🥽 Vision Pro SDK Applications Open

Good morning folks!

Glad you could make it! Welcome to the first edition of our VR Newsletter. A special thank you for starting this journey with me on day 1. Perhaps, I should call you my early-stage investors?

We have a small crowd here, but we still have some cool people reading this. I can see 3 CEOs of VR companies, a couple of VR Youtubers, and so many hardcore VR enthusiasts on this list. Yes, I see you and recognize y’all by name.

In today’s news headlines:

• 🍎 Apple Begins Applications For Vision Pro Developer Kits

• 🥽 Quest’s v56 Update Is Phenomenal

• 📰 Tech Crunch Says That VR Is Dead

• 🤖 AI-Powered NPCs In Metaverse

Read time: 3 minutes

TOP STORIES

APPLE VISION PRO

Apple Begins Accepting Vision Pro SDK Applications. (Just Be Careful…)

Unlike Zuckerberg, Apple keeps their word on timelines. Earlier, Apple announced that they’ll start rolling out applications for developer kits in July and that day is finally here. (Meanwhile, I still haven’t gotten my VR legs. You’re way behind schedule Zuck!)

Developers need to submit an application, agree to terms and must have an Apple developer account. But, here’s a secret tip: if you want a bump up in the priority list, Apple said they’ll consider applicants who’re creating an app that takes full advantage of visionOS features and capabilities.

Translation: If you’re making an app so immersive that could entice people to buy the $3,499 device, you’re on Apple’s VIP list.

Just be careful though, it comes with some stringent (yet, standard) rules.

• It needs to be returned upon request.

• Has to be stored in a private, secure workspace that unauthorized persons don’t have access to view, handle, or use.

• The dev kit also needs to be passcode protected and never left unattended.

• It cannot be removed from its home address without Apple’s prior written consent.

So just don’t take it to the bar like this Apple employee who left the unreleased iPhone 4 prototype in a bar and lost it.

META UPDATES

Quest’s v56 Update Is A Gamechanger!

Meta’s announced the upcoming v56 software update for its Quest headsets and it features a ton of cool improvements for a smoother experience.

It’ll provide up to 40% latency reduction in typical use and up to 75% during fast movements! Thanks to stiff competition from Apple, Meta has significantly worked on improving their hand tracking as well. They’ve actually created a specific demo app called Move Fast to showcase their hand-tracking and latency-reduction features.

That’s not all, developers can now build apps that can use hand-tracking mode and controller mode at the exact same time.

Meta said they’ll start rolling out the update “gradually in the week of July 24.”

Fun Fact: Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth first announced these updates on Twitter and not Meta’s own app, Threads. When a user asked why, he replied “A/B testing LOL”

CONTROVERSY

Tech Crunch Announces “VR Is Dead” — Gets Called Out By The VR Community.

On Thursday, the leading technology news publisher Tech Crunch released an article titled “VR Is Dead: AR ate it and has an equally murky future.”

(Huh, the nerve!)

The author, Haje Jan Kamps, argued that VR didn’t grow as quickly as expected and that even the Apple Vision Pro focuses on VR and not AR. Kamps also said that VR lacks a killer app which would make VR devices a must-buy.

The article quickly grabbed the attention of the VR community and garnered a lot of criticism from VR veterans for clickbaity journalism.

VR Entrepreneur @CixLiv pointed out that clickbait articles like these create a lot of negative engagement from VR, resulting in more traffic and profit for the publisher.

One of Haje’s points was that Tech Crunch predicted in 2015 that VR would be a $150 billion business by 2020, but even today, it’s just $32 billion. Soooo…VR is “dead” just because *your market predictions were wrong? Smh

NEWS FLASH

METAVERSE FASHION

One Step Closer To “Ready Player One” Reality

Meta and Italian luxury brand Valentino have joined hands to launch a new line of digital clothing on the company’s Avatar Store.

Last year, when Meta unveiled the Meta Avatar Store, they announced outfits from luxury clothing brands, including Balenciaga, Prada and Thom Browne. Now Valentino joins the mix, and their outfits are available at a price tag of $5.

🤖 AI NPC Uprising: Meta and Qualcomm are teaming up to bring LLaMA AI models to Quest. If it works, having actual conversations with NPCs could be possible! Metaverse platform RFOX VALT said they’ll soon integrate AI NPCs, delivering lifelike responses and engaging conversations.

🥽 Quest Pro 2: Meta CTO refutes rumours that Meta is scraping the Quest Pro lineup. Says “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

👓 IRL Subtitles: TranscribeGlass is working on AR glasses that can transcribe real-world conversations in real time, with the help of AI.

🍿 No Chill: Netflix is not going to create a dedicated VR app for Apple Vision Pro. Instead, they’ll be using a 2D version of the app available on the iPad.

🥊 Pulling No Punches: Jadu AR teased the Table-Top Fighting Mode of their augmented reality fighting game on Apple’s Vision Pro

UNREAL MONEY

FUNDING REPORT

$82.5 Million Raised To Save Lives

• Augmetics raised $82.5m to grow its business on fixing spines via AR and accelerate the adoption of augmented reality spine surgery. CPMG and Evidity Health Capital join a syndicate of US and Israeli investors

• Medivis raised $20m to enhance surgical navigation with AR.

• Squint, which uses AR to improve operations processes, raised $6m.

• Swave Photonics raised $10m to develop holographic AR.

• Red 6, an AR tech firm closed $70m in funding.

COOL PROJECTS

AIRPORT ROLLERCOASTER

Stuck At The Airport? Build Something In AR

WRAP UP

MEME OF THE DAY

I was told, “build and they’ll come?”

Have a great week folks.

Anyone seen Barbenheimer? Just wondering in what order should I watch those. Thankfully, theatre footfall has drastically increased due to their studio rivalry. Otherwise, Tech Crunch would’ve launched their next article titled “Movies are dead.”

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