Meta's Reality Labs lost $3.99B last year, bringing total losses to $30B
techspot.com
techspot.com
They also have a battery dock with two batteries.
Scenario: kid 1 has a friend over and wants to show them the occulus.
Materials to locate:
1. occulus headset
2. occulus left controller
3. occulus right controller
4. occulus charger (to recharge when session is done or else next time is a bust)
5. tv remote (so kid can play and friend watch or vice-versa; otherwise its non-interactive turns and not socially fun)
6. chromecast remote (screensharing doesnt work directly to tv, it needs another device to receive)
7. () parent (to help set up the sharing, which requires navigating unfriendly menus on 3 devices with 3 controllers not all of which can be seen at the same time)
8. () parent's laptop (in the event the device facebook got logged out, it needs another device to log it back in)
9. () parent's password notebook
You're suggesting to add:
10. BoboVr battery strap
11. BoboVr extra battery
12. BoboVr charging dock
When everything is located, pregaming steps are:
1. clear area, including move the heavy coffee table back
2. start tv
3. set tv input to chromecast
4. start chromecast
5. start occulus
6. adjust headset straps
7. with headset on, find vr menu to cast occulus
8. with headset off, find chromecast menu to accept screencast
9. with headset on, reset play area and floor level
10. () with headset on, start facebook login
11. () with headset off, with parent's laptop log into device facebook account
12. () with headset both off and on, copy code from vr screen to laptop
Steps with a (*) shouldn't have to happen every time. But the whole process is daunting. Add to it the device is unpleasant to wear and causes vertigo... not worth it.
I don't understand how the PMs at Meta didn't realize any of this
I don't disagree that there's too much friction to just starting the thing up and playing though, and casting what you're doing - something I've only ever done once - doesn't work well. You can also use a tablet/phone with the Oculus app, for what it's worth.
But still, you might want to try my suggestion. The strap is much quicker to adjust, the battery on the back balances out the weight, and if you had the dock with two batteries you wouldn't ever need to worry about charging the actual headset itself.
Keep in mind that if you're only using it as your own personal device a lot of those steps/gripes go away completely. You'd only have the clear area steps and possibly resetting the play area, though mine usually finds it.
My biggest personal gripe is how sometimes it just randomly decides to take an extra minute starting up, where you're in the passthrough type mode but it hasn't found the play area. I don't know if it's looking for it and can't find it, doing an update in the background, etc.
Furthermore, Meta may have reason to worry about Apple's upcoming VR headset, which is rumored to have significantly better specs and enable users to perform tasks that the current Quest headset can't. For example, the rumored 4k screens could potentially serve as a viable replacement for monitors, the M1 silicon could deliver much better graphics, etc. Additionally, Apple's ecosystem is likely to attract a larger number of developers to create more applications.
Because the rumored price of Apple's headset is so high ($3000), Meta may still have some time to cement themselves as the VR company. I can't help but wonder if the situation will end up playing out similarly to the release of smartwatches for Android vs the Apple Watch. Android smartwatches hit the market first, but Apple ultimately took over the industry after releasing their product.
Stuff like 4k screens is a case of buying the slightly more expensive off the shelf components. Although I'm sure apple has its special sauce, it's just a case of engineering to a different cost. 8k headsets have been out for years.
What the research should be yielding is deep technological innovation in lense and rendering design, gesture recognition and ideally a developer tools ecosystem. This is what we are seeing in the demos but it has not translated into the current product.
To give an apple vs Samsung example, either company can choose to buy a larger battery from LG and have longer artery life, but only by replicating the billions Apple poured into developing a custom chip design can you match the iPhone performance at cost and size. Something Samsung recently accepted it has to do.
So I think that, if the product category works out the investment is fine.
The problem is that at the moment we have a Google situation. You know, inventing LLMs and then watching microsoft productize them. Over the next couple years, FB either uses its research to produce a product apple can't match, or bust on the whole thing.
Anyone else in a similar boat? Or have a theory why it’s less compelling than a traditional gaming console?
I like VR for rhythm and workout games. Those are far less compelling on a flat screen with stuff like wii
Is that jumping around the room with a tethered VR helmet on your head and face?
