Tag: iab-virtual & augmented reality

Zuckerberg unveils Quest 3 as Meta tries to stay ahead in the mixed reality headset game | CNN Business

New York
CNN
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Meta is moving forward in its efforts to dominate the AR world with the new and improved Meta Quest 3.

Unveiled by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s virtual Meta Connect event Wednesday, the headset starts at $500 and is a complete redesign of earlier models. The Quest 3, first announced in June, offers improved performance, immersive new mixed-reality features and a sleeker, more comfortable design.

With a much stronger processor, higher-resolution display, revamped Touch Plus controllers and a 40% slimmer physique, the Quest 3 is a big step up from its predecessors. The Meta Quest 2 allows for strictly virtual reality, while the Meta Quest Pro has advanced passthrough cameras for seeing your actual surroundings, but it costs a whopping $1,000.

Most importantly, the Quest 3 has support for Meta Reality, allowing users to enjoy mixed-reality experiences that blend the real world with the virtual one — for example, you can play a virtual piano on your real-life coffee table.

“If you pick up a digital ball and throw it at the physical wall, it’ll bounce off it,” Zuckerberg said at Meta Connect Wednesday. “If someone’s shooting at you and you want to duck the fire, you just get behind your physical couch.”

The Meta Quest virtual library is fully accessible with the Quest 3 – a library that now features VR-friendly Roblox, released Wednesday, and is set to add X Box cloud gaming in December, giving gamers the chance to play titles like Halo and Minecraft on a large screen anywhere.

The headset is available for preorder now and officially hit stores on Oct. 10, available in two storage options (128GB and 512GB).

Meta’s newest headset comes three years after the Quest 2, under a year after the Quest Pro and under four months after the Apple Vision Pro.

Dubbed by Zuckerberg as the “first mainstream mixed reality headset” the Quest 3 is part of an ongoing arms race between two of tech’s biggest players to command the headset space – and Zuckerberg’s personal vision for a next-generation internet where users can interact with each other in virtual spaces resembling real life. And it comes in at a much cheaper price than the Apple alternative (which will cost you $3,499, to be exact) and is still mainly a VR headset with alternative reality options, while Apple’s product is a dedicated mixed reality experience.

To get ahead of Apple’s June unveiling of the Vision Pro, Zuckerberg teased the Meta Quest 3 just days before its rival’s big announcement. But the two companies had a tense relationship even before Apple’s entry into the market. They have competed over news and messaging features, and their CEOs have traded jabs over data privacy and app store policies. Last February, Meta said it expected to take a $10 billion hit in 2022 from Apple’s move to limit how apps like Facebook collect data for targeted ads.

Meta has until now been the dominant player in the headset market, but it has so far struggled to attract a mainstream audience for its VR headset products. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Meta had just 200,000 active users in Horizon Worlds, its app for socializing in VR. And in 2023, IDC estimates just 10.1 million AR/VR headsets will ship globally from the entire market, far below the tens of millions of iPhones Apple sells each quarter.

Morgan Stanley analysts called Apple’s Vision Pro a “moonshot” effort following its June announcement, saying the product “has the potential to become Apple’s next compute platform,” but that the company has “much to prove” before the headset’s launch next year.

The biggest fight may not be between tech giants, but for the general public’s acceptance. Many analysts say the biggest hurdle to consumer adoption of mixed reality headsets is ensuring a wide range of potential use cases and experiences available on the devices. While Meta has introduced features that let users play games, explore virtual worlds, watch YouTube videos, workout, chat with friends and more, it has yet to convince most consumers that the device is worthwhile.

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August 2, 2023
How these mice navigating a virtual reality game may help Alzheimer’s patients | CNN

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CNN
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Researchers in New York developed a virtual reality maze for mice in an attempt to demystify a question that’s been plaguing neuroscientists for decades: How are long-term memories stored?

What they found surprised them. After forming in the hippocampus, a curved structure that lies deep within the brain, the mice’s memories were actually rooted through what’s called the anterior thalamus, an area of the brain that scientists haven’t typically associated with memory processing at all.

“The thalamus being a clear winner here was very interesting for us, and unexpected,” said Priya Rajasethupathy, an associate professor at Rockefeller University and one of the coauthors of a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Cell this week. The thalamus “has often been thought of as a sensory relay, not very cognitive, not very important in memory.”

This new research, however, indicates that it could play a vital role in converting short-term memories to long-term memories. And Rajasethupathy said that should make the thalamus a key area of study for researchers attempting to help patients who suffer from conditions such as Alzheimer’s, who are able to recall old memories but may have trouble remembering new information.

