The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 24, 2022

Image by Microsoft). Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7B. The biggest news of the week has been the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft for $68.7B. With it, Microsoft acquires many popular games like Overwatch, Starcraft, Call of Duty, and even Candy Crush. Other relevant news.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

If OpenAI wanted to slow down to have time to understand the consequences of this new type of AI, Microsoft would already ready be to hire all the talents of OpenAI and carry on AI developments by itself. Now Microsoft is discontinuing them , putting another nail in the coffin of the HoloLens. Thanks to Davy Demeyer for the tip!)

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 1, 2024

I don’t know how many of them will prove to be true, but for sure they all can be something that can inspire you to define your XR strategy for this year. Huawei and Pico are rumored to be working on an Apple Vision Pro competitor). And they are entering it to dominate it.

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ARVR

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Since location anchors are dependent on Apple Maps data, this means that if the city is not supported by Apple Maps, functionality for location anchors may be limited. One of the most groundbreaking elements of location anchors is how location is approximated.

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 5, 2021

The rumors on the Apple Glasses are intensifying. It is not a secret that Apple is working on an XR device: the mystery is when it is going to release it and what it will actually be. The hype is rising, and Apple is playing with it. (My usual terrible image to wish you Happy Easter, if you celebrate it). Top news of the week.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 26, 2023

After having announced some of the features and the price just before the launch of the Apple Vision Pro, now the company formerly known as Facebook is already working towards the launch of the device. If you are a Unity developer like me, don’t forget to subscribe to the Unity 2022 Beta dedicated to Vision OS.

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The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 26, 2023

You can access it at this link: [link] ) Top news of the week (Image by Microsoft) Microsoft kills Windows Mixed Reality Microsoft has decided to pull the plug on the Windows Mixed Reality platform , the one of the WMR headsets by Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung which were the first to introduce inside-out tracking in the VR ecosystem.

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XR Today - Mixed Reality tag

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Apple is gearing up for the Vision Pro debut. The firm’s first XR headset is due soon, and with it comes a spatial computing ambition that draws similarities and differences to Lenovo, Microsoft, Meta, HTC VIVE, and other XR headset vendors. Just days after the Sapetop announcement, Apple revealed its Vision Pro product.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 10, 2022

New rumors on Apple and Meta devices. I know it may sound weird to you, but we have new rumors on Apple headsets and also about the future Meta Project Cambria and Quest 3. Regarding Apple, the super-reliable analysts have stated that the headset may feature three displays because just two are for losers. Other relevant news.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 28, 2023

Then the wish to compete with Apple may not become a reality: when the Vision Pro was announced, Samsung didn’t expect such cool features from it, so it delayed the announcement of the headset to have the time to increase its capabilities. That’s fantastic news for all Unity XR developers!

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 13, 2023

I’ve very limited time, but luckily this week has not been very relevant for the ecosystem, so I’m managing to write this newsletter anyway Top news of the week (Image by Microsoft) AltspaceVR shuts down In one of the saddest moments of the latest years in VR, AltspaceVR has closed its doors.

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XR Today - Big XR News tag

JULY 26, 2023

The Apple Vision Pro has made sensational headlines across global media outlets, leading to renewed interest in virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended reality (VR/AR/MR/XR) technologies. Doing so will also provide greater interoperability with additional platforms such as Unity and Xcode, among others.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 27, 2023

Furthermore, Microsoft 365 apps such as Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint, will be connected with Omniverse Project Mellon has been unveiled. Of course, Epic is completely against Apple and its vision of its own walled garden. What we need is more interoperability between the various platforms.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 15, 2021

Apple already made hardware, so it already had the infrastructure to build it and just added XR people on top of this infrastracture, while Facebook could not). Apple AR headset may have been delayed to 2025. Yes, we have rumors about Apple XR devices even this week. Yes, Apple is working on XR glasses. It’s believable.

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VRScout

MARCH 12, 2018

Apple CEO Tim Cook said last year that “AR will change everything” and make the iPhone “even more essential,” while Microsoft has been revamping its computing around VR and AR, or what it calls “mixed reality.” “I still find that people are still thinking about, ‘How do I take my first step?

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 22, 2021

Regarding the glasses, I have not big hopes for true AR glasses, but I think that thanks to Facebook and Apple, finally we’ll have some important smartglasses entering the market , making the mainstream think about wearing something on their face to enjoy notifications from the phone. Didn’t work (Image by Microsoft).

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 15, 2024

We could start this journey because we had an established experience-building business, plus we finally got access to various grants to build our vision You have the foundations of the team to build it: be sure to have a team of experts that know how to build this new platform, or that at least can learn very fast.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 24, 2020

Apple threatens future support in Unreal Engine. According to an evidence presented by Epic Games, Apple has not only removed Fortnite from the Apple Store, but it has also revoked the status of developer to Epic Games. All Apple software, SDKs, APIs, and developer tools ?—?Pre-release Other relevant news.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

PSVR 2, Apple XR visor) and games, will be fundamental to understand its evolution and its potential. A leaked image from the Oculus team shows that the company is working to implement body tracking inside the Oculus Unity SDK. References to Apple RealityOS have been leaked. Leaks about Apple are intensifying over the weeks.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

I’ll be there to talk about HitMotion: Reloaded and how to properly design a VR fitness game (using the precious lessons that our game designer Max Ariani has taught me). Apple VR headset may feature a 3000PPI microOLED display. This week we had a new rumor about the XR headset Apple is working on. I really couldn’t wait for it.

