The XR Week Peek (2022.05.02): Meta predicts the metaverse for 2030 and beyond, Snap launches a drone, and more!
I’ve been sick this weekend. I’m getting better, but I’ll need days to fully recover, I still feel like if I was hit by a train. I’m doing my best to work, and I don’t want you to miss this appointment with my news roundup, so I’ve prepared it the same… I just warn you that my usual commentaries will be shorter this time.
Send me hugs 🙂
Top news of the week
Zuckerberg sets the Metaverse for 2030 and beyond
The Zuck has had the hard task to speak with Meta’s investors and tell them that while the revenues of Reality Labs are increasing thanks to Quest 2, actually all the “metaverse” division is losing $3B a quarter. Zuck has explained to them to be patient because the Metaverse, which no one knows what actually is, is happening beyond 2030. So all these huge investments will pay off in the very long run. I appreciate Zuck’s courage, and also I like that he sets realistic expectations for his dreams.
Anyway, given the not-so-happy moment for ads’ revenues (because of Apple’s privacy restrictions, TikTok’s competitions, etc…), it’s possible that Meta’s future investments will have to slow down a bit.
On a separate note, analyzing the numbers announced by Meta, NWN has estimated around 11M sold Quest 2, and this would mean that Quest has crossed the magic 10M number.
More info (Meta’s reported financials)
More info (Some graphs on Meta’s financials)
More info (Meta may have to slow down some investments)
More info (All the official financial numbers by Meta)
More info (Zuck commenting Meta’s strategy)
More info (11–12M Quests estimate)
Other relevant news
Snap launched a drone and various AR services
The latest Snap’s Partner Summit has been pretty interesting. Apart from the usual announcements of millions of users and billions of AR filters created, the company has revealed some cool news.
The most relevant of them is Pixy, a tiny drone with a camera that flies off your hand, shoots photos or short videos of you (on which you can apply AR filters), and then lands back. It is totally useless, but it’s cool, and it may be the prelude to something bigger that Snap has in mind.
Apart from that, we had some interesting announcements on its usual Lens business. First of all, it’s working on:
- Implementing ray-tracing, which can be cool for try-on filters of jewels
- Lens Cloud, a set of free services that will allow for more sophisticated AR Lenses, like lenses requiring more storage and “multiplayer” lenses
- Adding AR effects to selected concerts thanks to a partnership with Live Nation
- Creating AR clothing try-on Lenses without creating 3D models for each product (thanks to the just-acquired startup Forma)
Snap is doing a very interesting job in AR.
More info (Lens Cloud and other announcements from Snap)
More info (Roundup of announcements by Snap)
More info (Live Nation X Snapchat)
More info (Snap CEO interviewed by The Verge)
More info (Pixy Drone)
More info (Reel of works made with Snap Spectacles)
More info (Forma startup)
Meta opens its physical stores
After having teased it, Meta has finally unveiled that it is opening its physical stores where it will sell its hardware: Portal, Ray-Ban Stories, and especially the Quest 2. The Quest will be the main product, with a huge area where to try it with a screen showing the video of you playing in mixed reality to others. Its first retail store is opening in Burlingame, CA on May 9th. Others will come in the future.
On the occasion of this launch, the site oculus.com has been transformed into a depressing redirect to a Facebook Store page where to buy the Quest. Yes. FACEBOOK. Confusion LVL 9000.
Goodbye Oculus brand.
More info (Meta stores)
More info (Oculus website disappearing)
Cambria will be a pro headset to substitute your laptop
In the long post talking about Meta’s future, Zuck has said that Cambria will be a pro headset aimed at professionals that want to work in VR. It will be the device that people should buy to work instead of a Chromebook. I don’t see myself buying a VR headset to substitute for my laptop in 2022, but I would be happy to be surprised. For sure he knows that pros will be Apple’s target and hopes to beat Apple with his device (AHAHAHAH).
There has been a new rumor about Cambria from the usual suspect (SadlyItsBradley) that says Cambria will have 12GB of RAM and will allow for multitasking of apps in the same way that HoloLens does (so you can suspend a VR app, run another one, and then recover the former later). That would be pretty cool.
More info (Cambria is aimed at replacing the laptop)
More info (Cambria features 12GB of RAM and multitasking)
More info (Zuckerberg’s post on Meta’s vision)
Meta doesn’t know how it handles your data
According to a report by Motherboard, once your data enters Meta’s system, it gets lost in a sea of subsystems about which it loses control. So it may be impossible for Meta to respect data management laws because it simply doesn’t even know where your data goes. If it were true (it’s an unconfirmed rumor), that would be pretty scary. I can’t wait for this company to manage the metaverse.
