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Snap Spectacles Offer a Peek into All-day AR with New Geo-location Platform Update

From roadtovr

Snap, the company behind Snapchat, introduced its fifth-gen Spectacles AR glasses six months ago, and now the company is releasing a number of new features that aim to improve geo-located AR experiences.

Released in September 2024, Spectacles are still very much a developer kit—the AR glasses only have 45 minutes of standalone battery power—although Snap is one of the few companies out there actively engaging developers to build the sort of mainstay content you might find on the all-day consumer AR glasses of the near future.

While we’re not there yet, Snap announced that developers can start building Lenses (apps) integrating data from GPS, GNSS, compass heading, and custom locations, essentially giving devs access to geo-location data for better outdoor AR experiences.

Snap has highlighted a few sample Lenses to show off the integration, including Utopia Labs’ NavigatAR, which guide users with Snap Map Tiles, and Path Pioneer, which lets users create AR walking courses.

Geo-location data also helped Niantic bring multiplayer to Peridot Beyond, its AR pet simulator exclusively for Spectacles. The recent update also connects Spectacles with the mobile version of Peridot, allowing progression within the AR glasses experience to carry over to mobile.

Similarly, Snap has also worked with Wabisabi to integrate its machine learning model SnapML into Doggo Quest, the gamified dog-walking AR app, letting you overlay digital effects on your pooch as it tracks metrics such as routes and step counts.

Today’s update comes with a few more platform features too, including the ability to easily add leaderboards to Lenses, an AR keyboard for hand-tracked text input, and improved ability to open Lens links from messaging threads.

The update also features three new hand-tracking capabilities—phone detector to identify when a user has a phone in their hands, grab gesture, and refinements to targeting intent to reduce false positives while typing.

Additionally, Snap is kicking off a ‘Spectacles Community Challenges’ on April 1st that lets teams win cash prizes for submitting new or updating existing Lenses, which are judged on engagement, technical excellence, and Lens quality. The company says that each month it’s going to give out over $20,000 to the top five new Lenses, the top five updated Lenses, and top open source Lens.

This follows Snap’s recent bid to bring Spectacles to more than just developers. In January, Snap announced it was making the the fifth-gen device more affordable to students and teachers, bringing the price down to $594 for 12 months of subscription-free access, then $49.50 per month afterward for continued use of the headset.

While Snap’s Spectacles remain a developer-focused device, these updates signal the company’s long-term ambition for mainstream AR adoption, where it will notably be competing with companies like Meta, Apple and Google. Better geo-located experiences are undoubtedly a vital piece of the puzzle to making AR glasses a daily necessity rather than a niche tool.

Google Reportedly Set to Acquire Eye-tracking Startup to Bolster Android XR Hardware Efforts

From roadtovr

Google is reportedly set to acquire Canada-based eye-tracking startup AdHawk Microsystems Inc., something that would strengthen the company’s ongoing foray into XR headsets and glasses.

As reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Google is allegedly acquiring AdHawk for $115 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The deal is said to include $15 million in future payments based on the eye-tracking company reaching performance targets. While the acquisition is purportedly slated to conclude this week, a deal still hasn’t been signed, leaving some room for doubt. Furthermore, should the deal go through, the report maintains AdHawk’s staff will join Google’s Android XR team.

This isn’t the first time AdHawk has flirted with an acquisition by a key XR player. In 2022, Bloomberg reported the company was in the final stages of an acquisition by Meta.

Notably, AdHawk is best known for its innovations in eye-tracking, which replaces traditional cameras with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), which is said to result in faster processing and reduced power consumption—two things highly prized by AR and smart glasses creators today.

Image courtesy AdHawk Microsystems Inc.

Its flagship product, the MindLink glasses, is a research-focused device that is meant to connect eye movements with neurological and ocular health, human behavior, and state of mind, the company says on its website. Additionally, the company offers its camera-free eye-tracking modules for researchers working with VR devices, such as Meta Quest.

While neither Google nor AdHawk have commented on report, Google is ramping up its XR division to compete with the likes of Meta and Apple.

In December, Google announced Android XR, marking a decisive shift for the company’s XR efforts, as the company is bringing a ‘full fat’ version of Android to headsets for the first time, which not only includes XR-specific apps but also the full slate of Android content. Android XR is ostensibly set to debut on Samsung’s Project Moohan mixed reality headset, which still has no release date or price.