“it implicates a part of the brain — the thalamus — in the long-term storage of memories in a way that wasn’t even hypothesized by anyone else,” said Loren Frank, a professor of physiology at the University of California San Francisco, who was not involved in the study.

Rajasethupathy noted that neuroscientists have long known that memories take shape in the hippocampus, and is the focus of the vast majority of research around conditions like amnesia and Alzheimer’s.

Past research has “led to this model where memories are formed in the hippocampus but then become independent over time and slowly stabilized in the cortex,” the wrinkled, outermost portion of the brain. The question has been exactly how memories travel from one area to another, Rajasethupathy said.

“That process has been mysterious, I would say, for more than 50 years,” Rajasethupathy said.

It was the right time for her lab to attempt to pinpoint an answer, she added, thanks to new technology that allowed the researchers to track activity in multiple parts of each subject’s brain. The innovations enabled the team to trace how memories are traveling as the mice learned to navigate a maze.

“I think what they did was technically very challenging,” Frank said. “Particularly where they were trying to (observe) activity from multiple neurons in three different areas at once, using this sort of fiber microscopes. That’s a pretty state of the art thing.”

The study — led by Rockefeller graduate students Andrew Toader and Josue Regalado, working inside Rajasethupathy’s lab — involved strapping the mice into a headpiece designed to hold them steady while a machine used optical fibers to record their brain activity.

The maze took them into various “rooms” that offered either incentives, such as sugar water, or deterrents, like a puff of air to the face.

The mice returned to the maze for days, enough time for them to create long-term memories.

“The analogy would be your birthday dinner versus the dinner you had three Tuesdays ago,” Toader said in a statement. “You’re more likely to remember what you had on your birthday because it’s more rewarding for you—all your friends are there, it’s exciting—versus just a typical dinner, which you might remember the next day but probably not a month later.”

Meanwhile, the researchers used chemicals to inhibit parts of the mice’s brains to determine how it affected their ability to create and store memories.

Not only did they find that the anterior thalamus was a crucial waypoint for these memories — they also found that by stimulating that area in the rodents’ brains, the researchers were “able to help mice retain memories that they would usually forget,” according to a news release about the study.

Rajasethupathy added, “Some memories are more important to us than others. We found that, not only do mice need the anterior thalamus to consolidate memories, but that by activating it, we could enhance consolidation of a memory that mice would usually forget.”

Rajasethupathy noted that there were some limitations to the study. It does not, for example, indicate that traveling through the anterior thalamus is the only route memories can take on their way to long-term storage.

“I want to be clear that this is not the end all be all,” she said. “Maybe everything isn’t consolidated through this pathway. But I’m very confident this is one very important circuit.”

This study also relied on mice, who don’t have identical brains to humans but have proven to be extremely useful models for discovering how our own brains function. The long-term memory storage process takes weeks in rodents, whereas it can take months for humans, Rajasethupathy added.

It’s also possible that different types of memory take different highways, she noted. There are explicit memories, which focus on facts, figures and specific data points, and implicit memories are typically tied to emotion and can form without a person realizing it. The thalamus may not be involved in the same manner for both types of information.

But Frank, the UCSF professor, said the study will have broad implications for future research, spurring more investigations into the thalamus’ role in memory storage.

“It’s nice for the field to getting to the point where we can think about the long-term evolution of memories and really try to understand how that works,” he said. “And the study is definitely a step in that direction.”

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March 31, 2023
What metaverse? Meta says its single largest investment is now in ‘advancing AI’ | CNN Business

CNN
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Roughly a year-and-a-half after Facebook renamed itself “Meta” and said it would go all-in on building a future version of the internet dubbed the metaverse, the tech giant now says its top investment priority will be advancing artificial intelligence.

In a letter to staff Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to lay off another 10,000 employees in the coming months, and doubled down on his new focus of “efficiency” for the company. The pivot to efficiency, first announced last month in Meta’s quarterly earnings call, comes after years of investing heavily in growth, including in areas with unproven potential like virtual reality.

Now, Zuckerberg says the company will focus mostly on cutting costs and streamlining projects. Building the metaverse “remains central to defining the future of social connection,” Zuckerberg wrote, but that isn’t where Meta will be putting most of its capital.

“Our single largest investment is in advancing AI and building it into every one of our products,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday. He nodded to how AI tools can help users of its apps express themselves and “discover new content,” but also said that new AI tools can be used to increase efficiencies internally by helping “engineers write better code faster.”

The comments come after what the CEO described as a “humbling wake-up call” last year, as the “world economy changed, competitive pressures grew, and our growth slowed considerably.”

