Blockchain technology, by design, is a decentralized global network of computers that cryptographically record transactions on an open ledger. Blockchain technology fundamentally creates trust in a traditionally trustless environment by making records provably fair, tamper-proof, and securely encrypted. Blockchain technology has already triggered a revolution in the finance and economic spheres because it’s practically too late to shut down cryptocurrencies. This piece, however, explores the activities of an innovative company seeking to disrupt the entertainment industry with a merger of blockchain technology and virtual reality.

On the first glance, it wouldn’t appear that blockchain technology has a significant part to play in the music and entertainment industry. Rod Drury, the CEO Xero once referred to blockchain technology “as a solution looking for a problem”. However, an objective review of the global music and entertainment industry reveals that the industry could really use some help from blockchain technology.

For instance, blockchain technology can solve the piracy problem for the music industry by making it possible to digitally track the ownership and transfer of media files. Media files can be cryptographically encrypted to prevent their download, sharing, or upload on torrent platforms. Blockchain can create a decentralized distribution system in which artists can sell their music directly to fans in a P2P ecosystem that eliminates middlemen. Blockchain technology can also reduce lawsuits related to IP rights and copyright infringements by allowing record labels and artists to create smart contracts to guide their business relationships. 

CEEK, birthed out of Sacramento California, is bringing an unprecedented but enabling kind of disruption by merging entertainment (music) Virtual Reality, and Blockchain technology. The global music and entertainment industry is growing rapidly and the demand for live concerts continue to soar as users get easily satiated with streamed or downloaded content. In the U.S. alone, at least 60 million concert tickets are sold annually as the demand for live events continues to soar.

CEEK already partnered with a few of the leading players from the music industry including U2, Katy Perry, Sting and more. Matt Everitt, the CEO of World of Dance, the latest giant to partner with CEEK says: “We are thrilled to be partnering with CEEK VR to bring our fans a truly unique way to experience World of Dance performance content. Dance is a universal language and a great fit for CEEK VR’s platform, which aims to make experiencing events like World of Dance universally accessible.”

The problem, however, is that the entertainment industry often books lost revenue on sold-out shows because many fans who would have loved to purchase tickets are often locked out because of lack of the space in the venue. Now, CEEK using its CEEK Virtual Reality Platform and its patented headsets will enable fans to experience live concerts in VR its patented Virtual Reality Content Delivery platforms.

CEEKERs will be able to “attend” live performances from anywhere in the world; hence, the platform opens up an opportunity for the music industry to sell an unlimited number of virtual tickets without worrying about space constraints. Interestingly, CEEK is already working with record labels, A-class artists such as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, and service providers such as Apple.

CEEK believes that Blockchain technology can help artists, musicians, performers, and record labels increase their revenue stream with a tokenization of the sales process. Now, artists leverage the firm’s Celebrity Coin Mint to issue unique coins which can serve the dual purpose of event tickets. The minted tokens can fundamentally take on the attributes of cryptocurrencies because their value can increase in tandem with the dynamics of demand and supply. Hence, some tokens to special events, tokens granting perks, or tokens with VIP access could quickly soar beyond their nominal value due to their rarity.

In addition, the current order in the global music and entertainment industry is highly centralized. The record labels, marketers, and media usually determine who become stars. Fans tend to think that they have a say determining the celebrity status of the artist; however, the big-name players control the options. CEEK’s platform can enable fans to have a say in the uplifting of artists to celebrity status by “voting” with their tokens when they buy Celebrity minted coins, merchandise, and access to VR shows.

The post Bridging the Gap Between Celebrities and Fans Using Blockchain and Virtual Reality appeared first on ChipIn.

Personally, I was sure that Augmented Reality Apps would find their way into real life, and they have seamlessly done so. From its inception, technology has always pushed the limits of what can be and continues to be a vital tool for the future.

In the Hollywood movies, they try to depict how the world will be 20-30 years from now. All this looks like a pipe dream, but it is happening in reality.

Augmented Reality Apps have found their way into almost every aspect of society as it stands. A biology teacher can now illustrate the human body better, or better yet, the human nervous system, better by using Augmented Reality Apps.

Your child can experience better gaming through these Apps, and you can see the world with different eyes through this breathtaking technology.

Imagine seeing streets avenues in 3D while driving, well, at a stop sign apparently, and seeing the distance it takes to get to your destination and the route mapped out precisely.

Augmented Reality Apps are the future, and the future is here. Let us have a look at some of the best Augmented Reality Apps currently on the market.

Top 10 Best Augmented Reality Apps 2018

1. MondlyAR

Learning a new language nowadays has never been more accessible. In the past, you needed a few books, dictionaries and maybe even a tutor. Learning a new language was a tedious long-term affair and unless you merged yourself in the actual culture of the specific language you wanted to learn, the chances of becoming fluent were pretty dim.

Today you have the internet at your disposal, and along with it, you have numerous tools and apps that are specially designed to help you learn a new language.

But the language learning sector recently got yet another update. MondlyAR – the first AR language learning app to use speech recognition, tries to supplement your learning experience with something that was really missing: interaction.

The whole experience revolves around a virtual character named Mondly, which basically substitutes a tutor, or teacher if you will. It will show you objects, animals, and even planets right there in your living room, making your whole language learning experience very futuristic.

Besides all the AR generated components to help you learn words and phrases, MondlyAR also provides a high level of direct conversation based interaction, between you and your virtual learning assistant with the help of speech recognition technology.

