In the second week of March, from the 9th to the 16th, more stories broke. Microsoft, AMD and Bose were all in the news for vastly different reasons, but all of these reasons were relevant to the world of VR. Or, in Bose’s case, AR. This segment, Stories You Might’ve Missed, is for news stories that broke but weren’t given articles on our site.
Let’s see what we missed.
Microsoft shows off prototype CLAW VR controller
One of the most interesting stories to break in March was the debut of the CLAW VR controller from Microsoft. In their blog post and YouTube video (embedded above), Microsoft showed off this new controller and what it should be capable of. This is possible through advanced haptic feedback, as well as a servo motor, force sensor and vibrating actuator. Using these technologies, the CLAW can simulate grasping objects or touching certain surfaces, which has some interesting potential applications.
Source: Road To VR
CTS-LABs breaks the news on AMDFLAWS
This is an interesting (and controversial) story. Similar to Meltdown and Spectre, AMDFLAWS took the world of PC hardware by storm when CTS-Labs exposed a series of vulnerabilities for AMD processors. At least…it did initially. While the flaws themselves do seem to exist, actually exploiting them seems to be beyond the grasp of most attackers.
Additionally, CTS-Labs themselves showed some suspicious behavior by not practicing responsible disclosure when sharing these problems- AMD did not receive the notice that most manufacturers/software providers do when these bugs are discovered, and because of that some are suspicious of CTS’ intentions.
We’ve linked the original page below, but rest assured: you probably won’t be affected by these flaws.
Source: AMDFLAWS
Bose working on audio-centric AR glasses
When thinking of augmented reality, have you ever thought “sound”?
Bose, a notable sound-centric manufacturer, did. Bose will be releasing a Bose AR SDK and is putting $50 million into a development fund to support developers who want to create with the Bose AR SDK. In addition to their SDK, Bose will also be releasing their own pair of AR glasses that will interface almost entirely through sound and motion.
It’s an interesting concept, to be sure. We recommend checking out The Verge’s article below to learn more.