Meta and its predecessor Facebook have been involved in AI research for years, but the remarks come amid a heightened AI frenzy in the tech world, kicked off in late November when Microsoft-backed OpenAI publicly released ChatGPT. The technology quickly went viral for its ability to generate compelling, human-sounding responses to user prompts and then kicked off an apparent AI arms race among tech companies. Microsoft announced in early February that it was incorporating the tech behind ChatGPT into its search engine, Bing. A day before Microsoft’s announcement, Google unveiled its own AI-powered tool called Bard. And not to be left behind, Meta announced late last month that it was forming a “top-level product group” to “turbocharge” the company’s work on AI tools.

“I do think it is a good thing to focus on AI,” Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNN of Zuckerberg’s comments. Mogharabi said Meta’s investments in AI “has benefits on both ends” because it can improve efficiency for engineers creating products, and because incorporating AI features into Meta’s lineup of apps will potentially create more engagement time for users, which can then drive advertising revenue.

And in the long run, Mogharabi said, “A lot of the investments in AI, and a lot of enhancements that come from those investments in AI, could actually be applicable to the entire metaverse project.”

But Zuckerberg’s emphasis on investing in AI, and using the buzzy technology’s tools to make the company more efficient and boost its bottom line, is also “what the shareholders and the market want to hear,” Mogharabi said. Many investors had previously griped at the company’s metaverse ambitions and spending. In 2022, Meta lost more than $13.7 billion in its “Reality Labs” unit, which houses its metaverse efforts.

And investors appear to welcome Zuckerberg’s shift in focus from the metaverse to efficiency. After taking a beating in 2022, shares for Meta have surged more than 50% since the start of the year.

Angelo Zino, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said on Tuesday that the second round of layoffs at Meta “officially make us convinced that Mark Zuckerberg has completely switched gears, altering the narrative of the company to one focused on efficiencies rather than looking to grow the metaverse at any cost.”

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March 15, 2023
This program is using VR training to help solve the nationwide mechanic shortage | CNN Business

CNN
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The first tool that mechanic trainees at Maryland’s Vehicles for Change program pick up is not a wrench, but a pair of virtual reality goggles.

First, students watch an instructor virtually demonstrate a skill; then they follow prompts to complete a procedure themselves in VR. After that, students work through the checklist in VR without prompting – all before practicing on an actual car.

“We can have three people actually doing a live instruction of an oil change while I have three other people simultaneously learning that same lesson in the headset – and it’s only one instructor necessary,” Geoff Crawford, vice president of virtual reality at non-profit Vehicles for Change, told CNN.

The virtual-first training program is an unconventional solution to a real-world problem: a significant shortage of qualified automotive technicians. Nationwide, retirements and business growth create 76,000 mechanic jobs to fill every year, but 37,000 of those jobs go unfilled, according to National Automobile Dealers Association estimates. In Maryland alone, Crawford said a recent online search showed 2,600 mechanic jobs posted.

The impact of this shortage extends far beyond the repair shops looking to hire employees. Trade groups say the lack of skilled workers in garages is driving up repair costs, delays and hurting those who need their cars fixed promptly. But Crawford is optimistic VR can help ease this bottleneck.

“It’s going to expedite the process of getting folks entry level, ready to come into the garages,” he said.

As VR technology has gotten better and cheaper, it has opened up opportunities for use in educational settings. In the early days of the pandemic, doctors and nurses used VR to train for treating patients with Covid-19. Fire departments have used VR to train firefighters without needing a blaze. And some schools have used VR to expand the classroom beyond its physical walls, particularly as demand for remote education exploded during the pandemic.

Martin Schwartz, the president of Vehicles for Change, said the virtual automotive program was designed to address another problem, too: limited job options for former prisoners.

“One of the problems that we have in our prisons across the country is we’re really not providing people with a skill when they leave prison,” Schwartz told CNN.

Released felons often have probation or parole requirements to meet and costs to pay, but have difficulty finding jobs because of “a big sign on their chest,” Schwartz said. But the automotive world is “a little bit more lenient and is willing to hire people with a criminal background and you can make quite a living.”

Marcus Butler started his VR training as part of a work release program. As he wraps up an eight-year sentence for armed robbery, Butler said he is thankful to have a career prospect on the other side.

“I have a trade of skill that is with me,” he said. “I learned it, I know it, and no matter where I go, there’s cars everywhere. I’ll always have a job.”

Schwartz wants to grow the program and make it available at prisons and trade schools. His goal is 20 new sites in the next five years.

“This is number one, the wave of the future,” he said.

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February 18, 2023
Judge reportedly allows Meta to move forward with VR startup acquisition, in blow to FTC | CNN Business

CNN
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A federal judge will not block Meta from buying a virtual reality tech startup, according to multiple reports, in a setback for the US government, which had alleged the deal would threaten competition in a nascent market.