Then, in January, Google announced the acquisition of a number of HTC’s XR engineers, a deal amounting to $250 million. At the time, Google said HTC veterans would “accelerate the development of the Android XR platform across the headsets and glasses ecosystem.”

In addition to supporting its Android XR software efforts, the acquisition of a novel eye-tracking startup would also prove valuable in the company’s internal XR hardware efforts, which has been nothing short of fragmented over the years.

Google has summarily cancelled a number of XR projects in the past, including its Daydream VR platform in 2019, Google Glass for Enterprise in 2023, and its Iris AR glasses project in 2024.

Metallica Comes to Vision Pro in Immersive Performance This Week

From roadtovr

Apple announced it’s releasing an immersive concert experience from Metallica, landing exclusively on Apple Vision Pro this week.

The concert experience, simply dubbed ‘Metallica’, captures a performance in Mexico City which took place during the second-year finale of the band’s M72 World Tour. It’s set to include classic Metallica songs ‘Whiplash’, ‘One’, and ‘Enter Sandman’.

The concert was captured in Apple’s own immersive video format, which features 8K 3D video and spatial audio, putting viewers face to face with band members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo, and offering close ups of the Snake Pit, one of the most expensive fan zones.

Image courtesy Apple

To create the immersive concert experience, Apple built a custom stage layout featuring 14 of its Apple Immersive Video cameras using a mix of stabilized cameras, cable-suspended cameras, and remote-controlled camera dolly systems that moved around the stage.

Vision Pro owners will be able to jump in starting March 14th, however Apple says it’s also demoing a full performance of ‘Whiplash’ to in-store customers who reserve a Vision Pro demo.

“Apple Immersive Video transforms the way people experience storytelling, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with Metallica on a concert unlike any before it” said Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of Marketing Communications. “With Metallica on Apple Vision Pro, you feel like you’re right there: front row, backstage, and even on stage with one of the biggest bands of all time.”

This follows a steady release of immersive video content on Vision Pro, including new episodes of the Adventure and Boundless series, as well as a host of content such as Wildlife, an immersive experience featuring The Weeknd, and the headset’s first scripted short film, Submerged.

Apple Reportedly to Reveal “feature-packed” visionOS 3.0 Update at WWDC in June

From roadtovr

Apple is planning a “feature-packed release” for visionOS 3.0, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who says that Vision Pro’s operating system—and not new XR hardware—is going to be a focus at this year’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC).

Despite its high price and premium appeal, Apple hasn’t slowed down software updates for Vision Pro, which launched in February 2024 for $3,500.

Recently, the Cupertino tech giant has released a host of productivity features, including the long-promised ultra-wide Mac Virtual Display and the full suite of Apple Intelligence features in developer preview.

Now, Gurman reports Apple is gearing up to showcase visionOS 3.0 at WWDC, which typically takes place in June.

“All signs are pointing to the company’s Vision Products Group shifting its resources to other form factors,” Gurman maintains. “But Apple can’t just let the Vision Pro die out. It has invested too much and needs to keep churning out the device’s visionOS updates (the third edition will be a pretty feature-packed release, I’m told).”

There’s no indication yet what visionOS 3.0 could contain, although if it’s anything like visionOS 2.0, which was announced at WWDC 2024 last June, developers will likely be able to go hands-on as soon as it’s announced.

That said, information is still thin. One possible candidate for visionOS 3.0 could address the headset’s lack of motion controllers; Gurman reported last month Apple is currently working with Sony to adopt PSVR 2’s Sense Controllers as Vision Pro’s officially supported motion controller.

As for hardware reveals (or the lack thereof) at WWDC 2025, Gurman echoes previous claims made by Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo late last year, who reported that multiple Vision Pro follow-up are currently planned.

Gurman notes that Apple is planning a headset containing a new M-series chip (possibly M5), as well as cheaper versions of the headset. Contrary to Kuo’s report, which maintains an upgraded M5 version of Vision Pro is coming this year, Gurman claims we won’t see a follow-up headset from Apple in 2025.

Pimax Shares Development Updates on Dream Air and Crystal Super Headsets

From roadtovr

Pimax has two PC VR headsets in development: the ultralight Dream Air and the wide field-of-view Crystal Super. The company recently offered an update on the development progress of both headsets, including an update on the shipping timeline of Crystal Super.

