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Meta’s ‘Project Cambria’ will pursue Zuckerberg’s Vision for Metaverse

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Admin

According to latest reports, Meta is reportedly planning to release no less than four new VR headsets between the present time and the end of 2024. The headset’s codenamed as ‘Project Cambria’.

Project Cambria

Reportedly, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) is aggressively pursuing Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse. Meta’s VR headsets is due to be released around September 2022The Project Cambria is a high-end VR and mixed reality stand-alone device which will be sold as a tool for remote work, rather than gaming. In an earnings call last week, Zuckerberg said that the focus for Project Cambria was “eventually replacing your laptop or work setup.”

Key to this is very high-resolution image quality that will make it easy to read (and write) text inside the headset. Cambria also uses outward-facing cameras to pass through a view of the user’s real-life surroundings, enabling mixed reality, as opposed to full virtual reality, experiences. These features, coupled with its relatively low onboard processing power, differentiate Project Cambria sharply from other high-end headsets like Vive Pro, which are designed primarily for gaming and require a powerful PC to operate. Insiders at Meta’s Reality Labs call the device “a laptop for the face.” Cambria will reportedly be priced at $799 or higher.

Meta’s low-end Quest headset

Next after Cambria, in 2023, will be a new version of Meta’s low-end Quest headset, which currently starts at $299. Then, in 2024, both Cambria and Quest will be refreshed with further new versions. At least, that’s Meta’s plan. According to The Information’s report, the social networking company is struggling to adapt to life as a maker of hardware and operating systems, which along with supply constraints has caused frequent delays to its planned push into VR — as well as to the augmented reality glasses it is developing in parallel.

Many other challenges face Zuckerberg’s quest to have us all joining work meetings through VR goggles in Meta’s Horizon Workrooms app. One is compatibility for Meta’s custom VR operating system with common workplace software. Another is the so-far unproven public appetite for VR, or for Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse as an immersive, pervasive VR internet where people will work, socialize and shop using avatars. But the Meta CEO is taking a long view. During the recent earnings call, he said Meta was “laying the groundwork for what I expect to be a very exciting 2030.”

Also Read: Meta’s New Oversight Board closes a loophole in its doxxing policy

What is new with Meta’s Horizon Worlds?

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Admin

In a piece of recent news, Meta teases a version of its Horizon Worlds. Meta’s Horizon Worlds might not require that you don a headset to get a taste of Horizon Worlds.

Meta’s Horizon Worlds

In response to criticisms of Meta’s 47.5 percent cut of sales in the virtual world, CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth teased that a future “web version” would demand a more reasonable 25 percent. That’s “much lower” than rivals like Roblox, the exec claimed. Bosworth didn’t say more about how the web edition would work or when it would launch. It’s not clear if this is a VR environment or a scaled-back experience, for instance.

The CTO justified the 47.5 percent rate for Quest headset users by maintaining that it was needed to “help build a different ecosystem.” Meta reaches that value by taking a 30 percent slice of revenue through the Quest Store and then 25 percent from the remaining amount in Horizon Worlds. This math would apply if the Quest Store was replaced with another platform “underneath,” Bosworth added, such as Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store.

Sales Revenue of Meta’s Shares

This might offer some consolation to creators worried they’d lose nearly half of all sales revenue to Meta’s share. You could buy a digital item in Horizon Worlds’ web version knowing the designer would get a much larger portion than if you made the same purchase in VR.

It might not soften all the criticism, however. Bosworth rebutted Apple’s accusations of hypocrisy by claiming the iPhone maker favors its business “at great expense” to developers. However, it’s still true that Meta will frequently collect revenue from two services where Apple, Google and others will only scoop up payments from one. That won’t please creatives who hope to live off their digital item sales and may have to raise prices to compensate for Meta’s approach.

Also Read: What makes the latest Facebook shortcuts a brilliant decision?

Why did Meta issue a prohibit call on its platform for assassination of high-ranking world leaders?

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Admin

Recently, Meta introduced a new rule where it prohibit call for assassination of high-ranking global leaders. Meta (previously known as Facebook), the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, issued a reminder recently that it prohibits calls on its platforms for the assassination of high-ranking world leaders, following intense scrutiny of the company’s decision last week to relax hate speech policies in Ukraine.

Prohibit Call

Meta’s latest action on the prohibit calls reflects its seriousness regarding violation of policies. The prohibit calls are vital, according to Meta’s statement. In an internal post to employees, Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said “we do not permit calls to assassinate a head of state.” Russia opens a criminal case against Meta following temporary hate speech policy change. The internal post, which was reported by Bloomberg and Reuters and confirmed to CNN Business by a Meta spokesperson, does not mention Russian President Vladimir Putin by name. The spokesperson affirmed that the restrictions on calls for assassination apply globally.

Meta’s earlier decision allows Ukrainian users to post otherwise prohibited calls for violent self-defense or condemnation of Russia’s invasion and effectively created more leeway for users in the country to express support for violence on Meta’s platforms. (On Sunday, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation thanked Meta and said the decision “respect[ed] our right to counter the aggression” from Russia.)

