QPORIT

On Tuesday, Oct 11, META will be holding its annual CONNECT event. 

META currently has the most popular XR headset, the QUEST 2, with an estimated 15M sold. Meta is also currently one of the heaviest (perhaps THE heaviest) investor in software.

To watch the event live go to

https://metaconnect.com/en-us/

Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote begins at 10 AM PT (1 PM NY; 6 PM UK; 7 PM France) Carmack will also be speaking, later. And there will be other talks about XR throughout the day.

The event will be live streamed, and can be watched, as usual, on a computer or mobile device. However, more interesting, is that it is possible to watch the keynote in XR in the Quest 2 (US only I think). You can register at the URL above. Be sure to register if you want to watch in XR. Instructions for preparing the Quest 2 to be ready can be found at:

https://www.oculus.com/connect/

META is expected to launch a new high-end HMD capable of Augmented and Mixed Reality, with a higher resolution than the Quest 2. It is designed especially for devoted gamers and for developers making the business applications that will make XR commercially important.

META, of course, obviously, brands their efforts as: developing the “Metaverse”, and MZ is likely to talk to talk about that.

The current status (briefly!) of XR is that the resolution and comfort and price of headsets,  and the quality and quantity of software is close to, but not quite enough, to create a tipping point to XR becoming the next platform (following Mobile << desktop << mini-computer << mainframe << calculator << slide rule).

The current decline in stock prices, change of policies by iPhone, and looming possibility of a recession, have impacted the near-term rate of progress in XR. META is having issues (see the NYT Business article on META on Monday 10/10). MS is having issues with its Hololens Mixed Reality Team. Google is doing little, except in AI.

There are new challenges (to META) coming, (and new opportunities for XR) with headsets likely coming next year from SONY and APPLE and, probably, from Chinese companies like picoxr, which just launched a Quest2 competitor in Europe.

Meanwhile, Meta & Qualcomm announced a partnership to develop custom chips for XR. There is a conference coming soon (Oct 13) on webXR production (https://webxr.events/event/webxr-production-summit/). And…  NVIDIA recently talked (at GTC – an AI conference) about their hardware and software development (note: this link might expire):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWcNlRI00j

So, to be at the front of the line for new information, 

check out META CONNECT on 10/11.

https://metaconnect.com/en-us/

Labels: eXtended Reality, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Meta Connect 2022, NVIDIA, picoxr, webXR, XR

# posted by QPORIT @ 6:08 PM