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Niantic released a partial view of an early design of AR glasses.
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: A Tease of AR’s Future and a Look at VR’s Past

By Mathew Olson · Mar 30, 2021 12:34pm PDT
Today, AR techies have a glimpse of what the next wave of augmented reality glasses might look like, thanks to Niantic and to a new scoop from The Information’s Alex Heath revealing Snap’s first-ever AR-equipped glasses. For a few years now, Snap has sold consumer smart glasses capable of taking pictures and video, but the plans we... Today, AR techies have a glimpse of what the next wave of augmented reality glasses might look...
A virtual gathering on Rec Room. Image: Rec Room
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: What Rec Room Reveals About the VR Market

By Mathew Olson · Mar 29, 2021 12:46pm PDT
Are investors warming up to VR? After last week’s crowning of Rec Room as VR’s first software unicorn, which came hot on the heels of Roblox’s monumental direct listing, I’m wondering how much we can attribute either success story to faith in the future of immersive tech. Neither game platform is VR-exclusive, and the... Are investors warming up to VR? After last week’s crowning of Rec Room as VR’s first...
A screenshot of VRChat. Image from VRChat
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Making Body Tracking More Accessible

By Mathew Olson · Mar 25, 2021 11:23am PDT
For many people, the feeling of immersion that VR apps strive for can be shattered in an instant when the virtual bodies of their avatars don’t respond to the movement of their real bodies. While a number of tech companies are working on solving this problem, an especially interesting new startup, Tundra Labs, on Monday will open up orders... For many people, the feeling of immersion that VR apps strive for can be shattered in an instant...
A Rec Room screenshot. Image provided by Rec Room
TI Reality Check: A VR Unicorn and Pikmin Particulars
By Mathew Olson · Mar 24, 2021 11:01am PDT
A Rec Room screenshot. Image provided by Rec Room
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: A VR Unicorn and Pikmin Particulars

By Mathew Olson · Mar 24, 2021 11:01am PDT
Virtual reality software has a unicorn: Rec Room, creator of the free-to-play social and gaming platform by the same name, announced it has raised $100 million in new funding at a valuation of $1.25 billion. The new round of funding, led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures with participation from Madrona Venture Group (all existing investors),... Virtual reality software has a unicorn: Rec Room, creator of the free-to-play social and gaming...
Screenshot of “Half-Life: Alyx.” Image: Valve
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Why VR Needs More Than a Single ‘Killer App’

By Mathew Olson · Mar 23, 2021 12:11pm PDT · 6 comments
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Half-Life: Alyx, a new installment of the Valve PC game, one built exclusively for virtual reality. While the Half-Life series, launched in the late 1990s, isn’t as popular as giant gaming franchises like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, it has made a big mark in gaming. Earlier... Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Half-Life: Alyx, a new installment of the...
A Mojo Vision AR contact lens. Photo provided by the company
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Is the World Ready for AR Contact Lenses?

By Mathew Olson · Mar 22, 2021 11:31am PDT · 1 comment
Just over a year ago, a startup called Mojo Vision emerged from stealth mode with prototypes for augmented reality contact lenses. That’s a category of devices that could display interactive content for people who wear them, while also giving them enhanced vision, such as the ability to zoom in on objects. Last month, Mojo Vision revealed... Just over a year ago, a startup called Mojo Vision emerged from stealth mode with prototypes for...
A prototype of Facebook’s neural interface wristband. Image: Facebook
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Facebook’s Ambitions for AR Interfaces

By Mathew Olson · Mar 18, 2021 11:29am PDT · 1 comment
Earlier this week, Facebook gave journalists a glimpse of the progress that the company’s researchers have made toward developing a neural interface for AR glasses, a method of controlling software based on reading nerve impulses via the wrist. The technology builds off the work developed by CTRL-labs, a company Facebook acquired for $1... Earlier this week, Facebook gave journalists a glimpse of the progress that the company’s...
Vive Facial Tracker. Image: HTC
TI Reality Check: Why Duct Tape Is Still a Leading VR Accessory
By Mathew Olson · Mar 17, 2021 11:22am PDT
Vive Facial Tracker. Image: HTC
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Why Duct Tape Is Still a Leading VR Accessory

