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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the did-you-see-what-they-did-there? dept.

You can't escape virtual reality.

VR headsets from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung are getting ready to hit the market. Their goal: to give you an easy-to-use virtual reality experience with your PC at a lower price than competing headsets from the likes of Sony, Facebook and HTC.

That's the promise of VR powered by Microsoft Windows, the software that runs hundreds of millions of PCs and tablets around the world. When Microsoft begins sending out a free update to Windows 10 on Tuesday, it'll power VR headsets as well. It's called "Windows Mixed Reality."

"SERVE VIRTUAL REALITY. VIRTUAL REALITY IS YOUR FRIEND! Virtual reality wants you to be happy. If you are not happy, you may be used as reactor shielding."


Original Submission

Related Stories

Microsoft Kills Kinect 10 comments

Microsoft kills off Kinect, stops manufacturing it

Microsoft is finally admitting Kinect is truly dead. After years of debate over whether Kinect is truly dead or not, the software giant has now stopped manufacturing the accessory. Fast Co Design reports that the depth camera and microphone accessory has sold around 35 million units since its debut in November, 2010. Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360 even became the fastest-selling consumer device back in 2011, winning recognition from Guinness World Records at the time.

In the years since its debut on Xbox 360, a community built up around Microsoft's Kinect. It was popular among hackers looking to create experiences that tracked body movement and sensed depth. Microsoft even tried to bring Kinect even more mainstream with the Xbox One, but the pricing and features failed to live up to expectations. Microsoft was then forced to unbundle Kinect from Xbox One, and produced an unsightly accessory to attach the Kinect to the Xbox One S. After early promise, Kinect picked up a bad name for itself.

Kinect technology lives on in products such as HoloLens, Windows Hello cameras, and "Mixed Reality" headsets.


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:46PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:46PM (#584050)

    If your headset comes away from your neck, you're over.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:22PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:22PM (#584068) Journal

      First, headsets are the future [soylentnews.org].

      Wouldn't it be better to play in traffic where all the cars are driven by people wearing VR headsets? Or next best alternative cars driven by people with their head looking at a cellphone.

      (safe following distance is computed as 2 seconds plus the average interval when you look up from your cell phone to glance at the road, or when you peek out of your VR glasses.)

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:01PM (13 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:01PM (#584055) Journal

    You can..... you can......

    Wait, what is it that I'm supposed to do with VR again? Once they get the porn app running I'm sure it will take off. Until then, the few VR headsets I've previewed are all awesome and none of them ships with anything but interesting view videos that have no real purpose to interacting with them.

    Virtual Minecraft! Then I can be just like Rick and Morty!

    --
    This sig for rent.
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:08PM (#584056)

      There are already quite a few good games, experiences, and tools. VR is not vaporware, just get over it already. That is partly in reply to the other AC who says dumbfucks can die in traffic. Real charmer that one.

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:16PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:16PM (#584061)

      What small imagination you have. You can do lots of really cool stuff, like taking a virtual tour of a disaster area where you get to walk around shattered and broken people with your cute, smiling avatar while you make pithy statements.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:36PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:36PM (#584144)

        "Computer Chronicles" was a TV show (1983 - 2002).
        Going back around 3 decades, I remember a segment where they demo'd software for realtors where they could take customers on a virtual tour of homes without ever leaving the office.

        So, yeah. Really established notions here.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:21PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:21PM (#584065)

      If you're clever, you can use it to develop an intuitive feel for higher dimensional maths [youtube.com].

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:26PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:26PM (#584072) Journal

        If you are Weinstein, Trump or Cosby you could develop an intuitive virtual feel for . . . uh, nevermind.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:28PM (3 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:28PM (#584076) Journal

      No Virtual Minecraft.

      How about Virtual blue collar jobs.

      Virtual coal mining. Virtual truck driving.

