Meta unveils new virtual reality headset Quest Pro

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - A year after it rebranded itself in the name of building a metaverse, Meta unveiled a new version of its virtual reality headset tailored for working professionals.

The $1,500 Meta Quest Pro features a number of new features that are meant to improve users' perception of truly being in the presence of other people.

The headset makes it possible to view not only virtual worlds but also the real environment of the user, thanks to high-resolution outward-facing cameras.

"The moment that they begin to break into a smile or when they raise their eyebrow... your avatar should be able to express all of that and more," Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said at Meta Connect, the company's giant's annual conference focused on virtual reality.

Customers can begin ordering the Quest Pro starting Tuesday, and the device will ship at the end of the month.

Meta said it is partnering with Microsoft and others to tune popular business and productivity software to virtual worlds using Quest Pro. 

Capabilities being worked on include using Quest Pro during virtual meetings on the Microsoft Teams platform, according to the two companies.

"At Microsoft, we're incredibly excited about the metaverse and how digital and physical worlds are coming together," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the presentation.

Facebook renamed itself Meta in October 2021 to signal a pivot to building its vision for an interactive virtual and augmented reality world that it sees as the future.

The move came as the company was facing a backlash after a whistleblower leaked documents suggesting the social media giant put profits over safety.

Meta is undergoing a difficult period financially due to dropping advertising revenues and fierce competition from other platforms such as TikTok, whose popularity has exploded.

About a third of the apps in the Quest app store brought in millions of dollars in revenue since launching there, according to Meta chief technology officer Andrew "Boz" Bosworth.

Some $1.5 billion has been spent overall on games and apps in the Quest store, and titles on the way to its virtual shelves include an "Iron Man" game set for release in November by Marvel Entertainment and Sony Interactive Entertainment, according to Meta executives.

Agence France-Presse

S.Korean mother 'reunites' with dead daughter in virtual reality show

SEOUL - A tearful reunion between a mother and her dead daughter via advanced virtual reality for a South Korean television has become an online hit, triggering fierce debate about voyeurism and exploitation.

The footage began with the girl -- who died of leukaemia in 2016 -- emerging from behind a pile of wood in a park, as if playing hide-and-seek.

"Mum, where have you been?" she asks. "I've missed you a lot. Have you missed me?"

Tears streaming down her face, Jang Ji-sung reached out towards her, wracked with emotion.

"I have missed you Na-yeon," she told the computer-generated 6-year-old, her hands moving to stroke her hair.

But in the real world, Jang was standing in front of a studio green screen, wearing a virtual reality headset and touch-sensitive gloves, her daughter's ashes in a locket around her neck.

At times the camera cut to Jang's watching husband and their three surviving children, wiping away tears of their own.

A 9-minute clip of the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) documentary "I met you" has been watched more than 13 million times in a week on Youtube.

Many viewers offered Jang their sympathy and support for the concept.

"My mother unexpectedly passed away two years ago and I wish I could meet her through virtual reality," said one.

But media columnist Park Sang-hyun said the documentary amounted to exploitation of personal pain.

"It's understandable a grief-stricken mother would wish to meet her late daughter. I would do the same," he told AFP.

"The problem lies in that the broadcaster has taken advantage of a vulnerable mother who lost a child for sake of the viewer ratings."

"If the mother had been counselled before the filming," he added, "I wonder what kind of a psychiatrist would approve this."

'Happy birthday'

It took eight months of filming and programming to create the virtual Na-yeon, but the makers of the documentary insisted the broadcast was intended to "console the family" rather than promote virtual reality in ultra-wired South Korea.

The technology presented a "new way to keep loved ones in memory," one of the producers told reporters.

Jang herself -- who has her daughter's name and date of birth tattooed on her arm in memory -- hoped the program could "console" others who had lost loved ones.

"Even though it was very brief... I was really happy in the moment," she wrote on her blog, which she has since turned private.

During the broadcast the two sat at a table to celebrate Na-yeon's missing birthdays, singing "happy birthday" together.

Before blowing out the candles, Na-yeon made a birthday wish: "I want my mother to stop crying."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook buys maker of hit VR game 'Beat Saber'

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook-owned Oculus on Tuesday said it is buying the studio behind hit virtual reality game "Beat Saber" as it looks to expand VR technology to wider audiences.