Overall, MondlyAR is a great augmented reality experience. Having an AI tutor spawn a life-sized lion in your room and teaching you how to pronounce it in German will not only help you retain the information easier, but it will also make it a lot more fun and exciting.

At the moment MondlyAR is available on Google Play and will be launched in the App store by the end of March 2018. It currently has seven available languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, American and British English) with more to updates to come.

2. Ingress

This App is good news to every gamer in the world. It proves that there is more to the world than what you usually see; if anything, this App is the definition of seeing the world through different eyes.

The Ingress Augmented Reality App from Google turns your real life surrounding into capturable objectives in-game portals. Landmarks and points of interest are captured on your phone after it uses GPS technology access your location and gives you a virtual alternative to reality.

However, this virtual world is merely a practical display of what already exists.

In every game that I have ever played, there is always a way to add more to your health or life bar. Now imagine being able to collect these health bars or XM (Exotic Matter) as Ingress calls it in real life.

This game has two factions, the Enlightened, who use XM to advance human revolution, and the Resistance, who do not care about the exotic matter.

To play this game, you have to be on either side. The quests involve capturing the flag, neutralizing, discovering, attacking and discerning the other’s territory. Your role as a member of either faction is to use your inventory to advance your faction’s control.

Some time ago, gamers all around the world thought online gaming was the best thing to happen to them. This goal was achieved using headphones to interact with opponents or teammates who are far from them, but the two or three players are connected to the game online.

Ingress Augmented Reality App now on Android Wear

If you think that is the best way to game, wait until you try out the in-game chat on Ingress. You will not be sitting down sipping soda and eating junk food while you experience the joy of vanquishing your enemies in the game with your friend, who may be miles away, doing the same.

Instead, you will be taking over new territory while on the move breathing fresh air and exercising your legs as well. If you are looking for a game that will take you out of the house and help you experience reality in a practical way, the Ingress Augmented Reality App from Google is what you need.

3. AR Flashcards App

Learning has unquestionably taken a different turn since the technology was incorporated into the education sector. I remember my days as a young kid, my early learning days, spelling was a major hurdle for me. Even now, there are pupils all across the world that uses old methods such as charts to learn letters and spelling.

The good news about the AR Flashcards App is that you do not need to wait until your child goes to school for them to start learning. Additionally, you do not need to buy papers and charts to aid them in their schooling at home.

Having papers in your house can make it look messy, your child may even stain it, and the whole process of finding a proper chart and these academic documents is strenuous.

I bet you notice the glow in your little one’s eyes when you get them a technology related present, something they can interact. Augmented Reality Flashcards add learning to the fun; your child will know what they need to know before they go to school.

AR Flashcards work by pointing your Android or iOS device at the printed flashcards. When you do that, a 3D animal pops up on the screen, now tap the animal and you will hear the animal name and the letter.

This proves to be a fun way to learn as kids tend to remember interactions more than they would if they are just told something about an object or an animal. If a child sees it, they will remember it better than when they hear about it.

The AR Flashcards have 26 animals to help kids in preschool and toddlers as well to learn. Augmented Reality superimposes computer-generated technology over a live view of the world, undoubtedly the best way to help your child learn.

4. Spacecraft 3D

I bet you have heard about Curiosity; the six-wheeled little spacecraft NASA is using to explore Mars. Have you ever been a wee bit curious about how this machine works or looks like up-close?

Tell you what, you do not need to research it online, you can view Curiosity in 3D using the Spacecraft 3D Augmented Reality App released by NASA. Even better, more models will be added in the future. All you have to do is print out a few markers then aim your device camera at them, and you will be able to see the 3D model.

This Augmented Reality App not only helps you learn more about the various spacecraft used by NASA for space exploration but also helps you interact with them as well.

This App is a way to explore the earth and solar system in general from the comfort of your mobile device in a captivating manner. Imagine being able to view the Milky Way and asteroids in an interactive way, it would make you feel like an astronaut, wouldn’t it? I will not be surprised if kids who see and use this App decide to switch careers to being an astronaut.

The App only take up 46 Megabytes of space and requires your phone to use the 2.2 version of Android or any above that and most importantly, to have a good camera.

The current version is 3.0 that recently included a manual mode to explore models without an Augmented Reality target image. With Spacecraft 3D, you will not only be able to view the universe via robotic explorers only; if you are interested in learning about their engineering feats, this App will help you in that sense as well. Say hello to the future of space exploration, right from your mobile device.

5. MYBRANA 3D

It is very hard to choose one Augmented Reality App as your favorite, but when I used Mybrana 3D, that decision was the easiest I ever make.

Social networks now seem overrated to me as I can create my version of reality and capture what happens in the real world in real time. For the first time, fiction has somehow managed to surpass reality, and it has been made possible by this amazing App. After taking photos or videos, sometimes you edit them before sharing them to add a creative touch to them.

Mybrana 3D will turn a place that has been used to take photos multiple times into a whole new experience; this is the selfie revolution you have been waiting.

You have the ability to add animated characters to your photos and videos with Mybrana 3D. The images are projected with unbelievable precision, almost as if they were there when you took the picture or video.

You can add anything from miniature cars to pumpkins and even animals such as penguins or an octopus’s tentacles. As a creative, this is the type of Augmented Reality App that gets your creative juices or overdrive.

These features integrate impeccably with the image and enable real-time sharing of the videos or photos. This App adds a touch of humor and life to what would look like an annoying picture mainly because it is normal.

With all the technological advancements going on and wonderful inventions in the market, reality surely is a boring world for an average person let alone a creative one. However, you need a steady hand with this App; moreover, it uses your battery fast so be sure to have enough charge for running the App. Also, it is free, grab your today and experience reality in a new way.