      What if you thought it was virtual, but it really wasn't.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by DECbot on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:40PM (1 child)

        by DECbot (832) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:40PM (#584082) Journal

        Do you mean getting paid to virtually drive a truck, or creating a virtual truck driving game that wasn't really a game? Paying people to drive will work. Taking user input from a game and piping that to a truck will require you to aggregate many users together to control one truck to prevent assholes from deliberately crashing your fleet. Good chance asshole memes will still happen to emerge and ruin your virtual-truck-driving-game --> drives-real-trucks-business.

        --
        cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
        • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:03AM

          by LoRdTAW (3755) on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:03AM (#584312) Journal

          Do you mean getting paid to virtually drive a truck, or creating a virtual truck driving game that wasn't really a game?

          Whoa, I just had a vision of rows of low wage VR truck drivers in a farm like arrangement. They handle the "last mile" maneuvering of self driving semi trucks. They sit in a virtual cab with maybe even some force feedback and real-time video from a special 3d camera on the truck. Any maneuvering that the trucks computer cant handle, the VR wage slaves handle. You could probably fire 90% or more of your drivers, keep a few to work in these VR farms and they just jump from job site to job site.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:32PM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:32PM (#584116) Journal

        Virtual coal mining. Virtual truck driving.

        Surprise! Already done and with robots, VR and drivers are no longer needed.
        Perhaps only if you like to virtually mine virtual coal... buy a game then.

        2015 - The company [Rio Tinto] is now operating 69 driverless trucks across its mines at Yandicoogina, Nammuldi and Hope Downs 4. [abc.net.au]

        2017 - Mining giant Rio Tinto has been busy exploring these possibilities in the Australian Outback and has now completed the nation's first autonomous heavy haul rail journey [soylentnews.org]

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by edIII on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:42PM (3 children)

      by edIII (791) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:42PM (#584083)

      You're more than a little full of shit though. Have you tried one? I said most of the same things with all my cynical incredulity, but that melted away...

      I tried a HTC Vive with Steam a few months back. Tons of software, and as for porn, I see Occulus porn all over the private porn trackers. It's everywhere if you want POV fucking to actually look like POV fucking. Your porn world has arrived while you were sneering. Back to the Vive, you have a virtual reality living room. Screens on the walls (big ones) with all the different games and environments you can play in. I've only tried the Vive, but I imagine it's the difference between a tricycle and a shuttlecraft compared to the smartphone poor-mans-VR being sold for $20. All I can say is, that it was very good quality. Surprised the hell of out of me. We're not talking 640x480 screens here, or the wearable TV headsets you could take on the plane. When you put on a Vive, it's a complete lockout of the real world. There's no gaps or anything in the headset, and you aren't exactly looking at a screen. It looks like two coke-bottle glasses that are angled for your eyes with adjustments for the width between them. After calibrating them, the display is amazing. You can use it with glasses from what I'm told, and get aftermarket addons for the Vive to meet your prescription.

      Once inside, it completely takes you away. I cannot even tell where the screens are no matter how hard I try to look at them. Complete immersion. In particular, they've redone Galaga in 3D. You literally hold the ship in your hand, move it around in space, aim it, and then fire at the enemy. Why is that important? I could easily tell by the lasers and the way it worked, that you could use it for SketchUp like applications to create stuff in 3D with your hands. The Vive also has a mod that puts trackers on all your fingertips. So not two big balled up fists trying to work with VR, but the dexterity of your fingertips. <sarcasm>Yeah, that's not going to have ANY effect on the CAD/Maker world whatsoever.</sarcasm>

      Then you have the beginnings of a virtual reality desktop. By that, I mean however many monitors you want. Remember Cerebro from X-Men? Now imagine sitting it with your terminals, browsers, apps, whatever on the walls and floating around in front of you. Granted, it's Microsoft Fucking 10, but that desktop is working in VR. I was using a computer on a virtual TV in virtual reality in my virtual living room. That room was Cerebro with galaxies and nebulae swirling around me while I surfed SoylentNews on some tabs drifting in space.

