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Today's news at a glance
• Heart-pierced? Zuckerberg called the Vision Pro too expensive and boring
• Not 120Hz! Apple official: Vision Pro refresh rate of 90Hz
• Luo Yonghao has stepped down as a director of VR company Sosi Technology
Apple's new Vision framework tracks the tail ears of dogs and cats
• Japanese VR company BiPSEE receives new funding to advance treatment of depression in VR
Apple developed Spatial Personas to add a real human touch to the Vision Pro
• Meta Quest introduces a virtual keyboard for gestures based on spatial anchors
• Kopin has made breakthroughs in AR display research and development
VR MEDICAL COMPANY AVATAR MEDICAL'S VR SURGICAL VISUALIZATION SOLUTION WAS FDA CERTIFIED
• A VR version of the classic quiz game Trivia Crack is in development
01
Pierced the heart? Zuckerberg called the Vision Pro too expensive and boring
According to UploadVR on June 8, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke to his employees this week about Apple's Vision Pro headset.
According to the leaked recording, Zuckerberg said: "I don't think Vision Pro is an interesting product, it's a PC-based VR headset that needs to be connected to a Mac computer to use, which means that not only is it very expensive, but it's also very inconvenient." ”
Zuckerberg went on to say that there is a "real difference" between Apple and his AR/VR vision. He claimed that Meta wanted to provide a "basic social" headset at a price that most people could afford, while also enabling social activities and collaboration, while Apple's promotional video promoted "a person sitting alone on the couch." He acknowledged that Apple's approach "could be a vision for the future of computing," but said "it's not what I want."
02
Not 120Hz! Apple official: Vision Pro refresh rate of 90Hz
As early as April this year, industry insiders analyzed that Apple's first headset will have a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. However, according to news on June 9, Apple has confirmed that the display in its new Vision Pro mixed reality headset usually maintains 90Hz, not the rumored 120Hz, and the 90Hz refresh rate is standard on VR devices such as Meta Quest, PlayStation VR 2 and Valve Index.
Apple says the Vision Pro is 90Hz "most of the time" because it also has a 96Hz mode that activates automatically when users watch 24Hz content, including most movies and TV shows. Under this condition, the problem of picture shaking when the frame rate is insufficient will be effectively solved.
It is understood that other impressive features of this headset include its M2 processor and R1 chip, the latter of which is specifically designed to process sensor input to create a more comfortable pass-through experience. The Vision Pro's functionality is basically equivalent to the 8K MacBook strapped to the user's face, but it is reported that the current price of $3499 is still high for the average consumer.
03
Luo Yonghao has stepped down as a director of VR company Sosi Technology
Luo Yonghao, the former founder of Hammer Technology, has recently had a new trend after founding the AR company Thin Red Line Technology last year. According to the enterprise information inquiry platform Tianyancha on June 8, Luo Yonghao has stepped down as a director of Beijing Sosi Information Technology Co., Ltd. and has no position or shareholding. The company is a company focused on VR technology and game development, and its masterpiece is a cute multiplayer battle game "Animal Party".
It is reported that Sosi Technology was established in August 2016, the legal representative is Luo Zixiong, and the registered capital is about 1.04 million yuan. The company was originally a VR project incubated by Hammer Technology, mainly engaged in the technology development and promotion services of the VR/AR industry, the production of HMD head-mounted displays, and later transformed into a game developer.
Luo Yonghao used to be the company's majority shareholder and director, but after announcing the debt repayment in June last year, he began a new round of entrepreneurship, focusing on AR technology companies.
04
Apple's new Vision framework tracks the tail ears of dogs and cats
Would reality really be complete without our beloved cats and dogs? Of course not. According to June 8, Apple's new version of the Vision framework provides developers with a series of computer vision tools for iOS and iPad applications, which have the ability to identify and track the location of dogs and cat bones.
At Apple's annual WWDC, the company introduced developers to the new animal tracking feature in the Vision development tool, explaining that the system can process video and photos in real time. The system is also capable of tracking the position of the animal's bones, providing developers with six trackable "joint groups" that collectively describe the location of the animal's body.
The groups of joints tracked include ears in the head, eyes, nose, front legs, and even tail and ears. That said, the system even has "tail tracking" and "ear tracking" features, so the user's dog's waggy tail and fluffy ears are not missed.
05
Japanese VR company BiPSEE receives new financing to advance VR depression treatment
BiPSEE is a Japanese virtual reality (VR) medical company focused on developing VR-based treatment options for depression. According to Japanese media news on June 7, recently, the company announced a new round of financing, and the funds obtained will accelerate the development of a new treatment method "VR digital therapy", using VR and smartphone apps to treat mental illness, mainly depression.
