Welcome to Episode 6 of Reality Recap! Our video series where I run through some of the top stories in AR and VR and share some insider insight from our experts here at CrossComm — Don Shin and Yash Bangera. Watch the episode, or use the show notes below for a snapshot of the episode.
Reality Recap: Episode 6
Show Notes
Enter the ViveVerse (:25-3:41)
HTC Vive announced at the end of February that they’re officially entering the metaverse race with their own virtual space: the ViveVerse. The world includes games, apps and more and is accessible via smartphone, PC, tablet and the Vive Flow VR glasses. The idea being an open-ended universe where users can travel between worlds with one identity. Seems like a good move for the industry. Read the original article on VRScout.com.
Tech brings the war home (3:42-6:10)
Multiple immersive experiences are bringing the horrifying conflict in Ukraine into perspective across the Western World. From a Steam game that let’s you walk through a war from a civilian perspective, to immersive games and experiences from a Ukrainian producer of the 2014 Ukrainian Civil War, to AR app ReFace using their platform to educate users and drive pro-Ukrainian sentiment…we’re seeing a new era of bringing the horrors of war home. The power that radio and then TV once had now falls on VR and AR amd according to Don it's at an even more impactful scale. You can read the full article on The Washington Post.
Build a world with words (6:11-7:32)
Meta is testing an AI system to let people construct parts of their virtual worlds with just audible descriptions. It’s called Builder Bot and the idea is to lower the bar for creating personalized experiences in Horizon Worlds while also driving AI tech. It can be super broad like “let’s go to the beach” or very specific like adding clouds or music tracks. It’s not the first word-to-art AI, but it’s the first to do this in 3-D at a major scale. Don found the idea of using speech commands for subjective matter interesting, while not really art, but Yash is excited about the potential for everyday users. The original article is on The Verge.
Mozilla hands off AR/VR browser (7:33-10:01)
Mozilla retired a useful tool, Firefox Reality and passed the baton to free software consultancy Igalia. They are developing a browser using the underlying source code called Wolvic. Free and open browsers on headsets and for web AR are key tools for a free metaverse, but the guys are waiting for more information to decide on the benefit of this move. Read the original article on The Verge.
