Lenovo this week announced that it is launching Lenovo Virtual Reality Classroom, a comprehensive VR educational system that leverages the company’s upcoming Mirage Solo headset. The move appears to mark a significant attempt by the company to make transformative inroads into educational markets. Available in the U.S. starting this April, with a fall launch slated for Canada, the Virtual Reality Classroom package includes: Lenovo Mirage Solo VR headsets; high-performance, pre-configured routing hardware; specialized content; a Lenovo tablet with specialized software for teacher use; a commercial warranty; top-tier product support; and either a custom cart or case with integrated charging (based on bundle size). The platform
The most anticipated VR headsets of 2018
Although we are likely to see incremental improvements to many popular VR headsets over the next twelve months, it appears some of the biggest VR news in 2018 may be focused on entirely new headsets from popular and less prominent manufacturers alike. Following is a summary of four pending devices that we feel are the most anticipated new headsets that will be released this year. Pimax 8K Having set a new funding record on Kickstarter for a VR project, the Pimax 8K appears ever-closer to winding up on the heads of its backers. The headset — the first to provide 8K resolution — is scheduled
Plex brings big screen social experience to VR
This week, client-server media player maker Plex, Inc. announced the availability of Plex VR, an app that brings the company’s product suite to Google Daydream-enabled VR devices. As explained on the company’s blog, the new app allows users to view Plex Media Server content while immersed in a VR environment. Not only does this equate to a “big screen” viewing experience for video content, including 3D and 360/180 video, but it also brings real-time social features to the platform. Those using Plex VR can join up to three friends in a virtual, “sleek” apartment or drive-in movie theater to watch the same content in real-time,
HTC Vive Focus ships in China, may have US debut after all
Consumer electronics company HTC officially started shipping pre-ordered Vive Focus VR headsets at an event earlier this week, in what was heralded as the “world’s first on-stage in-VR customer product delivery.” The company also announced that forty pieces of VR content, including several games, are already available for the Focus. The news comes via HTC’s China Regional President of VR, Alvin Wang Graylin. The Focus is HTC’s first stand-alone headset, and is based on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor which will power Lenovo’s Mirage Solo headset announced at CES 2018. Akin to the pending Lenovo offering, HTC’s Vive Focus also offers a 6DoF technology
VR Headset Price Cuts Lead to Quarterly Sales of More Than 1 Million Units
Virtual reality has taken the world by storm in the last couple of years – except it has not. Although the excitement about its potential to become nothing short of awesome has been discussed in great detail in the press, this hasn’t translated into sales. While people will gladly pay amounts close to $1,000 for smartphones that allow them to play real money online video casino games and others as fluidly as possible, they seem to be reluctant to invest a smaller amount into VR gear that has a similar – or often smaller – price. And while it would be a bit harsh to
CES: Lenovo introduces quartet of new AR and VR technologies
Lenovo used this week’s CES in Las Vegas to highlight several aspects of their 2018 product and service lineup in the augmented reality and virtual reality spaces. These announcements spanned both consumer and commercial/industrial applications, and include the Lenovo Mirage Solo headset, Mirage Camera, C220 Smart Glasses and NBD AH Cloud 2.0. Lenovo Mirage Solo and Mirage Camera with Daydream Billed as a “new take on VR consumption and creation,” this complementary product duo is targeted primarily at consumer markets. The Mirage Solo stands as the first stand-alone headset offering that is part of Google’s Daydream platform; an ill-fated offering from HTC was announced and
Lenovo Mirage Solo VR Headset Seen In FCC Filings, Powered By Daydream
Remember when HTC canceled their plans for a Daydream headset in favor of the Vive Focus? Fortunately for Google, it looks like not everyone is splitting from the pack: Lenovo‘s VR headset is still right around the corner, and it looks like it will also be powered by Daydream. This headset is called the Lenovo Mirage Solo, and comes bundled with a standard Daydream VR controller. As revealed by FCC filings uncovered by LetsGoDigital, the Mirage Solo is thoroughly revealed as a Daydream VR headset boasting a 4000mAh battery, support for various Wi-Fi bands (including 5.8 GHz) and support for Bluetooth 5.0. Unfortunately, there’s not
Google dances away from Tango
Google has announced that they are moving on from Tango, their augmented reality platform, in favour of their newer ARCore platform. The announcement came via Twitter last Friday. “We’re turning down support for Tango on March 1, 2018,” the Tango team said in a Tweet. “Thank you to our incredible community of developers who made such progress with Tango over the last three years. We look forward to continuing the journey with you on ARCore,” they concluded. Tango’s fate appears to be largely a result of software becoming more capable. While Tango required cameras and IR sensors to locate and orient itself to objects in