It is understood that depression affects 5 million people in Japan and 300 million people worldwide, but antidepressant treatment alone is often not enough, so new treatments are constantly being explored. BiPSEE aims to develop a more effective treatment for patients with a high tendency to ruminate who repeatedly think about negative emotions and things, and antidepressants are said to have difficulty responding to them, and the company has found an effective coping with it in "VR digital therapy".
Currently, the company is collaborating with Kochi University to conduct exploratory studies on patients to confirm its medical use.
06
Apple developed Spatial Personas to add a real human touch to the Vision Pro
Apple officially unveiled the Vision Pro headset at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), a device that scans users' faces and uses advanced machine learning to create realistic "avatars" for them to use in video calls. In future visionOS updates, these avatars will become more realistic.
Apple says it's working on a new avatar, Spatial Personas, that would allow Vision Pro users to "get rid of the familiar FaceTime box and have more realism as if they were clustered in the same physical space." "Spatial Personas" will have a transparent background and be able to display more movements and body language for a more vivid experience, and this avatar will also be used for FaceTime calls, including SharePlay sessions.
Apple said a developer preview of Spatial Personas will be available later this year, but did not say when the feature will be publicly available.
07
Meta Quest introduces a virtual keyboard for gestures based on spatial anchors
News on June 9, Meta Quest launched a gesture virtual keyboard mode based on spatial anchors for developers, allowing users to enter text with gestures without the need for a physical keyboard.
The gesture virtual keyboard mode can bring more interactive possibilities to the Meta Quest, such as direct touch typing and swipe typing with both hands, which will make typing in VR faster than ever before. This model can also provide developers with more creative space, such as designing virtual keyboards with different styles and layouts, or combining features such as speech recognition and handwriting recognition.
Meta Quest said that the gesture virtual keyboard mode currently only supports English input, but will support more languages and symbols in the future. The mode is currently available on Unity as part of the Integration SDK, and developers can access more information and tutorials through the Meta Developer website.
08
Kopin has made breakthroughs in AR display research and development
Kopin is a professional AR display developer and supplier, whose products are widely used in military, medical, industrial and other fields. According to foreign media news on June 7, Kopin recently announced that the development of its ultra-bright 2K x 2K monochrome MicroLED display has achieved an important milestone.
According to Kopin, Kopin's 1-inch diagonal 2K x 2K MicroLED display (2048 x 2048 resolution) has been developed to support high-performance defense and AR applications. Initial production validation samples using Kopin's proprietary backplane and drive technology have reached brightness levels of over 2.8 million nits, and production display brightness is expected to increase to between 3.2-3.5 million nits.
Bill Maffucci, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategy, Kopin, said: "We believe that the 2K x 2K MicroLED we are developing is the highest resolution LED microdisplay ever developed, incorporating several proprietary design features that overcome challenges that previously limited the use of the technology. We are very satisfied with our preliminary test results and look forward to completing the development of this display and putting it into production." ”
09
VR MEDICAL COMPANY AVATAR MEDICAL'S VR SURGICAL VISUALIZATION SOLUTION IS FDA CERTIFIED
AVATAR MEDICAL is a medical technology company focusing on VR surgical visualization solutions, its products can convert patients' MRI, CT and other medical images into 3D virtual models, helping surgeons with preoperative planning, training, patient communication, etc. According to foreign media on June 6, the company announced that its VR surgical visualization solution has obtained 510 (k) certification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means that the solution can be legally sold and used in the US market.
In addition, the program can be used for the training and education of surgeons, improving their understanding and memory of anatomy and surgical procedures. At the same time, the program can also be used to communicate and educate patients, increasing their confidence and satisfaction with the surgical process and results.
Xavier Wartelle, CEO of AVATAR MEDICAL, said: "The FDA has received tremendous positive feedback from surgeons over the past 3 years, and the FDA approval is an important milestone in putting our VR solution into their hands to care for patients. ”
10
A VR version of the classic quiz game Trivia Crack is in development
Trivia Crack is a well-known quiz game that allows players to test their common sense and learn fantastic knowledge about the world. The game has been downloaded over 600 million times on mobile platforms and is loved by players around the world. Recently, Etermax Game Studios announced that it will launch a VR version of Trivia Crack, allowing players to experience richer and more interesting gameplay in virtual reality.
"Our goal is to encourage social interaction through immersive experiences that bring the spirit of quizzes and board games into the metaverse, as we have done with multiple platforms and technologies over the past decade," the company said in an official press release. ”
Trivia Crack VR will be available on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro headsets by the end of 2023.
Text/R Star People (Pictures not marked in the text are from the Internet)
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