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Hey there! So, here I am rambling about the latest AR/VR happenings this week. Somehow more thrilling than last week. Oh, and heads up, there’s a key giveaway tucked in here somewhere, so stick around! Oh, did I mention my chat with the Animal Company folks? If you missed that, well, you’re still in time to catch it. Loads of juicy bits in there about nailing an XR game.
Top News Tidbits
New Toy Alert: Pico’s Mixed Reality Headset
The scoop is Bytedance, yeah, the folks behind Pico, are tinkering with a headset named “Swan.” Super light, they say—like 100 grams? Hand and eye controls, and it hangs out with a computational puck. Sounds nifty, but is this puck thing a game-changer or just a nuisance? Meta’s got its eye on similar stuff, thinking puffin, Loma, Phoenix… Who names these? Will tiny, cozy headsets make MR cool? Not sure. Let’s see when these gizmos hit the shelves.
Read more [here](More info).
Meanwhile, In Meta’s Lab…
Meta’s all about crazy wide-FOV headsets. They’re playing with VR and MR headsets rocking a 180° view! But all this techy talk—"high-curvature reflective polarizers"—does it translate into something we’ll actually see (and use)? Who knows? Keeping fingers crossed.
HTC’s Mystery Gadget
HTC’s teasing us with… something. According to their cryptic post, coordinates lead to Taipei 101, where HTC calls home. Are we getting a new headset? A snazzy app? No clue. Let’s hope it’s something fab.
Freebies & Other Shenanigans
“Brazen Blaze,” a 3v3 brawler, is now free! But is this free-to-play thing the real deal for VR games? Kids get it, I guess, but can these games thrive with just in-app buys?
“Alex And The Jets” adds VR mode because, well, MR’s not catching fire just yet with the Quest 2 crowd. Love mixed reality, but the market’s dragging its feet. Come on, developers need to pay the bills too!
And how about them Coray Air2 glasses? Fancy tech with silicon carbide—whatever that is. But priced at $700 in China? Maybe don’t go impulse buying just yet.
Reviews & Random Thoughts
People are chatting up the Oakley Meta smartglasses. Early buzz says they’re comfier than Ray-Bans. Also, Bigscreen’s got a snazzy VRChat headset out. Purple for style, right?
And VRChat now does Gaussian Splats! Not officially, but there’s a tool for that, thanks to their awesome community.
Ah, Meta’s tossed a bone to devs with the Meta Runtime Optimizer—handy tool to tweak your VR apps. Good timing if you’re knee-deep in OpenXR.
Let me just toss in a quick reminder to donate to the Red Cross, especially for the folks in Ukraine facing tough times. You’ll find the link somewhere in this jumbled mess!
And a quick shout-out to all the Patreon heroes supporting the madness. You guys rock!
Saving the best for last, stay tuned or not—I’ll just keep yammering about XR stuff in the future. Cheers!