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Samsung, the maker of the Gear VR virtual-reality headset, is opening a New York studio to produce new immersive experiences, CNET reported. Samsung announced the news at the Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah, where virtual reality is emerging as a prominent theme. “One of the biggest trends and themes forRead More →

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Customers will be able to try out Oculus Rift headsets before buying them at retail stores in April, reports Road to VR. There’s no word on which retail partners Oculus will be working with just yet, but in the U.S. one suspect is Best Buy, the country’s largest consumer electronicsRead More →

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Planner 5D, an application that allows home owners, builders, architects and real estate renovators to design homes in 3D, now has virtual reality support for Google Cardboard headsets. The app can be downloaded for free for iOS devices and Android smartphones, but some features require in-app purchases. The application already hasRead More →

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Virtual reality equipment maker Virtuix hosted the first ever multiplayer virtual reality game tournament at CES in Las Vegas. Four gamers played on Omni multi-directional treadmills that formed the Omni Arena, with HTC Vive headsets strapped on and with each player armed with a replica gun. “We feel that active virtual reality is theRead More →

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CNET founder Halsey Minor will launch a virtual reality network that will stream live 360-degree video to Samsung Gear VR and Oculus headsets within the next few months. Minor told Hypergrid Business that the new company, Reality Lab, was an opportunity for him to get back into the content industry and toRead More →

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Press release: More than 200 Million Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Displays to be Sold by 2020, According to Tractica Fueled by Gaming, Virtual Reality Adoption Will Also Drive Sales of 52 Million Accessory Devices during the Next 5 Years BOULDER, Colo. — While virtual reality is not a new technology in conceptRead More →

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The world’s leading virtual reality treadmill, the Virtuix Omni, has begun shipping the devices to its Kickstarter backers last month, saw around $15 million worth of interest from individual investors through SeedInvest, and won at Top Pick Award from Tom’s Hardware at the CES show in Las Vegas (see video below). The companyRead More →

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Google Inc, has appointed Clay Bavor as the new boss of its virtual reality team, according to the company’s spokesman Joshua Cruz, in a move seen as the company’s further dive into virtual reality after huge successes with the Google Cardboard. “We can confirm Clay’s new role on the VRRead More →

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The large number of smartphone users in Asia will spur sales of mobile-based virtual reality devices in the region this year, according to SuperData Research in a report released this month. Globally, three out of four early adopters will use smartphones to try virtual reality, according to the report. A totalRead More →

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WakingApp‘s ENTiTi VR is a cloud-based design tool that allows even those without any coding skills to create 360-degree immersive content using a variety of content types. There is also a correspondent viewer for experiencing the content online either on a personal computers or on headsets.  The ENTiTi Creator application isRead More →

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HTC will start taking pre-orders for Vive, its virtual reality headset, from February 29, its chief executive has confirmed. Cher Wang told the Telegraph the company had chosen to refocus on virtual reality and away from smartphones, saying the company was now “more realistic.” The price has not yet beenRead More →

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If you can’t wait until February 7 to watch Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl XII, you can get a virtual reality preview of it today. Watch the preview reel on Discovery VR or on Animal Planet’s YouTube page (below). You can also download the Discovery VR app for the iPhone and for Android smartphones.Read More →

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So you want to play EVE: Valkyrie but don’t have the $1,500 for a new computer and Oculus Rift headset? Checkout these two cheap alternatives — both of which are available now. End Space VR on Google Cardboard Buy End Space VR for $0.99 for the iPhone or $1.09 for AndroidRead More →

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A new Raytheon-built virtual reality app puts users on a New England hilltop, looking out onto the test range for the company’s new 360-degree Global Patriot Solutions radar. The app, available for both Android devices, and iOS devices, works with any Google Cardboard-compatible headset. Raytheon itself is giving away free Google Cardboard viewers, previously used the technologyRead More →

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Oculus VR is now taking pre-orders for the Oculus Rift headset, but at $600 it’s about twice as expensive as many expected. The purchase page says the headset will start shipping in May to 20 different countries. By comparison, the developer kit cost about $350. The company says that the headsetRead More →

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The Fibrum virtual reality headset, from Moscow-based Fibrum Ltd., is a lightweight in every sense of the word — except for price. It is certainly the smallest and lightest of the all-enclosed headsets that I’ve tried. The company says it weighs 4.2 ounces. I weighed it, with straps, and it cameRead More →

