Engadget originally reported that Samsung was racing with Oculus Rift to market a gaming VR headset first. Now the rumor has shifted. Samsung wants Oculus tech for media display not gaming and is apparently willing to give Oculus first priority on their high-definition display screens.
This seems to make lots of sense as Oculus was/is having a problem getting parts. Enough so that they delayed the release of the Oculus Rift DK2.
Hypergrid mentions an article published by Wired regarding the Oculus Rift.
The article is interesting, giving insight into the creation of the Oculus Rift people and the technology. The article includes a video that to some extent I see as a separate article in its own. Consider the video an overview on Virtual Reality (VR).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o8vsU0Dw-4
There are some interesting bits of information within Wired’s article. For instance, the Oculus people have been bombarded by requests from the Hollywood crowd, the techies that make the media, for information and participation in projects. So many that Oculus hired a director of film and media. Continue reading →
The Lab has announced that they have a viewer ready for the Oculus Rift. The Lab’s announcement is here: Using the Oculus Rift with Second Life. It includes the video I have here.
The big announcement is the release of a project viewer: OculusRift Viewer version 3.7.8.289834 – download. It features:
Full Oculus Rift Hardware Support
Full UI Support
Customizable UI
Avatar Head Motion
New First-Person View
Align to Look
Action Key
The viewer detects a Rift and provides quick setup. The Lab writes you can use HUD’s and all of the viewer’s interface functions. We are told we can customize the interface. Also, a new first person (mouse look like – use the M-key to enter it) view has been added. There is a new ‘Action Key’, which I suppose takes the place of a mouse click. Continue reading →
Jo Yardely posts about Ebbe’s saying new avatars are coming. Originally he said they would arrive in March. It looks like they will get released this month now. So, we will have more ‘Library Starter Avatars.’ This will make it easier for new users to not look so noobie.
That of course assumes they don’t walk around nude flashing everyone. (face palm)
This is for the techie peeps. It is a way to built a head set for US$25 to $50. And it appears to be no harder than building Revell model cars and plains.
This first video is the overview of how things work. Below the fold is the How-To video.
[youtube hC3-op5EnI4]
This head set uses a smart phone for a display screen, like a Samsung S3, 4, or 5. To avoid using your phone you can buy a screen. That adds $120 to $150 to the cost. It also adds to the complication of building this contraption and you have to be good with electronics.
Still, that is way less than the current cost of an Oculus DK1 or 2 and the estimated retail price of $350 for the planned retail version of the Oculus, which is now estimated to be released in 2015, not 2014 as many of us were thinking last year. Continue reading →
There are great possibilities for the experience provided by the Oculus Rift (OR). But, the talk about using it with augmented reality tasks may be premature. Watch the funny video that has now started showing up everywhere.
This does look like a DK1 lash-up. I would expect the OR’s ability to improve with time and probably has in the newer DK2. But, somewhere there is a physical limit to how fast information can be moved, processed, and displayed.
In computers the CPU speed limit is about 8.429 GHz, the current Guinness World Record held by AMD. For consumers the limit is around 3 GHz. Parallel processing via multiple processors increases power demand and consumption to get things done faster. Battery technology is currently deficient for what we need in mobile devices. Thus the larger format phones somewhat from the need to accommodate larger batteries.
So, this is probably going to be a matter of figuring out how to do things smarter. The video shows the state of things now, which while exciting is not yet ready for prime time in AR applications. But, may be this year…
A company named True Player Gear, based in Canada, is making a competing or what will be a competing VR headset. They call theirs Totem, which is a name taken from the movie Inception.
The specs for this head set are similar to Oculus’ DK2. However the field of viewer is only 90 degrees. We have recently heard developers talking about how important it is to have a wide field of view. So, that may be a slight disadvantage.
They are going for the 1080p screens. That should give good resolution. Still, it is at the limit of what Michael Abrash thinks is acceptable for a good immersive feel. They say they are low persistence, but they don’t put a number on it.
They are planning to do a Kickstarter and put out a development kit.
Their claim to fame right now is they are not owned by Facebook. Those that are abandoning Oculus because of the FB purchase now have a place to run to.
I suspect using a Project Neo headset with specs like these would be like looking through a tube.
The enterprise version Oculu would be more Oculus Rift like. But, they tell of some nutty idea that looking at a flat Excel spreadsheet in a virtual environment is going to get an accountant’s panties… er… heart throbbing. It’s not gonna happen. OutlookVR 2014… I don’t think so. Continue reading →
