Wonder Dynamics, a startup co-founded by "Ready Player One" actor Thiel Sheridan and with "Ready Player One" director Spielberg as a consultant, has completed a Series A round of $9 million funding. The round of financing was led by Victoria Harbour Investment, which was helmed by Li Ka-shing's confidant Zhou Kaixuan, mainly engaged in TMT industry investment. Since 2007, with a usable investment of $120 million in Facebook, Victoria Harbour Investment has established its position in the global venture capital circle.
After announcing the company's name change to Meta, Facebook recently opened its VR world "Horizon Worlds" to North America. This is a very crucial step in Facebook's entry into the metaverse after changing its name.
"Horizon" is essentially an initial VR social platform created by Meta that allows people to create and interact in this metaverse, supporting 20 people online at the same time, although users need to use the Oculus Quest 2 headset to create characters. The metacosm is a virtual space parallel to the real world but independent of the real world, which has a stronger sense of immersion, interactivity and ultra-low latency than the current Internet. The physical Internet, with the help of VR and AR technology, is a more immersive three-dimensional virtual experience in which you can do more imaginative things – party, work, study, entertain, shop, create, etc. Meta shows people the prototype of metaverse social and gaming. Meta is said to have introduced a $10 million creator fund in October in the hope of driving creators to create immersive experiences for the Metacosm.
There is a view that the metacosm is the next generation of physical Internet, the physical Internet is relative to the current Internet, the current Internet is the print Internet - a two-dimensional Internet built of graphic text and video content.
When Microsoft and Meta launched their own "metacosms" in a high profile. Who remembers the first AR glasses made by Google? With the mysterious comeback of Google Lab, this time, Google is also going to have a big move! It's just that it's the metacosm... operating system!!
On December 14, Mark Lucovsky, a former Meta operating system engineer, announced that he had officially joined Google (for the second time). In addition to saying that he will be in charge of an AR operating system team, Lucovsky also took a wave of new positions in this recruitment. As early as 2012, Google released a prototype of AR glasses. With a wave of hardware and software upgrades, it successfully landed on the US market in 2014. However, in 2015, it was forced to take down due to various negative news. In 2017, Google decided to shift the application of AR glasses to industry.
That same year, Apple released ARKit for building AR experiences for mobile phones, which directly caught Google off guard. The scramble, and many of the virtual reality projects that Google has subsequently shelved, has demoralized its AR and VR team members about the shift in direction. At the time, Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion, and the industry was in an uproar. Bavor's team also began working on a premium Google VR headset code-named Dawn and a VR software platform called Daydream.
But by early 2017, there were rumors that Apple planned to release a new set of software tools for creating AR applications at that summer's developer conference. At a full-staff meeting, Bavor said Apple's plans would not change Google's product roadmap, and that VR would continue to be its top priority. But things quickly changed after Apple officially launched ARKit in June of that year, and Google executives demanded that Bavor respond immediately. While Google had started working on an AR tool code-named Project Tango a few years ago, it needed to rely on dedicated hardware at the time.
The data shows that the AR market size will reach $90 billion in 2020, much higher than VR's $30 billion, and the average annual compound growth rate of AR devices is much higher than that of VR devices up to 103.4%. With the continuous expansion of the AR market, technology companies such as Meta, Apple, and Microsoft have also begun to "squeeze" into the AR track. We may venture to imagine that the competition in the metaverse may be the competition between THE AR system VR headsets. Not only Apple, Meta, Microsoft, but many technology companies want to carve up the hot cake of the meta-universe, for now:
Apple's upcoming first AR/VR headset weighs about 350 grams, and a lighter second-generation AR/VR headset is being developed
Apple has about 1,000 engineers working on the device. Looking further afield, Apple hopes that the headset can be transformed into thin and light "AR glasses," although it will take a few more years to achieve this goal technically.
Tianfeng International analyst Guo Mingxi pointed out that Apple's upcoming first AR/VR headset product, the first generation of headset is expected to debut in 2022. Apple's first VR/AR headset weighs about 300-400 grams, which is much lighter than the existing VR headsets on the market. In addition, Guo Mingxi also revealed that Apple is developing a second-generation AR/VR headset, which weighs less than the first generation and has a new generation of industrial design, a new battery system, and a faster processor. Kuo said Apple's first release will be a mixed reality headset that can support both augmented and virtual reality experiences. Apple CEO Tim Cook said he was very concerned about AR, AI and autonomous driving. It is reported that Apple's first AR device is also expected to be launched in 2022.