6. Aurasma

Earlier on, we discussed an App that aids toddlers in learning; now we look at one that even adults can use. Aurasma Augmented Reality App is a new way to interact with and see the world.

As a matter of fact, it is among the very few Apps that allow you to create and share your Augmented Reality. Animations are among the leading genres of the film industry.

Social media takes to animations to create funny videos just to make people’s days. I am among the people who wonder how these amazing videos are made.

With the Aurasma Augmented App, you can not only animate, but you can also use interactive digital content to bring images, physical locations and objects to life.

As an animation lover, this is the perfect App for you as it allows you to switch from reality to an animated world in an instant. Aurasma is one of those Apps that will get you hooked like nuts to a squirrel.

The App is also embedded in the real world as it uses product packaging, books magazines, posters, books, and the likes to share experiences. It does this by putting Auras, in the form of a logo, ‘A’, in them, if you have the App, all you have to do is scan the A using the Apps viewfinder to unlock these brilliant experiences.

You can create your personal Auras using the simple step-by-step creation wizard in the App and share them with your friends and Aurasma users.

Imagine taking a video of you strolling down the street one day, everything looking normal, and then you use the App to add a 3D dinosaur on the streets. Yes, you can do that with the Aurasma Augmented Reality App.

These videos and photos of you are your auras, what more is there to say, create your aura today.

7. HomeSpotter

There are two things almost everybody hates in this world; traffic and house hunting. The process of house hunting is a long one despite recent innovations in real estate such as speedy agent availability and online sites that deal with finding homes for you.

In spite of these efforts, getting the desired home requires constant and good communication between the realtor and the client.

Communication is everything; an agent will call you and keep you updated on new houses, but what about when you need to view them and the agent is unavailable? Or you need some details and do not want to give out your email address yet, the cautiousness is understandable.

The ideal solution for you is the HomeSpotter App. HomeSpotter makes collaboration between you and your agent better, fast, and fun.

Clients and agents were used to using hectic methods to communicate such as emails and fax to send and receive documents concerning the house they intend to buy or lease.

With HomeSpotter, you can view photos directly in the message without having to open the attached files in another window. The text message interface is easy to use thus enabling efficient communication between the users.

Home searching was a personal thing not so long ago, by this I mean, unless you had whoever you wanted to share the home with you while viewing, they would have to see it when you have already bought or leased it.

However, with HomeSpotter, you can share not only photos as slideshows and links, but you can enable multiple conversations between you and your family or friends and the agent.

Moreover, you can enable communication between you and two or more agents so as to get full access to agent-only listing information.

HomeSpotter allows you to share, comment, save, and chat with everybody involved in your quest to find a home; this is a significant step towards modernizing house hunting. Don’t be left behind, download this App for free.

8. Anatomy 4D

Biologists and biology tutors must have been buzzing with excitement when this App hit the market, and why would they not when you can access and visualize one of the most complex systems, human anatomy.

Not long ago, and even now in some places, tutors use charts to explain human anatomy to eager students. As complicated as it is, students understand it and go on to become the best doctors and surgeons in the world.

Anatomy 4D shows just how Augmented Reality is embedded in every aspect of society, especially the imperative ones such as medicine.

On the main menu of the App, there is a ‘Target Library’ section; print your desired images into it. After doing that, place the printed image on a flat surface then scan it with your device, now all that is left is for you to sit back and watch as an amazing 4D experience comes to life.

This App is widely used by medical practitioners almost twice as much as teachers and students use it.

Even after learning about all there is to learn about human anatomy, you will be surprised by a thing or two considering the fact that people are different. That is why this App is vital to doctors just as much as it is to teachers and students.

A fun way to learn ensures you clearly remember as it is fun and very inspiring. This is the type of experience that the Anatomy 4D Augmented Reality App gives you.

Imagine being able to study both the female and male anatomy simultaneously with added features such as zooming in on organs and other parts of the body for precise detail.

All this is possible with this amazing Augmented Reality App. Moreover, unlike the days of old when you had one chart highlighting different organ systems, with Anatomy 4D you can focus on a single organ system such as the respiratory or the skeletal system and revert to the whole organ system at will.

9. Theodolite

Now this is the perfect Augmented Reality App for hiking, biking, boating, sightseeing, military personnel, rescue workers, geologists, architects, and surveyors just to say the least.

Imagine an App that can give you real-time information about your altitude, bearing, range, position, and inclination on your phones live camera, sort of like an electronic viewfinder.

This App has changed the approach to things such as surveying and architecture as well. As an engineer, you do not need to go through the tedious process of making a calculation on inclination with this App.

Likewise, the surveyor doesn’t need to tie strings to poles at all ends of a piece of land to determine the bearing. This App makes tasks such as these seem like a walk in the park.

For ethical and security purposes, most people will double check the Apps result with traditional methods but it its accuracy has been proven to be always on point.

The uses for this App just keep going and going, but one thing remains certain, it is the best navigation App there is on the market.

Imagine, as a golfer, having the ability to view your current position in a built-in map with live markers and seeing the whole terrain as it is, even beyond what your eyes may see.

Then imagine being able to share those markers and navigation calculator points with your friends; Theodolite surely does provide the ultimate navigation experience.

This App is also applicable to the typical user who just wants to take photos or videos.

With the Theodolite Augmented Reality App, you can take geo-tagged camera images, videos, and screenshots; not to mention the ability to save geographical data and notes made on photos and videos for later use.

