Road to VR

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

Facebook and Ray-Ban today unveiled Stories, a new line of tech-forward glasses the companies hope will pave the way for a future of smart and stylish AR devices. Stories are being offered in three distinct flavors: Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor, all of which appear to be pretty similar to original Ray-Ban frame designs.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 30, 2023

This will be a newsletter written on the road: I’ve prepared the material in Italy, I’m currently writing these words from the Frankfurt airport (Germany), I will keep writing on the plane across the ocean and I will finalize everything in Sunnyvale (California, USA). In the meanwhile, Microsoft is working on a 1.1

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XR Today - Virtual Reality

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

Microsoft and Wurth. Around the world, ecommerce and retail companies are beginning to discover the unique benefits XR technologies can bring to augmenting both traditional and online experiences. The brand discovered that using AR led to 70% higher likelihood of a purchase.

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Road to VR

APRIL 13, 2017

VR First , the global initiative to seed academic institutions with VR/AR hardware and software, today announced that it’s nearly doubling the number of its VR labs in universities and science parks across the globe by the end of 2017. image courtesy VR First. image courtesy VR First. VR First Institutions (including new openings).

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 26, 2023

But there’s even more: Unity has already published a page about how it is possible to build for the Quest 3 using not only the XR Interaction Toolkit, but also AR Foundation. AR Foundation is typically used for AR devices, e.g. smartphones, and it’s the first time to my knowledge that is employed with a VR headset.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 25, 2021

First of all, I’m glad that Facebook noticed that the community wants guarantees on its privacy regarding AR and VR and so now its executives start caring about it. Furthermore, the comparison with Microsoft doesn’t hold well: Microsoft was a software company that just didn’t have high standards, so it made products with many bugs.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 22, 2021

2021 is going to be an interesting year for AR. This won’t be the year of AR : exactly as I said for virtual reality, let’s not hype the technology and think that this is the year when mainstream adoption of wearable AR glasses is going to happen. Can this count as AR having become mainstream?

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Italy won the Tennis Davis Cup, and that was pretty cool to see (the match between Sinner and Djokovic was just incredible). If this were true (and it is a HUGE if), it would show that all tentatives to slow down AI development, as some scientists proposed a few months ago, are not practically possible. Will we meet there?

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

Image by Microsoft). Microsoft ramps up distribution of HoloLens 2 and Kinect For Azure. Microsoft is working to improve the distribution of its latest devices: HoloLens 2 and Kinect For Azure. HoloLens 2 availability has been expanded to 15 new regions : Italy (YESSS!), Other relevant news.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 30, 2022

It is also promoting the metaverse everywhere, also on mainstream media: yesterday a friend of mine who doesn’t work in tech told me to have seen a TV spot here in Italy about the metaverse. If you are here for the cash grab, go hoeing the soil too, and maybe you earn more money than doing the metaverse.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 28, 2023

After a few days where we thought we were all living in a big oven, here in Italy we’re having the first taste of Autumn, with the temperatures going down and a lot of rain falling from the sky. Google is working in parallel to build the Android XR operating system for this headset and a Micro XR operating system for AR glasses.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

iOS 13 contains code to test AR apps on a headset. Last week I teased how iOS 13 contained references to an AR glass dubbed “ Garta ” and to an AR launcher for apps called “Starboard”. Well, this week, we had new confirmations on AR included in the new iOS 13. (Image by Martin Hajek). DAQRI shuts down.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 14, 2019

Here you are my recap of the most interesting XR news of the week! Apple has killed its AR glasses project… maybe. If the report were true, this would mean that Apple doesn’t believe in AR anymore and this would be terrible news for all the immersive realities ecosystem. Top news of the week. So, what’s happened?

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 20, 2023

I’m back in Italy! But Google has already made clear that is working on AR glasses, so probably it is planning to launch a new pair of smart glasses and so is discontinuing the old model. My time at SXSW has been great, but now it’s time to be back to the usual routine. What will happen after that is not clear, yet.

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XR Today - Augmented Reality tag

AUGUST 2, 2023

Augmented Reality (AR) technology is set to become one of the fastest-growing and most promising technologies among extended reality. According to reports, the AR market is set to reach $88.4 XR Today spoke to David Goldman, Vice-President of Marketing, Lumus to explore the augmented reality (AR) smart glasses industry.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 22, 2022

I’m back in Italy, but I have left a piece of my heart in Austin, where I had an unforgettable experience both on the personal and professional side at SXSW (you can read more about my experience here ). It has acquired the startup Raxium, whose expertise is manufacturing micro-LED for AR/VR devices. News worth a mention.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 7, 2019

I’m in Italy again and here in these days, it is damn hot and wet. WeChat now lets you create AR mini apps. Now, inside these applications, it is possible to add AR features. that lets the wearer try different Armani lipsticks in AR. More info (AR on WeChat) More info (AR conversions for L’Oreal).

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

This one is the last AR/VR news roundup for this summer! I think I’ll miss the joys of summer (and all the trophies that Italy has won), but at least I’ll be able to enjoy again some delicious hot chocolate Before leaving you to the news of the week, I’m happy to announce to you that I’ve been selected as a speaker for AWE US 2021 !