Tuesday’s decision, issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, is sealed. But according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the contents of the decision dealt Meta a victory by denying the US government’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the acquisition from closing. The New York Times cited two people with knowledge of the matter and the Wall Street Journal cited one person familiar with the ruling.

CNN has not independently confirmed the contents of the court’s decision. The Federal Trade Commission, which had sued to block the deal last summer, declined to comment. Meta declined to comment, and several outside attorneys for the company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The closely watched case involves Meta’s purchase of Within Unlimited, a virtual reality company and maker of a VR fitness app called “Supernatural.” The FTC’s suit had been seen as a major test for Chair Lina Khan, a critic of large tech platforms, as well as of the FTC’s unusual legal theory alleging that Meta’s deal would harm future competition in a rapidly evolving industry.

According to the reports, the judge in the case also issued a separate order that delays Meta’s ability to close its deal for another week to allow the FTC to decide whether to appeal the ruling.

A separate challenge to Meta’s deal is ongoing before an in-house administrative law judge at the FTC. That proceeding could continue despite Tuesday’s ruling, but whether agency officials intend to press ahead is unclear.

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February 5, 2023
There’s actually a presale for Oreo’s newest flavor | CNN Business

New York
CNN
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In the past, Oreo has partnered with Lady Gaga, Pokémon and Ritz on new limited-time flavors. Now, it’s working with … itself. And Martha Stewart.

The cookie brand’s latest limited-edition cookie is an Oreo stuffed with Oreos.

Dubbed “the Most OREO OREO,” the cookie is made with the usual chocolate wafers, filled (to the “Most Stuf” extreme) with a creme that has Oreo bits mixed in, for a meta cookies-n-creme experience. The flavor is available for pre-sale through the Oreo website starting Tuesday, and will hit shelves at major retailers nationwide starting on January 30 for a suggested retail price of $4.99.

The packages come with a QR code that allows buyers to access online games and chances to win prizes in the so-called Oreoverse — Oreo’s entrée into the metaverse, a virtual space where people interact through avatars. Those with VR headsets can use them to access the Oreoverse. Others can just use their phones or computers.

For brands, the metaverse promises a whole new way to reach young customers, and Oreo isn’t the only brand trying to market to people using new online spaces.

Coca-Cola

(KO) has paired its high-concept limited-edition flavors like Starlight, Byte and Dreamworld with online experiences including virtual concerts, digital outfits and custom places within video games like Fortnite. Kraft Heinz

(KHC) has placed Lunchable logos in Roblox, and Heinz-sponsored rest areas in Call of Duty.

Oreo sees it as a new way to reach consumers, and for them to interact.

“We love to create new opportunities for our fans to connect with each other,” said Julia Rosenbloom, Oreo’s senior brand manager, in a statement announcing the new flavor, noting “we’re so excited to enter the metaverse!”

To help launch the Oreoverse, Oreo tapped Martha Stewart and Ryan McCallister, her gardener and quarantine buddy. On Monday, Stewart and McCallister will share their Oreoverse experiences on Oreo’s social media channels.

Stewart also recently partnered with Tito’s Handmade Vodka on a tongue-in-cheek campaign that offers those observing dry January other ways to make use of vodka, llke putting a splash (or two) in a marinara sauce or deodorizing stinky boots.

— CNN’s Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.

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January 24, 2023
Meta opens up its Horizon Worlds VR app to teens for the first time, prompting outcries from US lawmakers | CNN Business

Washington
CNN
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Meta is forging ahead with plans to let teenagers onto its virtual reality app, Horizon Worlds, despite objections from lawmakers and civil society groups that the technology could have possible unintended consequences for mental health.

On Tuesday, the social media giant said children as young as 13 in Canada and the United States will gain access to Horizon Worlds for the first time in the coming weeks.

The app, which is already available to users above the age of 17, represents Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for a next-generation internet, where users can physically interact with each other in virtual spaces resembling real life.

“Now, teens will be able to explore immersive worlds, play games like Arena Clash and Giant Mini Paddle Golf, enjoy concerts and live comedy events, connect with others from around the world, and express themselves as they create their own virtual experiences,” Meta said in a blog post.

Zuckerberg has pushed to spend billions developing VR hardware and software, even as Meta has scaled back significantly in other parts of its business. Last year alone, the company spent nearly $16 billion in its Reality Labs segment and warned investors not to expect profitability from that unit anytime soon.

Tuesday’s expansion reflects Meta’s attempt to capture early adopters in a key demographic. But it immediately triggered criticism from lawmakers who had pleaded with the company to postpone its plan.

