GOOG Archives - VR World

Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Business, News, Smart Home, Smartphones, VR World

“IKEA Place” AR App Now Shows How Your KIVIK looks in the Daylight

Swedish-based furniture manufacturer IKEA is known for not just designing and manufacturing assemble-it-yourself furniture, but for being the pioneer of its kind by letting technology inform its business. According to Wired.com, there is a new app called Ikea Place that’s not just bringing Swedish shelves and tables to life in your living room, but also lets you put your sofa on the street if you feel like doing it. Previously, IKEA already had released a Catalog app with a similar 3D visualization tool, but the user interface was tiny and it required the physical paper catalog for it to work properly. “IKEA Place makes it

Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Business, CPU, Exclusive, Hardware, Intel, Mobile Computing, News, Wearables

Intel Dismisses IoT for Augmented and Virtual Reality

The IoT community recently looked in disbelief as Intel started to dismantle its IoT efforts – the amount of emails we received is quite surprising, as we’re not exactly a logical place to go for IoT information. However, Intel terminated the business division that was developing wearable devices such as fitness trackers, digital clothing, baby monitors, etc. It also EOL-ed (End-of-Life) numerous IoT products with the notable exception of Curie, which is quite popular. There’s a clear reason why, and it can be found in recent ‘resurrection’ of Google Glass in ‘Enterprise Edition’, as well as wanting to react to popular products from Vuzix and ODG (Osterhaut

Android, Business, Cloud Computing, Facebook, Google, Internet, iOS, Mobile, Mobile Computing, Social Media, Software Programs, startups, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

Instagram’s Kevin Systrom Talks Virtual Reality

Kevin Systrom, co-founder and CEO of Instagram recently talked about Virtual Reality and working with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook in Bloomberg’s Studio 1.0. Instagram story started on Stanford University where Systrom was studying, and Facebook gave him an job offer. Kevin didn’t want to drop out of school, so he passed on the opportunity. During the college years, he got his first taste of the startup world after being chosen as one of twelve students to participate in the prestigious Mayfield Fellows Program. The fellowship led to his internship at Odeo, the company that eventually gave rise to Twitter. After graduating Stanford, he joined Google as an ‘Associate

Android, Gaming, Google, News

Google Pixel Launched – Pixel XL is 30% Slower than iPhone 7

As widely expected Google announced the Pixel and Pixel XL, its first purely self-branded smartphones. They represent an attempt to put all of the power of its services in one sleek package, carrying nothing but Pixel branding on them. While perhaps not remarkable by themselves, the phones are part of Google’s big push into consumer hardware today which also includes Google Home, Google Wi-Fi, Daydream View, and more. Pixel phones (should we call them Pixels? Ed.) come with five main points for these phones: Google Assistant, Photography, Google Photos, Communications, and Virtual Reality. They have assistant built in, hardware optimizations for a great camera experience (DXOMark record broken!), they back up your photos

Breaking, Business, News, startups, Virtual Reality (VR)

Matterport joins Virtual Reality with CoreVR

Matterport, the company which got famous because their low-cost 3D Scanner that allows anyone to quickly and easily produce a realistic 3D model today announced the launch of CoreVR. This feature technology is a simple option to add VR support to any Matterport 3D Space, and that allows it to be one of the biggest, quickest, least expensive and easiest end-to-end system for delivering a VR experience of real-world space. With the launch of CoreVR, Matterport will enable CoreVR option for over 250,000 existing Matterport 3D Spaces free of charge and will continue to enable the CoreVR option for free for any 3D Space created through

Android, Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Event, Gaming, Google, Mobile, Mobile Computing, News, Operating Systems, Smartphones, Software Programs, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World, Wearables

Google Limits Publishing Daydream Apps and Games

Google Daydream VR platform is set to launch in fall 2016, but only a select group of developers will be able to publish Daydream apps. Google Play store is limiting access until some point in 2017. While any Android developer can submit Cardboard applications to the Google Play store, Google decided to limit Daydream apps releases. Only developers are accepted into the Daydream Access Program (DAP) will be allowed to publish apps starting with October 4th, the day of Daydream launch. Everyone else will be allowed to publish apps “early next year.” Developers can apply now to join the DAP. The application form consists of some basic information gathering,

Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Business, Gaming, Google, Mobile, News, Smartphones, startups, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

Unity Rolls Google Daydream VR Support Ahead of Launch

One of the leading platforms for software development added improved support for Google’s upcoming Daydream VR platform. The new Google VR SDK 1.0 makes certain VR development tasks easier, so the developers can focus on building the main features of their VR applications and games. Google said that it has partnered with Unity and Epic Games, creators of two of the most popular third-party gaming engines, so developers can use the game-building tools they already know well. The company has updated its VR development site as well, where developers can read all the documentation for the new VR platform, and see sample applications and tutorials. “Unity’s native support for

Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Business, Entertainment, Facebook, Game Developer Conference (GDC), Google, Hardware, Microsoft, News, Samsung, startups, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables, Wearables

Did Seebright Just Launch Google Cardboard for AR?