I fell in love with this App after realizing it was connected to locators such as the U.S National Grid, MGRS, UTM, and the British/Irish National Grids. The App is free and can be used anywhere.

10. Car Finder Augmented Reality App

We have all been here before, haven’t we? When you find yourself so preoccupied or late for an important meeting or work and you just park your car anywhere you see parking space, only to have trouble remembering where you parked your car after the meeting.

A journalist is just the person in the profession that requires this type of hurry. If you wait to park in a place you will remember, you may risk losing the story.

It is one of the worst feelings to have especially if the meeting or work did not go as expected. Well, not to worry anymore, Car Finder is an Augmented Reality App that helps you with that issue and more.

This Augmented Reality App not only shows you where your car is but it can also help you track your car from home with its GPS Auto Track Module.

Additionally, it can give you directions to the nearest car park, so you do not have to leave your car in the middle of nowhere.

What makes it such an excellent App when it comes to finding you car is the fact that it automatically saves the location of your car the moment you turn it off.

After you are done with whatever you were doing, if you need to find your car the App not only gives you walking but driving directions as well towards your car.

With this Augmented Reality App, you will also be able to manage up to 3 different vehicles.

Imagine a friend of yours or your loved one gets their car stolen and their phone was inside the vehicle. You can track that vehicle for them and prevent it from disappearing for good.

What if you are meeting someone and want to meet them in your car, or are travelling and need to go with other people in your car; you can share your location with them and they will be able to find you without you having to move or start looking for landmarks and waving or shouting like a mad man when you can see them but they can’t.

So besides the stress got by running around trying to find your car, turns out this App prevents you from embarrassment too.

11. Continental Augmented Reality Head-up display

For the finale, we look at the App that will make your driving skills rise exponentially, reduce incidents where you get speed tickets and create a game-like experience while you are driving.

Imagine having the ability to access vital traffic information such as the speed limit without having to look up, right or left for the sign. All the information you need is displayed on your windscreen, so all you have to do is look forward and drive.

The Continental Augmented Reality Head-up display App moves essential information concerning the road and driving to the drivers’ line of sight.

At a distance of 7.5 meters from the driver, this App utilizes around 130 cm in width and 60 cm in length to insert full-color graphics into the real road.

This display is made possible by digital micro-mirror device technology or DMD that is also used in digital cinema projectors.

An App that can give you a view of the traffic conditions in front of your vehicle using virtual augmentations is just about what most drivers need to reduce not only small and stupid but major accidents as well.

Have you ever seen a car in front of you that you like but cannot get close enough or just can’t see its name on the back?

Continental Augmented Reality Head-up display enables you to detect the vehicle in front of you as well as giving you adaptive cruise control when distance controls are connected.

This App guarantees more economical, safer and comfortable driving experiences for all drivers. Moreover, it is fun; who wouldn’t like to have 3D rendering of the road on their windshield while they are driving? While it may seem like a distraction, this App is the closest thing to guaranteeing safe driving there is.

Augmented reality doesn’t relegate itself merely to gaming. AR has really proven its worth by making our daily routines more efficient and less mundane. In fact, a bevy of design brands have curated apps to help the average and not-so-average Joes and Janes transform their interiors in a matter of seconds. A sweeping lot of augmented reality apps in the design niche allow users to reimagine their interiors with new furnishings or even completely remodel the aesthetic and architectural design.

Originally we heard rumblings about such a forward-thinking app in the designer and architect industry space. It hadn’t yet been conceptualized as something non-professionals could avail themselves of. And perhaps it wasn’t originally perceived as the sort of tool regular people SHOULD avail themselves of.

Well, fast forward to the present and we’ve come to realize, “Boy, was that thinking wrong.”

1. Decolabs AR

Decolabs has fashioned our favorite kind of augmented reality app: a free one. Compatible with your smartphone, the app allows you to “explore, configure, and review” your space with your very own curated selection of furnishings. You simply aim at the space you want to redecorate, superimpose the object or objects, and evaluate if the result is the look you are after.

Unlike some apps that play liberally with the dimensions of your space and furnishings, Decolabs’ markers more accurately determine how much wiggle room you have to play with. Here’s how it works. First, you print the markers from the site. Then you place the marks on the floor where you want to place your new furniture. The markers in turn “anchor” the furniture in the space.

Bottom line: the app is straightforward and fluid. You won’t be scratching your head at how to navigate through this app’s set of functions. And while you do get what you pay for, it isn’t the only free design app on the market ready to transform your interior. So we expect future iterations of the app to take on board stronger, more intuitive functions.

2. iStaging

Not to be outdone by Decolabs’ free app, iStaging launched a similar app for smartphones and connected devices. Here’s the interesting thing about the award-winning iStaging team. They’ve bridged the universes of virtual reality and augmented reality in order to bring the strongest possible choices together in one app. The Decolabs app uses markers to pin your furnishings into your space. iStaging prides itself on using markerless AR to render your proposed furnishings at scale.

Here’s another intuitive bit of functionality. The app has wall and ceiling detection. The fine folks at iStaging are banking on the possibility that you’ll want to pull from an even larger catalog of ceiling lamps, fans, paintings, and mirrors to envision your living space beyond just standard floor furnishings. And that larger catalog boasts more than 10,000 such curated products ripe for placement in your bedroom or living room.

But what should you do if you are tapped out of design ideas? iStaging couples your AR experience with a collaborative VR experience. You can equally see your interior through the eyes of iStaging’s select group of designers. Putting on your VR glasses and enabling this option gives you the opportunity to pull inspiration from the portfolios and lookbooks of several reputable designers.