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Improving virtual reality immersion by increasing the field of view and having more accurate positional tracking will be the battlefield this year, according to a recent report by Digi-Capital. At the moment, the best-in-class of view for virtual reality device screen resolution is 136 degrees diagonally per eye, which is promising given that usersRead More →

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When it comes to investing in early-stage companies, you’re either “friends and family,” an angel investor accredited with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a venture capitalist. In the past, average people have been shut out of the process because such investments, while potentially extremely lucrative, are also extremely risky.Read More →

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Special thanks to Dr. Jon Peddie and Jon Peddie Research for the fundamental sales data needed to make this analysis possible.  More than this, even though this article was originally only intended to be published in JPR’s Tech Watch publication, they agreed to allow this article to be public as everyoneRead More →

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I just received the Baofeng Mojing 3 in the mail, and it’s the best alternative I’ve seen yet to the Samsung Gear VR. Plus, it works with all smartphones — not just the latest Samsung models. It has an excellent field of view of 98 degrees, weighs a reasonable 15 ounces,Read More →

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The world’s smallest virtual reality headset has arrived. The Homido Mini weighs half an ounce, and fits into the palm of your hand. When you fold it out it looks like a tiny pair of glasses attached to a plastic clip. The clip goes over your smartphone, like this. ItRead More →

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Roundme virtual tour application allows photographers and brands to create, upload and share 360 degrees immersive paranomic photos and multimedia content of real spaces, which users can then visit virtually using Google Cardboard on the web browser or on Android and iOS devices. The application, which already hosts a numberRead More →

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Having tried more than a dozen virtual reality headsets over the past few months, there are a few features that I now consider to be must-haves — but which seem to be rare to find. If any manufacturers are paying attention, please considering including more of the following in yourRead More →

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Tokyo-based Colopl has announced the formation of a $50 million Colopl VR Fund to provide support for the virtual reality industry. The Colopl VR Fund is open to funding both Japanese and foreign companies in hardware and software, including headsets, games, video content, development tools, and distribution platforms. It also plans toRead More →

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Mozilla, which helped pioneer WebVR last year, is making virtual reality development even easier with this month’s release of A-Frame, a tool that allows developers to create experiences for the desktop, the Oculus Rift, and smartphones with Google Cardboard headsets, Mozilla said in its announcement last week. “WebVR has shippedRead More →

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My Samsung Gear VR arrived in the mail, and I’m super stoked. Now I get a chance to try all the cool virtual reality apps that aren’t available for Google Cardboard. And they are AWESOME. Okay, not as awesome as the HTC Vive was awesome — that was Star TrekRead More →

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When investing in a new technology platform, whether that investment is in time or money, nobody wants to invest in a dead-end system. Businesses in particular that put all the eggs in the wrong basket aren’t just wasting their money. They’re also losing market opportunities to other companies which guessedRead More →

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A new study predicts “by 2016, half of doctors will be using online and virtual platforms to earn online continuing medical education credits. Such a radical increase — in 2008 numbers put online continuing medical education at 7 to 9 percent – can be easily explained looking at the incredible technological advancements of the recentRead More →

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I got my Powis virtual reality headset in the mail this weekend. Although the main body is made out of cardboard, it’s a couple of steps up from a standard Google Cardboard headset. The cardboard itself is sturdier, there’s a comfortable rubber edge where the headset meets your face, and eachRead More →

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I just received the Dscvr virtual reality headset in the mail, from manufacturer I Am Cardboard. At $30, this headset is a reasonable-priced upgrade by I Am Cardboard standards, which sells a plain cardboard headset for $20. But compared to the other headsets on the market, the Dscvr is tooRead More →

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Presence Capital Launches With Close Of World’s First Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality Focused VC Fund The team of leading VC, games, VR and tech industry veterans announce their inaugural fund of $10 million SAN FRANCISCO – Presence Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on virtual reality and augmented reality startups,Read More →

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Flickr has released a new app for the Gear VR that allows users to browse through the platform’s 360-degree photographs. “Over the years, Flickr users have uploaded tens of thousands of 360-degree photos and today we’re offering a new way to explore and view these images,” the company said inRead More →

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The consumer release of HTC’s Vive headset is delayed until April 2016, HTC announced last week. “We will be starting the new year by making an additional 7,000 units available to developers, with pre-orders from the end of February followed by commercial availability in April 2016,” the company said. InRead More →

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Google has released the Cardboard Camera app, free for Android smartphones. With Cardboard Camera, users are able to record 360-degree panoramas for viewing with Cardboard VR headsets. The way it works is that it prompts the user to slowly turn around in a circle — I spun around in my office chair.Read More →

