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

APRIL 22, 2024

Zuck always said that Meta is the “open ecosystem” that fights against Apple’s closed ecosystem, but until today there was nothing open at all. Meta risked being squeezed again between the two giants Apple and Google , ready to bring their domination directly from the phones to the XR headsets.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 25, 2020

Apple Glasses may release in 2021 for $499. In the end, technologist Jon Prosser has revealed the main details he knows about the Apple Glasses. Well, on another website, I’ve been able to find someone that reading some Apple’s documents has found pictures of strange colored circular tags that may act as QR Codes for Apple devices.

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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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Road to VR

JULY 11, 2017

By their own admission , they aren’t entirely sure what they’re doing, but it’s clear from the video that surfaced yesterday that they’re hitting on some very big ideas and executing them with serious flair. But this is more than just a dancing hotdog-guy. But this is more than just a dancing hotdog-guy.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 8, 2021

Microsoft announces Mesh, an XR collaboration platform. Alex Kipman promised us a Microsoft Ignite conference with an amazing level of immersion , and he kept his word. Especially the first feature made most people go in awe : volumetric videos are very expensive, so they’re typically not used during XR events. Image by OceanX).

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 14, 2019

Apple has killed its AR glasses project… maybe. A piece of unexpected news has shaken the XR communities this week: according to a report on Digitimes Taiwan, Apple has abandoned its AR/VR glasses project and all the members of the team have been re-allocated in other teams. AR is still alive, Apple will still release its AR glasses.

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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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TechPrior

APRIL 10, 2020

Apple has always been at the forefront for all kinds of augmented reality innovations and has always had ambitious plans for the future of AR and VR. As a part of its next promising venture, Apple is in the process of acquiring NextVR; a California based VR company. Apple is expected to acquire NextVR for around $100 million.

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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 The same on Twitter.

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XR Today - Mixed Reality tag

JUNE 30, 2023

This week, Apple dropped VisionOS, a set of XR design tools to entice immersive content creators to start designing for its upcoming headset before its release. For the enterprise, Unity Muse will accelerate content creation for RT3D applications across video games, digital twins, and other assets.

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Road to VR

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Pixvana , a cloud-based VR video company, today announced their much awaited solution for publishing and streaming 360 video, a platform that promises to deliver up to 10K resolution streaming playback from the cloud to your VR devices. Even 4K video spread across a 360-degree sphere leaves much to imagination.

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XR Today - Augmented Reality tag

DECEMBER 9, 2022

Meta’s Oculus team have already partnered with leading companies like Sony Music to give fans an immersive way to explore music videos and unique content. Although Microsoft hasn’t shown much of an investment in the entertainment and arts sector as of yet, it has a lot of potential to offer with the HoloLens ecosystem.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 23, 2019

HTC has revealed the design of the Vive Cosmos. HTC has finally unveiled some information on the Vive Cosmos. The most important info shared Friday is a (weird) video with the external new design of the device. HTC has immediately answered that 899$ is a too high estimate of the price. Top news of the week.

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XR Today - VR Headsets tag

MARCH 4, 2024

The Vision Pro bring Apple’s branding into the space and, with it, many eyes. Major XR Firms Push Spaital Productivity Solutions As Apple enters the immersive technology space, a shift towards XR/spatial computing productivity solutions is underway. However, HTC VIVE still believes that controllers hold value.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Image by HTC Vive). HTC is probably going to announce Vive Flow. With a surprise move, HTC Vive has started teasing the launch of a new product. The company has set up a virtual event on the platform ENGAGE (of which HTC is an investor) for October, 14th 2021 at 8 am PDT. Send me hugs while I’m still human!

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 2, 2019

On the contrary, Microsoft has worked a lot on the platform, to make it more appealing to enterprise customers. It has released experiences like Microsoft Remote Assist, that let different teams in a company work together to solve maintenance problems. The video regarding the UX attached to the hands has become viral pretty fast.

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The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 21, 2020

While all are waiting for the amazing AR glasses that Facebook and Apple will release in the upcoming years, many other big companies and startups are trying to enter the same market, trying to earn some early market shares. HTC is going to deprecate Vive Pro and Vive Pro Eye. Top news of the week. Image by NuEyes).

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XR Today - Mixed Reality tag

AUGUST 8, 2022

Microsoft already stands as one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, thanks to the development of the Xbox ecosystem. Microsoft is one of the most exciting companies to watch for gaming companies and consumers interested in the potential of Mixed Reality in gaming. Most recently, ARKit 6 introduced new 4K video opportunities.

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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 21, 2021

Image by Microsoft). After the news went viral, Microsoft has clarified that it was just “a translation bug” and that Xbox is not adding VR support at the moment. Volu lets you take volumetric videos with your smartphone. Vive Facial Tracker works also with non-HTC headsets. News worth a mention. The mystery continues….