“Meta is despicably attempting to lure young teens to Horizon Worlds in an attempt to boost its failing platform,” said Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who last month, along with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, urged Zuckerberg to reconsider letting teens use the app.

Lawmakers have previously raised alarms about the impact of some of Meta’s other products, including Instagram, on younger users.

“Meta has a record of abject failure to protect children and teens, and yet again, this company has chosen to put young users at risk so that it can make more money,” Markey said, accusing Meta of “inviting digital disaster.”

“I’m calling on the company to reverse course and immediately abandon this policy change,” Markey added.

Those calls were echoed earlier this month by dozens of civil society groups who wrote in an open letter that Meta’s VR offerings could expose users to new privacy risks through the collection of biometric and other data; new forms of unfair and deceptive marketing; and abuse or bullying.

Meta said in its announcement that in opening up Horizon Worlds to teens, the company would provide protective guardrails, such as by using default settings to make teenage users’ profiles and activity less visible to other users and by applying content ratings to potentially mature virtual spaces. Meta added that its safety controls were developed with input from parents and online safety experts.

“I hope no one is assuming there is any inclination on our part to simply open the floodgates,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, told CNN during a recent tech demonstration at the company’s Washington offices. “Clearly we can’t do that. We have to build experiences which are tailored to the unique vulnerabilities of teens.”

Meta’s announcement Tuesday came as other US government officials said they were beefing up scrutiny of social media’s potential effects on mental health.

The Federal Trade Commission is “actively working” on hiring in-house psychologists to address concerns linking social media use to teen mental health harms, said Alvaro Bedoya, an FTC commissioner.

In recent weeks, members of the FTC have been consulting with public health officials and medical professionals to understand the available scientific evidence on the matter, Bedoya told lawmakers on a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

“There is evidence that some uses of social media do, in fact, hurt certain groups of teenagers and children,” Bedoya said, though he cautioned that there were important nuances and caveats in the research. “This is not some moral panic. There is a ‘there’ there.”

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April 12, 2021
This could be Apple’s biggest product launch since the Apple Watch | CNN Business

CNN
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Apple may be just one day away from unveiling its most ambitious new hardware product in years.

At its Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off Monday at its Cupertino, California, campus, Apple

(AAPL) is widely expected to introduce a “mixed reality” headset that offers both virtual reality and augmented reality, a technology that overlays virtual images on live video of the real world.

The highly anticipated release of an AR/VR headset would be Apple’s biggest hardware product launch since the debut of the Apple Watch in 2015. It could signal a new era for the company and potentially revolutionize how millions interact with computers and the world around them.

But the headset is just one of many announcements expected at the developers event. Apple will also show off a long list of software updates that will shape how people use its most popular devices, including the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple may also tease how it plans to incorporate AI into more of its products and services, and keep pace with a renewed arms race over the technology in Silicon Valley.

The event will be livestreamed on Apple’s website and YouTube. It is set to start at 10:00 a.m. PT/1:00 p.m. ET.

Here’s a closer look at what to expect:

For years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed interest in augmented reality. Now Apple finally appears ready to show off what it’s been working on.

According to Bloomberg, the new headset, which could be called Reality One or Reality Pro, will have an iOS-like interface, display immersive video and include cameras and sensors to allow users to control it via their hands, eye movements and with Siri. The device is also rumored to have an outward-facing display that will show eye movements and facial expressions, allowing onlookers to interact with the person wearing the headset without feeling as though they’re talking to a robot.

Apple’s new headset is expected to pack apps for gaming, fitness and meditation, and offer access to iOS apps such as Messages, FaceTime and Safari, according to Bloomberg. With the FaceTime option, for example, the headset will “render a user’s face and full body in virtual reality,” to create the feeling that both are “in the same room.”

The decision to unveil it at WWDC suggests Apple wants to encourage developers to build apps and experiences for the product in order to make it more compelling for customers and worth the hefty price tag.

The company is reportedly considering a $3,000 price tag for the device, far more than most of its products and testing potential buyers at a time of lingering uncertainty in the global economy. Other tech companies have struggled to find mainstream traction for headsets. And in the years that Apple has been rumored to be working on the product, the tech community has shifted its focus from VR to another buzzy technology: artificial intelligence.

But if any company can prove skeptics wrong, it’s Apple. The company’s entry into the market combined with its vast customer base has the potential to breathe new life into the world of headsets.

A mixed reality headset may not be the only piece of hardware to get stage time this year.

Apple is expected to launch a new 15-inch MacBook Air packing the company’s M2 processor. The current size of the MacBook Air is 13 inches.