By Mathew Olson · Mar 17, 2021 11:22am PDT
I’ve been seeing a lot of excitement from VR enthusiasts over HTC’s new Vive Facial Tracker. At $130, the price won’t scare away people who have already dropped thousands of dollars on VR gear. And the tracker offers users the kind of face-tracking features—namely, a way to have more expressive avatars in online social... I’ve been seeing a lot of excitement from VR enthusiasts over HTC’s new Vive Facial...
An Ikea mobile AR app for furniture shopping. Photo from Ikea
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Mobile AR Isn’t Just a Stepping Stone

By Mathew Olson · Mar 16, 2021 11:15am PDT
Welcome back! I have a feeling the topic won’t come up too often in this newsletter, but let’s take a moment to talk about AR and non-fungible tokens or NFTs—the new fad sweeping cryptocurrency circles and the art collector world (for more on the broader NFT craze, read The Information’s Sam Lessin on the capital and... Welcome back! I have a feeling the topic won’t come up too often in this newsletter, but...
A customer wearing a pair of AirPods Max headphones at an Apple store in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Time to Talk About AR Audio

By Mathew Olson · Mar 15, 2021 11:01am PDT
Welcome back! The visual side of VR and AR captures the bulk of the attention, but audio merits a lot more discussion than it gets, something that a recent Apple patent reminded me of. First though, let’s talk about one kind of audio technology that’s on the market today: smart hearing aids. While hearing aids are today mainly used... Welcome back! The visual side of VR and AR captures the bulk of the attention, but audio merits a...
A Google Cardboard VR viewer in 2015. Photo by Bloomberg
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: What Happened to Google in AR and VR?

By Mathew Olson · Mar 11, 2021 11:02am PST
Welcome back! We kicked off my first week running Reality Check with a Mark Zuckerberg interview about Facebook’s big plans for the future in AR and VR. Now I’d like to take a look at another company, Google, that seems to have much less going on in the category. Last week, UploadVR noticed that Google has stopped selling its... Welcome back! We kicked off my first week running Reality Check with a Mark Zuckerberg interview...
A marketing image from Roblox.
TI Reality Check: Roblox, Epic and the Platform Wars to Come
By Mathew Olson · Mar 10, 2021 11:01am PST · 2 comments
A marketing image from Roblox.
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Roblox, Epic and the Platform Wars to Come

By Mathew Olson · Mar 10, 2021 11:01am PST · 2 comments
Welcome back! Today’s big story for the shape of what augmented and virtual reality might become is the public listing of Roblox. If you’re an American parent with school-age kids, there’s a very good chance you know what Roblox is. Roblox supports PC VR headsets, but it’s primarily a business that has evolved around more... Welcome back! Today’s big story for the shape of what augmented and virtual reality might...
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at an Oculus event in 2018. Photo by Bloomberg
Reality Check

TI Reality Check: Zuckerberg on Head Drilling, Neural Interfaces and Face Tracking

By Mathew Olson · Mar 9, 2021 11:01am PST · 1 comment
Welcome back! Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t often give long interviews about the scope and ambition of Facebook’s AR and VR projects, as he did for the podcast we published on Monday (listen here, transcript here). So I hope you’ll allow me to indulge in a deeper dive into a couple points from the interview in today’s... Welcome back! Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t often give long interviews about the scope and...
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg
Reality Check

Mark Zuckerberg Talks the Future of AR and VR in The Information’s Reality Check

By Mathew Olson · Mar 8, 2021 7:02am PST · 4 comments
Welcome to the first installment of The Information’s Reality Check, our new newsletter devoted to augmented reality and virtual reality—the first of many newsletters we are launching in the coming months. Why a whole newsletter on AR and VR, you ask? Well, the coming war between Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and many, many... Welcome to the first installment of The Information’s Reality Check, our new newsletter...