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

The past week has been a pretty interesting one for the tech world: between Microsoft Ignite, Unity Unite, and the OpenAI drama, there has been a lot to follow. I’ll try to summarize all of that, especially for what concerns the announcements related to our XR space.

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XR Today - Mixed Reality tag

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

February 2024 is here, and this month marked the end of a long, long wait for Apple’s Vision Pro. Microsoft and Zoom have also released their respective apps into the Vision Pro this week. Apple has already sold 200,000 devices in the first week, which is impressive. It’s still more or less the game of of Microsoft.

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ARPost

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

See Also: Redefining the Future of Location-Based Entertainment With HTC VIVE Focus 3 and The Park Playground “Virtual reality is often perceived as being limited to the world of gaming. We’re already seeing key metaverse players coming together in the collaboration between Meta and Microsoft.

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VRWorld

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Pixvana is startup company focused on developing a cloud-based video-processing at the speed of delivery over the Internet. Its founders claim to be a proven team of industry experts from their former senior roles at Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and Lucasfilm. The post Can Pixvana FOVAS Technology Resolve Resolution Issues in VR?

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 2, 2020

This means having AR and VR on the same device ; A 5G modem ; 8K videos playback at 60fps; Accelerated AI so that to be able to perform objects recognition and other cool stuff on the camera feed. The only company not much affected by it is HTC, that manufacturers its headsets in Taiwan and not in Mainland China.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 3, 2020

If you want to watch it, it’s a very interesting 2-hour-long video and you can find it here [link] together with a summary of the key points he said. Some time ago, the most important companies of the XR ecosystem (HTC, Oculus, Microsoft, etc…) joined the Khronos Group to discuss a standard to end the fragmentation of the XR space.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 27, 2023

Ok, of course, I’m kidding, but, you know, the possibility of saying the wrong name is so high that my proposal actually starts making sense… Top news of the week (Image by HTC Vive) HTC reveals inside-out-tracked Tracker With a totally unexpected move, HTC has revealed a new kind of Tracker.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 17, 2021

Image by HTC Vive). HTC launches Vive Focus 3 and Vive Pro 2. In the end, the rumors were correct and HTC launched two headsets at VIVECON: the Vive Pro 2 and the Vive Focus 3 Business Edition. But this device got also some criticism: first of all , HTC has not released new controllers and still sells it with the old Wands.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 27, 2022

For every one of the four main themes, a headset solving it has been shown in the video. This has been also confirmed by TESTED, which has been able to go hands-on with the headset and offer a very meaningful video about them (which I advise you all to watch). We have lots of non-news about Apple’s XR efforts. Useless news.

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VRScout

MAY 3, 2017

PlayStation looks to an arcade rollout, Shazam goes augmented, AMD wants to go wireless, HTC Viveport’s new subscription service, the investment & funding wrapup, and more… You can enjoy the full audio recording below: IT’S NOW WAY EASIER TO COMBINE 360 VIDEO AND ANIMATION.

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XR Today - VR Headsets tag

JANUARY 31, 2024

When HTC VIVE started teasing the HTC VIVE Flow way back in 2021 , it left some consumers a little confused. In 2024, as competing vendors roll out heavier and bulkier systems like the Apple Vision Pro , demand for lightweight and ergonomic headsets is beginning to increase.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

More info (Lynx R1 Launch post on Road To VR) More info (Lynx R1 Launch post on Upload VR) More info (Some more info on its special lenses) More info (Launch keynote) More info (Video that explains this kind of lenses) More info (Feedback on this kind of lenses) More info (Stan Larroque talking about the success of the sales).

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 11, 2022

HTC Vive Wrist Tracker. HTC Vive Wrist Tracker (Image by HTC). HTC has made an announcement at this CES and it has been a pretty cool one. To showcase its functionality, HTC showed some videos of the tracker in use to improve the performances of hands tracking and also with the tracker installed on external props.

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VRWorld

MAY 11, 2016

By using HTC Vive and Steam VR, players can create amazing graffiti that you can save and share through social media and manufacturers own website. Graffiti Simulator launches next week on Steam and takes the level of creativity we saw in Google’s Tilt Brush to a whole another level.

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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). But while playing the Youtube video, I’ve noticed that the CR-blabla is actually the North Star headset that that Genius of Noah Zerkin is manufacturing in Shenzhen. CR Deck Mk.1” News worth a mention.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 22, 2021

If we talk about compatible devices, we all have a smartphone that can do AR, we all have watched on some social media short video selfies with some AR effects on. This commercial video about Google Glasses led me to immersive realities. Didn’t work (Image by Microsoft). Can this count as AR having become mainstream?

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