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AR Ski Goggles Display Info While You Shred

January 19, 2023 From vrscout

AR technology makes its way into the mountains.

This year’s CES featured no shortage of exciting announcements, including the reveal of Sirius, a pair of advanced ski goggles that use augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to display valuable information over the real world as you cut through powder.

Developed by Swiss startup Ostloong, the goggles feature GPS navigation, cellular data, and an HD camera, according to the official website. The company’s OUTDOOR AR Display is designed to enhance communication, navigation, and safety while exploring the mountains.

“This is a huge yet outdated market, which would benefit from the integration of new technologies to revolutionize the world of snow sports and adapt it to a new generation of skiers who are adept at using smartphones and social networks” said Amber Gao, CEO of Ostloong Innovations, according to Startupticker.ch.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen AR technology used in the sports world. FORM’s smart swim goggles track the wearer’s performance while displaying key metrics such as GPS and heart rate. Then there’s the ActiveLook System, a see-through heads-up display capable of providing key performance data in real time. According to its developer, MicroOLED, the technology could prove useful for a number of activities, from endurance sports to scuba diving.

Image Credit: Ostloong Innovations

Filed Under: AR, augmented reality, News

Eli Roth’s BE MINE: A VR Valentine’s Slasher Revealed

January 18, 2023 From vrscout

The horror icon is back with yet another immersive experience for Quest headsets.

Eli Roth, director of iconic horror films such as Hostel and Cabin Fever, is returning to VR with a new horror experience. Written by Roth and directed by Adam MacDonald, Eli Roth’s BE MINE: A VR Valentine’s Slasher tells the story of Becca (played by Peyton List), a young girl being stalked by a murderous psychopath wearing a Cupid mask.

According to Meta, the combination 180 and 360-degree film is around 30 minutes long and will be available on Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets via Meta Quest TV and Horizon Worlds, Meta’s own social VR metaverse. Meta will be hosting a special premiere event in Horizon Worlds at 7pm PT on February 10th. You’ll also be able to watch the short film on Facebook and Instagram.

“I had the most incredible experience making Trick-VR-Treat with Meta, and we wanted to push the experience even further with BE MINE, creating a true narrative experience where you’re at the center of a slasher film,” said Roth in an official release.

“I wrote BE MINE knowing what worked best in VR, but pushing the boundaries with new ideas and techniques, and the results are nothing short of thrilling. We have created a true immersive horror experience. I have been a huge fan of Adam MacDonald for a long time, and what he and the incredible cast brought to life is something unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I think horror fans are going to absolutely love it. Get ready, it’s a bloody good time.”

Eli Roth’s BE MINE: A VR Valentine’s Slasher premiers at 7pm PT on February 10th on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro headsets. The film was produced by Crypt TV and Roth in collaboration with Cream Productions. For more information visit here.

Image Credit: Meta

Filed Under: horizon worlds, Meta, News, quest 2, quest pro, VR Movies

McDonald’s Launches AR Lunar New Year Campaign

January 15, 2023 From vrscout

AR filters, NeRF technology, and VR come together for a futuristic McDonald’s AAPI campaign.

As part of its commitment to serving communities and celebrating culture, McDonald’s is celebrating major cultural events such as Lunar New Year, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Diwali.

To celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, McDonald’s has partnered with Karen X Cheng, a viral content creator who is known for her innovative creative designs, according to an official release. The company behind those famous french fries and Big Macs aims to connect with its consumers through an immersive metaverse experience and a cool augmented reality (AR) filter.

As a long-time fan of the Golden Arches, Cheng is excited to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of Asian Americans through this campaign. 



Famous for her amazing viral videos which have gained over 500 million views, Cheng is a talented digital creator who is also known for her collaborations with prominent celebrities. Through her passion for storytelling and innovation, Cheng has found herself on prominent lists such as Inc’s 30 Under 30 and on Adweek’s Creative 100.

