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coinprojects · 2 years

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HTC pivots from blockchain to the metaverse for its next smartphone gimmick

HTC’s slow-motion fall from smartphone grace is reportedly set to proceed in 2022, with the corporate stated to be engaged on a brand new “metaverse”-focused cellphone in April because the remnants of the once-flagship smartphone firm continues to desperately cling to no matter zeitgeist time period it might probably to remain afloat, according to DigiTimes.

The information comes from Charles Huang, HTC’s basic supervisor for the Asia-Pacific area, who reportedly commented at MWC 2022 that the corporate could be introducing a brand new high-end smartphone subsequent month with unspecified “metaverse” options. Particulars are slim, together with any specs, markets it’ll be launched in, and even what sort of AR or VR options the brand new gadget will provide.

The information sounds quite a bit like HTC’s final main pivot in direction of relevancy: its Exodus line of blockchain phones that its supplied for the previous few years. Promising decentralized apps (“Dapps”) and a built-in cryptocurrency pockets, the telephones might run blockchain nodes and even mine paltry quantities of cryptocurrency, however — like many situations of blockchain know-how — it was an answer largely in the hunt for an issue that by no means actually took off.

For argument’s sake, a metaverse cellphone would not less than make barely extra sense than a blockchain one, if solely as a result of HTC has truly been a major player within the digital actuality area.

HTC’s important announcement at MWC 2022 was the debut of a nebulous “Viverse” — the corporate’s metaverse idea that guarantees to fuse VR, XR, 5G, blockchain know-how, NFTs, and extra collectively into a brand new, futuristic platform.

It’s even attainable to think about what a metaverse-integrated smartphone could possibly be, given the existence of tasks like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Spaces or Microsoft Mesh, which goal to assist combine conventional gadgets like smartphones into VR and AR experiences.

In that vein, a high-end HTC “metaverse” cellphone might optimistically be one which ties deeply into the corporate’s VR headsets for an built-in, cross-device expertise that boldly modifications how we consider using smartphones (and different gadgets) in digital settings.

That stated, the metaverse cellphone may be a lackluster smartphone that has just a few half-baked VR apps preloaded. For what it’s price, HTC’s Viverse web site does explicitly name out that one will be capable to work together with its metaverse idea from “any cellphone, pill, PC, or VR headset,” full with a picture of a smartphone that seems to be doing simply that.

On condition that HTC’s Viverse doesn’t actually exist — nor does widespread adoption of any fashionable metaverse idea — it’s simple for the corporate to simply say it’s making a metaverse app or cellphone. In spite of everything, who’s to say that you simply aren’t?

Possibly the metaverse cellphone that HTC is launching might be a revelation, the form of product that launches HTC again to relevancy and places the corporate again on the forefront of the trade. However the firm’s current historical past doesn’t give a lot hope that it will likely be.

HTC used to make good telephones

It’s nearly troublesome to recollect in 2022, however HTC used to make good telephones — gadgets for each Android and the totally different variations of Home windows Telephone that had been among the many finest hardware you could possibly purchase. Telephones like the legendary HTC HD2, the HTC Evo 4G, the HTC One X, the ultra-sleek HTC One, or the jewel-toned HTC U11.

However that was, in some ways, a special firm than the HTC of at present, earlier than the corporate offered an excellent chunk of its smartphone expertise to Google in a $1.1 billion deal back in 2017. Since then, Google’s Pixel telephones have solely gotten better and better, whereas HTC’s smartphone fortunes have languished.

Regardless of its hardware chops, HTC — like LG, Motorola (previous to its personal trials and tribulations with Google), and different Android gadget makers — was unable to seek out lasting business success, squeezed out by Samsung’s extra standard Galaxy gadgets on one finish and Apple’s iPhones on the opposite.

And that brings us to the HTC of at present: hollowed out of the engineers and designers that when made its telephones so nice, frantically flailing with blockchain telephones, metaverse telephones, and no matter different main buzzword comes subsequent to remain afloat in a smartphone market that hardly resembles the one during which it was a significant participant.

It’s not that HTC is totally devoid of ambition or good merchandise: the corporate’s nonetheless producing high-end digital actuality headsets aimed toward companies and just lately launched its unique-looking Vive Flow headset for extra informal clients, too.

Then once more, trying again at merchandise just like the Evo 3D or Fb-focused HTC Standing and HTC First — it’s attainable that being doomed to chasing gimmicks on the street to irrelevancy was at all times HTC’s destiny.