Oculus, which makes Rift and Quest VR headgear, did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Prague-based Beat Games.

"Beat Games is joining us in our quest to bring VR to more people around the world," Oculus director of augmented and virtual reality content Mike Verdu said in a blog post.

"Beat Games' accomplishments are already impressive, but Facebook and the Beat Games team know that there is so much more that can be done across VR, games, and music."

Verdu assured players that the studio would continue to ship content and updates for "Beat Saber" on platforms where it is already available.

In the virtual game, players use light sabers to slash oncoming, large cubes to the beat of music, sometimes twisting or ducking to avoid oncoming walls.

"VR reimagines old genres and invents new ones," Verdu said.

Oculus is exploring ways, including acquisitions, to accelerate the adoption of virtual reality technology, which Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has heralded as the next major computing platform.

"With the resources and know-how that we can offer, Beat Games will be able to accelerate, adding more music and more exciting features to 'Beat Saber' as well as bringing the game to more people," Verdu said.

Facebook is planning a virtual social community where users of its Oculus headgear can "explore new places" via its Horizon virtual world, which is set for a beta launch in 2020.

Oculus users will be able to choose an avatar and interact with others in the virtual community, Facebook said earlier this year.

Horizon will replace earlier versions of the social VR community Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms.

Oculus remains a small part of Facebook, whose core social network and other platforms reach more than two billion people worldwide.

Analysts expect sales of 1.3 million units in 2019 of the Oculus Quest, a wireless VR headset unveiled last year.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook's Oculus pushes virtual reality with new gear

SAN JOSE - Facebook on Thursday worked to ramp up enthusiasm for its virtual reality line, unveiling new gear including a lower-end wireless headset prototype.

The company's Oculus virtual reality division is set to release in coming months a new "Touch" controller and a more affordable computer for powering virtual experiences using Rift headsets.

"We are here to make virtual reality the next major computing platform," Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said at the third annual Oculus Connect developers conference in San Jose, California.

Oculus has been dealing with a series of setbacks in the rollout of its VR headgear, including shipping mishaps and a higher-than-anticipated price.

To boost excitement for the headsets Zuckerberg donned one while on stage, virtually traveling with a pair of colleagues to the bottom of a sea and the surface of Mars, pausing in the middle to take a Messenger video call from his wife Priscilla.

The CEO snapped a "selfie" with his wife in the virtual world and posted it in real time to his page at the social network.

Zuckerberg said that Oculus VR -- which Facebook snapped up in 2014 for $2 billion -- has a prototype of a wireless version of Rift that would not need to be plugged into a computer, though he said it was far from consumer-ready.

'BULLISH ON STAND-ALONE'

The mobile VR market currently offers headsets that act as frames into which smartphones can be mounted to serve as screens, available for less than $100.

Rift headgear meanwhile sells for $599, a price that does not include the cost of a computer that can handle the processing and graphics demands of the technology.

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe did demonstrate an AMD-powered desktop from Cyberpower that can run Rift for $499, half the price of the other high-powered computers needed to handle virtual reality.

But according to Max Cohen, Oculus's head of mobile, wireless is the future. He told AFP that the company sees developing a lower-end wireless headset as integral to expanding virtual reality's availability.

"In the long run, we are bullish on stand-alone," Cohen said.

"There are limitations to mobile, and there will be some people who don't want to buy a PC for virtual reality, no matter how cheap."

Other companies have also announced the development of more affordable headsets that are compatible with smartphones, including Daydream View from Alphabet Inc's Google division.

NOT FEELING LUCKEY

Oculus announced the long-anticipated Oculus Touch controllers -- which will give users "hands" to use in virtual worlds -- will ship worldwide on December 6, going for $199.

The VR company also said it would invest millions of dollars to fund education content, promote diversity in its developer community, and broaden virtual reality content far beyond games.

Zuckerberg said Facebook would invest $250 million in developing content for Oculus VR gear, on top of the $250 million the company has already spent.

Noticeably absent from the OC3 keynote was Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, who has played a starring role at company events in the past.

Luckey came under fire after he said he donated $10,000 to a political group backing Republican candidate Donald Trump. The organization had claimed responsibility for creating negative social media posts about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

After word spread, some high-profile video game studios went on record saying that they would not create content for Oculus over the rift.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com