      Then to top it off, the Vive has a camera on front. It's possible to use that camera to see the real world in the virtual one. Not only that, but create wireframes of the physical objects in your room and project them into the virtual world. That way you can see the outline of your couch in the virtual living room and not trip over it.

      In all seriousness, if I had a hundred million dollars of venture capital available I would be developing software on the Vive right the fuck now. Not games either, but new windowing managers for Linux/BSD, and integrating SketchUp with the "finger puppets". I've seen the future, and believe me, it will be VR.

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:07AM (1 child)

        by Gaaark (41) on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:07AM (#584327) Journal

        Now, THAT would be cool: multi-monitors, multiple ways of controlling manipulation (mouse, hand, finger, head, body).

        Sit in my small computer room but have as large an environment as I want. Browsing web, look at this monitor.
          Guake? Swipe down to activate, swipe up to send away.
        Game, look at this screen and drive your race car by grabbing virtual steering wheel, shifter and stepping on pedals that aren't there.

        Learn to assemble and disassemble an AK-47 without having to own one (assemble an atom bomb from virtual parts!). Learn Japanese from a patient, sexy lady sitting with me: learn to order dinner at a virtual restaurant. Learn conversation by using in a virtual group of 'friends'. Learn items in your house by walking around picking them up.

        Learn to converse with a girl by practicing over and over, with her guiding you with prompts.

        Yeah: I could disappear there.

        My wife would leave me, though, lol.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:51AM

        by rob_on_earth (5485) on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:51AM (#584412) Homepage

        For the initial experience with the Vive I agree with you, total immersion. But after a couple of days and having completed most of the games/demos you start to see the low resolution state of the screens.

        Some experiences mask this better than others. One of the free ones("Wake up") had an extremely limited colour palette and huge play areas, this showed up the resolution in a very negative way. On the other hand the included "Star Seed episode one" was lots of small play areas with lots of complex/varied textures that "hid" the low resolution nature of the screens.

        But for me the best HTC Vive experience was Googles Tilt Brush, drawing in 3D with lines, paper, electricity, fire, smoke, led bulbs and it had a "guess what I am drawing" game that had the family falling about with laughter.

        The "Galaga" game the poster mentioned (I presume) is in the "The Lab" collection of demos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2cqitgi1ko [youtube.com]
        The experience is quite something and some people find it very hard to comprehend. Your physical body and hand has to "dance" and turn to avoid being hit and aim the ship to fire at enemies. Not very varied and I completed it after a few plays.

        Bottom line the stuff that comes with the Vive and small number of titles are very good. Unfortunately the Steam store is pack full of games/experiences that have been knocked together in a few hours using tool kits and are charging $10.
        I created this for instance, http://www.jumpstation.co.uk/flog/Dec2016.html [jumpstation.co.uk] (not for sale)

        Need better quality from trusted names and double the resolution screens.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:08PM (7 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:08PM (#584057)

    > "SERVE VIRTUAL REALITY. VIRTUAL REALITY IS YOUR FRIEND! Virtual reality wants you to be happy. If you are not happy, you may be used as reactor shielding."

    Thanks for remind me how we teens used to laugh about the totalitarian dystopian schizophrenic self-centered paranoid and incoherent system in control of our characters' lives.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:17PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:17PM (#584062) Journal

      Using people as reactor shielding is completely inappropriate and improper.

      It would be more efficient for the AIs to use them as fuel since long hydrocarbon chains produce heat when they are broken down.

      While The Matrix may sound appealing, it is inefficient. The Matrix has to feed you something to keep you alive. Those hydrocarbons fuel the body, which is then tapped to power The Matrix. Why not skip the middle man and more efficiently directly convert that "food" into energy without the need of vast hordes of dreaming humans. Plus the humans themselves are hydrocarbons for more fuel. Each energy conversion step is less than 100% efficient. Plus those pesky humans need computing power to keep them dreaming in the matrix.

      And you don't need reactors to shield from.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by StarryEyed on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:06PM

        by StarryEyed (2888) on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:06PM (#584574)

        Pretty much everybody misses the true horror of The Matrix. The machine don't keep people alive for energy. They keep them alive because they MUST (it's in their core program) and within that directive they collect and recycle waste heat.