The app is an ever-evolving work of art. It’s even customized for Tango-enabled devices. Is it heavy on options? Yes. But that’s possibly what you need when redesigning your home: as many options as you can get.

3. Google Translate

Google and its team of future-driven engineers have been unabashed about their fondness of marrying the latest tech with the routine of our everyday lives. Maybe you knew this already. But Google Translate is AR-enabled.

We don’t typically reference the translation app when thinking about AR. But Google was one of the very first “brands” to put AR in the hands of the little people.

How does it work? Aim your camera phone at the text you want to be translated and the app translates it in real-time into your image display. Rather simple and unassuming sort of functionality. But when it comes to efficiency, no one really wants to type out a huge swathe of foreign and indiscernible text in hopes of translating it. The app cuts the wait time down to size by giving you your translation right before your eyes. Best of all it’s free.

4. Roar Augmented Reality

Roar is just the interesting sort of marriage that apps like Scan wish they were. Shopping just got easier by virtue of your camera phone. Imagine an app that allows you to take pictures of everything from food to movie posters and it, in turn, sources everything from prices, reviews, bookings and even ticket purchase for you in real time. This is what separates Roar from the vast array of shopping friendly apps that purport to give you full disclosure on products and purchases in the blink of an eye.

Roar’s claim to fame is that there seems to be nothing that you can’t scan or photograph (as long as it is for sale) and find out everything from nutritional information to screening times. Why is this app so powerful? We easily forget that it’s augmented reality. It doesn’t puff out its chest like other AR apps do. Instead, it relies on its ever-growing stack of functions and its extreme accessibility to do all its heavy lifting for it. Just the idea of walking past a restaurant and snapping a photo of food to get its price, reviews, details or even restaurant reservations is a big sell for the app.

Compatible with both Android and iPhone, Roar is in a constant state of growth and development. Here’s the app you get when you don’t feel like Google searching or booking online through conventional means. Bottom line: extremely practical and intuitive. Possibly one of the best multi purpose apps expressly designed to fit your day to day lifestyle needs.

Best Augmented Realiy Apps Questions and Answers

.Best Augmented Reality Apps – Conclusion

The post Top 10 Best Augmented Reality Apps – The Future is Now appeared first on ChipIn.

The Ecosystem is designed to pull together the whole VR/AR community and fueled with Cappasity Token (CAPP) – a digital payment vehicle that will facilitate AR/VR/3D content exchange among the Ecosystem participants from all over the globe.

Phase 1 of Cappasity’s ICO has received wide public support  –  over 13,000 people registered on the crowdsale portal – and now is over. As of now, CAPP tokens can be purchased only via the Cryptopia exchange.

Over the last years 3D technologies have been developing very actively. Goldman Sachs expects the software VR/AR market to achieve $35bln by 2025 with 60% of VR/AR software revenue driven by the consumer.

Today the range of 3D technologies’ applications has significantly expanded. They are in high demand in entertainment, e-commerce, art, education, medicine, and some other industries. The public’s interest in these technologies is constantly growing.

VR/AR technologies would have taken off even more rapidly if it weren’t for a small problem: production of 3D content is a slow, labor-intensive, and expensive process. In addition to this, the quality of today’s content often leaves much to be desired, and not every company can afford to use such content anyway. Luckily, these concerns are taken care of by Cappasity’s blockchain-based platform…

Let’s take a look at the scheme:

The Cappasity Ecosystem is a global environment for content production and exchange, which helps creators and consumers from different parts of the world easily find each other and anything else they might need.

Participants of the Ecosystem – content makers, application developers, businesses, and ordinary consumers – will be able to easily create, store, rent, and sell AR/VR/3D content. They will be exchanging two main types of products – content itself and applications for its production.

The Ecosystem developers have also created a “sandbox” – an environment where one can test the content before buying it.

The community members will be provided with a wide range of special tools for content production – tools that allow for fast 3D digitization of objects and simplify uploading 3D content to websites, mobile applications, and VR/AR applications. For example, the Ecosystem creators have released the first version of Cappasity’s mobile application that will allow users to perform 3D shooting with their smartphone cameras in the near future.

Developers will also have an opportunity to use free API and SDK. In addition, the platform features are designed to be open to other developers using Unity, Unreal Engine, and Apple ARKit technology. Expansion of tools and capabilities that will be available for the users is still in progress.

Once the Ecosystem is launched, the developers plan to stimulate its further development. To support content production, they have established two endowment entities: The Cappasity Innovation Fund and Reward Fund. The most talented 3D creators and content software developers, as well as active moderators and members of the community, will be incentivized from these funds.

A new cryptocurrency, Cappasity Token (CAPP), is used as the payment unit within the Ecosystem, with all payment transactions being conducted in CAPPs. Tokens can be used to pay for platform services, 3D content database subscription, 3D content purchase at a seller’s price (for the content that is not included in the base), and 3D content rent for commercial purposes.

CAPPs can not only be purchased but also earned within the system by uploading unique 3D content, verifying and moderating the content, as well as selling or renting out self-created 3D content.

Ecosystem participants need to be ensured that their copyrights are protected. Copyrights of all participants are to be respected within the Cappasity Ecosystem. That’s exactly the problem that blockchain technology helps solve.

All content exchange details, i.e. data on all transactions, are immutably stored in the blockchain within the Cappasity Ecosystem. It will contain information on copyrights, content owners and authors (if different), as well as details on the transfer of rights for commercial use (if any), and purchase and license. All these details form the record of transactions and the record of license.