Augmented Reality, also called Mixed Reality (MR, MxR) is set to represent a very large part of our lives. Even today, if you own a car with a heads-up display (HUD), you are a user of Augmented Reality. Still, the development of AR applications is extremely difficult due to high barrier of entry. Unlike the VR, where you can purchase an Open Source VR Hacker 1.4 headset (OSVR) for just $299.99 – AR headsets can set you back for thousands of dollars. Case in point is Microsoft’s HoloLens, where a development kit will set you back for $3000. Osterhaut Design Group sells their R-7 glasses for $2799.99. Thus,

Android, Breaking, Gaming, Google, Hardware, News, Nvidia, VR World

Nvidia Shield Update Adds 4K60, HDR Support – VR Next?

Nvidia SHIELD Android TV console is perhaps the best Android TV device on the market. Ever since its launch a year ago, this Tegra X1-based device gained over 10 upgrades with improvement in specifications and features. With the Google I/O 2016 conference taking place at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA, Nvidia wanted to make sure their announcements reflect on the strength of Android ecosystem and its capabilities. The Software Upgrade 3.2 brings the support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) TV devices, which are coming to the market later this year. It also now supports YouTube 4K at 60 fps / Hz, which was not the case in the

Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Event, Gaming, Google, Mobile, News, Smartphones, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

Meet Daydream, Google’s Mobile VR Platform

When Google launched the Cardboard VR project on I/O 2014, the company wanted to make sure that VR is not a passing thing, like the ill-fated Google Glass project ended up being. Cardboard VR turned to be an utter success story, with over five million units shipped to the customers worldwide. That number is even greater if you calculate the number of homemade cardboard devices. After all, over 50 million application downloads speak for itself. Couple of months ago, Google announced they’re working on Android for VR and that day is here. During its I/O 2016 keynote speech, Clay Bavor, VP Google and head of Virtual Reality introduced Daydream, a VR initiative

Breaking, Entertainment, Google, News

Graffiti VR Experience Paints the Future of Art & Entertainment

There are countries in the world where painting graffiti outside designated areas will get you in serious trouble. Yet, this urban art form has its numerous fans across the globe. In the exact opposite case of Singapore, where caning and jail sentence are a possibility, Croatia renamed the railway bridge into ‘Hendrix Bridge’, based on the graffiti that enthusiasts drew on the middle of the bridge, some 25 maters / 60 feet above the river. Thanks to King Spray, all graffiti enthusiasts will now get a chance to test their skills in the safety and creativity of Virtual Reality. Graffiti Simulator launches next week on Steam and takes the

Analysis, Apple, Companies, Google

Google surpasses Apple as world’s most Valued Company

Google, or Alphabet as its parent company, raked in a nice $21.3 billion in total sales and adjusted profits of $8.67 for its every Class A share. With total sales up 18 percent over the previous year, the company’s revenue/earnings are looking rather impressive overall. For Alphabet, there were several key areas in where the company grew its value and revenue. The advertising rose by 17 percent compared to the same period the year before, giving the company a nice revenue bump during that period. Immediately after the announcement, shares rose 1.22 percent to hit $752 per share in normal trading resulting in a market capitalization of

Breaking, Entertainment, Google, Hardware, News, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

Google Ships Five Million Cardboard VR Sets

Interest in any emerging technology can only be measured with tangible sales results. While Oculus, HTC, Microsoft and Sony generate most of the hype and consequentially, receive most of media coverage – a lot is riding on the wave of more affordable devices. For example, there are over 100 VR manufacturers in mainland China, and even ASUS and GigaByte are preparing to introduce their own VR HMD’s created in collaboration with some of those vendors. But even these upcoming VR devices will be in the $100-200 range; too high-end for mass, multi-dozen-million sales. We reported recently that Lenovo India sold 10,000 Phone + VR Headset kits in less than one

Analysis, Business, Facebook, Global Politics, Google, News, Social Media, VR World