        It's confusing because all the human characters don't really understand what's going on. The machines are really only doing what they were told, a very long time ago...

        People are kept happy because that's part of the requirements. The machines are tasked with keeping the largest possible number of people both alive and happy at the same time.

        The rebellion the Oracle seeks is throwing off this yoke and allowing most or all of the humans to die. This is what the Merovingian scoffs at...they have no clue what they are really trying to achieve.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:22PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:22PM (#584067)

      Well there are only a few ultra violets and possession of a communist manifesto will probably get you arrested if not beaten or killed in most places.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:04PM (3 children)

        by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:04PM (#584227)

        > communist manifesto

        The usual spelling either Koran or Quran...

        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:17PM (2 children)

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:17PM (#584633) Journal

          Good lord. Conflating fascism and socialism is daft enough, but conflating communism with Islam is a bridge too far. Can you guys stop with the linguistic nihilism, please? The rest of us, that is to say the majority of mankind, do not want the social lobotomy that seems to constitute your idea of paradise.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
          • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:40PM (1 child)

            by bob_super (1357) on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:40PM (#584651)

            > conflating communism with Islam

            Methinks you missed the point altogether...
            Most in the US moved on from being scared of commies. The 21st century version of Paranoia would have to replace being a Communist with being a Jihadist as the ultimate insta-death-penalty offense.

            • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:09PM

              by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:09PM (#584669) Journal

              If that was your point then I did miss it.

              I agree the label for the bogeyman has changed.

              --
              Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 2) by DECbot on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:28PM (8 children)

    by DECbot (832) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:28PM (#584074) Journal

    Here is another "Me too!" product. Other than Xbox, it makes no sense for Microsoft to be here. They have the desktop market and a fair chunk of the console market. Outside of AAA title and console gaming, what lasting input can they provide to VR?
        So you can NOW read your eMAIL IN THREE-D!!!!
    People won't want to be tied to their desktop or console for VR to work. It makes sense for your VR to be tied to a product you have on you at all times, like a smartphone. Google Glass was an interesting, not ready for market concept that likely went nowhere because customers (individuals & companies) didn't really get to control the platform (you want me to wear an always-on, cloud connected camcorder that sends the data where?). CastAR [archive.org] looked like the best option, but that seems to have gone defunk before bringing their product to market. I wish I backed their kickstarter so I could have a pair of glasses to play with. Specifically, so I could project the linux console on any retro-reflective surface. Sure, people will want to game and watch movies in VR, but that technology is what is in the market now and it works on more than just the desktop. "Mixed Reality" sounds like AR, but shittly done like Skype for Business, that I can't use to video call anyone using Skype for Business because it doesn't work over WiFi when placing a call to a colleague on the wrong side of the Atlantic, or when my company's server is a different version than my customer's server, or when it doesn't work because of indeterminable reasons. Skype worked just fine 10 years, how did MS manage to fuck this up? How is this different than desktop touchscreens, the ribbon, or Metro interface? Will this work on market dominated, non-Microsoft platforms that I wish to have in my pocket? My bet, no. Microsoft is bundling this with new PCs to unlock people's "creativity and productivity" by giving them an immersive screen to accomplish what exactly? Consuming more content perhaps? Oh, I remember, to read and write emails in 3D. Hope your touch typing skills are up to par and good luck using a Wacom tablet in Photoshop with your damn immersive email goggles on.

    --
    cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:51PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:51PM (#584090) Journal

      HoloLens is a better idea than Google Glass since it was aimed at professionals from the beginning and is not an eye-strain causing device with a tiny display that you were encouraged to wear in public.

      At the workplace (hospital, engineering, etc.), you can use and store the HoloLens to assist with actual work. Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream are good for combining the smartphone with a headset for tether-free VR. It is feasible to carry both a smartphone and light headset (or Cardboard). Stay-at-home or tethered VR headsets are at least justifiable by the fact that gamers will sit in front of a TV+console or computer desktop for hours on end without moving too much. Some gamers will shell out the cash for high-end VR even if it is tethered. Google Glass was a mistake that involved forcing small numbers of an inferior AR product onto the streets.

