Posts

Posted on

Social VR Platform High Fidelity Secures $22 Million In Funding

Social VR Platform High Fidelity Secures $22 Million In Funding

As we’ve no doubt mentioned a few times before, casual and  social experiences are going to be fundamental to the growth of virtual reality. Despite whatever level of quality, people are inspired to engage with experiences they can share with their friends. First reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed via regulatory filing, social platform High Fidelity is raising $22 million in fresh investment.

High Fidelity is led by Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, so the social interaction pedigree is plain as day. Second Life is one of the most well-known Internet-based social phenomena and Rosedale is no doubt working hard to create another heavy-hitting experience. The immersion of virtual reality can deliver a second life more true to the name, transporting users into new worlds in a way non-VR just simply can not.

As the number of virtual reality users grows and more headsets make their way into the wild, social platforms like High Fidelity will be able to grow their audience and add new features. Thus, the $22 million will be useful in creating those new options while also hiring new faces to help with the growing workloads.

You can download High Fidelity’s beta right now for Windows or Mac OS X and create or explore the shared virtual worlds.

Tagged with: , , ,

Posted on

Oculus CEO Steps Down to Head PC Division, Founder Palmer Luckey to Shuffle Too

In a post to the company’s official blog, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe confirms he’ll be stepping down from the company’s top position to head the new PC VR group. Founder Palmer Luckey will also land in a new role.

mark zuckerberg brendan iribe
Brendan Iribe with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Brendan Iribe was one of Oculus founding team members back when the company formed in 2012. He’s held the role of CEO ever since, including through the company’s 2014 acquisition by Facebook. Now, following the launch of the Rift headset and Touch controllers in 2016, Iribe confirms he’ll be stepping away from the CEO role to head a new, internal PC-focused VR group, which will operate alongside a Mobile-focused VR group within the company.

“…we’ve decided to establish new PC and mobile VR groups to be more focused, strengthen development and accelerate our roadmap,” Iribe writes. “Looking ahead and thinking about where I’m most passionate, I’ve decided to lead the PC VR group—pushing the state of VR forward with Rift, research and computer vision. As we’ve grown, I really missed the deep, day-to-day involvement in building a brand new product on the leading edge of technology.”

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: Oculus' Wireless 'Santa Cruz' Prototype Makes Standalone Room-scale Tracking a Reality

At present, that leaves Oculus without a executive head. Iribe says that he, along with Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, and Jon Thomason will seek a new leader for the Oculus team. Thomason recently joined Oculus to head the Mobile VR group, and has worked previously as the VP of mobile shopping at Amazon.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, who has shied away from the spotlight following community and developer backlash to his association with a polarizing political group, remains with the company and will be taking on a new role, Oculus confirmed to The Verge. So far that role is undisclosed, though the companys says more details on Luckey role will be made available soon.

The post Oculus CEO Steps Down to Head PC Division, Founder Palmer Luckey to Shuffle Too appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

EYE-SYNC Being Used by Indiana University to Study Subconcussive Head Impacts

SyncThink, the creator of EYE-SYNC, a head-mounted eye tracking device for rapid recording, viewing and analyzing of eye movement impairment through the use of virtual reality (VR), has announced that Indiana University will be using the company tech for a study on sub-concussive head impacts.

Conducted by Assistant Professor, Keisuke Kawata, he’s been working on sub-concussion studies and has drawn significant attention in the linkage between eye movement and repetitive impacts in football players. Kawata’s study aims to fill a void in the area of sub-concussive head impacts, and EYE-SYNC should provide valuable metrics towards his research for ocular-motor perturbation after these impacts. The SyncThink team will assist in any technological and analytical processes throughout the study.

SyncThink - EYE-Sync

“By tracking sub-concussive impacts combined with various parameters, we have witnessed a glimpse, but plausible hope that some modalities could predict a concussion before it occurs,” said Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Indiana University, Keisuke Kawata. “It is of my priority to establish brain-injury specific objective markers that to ensure soldiers and athletes’ safety while sustaining highest level of performance.”

“Detection of subclinical neural impairments following repetitive sub-concussive head impacts is a study that’s extremely important in the medical and sports verticals. From a sideline setting any added studies and information that can be immediately accessed will assist in keeping our athletes safer and help with recovery plans or return-to-play decisions,” said Daniel Beeler, CTO of SyncThink.

The study will begin February 2017 where EYE-SYNC will be used on competitive divers as well as a controlled soccer-heading model. Kawata will then expand the study further by including high school football and ice-hockey in the near future.

For all the latest medical uses for VR tech, keep reading VRFocus.

Posted on

Palmer Luckey’s New Role At Oculus Will Be Revealed Soon

Palmer Luckey’s New Role At Oculus Will Be Revealed Soon

As we digest the news today that Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe is stepping down from his role as CEO of the company and moving to head up the PC VR team, we asked Oculus whether Palmer Luckey would be staying with Facebook and Oculus through the transition.

“Palmer is still at Oculus and we’ll have more to share on his new role soon,” is our answer from an Oculus spokesperson.

Luckey’s role at Oculus infamously came into question when an article by The Daily Beast tied him in September to a crude election propaganda group. In the run-up to the bitterly divisive U.S. presidential election, the article left Luckey — once the face of Oculus and virtual reality in general — silent on the public social media channels he used to communicate with VR enthusiasts.

He issued an apology, saying “I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners,” but hasn’t been heard from since. We’ve been checking in from time to time to make sure he is still there at Facebook, and with today’s revelation of Iribe’s move we’ve confirmed again that he’s still an active part of the company that he, Iribe and others sold to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014.

We’re super curious to find out now what role he will be finding at the company going forward. With Oculus Touch shipping and a whole set of great games already out, and more on the way, Facebook seems to be ready to transition to its next steps in VR. How Luckey fits into that future will be interesting to see.

Tagged with: , , ,

Posted on

Oculus’ CEO Brendan Iribe Steps Down to Lead Internal PC Focused Group

As one of the most well known individuals in the virtual reality (VR) industry, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, has been at the forefront of this new revolution, helping guide the company – along with Palmer Lucky, John Carmack, Michael Abrash and more – to where it is today. But in a statement on Oculus’ Blog Iribe has announced he’ll be stepping down as CEO, but staying within the company to head a new group.

Recently Oculus has establish two new internal groups, one focused on PC VR, while the other aimed at mobile VR, both with the goal of strengthening development in their key areas to accelerate the company’s roadmap.

BrendanIribe_1

On his decision to step down as CEO, Iribe writes: “Looking ahead and thinking about where I’m most passionate, I’ve decided to lead the PC VR group—pushing the state of VR forward with Rift, research and computer vision. As we’ve grown, I really missed the deep, day-to-day involvement in building a brand new product on the leading edge of technology.

“You do your best work when you love what you’re working on. If that’s not the case, you need to make a change. With this new role, I can dive back into engineering and product development. That’s what gets me up every day, inspired to run to work.”

In terms of who will be heading the new mobile group and taking the position of CEO, Iribe goes on to note: “Jon Thomason, who recently joined the Oculus team, will lead the mobile VR group. Together we’ll work with Mike Schroepfer, CTO of Facebook, to find a new leader for the Oculus team. I’m thrilled to be on the front lines of creating the next leap forward in VR. We’ll continue investing deeply in research and development in computer vision, displays, optics, graphics, audio, input, and more to create the breakthroughs that will unlock new form factors and experiences.”

As further details on Oculus’ internal re-positioning of roles are revealed, VRFocus will keep you updated.