Global quarterly VR headset shipments achieve new record
Uptake of virtual reality hardware continues its upward trend, according to the latest numbers from independent market analysis firm, Canalys. In a report issued Monday, the company indicated that total global shipments of VR headsets set a new milestone, exceeding one million units during the just completed 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, Sony, Oculus, and HTC continue to dominate the VR hardware marketplace, with an 86% combined market share. One driver of headset acquisitions was a temporary-turned-permanent price cut by Oculus in Q3, who matched Playstation’s VR headset price point at $399. This precedes the upcoming release of Oculus’ $199 Go standalone headset, expected next year. “VR
Five Days Later: A Hard Look at New Apple Macs
Apple’s event took place on Thursday, October 27th, 2016. We were on the live stream to see the first new hardware presented and were left wondering is the spirit of Apple, company which sparked a lot of emotions from the second return of Steve Jobs to his untimely departure. The new MacBook Pro, available in Silver and Space Gray configurations, refreshed for the first time since May 2015. It’s available with either a 13- or 15-inch display featuring a touch bar, simply called Touch Bar, replacing the row of function keys. The Touch Bar was initially evidenced by a set of product photos leaked by Apple itself ahead
Nvidia Launches VR Ready for Professionals
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen a number of companies pronouncing that their ‘Mobile First’ strategies are dead, and they’re shifting their focus to develop a ‘VR First’ mindset. Good examples are Samsung, and CryTek approaches, which should lead to an ubiquitous adoption of VR experiences such as Six Flags roller-coaster experiences or movie-becomes-a-VR-experience. With the early success of HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and many other 3rd party vendors looking to find their their place under the (virtual) Sun, content creators are turning their focus on producing content for Virtual and Mixed Reality. Almost all of the content creation is done on a PC, most notably high-end (workstation) systems. Both AMD and Nvidia developed their VR middleware geared
Lenovo Sells 10,000 VR Sets in Less than a Second
While the VR hypetrain is gearing up, the question is will the sales follow, or will VR and latter, AR land flat, just like the 3D hype-train ended? The answer to that question is simple – market interest and actual sales results. Pre-orders for Oculus Rift showed that the demand is there, and if you want to order the Rift CV1 today, you won’t get your hands on one before July 2016. While Facebook / Oculus are not disclosing how much units they have in production, it’s hard to gauge interest. Lenovo came out with a different concept, which is tested and proven worldwide, but the
AMD’s RTG Presents its 2016 Technologies
At the recently held event in Sonoma, California, newly formed AMD spin-off gathered selected press representatives to brief them about the developments the new company is working on. With the Radeon Technologies Group spin-off, the focus should work on pushing away from politics (which lead to a lot ‘spilled digital ink’, like the R9 Nano ‘fair reviews’ affair) into technology and products. Recent hiring of Scott Wasson, founder and editor-and-chief of the Tech Report should help with the technology development and quality control. As we were not invited for the event, we will only bring you a verbatim copy of what came from Mrs. Caitlin, AMD’s Account Executive at Edelman PR Agency.
Samsung Electronics to Announce Galaxy S7 in January 2016
According to the Korean publication ET News, Samsung plans to change the product introduction cadence for their Galaxy S flagship lineup. According to sources in the supply chain, ET News claims the announcement of Samsung Galaxy S7 will come in January 2016, probably during the CES trade show in Las Vegas. The product announcement should follow with a complete turnaround in the company’s smartphone sector, by splitting Samsung’s models into Premium and Sub Premium, followed by Mainstream and Entry Level. If that sounds like a bad idea, you’re not the only one. The idea behind Samsung’s plan is a simple one. They want to attract more customers and diversify their lineup, but is
ASUS Enterprise Road to Nowhere – Whither Taiwan IT Industry?
Taiwan IT industry, for a long time the leading among all Asian nations in terms of hardware manufacturing, has had its ups and downs over the decades. Does anyone still remember FIC (First International Computer), once the world’s leading mainboard maker? Or Elitegroup as the close second, while today’s leaders, Gigabyte, ASUS and MSI were far behind? Not many do… The gigantic Formosa Plastics consortium, which owned FIC, continued down the road with VIA Technologies and HTC, showing their love for three lettered acronyms. While these two still survive, the twisted sense of marketing and PR in these companies – one of the stones around their
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Windows 10 Launching This Summer, Microsoft Details Chinese Partnerships
Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade, and will be launching this summer in 190 countries.