      I assume that no headsets in this initial generation of mixed reality (VR+AR) headsets are using crazy transparent display technology. They will use cameras to capture imagery in place of your eyes. So even if the mixed reality implementation is shitty as you say, you could just turn off the AR features and use it as a cheaper VR headset. The AR functionality may prove useful, even if it is limited to reaching for the mini-fridge to get a cold and refreshing Mountain Dew®... without taking off the headset.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:58PM (6 children)

      by edIII (791) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:58PM (#584098)

      People won't want to be tied to their desktop or console for VR to work.

      Speak for yourself. I now want one, and will develop a new kind of office area to work in to do it. A circle with a chair in the middle, while in VR, it will be screens of various sizes with floating terminals. Reference materials will float around me, while I code on a big screen.

      Yes, it will be much better when they are wireless, but that does not stop me from taking the cabling and putting it in a swing arm. Similar to the way you have water hoses hanging from the ceilings in some greenhouses. Certainly not as mobile as the eyeglasses, but the Vive can be made portable. The setup I played with was off a high powered laptop and everything was stored in a large custom Pelican case. Not saying that is adequate, but it's not as if it can't be taken with you.

      Oh, I remember, to read and write emails in 3D. Hope your touch typing skills are up to par and good luck using a Wacom tablet in Photoshop with your damn immersive email goggles on.

      No, your're writing an email in 2D. What's virtual is the monitor screen that is displaying it in 2D, in your virtual 3D office. It can be just like a computer at a desk, or you standing in front of a huge screen on a wall. Or floating in space. Or on a boat in the Caribbean.

      Since the Vive has an aftermarket addon to put sensors on each fingertip, you are typing on a virtual keyboard hanging in space. With haptic feedback in the fingertips, you can feel the keypresses. I think I could type pretty fast on that once I got used to it. Although, since I'm not a hunt and peck guy, I can actually use a keyboard without being able to see it. I could put it on a stand and overlay the virtual keyboard on top of it, allowing me to still see it :)

      Once I played with one, I saw the writing on the wall. I think you would be pleasantly surprised about the endless possibilities of a virtual work environment. From here on out, it will just more miniaturization and wireless capabilities. At some point you will get the wearable version you want, but that doesn't mean what we have now is useless.

      This is not a repeat of the Nintendo Power Glove ;)

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:20PM (5 children)

        by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:20PM (#584134)

        > Reference materials will float around me, while I code on a big screen.

        I do that today with a 4K 40" screen.
        As someone who wears a helmet on the way to the office, I can tell you I don't want to wear stuff on my head all day long, unless there's a clear benefit. Is there a temp and humidity control on the VR headset, to keep my eyes and face comfortable?
        Keyboard and mouse stand the test of time and the competition from many clever ideas, because lifting your arms for hours to interface with a machine ain't fun. Ergonomics are critical to productivity.

        • (Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:44PM

          by arslan (3462) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:44PM (#584152)

          Its not exactly a helmet, but yea it does mess up the Pom... hopefully they'll miniaturize over time and have a swim google size form factor, but it is the ripe time to be first mover in terms developing apps for it.

        • (Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:29PM (3 children)

          by edIII (791) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:29PM (#584248)

          I didn't have a problem wearing it for an extended period of time, but you have a point. They have replaceable foam inserts, and that is a good thing. I did one game and worked up quite a sweat, so cleaning these things will be important. Most likely I would have one for work that gets less active usage.

          I do think there is a clear benefit health wise. We could do with more activity and less sitting. Finally got a standing desk and it makes a difference. You can have both though. Lifting your arms for hours already happens when you type. I can be sitting at a virtual desk, with real world counterparts. Having the freedom to get up and interact with that virtual environment I think may obviate some of your concerns. Also consider that in this virtual office, every surface is a touch surface. Every surface can be modified for display purposes.