Some of her most popular videos include learning to dance in a year, creating the first artificially intelligent magazine cover, and making a VR dance video for the metaverse. This partnership between her and McDonald’s marks Cheng’s first official brand partnership.

“Teaming up with McDonald’s to create a campaign that not only leans into my passions as a creator but also my cultural identity is a dream come true,” said Cheng in an official press release. “As a longtime Golden Arches fan, it’s an honor to be provided with a creative canvas that allows me to share my personal story as well as showcase my expression of the holiday to a wider audience.”

Elizabeth Campbell, Senior Director, Corporate Engagement Strategy at McDonald’s, said that the brand wanted to connect with its fans at the intersection of culture and innovation. “Our collaboration with Karen X Cheng offers new, tech-forward ways to experience the Year of the Rabbit while also honoring the legacy of the holiday and uplifting the AAPI community. The Golden Arches is proud to kickstart the new year with an interactive campaign that invites our fans to become active participants in a global cultural celebration,” said Campbell.

McDonald’s is celebrating the start of the new year with an engaging digital campaign that encourages its fans to get involved in important global celebrations, something that is very important to the global mission of the company.

The campaign, which was conceptualized by IW Group, aims to celebrate the spirit of the Lunar New Year and encourage people to embrace the traditional and unconventional ways of celebrating the holiday. The campaign also features a variety of interactive elements as well as an immersive metaverse experience. 

Nita Song, IW Group’s President & Chief Executive Officer, said that the company wanted to use the latest technology to enhance the experience for its fans. “Building on last year’s groundbreaking Lunar New Year campaign, which featured a Golden Arches’ trailblazing event in the metaverse, our goal was to utilize state-of-the-art technology to elevate the virtual and interactive experiences for brand fans.”

Here’s what you can expect with McDonald’s Year of the Rabbit campaign:

Augmented reality (AR) filter – This unique AR Instagram filter allows you to experience the transition from the Year of the Tiger (2022) to the Year of the Rabbit (2023) while enjoying incredible 3D visuals.

Metaverse Experience – Hosted on the virtual platform Spatial and accessible through a VR headset, mobile device, tablet, or PC, this custom 3D space combines traditional Asian influences with a variety of “futuristic elements,” such as 3D sculptures of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. The platform will host two special events on January 25th and February 2nd respectively.

AI-powered television commercial – This futuristic ad spot utilizes NeRF (neural radiance fields) technology to create a 3D scene. You can use your smartphone to scan an on-screen QR code to enjoy the artwork as an interactive AR filter.

Fans can join in on the fun today via www.McDLunarNewYear.com. This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has created a cool virtual experience around culture and heritage. In 2022, the company created “McDonald’s Hall of Zodiacs: 2022 Lunar New Year by Humberto Leon” gallery in AltspaceVR and in Spatial. The company also filed 10 trademark applications that would allow you to order food from their menu in the metaverse and have it delivered to your real-world home.

For more information visit here.

Image Credit: McDonald’s USA

Filed Under: AI, AR, Artificial Intelligence, augmented reality, News

U.S. Space Force Turns To VR For Medical Training

January 13, 2023 From vrscout

The program will run on the HTC VIVE Focus 3 VR headset.

VR medical simulation platform SimX today announced that its Virtual Advancement of Learning for Operational Readiness (VALOR) program has been selected by the United States Space Force to design an immersive training program for astronaut recovery and space launch missions.

The US government agency will commit an initial $1.7 million USD towards the integration of various space components and medical scenarios based on the Pre-Hospital Space Medicine Care Course (PHSMCC) into the SimX Virtual Reality Medical Simulation System (VRMSS). This includes ocean personnel recovery missions, such as the one depicted in the image below.

Credit: U.S. Airforce, Airman 1st Class Dwane Young, Nellis AFB

“The mission of the VALOR program is to adapt VR medical simulation training to enable high-quality, repeatable, and accessible clinical training for any scenario,” said Karthik V Sarma, PhD, VALOR Principal Investigator and SimX CTO in an official release. “We’re honored to have the opportunity to take the VRMSS to the next frontier by helping the DOD’s elite medical personnel protect the health of our astronauts and space launch personnel.”