News worth a mention
Vive Mars CamTrack is the latest Vive hardware for professionals
HTC is keeping on its strategy of releasing whatever stuff metaverse-related. Its latest product, teased the previous weeks, is VIVE Mars CamTrack, a box worth $5000 that helps professionals perform virtual production using Vive Trackers. I think it has potential for the movie industry.
More info (Vive Mars CamTrack)
More info (Vive Mars CamTrack official launch post)
Varjo releases Reality Cloud
With its usual super-neat marketing images, Varjo has released Reality Cloud, its cloud streaming service for Varjo headsets. The first supported application is Autodesk VRED, with more to come.
Meta built a 7nm chip for its codec avatars
It turns out that Meta built a custom 7nm chip to run its realistic “codec avatars” in a realistic way. This shows once more how Meta wants to build its own chips for future headsets, maybe getting rid of Qualcomm in the long run.
A nice experiment makes you live your reality moving in space and time
A mind-blowing mixed reality experiment made the user travel not only space but also time. For instance, if you are in augmented virtuality, and someone has put a real object close to you while you were not noticing, you could instruct the system to roll back the time and show what happened around you over time and lead to that object being there. It’s kind of impressive, I suggest you to click the link.
Some articles on the metaverse
This week I’ve selected the usual few articles that show you the nonsense of all the NFT hype and why owning an NFT does not imply that you actually own the asset.
But I especially link to you an interview with Tim Sweeney, that starts well by destroying the Web3 world in a sentence: “They’re showing you digital goods you can’t do anything with except to say that you own it. You can cryptographically prove that you own it, but who cares?”
And then tells us that soon you will be able to create UE5 applications and sort of publish them inside Fortnite. If this becomes true, Fortnite could become a hub of virtual worlds, so a small “metaverse”. That would be pretty cool.
More info (Interview to Tim Sweeney)
More info (Why NFT ownership is not true ownership)
More info (The problem of interoperability of NFTs)
KAT launches new models of VR treadmills
KAT has launched new treadmills for at-home VR entertainment. I’m so excited for this, for sure these ones will become mainstream… #sarcasm
Enjoy VR games discounts
I link here below the news about two new VR games bundles, plus the discounts on Star Wars VR games.
More info (VR games bundle on Fanatical)
More info (VR games bundle on Humble Bundle)
More info (Star Wars VR games discount)
A lawsuit may decide that VR applications should have subtitles
A deaf person has sued HTC because not all the applications on Viveport Infinity have subtitles and this is against the American Disabilities Act. The case is ongoing and I think that it’s good that it fosters debates about inclusion, but I honestly don’t know how I hope it will end.
Nominations for VR Awards have started
If you have developed an amazing XR experience, consider submitting it to the VR Awards!
Epic Games and Coachella created the Coachellaverse
This year, the Coachella concert was augmented by fantastic virtual elements around the stage powered by Epic games cinematic tools. This is how I imagine the future of hybrid concerts.
More info (CoachellaVerse / 1)
More info (CoachellaVerse / 2)
Some news on content
Wallace and Gromit are coming to VR with an amazing game called “The Grand Getaway”. This is super cool! And together with this, we had other news that are worth a read.
More info (Wallace & Gromit VR)
More info (Upload VR found two games with interesting mechanics)
More info (QuestHaven wants to bring D&D to VR)
More info (BigscreenVR to integrate Youtube videos)
More info (Cities VR is ‘meh’ according to reviews)
More info (A game studio wants the community to choose its next title)
Other news
Nreal launches Air smartglasses in the UK
Tribeca Film Festival is back with 10 New VR experiences
Learn more (Selection) Learn more (Official Website)
Intel CEO says chip shortages will end in 2024
Michael Abrash sees data transfers as the big power consumption sources for future AR glasses
Green Hell VR developer thinks that PSVR 2 will be bought by millions of people
News from partners (and friends)
On|Metaverse Summit
I have written a long and detailed post-mortem on this huge event about VR/Web3/Metaverse that I have helped to organize. I think it can be useful to read if you want to organize a physical event and know about the differences between a physical and a virtual event.
Learn more
Some XR fun
A guy married a virtual idol, but now the startup that let them communicate has shut down, so the marriage has become more complicated. Oh well, actually also in real marriages after years couples don’t speak anymore…
Funny link
Well, this book saw the truth
Funny link
The previous meme got so reposted on Reddit, that people started making memes about it! I love the internet
Funny link
Donate for good
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Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by AnotheReality)
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