The Ghost Howls

JULY 4, 2022

The same luck has not happened to employees at Niantic at Unity. Unity, instead, is firing 4% of its employees, and this may seem weird considering that in the last months it has proceeded to hundred-millions-dollars acquisitions. A thing I have appreciated about Meta is that it has canceled projects, but it has not fired anyone.

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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. Unity 6 takes back the original way of specifying engine versions and abandons the confusing one that bound a new Unity version to the year it was released.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 16, 2022

Another cool announcement has been the one of Immersive View for Google Maps. I can only imagine the possibilities of mixing this with immersive headsets : you could visit every city in VR in a much more realistic way than the one shown by Google Earth VR today. Even worse, Unity has lost -30% of its stock value.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 23, 2023

I remember one day at Immersive Architecture with Enea Le Fons in 2018 when we played around with the Focus, and then at a certain point, he was walking with us in the central plaza of Venice (Italy) with the headset on. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

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The Ghost Howls

AUGUST 14, 2023

Then the Vision Pro beta for the Unity game engine has not been distributed yet, so many Unity developers can’t build applications for the Vision Pro, yet. More info Immersed VISOR to support hand tracking and eye tracking It seems that Immersed truly wants to compete with Apple with its VISOR headset.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

The reasons behind the layoffs are well-known: the competition with TikTok hurting Meta’s revenues; Apple’s new privacy rules on iOS have reduced the effectiveness of the ads business; the conflict in Ukraine and the inflation have led to bad economic conditions. That would be great for immersion, of course. Brian Peiris. Matias Nassi.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 15, 2023

Top news of the week (Image by Google) Google announces important AI and XR news at Google I/O This Google I/O has seen immersive realities back to the menu. It will feature a selection of immersive artworks that will be hosted at an in-person “Games & Immersive Experience” area at the festival hub. Are you ready?

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The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 27, 2022

The picture that they paint is not that positive for immersive realities. Spatial has announced a toolkit for creators that can be used directly inside Unity. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. And now here you are the link to donate: Support The Red Cross in Ukraine.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 31, 2023

According to the Financial Times, “In June, AR, VR, and mixed reality start-ups in the US raised $208 million, almost as much as the previous three months combined ”. This made sure investors gained some trust for immersive reality startups again, something that will be beneficial for our whole industry.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 13, 2022

After this move, the Microsoft Mixed Reality team gets actually disbanded : Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Hardware teams are being integrated into the Windows + Devices organization, while the Mixed Reality Presence and Collaboration teams will join the Teams organization. I will leave you the link to do that below.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

More info Google may still be working at Project Iris Some months ago a rumor claimed that Google had stopped working on Project Iris, its project devoted to the creation of augmented reality glasses. Senior Unity Developer Join our Unity team and be at the forefront of innovation in the global VR video streaming ecosystem.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

More info Rokid is now a unicorn Chinese manufacturer Rokid , who produces augmented reality glasses, just received a huge investment round of $112M to help the development of its XR products. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. Thanks to Davy Demeyer for the tip!)

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

And it’s not over on the content side: they are going to launch the Pico Video app with 600+ videos on day 1 , and are partnering to have immersive concerts with Wave. It has just announced that it will release a new tool to create virtual worlds for the platform based on Unity. Pico Worlds will be the official social VR application.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 30, 2022

Using the algorithms acquired with 6D.ai, Niantic can so finally let developers offer augmented reality experiences that are shared and persistent in a location, that is exactly what we need for our mixed reality future. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 14, 2022

This could be a great feature: having the possibility of accessing a shared augmented reality space with just a link, sounds a lot like the evolution of the internet, that is the M-word. Unity has partnered with Insomniac to build a metaverse for immersive live performances. Learn more. Learn more. Learn more.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 27, 2023

It is a lightweight Python package capable of harnessing the heavyweight power of speech AI (NVIDIA Riva) and large language models (LLMs) to simplify user interactions in immersive environments. Learn more Discover Toy Monster Indie mixed-reality game T oy Monsters is releasing on the 30 March for $4.99.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

New York Times talks about the UX of immersive journalism. The New York Times has published a very interesting article that explores how the user interface of immersive journalism could be. The Africa XR Report tells you what is happening in immersive realities in Africa. Learn more. Learn more. Learn more. Learn more.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 24, 2023

More info (Venice Immersive official selection) More info (Interview to the curators) World From Eyes makes you see through the eyes of people The craziest project I’ve found this week is called “World From Eyes” which is a research that is aimed at making the fiction of CSI image analysis become reality.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 27, 2022

Without HDR, you are conscious that you are seeing the world through a screen, while with actual HDR, you can feel the proper lighting of a scene, and it immediately becomes real and immersive. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. This is my biggest takeaway from these tests.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 24, 2022

In fact, at launch, it won’t even be possible to create Unity content for it. According to the rumors, In the beginning only Apple’s first part tools (like RealityKit) will be allowed to create content, and only after, Unity support will come. Global XR Conference is an event about immersive realities. Learn more.

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 4, 2022

Unity talked about PlayStation VR 2 at GDC. Unity had a talk about developing for PlayStation VR 2 at GDC 2022. More info (Foveated Tracking boost inside PSVR 2) More info (Full Unity talk at GDC). for its mixed-reality video solution for VR applications. News worth a mention. Image by Sony Interactive Entertainment).

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