To prevent any copyright infringement, each content file is assigned with an ID or a hash. Blockchain has a list of all hashes of all the files and they cannot be altered.

Thus, the system won’t allow anyone to sell someone else’s content by claiming it as their own, or rent someone else’s file for free. In addition to this, the owner of the file receives payments for each transaction. For instance, they get paid when their content is being rented, in turns or simultaneously, by different Ecosystem participants.

Blockchain also gives the Ecosystem another important advantage. The Ecosystem participants will be charged close to no fees for performing each transaction. Therefore, content will be distributed at minimal prices within the system.

Overall, blockchain makes all transactions transparent and allows for nipping any fraud connected with the VR/AR community members’ copyrights in the bud.

Let’s briefly discuss the Ecosystem use-cases by its participants.

A team of VR game developers wants to speed up their product’s release. The technical designer of the project finds suitable 3D holograms and 3D models within the Ecosystem and tests them in the “sandbox”. If they are satisfied with the content, they make a purchase, thereby preponing the game’s release.

An agency that specializes in online art auctions can digitize art objects on its own with the help of the tools supplied by the Ecosystem. The agency’s employees will place a section with 3D models of their art pieces on their website. The 3D models will actively attract the attention of potential buyers and allow the agency to increase its sales. The auction agency can also upload its 3D models to the Ecosystem content database to rent them out.

The Cappasity Ecosystem will be useful not only for those whose work is connected to the VR/AR world but also for those who are interested in 3D technologies for personal purposes.

In fact, the Cappasity Ecosystem creates all the necessary conditions for acceleration, optimization, and availability of 3D content production and distribution. Participants are provided with the opportunity to choose from high-quality and inexpensive content and have free access to the necessary tools for its creation. The copyrights of participants are reliably protected.

Taking into consideration the fact that the Ecosystem is the most convenient environment for content exchange, which is aimed at attracting the most talented developers, it is likely that VR/AR and 3D technologies will soon reach a new level in their development. All this has become possible thanks to Cappasity.

The post Cappasity Opens Up New Horizons for the Development of VR/AR Technologies appeared first on ChipIn.

Lucyd smartglasses were developed in response to the currently available smartglass options on the market right now, which have several limitations, including a very narrow field of view as well as poor user interfaces.

To fill this gap, Lucyd is developing a next-gen AR display, based on 13 advanced augmented reality patents, to help realize the company’s goal of mainstream smartglasses.
The Singaporean-based Lucyd platform is entirely decentralized, to help promote and improve content creation for the glasses, which make viewing and distributing AR content much, much easier than how it is today.

We recently sat down with Mr. Harrison Gross, Co-founder and Media Lead of Lucyd, to have a chat with him about the project as well as finding out his thoughts and insights.

Hi, Harrison. Thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us more about yourself and Lucyd?

Hello. Lucyd was created by an IP investment firm, Tekcapital (LON: TEK), to commercialize a portfolio of 13 disruptive AR patents into a pair of user-friendly smartglasses. We are also planning to implement a blockchain-based software ecosystem to accelerate the development of the Lucyd ecosystem, and untether its growth from any central authority.

First off, why did you decide to use the blockchain in building Lucyd?

Not only do we want to build user-friendly smartglasses, we want to make their development free from interference by inefficient central authorities. To do this, we needed to unite our future user base with the LCD utility token, enabling P2P transactions in our AR display and a decentralized economy in the AR world.

What was your thought process behind it?

Blockchain is powerful because it can decentralize nearly any concept. We are on the frontier of a major movement, that drives power away from individual entities into the hands of the community. Blockchain is primarily used in software solutions, but in it, we see potential to bolster our AR platform and make it accessible to the global developer community. By organically rewarding creation of AR content based on its popularity, we can release the majority of control of the software ecosystem to the developer community.

Tell us about how you came up with the idea of Lucyd.

We want to solve two problems at once. The first is that we are tired of looking at our phones and PCs for every bit of information we need. The second is we want to free the global developer community from the heavy fees and slow support associated with current app ecosystems. The answer was blockchain-fueled smartglasses!

Did you face a problem within the AR industry or do you think there is a gap in the market for Lucyd to fill?

There is a systemic problem in the AR industry–nobody wants the current products. They are too bulky, nerdy and headache-causing. The technology behind our smartglasses can address these issues and more. Our tech is truly next-gen compared to the current market offerings.

What do you think is the biggest problem Lucyd will solve and why is the problem important to solve?

Lucyd has the potential to be a major evolution not just in how we get information, but quite literally how we see the world. Everyone is tired of having to disconnect from reality to perform basic functions in computers and smartphones. Lucyd Lens will let you look up from your phone, and get all the info you need without missing a moment of life.

Editors Pick: Lucyd ICO

Lucyd – Next-Gen AR Smartglasses For The Decentralized AR Ecosystem

Posted: November 27, 2017

Experts estimate that the AR market will grow to roughly to $36.4 billion in a few years from now. This goes hand-in-hand with the recent surge in popularity of AR/VR technologies, with the platforms likely to gain even more mainstream adoption as the industry matures. One of the driving forces

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Tell us more about the Lucyd Lens smartglasses. How did you manage to create a product so advanced yet sleek and minimalist at the same with no wires or buttons whatsoever?

