Monday, June 25, 2018
Watch out for Google Glass Zuckerbergs Oculus is planning to bring computers to your glasses
Watch out for Google Glass Zuckerbergs Oculus is planning to bring computers to your glasses
Glasses wearers are about to get their comeuppance. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, we may all become a nation of four-eyes.....lol
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said today Tuesday that response to the high-profile new virtual reality headset has been "really amazing." What he didnt say is what exactly that means.
Its been a nearly half a year since Samsung and Facebook released the Gear VR, an entry-level virtual reality headset powered by a phone strapped to your face. Turn it on, and it can trick your brain into thinking youre actually in a computer-generated world.
The $99 device was a lead-up to the Rift, a $599 Oculus headset designed to offer a high-end experience. That device, which requires a powerful $1,000-plus computer, began arriving on customers doorsteps a little over two weeks ago.
At the moment, the waiting list for the device is long, and you have to factor in manufacturing hiccups. The Oculus website says a device ordered today wont arrive for four months.
But Zuckerberg is betting that once you put the headset on your face, it will give you an experience unlike any other. And hes already planning for the future too.
"Response so far has been really amazing," Zuckerberg said, at Facebooks F8 developer conference in San Francisco. He also still believes VR has the potential to be the next major step in computers.
"Over the next 10 years, the form factor will get smaller and smaller," he said, and eventually well have something that looks like a pair of glasses. Thats when it can become a part of our everyday life.
That means Zuckerberg has designs for Oculus to compete with devices like Microsofts HoloLens, the next evolution of Google Glass and whatever comes out of the well-funded startup Magic Leap. Each features technology that layers computer-generated images on the real world to deliver whats known as mixed reality or augmented reality, in a field thats expected to become a $90 billion business by 2020.
Will augmented reality and virtual reality be the future? Facebook plunked down $2 billion to buy Oculus because Zuckerberg believes so. But hes also realistic and frequently says sales will likely be slow at first.
Still, hes excited by the promise. "Virtual reality," he said, "has the chance to be the next real social platform."
