Virtual reality
Amazon SageMaker Ground Truth can now create virtual objects for AI model training
It takes massive amounts of data to train AI models. But sometimes, that data simply isn’t available from real-world sources, so data scientists use synthetic data to make up for that. In machin
Meta’s latest VR headset prototypes will help it pass the ‘Visual Turing test’
Meta wants to make it clear it's not giving up on high-end VR experiences yet. So, in a rare move, the company is spilling the beans on several VR headset prototypes at once.
Meta rolls out new parental controls for Instagram and Quest VR headsets
Meta announced today that it’s rolling out new tools on Instagram and Quest VR headsets that are designed to give parents additional supervision controls. On Instagram, parents and guardians can
Meta adds voice controls for Horizon Worlds, which defaults to live chat with strangers
Meta might soon want everyone to hop into its playful virtual realms, but some users are set up for a shock. In the service of pushing people to socialize in Horizon Worlds, the virtual social network
Meta rolls out Horizon Home, making it easier to meet up in the metaverse
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that Horizon Home will roll out as part of a new update to the Quest 2 headset. Despite Meta’s insistence that virtual reality is the future
Meet the Extreme Tech Challenge 2022 Global Finals category finalists and special award winners
Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition focused on purpose-driven innovation, and sponsor of TechCrunch Sessions: Climate, has chosen 10 category finalists and three Sp
Why more funding equates more peace of mind for TRIPP and its users
LA-born startup TRIPP doesn’t want the metaverse to be a mere “shopping mall for virtual consumers,” its founder Nanea Reeves told TechCrunch. Instead, Reeves’ company is envis
Lightspeed’s Mercedes Bent on why the metaverse isn’t overhyped
On the Chain Reaction podcast this week, we dove into a topic that tends to stir up strong emotions, even from those outside the crypto space — the metaverse. Mercedes Bent, an investor at Light
Meta begins testing optional end-to-end encryption in Quest’s VR Messenger app
Meta is testing end-to-end encryption in Quest’s VR Messenger app, the company announced in a blog post. With the rollout of this test, the company is launching optional end-to-end encryption for Me
Meta is integrating its Horizon Venues live events app into Horizon Worlds
Meta announced today that it’s integrating its Horizon Venues event experience into its social virtual reality Horizon Worlds platform. Horizon Venues is currently a separate app dedicated to at
Finally, VR for your mouth
Teams have tried a number of different ways to get the lower half of the face into the act with VR. That includes, and I’m quoting directly here, “a tiny robotic arm that could flick a feather acr
Meta says its metaverse biz lost another $3B… but the 2030s will be ‘exciting’
Do you hear that? It’s the sound of every Meta executive breathing a deep sigh of relief, because unlike last quarter, Facebook’s daily active users (DAUs) are up… a little. For the
Here’s why we’re about to see an explosion of hyperreal artificial humans online
Synthetically generated versions of real people that can be can be programmed to say anything sounds like a scenario from the latest episode of “Black Mirror.” But in fact, production-grad
4 questions every CISO should be asking about the metaverse
Most businesses today struggle with securing the data and infrastructure they already have. In the multidimensional world of the metaverse, this will become exponentially more difficult.
Artists like Harry Connick Jr. are using web3 to engage with fans
Web3 has attracted people from all walks of life, from finance analysts and hedge fund managers to software developers. But a fairly new group entered the space over the last 12 months: artists.
Here are the games that were announced at the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase
Meta might want us to do everything in VR, from work meetings to exercising, but we often forget that playing video games is actually a pretty legit application of this technology. So, Meta is investi
Gravity Sketch draws $33M for a platform to design, collaborate on and produce 3D objects
Platforms like Figma have changed the game when it comes to how creatives and other stakeholders in the production and product team conceive and iterate around two-dimensional designs. Now, a company
Metaverses grapple with Meta versus Apple
Hello readers, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, I talked about Apple and crypto. This week, we’re talking about Apple clashing with Meta over their metaverse taxes. After sending o
Daily Crunch: To complicate Musk’s attempt to swallow Twitter, board approves ‘poison pill’ strategy
Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Meta is developing a web version of Horizon Worlds
Meta is working on a web version of its social virtual reality Horizon Worlds platform, the company’s CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth revealed in a tweet. The expansion would allow users to try ou