The Ghost Howls

DECEMBER 26, 2018

We all know that China is a country that is betting big on Virtual Reality. Some days ago, the Chinese government has released a document that states how China really wants to commit to VR , how wants the ecosystem to grow well and fast and how also wants to lead the world for what concerns virtual reality. Introduction.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 19, 2021

Image by HTC). HTC launches Vive Flow headset for relaxation, priced at $499. After endless teasings and leaks, in the end, HTC has finally unveiled its headset: called Vive Flow, it is a lightweight device for media consumption. I send you good vibes so things go well for you too! Top news of the week.

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Road to VR

AUGUST 29, 2016

Like Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004), Jesus VR was filmed in Matera, Italy under the direction of Passion executive producer Enzo Sisti. “We are particularly pleased about the opportunity to present the first feature film in the world made entirely for virtual reality.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 10, 2023

It’s been another interesting week in immersive realities, so let’s see what happened in our field in the past few days! Top news of the week (Image by Google) Samsung XR headset may have been delayed The new rumor in town is that Samsung has delayed its upcoming headset that it is building in partnership with Google and Qualcomm.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 21, 2021

The mystery of Virtual Reality support on Xbox continues with a new chapter of the saga. When a journalist of IGN Italy was trying to install the new Xbox Wireless Headset on the platform, he was greeted with an Italian message saying “The VR goggle must be updated”. Vive Facial Tracker works also with non-HTC headsets.

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The Ghost Howls

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

In Korea, a TV documentary has used virtual reality to make a mother meet again her daughter Nayeon , who died of blood cancer some months before. I wonder if Facebook has already taken the decision of leaving the enterprise market to HTC and Pico , while focusing on the much bigger piece of cake of the consumer market.

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 28, 2018

Enea Le Fons is the epic guy of #30DaysInVR : he spent 30 days inside a virtual reality headset to help to shape an open and better future for virtual reality. I also used Google TiltBrush for sketching and Blocks to create low-poly environments for Vive Focus. Header image by HTC Vive).

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 2, 2020

The damn coronavirus continues to impact all our lives: the fact that many countries are applying restrictions on flights to and from Italy is, for example, creating various nuisances to my job. 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 24, 2020

Someone invokes saviors like Google and Amazon, but even if they managed to succeed, they are other data-harvesting companies , so in any case, we are f**ked. You can imagine that after it has been released through two official blog posts, an enormous backlash from the community started to happen. The same on Twitter. Other relevant news.

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The Ghost Howls

OCTOBER 10, 2022

Among other things, I have written a fantastic post about the VR concerts worth millions of dollars that Pico is doing in China ; I have been interviewed in a podcast by Moonbase ; and this Saturday I will be close to Turin (Italy) speaking at a science and technology festival about my work in immersive concerts. Image by HTC Vive).

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 20, 2022

Today, while I’m packing my stuff up to go back to Italy, I want to tell you a few words about my experience there, and if I think it has been worth going. I was not so sure I wanted to go, because from Italy to Austin is a long trip, but I decided to try this new adventure… and well, I’m more than happy of having done that.

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The Ghost Howls

JANUARY 22, 2021

Two days ago, I’ve given you my predictions for virtual reality in 2021 (read it, in case you missed it). Now it’s time to make some forecasts about its companion technology, that is augmented reality! This commercial video about Google Glasses led me to immersive realities.

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 10, 2019

If you will be in Italy, please come visiting me! Image by Google). Google completely opensources Cardboard. With a surprise move, Google has announced with a blog post that it ha opensourced completely Cardboard. Google has already abandoned all its VR projects (e.g. Top news of the week. The hype is rising….

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The Ghost Howls

MAY 25, 2018

From my tests, the image on the screen appears slightly distorted, so there will be something to fix on HTC’s side. Better integration with HTC phones. Yesterday HTC has also unveiled its new flagship phone, the HTC U12+. The Vive Focus and its friend the HTC U12+ phone (Image by HTC). Image by HTC).

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 9, 2020

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. We have more difficulties in going to Milan, that is the economical heart of Italy, and now a red zone with all its region. and fostering the creation of Virtual ones.

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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). This may be one of the potential names for either the upcoming mixed reality headset that Samsung is developing with Google or the name of future AR glasses. Will we meet there?

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 3, 2023

Top news of the week (Image by Google) Google killed its AR glasses Project Iris Do you remember the name Project Iris? Various reports indicated it as the internal codename in Google for a project meant to build augmented reality glasses. It was our hope for Google entering the AR race together with Meta and Apple.

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The Ghost Howls

APRIL 18, 2022

Anyway, today should be a vacation in Italy, but here I am writing this roundup for you, so if you want to show your appreciation, don’t forget to make a donation on Patreon ! In case there is another platform involved, e.g. Android, 30% will go to Google, and 25% of the remaining money (i.e. HTC Vive is going to launch… a box.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 14, 2020

I am so glad that I changed my laptop for Christmas: the new one is an i7 with RTX2060 which lets me use virtual reality. There are lots of grants around, and here we can participate in some research grants offered by Italy or European Union. We are lucky that we have virtual reality. It was very funny.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 26, 2018

This surprised me because, in Italy, the most important people of an IT startup must speak English, because they needs this language to connect with abroad customers and partners. The project evolved over time and when in 2016 HTC released the Vive, they immediately thought about integrating VR into their solution. My envy intensified.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

HTC releases eye and face tracking for Vive Focus 3. HTC doesn’t want to lose the VR train, so it has just found a creative way of competing with Meta Quest Pro. The eye tracker, instead, can be attached as a magnetic insert in the internal part of the device, and HTC claims it’s accurate to within 0.5°~1.1°

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The Ghost Howls

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

I’m still here in the US for some days after having attended AWE, planning to meet some interesting people before heading back to Italy. After I will be back in Italy, on the 20th, I will also be a speaker at Virtual Reality Day , the 24h-conference about VR held by Bob Fine. Top news of the week. Other relevant news.

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The Ghost Howls

JUNE 8, 2018

As soon as you open the box, there’s a piece of paper saying that you have to download the companion app on your phone through Google Play or the iOS store. HTC has announced that will implement an Instant Play on its Focus device (maybe following my advice ) and I hope that Oculus will do something similar in the future.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

HTC has launched a new headset, we have another confirmation of Apple glasses, we read about the first hands-on on Kura glasses, and many other things have happened! Image by HTC). HTC launches the Cosmos at $699. HTC has finally launched the HTC Vive Cosmos , its new flagship headset. Top news of the week.

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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. If at Meta they just work 2 hours, I want to be hired there immediately.

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The Ghost Howls

JULY 23, 2018

This has been possible thanks to the kind support of Mister President and the whole HTC, that introduced me to these companies and let me visit them to discover a lot of things about the Chinese VR ecosystem. We have this even in Italy and I guess that there is one in all parts of the world.

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The Ghost Howls

SEPTEMBER 20, 2020

I’ve preordered my basic $299 one (€349 in Italy) and it will arrive on October, 15th. This kind of seamless interface is great and it is exactly the same one that HTC already offers with the Vive Focus Plus and Viveport Streaming and that I’ve tried and appreciated. Rift line gets discontinued.

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The Ghost Howls

MARCH 23, 2020

Jokes apart, before starting, let me send a big hug to all of you that are in quarantine because of the coronavirus and thank all the people that in these days have cared about me after having heard the sad news about Italy (Simon, David, Daniel, Suzie, Mark… John that has been so kind… Sebastian, and many others!). Yes, Android, Google.

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