Facebook To Sell Virtual Reality Headset

In what could be seen as a real gift of innovation for Virtual Reality lovers from the house of Facebook, the social media networking giant will soon launch a new virtual reality headset that won’t require a separate computer to operate.

Taking the podium at a conference for virtual reality developers in America, Facebook’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the new headset, which is called Oculus Go, will allow more mobile uses than the company's existing Oculus Rift product.

Priced at $199, Oculus Go will be shipped early next year, too late for this year's holiday season but likely to stay ahead of rivals.

The new product is being pitched much simpler that Facebook’s Rift, which went live last year, or even the Vive system made by HTC Corp. Both of those headsets require the help of desktop computers to function.
According to Super Data research, HTC is expected to ship 305,000 Vive systems this year, while Facebook is expected to ship 213,000 Rift systems.

Talking about Oculus Go in an interview, Mike Schroepfer, Facebook's chief technology officer said, "The Oculus Go has potential to be a huge driver of growth” for the company.

He further added, "I think you're going to see these a lot on airplanes, because it's way better than the back-of-the-seat monitor or my phone.”

Schroepfer also revealed that Oculus Go is especially meant for people who do not own a Samsung smartphone. Oculus and Samsung Electronics already sell the Gear VR, which when paired with certain Samsung smartphones is similar to Oculus Go.
Taking into account the new entry in the market, Facebook has also decided to permanently reduce the price of the Rift system to $399 from $499.
Facebook bought Palmer Freeman Luckey’s Oculus VR for a whopping $2 billion in 2014.

Back then, Mark Zuckerberg explained that he decided to buy the 21 year old's company as he saw Oculus Rift something far grander than a mere entertainment device. He wrote at that time, "Imagine enjoying a court-side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face—just by putting on goggles in your home."

For the uninitiated, Virtual reality is currently one of the hottest talks of the town. The technology, which has the potential of becoming a major aspect of future technology, offers its users a three-dimensional, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by the person. The person becomes a part of this virtual world or is immersed within this environment for a brief period of time and, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions whilst there.

Seeing the attention Virtual reality is garnering all around the world, a number of companies have invested their time and money in the technology and Facebook is one of the front runners in the race.

Besides slashing prices and introducing new VR products, Facebook is also currently developing a software called Facebook Spaces, which will allow friends to meet in virtual rooms. The company also plans on integrating live video soon with the software.

This development was first reported by Reuters.

[Image: Recode]

Oculus Founder's New Startup Aims To Build A Virtual Border Wall

Does the name Palmer Freeman Luckey ring a bell?

Yes, we're talking about the very same young visionary from America's Silicon Valley who gained worldwide success and a fat cheque overnight right about three years ago when he decided to sell his first company, Oculus VR that was into manufacturing virtual-reality gear, to social networking giant Facebook for a whopping $2 billion.

Back then, Mark Zuckerberg explained that he decided to buy the 21 year old's company as he saw Oculus Rift something far grander than a mere entertainment device. He wrote at that time, "Imagine enjoying a court-side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face—just by putting on goggles in your home."

Everything was working out beautifully for Oculus VR and Luckey till the start of this year. The success story hit a major road bump this year when Luckey was pressurised into resigning Facebook months after news hit the stands that he had secretly made monetary contributions to an organisation that worked towards spreading anti-Hillary Clinton internet memes during the much-intense US election period, which finally saw Donald Trump emerging victorious.

[caption id="attachment_117493" align="alignnone" width="700"] Palmer Freeman Luckey[/caption]


When the reports emerged, Luckey though didn't entirely accept or deny the claims being made in the reports but he did slam the inaccuracies in those news pieces. However, the damage had already been done and the whole of the American tech industry, which has somewhere openly expressed its displeasure with Donald Trump becoming the US President, turned their back against him.

Since the whole pro-Trump meme scandal broke out, Luckey went into exile and remained out of public domain for sometime. But now he is back. And he is back with something new and amazing, according to him.

Luckey is currently working on a new defence-related startup that will be developing surveillance technology that could be deployed on borders between countries and around military bases. According to a New York Times report, the investment fund run by Peter Thiel, a technology adviser to Trump, has decided to support the initiative.

Not only is Luckey back to the tech scene doing what he does best, he is now also sharing his political views on social media. According to Federal Election Commission records, he has also contributed $100,000 to Trump's inauguration, through one of his companies.

Luckey's new defence-related startup is said to based out of Southern California and is being self-financed by Luckey for now.

According to the NYT report, people familiar with the startup and technology have revealed that it can be used for many kinds of perimeter security, including military bases and stadium events, where it could be used to detect drones. The software would allow the system to figure out themes which objects to ignore, like birds etc.