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tastydregs · 4 years

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Qualcomm expects all-in-one 5G XR viewers in 1-4 years, glasses in 5-10

Since Qualcomm provides chips and software for most of the world’s best known virtual and augmented reality headsets, it’s uniquely able to forecast the future of mixed reality hardware. Just ahead of this week’s Augmented World Expo, Qualcomm XR chief Hugo Swart used a Spatial holographic conference to brief media on how that future will likely play out. And though some of the major innovations are years rather than months away, the company is laying the groundwork today.

Over the next decade, mixed reality is widely expected to become a key transformative technology for both businesses and average customers, as VR and AR wearables enable users to work and play in hybrid digital/real-world spaces. While prior-generation accessories have been tethered to computers or used smartphones as displays, standalone XR devices and smartphone-tethered “XR viewers” are rapidly gathering steam, a process that’s expected to continue until lightweight standalone 5G XR glasses are available, potentially replacing phones.

Today, Qualcomm is publicly unveiling the XR Optimized certification program for Snapdragon smartphones, offering device makers XR viewer specs, supporting software, and a branding badge so customers will be able to easily identify phones compatible with the headsets. As of today, nine companies — ranging from Nreal to Pico — are making compatible viewers, while seven smartphone OEMs and 15 major cellular operators are backing the initiative.

Using USB cables for connectivity, these XR viewers will initially rely on smartphones for data, a practical necessity that could help move the entire category forward. Businesses and consumers will be able to make headset purchases from local stores, potentially with subsidized hardware and service bundle pricing. Qualcomm’s XR initiative is already being backed by Verizon in the U.S., five prominent European networks, and the top carriers in China, Japan, and South Korea.

The next step forward will be wirelessly tethered XR viewers, and Swart said Wi-Fi 6E will be used to let cable-free VR and AR viewers connect to smartphones and computers, relying on 6GHz spectrum as an alternative to 60GHz millimeter wave Wi-Fi. Over the next one to four years, cabled XR viewers will transition to fully wireless connections while still using host devices for processing and network (5G) connectivity. Standalone XR devices will become lighter and sleeker during the same period but won’t achieve true glasses-like form factors for a while.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Qualcomm expects that the next big step — standalone XR glasses that look like today’s spectacles but have their own processing and 5G capabilities — are five to 10 years off. While Swart didn’t get into the finer details of that timeline, it’s clear the underlying display, processing, and battery technologies that will enable lightweight XR glasses aren’t ready to converge in a consumer product yet, but annual advances in chip miniaturization and cellular power consumption are continuing to bring the dream closer to reality.

Hardware will only be part of the story, of course. Over the next few years, Qualcomm partners are working on complete XR ecosystems. Niantic is developing its own AR platform for world-scale gaming. And former HTC head Peter Chou has launched XRSpace, a company with XR hardware and Manova — a metaverse-like gathering place akin to Facebook Horizon — to connect users for various XR experiences. Consumer adoption of solutions on the road to completely standalone XR glasses remains a question mark. But interest in early standalone VR headsets like the Oculus Quest has been encouragingly strong over the past year.

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makemoneyonlineprofit-blog · 5 years

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Why Virtual Reality Is a Whole Lot More Important Than You Think