Pimax Dream Air Update

Image courtesy Pimax

Pimax Dream Air is the company’s first effort to build an ultralight PC VR headset. First announced in December with a price of $1,900, the headset is undergoing various tweaks as the company completes the prototyping phase and moves toward an expected May release date.

In its latest update on Dream Air, Pimax says it has added speaker pods to the sides of the headset for improved audio.

Image courtesy Pimax

The headset’s tether is also changing from a single cable that runs along the left side of the headset to a split cable that will run along both sides and then combine into one cable behind the user’s head. Pimax says this change will help with the balance of the headset.

Image courtesy Pimax

Pimax is also moving the Dream Air’s USB-C accessory slot to the bottom of the headset to make it more accessible for clip-on accessories like trackers. And the newest iteration of the headset’s design now includes vents for active cooling, as the compact headset and displays will have plenty of heat to dissipate.

The company also says it has an early prototype of the headset’s pancake lenses, and specifies that they have a concave front surface that helps expand the headset’s field-of-view. Between that and slightly canting the lenses and displays, Pimax says it expects the final field of view to be 105° horizontally rather than the originally announced 102°.

Image courtesy Pimax

Field-of-view isn’t the only thing that could increase, however. The company says it’s still choosing between two candidate displays. Both are micro-OLED with identical resolution. But one of the panels (from Sony) has “better optical qualities,” according to the company, but also a higher price tag. If the final version ends up using the Sony panel, Pimax says it could increase the cost of the headset “a tiny bit.”

While it’s nice to see the field-of-view go up, potentially changing already-announced specs and prices with little more than two months before the headset is supposed to ship seems to reinforce longstanding criticism that the company often gets ahead of itself in planning and execution.

Speaking of the headset’s purported May release date, Pimax indicates in this latest update that it expects to have a “proper working demo unit [of Dream Air]” in April, one month before the headset is expected to ship. And in May, the company says it’ll have a “public event” to showcase the headset.

The video concludes with the company saying, “we are fine-tuning the final parts and at the same time also minimizing the risk for delays. The Dream Air is on the way and we’ll be showing it publicly soon.”

Pimax Crystal Super Update

Pimax Crystal Super | Image courtesy Pimax

Crystal Super is the company’s latest large form-factor PC VR headset which aims for a wide field-of-view (130° horizontal) and high resolution (3,840 × 3,840).

Crystal Super was originally announced in April, 2024, with an expected release date of Q4 2024. In the recent update, the company shares its latest projections for the headset’s release date: the end of March for the 50 PPD version and mid-April for the 57 PPD version.

Pimax says that early versions of the Crystal Super are in the hands of ‘beta testers’ who have been providing feedback. Based on that feedback, the company is seemingly regressing the Super’s headstrap design to something closer to its prior headsets: a simple over-the-head strap (instead of a horizontal strap with ratcheting adjustment) and a larger facepad for better weight distribution.

Image courtesy Pimax

The company also addressed newly imposed tariffs that the US has placed on products from China. Pimax says it will eat the cost of the tariffs for any orders placed before they were announced (February 4th). However, the company suggests that the tariffs will increase the cost of its headsets in the future.

Lauded VR Storytelling Studio Astrea Releases Latest Project on Quest & PC VR

From roadtovr

Astrea, the studio and publisher behind a host of VR narrative experiences, including Spheres, Astra, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom, has released an interactive VR experience on Quest and PC VR headsets that lets you embody passengers on a train, and help them face pivotal moments in their lives.

Called The Passengers, the four chapter, 40-minute interactive experience allows you to become one of four characters, experiencing their internal monologues and interacting with the environment with both your hands and voice.

Developed by Canada-based studio Couzin Films and France-based Les Produits Frais, The Passengers tells each story with a variety of styles, offering different visuals such as oil paint, watercolor, pencil, colored pencils, and immersive video.

“In this experience, you can be each one of the four passengers who all have their own personal quest. The course of each story is affected according to what they say, where they look, and what they do with their hands. You are one deciding all of that. The characters were created by volumetrically scanning the four actors. They were then rigged and animated through motion capture.”

While The Passengers is new to consumer headsets, it’s actually been on the international festival circuit since 2021 shortly after its completion.

