Metaverse gets touch of reality at CES

LAS VEGAS, United States— A jacket equipped with sensors that let wearers feel hugs or even punches in virtual reality was among the innovations giving the metaverse a more realistic edge at the Consumer Electronics Show.

"What is the metaverse if you can't feel it?" asked Jose Fuertes, founder of the Spain-based startup Owo, which made the jacket. "It's just avatars."

The "metaverse"— a parallel universe where human, augmented and virtual realities are supposed to merge— was a hot theme at the annual gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas, with startups showing off computers, headsets and other gear promising to enhance time spent in virtual worlds.

Owo touts its jacket as able to immerse wearers, whether in video games or in the metaverse, letting them feel "a gunshot, the wind, someone grabbing your arm and even a hug from a loved one."

The tight-fitting jacket features bands that stick to the skin, with sensors that sync to a mobile application. Before donning a virtual reality (VR) headset, the wearer can choose the intensity of each sensation.

"Our mission is to turn the virtual into reality with a second skin; to add the sense of touch in the metaverse or video games," Fuertes said as AFP tried out the jacket.

The Owo garb— to be priced less than $450 when it hits the market late this year— brings to mind the sci-fi novel-turned-film "Ready Player One," in which people in a dystopian world live alternate lives in a virtual universe.

The science fiction future seems distant given a lack of full body suits and comfortable headsets for simulated experiences, or ubiquitous high-speed internet service to handle such rich data streams.

Nonetheless, the metaverse has become a popular topic since being endorsed by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg so enthusiastically that the technology company was renamed "Meta."

Sound of inevitability? 

Virtual reality has mostly been used for video games, despite its potential for experiences such as letting people visit museums, landmarks or far-off cities while sitting at home, and even for providing seats literally in the middle of feature films.

While companies such as Meta and HTC have invested heavily in virtual reality headsets, the equipment is still not light and comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time.

"I'm the biggest sort of augmented and virtual reality nerd, but I don't think we are anywhere close to anything exciting happening in the metaverse," said Paddy Cosgrave, head of Web Summit in Europe.

He expects it to take more than a decade for the metaverse to become real.

"Nothing can stop it," Touchcast chief and founder Edo Segal said of the metaverse.

Touchcast showed off a platform for collaboration between companies in virtual reality, complete with ".metaverse" addresses akin to .com web addresses. But the domains will be registered on a blockchain database, instead of on servers.

"In 1999, it was hard to believe people would buy things online," Segal said.

"Look where we are today. Humanity is moving in this direction."

Industry trackers report that sales of virtual reality gear were boosted by the pandemic as people relied on the internet for games, work, learning and socializing.

'Like a cyborg' 

Since the pandemic began restricting people's movements, Takuma Iwasa has taken to spending weekends on a VR platform where people chat and party in a virtual world with avatars as their proxies.

As the year 2020 neared its end, the young Japanese entrepreneur focused on ways someone's leg or torso movements can be mirrored by avatars and other ways of making visits to virtual worlds more realistic.

His startup Shiftall, a subsidiary of Panasonic, unveiled lightweight, high-resolution VR glasses at CES.

"In the future, some of the special suits like in 'Ready Player One' will contain every system," Takuma said.

"Currently, metaverse users need to use different products, like a cyborg."

Israeli start-up Wearable Devices is working on a bracelet that detects the electrical signals sent by the brain to the hand. The wearer can control synced objects with a mere snap of their fingers— a function that could prove useful if people use augmented reality glasses and need to select items displayed on the lenses.

But as the metaverse evolves, society will also need to be wary of dangers from online ills such as misinformation, harassment and losing touch with the real world, some experts warned.

"Counterfeit goods are going to exist in the metaverse, as well. Counterfeit identities are going to exist in the metaverse, as well," said Dan Guenther, an extended reality specialist at Accenture.

"And we've seen in many other evolutions of the internet that many times... (there) are the portions of the internet that we're uncomfortable with."

Agence France-Presse

Chinese tech giant Baidu tests metaverse waters with new app

Chinese tech giant Baidu on Monday took its first steps into the metaverse industry with the launch of a virtual reality app, looking to test the waters in what is considered by many to be the next phase in the Internet's evolution.

The Beijing-based company joins brands such as Nike and Ferrari in rushing to experiment with virtual goods against a backdrop of predictions that the metaverse could one day overtake and replace the web of today.

The firm, nicknamed the Chinese Google, held a conference inside the virtual world of its new app XiRang, which means "Land of Hope". It can be accessed from a smartphone, computer or through virtual reality goggles.