The virtual training program is being developed in collaboration with and tested alongside the USAF 24th Special Operations Wing and 1st Air Force, Detachment 3, Human Space Flight Support Operations, and will run on the HTC VIVE Focus 3 wireless VR headset. According to SimX, the program will enable more frequent and effective training for Combat Rescue Officers, flight surgeons, and Pararescuemen.

Credit: U.S. Space Force

“The mission impact of this project will be increased overall medical capability for global rescue forces responding to Human Space Flight contingency landings,” added Brent Maney of the Department of Defense Human Space Fight Support Office. “These capabilities are critical for ensuring the highest standard of care is provided by our PJs as they prepare for the continued expansion of Human Space Flight operations.”

Moving forward, the company will continue to expand the program with additional scenarios to accommodate the growing commercial space flight sector.

Feature Image Credit: SimX

Filed Under: HTC Vive Focus 3, News, vr medicine, VR Training

US Congress Halts Orders of Microsoft AR Combat Goggles Amid Reports of Headaches & Eyestrain

January 13, 2023 From roadtovr

In 2021, Microsoft won a United States Army defense contract worth up to $22 billion which would support the development of an Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2. Now Congress has rejected the Army’s request for $400 million to buy as many as 6,900 more of the AR combat goggles this year, a Bloomberg report maintains.

The rejection cites rocky tests conducted last year. Testing was done over a three-week period ending June 18th, where the Army assessed Microsoft’s IVAS with a cadre of 70 Army infantry soldiers, who were tasked with using the device during three 72-hour combat scenarios.

Complaints included “mission-affecting physical impairments,” with more than 80 percent of soldiers experiencing headaches, eyestrain and nausea after less than three hours using the goggles.

None of this comes as a giant surprise though, as Microsoft was reportedly bracing for negative field tests back in early 2022 due to alleged quality problems.

Softening the blow somewhat, lawmakers have earmarked $40 million to develop a new IVAS model, Army spokesman David Patterson said in an email obtained by Bloomberg.

This comes only a few weeks after the Army awarded a $125 million “task order” for the development of a new model, dubbed version 1.2, which is said to include software improvements for better reliability and reduced power demand.

The 1.2 version task order is said to provide “improvements based on completed test events” which aim at a developing a “lower profile Heads-Up Display with distributed counterweight for improved user interface and comfort.”

In the meantime, the Army will be using its first batch of 5,000 goggles for training—only a small fraction of the max 121,000 devices, spares and support services stipulated in the $22 billion deal.

Filed Under: AR Headset, ar industry, AR News, Microsoft, News

MLK: Now Is The Time Is Available Now On Meta Quest

January 13, 2023 From vrscout

You can also watch The March 360, a “digital reenactment” of the 1963 March on Washington.

Available now on Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets, MLK: Now is the Time allows you to experience Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech like never before. Brought to us by TIME Studios and Flight School Studios, the thought-provoking VR experience combines real footage of the historic speech with interactive elements designed to teach you more about the issues raised by Dr. King.



Each topic is represented as an interactive vignette designed to hit you on an emotional level while educating you on important subjects such as housing inequality, voting rights, and policing.

“That speech is a calling on the country to consider a baseline for all its citizens,” said Director Limbert Fabian. “I didn’t want you to only stand and listen to his words—I wanted to start you off with them and then lead you into a discussion about how they feel today. And I wanted to find that with each moment in the speech, we were getting closer to him.”

“One of the amazing things about VR and our metaverse work is that it creates opportunities for transformative learning in a way we’ve never experienced before,” added Roy L. Austin Jr, Meta’s vice president of Civil Rights and Deputy General Counsel. “We can simultaneously document, educate, and experience history in a way that furthers our understanding and progress today.”