https://120profit.com/?p=2372&utm_source=SocialAutoPoster&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Tumblr Virtual reality is best described through the moments—or rather the memories—of the things you experience when you have that headset on. When I put on the HTC Vive and experienced virtual reality for the first few times: I played fetch with a robot dog in a futuristic laboratory. I threw a baseball cap into the sun. I leapt away from the low groan of a zombie behind me. I tried to use my virtual hand to scratch my real nose when it was itchy. In virtual reality, I became an active participant in an environment completely removed from reality. And that’s what makes VR a wildly different experience from watching a movie or even playing a video game. Unlike most forms of media, virtual reality blocks out the rest of the world in a way that doesn’t just encourage us to suspend our disbelief, but actually takes our senses for a ride and immerses us wholly in the experience. From the outside, bystanders will see someone wearing a headset, waving their hands around, wearing a smile or a serious, focused expression on their face. This is what VR looks like to people on the outside: But to the person wearing the headset, they’re completely drawn into a whole other world, where they can actually affect and interact with their environment in a way that just isn’t possible in any other medium. This is what they actually see: It’s easy to be skeptical about virtual reality if you haven’t tried it—I know I was. After all, attempts at virtual reality go back to the 1960s, all of which just never caught on. But in the case of today’s VR, after trying a few different experiences, it’s clear why Facebook spent $2 billion to acquire the Oculus Rift virtual reality system in 2014. There are two kinds of people: Those who think VR will change the world. And those who haven’t tried VR. [Click to Tweet] Words don’t do it justice. The best way to understand virtual reality is to experience it yourself. The second best way is to understand VR is probably to understand what it isn’t. What Virtual Reality Is Not Before I tried VR, I had already formed an (inaccurate) opinion about what it’d be like. And after comparing my experience with others, I realize this is a mistake that a lot of people will make. So before we go into the implications of VR, let’s clear up a few things first. 1. Virtual Reality Isn’t a Fad VR isn’t “the next step after 3D movies”. It isn’t “like having a small TV strapped to your face” either. And it’s not “just for gamers”. VR is an emerging breed of technology that will take some time to fully take root—like the automobile or even the personal computer. This excerpt from Commodore Magazine published in 1987 illustrates the atmosphere of skepticism that tends to accompany new technology—in this case, the personal computer: “Experts predicted that within five years, every household would have a computer. Dad would run his business on it. Mom would store her recipes on it. The kids would do their homework on it. Today only 15% of American homes have a computer – and the other 85% don't seem the least bit interested. There is a general feeling that the home computer was a fad and that there is really no practical purpose for a computer in the home.” We can rely on technology to grow at an exponential rate—how well we adopt that technology, however, depends on many other variables. But unlike the smartwatch and other relatively new devices, there’s more buy-in around VR —from Google’s Cardboard, Valve’s Steam, Facebook’s Oculus, HTC’s Vive, and Sony’s Playstation VR. We can expect adoption to be a lot smoother and faster than it was for other emerging technology. And that’s a good thing, because virtual reality isn’t an incremental step up in terms of innovation. It’s a huge leap forward. 2. Virtual Reality Is Not the Same As Augmented Reality You’ve probably experienced augmented reality before, especially if you’ve used Snapchat’s video filters to vomit rainbows or swap faces with a friend. Augmented reality (AR), as the name suggests, augments reality by applying a layer over your view of the real world. Like a heads-up display (HUD) AR enhances your perception—it doesn’t try to replace it entirely. Virtual reality, on the other hand, removes you from reality and that’s what affords it a level of immersion we’ve never been able to achieve before. And while it’s possible to combine the two so that parts of what you see are drawn from the real world and parts of it are virtual, the full immersion you get with “true VR” is what makes it drastically different from anything else you’ve tried. 3. Google’s Cardboard And The HTC VIVE Are Virtual Worlds Apart There are essentially two very different VR experiences you can try right now. One is affordable and accessible, consisting largely of 360 degree videos. You might have encountered these on YouTube or Facebook. You slot your smartphone into a Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR or other headset, fire up a compatible VR app and put it on. Your smartphone’s accelerometer enables your point of view to correspond with the movement of your headset. Considering its incredibly low price, Google’s Cardboard headset isn’t a bad way to get a small taste of VR in its most rudimentary form. But it doesn't quite compare to the experience of true VR. Riding a rollercoaster in a 360 degree video only scratches the surface of the VR experience. To experience