Post by BH_Vfw_Dudley on Mar 25, 2014 21:19:58 GMT -6
Hmmm... Facebook pays $2B for Oculus VR:
www.thestar.com/business/2014/03/25/facebook_agrees_to_buy_oculus_for_2_billion_us.html
Oculus is impressive, but I don't think it's suited for our type of simulator games where you need quick reference to hand controls. Also, they still have a lot of people feeling disoriented and nauseous.
Another interesting head set is the Avegant Glyph. Also reviewed on engadget.
Clever technology that uses micro-mirrors to focus the image directly onto the viewer's retinas and even adjusts for myopia (I wouldn't need my glasses). So far only 1280 X 720 for each eye, but you still have peripheral view of your environment. Newbies have worn them for hours with no nausea and no eye-strain from the low-powered LEDs. They did well on Kickstarter with 6x their original funding goal and expect to ship betas in December.
For those of you into audio (I did a brief stint in stereo sales back in the early 80s - some of it high-end) I'm looking forward to Neil Young's Pono Player (rhymes with mono not porno). It's not a phone and all it does is play music, but it's not just an mp3 player. It's supposed to sound as good as or better than vinyl. It plays high-definition digital master recordings - 20X better than mp3 and 6x better than CDs. It will have it's own download service like iTunes. Plays on headphones or anlog audio out to your home system or car.
Some very impressive musicians are very impressed with it. There was an intro video with some testimonials from Bruce Springstein, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, Elton John, etc, etc. However, it's down at the moment, as they're going to post up a new one shortly. They did very well on Kickstarter as well. Their original funding goal was $800K. They blew through $2M in a couple of days and will pop over $5M real soon.
There have been many negative reviews from physics, electonics, and audio experts who state emphatically that Pono will never succeed and the human ear cannot possibly hear the difference between mp3 and CDs and high-def music. I foolishly disagree and I've put in a pre-order for a Pono on Kickstarter. We'll check it out in October when it ships.
www.thestar.com/business/2014/03/25/facebook_agrees_to_buy_oculus_for_2_billion_us.html
Oculus is impressive, but I don't think it's suited for our type of simulator games where you need quick reference to hand controls. Also, they still have a lot of people feeling disoriented and nauseous.
Another interesting head set is the Avegant Glyph. Also reviewed on engadget.
Clever technology that uses micro-mirrors to focus the image directly onto the viewer's retinas and even adjusts for myopia (I wouldn't need my glasses). So far only 1280 X 720 for each eye, but you still have peripheral view of your environment. Newbies have worn them for hours with no nausea and no eye-strain from the low-powered LEDs. They did well on Kickstarter with 6x their original funding goal and expect to ship betas in December.
For those of you into audio (I did a brief stint in stereo sales back in the early 80s - some of it high-end) I'm looking forward to Neil Young's Pono Player (rhymes with mono not porno). It's not a phone and all it does is play music, but it's not just an mp3 player. It's supposed to sound as good as or better than vinyl. It plays high-definition digital master recordings - 20X better than mp3 and 6x better than CDs. It will have it's own download service like iTunes. Plays on headphones or anlog audio out to your home system or car.
Some very impressive musicians are very impressed with it. There was an intro video with some testimonials from Bruce Springstein, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, Elton John, etc, etc. However, it's down at the moment, as they're going to post up a new one shortly. They did very well on Kickstarter as well. Their original funding goal was $800K. They blew through $2M in a couple of days and will pop over $5M real soon.
There have been many negative reviews from physics, electonics, and audio experts who state emphatically that Pono will never succeed and the human ear cannot possibly hear the difference between mp3 and CDs and high-def music. I foolishly disagree and I've put in a pre-order for a Pono on Kickstarter. We'll check it out in October when it ships.