“At TIME Studios, we believe immersive storytelling allows us to bring powerful moments in history to new audiences while also illuminating larger societal and global issues,“ said Loren Hammonds, Co-Head of Documentary at TIME Studios. “We are proud to bring the words and message of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to a new generation with this groundbreaking VR experience, created alongside Meta and in collaboration with IPM, the exclusive licensor of the MLK Jr. estate.”

MLK: Now is the Time is available now on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro headsets. You can also watch The March 360, a “digital reenactment” of The March on Washington. For more information check out the official announcement here.

Image Credit: Meta

Filed Under: horizon worlds, News, quest 2, quest pro, VR Education

Hands-on: Vive XR Elite is Lightweight & Compact, But Shares Quest Pro’s Woes

January 9, 2023 From roadtovr

At CES 2023 HTC revealed its new Vive XR Elite headset which is positioned as a Quest Pro competitor. In terms of features and hardware, the headset is largely a refinement of formfactor over anything else; and while it’s undoubtedly compact and lightweight, it may be hampered by an unclear value proposition and some ergonomic details that went overlooked.

For a detailed look at Vive XR Elite’s specs and features, check out our announcement article

Everyone’s head shape, nose size, and eye positions are different. That said, the first time I put on Vive XR Elite it was clear to me that there wasn’t nearly enough room for my nose… something that I have no issue with on almost every other major headset on the market (even HTC’s other VR headsets).

It’s not that it’s impossible to get the pressure off your nose—the optional top-strap (which HTC smartly included) makes this easy enough—but the problem is that if I raise the headset up to get weight off of my nose, my eyes are no longer in the sweet spot of the lens, making the view through the headset sub-par. More padding around the nose would have a similar issue of moving the lenses out of the sweet spot.

While I didn’t get to use the headset for an extended period of time, I have a strong suspicion that the nose thing is going to be a literal and figurative pain point on this headset. And as someone who doesn’t have a particularly large nose, I can’t imagine I’m going to be the only person with this issue.

Photo by Road to VR

The nose thing isn’t the only ergonomic oversight that was immediately apparent. There’s also the fact that the rear pad, which is designed to cup the back of your head, doesn’t cushion your head enough to prevent contact between your skull and the battery on the back. That means that as you tighten the headset you can feel a big, flat, plastic surface pushing against your head. That’s compared to something like the Quest 2 Elite Strap (which the rear of Vive XR Elite appears to emulate), where I can only feel the pads hugging the back of my head, but never the battery behind them.

Photo by Road to VR

Beyond these worrying ergonomic subtleties, the headset’s fundamentals feel solid across the board, making the Vive XR Elite the company’s most refined standalone to date. But from a feature and performance standpoint, the headset feels more like Quest 2 than Quest Pro, which puts it in an awkward place with its $1,100 pricetag.

Visually, Vive XR Elite’s pancake lenses are pretty good on the clarity front, with good edge-to-edge clarity, though falling short of the excellent lenses on Quest Pro. The use of non-Fresnel lenses means a reduction in glare and god rays compared to Quest 2, though the resolution and visibility of the screen door is about the same between the two headsets (1,920 × 1,920 vs. 1,920 × 1,832). And while the peripheral field of view feels a little tight, the added dioptre control (for changing the focus of each lens) will be welcomed by those with glasses, and even those without will be served well by the continuous IPD adjustment (which includes an on-screen measurement readout and calibration pop-up).

Photo by Road to VR

Inside-out head-tracking feels pretty good and is surely ‘good enough’, though the instantaneous rotational latency doesn’t feel as tight as Meta’s bar-setting inside-out solution. Importantly, the tracking feels better than Vive Flow, which in my experience has too much latency for long-term comfort. Controller-tracking on Vive XR Elite also feels solid, and with cameras on each side pointed almost entirely to your left and right, coverage ought to be good (potentially surpassing Vive Focus 3).

