Facebook hires former Apple designer Michael Hillman to take charge of VR hardware at Ocul...
Facebook is taking on Michael Hillman -- a person with 15 years at Apple, including key work on the company's Mac desktops -- as the head of hardware at its Oculus VR division.
While at Apple, Hillman started as a lead designer on the iMac then rose through several other jobs before taking charge of desktops in general, Bloomberg noted. Prior to joining Oculus, Hillman worked as a VP at a self-driving vehicle startup, Zoox.
Oculus is best known for the Rift, one of the first VR headsets aimed a consumer audience. It also makes the more limited Gear VR headset for Samsung smartphones.
While generally well-reviewed, the Rift and its main competition -- the HTC Vive -- have so far been limited to a niche audience, owing to high pricetags and steep requirements, such as a powerful PC and enough standing space to move around. Oculus has in fact side-stepped Mac development, since no current Mac is powerful enough to support the Rift.
The company has developed a prototype of an untethered device, nicknamed "Santa Cruz," but it's not clear when a finished version might ship. In the meantime Oculus and HTC alike might benefit from developments such as improved wireless HDMI, since their headsets still depend on wired connections.
Apple has been largely dismissive of VR, instead concentrating on its sibling, AR -- augmented reality. Earlier today a report backed the idea of a set of consumer-level AR glasses which might ship in 2018 or later.
While at Apple, Hillman started as a lead designer on the iMac then rose through several other jobs before taking charge of desktops in general, Bloomberg noted. Prior to joining Oculus, Hillman worked as a VP at a self-driving vehicle startup, Zoox.
Oculus is best known for the Rift, one of the first VR headsets aimed a consumer audience. It also makes the more limited Gear VR headset for Samsung smartphones.
While generally well-reviewed, the Rift and its main competition -- the HTC Vive -- have so far been limited to a niche audience, owing to high pricetags and steep requirements, such as a powerful PC and enough standing space to move around. Oculus has in fact side-stepped Mac development, since no current Mac is powerful enough to support the Rift.
The company has developed a prototype of an untethered device, nicknamed "Santa Cruz," but it's not clear when a finished version might ship. In the meantime Oculus and HTC alike might benefit from developments such as improved wireless HDMI, since their headsets still depend on wired connections.
Apple has been largely dismissive of VR, instead concentrating on its sibling, AR -- augmented reality. Earlier today a report backed the idea of a set of consumer-level AR glasses which might ship in 2018 or later.
Comments
Most VR-capable rigs have at least GTX 1070- or GTX 1080-class GPUs. No Apple desktop comes anywhere near that. I doubt most home users want to spend that sort of money just so one person at a time can view VR content. It definitely is true people have been dumping their VR rigs because they probably get tired of them. Those users ought to just get outside and get some exercise with true reality. Maybe I just don't get it, so I'm not panning VR.
At this stage I think it's only the most diehard users who'll have rigs and that will only be a handful of users. For the rest of the world it just seems highly impractical. I could see if a company opened a chain of VR centers for people who wanted to rent time with it but for home use it doesn't make much sense. Too much cost with very little returns is how I see it.
As for 3D, I think what killed that off is the confusion between active and passive 3D. It would have been a lot better had the TV companies supported the same type of 3D. It also didn't help at how expensive active 3D glasses were. A family of 4, that's well over $400 for glasses. Even though picture quality wise, it's not as good as active, but passive should have been the standard format. Wearing glasses was never the issue. 3D movies at the theater are one of the most popular in ticket sales.
I think there was some similar hype revolving around 3D printers, and specifically, espoused by MakerBot. The idea that every other soccer mom is going to have the wherewithal let alone the desire to figure out how to print her kids custom shin guards ever season was purely in the imaginations of those at a few small companies living in their own delusional bubbles.
Are there valid uses for VR goggles? I'm sure there are. It would have to be a hell of a compelling use case to get me to plunk down any cash on one.
A 3D printer on the other hand, I'm already sold!