But Meta was forced to clarify its stance after Russia accused it of facilitating “illegal calls for murder and violence” against Russian citizens and opened a criminal case against the company. Russia has separately moved to block Facebook and Instagram in the country as part of a crackdown on information about the war in Ukraine, though a growing number of Russian internet users appear determined to circumvent the ban.

Ukraine-Specific Policy

The Ukraine-specific policy on hate speech, which is temporary, is “focused on protecting people’s rights to speech as an expression of self-defense in reaction to a military invasion of their country,” Clegg said in a public statement Friday. The statement added that Meta has no quarrel with the Russian people and that “there is no change at all in our policies on hate speech as far as the Russian people are concerned.” Clegg’s internal post on Sunday doubled down on that position.

“We are now narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general,” Clegg wrote, adding that the hate-speech carveout for Ukraine applies only to speech “regarding the Russian military invasion.”

Also Read: How can Personal Boundary by Meta enable Digital Privacy Protection?

Meta Introduces ‘Personal Boundary’ for User Safety in the Metaverse

Posted on February 5, 2022 by Admin

Recently, several series of reports on virtual sexual harassment in its metaverse have been reported. To create a safe space and environment within the intriguing world of Metaverse, Meta has taken a commendable initiative for the safety of avatars. Meta has responded to the cases in its metaverse by limiting how close avatars can get to each other. This feature is called “Personal Boundary”.

Restricting Privacy Invasion

Meta has added and launched a new feature that will restrict the avatars from being within very close proximity of each other. Dubbed as ‘Personal Boundary’, the feature will not by default permit the avatars in Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues to get within about four feet of one another.

Personal Boundary will prevent anyone from invading an avatar’s personal space. If someone tries to enter the Personal Boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary. Users won’t feel it—there is no haptic feedback. This builds upon Meta’s existing hand harassment measures that were already in place, where an avatar’s hands would disappear if they encroached upon someone’s personal space.

Comprehensive Response to Reported Cases

Several women have reported cases of sexual harassment in the Metaverse. In Jan 2022, a 43-year-old British woman claimed she was virtually groped by a gang of male avatars in Horizon Venues. Prior to that, in December 2021, another woman had claimed she was virtually groped in Horizon Worlds.

On 4 Feb, Vivek Sharma, Vice President of Horizon, said in a blog post that Personal Boundary would create “more personal space for people and make it easier to avoid unwanted interactions.” He further added “If someone tries to enter your Personal Boundary, the system will halt their forward movement as they reach the boundary. You won’t feel it—there is no haptic feedback. This builds upon our existing hand harassment measures that were already in place, where an avatar’s hands would disappear if they encroached upon someone’s personal space.”

Establishing Norms through Added Features

Although the Personal Boundary feature will be turned on by default, users can still be able to high-five or fist-bump with each other by extending their arms. According to a spokesperson for Meta, users cannot choose to disable Personal Boundary since it is intended to establish norms for interactions in Meta’s metaverse.

Horizon World allows users to hang out with up to 20 people in a virtual space. Whereas, Horizon Venues allows people to create avatars that can watch online events together. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told employees to focus on video content amid competition from TikTok and following a brutal post-earnings market cap loss.

Microsoft has Reportedly Scrapped Plans for its HaloLens 3

Posted on February 4, 2022February 4, 2022 by Admin

According to latest reports, Microsoft has reportedly scrapped its plan for its HaloLens 3. In recent months, the tech giant has put an end to its plans regarding the headset.

Proclaimed Exit of HaloLens 3

In a piece of recent news, the future of Microsoft’s HaloLens has reportedly become uncertain. This is because the company struggles to put together a coherent mixed reality strategy. According to sources, the company has scrapped its plan regarding what could have been the HaloLens 3 in the upcoming months—giving signs of the end of the headset.

Sources further suggest that Microsoft inked a deal to team up with Samsung to develop a brand new mixed reality device, and this has caused an internal divide within the mixed reality division.

Mixed Responses to the Claim

On one hand, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw denied the closure of HaloLens and labeled it a ‘critical part of the company’s plans for emerging categories like mixed reality and the metaverse.’ He further added “We remain committed to HoloLens and future HoloLens development.” Microsoft has, however, refused to provide a word concerning the proclaimed partnership with Samsung.

On the other hand, employees within the mixed reality unit stated different factions within the team are arguing about which areas to focus on. While some believe that the team should double down on its own hardware, the rest think it is better to develop a software platform for the metaverse that can be used by other companies.

Microsoft’s Plans for Metaverse

Moreover, other people are arguing whether Microsoft should continue focusing on creating products for enterprise customers or whether the company should create products for consumers.

Common arguments concern that Microsoft’s mixed reality team should fulfill military contracts.

According to Rubén Caballero, a former Apple executive, Microsoft hired to head up device engineering for the HoloLens and other projects, back in 2020, who it reportedly wants to focus on consumers and the metaverse. He also added that there is apparently confusion on what the team’s focus should be that Microsoft lost 25 mixed reality employees to Meta in 2021, including veterans who had been with the company for over 20 years.

One thing which is vivid from the surfing claim is that Microsoft holds huge plans for the Metaverse. When the company announced its purchase of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, it said the acquisition will provide building blocks for the metaverse. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

Tag: Metaverse