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Monday, September 22nd, 2014

Science Fiction a Step Closer as Oculus Virtual Reality Headsets Near Release

Author:     TIM BRADSHAW
Source:     Financial Times (U.K.)
Publication Date:     September 21, 2014 6:30 pm
 Link: Science Fiction a Step Closer as Oculus Virtual Reality Headsets Near Release
Stephan:   Two trends I believe are conjoining to produce a meta-trend. The decline of air travel for climate reasons, and increased fuel costs; and the increasing sophistication of virtual reality which will allow us to move the locus of our consciousness while remaining physically in place. Here is the latest. I think it will evolve into biology and we will be able to jack in to an avatar. Full sensorium.
Reuters

Reuters

Oculus is closing in on the consumer release of its Rift virtual reality headset, accelerated by an aggressive hiring spree since the company was acquired by Facebook for $2bn in March.

It showed off its new ‘Crescent Bay” prototype at Connect, its first developer conference held in Los Angeles on Saturday. With improved display, motion tracking and audio features that chief executive Brendan Iribe said brings the Rift headset “much closer” to a finished product that can be sold at retailers.

Although Oculus has set no deadline, the Rift is expected to go on sale in 2015, after selling about 130,000 of its $350 development kits over the past two years.

In early September, Samsung unveiled its Gear VR headset, a collaboration with Oculus that will soon enable users to have a cinematic VR experience.

As it becomes more confident about solving some of the initial technical challenges of virtual reality, Oculus is now looking to rally developers to create a “killer app” that will drive sales.

Oculus hopes to take VR technology beyond the video games for which the technology is best known and into much more […]

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