Virtual reality

The release of the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset was given a bit of a kick in the pants by reports of skin irritation on the faces of some users. Though Oculus suggests that "a very small percentage of users" reported said skin irritation where the foam portion of the facial interface rests on the skin, they're offering a replacement for all. Per the announcement from Oculus, "the safety and comfort of every customer is our top priority."

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Apple's mobile ecosystem has been marked by two main pillars in the past few years. While it has been singing praises about its work on protecting users' privacy, it has also been designing its iPhones and Apple Watches to record and store health-related data, from activity tracking to biometrics monitoring. Not all activities, however, can be tracked through phones and wearables, and Facebook is reportedly looking into syncing activity data from its Oculus headsets with Apple Health for a more holistic overview of a person's fitness goals and state.

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This week Oculus Passthrough API Experimental was released, giving creators a way to build and test mixed reality experiences for VR and AR devices. Since this is made by Oculus, it's pretty safe to say that the software will be aimed at Oculus devices, but the implications of what we're seeing is far more important than one platform.

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Facebook's acquisition of modern VR pioneer Oculus has always been a mind-boggling one. Naturally, the social media giant wants to leave its imprint on anything that can be remotely tied to being social, including in virtual worlds. That said, it is taking some time for Oculus to add those social features to its Quest platform, but it's finally taking a big step forward in the latest software update that makes it almost trivial to get together with friends or strangers in multiplayer VR experiences.

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Another study has found that using a virtual reality headset can potentially reduce pain or discomfort during medical procedures. The findings indicate that such technology may have a place in hospitals and doctor's offices, possibly increasing compliance with painful medical procedures that patients may otherwise avoid.

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Facebook has a sort of reverse Midas' touch where everything it touches gets stained by its own stigmas. Every product it buys or gets close to eventually gets involved in its privacy issues or, at the very least, its advertising businesses. It was the latter surprised, shocked, and even disgusted Oculus users last week when the social networking giant announced the start of its advertising tests on the VR platform. Users expressed their opposition so strongly that Blaston, the first and so far only game to test this system, has quickly pulled out from the program.

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Shortly after the PlayStation 5 launched, Sony confirmed that it's working on a new PlayStation VR headset for the platform. Details on this next-gen PSVR have been fairly slim since that initial announcement; while Sony has detailed the new controllers that will ship with the device, we haven't seen the new PSVR headset yet and Sony hasn't talked dates. Today, a new report reveals a couple of key details about the next PSVR, one of them being the headset's release window.

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Facebook and Oculus have retired the original Rift VR system, marking the end of headsets that need to be tethered to beefy PC rigs. Moving forward, Oculus said it would be focusing on the Quest system, notably the Oculus Quest 2, but also left the door still open to PC VR experiences. That door is the Air Link technology it introduced back in April, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg now made it known that even the original Oculus Quest headset will be getting this feature as well.

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Oculus today announced its v29 software update, which includes new features for gaming and for the company's Infinite Office suite. In a lot of ways, this can be seen as a direct follow up to the big update Oculus launched in February, in large part because this is expanding on the Multi-User Accounts and App Sharing features that rolled out in February's update.

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Windows 10's first major feature update of the year is already being prepared for rollout but it seems that the HoloLens 2 is getting dibs on its own major update before PCs. In fact, this update might be even more feature-packed than Windows 10's May 2021 update itself. Windows Holographic version 21H1 is now available for download and it finally brings Microsoft's better version of its Edge web browser, the one based on Google Chromium, of course.

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HTC just revealed the HTC VIVE Pro 2, complete with options for upgrades. This new headset will be sold in at least two packages - one with the whole "full-kit" experience, the other with the headset alone. This should allow those users who already own a VIVE Pro (the first one) to avoid paying maximum cash for the parts they already own - and likely still already have installed at home.

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HTC has revealed its newest self-contained VR headset, with the VIVE Focus 3 promising a huge uptick in speed and graphics quality but still without a tether to your PC. It's not just the absence of a cable which should make the VIVE Focus 3 more comfortable to wear, either, with a 20-percent cut in weight thanks to a shift to a magnesium alloy frame.

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