virtual reality at its best right now, you’ll need a powerful PC and over $799 USD for the HTC Vive’s headset, two motion controllers, and motion sensors. You’ll also need a dedicated room to set it all up in. But this takes the experience to a whole other level by adding environmental interaction, depth, and movement in a 3D space. A Shopify Unite conference attendee experiences VR with the HTC Vive. While 360 degree video is a step in a different direction, it’d be a big mistake to assume you’ve really experienced virtual reality if that’s the only thing you’ve tried. The Future of Commerce in VR Isn’t What You Think When we think about shopping in virtual reality, it’s easy to assume it’ll look something like the brick and mortar experience we’re already familiar with: Pushing a cart around, picking up the items we want to buy, taking those items to the checkout, but all from the comfort of our homes. But that’s a poor use of both VR and the human imagination—especially when virtual environments present a blank 3-Dimensional canvas that can be filled with literally anything. If you could set up shop anywhere, why do it in a store? For example, instead of laying out your camping equipment in a cluttered retail space, why not showcase your products far away from any cities with a sun setting, a fire crackling, and transport your customers there instead of leaving it to their imagination. VR offers a whole new way for brands to tell stories around their products. Consider how effective video content is at holding up a mirror to consumers and helping them see themselves in others using the products they might want to own. Now picture what VR can achieve as it puts consumers in the very shoes of someone enjoying those products. What’s more, VR affords consumers the ability to get a sense of scale with your products—something that’s always been difficult for even the best product pages to properly convey online. Naturally, specific verticals will benefit greatly from VR, such as the furniture industry as consumers could view tables or couches in a virtual room for a better idea of how these items would look in their own homes. They can even customize these products, changing the color or the size, and see their choices come to life virtually in front of them—just a purchase away from being actually in front them. VR Isn't Just for Consumers The role VR will play in the future of commerce won’t rest solely on the consumer’s side. There will be implications for business owners too. While you probably won’t be managing your online store in VR, you might be spending a few hours at a time with games and entertainment. You’re going to want a way to stay immersed in VR so you don’t have to take off the headset for every text message, phone call or real world distraction. The HTC Vive already connects with your phone so that you can respond to calls and messages with the headset on. The same could be done with order notifications, or support questions. A merchant could perform basic operations for their store while they are within a game or other experience. VR can also potentially help business owners plan out the look of a retail space, or even visualize product concepts before they’re created. In fact, VR can do more than just show you the product in front of you. It could blow it up to show all of its components, and allow you to better understand how it all fits together. This can be incredibly useful for training purposes, or even to show a manufacturer the intended steps to assemble your product. The Metaverse: An Inevitable Social Network in VR One thing to keep in mind when it comes to VR is that—like television, video game consoles or your smartphone—it’ll be something that people routinely plug into to consume content or interact with others all over the world. The hard-to-ignore question, then, becomes what kind of social networks will VR spawn? In a virtual environment there’s opportunity to interact with others in a way that’s even more “face-to-face” than a FaceTime video call. This hypothetical social network has been dubbed the “metaverse” and, once realized, it will be a major tipping point for VR. vTime is just one early attempt at a "Second Life" in VR. Once a consistent, connected social experience is established—like Facebook or Twitter—it can then grow into a new channel for businesses to engage with consumers—like Facebook or Twitter. Virtual Reality Has Finally Become a Reality If you haven’t tried VR yet, I strongly encourage you to do so if you ever have the chance. Because one thing that will surprise you (just as it surprised me) is how good VR is right now—how easy it is to lose yourself in the experience. When you consider the inevitable improvements that are to come for this technology, as well as the still-growing library of content for VR, it’s safe to say that—after decades of attempts—virtual reality is no longer something only found between the pages of a science fiction novel. Virtual reality is now a reality. Build your own business on Shopify! Start your free 14-day trial today—no credit card required. About The Author Braveen Kumar is a Content Crafter at Shopify where he develops resources to empower entrepreneurs to start and succeed in business. Follow @braveeenk !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1904241839800487'); fbq('track', "PageView"); 120profit.com - https://120profit.com/?p=2372&utm_source=SocialAutoPoster&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Tumblr