How long are you able to do that for in one session? Asking because I play Horizon on PS 5 with PSVR2 (it is fantastic experience), but can do it for 30mins maybe 45mins tops in a session, before I feel ill.
Also, games where you’re the one moving tend not to give people motion sickness. Games where you’re controlling movement with a thumb stick are what does it - or a poor frame rate.
I use my quest daily. It really is a good workout. My average workout time is 45 minutes, but I can go a couple of hours or so before the battery gives out, the weight on my head isn’t much if an issue.
Getting corrective VR lenses helped a-lot to make it usable.
I just play BeatSaber and FitXR, so no jumping around the room; I don’t really have the space to play anything that requires moving around the room and not running into something. Lots of squats though, so it’s like an aerobic workout class.
Don’t take it literally. Being tethered can mean physically with a cable, but it can also mean you’re virtually confined (think a virtual box that you cannot leave). So for instance, can you take your play outside? My understanding is no, because direct sunlight can destroy the lenses so Meta advises against it: https://www.meta.com/help/quest/articles/headsets-and-access...
Exercise is good, fun, more expansive, a fuller experience outside than inside.
My kids enjoy their Quests, but use is fairly rare in comparison to their iPads and PCs.
I just asked my daughter why she plays it less, and she says it's because (1) there are fewer games she's interested in, (2) battery life is poor (and so sessions are shorter than they are on alternatives), and (3) it's uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.
Honestly, I don't think we'll be upgrading to Quest 2 or whatever comes after. The whole "forced Facebook logins" thing left a bad taste in my mouth and caused problems that took their support folks weeks to untangle. Our current thinking is that we'll just wait for Apple to do it right.
I have no interest in a metaverse or social vr activities.
On its own, with consistent simple hardware improvements the CV1 would have been a decently profitable business by most other companies' standards and done well enough to keep going.
Facebook/SV trying to turn VR into something it's not ready to be, and that nobody is particularly interested in, in the hope of turning it into a mega multi billion dollar venture worthy of them is what has made it no fun and is just wasted money.
I play guitar and write songs. I use my computer to help with this. Over the years, I’ve had:
* a little amp with a microphone that connects to my audio interface
* 1 watt tube amp built for recording, made by the same company that makes my incredible 120 watt monster amp for live performance, plugs straight into my audio interface for silent recording
* a high end digital amp used by pros for live and recording, I can use it AS the interface but it’s bigger than the hardware that lives on my desk
I still go back to the software amp simulation, a plugin running in the recording software I use for composition, because it’s quicker and easier to plug the guitar straight into audio interface and go. It doesn’t sound as good as my Fractal FM9 but it’s still great, it makes me happy, and it demands less time/space/effort than all the others. Unless I’m pursuing something that I can only get from the “bigger and better solutions,” convenience always wins.
VR strikes me as being in a similar place. Yes, it has a unique value. No, nothing is like it. But… my PS5 through my 4K TV and home theater is extremely sick AND I can just pickup a controller and go!
It's really nice to have an interface that doesn't require me to try to route audio through my computer. It just works exactly like a (slightly complicated) regular amp all the time, and behaves exactly the same while recording as it does when it's not.
It's got all kinds of built in amp sims and effects, but I play it on the same setting about 95% of the time (I've never been much for tone chasing). But it also has a built in looper, which I use all the time.
I really love the thing, great piece of hardware. It's got some warts but nothing I can't work around.
How many 10x engineers are being forced into a 1x mold just so a sea of 0.7x engineers can be shimmed into the same 1x mold?
We live in a weird world!
> "But a less welcome part of the report related to Meta's Reality Labs division, which once against lost money: $3.99 billion during the three months. That adds to the $14 billion it lost across last year and brings the total loss since Q4 2020 to an eye-watering $30 billion. The only solace for Zuckerberg is that the most recent losses weren't as bad as the $4.3 billion it lost during the previous quarter."
This is absolutely bonkers. Billions burnt on research and software that nobody uses, and in the meantime we haven't seen a hardware upgrade for the (consumer) Quest since.
Imagine floundering that sum of money... and what good COULD have been done with it. This is an affront to humanity