Tag: vr

Meta to Go Ahead With Acquisition of VR Platform Within Unlimited as FTC Withdraws Case

The Federal Trade Commission voted to withdraw an antitrust complaint challenging Meta Platforms’s purchase of virtual-reality startup Within Unlimited, officially closing the agency’s case.

The FTC sued to block the deal last year, filing twin complaints in federal court and its in-house court. Following a December trial in a San Jose federal court, US District Judge Edward Davila found in favor of Meta, ruling the FTC didn’t offer enough evidence to prove that the acquisition would harm competition in the nascent virtual-reality industry.

The FTC opted this month against appealing Davila’s decision and paused the administrative case while it considered next steps. Although the judge’s ruling allowed Meta to close the deal on February 10, the FTC could have continued its case in administrative court and sought to unwind the transaction. But on Friday, the FTC voted to withdraw the complaint and end the case.

“We’re excited that the Within team has joined Meta, and we’re eager to partner with this talented group in bringing the future of VR fitness to life,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. 

The decision represents the first major loss for FTC Chair Lina Khan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement. 

Khan has taken a more aggressive approach to mergers than her predecessors and stepped up the agency’s focus on technology giants because of their potential to quickly dominate budding markets. The FTC has also challenged Microsoft‘s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard on similar grounds — that allowing the acquisition would give the dominant platform a leg up in the emerging cloud-gaming market.

The FTC maintains that losing the case wasn’t all bad: Davila’s decision recognized the agency’s theory that mergers that don’t immediately hurt competition but have the potential to do so in the future should be blocked. 

“The judge sided with the FTC on basically every question of law and laid out a very clear opinion that said the way we were interpreting the law was correct,” Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democratic member of the commission, said of Davila’s decision at a conference in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Meta Gets Nod to Buy VR Content Maker Within Unlimited as FTC’s Request Gets Denied

A judge on Friday released a ruling denying the Federal Trade Commission’s request to stop Meta Platforms from buying virtual reality content maker Within Unlimited, rejecting the regulator’s concerns the deal would reduce competition in a new market.

A December trial to decide if Meta could go forward with the relatively small deal was seen as a test of the FTC‘s bid to head off what it sees as a repeat of the company acquiring small upcoming would-be rivals to dominate a market, this time in the nascent virtual and augmented reality markets.

The ruling had been issued in a sealed form earlier this week. The version issued on Friday evening was redacted.

A Meta spokesperson said the Facebook and Instagram owner was “pleased that the Court has denied the FTC’s motion to block our acquisition of Within.”

“We look forward to closing the transaction soon,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Judge Edward Davila of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said the FTC had failed to show that Meta would have entered the market to make dedicated fitness content if it was unable to buy Within.

“Though Meta boasts considerable financial and VR engineering resources, it did not possess the capabilities unique to VR dedicated fitness apps, specifically fitness content creation and studio production facilities,” the judge wrote.

The decision is good news for Meta boss and founder Mark Zuckerberg, who defended the acquisition in testimony in December, arguing that his company was helping to build but not dominate the virtual reality industry.

Zuckerberg had testified in federal court in San Jose, California, that owning Within was “not that critical” to Meta’s ambitions and that it was “less important that we own the experiences than that they exist.”

The FTC sued Meta in July to stop the Within deal, asking the judge to order a preliminary injunction, saying Meta’s “campaign to conquer VR” began in 2014 when it acquired Oculus, a VR headset manufacturer.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

 

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series of smartphones was launched earlier this week and the South Korean firm’s high-end handsets have seen a few upgrades across all three models. What about the increase in pricing? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

 

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Snap Founder Slams the Metaverse, Apple Marketing Chief Says He Won’t Use the Word

Billionaire Snap founder Evan Spiegel rubbished the idea that future computing will migrate into a virtual world dubbed the metaverse, arguing most people prefer a lighter touch known as augmented reality. Augmented reality, which broadly speaking superimposes digital info on the real world, lets people harness computing power without forcing them to rely on a single screen, Spiegel said. Unlike a VR headset, the combination of phones and augmented glasses is “more immersive.”

“The metaverse is ‘living inside of a computer.’ The last thing I want to do when I get home from work during a long day is live inside of a computer,” Spiegel told the WSJ Live conference in Laguna Beach, California. “There is a clear fork in the road between VR and AR.”

Later at the same event, Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak echoed the sentiment, saying the metaverse is “a word I’ll never use.” Apple is working on its own combined AR and VR headset, Bloomberg News has reported.

Spiegel and his lieutenants have argued that perspective previously, which diverges in part from the more all-encompassing vision of the metaverse espoused by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The debate underscores a broader discussion underway about the future of computing as growth in the smartphone era wanes. Snap this month reported its slowest quarterly sales growth ever, saying a decline in advertising spending continues to drag on results.