Previously, users who wanted a larger-sized Apple laptop would need to buy a higher-end MacBook Pro.

Considering WWDC is traditionally a software event, Apple executives will likely spend much of the time highlighting the changes and upgrades coming to its next-generation mobile operating systems, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17.

While last year’s updates included a major design overhaul of the lock screen and iMessage, only minor changes are expected this year.

With iOS 17, Apple is expected to double down on its efforts around health tracking by adding the ability to monitor everything from a user’s mood to keeping tabs on how their vision may change over time. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple will also launch a journaling app not only as a way for users to log their thoughts but also activity levels, which can then be analyzed to reveal how much time someone spends at home or out of the house.

The new iOS 17 is also said to get a lock screen refresh: When positioned in horizontal mode, the display will highlight widgets tied to the calendar, weather and other apps, serving as a digital hub. (iPadOS 17 is also expected to get some of the same lock screen capabilities and health features.)

Other anticipated upgrades include an Apple Watch OS update that would focus on quick glances at widgets, and more details about its next-generation CarPlay platform, which it initially teased last year.

While much of the focus of the event may be on VR, Apple may also attempt to show how it’s keeping pace with Silicon Valley’s current obsession: artificial intelligence.

Apple reportedly plans to preview an AI-powered digital coaching service, which will encourage people to exercise and improve their sleeping and eating habits. It’s unclear how it could work, but the effort comes at a time when Big Tech companies are racing to introduce AI-powered technologies in the wake of ChatGPT’s viral success.

Apple may also demo and expand on some of its recently teased accessibility tools for the iPhone and iPad, including a feature that promises to replicate a user’s voice for phone calls after only 15 minutes of training.

Most of the other Big Tech companies have recently outlined their AI strategies. This event may be Apple’s chance to do the same.

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April 12, 2021
I tried Apple’s new headset. Here’s what it’s like to use | CNN Business

CNN
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It’s rare to find a new technology that feels groundbreaking. But last night, while sitting on a couch in a private demo room at Apple’s campus wearing its newly announced Vision Pro mixed reality headset, it felt like I’d seen the future — or at least an early and very pricey prototype of it.

In the demo, which lasted 30 minutes, a virtual butterfly landed on my finger; a dinosaur with detailed scales tried to bite me; and I stood inches away from Alicia Keys’ piano as she serenaded me in a recording studio. When a small bear cub swam by me on a quiet lake during another immersive video, it felt so real that it reminded me of an experience with a loved one who recently passed away. I couldn’t wipe the tears inside my headset.

Apple unveiled the headset, its most ambitious and riskiest new hardware offering in years, at a developer event earlier in the day. The headset blends both virtual reality and augmented reality, a technology that overlays virtual images on live video of the real world. At the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook touted the Vision Pro as a “revolutionary product,” with the potential to change how users interact with technology, each other and the world around them. He called it “the first product you look through, not at.”

But it’s clearly a work in progress. The apps and experiences remain limited; users must stay tethered to a battery pack the size of an iPhone with just two hours of battery life; and the first minutes using the device can be off-putting. Apple also plans to charge $3,499 for the device when it goes on sale early next year – more than had been rumored and far more than other headsets on the market that have previously struggled to gain wide adoption.

With its loyal following and impressive track record on hardware, Apple may be able to convince developers, early adopters and some enterprise customers to pay up for the device. But if it wants to attract a more mainstream audience, it will need a “killer app,” as the industry often refers to it -— or several.

Based on my demo, Apple still has a long way to go, but it’s off to a compelling start.

Hours after the keynote event, I arrived at a building on Apple’s sprawling Cupertino, California, campus specifically constructed to stage demos and briefings for the new headset.

I was met by an Apple employee who scanned my face to help customize the fit of the headset. Then I entered a small room where an optometrist asked if I wore glasses or corrective lenses. I had gotten Lasik surgery years ago, but others around me had their glasses scanned so the headset could present their specific prescription. It’s an incredible feat that differentiates Apple from competitors and ensures no frames need to be squeezed into the headset. But it’s unclear how the company plans to handle this process at scale if millions buy the device.

The initial setup process was somewhat unpleasant: I felt a little nauseous and claustrophobic as I adjusted to the device. It tracked my eyes, scanned my hands and mapped the room to better tailor the augmented reality experience.

But Apple has also taken steps to reduce the motion sickness problem that has plagued other headsets. The headset uses an R1 processor, a custom chip that cuts down on the latency issue found in similar products that can result in nausea.