It took place in front of Baidu co-founder and chief executive Robin Li and an audience of 3D avatars.

The platform, however, is still in its infancy and Ma Jie, a vice president at Baidu, told reporters at an earlier event that it could take up to six years for a full launch, according to CNBC.

XiRang allows users to create a digital character and interact with other users in a 3D world, for example a fictional city.

Baidu says it will allow up to 100,000 users to participate in the same digital space.

Users, who can only access the app in China, can take part in activities such as visiting virtual exhibitions or practicing diving in a digital swimming pool.

The opportunities offered by the creation of a "new virtual world" are whetting the appetites of digital giants such as Facebook, whose parent company was re-baptized Meta in October to signal a strategic shift to the metaverse.

Like Baidu, other Chinese digital giants have made inroads into the metaverse.

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has invested in several companies in the sector, including the maker of virtual reality headsets Pico.

And Tencent, aided by its expertise in video games, is developing its own metaverse platform.

Agence France-Presse

'Metaverse' hype fuels booming digital property market

PARIS, France - The idea of spending millions on non-existent land may sound ludicrous -- but feverish predictions of a virtual reality future are pushing investors to bet big on digital real estate.

This week, New York-based company Republic Realm announced it had spent a record-breaking $4.3 million on digital land through The Sandbox, one of several "virtual world" websites where people can socialise, play games and even attend concerts.

That came hot on the heels of a $2.4-million land purchase in late November on a rival platform, Decentraland, by Canadian crypto company Tokens.com. And days before that, Barbados announced plans to open a "metaverse embassy" in Decentraland. 

Such websites bill themselves as a prototype of the metaverse, a future internet where online experiences like chatting to a friend would eventually feel face-to-face thanks to virtual reality (VR) headsets. 

"Metaverse" has been a Silicon Valley buzzword for months, but interest soared in October after Facebook's parent company renamed itself "Meta" as it shifts its focus towards VR. 

The Facebook rebrand "introduced the term 'metaverse' to millions of people a lot faster than I would have ever imagined," said Cathy Hackl, a tech consultant who advises companies on entering the metaverse. 

According to crypto data site Dapp, land worth more than $100 million has sold in the past week across the four largest metaverse sites, The Sandbox, Decentraland, CryptoVoxels, and Somnium Space.

For Hackl, it's unsurprising that the market is booming, spawning an entire ecosystem around virtual real estate, from rents to land developers. 

"We're trying to translate the way we understand physical goods into the virtual world," she told AFP. 

And while it may be some time before these sites operate as true metaverses, transporting us elsewhere with VR goggles, digital land is already functioning as an asset just like real land, said Hackl.

"They can build on it, they can rent it out, they can sell it," she said.

'Fifth Avenue of the metaverse' 

Tokens.com has bought a prime patch in Decentraland's Fashion Street district, which the platform hopes to develop as a home for luxury brands' virtual stores.

"If I hadn't done the research and understood that this is valuable property, it would seem absolutely crazy," admitted Tokens.com CEO Andrew Kiguel.

Kiguel spent 20 years as an investment banker focused on real estate. He insists the Decentraland plot makes exactly the same kind of business sense as it would in the real world: it's in a trendy area with high footfall.

"That is advertising and event space where people are going to congregate," he explained, pointing to a recent virtual musical festival in Decentraland which attracted 50,000 visitors.

Luxury brands are already venturing into the metaverse -- a Gucci handbag sold on the Roblox platform in May for more than the real version -- and Kiguel hopes Fashion Street will become a shopping destination akin to New York's Fifth Avenue.

As for how the land could be used to make money, "it can be as simple as having a billboard, or it can be as complex as having a storefront with an actual employee," he said.

"You could walk in with your avatar and have 3D digital representations of a shoe that you can hold, and ask questions."

Second Life, rebooted 

As far back as 2006, a real estate developer made headlines after making $1 million from land sold on the virtual world site Second Life.

While Second Life remains active, proponents of its next-generation rivals point out a key difference.

In Decentraland, everything from land to virtual artwork comes in the form of a non-fungible token, or NFT. 

Some people have spent tens of thousands of dollars on these digital items, and the concept has generated scepticism as well as excitement. 

But Kiguel predicts this form of digital ownership will become widespread in the coming years, because the blockchain technology behind it creates trust and transparency when making transactions.

"I can see the ownership history, what's been paid for it and how it's been transferred around," he said. 

But the investment is not without its risks -- particularly given the volatility of the cryptocurrencies used to buy NFTs. 

