VR: quite simply, the next big thing
Following up on my comments from a few days ago about the development of virtual reality and its rapid transition toward the consumer market, everything indicates that this is an ecosystem evolving at light speed.
Facebook, now the owner of the pioneering company Oculus VR, has just open-sourced the development of Transform, a program used to put together 360 videos, reducing the size of archives by up to 25 percent, which is particularly important when it comes to sending files via the internet. Everything Facebook says about the transition from text to photos, then to video, and now to immersive video is a reality the company is working on and that it wants to further expand by allowing developers to work on more content.
Meanwhile, if the job vacancies at Google are anything to go by, everything suggests that it could be ready to develop its own virtual reality camera and visualization hardware with the same goal in mind of encouraging developers to get involved. It has also recently hired Jason Toff, luring him from Twitter’s Vine, to head up its new virtual reality unit. At the same time, Microsoft has released the specs for is augmented reality Hololens visor that combines virtual and real images. Apple could also be working on bringing in virtual reality developers. Not to be outdone, Samsung has had its kit available for some time now. And the final proof: the porn industry has definitely jumped into the bandwagon, and a simple search for “VR porn” brings zillions of results…
Make no mistake: in the not-too-distant future, we will all be wearing some kind of virtual reality device, whether to watch content, use the internet or simply to catch up with the news. When Facebook bought Oculus VR my attention was caught by the following comment:
Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow. Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.
I asked myself if this was the future. Everything suggests it is.
(En español, aquí)