As many viewers were quick to point out on Monday, the headset itself looks like a pair of designer ski goggles. It features a soft adjustable strap on the top, a “digital crown” on the back – a bigger version than what you’d find on an Apple Watch – and another digital crown on the top that serves as a kind of home button. There’s also a wire connecting to an external battery pack.

The headset itself felt light enough in the beginning, but even with Apple’s considerable design chops, I never shook the idea that there was a computer on my face. Fortunately, unlike other computing products, the headset did remain cool on my face throughout the experience, thanks largely to a quiet fan and airflow running through the system

Unlike other headsets, the new mixed reality headset also displays the eyes of its users on the outside, so “you’re never isolated from the people around you, you can see them and they can see you,” Alan Dye, vice president of human interface, said during the keynote.

Sadly, I never got to see how my own eyes or anyone else’s looked through the headset during the demo.

After putting on the device, I saw an iOS-like interface. I could easily hop in and out of apps, such as Messages, FaceTime, Safari and Photos, using just my eye movements and touching my thumb and pointer finger together to act as the “select” button. This was more intuitive than expected and worked even when my hands rested on my lap.

Some app experiences were better than others, however. It was beautiful to see images in the Photos app presented before me in a larger than life manner, but it’s hard to imagine feeling the need to do this often on a couch back home. Vision Pro also offers a spatial photo option, which lets users view images and videos in 3D so you feel like you’re directly in the scene. Again, cool but unnecessary.

During another demo, an Apple employee wearing a Vision Pro headset FaceTimed me from the other side of campus. Her “persona” – a digital representation which did not show her wearing the Vision Pro – appeared in front of me as we chatted about the event earlier in the day. She seemed real but it was clear she was not; she was a sort of pseudo-human. (Apple did not scan my face to create my own persona, which would otherwise be done through its OpticID security feature during the setup phase.)

The Apple employee then shared a virtual whiteboard – dragging, dropping and highlighting interior design images. Cook has focused on AR’s potential to foster collaboration, and it’s clear how this tool could be used in meetings to fulfill that promise. What’s less clear is why most employers would spend $3,499 per device per employee to make this happen rather than simply use Zoom.

Like so much else about the product unveiling, this pitch felt mistimed. Earlier in the pandemic, more people might have jumped at the chance to create these virtual experiences while we worked and socialized almost entirely from home. Now, with more employees back in the office and companies looking to cut costs amid broader economic uncertainty, the justification for this pricey device seemed less clear.

The real magic of the Vision Pro, however, is in the immersive videos. Watching an underwater scene from Avatar 2 in 3D, for example, was surreal, seemingly placing me right in the ocean with these fictional creatures. It’s easy to imagine buy-in from Hollywood filmmakers to create experiences just for the headset.

Apple is also uniquely positioned here to supercharge the device with these experiences. It has close relationships in the entertainment industry, including with former Apple board member and Disney CEO Bob Iger, who announced in a pre-recorded video during the event that Disney+ will be available on the headset at launch. Apple teased new National Geographic, Marvel and ESPN experiences for the headset, too.

Almost every new Apple product, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch, promises to use screens of varying sizes to change how we live, work and interact with the world. The Vision Pro has the potential to do all of that in an even more striking way. But unlike the first time I picked up an iPhone or a smartatch, after 30 minutes of using Vision Pro, I was very content to put it down and return to the real world.

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April 12, 2021
Mark Zuckerberg has thoughts on Apple’s new mixed reality headset | CNN Business

CNN
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Days after Apple unveiled its $3,499 mixed reality headset, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared to take a jab at the company’s pricing and vision for the product.

“Our device is also about being active and doing things,” Zuckerberg said at an all-hands meeting with Meta employees on Thursday, referencing its Quest VR headset line. “By contrast, every demo that [Apple] showed was a person sitting on a couch by themself. I mean, that could be the vision of the future of computing, but like, it’s not the one that I want.”

He added that Meta’s vision for the metaverse, an immersive virtual world, is “fundamentally social.”

The remarks were first reported by The Verge. A spokesperson for Meta later confirmed their accuracy to CNN.

The Apple Vision Pro headset blends both virtual reality and augmented reality, a technology that overlays virtual images on live video of the real world. It represents Apple’s most ambitious and riskiest new hardware offering in years, and also pits the company against Meta, which has invested billions in VR and currently dominates the headset market.

Last week, Zuckerberg tried to preempt the expected Apple headset announcement by teasing the Meta Quest 3. The new headset promises improved performance, new mixed-reality features and a sleeker, more comfortable design, at a more affordable price ($499).

In his remarks to employees, Zuckerberg repeatedly focused on headset pricing.