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viralhottopics · 7 years

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Oculus Rift on a laptop is just as awesome as a desktop if you have the cash

Image: Press Association via AP Images

No, I don’t like strapping a smartphone to my face to enjoy virtual reality. And I don’t blame you if you don’t want to either.

But if you look at the reported sales numbers for mobile headsets like the Samsung Gear VR over the past year, you might think people prefer them.

Um, I don’t think so.

Although hard numbers are difficult to come by, in my own experience, the most dedicated VR users in the growing community tend to use high-end headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

That’s why it’s frustrating to see so many VR developers and content companies focusing on mobile VR over stationary, high-end VR systems. But I digress

SEE ALSO: Oculus Rift’s ‘Robo Recall’ is the game VR has been waiting for

Not everyone is ready to make the commitment of installing a large gaming PC in their home expressly for VR. But on the other hand, I’ve rarely seen someone in the wild (on a train or in a park, etc.) using a mobile VR headset. I’m looking for these mobile VR users, but I almost never see them.

So I’ve been thinking that there must be a middle ground. A space between the lower cost, lower quality VR delivered via devices like the Gear VR and top-tier VR available on devices like the HTC Vive, which requires a full PC set-up to work.

Perhaps something like a VR-friendly laptop that can move with you from place to place.

Last year, when I shopped for my own VR system, most gaming experts I spoke to advised against getting a laptop, instead suggesting that I get a desktop machine (I did). But I still wondered: Is high-end VR using a powerful laptop viable? With so many people now living a peripatetic lifestyle from city to city around the globe, this is also question others interested in VR have frequently tossed my way.

The Asus ROG G701VI gaming laptop with the Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch controllers.

Image: Mashable

To find out, I decided to get my hands on a powerful gaming laptop and put it to the test using the most system and graphics resource-intensive VR experiences currently available.

The machine I selected was the Asus ROG G701VI, or as I like to call it, The Beast.

Covered in special ops-style brushed gray aluminum, the laptop uses an Intel Core i7 processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, 64GB of RAM and 1 terabyte of solid state drive memory. On the outside, the machine sports three USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port and a 17.3-inch screen. Oh, and it weighs a whopping 7.9 pounds. Like I said, it’s a beast.

Before I get into the results, a few caveats. This is by no means an exhaustive test of all the most powerful gaming laptops on the market. Nor is this a laptop review. This exploration was designed solely to figure out just how viable high-end VR using a laptop could be. The VR system I used was the Oculus Rift.

Real talk: Is laptop VR easy?

In the era of the MacBook Air a reliable laptop that’s so thin you can toss it into a backpack and forget you even have it with you lugging around a laptop like the Asus ROG is an act of commitment rather than convenience. This is not a device you want to carry with you on a daily commute.

However, for our purposes setting up two Oculus sensors and strapping on the Rift headset anywhere what’s most important is that when you reach your destination you can quickly boot it up and launch VR apps without a hitch. To my surprise (after several gaming experts warned me off using a laptop for VR), the answer is yes.

Aside from its massive 17-inch screen and hefty weight, there’s also the matter of the power adapter. It’s huge. The 330-watt power adapter is listed as a mere 1 pound, but it has about the size and feel of an actual brick you’d pluck from a construction site. Again, this isn’t something you want to carry around regularly.

Does laptop VR match desktop VR, or is this some sort of hack?

The good news is that all that size and weight delivers all the needed horsepower to facilitate smooth and flawless VR. And I didn’t hold back, I purposely hammered the machine with every intensive VR experience I could think of, whether it was graphics-intensive games like The Unspoken and Robo Recall, or shared movie viewing experiences with friends in Bigscreen VR. The Asus laptop handled everything with ease.

This gif looks a bit jittery, but in VR the performance was silky smooth.

Image: The Unspoken, Insomniac Games

Over the course of one month of testing, the only hiccups I experienced occurred when I launched the Oculus desktop app after the laptop had been put to sleep rather than shutdown. In those cases, a quick reboot of the system eliminated any issues.

No matter how long or hard I pushed the machine, there were no heat issues thanks to the device’s well-designed cooling system. Sure, the sound of the laptop’s cooling fans working was fairly loud during intense usage, but I could only hear them when I took off my Oculus headset earphones, so it wasn’t an issue that impacted any experience.

And while you can take this laptop anywhere, don’t expect to be able to go camping in woods, mount Oculus sensors in a pair of trees and suddenly commune with nature while in VR using the device’s battery alone. I generally had to remain plugged into a power source while using the laptop to avoid dropping frames and motion lag.

Better mobile VR, but at what cost?

Because of the laptop’s size, weight and power requirements, the use case for such a set-up is unique, and definitely not for the casual user.

Similarly, at $3,498 (the price of the configuration listed above on Amazon), the Asus ROG G701VI is in the realm of top tier power user laptops generally favored by independent filmmakers and graphic designers. For a loose comparison, a similarly powerful 15-inch Apple Macbook Pro with a 2.9GHz Core i7 processor, 1 terabyte solid state drive and a Radeon Pro 460 graphics card is about $3,499. (Currently, the Rift and Vive aren’t supported for Macs of any kind.)

The Asus ROG G701VI, aka “the beast.”

Image: asus

Due to the cost and the fact the technology is still emerging, VR laptops aren’t likely to become the mainstream vector through which average virtual reality users access the metaverse.

But as more people get a taste of VR, and are in some cases dissuaded by the thought of setting up a massive gaming PC in their home, there is absolutely no reason not to consider this, or a similarly powerful gaming laptop, as a solution for accessing high-end VR.

Now the only barrier as it often is with bleeding edge tech is cost. If you have the cash, the virtual sky is the limit.

WATCH: HTC Vive transforms your whole living room into virtual reality