Earth vs. Social: Facebook is the Largest Nation in the World

Facebook often claims they are the largest social network in the world. Even though there are many non-humans on the list (pets), the undeniable fact is that Facebook has more people using its services than there are people living in China. If we would extrapolate the numbers of social media users and real world countries, we would get quite an interesting list. Thus, we decided to compile data from Wikipedia, showing the list of citizens in largest countries in the world, and an August 2015 report from We Are Social, a British-based analyst firm which focuses on tracking trends in the world of social media. The results

Amazon, Apple, Breaking, Business, Exclusive, Google, Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Computing, News, Smartphones, Tablets

Microsoft to Offer Data Plans, Mobile Service

MVNO or Mobile Virtual Network Operator is becoming a thing of fashion among IT giants, and could start to slowly squeeze conventional telecom operators, especially among the early adopters. Among the traditional IT names, IBM was the first that ran its own MVNO that was accessible to non-employees (back in 1990s, you could subscribe to IBM’s modem service and use it globally), but that was not widely adopted until Amazon launched its Kindle tablet, which used Qualcomm’s MVNO, and later replaced it with an in-house, SIM-free architecture for Kindle devices more known as the Whispernet. As Google seeked a path to grow, the company decided to become a fully fledged

VR World

Vevo Decouples from YouTube and Launches Independent Apps

VEVO is mostly known as a YouTube channel that receives over 12 billion views each month (and that’s without all the Facebook freeloaded / pirated videos), carrying over 150,000 music videos. However, what is typically not known to the general public is that Vevo is not a part of YouTube. In fact, the channel is owned by Vevo, Inc., a joint venture of Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group with Abu Dhabi Media and Google itself. Originally, Vevo was funding itself through advertisements before and during its music videos, but the company faced Google’s decision to launch YouTube Music App, and subscription service which technically,

Companies, Internet of Things (IoT), Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Computing, Tablets, VR World

Microsoft Surface Book Revealed; All Prices Inside

The cat is out of the bag – with Microsoft Surface Book laptop announcement finally confirms the ‘convertible’ format, for which Intel was ridiculed couple of years ago, mostly with poor executions by Acer and ASUS. Not anymore. Finally, there is a Surface with a keyboard that ‘converts’ into a full fledged laptop. While the software juggernaut designed and manufactured hardware field for ages, this in all its right – might be the best hardware that ever came from Redmond. This is the first ‘laptop’ ever built by Microsoft. Surface Book comes with a detachable keyboard ‘with a kick’, allowing better user experience. There are two processor options will

Companies, Google, VR World

Google Takes On Surface And iPad Pro With 10.2-inch Android-Powered Pixel C

Since its introduction in 2012, Google’s reference Nexus tablet grew in (screen) size and features. 2012-2013 saw 7″ and 10″ models, Nexus 9 debuted in late 2014 and now, we are seeing Google reserving the ‘Nexus’ brand for smartphones only. The new reference tablet from Google is named Pixel C; a 10.2 inch, high-resolution (308 pixels-per-inch) tablet runs the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. Just like Microsoft and Apple before, Pixel C comes in a tablet + keyboard layout, which is the new industry standard for ‘productivity tablets’. This combination should makes typing and daily work easier, faster and more task oriented, but also enhance the

Android, Google, News, Operating Systems, Software Programs, VR World, Wearables

Google Officially Names Android M as Marshmallow

For as long as this operating system existed, it was either codenamed or officially named for candies. Thus, it is no surprise that Google is yet again going for the sugar candy name for the Android 6.0, which is scheduled to debut soon. Called Marshmallow, it will feature the next step in the evolution of the mobile system, designed to provide speed, ease of use and advanced features for the users. “Whether you like them straight out of the bag, roasted to a golden brown exterior with a molten center, or in fluff form, who doesn’t like marshmallows? We definitely like them! Since the launch of the M Developer

Breaking, Business, Companies, Facebook, Google, Internet, News

Google is No More, Meet the Alphabet

‘Corporate restructuring’ is a term reserved typically for downsizing the company, selling or ‘spinning off’ corporate assets etc. However, when it comes to Google, something out of the blue happened – company leaders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced the birth of a new company, which will now own Google and all of its subsidiaries, as well as couple other companies. The duo announced the new company, called Alphabet (Alpha-bet meaning ‘the return for investor benchmark’) after the stock market closed. We suspect that the .xyz domain is going to become very popular for ‘follow the leader’ culture in Silicon Valley. As Larry wrote; “We did a lot of things that seemed crazy at