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company’s latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Apple Mixed Reality Headset Uses Iris Scanning for Payments, Logging In: Report

Apple’s mixed reality headset has been in the news for quite some time now. The latest report now suggests that the rumoured mixed reality (MR) headset will use iris scanning for signing in and making payments. This would work like Apple’s fingerprint feature or Face ID authentication and could allow multiple people to use one headset. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted last year that the mixed reality headset could support iris recognition. The eye tracking system is said to feature a transmitter and receiver that can analyse eye movements.

As per a report by The Information, Apple’s virtual and augmented reality headset will use iris scanning to authenticate payments and log users into their accounts. The iris recognition technology will make it easier for multiple people to use the same device and allow them to quickly make payments from inside the headset, just as iPhone models allow people to confirm payments using scans of their fingerprint or face, the report adds citing two employees.

The eye-scanning system could work similar to Apple’s fingerprint or Face ID functionality. If the report turns out to be correct, then the presence of the new eye-scanning system would be an advantage over Meta’s just-announced Quest Pro headset.

Apple will reportedly use the headset’s cameras for iris scanning. The upcoming device could be made from mesh fabrics, aluminium, and glass, and is said to have a goggle-like design. Apple’s headset will be reportedly lighter than the Quest Pro. Further, the report claims that the headset allows prescription lenses to be magnetically attached inside the headset.

Last year, analysts Ming-Chi Kuo also claimed that Apple’s mixed reality headset will come with an advanced eye tracking system that has a transmitter and a receiver. The receiver judges the eyeball movement based on the change while the transmitting end provides different wavelengths of invisible light, as per Kuo. This would allow for a more intuitive way to use Apple Pay, he added.

Apple’s mixed reality headset has been in the news a lot lately. The device is expected to launch early in 2023. The Cupertino-based company is said to use its M2 processor with 16GB of memory for the mixed reality headset. It could allow users to view certain invisible things. Users might be able to see gas leaks and Wi-Fi signals through the device.

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Meta Quest Users Will No Longer Require Facebook Account to Login: All Details

Meta is launching a new account login system for its Quest VR headsets that don’t require logging in with a Facebook account. The users instead will need a new Meta account, which does not need to be linked to Facebook. Meta will start rolling out this new account login system in the month of August, the company has confirmed. However, the company also has said that the ones who are new to Meta VR devices or have previously merged their Oculus account with a Facebook account, will need to create a a new Meta account and Meta Horizon profile.

As announced by Meta, the company is launching a new account login system for its Quest VR headsets that don’t require logging in with a Facebook account. This system will be rolled out to users in the next month. This new login system indicates that those Meta Quest users who have merged their Oculus and Facebook accounts, will now need to create a new Meta account and Meta Horizon profile to use the headset. And those who have been logging into their VR device with their Oculus account can keep using their headset until January 1, 2023.

The company, on the occasion, explained that “Your Meta account is not a social media profile; it lets you log into your VR devices and view and manage your purchased apps in one place. In the future, we’ll extend Meta account functionality so you can use it to log into other Meta devices.”

Meta also notes that the Quest headset users also have an option to add their Meta account to the same accounts centre as their Facebook or Instagram account so they will be able to chat with friends in the VR version of Messenger.

Moreover, while creating a new Meta account, the Quest users will be prompted to create a Meta Horizon profile, with a username, avatar, profile photo, and so on, as per the company.

Meta claims that this new account also offers privacy controls, including varied privacy options in the settings, which comprises of – Open to Everyone, Friends and Family, and Solo accounts. After selecting this, users will get an option to review and confirm their individual privacy settings are set the way they want them.

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Apple Mixed Reality Headset to Be Announced During Media Event in Jan 2023: Ming-Chi Kuo

Apple has been developing a mixed reality headset for a while now. It is believed to offer a combination of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. Reportedly, Apple has teamed up with famous Hollywood directors to develop mixed reality content. Now, it is being reported that Apple could unveil this device at a special event, which could be held at the start of the next year. It is highly unlikely that the Cupertino company would reveal this upcoming mixed reality handset during the ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2022 keynote event.

According to a post shared on Twitter by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could start EVT testing of the mixed reality headset around Q3 2022. This is expected to be followed by a special media event that could be held in January 2023. Apple might then take two to four weeks to deliver the development toolkit. Kuo suspects that due to the interruptions caused by the lockdowns in Shanghai, the mixed reality headset’s shipments might postpone to Q2 2023. The Cupertino company is expected to make these headsets available for pre-ordering around the same time. Finally, Apple’s mixed reality headset is expected to hit the shelves before WWDC 2023.

Past reports suggest that Apple could be developing new VR and AR-powered Apple apps and services. It could be working on creating a new platform for third-party developers. Apple could even release a new version of SwiftUI for developers to build AR and VR apps. Its operating system is expected to be named realityOS. As previously mentioned, Apple could be teaming up with Hollywood directors such as Jon Favreau for creating mixed reality content for the Prehistoric Planet series on Apple TV+. This headset is supposed to cost around $2,000 (roughly Rs. 1,55,500). Apple is believed to have ambitions of replacing iPhones with mixed reality headsets in a decade.

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