"At every step along the way, the future is built by people who believe it can be better."
That's the message Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, brought to the company's fourth annual Oculus Connect virtual reality developer conference Wednesday. As in previous years, Zuckerberg joined the stage to discuss the promise of what virtual reality can be and show off some goodies.
The company tallied 100 million app downloads, he said, and added that the company continues to work on a less-bulky version of its headsets.
But he said the company has a goal: Get 1 billion people in VR.
Maybe Zuckerberg can take those billion people along on his virtual cartoon tour of Puerto Rico's hurricane damage.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 13 2017, @02:02PM (13 children)
The only way I'll ever bother with VR is if I can have a giant dick for an avatar. Photo-realistic veins and such required. Lacking that bit of kek, it's shiny but ultimately useless garbage.
Right now, in non-virtual reality, I can see all the info I have a use for. While that's possible in VR as well, it is not possible for me to also see where my coffee cup is and look out the window to see who just pulled up. VR is, and always shall be, a more limited display option than a good set of monitors and actual reality.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 13 2017, @02:26PM (1 child)
Hmm, some might say you're a virtual dick already.
C'mon, you had to know you were leaving yourself wide open on that one. :-)
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 14 2017, @10:14AM
That was intentional, yes. If you can't laugh at yourself, you have no sense of humor at all.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 13 2017, @02:26PM (5 children)
I am going to steal your great avatar idea.
You could tell Facebook and Google Glass systems what avatar to use not only for your personal appearance, but also for your home and automobile. Your home could have a different "paint job" every season of the year. No more need to have 3,000 different pairs of physical shoes when you can have virtual shoes.
VR would also allow all sorts of useful things. No more need for big screen TVs. Any surface will do for creating a virtual big screen. Two people with VR glasses can agree to watch a movie together with a virtual big screen on an agreed upon empty wall.
The corporate sludge we will eat every day could take on any appearance you desire. (Reminds me of Talos 4 on ST:TOS pilot and episode "The Menagerie".
And imagine the number of advertising surfaces available when everyone has VR glasses. It would be wonderful! All physical billboards could be left blank, and you see ads on the billboards that are targeted to your profile. But why stop at billboards. Every surface in the world could have ads on it except for the inside of your eyelids. And don't worry, they'll even fix that soon! What a wonderful world.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Friday October 13 2017, @03:53PM (2 children)
You hit the nail on the head with the comment about the inside of your eyelids.
I think the same thing with self-driving cars. People say, "Oh, I won't have to own a car! I can just order up a car and go somewhere!" And I'm thinking, "Yeah, and you'll be trapped in a tiny, uncomfortable box, that you can't get out of, that will be blaring ads at you the entire trip."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 13 2017, @05:56PM (1 child)
In the future, people will be rewarded with periods of ad-free existence. Hey, I just earned 48 ad-free minutes! Wanna trade for something?
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 13 2017, @07:30PM
It's nothing BB guns and flamethrowers can't fix.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday October 13 2017, @05:51PM
Why limit yourself to surfaces? Decent AR can create giant floating movie screens and billboards wherever it wants. No need for physical billboards at all - ad-laden billboards can be drawn in empty fields, and even travel along with you while they have your attention rather than rushing past before you've finished reading it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 14 2017, @11:11AM
In case you haven't seen it, the Colombian short film:
https://vimeo.com/chocobaby/hyper-reality [vimeo.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @04:03PM
Someone read Snow Crash :P
You're just silly to have zero desire to check out VR, it has a pletura of excellent use cases. Like already happens with screens / media there will be people who stay plugged in too much.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 13 2017, @04:12PM
venereal dupe aaaaaaarrgh
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 13 2017, @05:43PM (1 child)
it is not possible for me to also see where my coffee cup is
Well clearly the solution is IOT enabled coffee cups, duh! (yes, that was sarcasm)
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Friday October 13 2017, @05:59PM
Forget coffee cups. You'll get it intravenously. The words "Java" and "Dependency Injection" come to mind.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @07:19PM
Don't you want a 90s style Johnny Mneumonic raytraced model using low poly count nurbs curves? :)