VR
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Goodbye, photo studios. Hello, colormass virtual photoshoots
Berlin-based colormass, one of the startups presenting today at TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Battlefield, has developed a platform that lets you recreate an IKEA-style experience for your own merchandise: highly realistic, but digitally manipulated 3D facsimiles. Read More
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Shasta Ventures launches a fund to accelerate AR and VR app development
Apple and Google are ready for an augmented reality tidal wave, but what of developers? Over the past several months, the availability of ARKit and ARCore have proven there’s plenty of interest in the technology on the developer side, and some big brands from Ikea to Disney have been publicly exploring the ways in which the technology can enhance existing applications. But… Read More
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Virtual science lab startup Labster bags $10M to accelerate its ed tech play
Ed tech startup Labster whose software platform enables virtual simulations of laboratories for teaching life science to students, has closed a $10 million Series A round of funding led by early stage European VC firm Balderton Capital. Read More
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This VR cycle is dead
At this year’s E3 — aka the biggest date in the gaming industry calendar — there was an Oculus-shaped rift where the Oculus-shaped Rift should have been showing off its vision of the future of electronic gaming and entertainment. Read More
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Crunch Report | Benchmark vs Kalanick Goes Sour
Reddit is rolling out its own video platform, VR adtech company Immersv raises $10.5 million and Benchmark versus Kalanick goes sour. All this on Crunch Report Read More
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Crunch Report | Virtual Reality Star Wars Experience Is Coming to Disney Parks
VR Star Wars Experience is coming to Disney, Vector launches micro-satellites into orbit and iPhone 8 will take even better photos. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
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We went gaming at a VR arcade in Hong Kong
TechCrunch was in Hong Kong last week for tech conference Rise — where we watched two robots talking together on stage, among other things. The event is well-known for its after-parties and social activities, but one night we sneaked away from the crowd with a few friends to check out a virtual reality arcade. Playdium is a new entry to the city, having only opened its doors at the start… Read More
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Sketchfab adds 3D sound to its 3D model sharing platform
Sketchfab wants to become a sort of YouTube for 3D models and scenes. While the service started as a way to show off static 3D objects, the company has added a ton of interactive tools over time, making it a solid platform to preview virtual reality content. This week, Sketchfab added sound support. So if you have a VR headset at home, you can look at a scene in 3D using your headset with… Read More
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The new Taster VR app brings VR content from the BBC to your smartphone
The BBC today released a new mobile application that will allow it to experiment with transforming BBC content into VR experiences. The app, called BBC Taster VR, comes from the broadcaster’s testing ground for new ideas, Taster, and uses technology from EEVO to publish videos in a VR format. Initially, Taster VR only offers a couple of projects, one of which is 360 video from the… Read More
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Google unveils Advr, an experimental Area 120 project for advertising in VR
Google today is more formally taking the wraps off its internal incubator, Area 120, with the launch of a dedicated website, alongside the launch of one of the program’s more interesting projects to date: a way to advertise within VR. The new experiment, which is simply called Advr, involves a cube-like ad format which allows video ads to run in a 3D/VR environment. Area 120 was launched… Read More
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LiveLike will now let you watch sports with your Facebook friends in VR
LiveLike, the service that partners with sports broadcasters to create and host their VR viewing experiences, is going social. LiveLike’s VR experience is a “virtual suite” overlooking the field, where you can select different camera angles, look around the suite, view pre-produced content, etc. And now you’ll be able to do this with friends. Read More
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Samsung quietly acquired VR app studio VRB
Samsung has been bullish on virtual reality hardware, hoping that its early moves in headsets and devices to shoot content will give it a stronger position in the space as (and if!) it continues to expand to more applications and users. Now TechCrunch has learned that as part of that effort, it’s also made an acquisition. Samsung quietly bought a New York-based startup called VRB, which… Read More
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Apple’s new iMacs are now powerful enough to support VR
Apple just refreshed their iMac line, and while the external design will stay the same, the company has put a ton of effort into refreshing the insides to make them competitive with other professional-grade computers. Read More
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In the AI wars, Microsoft now has the clearer vision
A week ago, Microsoft held its Build developer conference in its backyard in Seattle. This week, Google did the same in an amphitheater right next to its Mountain View campus. While Microsoft’s event felt like it embodied the resurgence of the company under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Google I/O — and especially its various, somewhat scattershot keynotes — fell flat… Read More
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Microsoft announces its own motion controllers for mixed reality
Microsoft doubled down on its commitment to what it called “mixed reality” today at its Build developer conference, revealing motion controllers that work closely with VR headsets from Acer. With a $399 bundle containing all you need coming later this year, it could be one of the more affordable ways out there to get into the VR game. Read More
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Crunch Report | Rumors: Amazon’s New Echo Device
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Uber’s use of Greyballing, we get the first look at the rumored Amazon Echo device and Facebook shuts down its VR filmmaking division. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
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Exploring Virtualities, a Utah VR arcade and theater startup taking over a dying mall
Virtualities founder Ryan Burningham has a new idea for abandoned retail spaces — VR. VR theaters and arcades like Virtualities are starting to pop up in warehouses and other empty spaces around the U.S., including Burningham’s startup, located in what used to be a Hot Topic on the second floor of the Gateway Mall on Salt Lake City’s west side. Read More
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DJI’s new FPV goggles let you control your drone with head movements
When DJI announced the Mavic Pro last year they also teased a pair of FPV goggles that could be used to see first-person video from DJI’s drones. But we didn’t get many more details than that… until now. Read More
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Facebook launches React VR, a new JavaScript framework for building basic VR apps
Facebook today announced the launch of React VR, a new JavaScript framework that lets developers build virtual reality experiences with the help of JavaScript. React VR takes its cues from Facebook’s existing React framework; just like with React for standard web apps, VR developers can now use the same declarative model to write apps for their 360-degree experiences. Read More
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Viro wants to make mobile VR development a snap, and raises $2.5M to do it
VR is all over the place, but sometimes it’s not where you most expect it. Plenty of apps out there might could do with a wee bit of VR to help show off an apartment or a bit of 3D content, but those experiences can be pretty labor-intensive. Viro is a new company that hopes to empower mobile developers to add VR to their apps simply and using familiar tools and code bases. Read More
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