Inside VR, AR and more from Bigscreen - #1

We’re excited about Windows Mixed Reality at Bigscreen because it brings high quality VR headsets from a bunch of different hardware manufacturers at lower prices, with less complexity. Headsets like the Samsung Odyssey are higher resolution than most existing devices and require just a single cable to operate. They also feature inside-out tracking, removing the need for tracking lighthouses or other fiddly external sensors.

With SteamVR, there’s a bunch of great content now available for these devices – and we’ll have news about Bigscreen and Windows Mixed Reality very soon.

WebVR is going to be huge for virtual reality because it lowers the barrier for content creators to jump into the space and ship something to people with all VR headsets without needing to learn specific tools like Unity. 

Facebook just announced that thanks to its work on ReactVR, you’ll be able to see rich VR experiences directly from your News Feed without installing an additional app. The feature is currently in testing, but should roll out to everyone in the near future.

This is fantastic news because it makes it easier for content creators to build experiences and for existing users to enjoy VR with zero friction. We think this will significantly improve how many people are willing to put on their VR headsets on a regular basis.

Apple is rumored to be ramping up efforts on its Augmented Reality headset with a targeted release date of 2020 – which feels pretty close, given even the Microsoft Hololens is incredibly primitive right now.

Apple delivering AR (or VR) glasses would be a huge boon for the VR and AR industries – read our post later in the newsletter to see how Apple is already building the pieces it needs to do this properly with the iPhone X.

Second Life was one of the earliest large-scale metaverses, but was conceived more than a decade before VR: in 2003. The service still has 600,000 intensely active users. This great read from The Atlantic talks about the people who spend their days in Second Life, what they do in the service and how it’s still around.

A fantastic read from Catt Small, product designer at Etsy, on why designers could learn a few things from game designers. She explores the UX paradigms of games, practices and how all designers from product to marketing can get started learning how to experiment with game creation.

Darshan, Bigscreen’s CEO, reads the tea leaves after using the iPhone X and details what Apple is signalling with its current software + hardware for the future. This year’s flagship phone already contains a number of key  sensors needed for rich Augmented Reality, giving a peek into the future of what Apple’s glasses might look like.