And while virtual concerts on sites like Roblox and Fortnite have drawn tens of millions of viewers, the sparse data available suggests traffic on metaverses like Decentraland lags far behind that of established social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Ultimately the value of the land investments depends on whether people start flocking to these sites. 

"I know it all sounds quite ludicrous," said Kiguel. "But there's a vision behind it."

Agence France-Presse

Searching for real growth, US companies turn to virtual reality

NEW YORK — A growing number of U.S. companies are counting on virtual reality for real profits.

With growth hard to come by amid the lethargic economy, companies ranging from snowmobile manufacturers to furniture sellers are incorporating virtual reality that so far has mostly been found in video games. Their bet: that the trendy headset-based technology can help them build sales and cut costs.

Theme park operator Six Flags Entertainment Corp (SIX.N) is outfitting riders on some of its aging roller coasters with Samsung VR headsets, allowing the company to brand the rides as brand-new without having to build costly new attractions.

Snowmobile manufacturer Arctic Cat Inc (ACAT.O) has developed virtual reality rides that customers can use to try out new models at dealerships, while eBay Inc’s (EBAY.O) StubHub is testing technology that allows fans to check out the view from different seats before buying tickets.

In the most recent round of corporate earnings reports, some 38 companies – including the New York Times Co (NYT.N), GoPro Inc (GPRO.O), and furniture-seller Wayfair Inc (W.N) – highlighted virtual reality as a part of their business plans.

That was a 375 percent jump from the 8 that did so at this time last year, according to a Reuters analysis of earnings calls transcripts. Nearly all were either consumer or technology companies, suggesting that virtual reality technology has a ways to go before becoming mainstream.

The increasing focus on virtual reality comes at a time when first-quarter earnings for the S&P 500 are expected to fall 5.4 percent from the same time last year, while second-quarter earnings are expected to fall 3.4 percent from the year before, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.

Yet for all of the enthusiasm, there is little evidence that virtual reality can deliver substantial growth.

“It is complementary to places like Six Flags, I would suspect, but not a game changer,” said Brain Smoluch, a principal at Hood River Capital Management who owns shares in Himax Technologies Inc (HIMX.O), which makes semiconductors used in virtual reality displays.

Few preu plays

There are few pure plays for investors who want to buy into virtual reality.

Facebook Inc (FB.O), which paid $2 billion for its Oculus virtual reality division in 2014 and began shipping its first $599 Oculus Rift headsets in March, has the best-known virtual reality head gear, though other well-known companies including Google’s parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) are rumored to be working on high-powered headsets of their own. Neither company returned requests to comment.

Virtual reality is such a small part of Facebook’s business that most analysts do not break out Oculus in their revenue or earnings estimates. Nor did Facebook give any numbers on how many Oculus headsets it expects to sell on its most recent earnings call.

“This is very early and we don’t expect VR to take off as a mainstream success right away … but eventually we believe that VR is going to be the next big computing platform and we’re making the investments necessary to lead the way there,” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said.

Some analysts, however, already are seeing a boost to the companies they cover.

“I don’t think it’s possible to break out (the benefit of VR technology) with any sort of precision,” said Tyler Batory, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott who covers Six Flags. “But I can tell you that I think they are going to report record results this year because their growth rate is accelerating, and the growth rate wouldn’t be accelerating if they didn’t have it.”

Outfitting riders with VR headsets is much cheaper than building an entirely new roller coaster, he added, while only requiring three additional employees – two to disinfect the headsets after each ride and one to make sure riders have them on correctly.

Companies that incorporate virtual reality technology now could spur consumer interest, which should lead to further adoption rates by their competitors, said Michael Cuggiono, a portfolio manager at San Francisco-based Permanent Portfolio funds.

As a result, he’s been buying shares of Facebook, whose Oculus technology could become the industry standard.

“It’s cost-effective, it’s efficient, and it helps you avoid some of the problems that come with adding new employees,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Google developing virtual reality headset — WSJ

Google is developing a virtual reality headset that works without a smartphone or computer, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The headset will include a screen, high-powered processors and outward-facing cameras, the Journal reported, citing one person.

Alphabet Inc’s Google currently sells a virtual reality device made of cardboard into which users slide in their mobile phones.

Since the launch in 2014, Google has shipped five million Google Cardboards.


The company declined to comment on the Journal report.

source: interaksyon.com

Silicon Valley startup Lytro offers immersive VR camera with higher definition

SAN FRANCISCO, California — A startup based in Silicon Valley has unveiled a new virtual reality (VR) camera that uses hundreds of tiny lenses and image sensors to provide life-like presence for live action.

