Oculus wants you to work in VR with Hybrid Apps

Aside from introducing the Oculus Quest VR, Facebook also introduced some new virtual reality-related tech at its Oculus Connect 5 event. One technology it teased is called Hybrid Apps, which basically translates desktop apps into the VR space. The demo video above shows a user being able to take a digital art project being developed in 2D on a PC and then taken into the 3D space “instantly scaling and manipulating the model’s colors and textures.” Whether you’d want to work in a VR environment is a discussion for another time. Facebook says Hybrid Apps is still in early development.

Source: Engadget

Oculus introduces wireless Quest VR headset

Oculus has finally launched its powerful, wireless virtual reality headset meant to take on PC-quality rivals. Called Oculus Quest, it’ll be coming out in the spring of 2019 for US$399 for the 64GB model. It’ll have a display resolution of 1,600 x 1,440 per eye. And will come with over 50 game titles, including Rift VR games like Moss, Robo Recall, and The Climb. This self-contained headset allows for motion-controlled gaming, complete with six degrees of freedom. Instead of relying on wires, the Quest uses “inside-out” tracking to tell if the players are moving. Oculus dubs this tech Insight and it makes use of four ultra-wide-angle sensors and computer vision algorithms to keep track of the players and the motion controllers.

Source: Engadget

Facebook and Messenger Stories reach 300 million daily active users

Looks like Snapchat isn’t just competing with Facebook-owned Instagram. Facebook just announced that its own Facebook and Messenger Stories have now reached 300 million daily active users. A user counts as one person, so this means they won’t be counted twice. Facebook didn’t specify the breakdown between the apps though, but it must be noted that Facebook Story is automatically posted to Messenger. At the moment, Snapchat gets 188 million daily active users.

During the same announcement, Facebook has announced it will start rolling out ads in Facebook Stories similar to how Instagram Stories ads work.

Source: CNBC

Microsoft enables support for mouse and keyboard for Xbox One, announces partnership with Razer

You’ve asked for it, you got it. Microsoft just announced that its adding keyboard and mouse support for the Xbox One and select Xbox testers get to try this out in the coming weeks. Most wired and wireless USB keyboards will work with the Xbox One but it’ll be up to the developers to support this in their games. It will not be enabled by default as Jason Ronald, director of program management for Xbox, says the development team know their games the best and they would know what experience would work best to provide an “optimal and fair gaming experience” for its players. PC gamers tend to have a movement advantage over players with controllers especially in games like first-person shooters, this new feature might help level the playing field. Microsoft has been working with big and small studios on this new feature and needs feedback from its Xbox testers to make sure it’s as close to perfect when it officially launches later this year.  

The company also announced a partnership with Razer to allow Xbox One users to use Razer hardware and use its Chroma lighting effects. Microsoft plans to release more details about this partnership during the Inside Xbox stream on November 10th. 

Source: The Verge