The Immersive Wire - 7 April 2021 (News edition)

The Immersive Wire - 7 April 2021 (News edition)

April 07, 2021

NEWS DIGEST EDITIONCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday 

// 7 April 2021

e future; worth a look, if yo

 

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Oculus confirmed to UploadVR that they

  • Which shouldn't come as a surprise; the company stated for years that they will focus on their standalone line, and focusing their limited production line on their moneymakers makes sense. It's a bit like LG closing their mobile phone division this week, to focus on their other areas. 

  • It's the end of an era for the company as they move off from PC-based headsets, but remember that there will always be a market for them in the Enterprise area (for now). 

  • In any case, interested to see what the next generation of headsets look like. 

Uber might be working on tech that might give AR walking instructions. 

  • It's not confirmed, but it's a great example of using AR to fit a pain point - finding the right ride when out and about. If it goes through, and works effectively, it's a solid use case of the tech. 

The big sibling that shepherded the little one to the spotlight. Photo credit: Oculus. 

How can you deliver events of value in 2021? With such a major opportunity to re-imagine how events work, we considered how immersive technology can fulfill the seven key criteria for events in 2021: choice, local, human, distinctive, reflective, inclusive, memorable. 

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  • Clarification: Last Sunday edition, I said that Magic Leap submitted a proposal for the U.S. Army contract, and lost against Microsoft - implying that it happened in 2021. A representative from Magic Leap later contacted me to clarify the time scale; their proposal did not happen in 2021, but in 2018 'when Magic Leap and AWS bid on the original deal.' Three years later, Microsoft and the U.S. Army expanded it with the headline-hitting (and separate) deal. 

  • 5Discovery is running a VR set-up to fight employment discrimination and improve interpersonal skills.

  • Apple's Tim Cook said that AR is 'critically important' to their future. 

  • Dept created an AR puffer jacket, as a limited edition virtual apparel drop. Yes, it's another NFT. 

  • DigiTraining is running a free digital training programme for European museums. Three of the selected institutions will also be given funding to produce a VR/AR work for their programme.

  • Dior's AR experience brought in between 3x to 6x return-on-investment, which is bananas. 

  • Filmgate Interactive Festival is looking for submissions. 

  • Google's WebXR experiments are... wild. All of them are worth a look.  Also, a recent acquisition hints at a spatial audio future for their headphones line. 

  • Mercedes is taking a look at AR for F1. 

  • Pico announced that Pico Studios is partnering with devs to bring its apps to consumers in Asia.

  • Rackspace Technology announced it has worked with Qwake Technologies to deliver an AR firefighter helmet that uses IoT. 

  • Spatial logged eight million minutes In AR/VR workspaces since its launch.

    • (Should note that it includes mobile ad desktop as well as headsets).

  • Space Slurpies, which is Snake re-imagined for virtual reality, is launching tomorrow for Steam and Viveport. 

... I will need to check what's in my water. Photo credit: Space Slurpies. 

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