Facebook Acquires Computer Vision Startup Scape Technologies

According to regulatory filings uncovered by Tech Crunch, Facebook has acquired Scape Technologies, a London-based computer vision startup. Facebook has yet to publicly acknowledge the acquisition. A company spokesperson told Tech Crunch that it "acquire smaller tech companies from time to...

Valve Plans to Release “SteamVR 2.0” This Year

Heading toward the release of Half-Life: Alyx in March, Valve has been steadily improving its SteamVR software to be more stable and easier to use. Now the company is teasing the forthcoming release of "SteamVR 2.0" sometime this year. While...

Mother Meets Recreation of Her Deceased Child in VR

South Korean TV broadcaster MBC recently aired a Korean language documentary that centers on a family's loss of their young daughter, seven-year-old Nayeon. Using the power of photogrammetry, motion capture, and virtual reality, the team recreated Nayeon for one...

Facebook Expects Coronavirus Will Have “additional impact” on Oculus Quest Availability

After being backordered by weeks in many regions, Oculus Quest is now "unavailable" from Oculus in 17 out of 23 regions where the unit is sold, including the United States, Canada, and much of Europe. Facebook says the Coronavirus outbreak is...
video

‘Ven VR Adventure’ is an Adorable Platformer Coming to SteamVR, Rift & PSVR

Ven VR Adventure is an upcoming title from Poland-based indie studio Monologic Games. Built from the ground-up for VR, the plucky little platformer seems to be channeling some of its contemporaries such as Lucky's Tale (2016), Moss (2018), and Astro Bot Rescue...

This WebXR App Helps You Visualize the Global Infection Rate of Coronavirus

Coronavirus, otherwise known as the 2019 novel coronavirus, is primarily affecting China. While it's mostly been relegated to that country due to stringent quarantines and travel restrictions mandated by the Chinese government, you've probably heard that it's also landed...

Making ‘The Remedy’ – How A Veteran Illustrator Made one of VR’s Best Short Films With...

Perhaps no project to date shows the potential of Quill—Oculus' VR illustration and animation tool—quite like The Remedy. Created by veteran animator Daniel Martin Peixe, The Remedy is a roughly 10 minute long story which establishes a very effective comic book-like...

LYNX Founder Details Headset’s Unique Optics, Pre-orders Available Now

Startup LYNX revealed the R-1 earlier this week, a standalone MR headset with a unique optical design. Speaking at a conference on Monday, the company's founder shared more about the headset and it hopes to achieve with its novel...

Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 Now Available for Direct Developer Purchase

Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2, the company's most recent smartglasses (or rather smartglass), was only available to partner companies when it launched in May 2019. Now Google is allowing its third-party hardware vendors to sell the headset direct to...

Sony to Close First-party Manchester Studio Making ‘AAA’ PSVR Games

Sony is closing its Manchester, UK-based studio, the very same that was opened in 2015 to produce 'AAA' PSVR exclusives. While no games came from Manchester Studio throughout its five-year existence, it's clear the team was working on VR up until...