Well, we are still in development. The purpose of the Lucyd ICO is to complete prototype development based on our portfolio of 13 advanced AR patents. But the key to keeping Lucyd Lens light and sleek is twofold: our disruptive patent portfolio, which allows for the necessary miniaturization of the optical components, and by having most of the processing performed by a smartphone. Since the Lens will begin as a Bluetooth peripheral (perhaps standing alone with cellular connection and onboard processors in later versions), only the basic audiovisual output, input sensing, and Bluetooth connectivity need to be supported by the Lens itself.

How would the view look like from a person who’s wearing the smartglasses. Can you describe what would they see and how would they interact with it?

Better than describing, take a look at this interface I designed for using the Lens while out shopping:

You can see this interface supports instant price comparisons with similar objects online. AR really has the potential to improve everything we do! Connectivity with all of your accounts will also enable easy in-person and online purchases (via RFID payments like Android Pay in person). But it goes beyond just shopping, we’re planning a dynamic interface that adapts to the task at hand. See our interface previews on lucyd.co/technology for a just a few of the ways we envision the Lens supporting you in everyday life.

The 13 patents you have for the smartglasses is an extremely impressive achievement even if we don’t talk about the glasses. What was the reasoning behind having so many patents and how does that affect the final product?

12 of the 13 patents came as a package deal, designed at the leading optics lab at University of Central Florida. The key inventor behind these patents is actually on board as a Lucyd advisor. These twelve patents are a synergistic body of technologies covering all aspects of the optical system behind the Lens. The thirteenth is a patent originally devised for monitoring driver vitals in semi- or fully-autonomous vehicles, but since it involves eye tracking was perfect for AR displays.

What has been your happiest moment so far working on Lucyd? On the flipside, what has been the most painful, or perhaps the most regretful decision you’ve made with Lucyd?

No single moment really compares to the overwhelmingly positive response we’ve been getting. People are tired of being on their phone all day. They’re ready for what’s next, and it’s pretty clear that’s AR.
Regretfully, we’ve dealt with a couple vendors that have been challenging…the lack of regulation in the crypto space, unfortunately, means there are a lot of subpar businesses. We’ve been given some pretty harmful advice along the way too, but our vision is solid, and the team plows forward no matter what happens.

Is Lucyd already working with notable businesses or firms? Are there any future partnerships in the process? If yes, can you explain briefly about it?

Yes! We just signed with an AR software developer, and have a few more AR app companies in the mix. More on this will be posted on our site shortly. We’ve also had talks with MAJOR corporations about potentially licensing Lucyd technology to them, but they are looking for prototypes.

Tell me more about the LCD token. What is it used for and what can token holders expect from it?

The LCD token has a number of uses in our AR platform. It is the basis for all transactions performed among the Lucyd community. E.g., to make an in-app purchase in the Lens, you use LCD. To send money to your Lens-wearing friend, you use LCD. The Lens itself acts like a hardware wallet for your tokens, allowing for rapid P2P transactions in AR. For the first time, you will be able to pay for something with your glasses! By doing away with the need for other fiat and cryptocurrencies, and putting the Lens on its own financial network, we can create a smooth, unfettered experience not reliant on central authorities or subject to expensive transfer and exchange fees.

What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle Lucyd will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?

The ICO is probably our biggest challenge. We’re doing everything we can to secure the funding we need to get to a prototype.

Moving on to more personal stuff, what does a typical day in your life look like?

Ah, the life of an entrepreneur. I’m working pretty much whenever I’m awake, but it doesn’t really feel like it. Everyone involved in Lucyd loves the project, it really is exciting because of its potential to change the world.

Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.

Personally, I think it’s one of the biggest emerging techs, on par with autonomous driving. Specifically, cryptocurrency is amazing, because not only does it enable awesome tokens like ours, it could potentially replace the pretty ancient financial system we currently operate with.

Finally, what other personal goals (besides your career) do you have in life? Is there anything else in life you want to achieve?

What, evolving human vision isn’t enough? Lucyd aside, poetry is my first love. My formal training is in writing, and I’ve written ten books of poems and a novella so far. I’d like to perform more often, and Lucyd could give me that opportunity once it’s successful. (Yes, you perform poetry.) Thanks for the awesome interview!

That concludes our Interview with Harrison Gross

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.

To make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive interviews, go ahead and sign-up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels.

Get in touch to let us know who you want us to interview as well as the questions you want us to ask.

You’ll get notifications on the latest exclusive articles as soon as they appear on our website – we won’t and will never spam you.

The post Meet the Founder – Exclusive Interview with Lucyd Media Lead & Co-Founder Harrison Gross appeared first on ChipIn.

Experts suggest that the virtual and alternate reality (VR/AR) industry is expected to cross the $20 billion mark by the end 2020, which not only represents the growth of the industry but also provides a potential revenue stream to advertisers and content creators.

Despite the positive outlook, one of the major problems with AR and VR is that there is no concrete method of generating revenue other than selling the software and hardware of the technologies itself.

What would a good solution be for advertisers who want to advertise their products to VR users who will always be looking at their “screen”, like a smartphone?

Where would companies generate revenue once the software and hardware market is saturated?

This problem happens because solving monetization issues in the VR industry is not an easy issue to tackle as it is completely different to mediums before it.

VR and AR are new, unexplored mediums that do not work with current monetization procedures in place like on the web or mobile industry.

How is this problem solved then?

Gaze Coin is a blockchain startup specifically designed to tackle the issue of monetization in the VR/AR industry.

They do this by measuring the amount of time a user spends in VR/AR mediums, which is unique and also ingenious in a sense that it solves the issue of not knowing what to track in VR for advertisers.

This revolutionary solution measures and uses user gaze as a unit of exchange among advertisers, content creators, and users in the Gaze Coin platform.

