CES 2018 Top stories
via Micah Blumberg, Neurohaxor at http://vrma.io
HTC VIVE
The HTC Vive Pro Upgrade Version is rumored to cost $349 and sold in Q1 2018. It’s an Upgrade because you will need the 1.0 Lighthouse Base Station Trackers from your existing HTC Vive headset to make it work. If you want the Lighthouse 2.0 Trackers you can buy them separately in Q4 2018. The combined cost of The Vive Pro with the version 2.0 trackers in Q4 is $799 according to a reliable source.
Google vs Amazon vs Apple vs Facebook?
While Google and Amazon had a sort of promotion war at CES, the news leaked about Facebooks secret tool to compete with Google, Amazon, and Apple.
Google’s touch screen home assistant (an upgrade from Google Home)
Next VR
Next VR is doing 6dof video, which means its volumetric video, which means every pixel in the video has an x, y, z coordinate as well as a direction (a tensor) this means that if you lean forward you move forward in the video, if you crouch down the ground in the video gets closer to you, this video is like being inside a Hologram.
Vuzix
Vuzix has new AR Glasses, but look how thin the display is, that’s amazing.
Intel
Intel has a bunch of new chips, one of them is a quantum chipset that they are very proud of. I’m skeptical but we will see when it ships. Intel is hoping that their new neuromorphic chipset Loihi will achieve performance with neural networking. Neuromorphic chips are far from how the human brain operates unfortunately, so this is a lot of marketing hype. Intel said something about 360 Video in the VR portion of their CES Presentation. Investors seem to be running away from Intel for a variety of reasons, but one of them could be the distance between the marketing hype and the reality.
“Intel’s neuromorphic computing team is creating a chip that mimics the way the human brain observes, learns and understands. The company’s prototype chip “Loihi” is the most recent step in that direction. Neuromorphic computing has the potential to change the future — the way devices understand and interpret data. (Credit: Intel Corporation)”
https://vrworld.com/2018/01/10/ces-intel-ceo-krzanich-keynote-ai-vr/
Kodak
Kodak Coin, Kodak stocks soared on news that it is going to make it’s own Crytocurrency. Hell to the Yes. This shows investors that Kodak is a cool company that is with the times!
Oculus
One interesting new detail about the Oculus Go revealed at CES is that it’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. When I posted an interview with John Carmack at OC4 he was careful not to reveal the chipset.
Another interesting detail is that Oculus has partnered with Xiaomi and Qualcomm to bring the Oculus Go to China. This is partnership was necessary because Facebook is banned from doing business in China.
TPCAST
TPCAST is going to support Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets.
TPCAST will also release a new TPCAST PLUS adapter that fixes some issue with the previous version for Vive and Rift
Lenovo
Lenovo has a new all in one Daydream Headset with 6dof, that means built in position tracking. Sadly it includes a 3dof controller. (It’s like a laser pointer but the controllers position in space is not tracked.)
There is no reason in principle why tracking cameras can’t track the controllers and the headsets position at the same time. So there is no excuse for having a 3dof controller on a 6dof Daydream headset with built in inside out tracking. The Microsoft Mixed Reality headset tracks the headset position and the controllers are 6dof with it’s two inside out tracking sensors. The Oculus Santa Cruz prototype does this as well I’ve tried it. It’s not a limitation of technology, it’s a limitation of imagination. Is this going to include a pass through feature for ARcore?
Pimax 8K
Journalist Ben Lang does not seem to be impressed with the latest Pimax 8K prototype from Pimax. He writes that it still has issues to work out.
MergeVR
MergeVR is selling a 6dof blaster. This is going to be a hit toy, you better invest in MergeVR right now!
Muse
According to Wired Magazine: Muse has new brain sensing eyewear. Glasses with EEG sensors that track brain activity. I suspect that wired got the story wrong and that Muse really has a faceplate that fits the HTC Vive.
Luxxor
Luxxor is a new all in one VR headset that combines eye tracking with brain sensors. NeuroHaxors like me are salivating, but I have a lot of questions, does it feature 6dof, does it feature two motion controllers that also have 6dof, does it have any heart sensors?
Sony
Aibo is cute I want one!
Aptiv
Aptiv has a high performing new self driving car that ExtremeTech says comes down to a larger quantity of high quality sensors.
Vision Agency
Vision Agency will be showing off the latest version of MicrodoseVR at CES in the HTC Vive area, the procedural generated graphics react to your heart beat, it features new levels, a new menu system, and it now works with green screen mixed reality.
If you miss MicrodoseVR at CES 2018 you can demo it in San Francisco on January 18th at SF VR 360 Janus, links below.