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Samsung launched a virtual reality web browser last week, Samsung Internet optimized for Gear VR, allowing users to surf the Internet without taking off their virtual reality headset. The app allows users to check email and social media news feeds and read online articles and also supports 360-degree and 3D video streaming, as wellRead More →

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More than a third of consumers say they would shop for more products online if they were able to try them virtually using headsets, and 63 percent say they expect virtual reality to impact their shopping experiences in the future, says the Reinventing Retail 2015 Report. Virtual reality or augmentedRead More →

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San Francisco-based Gameface Labs, the company behind the all-in-one Gameface virtual reality headset, will be part of the Valve ecosystem, CEO Ed Mason told Hypergrid Business. The headset will also support Google Cardboard applications, he said, and will have a virtual world browser that will be compatible with both SecondRead More →

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Press release: TrendForce Forecasts VR Market Value to Hit US$70 Billion in 2020 as Innovative Apps Enrich This Industry Consumers’ relentless pursuit for richer audiovisual experience has propelled the popularity of virtual reality devices and drawn in more companies to invest in this market. Furthermore, the competition among the increasingRead More →

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Press release: 360Fly to speak at first-ever 360-degree and virtual reality film school  360fly, the world’s only single-lens camera capturing stitchless 360-degree video with interactive and virtual reality viewing capabilities, will send team members to guest speak at the first-ever 360-degree film school at the University of Irvine in OrangeRead More →

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Select Verizon wireless retail stores will give away a limited number of Google Cardboard viewers to Verizon customers, the company announced today. The giveaway starts tomorrow, December 2, with four different designs featuring BB-8, R2-D2, Kylo Ren, and the new First Order Stormtrooper. There are also companion apps for iOSRead More →

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As the virtual- and augmented- reality wars heat up, Apple is making sure it stays competitive with occasional acquisitions such as AR pioneer Metaio and 3D sensor outfit PrimeSense. Now it’s adding another company to its quiver, Swiss-based Faceshift, whose motion capture tech allows animated avatars to double the facial movements ofRead More →

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WoofbertVR launched a Samsung Gear VR app this week that will allow users to take virtual tours to marque museums around the world. Powered by Oculus VR, the app is already available for download and first users will enjoy an offer to visit the Courtauld Gallery, which houses one of London’sRead More →

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Quantum Bakery LLC has released an iPhone case that doubles as a virtual reality viewer for iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, but most importantly, one that could turn out as very competitive since it  makes it possible to fit a virtual reality viewer into your pocket.Read More →

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Realiteer, a virtual reality company with a unique control mechanism, has released its first educational game, Wizard Academy for iOS and Android devices. I’m mentioning it here because it has a couple of game play mechanics I haven’t seen before, that could be useful for other developers. Walk-in place locomotionRead More →

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Greenlight VR and Touchstone Research released the results of their survey of over 2,000 respondents this past week about attitudes towards virtual reality. Here are some highlights. 1. Gen-Z Rules Despite a perception among some of our readers — or maybe just in my house — kids aren’t all that blase andRead More →

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Press release: Vuzix Awarded Eight CES 2016 Innovation Awards, Including “Best of” in Gaming and Virtual Reality ROCHESTER, N.Y. —Vuzix Corp., a leading supplier of video eyewear and smart glasses products in the consumer, enterprise and entertainment markets, announced that the company has received eight International CES Innovation 2016 awards,Read More →

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More than 100,000 students have participated in virtual reality field trips through Google’s Expeditions, and the program is now expanding to 15 additional cities, Google announced Monday. Benefiting from the new move are Alexandria, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Washington DC,Read More →

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Press release: Veterans United Foundation and Jaunt Inc. Release Honor 360 Virtual Reality Experiences Bringing National Memorials to Those Aging and Disabled Military Veterans Who Cannot Make the Trip This Veterans Day, Veterans United and Jaunt Bring Immersive, Virtual Honor Flights to US Military Veterans Everywhere COLUMBIA, Mo. – Jaunt Inc.,Read More →

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Update: In August 2016, I bought a FiiT VR 2S, and that is now my new favorite. Another headset I’m recommending is the BoboVR Z4 headset, which has a 120-degree field of view, built-in headphones, and a built-in control button. As some of you know, I’m a big fan of open-sided headsets, likeRead More →

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For the first time since the creation of motion pictures, a new medium of storytelling is being built: virtual reality. As with any new medium of art, the rules are being established, language being developed and devices being explored. As it stands currently within the realm of virtual reality, anythingRead More →