 Initially announced in Feb. 2021, Sony's forthcoming PS5 VR headset (or PSVR 2 headset) has seen rumors spread since early 2020. The design and some of the headsets features have recently been made official. The head-mounted display's first confirmed game, "Horizon Call of the Wild," was announced alongside the headset's design and features. It is unclear when the headset will be available for purchase. More: - According to images published by Sony, the PS5 VR's shell will be white, come with a "halo strap," and use four front-facing camera's for inside-out tracking.
- The HMD will work alongside motion controllers equipped with trigger and grip buttons, touch-activated sensors, and an analog stick.
- The headset will also vibrate.
- As for specs, the HMD will use an OLED display with HDR support, provide a 110-degree FOV, and incorporate eye-tracking capabilities.
- Eye-tracking could "potentially [be] capable of adjusting image quality to pinpoint and enhance whatever you're focusing on, thus creating an improved visual experience."
- The display per eye is expected to be 2000×2040 (vs. Quest 2's 1832×1920).
- The device will connect to the PS5 via one wire.
- Users can also connect Sony's prior headset to the new gaming system.
- The Sony HMD will not include hand-tracking capabilities. Instead, the affixed cameras will track controllers.
- There are also no built-in speakers; users will instead hear sound through a headphone jack.
- The expected launch date remains unknown and may be affected by global component shortages.
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 Paris-based XR startup Lynx raised $4M Series A in a round led by Somnium Space. Ex-Google and Meta engineers also joined the round. The funds will help the company develop new XR hardware, including its originally crowdfunded Lynx R-1 MR headset. The company began in 2019, the same year it raised $2M Seed. A successful $800,000 Kickstarter campaign shortly followed the Seed in Q4 2021. More: - The Lynx R-1 MR headset uses Qualcomm's XR2 chipset, features high-resolution passthrough capabilities in AR, and includes standard VR displays.
- Instead of the commonly used Fresnel lenses, the Lynx headset uses "four-fold catadioptric freeform prisms" to allow a more compact headset.
- The consumer version of Lynx's MR headset sells for $600, placing the company in competition with well-known, U.S.-based technology corporations, including Apple, Meta, and Google.
- Lynx is expected to become Europe's premier XR hardware company.
- In the words of Lynx CEO Stan Larroque, "What's the point of creating a European Metaverse if the underlying platform, the door we use to access it, remains in the hands of the same big players with their damaging business models?"
- Somnium Space CEO Artur Sychov will join Lynx's board of directors.
- Sychov said about the round, "At Somnium Space we truly believe in the future of [an] open and decentralized Metaverse which empowers its users. This includes not only software but also, very importantly, hardware."
- The company has raised $6.8M to date.
- Lynx has offices in Paris and a new office in Taiwan.
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 After-hours trading saw Snap shares drop 32%. The drop follows the company's CEO Evan Spiegel's warnings that its Q2 report may not reach expectations. According to a filing by the company, "We believe it is likely that we will report revenue and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) below the low end of our Q2 2022 guidance range." The statement and other similar ones scared investors and thus diminished stock prices. More: - Rising inflation, supply chain shortages, and the war in Ukraine have slowed Q2 growth across various social media platforms.
- Pinterest, Google, Twitter, and Meta also experience market cap losses.
- Shares across the social media market are expected to drop by ~$100B.
- According to Spiegel, digital brands are currently cutting marketing budgets.
- He explained, "the macro environment has deteriorated further and faster than we anticipated when we issued our quarterly guidance last month."
- In Q1, Snap lost ~$360M and fell short of sales expectations.
- However, its user numbers continue to grow.
- Like other social platforms such as Meta, Snap continues to align itself with the future of AR, especially for smartphones.
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Meta Reality Labs-funded researchers at Kent State University believe crystal lenses could solve VR head-mounted displays' "vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC)." Unlike expensive and hard-to-scale stereoscopic alternatives such as holographic displays or multi-focal planes, Kent and Meta's "dynamic focus liquid crystal lenses" (LC lenses) may be a viable alternative. More: - Most VR headsets use stereoscopic lenses to create 3D effects.
- In life, however, multifaceted objects are produced by both stereoscopic and single-eye reflexes.
- VR users suffer eye strain and difficulty focusing on individual objects without single-eye compatible visuals.
- Kent and Meta's LC lenses can adjust to changing focal lengths allowing for more precise imaging when looking at a 3D object straight on.
- One problem with the new technology is that refresh rates slow as the lenses grow.
- Currently, researchers are experimenting with multi-lens solutions.
- "Phase resets" and faster switch rates could resolve the slowdown.
- The lenses would function in isolation but together trigger one another.
- The LC lenses could currently be married with traditional lenses and eye-tracking to adjust an image's focus and depth.
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Users of Quest 2 headsets running on the recent v40 update can now access Meta's experimental MR feature that allows users to incorporate real-life surroundings in VR. The feature is listed on the device as "Room Setup — Experimental." More: - The feature encourages users to identify and outline their surroundings, including surfaces, walls, windows, and objects.
- Meta likely intends to incorporate users' surroundings into upcoming virtual experiences.
- According to the feature's description, the experimental room setup "bring[s] the walls, furniture, and objects from your room into VR so you can use apps that blend your real and virtual environments."
- The update is based on Meta's "Scene Understanding" software, which first debuted at its Meta Connect Event in 2021.
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 Debuted in 2018, the Magic Leap One AR headset is now selling for $549. The discounted cost offers customers 76% savings compared to the earlier $2,295 price tag. The lower cost reflects the company's pivot away from everyday consumers and toward enterprise. More: - The headsets are brand new and include the headset, sensors, and an external puck holding the HMD's battery and CPU.
- The headset features 50-degree FOV, 6DoF tracking, 120Hz refresh rate, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, and 3.5 hours of battery life.
- The sale ends on June 1, 2022.
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 |  | Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History. While working toward her Ph.D., Courtney has developed an interest in the language and history of the tech industry, especially regarding metaverse technologies, streaming, and podcasting. In fact, she hosted her own podcast Low Culture Boil! You can find her on Twitter: @ckayerawlings Email: courtney@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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