“We innovate to make sure that our products are as accessible and affordable to everyone as possible, and that is a core part of what we do,” Zuckerberg told his staff. At another point, Zuckerberg said Apple’s decision to invest in a high-res display and other technology under the hood means “it costs seven times more and now requires so much energy that now you need a battery and a wire attached to it to use it.”

The two companies had a tense relationship even before Apple’s entry into the market. They have competed over news and messaging features, and their CEOs have traded jabs over data privacy and app store policies. Last February, Meta said it expected to take a $10 billion hit in 2022 from Apple’s move to limit how apps like Facebook collect data for targeted ads. But the rivalry now appears poised to reach a new level.

In an early demo with the Vision Pro, CNN was impressed with the company’s unique approach to the device, from how it can present a users’ specific eyeglasses prescription so no frames need to be squeezed into the headset to how a custom processor cuts down on the latency, an issue found in similar products that can result in nausea. Its immersive video capabilities were also stunning.

But the headset is clearly a work in progress. The apps and experiences remain limited; users must stay tethered to a battery pack the size of an iPhone with just two hours of battery life; and the first minutes using the device can be off-putting. Apple also plans to charge far more than other headsets on the market that have previously struggled to gain wide adoption.

Some industry watchers expect Apple, with its impressive hardware track record, will ultimately win out in the market. But in his remarks Thursday, Zuckerberg said Apple’s approach “made me even more excited and in a lot of ways optimistic that what we’re doing matters and is going to succeed.”

The headset wasn’t the only topic Zuckerberg addressed during the hands-on meeting. He also discussed the company’s growing focus on building generative AI into “all of our products,” as Meta and other companies race to adapt to the rise of ChatGPT.

“We’re going to play an important and unique role in bringing these capabilities to billions of people, and in the process it’s going to touch every product we make,” Zuckerberg said in a statement shared with CNN.

Meta recently announced it is bringing AI agents with “unique personas and skill sets” to Messenger and WhatsApp, with eventual plans to roll it out to other apps, products and even the metaverse.

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April 12, 2021
Meta lowers the minimum age for its Quest headsets from 13 to 10 | CNN Business

New York
CNN
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Facebook-parent Meta plans to lower the minimum age for its virtual reality headsets from 13 years old to 10 years old, despite pressure from lawmakers not to market its VR services to younger users.

Parents will be able to set up accounts for children as young as 10 years old on Meta’s Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets starting later this year, the company said in a blog post Friday.

Preteens will be required to get a parent’s approval to set up an account and download apps onto the device, according to the company. Meta said it will also use children’s ages to “provide age-appropriate experiences” such as recommending suitable apps.

“There’s a vast array of engaging and educational apps, games, and more across our platform, the majority of which are rated for ages 10 and up,” Meta said in the post.

The company’s push to lower the minimum age comes as Meta and other social media companies face growing scrutiny over their impact on young users, including their potential to harm teens’ mental health or lead them down harmful content rabbit holes.

Parents and lawmakers have also specifically raised alarms about the use of VR — and the future version of the internet Meta calls the “metaverse” — by teens and children.

Earlier this year, two Democratic senators urged Meta to suspend a plan to offer Horizon Worlds, the company’s flagship VR app, to teens between the ages of 13 and 17, arguing the technology could harm young users’ physical and mental health. The lawmakers, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, called Meta’s plan “unacceptable” in light of the company’s “record of failure to protect children and teens,” in a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

But in April, Meta forged ahead with its plan to allow teens as young as 13 in the United States and Canada to use Horizon Worlds, prompting additional outcry from lawmakers and civil society groups.

Parents told CNN last year about instances of discovering their children were viewing violent and disturbing content in VR and struggling to come up with ways to keep their kids safe.

Meta is attempting to address some of parents’ concerns.

In its Friday blog post, Meta said parents will be able to set time limits and enforce breaks for their preteens on the headsets. The accounts of users under 13 will be set to private and have their active status hidden on apps by default unless parents choose to change those settings. Meta also makes it possible to cast content from its VR headsets to a TV or phone screen, so parents can watch what their kids are seeing.

Meta said it will not serve ads to users in this age group, and that parents can choose whether their child’s data can be used to improve the company’s services. Meta added on Friday that Horizon Worlds will remain restricted to users 13 and older in the United States and Canada (and 18 and older in Europe) when it allows preteens to create parent-manged accounts on the headsets later this year.

Meta’s headset and Horizon Worlds represent Zuckerberg’s vision for a next-generation internet, where users can interact with each other in virtual spaces resembling real life. The company has so far struggled to attract a mainstream audience for these products.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect Meta’s plan to continue restricting Horizon Worlds to users 13 and older.

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April 12, 2021