The experience won the Best Immersive Experience – Fiction award at the Canadian Screen Awards (2022), and was selected as a finalist at the Prix Gémeaux (2022), Prix Numix (2021) and the VR Experience of the Year at the VR Awards (2021).

You can find The Passengers on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, and Steam for PC VR headsets, priced at $5.

Early Versions of Meta’s Orion AR Glasses Envisioned a Neck-worn Compute Unit

From roadtovr

Meta revealed its Orion prototype last year to show the progress it has made toward compact AR glasses. Today the company talked more about the prototyping process, especially regarding the ‘compute puck’ that offloads much of the heavy processing into a device that goes in the user’s pocket.

One of the major reasons that today’s XR headsets are so big is because they need room for a lot of processing power, battery volume, and heat dissipation. But with Meta and the rest of the industry aiming to eventually make all-day wearable AR glasses, size becomes a serious challenge.

A ‘compute puck’ is a companion device for AR glasses that moves some of the processing and battery off of the user’s head and into a pocketable device.

Meta used the compute puck approach for its prototype Orion AR glasses. While companies like Magic Leap have used similar approaches in the past, Orion’s approach is somewhat novel because the compute puck is completely wireless. But it didn’t start out that way.

Today Meta revealed more about the prototyping process for Orion. In the post, the company says the compute puck was originally envisioned as a tethered, neck-worn device, codenamed Omega.

But this concept apparently didn’t last very long after the team decided it would cut the tether and make a pocketable puck that was completely wireless.

After becoming untethered, the Orion team realized that it opened new possibilities for what could be done with the device.

One clever idea involved using the puck as an anchor for content, such as projecting a video call above the puck. Not only would this serve as a tangible place for users to move their content from one place to another, it would also mean encouraging them to pull the puck out of their pocket, resulting in better performance thanks to improved cooling.

An illustration of using the Orion puck for video calling| Image courtesy Meta

“It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen—the device has the potential to create really fun and unique interactions,” said Emron Henry, Industrial Designer at Meta. “The user experience feels a bit like unleashing a genie from a bottle, where holograms seamlessly emerge from and dissolve back into the device.”

The team also considered using the puck as a controller, which could be tracked using inside-out tracking thanks to on-board cameras.

An illustration of using the Orion puck as a controller | Image courtesy Meta

In the end, the version of Orion that has been seen publicly leans away from using the controller as a significant part of the input modality. Instead the glasses use a combination of eye-tracking and neural inputs thanks to the company’s prototype EMG wristband.

But there’s no telling what the final version of Orion will look like. For the team, this was a valuable time for design exploration.

“We’re defining a category that doesn’t quite exist yet,” notes Henry. “As you’d expect with R&D, there were starts and stops along the way. How will users expect to interact with holograms? Would they prefer to use an AR remote or is hand tracking, eye gaze, and EMG sufficient for input? What feels intuitive, low friction, familiar, and useful?

Although Meta says that Orion will eventually lead to its first pair of consumer AR glasses, for now the company has only a rough idea of when its first AR glasses will launch and what it will cost.

‘Stranger Things VR’ Studio’s Next Project ‘Face Jumping’ Looks Like Another Patently Weird VR Experience

From roadtovr

Tender Claws, the studio behind Stranger Things VR (2024) and Virtual Virtual Reality (2017), announced they’re debuting another patently weird VR experience at SXSW this week, which is all about swapping perspectives by making eye contact.

The VR experience, called Face Jumping, certainly sounds like another one of Tender Claws’ wildly inventive experiments into virtual reality, as it’s debuting the experience on Meta Quest Pro alongside a host of others in the XR Experience Exhibition at SXSW’s Fairmont location next week.

The 30-minute experience is slated to serve up eye-tracked interactions that lets the player change perspectives by making eye contact with characters, animals, and objects. The studio says Face Jumping invites players to “reflect on the act of seeing and being seen, evoking questions about perception, consciousness, and how we connect to others through a glance.”

While most recently known for developing Stranger Things VR, the LA-based studio was also behind the mind-bending theatrical experience The Under Presents (2019), which included live performers interacting with at-home users.

It calls Face Jumping “a return to Tender Claws’ roots in experimental storytelling, multi-layered narratives, and absurdist explorations of technology and human connection.”

Tender Claws hasn’t revealed whether it’s releasing Face Jumping beyond the experience’s debut at SXSW, which will be open to badge holders on March 9th – 11th in Austin, Texas.