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ARVR

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

Apple IPhone X 3. How to use subtle AR filters to survive your Zoom meetings? link] Apple IPhone X: 1. Networking implementation using Photon Unity Networking. Unity v2019.2.0 Unity v2019.2.0 There were four groups of two and one group of three students. Each group was assigned with three unique devices.

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Hypergrid Business

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

Although Unity 3D is undoubtedly the most common and trained standards for developing and deploying augmented and virtual reality application for both beginner or expert developer, it is cannot be employed for developing content for some headsets. This brings the point home about the need to learn how to develop content on other platforms.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 5, 2021

Microsoft too had to lose $10B to let Xbox enter the gaming console market and compete with PlayStation. It’s a good moment for VR: thanks to the strong sales of the Oculus Quest 2 and the rumors of Apple entering the space soon, there is much more confidence in the future of immersive technologies. Image by Microsoft).

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 26, 2020

My impression is that in the best case, this Deca is the new Pimax, a company with great ambitions, a good spirit, but no idea on how to execute, and this will lead to delays, confusion in the logistics, higher prices than expected, etc… And this is just the best case. Facebook and Microsoft publish two interesting research projects for VR.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 25, 2022

I mean, we have not even agreed if it is “the” metaverse or “a” metaverse (I believe in the former, btw)… how can we produce and how can we bring to success something that we don’t even know what it is? No one has an idea on how to build it. It will also be a defensive move against Apple.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 1, 2021

All the 3 major VR runtimes (Oculus, SteamVR, Microsoft) are now compatible with OpenXR , and this means that on the runtime layer on PC, now OpenXR has been fully integrated. This means that if you develop an experience using OpenXR, you can run it on Oculus, SteamVR, and Microsoft runtimes with no modification. Learn more.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 21, 2021

It is one of the best AR glasses on the market (read my review here ) and it could be interesting to monitor its sales, to see how the market is receptive nowadays a similar AR solution. (Thanks Eloi Gerard for the tip). Image by Microsoft). Learn more (XR Collaboration) Learn more (Unity College). News worth a mention.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 20, 2021

This is typical of every big corporate, that has many marketers that think about how to propose something in the best way possible. Recently, one of the previous Xbox executives has said that Microsoft invested $5-7B for selling Xbox consoles undercost, so that to be able to enter the market and establish XBox as one of the leaders.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Apple now lets add you add “buy” button to AR Quick Look. A piece of simple news, but a very important one, has hit the AR industry this week: Apple now lets companies add custom buttons (usually the “Buy” one) to AR Quick Look. Image by Microsoft). News worth a mention. After years of await, finally, Sony has released it.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 10, 2019

First of all, analyzing the source codes, many developers could understand how to create a VR viewer. Is Apple partnering with Valve on AR? A report by DigiTimes claims that Apple is partnering with Valve for the production of its AR glasses. Microsoft ships HoloLens 2, nReal gets ready to do the same with its glasses.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

It is very interesting that from these words, it seems that Facebook is not interested in releasing AR glasses for prosumers like Microsoft is doing with HoloLens, but it wants to enter the market with something already for consumers. Unity has built this nice demo using the Presence Platform. Presence Platform. Cloud Backup.

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The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Besides that, it is also hiring key figures to make this AR dream a reality : the operating system project will be supervised by Mark Lucovsky, a former Microsoft engineer who co-developed Windows NT. Then, you can create MR applications, and so code in Unity and at the same time see the preview of your 3D game in 3D in front of you.

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 27, 2020

We’re looking for a Unity dev for a freelance gig lasting 1–2 months, ideally from Italy or a nearby country (for easier management). It is in Italian, but basically it says that we’re looking for a Unity dev with preferred experience with VR and/or multiplayer games. I’ll leave here the articles that guide you on how to use them.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 1, 2020

HP and Microsoft have a long track in offering enterprise hardware, so this headset may battle HTC on his own land (B2B). Developers can develop AR experiences with Zappar using the tool they like the most : Unity, native Javascript, A-frame, C++. Unity launches MARS tools. Pokemon Go adds AR occlusion and scanning features.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

But in China, they are very famous, and now they are also organizing a big event about XR called FBEC with hosts from all the major VR companies (HTC, Unity, Alibaba, Huawei, etc…). For example, we invited senior executives from HUAWEI, JBD, HTC, Alibaba, iQIYI, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and so on.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 2, 2020

Is this really what Apple wants? (Thanks Robert Scoble for this news!). Image by Microsoft). Microsoft has released more specifications for its upcoming XBOX Series X, and from these data is clearly possible to see that it will be compatible with VR headsets. Developers continue to have fun with Oculus Quest hands tracking!

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 15, 2020

Late to the party after Oculus and Microsoft already released prototypical implementations, but finally Valve has implemented OpenXR into its runtime SteamVR. More info (Post on Road To VR) More info (Post on Upload VR explaining how to enable OpenXR). More info (OpenHMD project) More info (How to donate for OpenHMD).

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