Since the project is still confidential, when will the startup see the daylight is still unknown.

Oculus Founder's New Startup Aims To Build A Virtual Border Wall

Does the name Palmer Freeman Luckey ring a bell?

Yes, we're talking about the very same young visionary from America's Silicon Valley who gained worldwide success and a fat cheque overnight right about three years ago when he decided to sell his first company, Oculus VR that was into manufacturing virtual-reality gear, to social networking giant Facebook for a whopping $2 billion.

Back then, Mark Zuckerberg explained that he decided to buy the 21 year old's company as he saw Oculus Rift something far grander than a mere entertainment device. He wrote at that time, "Imagine enjoying a court-side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face—just by putting on goggles in your home."

Everything was working out beautifully for Oculus VR and Luckey till the start of this year. The success story hit a major road bump this year when Luckey was pressurised into resigning Facebook months after news hit the stands that he had secretly made monetary contributions to an organisation that worked towards spreading anti-Hillary Clinton internet memes during the much-intense US election period, which finally saw Donald Trump emerging victorious.

[caption id="attachment_117493" align="alignnone" width="700"] Palmer Freeman Luckey[/caption]


When the reports emerged, Luckey though didn't entirely accept or deny the claims being made in the reports but he did slam the inaccuracies in those news pieces. However, the damage had already been done and the whole of the American tech industry, which has somewhere openly expressed its displeasure with Donald Trump becoming the US President, turned their back against him.

Since the whole pro-Trump meme scandal broke out, Luckey went into exile and remained out of public domain for sometime. But now he is back. And he is back with something new and amazing, according to him.

Luckey is currently working on a new defence-related startup that will be developing surveillance technology that could be deployed on borders between countries and around military bases. According to a New York Times report, the investment fund run by Peter Thiel, a technology adviser to Trump, has decided to support the initiative.

Not only is Luckey back to the tech scene doing what he does best, he is now also sharing his political views on social media. According to Federal Election Commission records, he has also contributed $100,000 to Trump's inauguration, through one of his companies.

Luckey's new defence-related startup is said to based out of Southern California and is being self-financed by Luckey for now.

According to the NYT report, people familiar with the startup and technology have revealed that it can be used for many kinds of perimeter security, including military bases and stadium events, where it could be used to detect drones. The software would allow the system to figure out themes which objects to ignore, like birds etc.

Since the project is still confidential, when will the startup see the daylight is still unknown.

This VR Startup Facebook Acquired for $2 Billion is Facing Complete Shutdown

Oculus, a $2 billion acquisition that Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook made almost three years ago, has landed the global giant in a huge mess now. A while ago, popular video game publisher ZeniMax, which is best known in the market as the owner of Fallout and Skyrim developer Bethesda Softworks, filed a lawsuit against Oculus accusing it of using copyrighted ZeniMax technology without permission.

In the lawsuit, ZeniMax had accused that Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of the company, stole trade secrets from ZeniMax to build the company’s signature product, the Oculus Rift. It also accused video game design legend and former employee, John Carmack, of stealing trade secrets. ZeniMax argued in the court that Luckey didn't even have the skills and brains to design the Rift. The lawsuit was dragged on for quite a bit with shocking revelations and accusations being made by both the companies against each other. At one point, even Mark Zuckerberg was dragged into the case. One of the most shocking turning point in the case came when Carmack admitted to stealing code and documents from ZeniMax on his way out of the company.

Towards the end, the jury ruled that even though Oculus didn’t steal any trade secrets but its founders had surely violated a non-disclosure agreement and also was guilty of “false designation." On the whole, Oculus is on the hook for a whopping $300 million, Luckey for $50 million, and co-founder Brendan Iribe is on the hook for $150 million.

Experts claim that even though the amounts of this judgement are most likely to be reduced on appeal, but trouble is still not over for Oculus.

ZeniMax is now seeking an injunction to block sales of any product that make uses of their technology. It is important to note here that the technology has already been widely distributed to developers who were working on several games for Oculus products, and notably the most popular Oculus Rift. If and when the injunction is granted by the court, it will result in limiting the games available for the Rift to only a few, which could really burn a huge hole in the sales of a company whose sales figure are already on a downwards trend.

Now the main question is, whether Oculus will be able to survive the $500 million judgment and the injunction if it is granted. The word in the market is that ZeniMax is putting its pressure on forcing a settlement and ending Oculus and its founders appeal process as early as possible. Whatever may be the case, the road ahead for Oculus doesn't look so smooth either way.