As the name implies, the HTC is pushing the XR Elite as a headset that does passthrough AR in addition to VR. The headset’s color pass-through view isn’t stellar. Similar to Meta’s headsets, the XR Elite attempts to rebuild the depth of the real world virtually to provide geometric correction and depth cues, but even with a depth-sensor on-board (which Quest Pro lacks), my experience with the headset’s passthrough AR showed a lot of warping due to incorrect depth-mapping.

Without being able to do a direct side-by-side comparison, my impression was that XR Elite wasn’t quite as sharp as Quest Pro when it comes to passthrough AR. Granted, the passthrough AR on both headsets headsets is definitely in the same approximate ‘class’ (not sharp enough to read text from your smartphone and quite poor dynamic range at that).

Photo by Road to VR

Just like with Quest Pro, the quality and application of passthrough AR feels entirely undercooked, with the handful of AR apps I tried on the headset not sufficiently answering the question ‘why AR?’. But now that another headset on the market is embracing and enhancing this capability, perhaps the answers to that question will come a bit sooner.

 – – — – –

Photo by Road to VR

Considering its performance and features, Vive XR Elite seems to share the same core problem as Quest Pro—and that’s the value proposition. Even if we ignore any potential ergonomic mishaps… at best Vive XR Elite is akin to a somewhat more compact version of Quest 2. And even if we ignore that Quest 2 has a much more extensive content library… it’s difficult to see how, for most people, Vive XR Elite can justify an $1,100 price tag compared to Quest 2 at $400.

Filed Under: ces 2023, hardware preview, htc vive xr elite, htc vive xr elite hands-on, MR headset, News, Standalone VR Headset, Vive XR Elite, vive xr elite review

Magic Leap 2 Gains Certification so Doctors Can Use AR During Surgery

January 6, 2023 From roadtovr

Magic Leap, the storied unicorn developing enterprise AR headsets, announced at CES 2023 that its flagship device Magic Leap 2 earned a certification that clears it for use in the operating room.

The company first intimated it had pursued IEC 60601-1 certification at SPIE’s XR conference in January 2022, however the news largely went unreported since the information was presented in a single slide at the conference.

At AMD’s CES 2023 keynote, Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson confirmed Magic Leap 2 has indeed obtained IEC 60601-1 certification for its flagship AR headset.

As explained by TÜV Rheinland, the IEC 60601-1 certification specifies a device that is “intended to diagnose, treat, or monitor a patient under medical supervision and, which makes physical or electrical contact with the patient and/or transfers energy to or from the patient and/or detects such an energy transfer to or from the patient.”

Magic Leap says this certification allows Magic Leap 2 to be used both in an operating room as well as in other clinical settings, allowing medical professionals such as surgeons to focus on the patient and not have to refer to 2D screens.

By and large, this gives software developers a non-inconsequential inroad into gaining FDA certification for apps that could be used during surgery, and not just for pre-surgical training.

One such Magic Leap partner, SentiAR, is currently under review by the FDA for its app which connects physicians to live clinical data and images, allowing them do operations such as navigating a catheter through blood vessels of the heart using a 3D map of a patient’s heart and the location of the catheter in real time.

Founded in 2010, the Plantation, Florida-based company initially exited the gate with consumer ambitions for its first AR headset, Magic Leap 1 (previously styled ‘One’). After awkwardly straddling the segment with its $2,300 AR headset, the company made a decisive pivot in mid-2020 when CEO and co-founder Rony Abovitz announced he would be stepping down as CEO, positioning the company to reprioritize its future devices away from consumers. It has since released Magic Leap 2, which is largely targeted at enterprise.

The well-funded company, which has amassed $4 billion in lifetime funds to date, has recently taken on $450 million from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, giving the country a majority share in the US-based augmented reality company.

Filed Under: AR News, ar surgery, Magic Leap, Magic Leap 2, Medical Applications, News, VR surgery

Virtual Event Platform ‘Wave’ Returns to VR with Pico Partnership, Calvin Harris Concert to Debut Jan 13th

January 5, 2023 From roadtovr

Wave, the virtual event production company known for putting on a ton of VR concerts a few years back, actually deprecated VR support for its app back in early 2021 to focus on streaming its brand of digital concerts to traditional platforms. Now, through a new partnership with VR headset creator Pico, Wave is set to jump back into VR with more concerts, available exclusively on Pico devices.