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 5, 2021

Today in Italy it should be the day when we go pic-nicking… but given the fact that we are in lockdown, I’ll just eat a lot at home While I send you a lot of good vibes, let’s see together what have been the best pieces of AR/VR news of this week, that has been incredibly interesting! (My

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 16, 2022

This is ridiculous, not only because the Pro costs a lot of money, but also because it is sold as a “work device” I don’t know how things work where Zuck lives, but here in Italy, a typical workday is 8 hours, not 2. Partnership with Microsoft. Highlights of the partnership between Meta and Microsoft.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 19, 2021

Magic Leap is back: CEO Peggy Johnson has just unveiled in a post on the company blog the Magic Leap 2 , the new version of the AR glasses from the company in Florida. Johnson also claims that ML2 will have the biggest FOV in the AR market (with the exception of RealMax, of course), with double of the field of view area of Magic Leap 1.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 27, 2020

IDC says that AR/VR is growing less because of the pandemics, but the outlook is great. As we had predicted months ago, actually the pandemics is having a double effect on AR and VR. IDC estimates a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in AR/VR spending of 76.9% A not so happy picture. billion by 2024.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 21, 2021

Facebook reveals its work on the UX of AR of the future. Facebook has unveiled new details on the research it is performing on the UX of the AR glasses of the future. It comes as no surprise so the rumor of some weeks ago about Facebook developing its smartwatch … it can be a very previous device to pair to its future AR glasses.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 27, 2019

I’m back in Italy, and finally, I can eat again some good pasta… even if I will miss ?? But now, it is the turn of some cool AR and VR news…. These numbers seem confirmed by a parallel analysis by AR Insider. Image by Microsoft). The two lucky countries are New Zealand and Iceland. for breakfast a lot!

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 13, 2020

On the other side, this is massive for Apple, that mixing the data of Apple Maps together with all these point clouds detected by the rear cameras when in use, will be able to create an AR Cloud ecosystem probably even before Facebook, Microsoft, and Google. Microsoft releases Azure Remote Rendering. supports VR.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 9, 2020

So I want to thank all the wonderful women that are part of our AR and VR community for what they do every day and I also wish them the best for their future. As for me, I’ve been flooded by worldwide requests asking how I am here in Italy. The coronavirus outbreak is getting worse here in Northern Italy.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 24, 2020

That’s why even Microsoft took Epic’s stances : Microsoft uses UE4 to develop some products also for Apple devices, and this decision hurts also its business. More info (Apple threatens Epic) More info (Microsoft files an official support for Epic). Image by Snap, from AR Post). Snapchat adds full body AR effects.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

While with other VR headsets like the Vive Focus Plus it is already possible to do some kind of augmented reality , this is the first standalone headset that can provide both good quality AR and VR on the same device. These are pretty cool, also because the Snapdragon XR 2 is much more powerful than the 835 mounted by the Oculus Quest.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 2, 2020

This roundup of the most important AR/VR news of the past week comes out with a little delay since I’ve been very busy with my development job, and I’ve also a damn cold that doesn’t make me feel very well (but it’s no coronavirus, don’t worry :D). iPhone 12 may feature a special connection for AR glasses. Sorry for that!

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 27, 2020

Another busy week has passed by, and here in Italy we just got the news that lockdown measures will start to loosen from next week, but the road to go out as we wish is still long. 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).

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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). The last step is the one we all dream about, of when we’ll have fashionable slim AR glasses, that will offload many of their computations to the cloud. CR Deck Mk.1 1 headset is coming to Kickstarter. “CR

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 17, 2021

But before leaving you to the best pieces of AR/VR news of the week, let me tease you that in the upcoming days I will publish an article I’m sure you will all love… it’s a hands-on preview on… you’ll discover it! It has created tools to improve geolocation, multiplayer, and also to deliver more realistic AR experiences (e.g.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 4, 2023

More info Microsoft releases MRTK 3 Notwithstanding the fact that most of the team behind it has been laid off, Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 (MRTK3) will reach General Availability (GA) in Q3 of this calendar year. I will leave you the link to donate for these two causes below.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Coronavirus is back in Italy and from yesterday we’re having new restrictions like a night curfew, some kind of shops closed, etc… I hope that you and the people you love are safe. Facebook and Microsoft publish two interesting research projects for VR. The modality to ask for the adapters is not clear yet, though.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 2, 2021

If I had known people could like it, I would have not made it in 5 minutes with Microsoft Word, lol. What a fun thing, this is the power of the intern… no, sorry, of the metaverse. (And if you were wondering, yes, I’m very happy about the two amazing gold medals that Italy won yesterday at the Olympics!). Learn more. Some XR fun.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 20, 2020

The fixed values may give problems to people with a value that is exactly in the middle between two of the allowed ones: for instance, the reviewer of Ars Technica found the Quest 2 barely usable until he moved the lenses in a position between two measures that was actually not allowed by the system but that was perfect for his eyes.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 10, 2019

If you will be in Italy, please come visiting me! Here you are the Eventbrite page ) I can’t wait to see who will win the VR Awards tomorrow ! 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. Don’t hope in perfect AR glasses soon.

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