Alright, here goes nothing. So, apparently, everyone and their grandmother is out sunbathing or pretending to relax while secretly checking email over this May 1st holiday thing. And me? I’m locked in, typing away. Celebrating Labor Day by, well, laboring. Brilliant, right? But hey, that’s why this thing is coming to you later than a sloth on a Sunday. At least the usual chaos will make it in, so relax. Unless you’re me. Then, work away on that holiday—or sneak in some VR gaming with Harpagun.
Weekly Ramblings on XR
Meta’s Still Tinkering with Ray-Ban Meta Sunglasses
Meta’s on this glasses mission, probably envisioning all of us as futuristic cyborgs soon. Updates? Oh yeah. They’ve stuck in some live translation features—because who doesn’t need to speak French or Italian while wearing sunglasses? Here’s the kicker: after Europe freaked out about privacy, Meta finally figured out their AI is now good-to-go across the EU. But, whatever, live AI sessions are hitting the US and Canada and, get this, you can finally start Instagram video calls through your sunglasses. Why though? I’ll never know.
Mexico, India, UAE… you’re next! Maybe smartglasses are cool or maybe it’s all one big hype train. Time will tell, and so will this newsletter.
Other Works in Progress
Meta’s Bargain Bin: Quest 3S Refurbs at $270
Refurbished tech that promises to be just like new—and it doesn’t even come with the Batman VR game. Pricey nostalgia there, huh? But really, the Quest 3S ain’t half bad, unless you glance too closely at the lenses. $270 might sound like a steal until you realize it doesn’t come with those extra goodies.
BigScreen and Its Glorious PCB Blunder
BigScreen thought shipping Beyond 2 in June sounds reasonable, except they found out 5000 of their circuit boards were borked. Instead of dumping broken tech on us and laughing all the way to the bank, they trashed it all. Now they’re eating that cost like champions. Maybe this means something, or maybe I just like a good underdog story.
Italy’s “Strategy” for the Metaverse? About That…
The homeland’s got a new doc outlining AR and VR stuff. Yay, right? Except it reads like it came from a fortune cookie. Italy at the forefront of AR/VR? Walking in Elite Dangerous zones instead of cobblestone streets? That’s news to me, but alright. The doc acts like everything cool started around ‘92. Sorry Sensorama, you were never really a thing…apparently.
Mozilla Hubs, Oculus Quest 2… Oh, the sweet irony of dead tech gets me every time. But at least our government is trying to get in on this XR action. Maybe by the time we’re all cruising those virtual streets, I’ll have written a better version of this newsletter.
Quick Bits
- Spacetop: Dropping monthly bills for virtual screens on AR glasses only a few can use anyway. Maybe it’ll catch on?
- Varjo Teleport 2.0: Better 3D scanning, now with drones. Impressive, I guess.
- Live Room Meshing on Quest 3: Someone made it happen, and it’s sorta neat.
- Insta360 X5 Camera: Sharper quality? Check. Brutally affordable too.
- NewImages Festival & XR Storytelling: Gives you something to read while your headset charges.
- Sony’s Big Sale: Might snatch seven games only to play nothing but the first five minutes of each.
Wrapping things up, donate to Red Cross again if you’re into doing something meaningful today. Or not. List some VR news? Check. Celebrate with a blob of words, tangents, and all the human messiness glued together like a digital collage? Double check.