Through the partnership, Wave says it’s developing “a series of immersive 3D concert experiences with massively world-renowned artists” for Pico’s line of consumer headsets. Those include Pico Neo 3 and the new Pico 4 headset.

Its debut concert is set to feature The Calvin Harris Experience, taking place on January 13th at 8:00PM GMT (local time here). The experience is said to last approximately 1 hour, which includes a five-minute preshow and 25 min exclusive extended set.

Only fans in Europe and Asia will have access, the company says, the only markets where Pico’s consumer headsets are currently available. The VR-accessible concert is said to be an “extended version,” of which only a portion will be broadcasted on TikTok LIVE.

The concert is slated to take fans on what Wave calls “a musical journey through Calvin’s virtual universe, a metaverse party filled with audio reactive visuals in a nature inspired luminous world.”

Calvin Harris is set to perform live as a virtual avatar in an immersive environment that Pico users can join and explore for themselves. Users will also have the opportunity to influence the live experience by “interacting with others, creating dazzling effects throughout the show by clapping, writing personalized messages in the air, and even join Calvin on stage.”

To take part in the concert, users must download the Pico Video app from the Pico App Store, then select The Calvin Harris Experience in your Pico Video feed on the day of the show.

You can RSVP to Wave’s premier Calvin Harris concert here. Rebroadcasts for Pico users will re-air daily on weekends starting Jan 14-26 at 8pm GMT.

Filed Under: calvin harris, News, pico, pico 4, Pico Neo 3, Pico VR, pico xr, the wave, virtual concert, VR Concert, VR Event, wave, wavexr

Shiftall’s Slim & Light PC VR Headset MeganeX to Launch Early 2023, Priced at $1,700

January 4, 2023 From roadtovr

MeganeX, the SteamVR-compatible headset from Panasonic’s Shiftall, made its big debut back at CES 2020, and after years of iterations shown at various trade shows, the company says it’s finally nearing launch.

Shiftall is set to sell two flavors of MeganeX, a consumer version priced at $1,699 and a Business Edition, the pricing of which is still to be determined.

MeganeX includes the option to use both inside-out roomscale tracking and SteamVR base stations (1.0 and 2.0), providing 2,560 × 2,560 per eye via two independent 1.3-inch micro OLED displays, which were built by Kopin. Owing to its slim profile are the headsets pancake lenses, which were created by parent company Panasonic.

Image courtesy Shiftall

Although it includes onboard processing thanks to a Snapdragon XR1, it cannot operate in standalone mode (re: only tethered PC VR). The wing-like attachable module seen above on the consumer version is for SteamVR base stations.

“These [two headsets] will deliver the world’s highest level of viewing experience and black expression that only OLED can provide,” the company says in a press statement. “A folding frame with built-in speakers makes it easy to carry around. It supports 6DoF and lets you enjoy a variety of SteamVR-enabled VR applications.”

The consumer version, which offers a wider IPD over the Business Edition at a range of 56-72mm, includes a glasses adapter to accommodate bespectacled users of all sorts. The Business Edition however includes built-in diopter adjustments for near-sighted users, supporting a range of up to -7D, which comes as an addition to the platform’s glasses adapter.

Both the consumer and enterprise version are said to go on sale around April or March of this year, with the consumer version set to launch direct on Shiftall’s website. Check out the specs for both versions below:

MeganeX Specs

Image courtesy Shiftall

We have boots on the ground at CES 2023 in Las Vegas this year, so check back for all the latest AR/VR news this week as we get knee deep in emerging tech on the tradeshow floor.

Filed Under: ces 2023, MeganeX, News, panasonic, Shiftall, shiftall meganex, VR Headset

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