Since it primarily makes use of eye-tracking, it could hypothetically come to any number of platforms, including Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest Pro, and PSVR 2. We’ve reached out to the studio to clarify this, and will update this piece when/if we know more.

Online Dating Company Announces $20M Annual Fund to Accelerate “virtual intimacy” Startups

From roadtovr

Social Discovery Group, the company behind Dating.com and DateMyAge.com, announced it’s launched a venture studio that aims to “transform virtual intimacy into the new normal” by backing early-stage startups in AI-powered communication, XR advancements, and social discovery platforms.

Called SDG Lab, the group has pledged an annual investment of $20 million by providing a “straightforward” fundraising process, wherein entrepreneurs can secure seed funding for product development and additional capital for scaling.

SDG Lab’s most notable investments include virtual dating platform ‘VR Chat&Date’, and niche-based dating apps Kiseki, Flure, and AstroLove.

Led by Alex Kudos, former CMO of Social Discovery Group, SDG Lab is also providing startups building social discovery and connection technologies with resources, such as legal assistance, back-office support, tech infrastructure, and marketing expertise.

“Social interaction is evolving, and digital intimacy is the next frontier,” said Alex Kudos, CEO of SDG Lab. “At SDG Lab, we’re not just funding ideas—we’re co-creating the future of human connection. By investing in and partnering with bold entrepreneurs, we are building technologies that make meaningful relationships possible, no matter where people are in the world.”

“Virtual relationships and AI-driven connections are no longer science fiction—they are a fundamental part of our digital lives,” added Kudos. “SDG Lab is building the next generation of products that will shape how people connect, engage, and build relationships online.”

Play for Dream Expects to Adopt Android XR for Standalone OS and Bring New Focus to US Market

From roadtovr

China-based Play for Dream, the company building a Vision Pro-like standalone MR headset, says it expects to adopt Android XR as its standalone operating system.

The Play for Dream MR headset has been called a “Vision Pro knock-off,” given its close aesthetic similarity to Apple’s headset. But people who have tried it say it’s more than just a cheap look-alike, including a former Quest engineer who gave the headset high praise on execution.

While the Play for Dream MR headset is currently running its own flavor of Android as its underlying operating system, the company tells Road to VR that it expects to adopt Google’s own Android XR platform eventually. The company says it is “in ongoing discussions, but a definitive timeline has not yet been provided,” regarding the move.

Whether that means the Play for Dream MR headset itself would potentially be updated in the future with Android XR after launch is unclear. Alternatively the company could wait until a future headset to make its transition.

Given that the $1,900 headset is planned to launch at the end of the month, it’s unlikely Android XR would crop up before then. Especially considering that Google says Samsung’s Project Moohan headset will be the first headset to release with Android XR, and its release date still hasn’t been announced.

Play for Dream is relatively well established in China, but is little known in the US. In speaking with the company recently, we learned more about its background.

Huang Feng | Image courtesy Play for Dream

Play for Dream was founded in 2020 by CEO Huang Feng, who is also the founder of Wanyoo Esports, “Asia’s largest esports café chain;” and Bixin, “a leading gaming platform application in China with over 60 million registered players,” the company says.

Other key executives include Chairman Zong Yuan and CTO Yue Fei, while the company says it has more than 200 employees, and has not raised any outside investment.

While the company has sold several headsets into the Asia market, it says the Play for Dream MR headset is focused primarily on the US XR market.

Responding to criticism of the similarity of the headset (and its marketing) to Apple’s Vision Pro, a spokesperson said, “Our goal wasn’t to directly rival the Apple Vision Pro. We drew inspiration from its innovative design, focusing instead on creating an Android-based device that reflects our unique vision and approach.”

Image courtesy Play For Dream

While there are significant similarities to Vision Pro in the look of the headset and its interface, one marked difference is that Play for Dream MR will support motion controllers.

The headset got its feet of the ground with a Kickstarter campaign that launched in September 2024, which raised roughly $300,000 from 215 backers, and ended in October.

While the campaign indicates that the first shipments of the Play for Dream MR headset are already shipping to backers, the wider release date for the headset is expected at the end of March, the company says.

Update (March 1st, 2025): A prior version of this article stated the headset’s price was $1,200, which was the price available during the Kickstarter. This has been corrected to the current price of the headset which is $1,900.