED HDR displays from Kopin Corporation. These 1.3" displays are built directly on the chip (display on chip - DoC), which helps keep the form factor and weight to a minimum. The MaganeX headset also features all-plastic pancake optics from Kopin, which further reduces the device's size requirements and weight compared to most existing VR headsets.

"It is necessary for VR glasses to be lightweight and comfortable to wear as well as deliver life-like images in order to be widely accepted to consumers,"said Takuma Iwasa, CEO of Shiftall. "Kopin's unique 2.6K x 2.6K OLED display and all-plastic Pancake optics are the key to achieving these objectives. We are very pleased with our close partnership with Kopin for the development of our VR glasses."