Snapchat: Ar users on the platform have exceeded 200 million times a day, averaging more than 6 billion arbiters
According to news reports, at the "Snap AR Creator Summit" held recently, Snapchat disclosed that the Snap AR platform currently brings together more than 250,000 filter creators, developers, brands and partners from more than 200 countries and regions, who have produced more than 2.5 million filters and more than 3.5 trillion user views. Among them, at least one of the more than 300 creators has received more than 1 billion views. More than 200 million people play AR on Snapchat, with an average of more than 6 billion aroners playing AR every day.
Manus launches Polygon, a motion capture software that is compatible with SteamVR
Following the launch of the professional SteamVR tracker Manus Pro Tracker in February, Manus, the Dutch developer of VR haptic feedback gloves, released Manus Polygon, a freely downloadable motion capture software that is compatible with SteamVR.
Weimei Hologram released a new headset device to enhance the user experience of the meta-universe
Recently, Weimei Holography released a new augmented reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD) for the consumer market, expanding the user experience of holographic VR technology in the metaverse. Micro-American hologram has always been highly discussed, and it enjoys the reputation of "the first share of meta-universe holographic AR" in China. In this group of male divisions, Weimei Holography established the Meta-universe Division, promoted the layout of the VR/AR/XR industry, and successfully squeezed into the meta-universe fast lane due to the research and development of the underlying holographic technology of the meta-universe.
Samsung launches DREAMGROUND, an AR playground that immerses visitors in a one-of-a-kind digital environment
Recently, Samsung launched a new generation of playground Dreamground, which combines realistic architecture with AR technology to allow visitors to immerse themselves in a unique digital environment. Here, visitors can use their smartphone devices to explore artwork enhanced by AR visuals, floating entrances to other worlds, various screen animations, and more.
Xiaomi's stake in domestic VR/AR veteran companies became popular
According to the news, Beijing Popular Qitian International Culture and Technology Development Group Co., Ltd. has undergone industrial and commercial changes, adding Xiaomi affiliates Hanxing Venture Capital Co., Ltd., Tianjin Lenovo Haihe Intelligent Technology Industry Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Intel Asia Pacific R&D Co., Ltd., etc. as shareholders, while the company's registered capital has increased from 66.6297 million yuan to 75.7461 million yuan.
SoftBank invested $150 million in the layout of the metacosm, a South Korean metacosm platform, Zepeto
South Korean meta-universe platform Zepeto has reportedly received a $150 million investment from Japan's SoftBank Group. SoftBank's investment is part of a Series B funding round that has valued Zepeto's metacostem platform to more than $1 billion.
Alibaba bet that metacosmity is the entire Internet on VR/AR glasses
Alibaba not only established Hangzhou Digital Technology Co., Ltd. to lay out the field of VR equipment hardware; Dharma Academy added two laboratories, "Operating System Lab" and "XR Lab". Recently, Alibaba Artificial Intelligence Lab launched holographic space BIM products, the data shows that holographic space BIM production is a set of algorithm-based BIM products, this set of products include holographic space BIM construction algorithm, site safety management, digital twin city and other products. Holographic space provides a model capability of 1:1 restoration of the real world of the physical world, through the three-dimensional visual algorithm and spatial computing capabilities and other AI technology to establish a virtual space, can be based on the scene superimposed various spatial information and services, such as space name, commodity information, ordering tour, etc., to achieve digital management of physical space, suitable for construction real estate, new retail e-commerce, cultural tourism and other industries. Alibaba's holographic space has many advantages, high precision, fast speed, low cost, self-research and controllable technology, and can be applied in various application scenarios such as holographic exhibition halls, digital stores, real estate visualization, and smart parks.
Everbright Securities believes that AR glasses currently have a clear and foreseeable demand at the B-end, and have the potential to become the next generation of large-scale terminals. In the future, with the entry of large players Apple glasses, and after another 2-3 years of market cultivation period, AR glasses are expected to become essential productivity tools of the same magnitude as mobile phones and laptops.
Essence Securities also pointed out that the AR development stage is later than VR2-3 years, the current best technology path has locked in the Micro LED + optical waveguide, and the future is expected to drive the rapid growth of the industrial chain after the advent of a new generation of hardware such as Apple and Google.
With the arrival of the "meta-universe" boom, Meta's urgency for the meta-universe, the giants at home and abroad have seized the AR meta-universe track, they have their own advantages in the AR field, who can "win" or unknown, who can catch up with this "meta-universe" car and win the first place?