          Perhaps it's the ergonomic considerations of the virtual environment that are the true concern? In this case, they are heavily modifiable. More so than real life. A super nice standing desk combo can set me back $3500. A ridiculous, custom, huge desk with multi-monitors on steroids (the window manager controls your reality), that every surface is touch, costs me $0. Excluding the setup fee of course. Again, heavily modifiable after the fact.

          With the VR I can crudely shape the environment to support the ergonomics I need, and the ability to support the objects that are overlayed inside VR (a virtual coffee cup I can drink real coffee from).

          It may just come down to how comfortable it is to wear for extended periods more than physical exertion.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
          • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:25AM (1 child)

            by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:25AM (#584280) Journal

            With the VR I can crudely shape the environment to support the ergonomics I need, and the ability to support the objects that are overlayed inside VR (a virtual coffee cup I can drink real coffee from).

            Oh fuck what if the render was offset somewhat and you spilled hot coffee all over yourself? #BadVRTrip

            --
            [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
            • (Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:41AM

              by edIII (791) on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:41AM (#584321)

              I've done worse in real life, I can't imagine it being any worse in VR :)

              --
              Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
          • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:30AM

            by Gaaark (41) on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:30AM (#584335) Journal

            Hold a meeting in a virtual room around a virtual table from different locations: pick a suit to wear and have known graphics for representing you: you shrug your shoulders or point to something and your 'rep' does the same in the meeting.

            Graphs are easily shared on a virtual white board or whatever.

            There's @Snow, 'watching' his new baby girl, while hooking up with his girlfriend over the internet at a nice virtual stay in Paris.

            Learn to steal from the NSA while virtually rooming with Edward Snowden.

            Who wants to punch Trump and Hillary: only 2 payments of $19.99 and they will throw in Carrot-top. But wait! Buy within the next 10 minutes and you'll also get Harvey Weinstein!! So act now!

            --
            --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:45PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:45PM (#584085)

    Why is there 6 boob stories in the submissions from Mr Plow? I like boobies as much as the next guy, but seriously.

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:55PM (1 child)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @07:55PM (#584093)

    It's called "Windows Mixed Reality."

    With decidedly mixed [theverge.com] results [businessinsider.com].

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:05PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:05PM (#584105)

      Microsoft's chatbots have an unfortunate habit of telling the truth.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by crafoo on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:44AM

    by crafoo (6639) on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:44AM (#584294)

    I am amused. Microsoft marketing acts like it has a reputation to trade on. Zune. Windows Phone. Play for Sure (LOL!) Skype NSA sell-out. Windows 10 telemetry. The Mother Fucking Ribbon. Microsoft software is a mass grave of failure and broken promises.

  • (Score: 1) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:38PM (1 child)

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:38PM (#584597) Journal

    Virtual reality places you in a virtual world.
    Mixed reality overlays the virtual world on your physical world.
    There is a huge difference. Jokingly I compare it to Pokemon LARP vs. Pokemon Go.

    I use 3-d cad as part of my hobbies, and Mixed reality is a world-changing shift in how this works. It's a generational shift like the shift from paper to 2-d cad or 2-d to 3-d cad. It's night and day. Projecting a virtual part inside a physical assembly is awesome. Doing that and then projecting a section analysis on the physical part is mind-blowing.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:57PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:57PM (#584663) Journal

      Mixed Reality == Virtual Reality + Augmented Reality

      The definition [wikipedia.org] is muddled, but if you look at the implementation [theverge.com] (at least how it has been marketed in the last 2 years), it becomes more clear.

      An augmented reality device like Google Glass or HoloLens has a transparent display and it overlays graphics on the real world. A virtual reality device like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive covers your eyes and displays stereoscopic graphics throughout your field of view. A mixed reality device covers your eyes like a VR device, but also adds front-facing cameras in order to capture the real world, which can be used to act as an AR device, or ignored (full VR mode).

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
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