Lytro, based in Mountain View of North California, said the new hardware, named Lytro Immerge, is the world’s first professional light field solution for cinematic VR with four times more definition than regular high resolution (HD) cameras.

“It is the perfect technology for VR and it will be a game-changer, because it allows the user to have an immersive experience, instead of the flat experience other VR cameras provide,” Ariel Braunstein, chief officer of product (COP) at Lytro, told Xinhua.

Light field technology was first developed by the company for regular photo cameras in 2006, as it was founded that year by Executive Chairman Ren Ng, whose doctoral research on light field imaging won Stanford University’s prize for best thesis in computer science.

It uses sensors to capture each individual ray of light in the image, its color and its focal point, allowing for 3D viewing.

Braunstein said other VR equipment on the market relies mainly on small HD cameras mounted on a sphere to provide a 360-degree all-around feeling. “It’s a flat feeling, and it makes people nauseated, because live action video doesn’t behave inside the gear like computer graphics, which give users the sense of motion.”

Light field mimics the real flow of light. And Lytro Immerge does this by attaching hundreds of tiny cameras to five circles on top of a tripod. Lytro claims that the whole experience of the new VR camera comes along with a production system that includes a server, uploading and streaming to the cloud, editing tools and an application, or app, to use VR headsets.

Plus, the camera is controlled via a smarthphone app, where users can view and adjust any settings remotely.

Given the recent popularity of VR headsets, Lytro Immerge aims to get ahead of the market and become the primary content creation tool for VR.

It comes with a hefty price tag, though Lytro expects that its demand will be in rental, once it is released in the first quarter of 2016. “It will probably cost a few thousand dollars an hour to rent it, but it comes with an end-to-end production system, not just the camera,” the company’s COP said.

Developers believe that their main clients will be Hollywood studios or VR production companies, not consumers.

source: interaksyon.com

Oculus, Dell, AMD join forces to power VR-ready PCs

MANILA, Philippines — AMD recently announced a collaboration with Oculus and Dell to equip Oculus Ready PCs with AMD Radeon GPUs, starting at US$999.

The powerful PCs are designed to deliver stunning gaming performance and enable spectacular VR experiences for consumers around the world by leveraging AMD’s VR leadership with LiquidVR and Graphics Core Next architecture.

“It’s an exciting time to be at the heart of all things Virtual Reality.” said Roy Taylor, corporate vice president, Alliances and Content, AMD. “I’m confident that with Dell and Alienware, we can enable a wide audience of PC users with extraordinary VR capabilities powered by AMD Radeon GPUs.”

In March, AMD announced an initiative to deliver the ultimate VR experience for developers and users enabled through AMD LiquidVR technology. AMD LiquidVR enables low-latency VR performance that maintains reliable comfort during your VR experience, and plug-and-play compatibility with VR headsets.

AMD GPU software and hardware subsystems are a major component in making AMD LiquidVR a reality and in turn allowing for developers and content creators to enable a life-like presence in VR environments.

“For nearly 20 years Alienware has been a leader in performance and innovation for PC gaming; virtual reality is the next frontier and we plan to innovate and lead in the same way, with the same passion,” said Frank Azor, Co-founder and General Manager, Alienware. “Partnering with the performance of AMD graphics and the innovation of Oculus provides an incredible opportunity for Alienware to deliver something awesome for our users.”

source: interaksyon.com

Oculus virtual reality headsets set to ship in 2016

SAN FRANCISCO — Oculus, the virtual reality firm acquired by Facebook last year, said Wednesday it would begin shipping its Oculus Rift headset to consumers early next year after years of development.

“Today, we’re incredibly excited to announce that the Oculus Rift will be shipping to consumers in Q1 2016, with pre-orders later this year,” the company said in a statement.

The headset, designed for immersive gaming and other applications, has built a strong following among developers and has won praise from analysts for limiting the motion sickness which affects users of virtual reality (VR) gear.

“The Rift delivers on the dream of consumer VR with compelling content, a full ecosystem, and a fully-integrated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality,” the statement said.

“It’s a system designed by a team of extremely passionate gamers, developers, and engineers to reimagine what gaming can be.”

The statement said more details are forthcoming on hardware, software, and other technical specifications.

“Virtual reality is going to transform gaming, film, entertainment, communication, and much more,” the statement said.

Facebook last year bought the company for some $2 billion.

Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that the acquisition of Oculus was a long-term bet that making the social network’s offerings more immersive would pay off in the future.

He suggested that the virtual reality technology could be applied to various offerings of the world’s biggest social network.

“People will build a model of a place far away and you will just go see it; it is just like teleporting,” Zuckerberg said.

source: interaksyon.com