The ecosystem is boosted even further with an offering of diverse mixed reality platform tools for developers who want to wet their feet in VR/AR.

The blockchain technology then allows every single action on the Gaze Coin platform to be rewarded and incentivized, making it a fair deal for all parties involved.

Using a unique patented technology, Gaze Coin is able to accurately calculate the amount of time a user spends looking or immersing themselves in VR/AR channels down to a tee.

After calculating the amount of time a user is engaged inside the content, Gaze Coin employs a micropayment system that charges advertisers for the time spent promoting their ads as well as paying the content owner for hosting said ads.

The model also gives content creators a valid reason to produce premium content as they are guaranteed to be paid thanks to the blockchain.

For users, this is a huge benefit as content creators provide their content for free because they’re incentivized by the micropayment system mentioned above.

There is absolutely no need for a content creator to make his content exclusive unless it is something that he or she wants to pursue outside of the platform.

As mentioned above, the blockchain technology allows all user activity to be tracked so advertisers get a complete data set and analysis of their performance without too many hassles.

Gaze Coin (GZE) will initially be an ERC20 token, but plans are in place to deploy its own Proof-of-Stake blockchain within the next 12-18 months; this enables content creators to issue their own coins or tokens on the Gaze Coin platform which can then be used to power transactions like selling merchandise, exclusive access to events, and other revenue streams.

The final piece of the puzzle is a tidy piece of innovation called the Gaze Control.

Gaze Control is a tool for VR and AR content creators that allow users to trigger content by looking in the direction of the content which is cued visually and also by audio. This is similar to a user clicking on a link or element on traditional web and mobile pages.

There is the Gaze Coin API which allows developers to integrate their projects into mixed reality channels easily.

The same API is also the main factor that allows user gaze (amount of time spent by the user) and user activity to be measured and monetized regardless of how and where the virtual reality content is hosted.

Users will also be incentivized to integrate the API into their content by the team.

Gaze Coin is distributed and promoted by Dream Channel, a CYOA (choose your own adventure) game built in VR/AR.

Set in the virtually-augmented city of Amsterdam, Dream Channel will feature Gaze Control as players are lead to the action by sound and visuals which trigger live-action scenes.

The most important part of this project is that users are rewarded with Gaze tokens (GZE) which can be traded in VR/AR assets across the platform’s connected space, basically rewarding users for playing the game.

Gaze Coin will close the massive gap between the adoption of virtual reality and the ability for brand and businesses to use that to their advantage by literally changing how VR/AR content is consumed.

Since everything is built on the blockchain, actions on the Gaze Coin platform are handled flawlessly and kept secure by using the beneficial properties of the blockchain like immutability and seamless transactions.

The whole business model of the platform also allows advertisers to precisely calculate their ROI from VR/AR campaigns, collect consumer behavior data to generate better campaigns, as well as providing an entertaining way for users to engage in ads rather than traditional, disruptive ones.

Finally, content creators will also be able to follow copyrights easily as Gaze Coin enables copyright tracking even when it’s consumed, changed, or remixed.

Gaze Coin has made its GZE tokens available on SAFTLaunch.

By launching in this way, qualified investors will be able to purchase GZE at a discounted rate during the private pre-sale. GZE tokens will be available at a discount for the duration of the pre-sale, which runs from 18th of October to 28th of November 2017.

Gaze Coin is launching a main token sale on the 10th of December for the Gaze token (GZE) with a funding target of $12m USD.

ETH will be the only currency accepted for the crowdsale as GZE are Ethereum-based tokens.

GZE is also used to fund the team’s operations and future developments as well as a medium of exchange on the platform.

Here are the details of the GZE token sale:

Token name: GZE

Token base: ETH

Token sale duration: 10th December – 21st December 2017

Token sale target: $12 Million – $2m (Softcap) – $35m (Hardcap)

Token exchange rate: 1 GZE = $0.35

Gaze Coin’s Website

Gaze Coin’s Whitepaper

The post Gaze Coin – Bridging The Gap Between AR / VR And Monetization appeared first on ChipIn.

According to a study by Goldman Sachs, there will be nearly 100 million virtual reality users by 2020 with more than half of the number highlighted as users consuming video content.

The market cap of VR is extremely optimistic with experts suggesting that it could reach as much as $70 billion by 2021. This statement is further backed by investments; in the past 5 years, global investments in the VR/AR industry have exceeded $3.5 billion!

One of the biggest changes VR can bring to the world is its potential to fundamentally change how people consume information.

There are inherent problems within the VR ecosystem, however.

The first issue is the problem with payments for content creators. It is well known that many content owners remain underpaid (if they are even paid) for their work which limits the quality of their content as they don’t have the budget to produce high-quality work.

The reality in this industry is that there are too many intermediaries involved who may or may not be reliable. To add salt to the wound, payments are constantly delayed and fees are added on top of the initial payment.

Another issue with VR is that unlike 2D streaming which requires a small amount of bandwidth, live streaming in VR would need a more complex approach which inevitably eats up bandwidth.

Aside from being high-resolution, VR streams are literally doubled as they have to compensate for each eye. This increases the load since decoding and transmitting two streams at once requires significant computing power and bandwidth.

Finally, piracy is still a major issue for content providers. Steps have been taken by businesses and even the authorities to reduce privacy; unauthorized live streams, however, are just as widespread today with piracy being more accessible than it ever was.

Prosense is a business looking to solve the burning problems within the VR industry.

They plan to do this with the development of ProsenseLive, a platform that aims to transform broadcast technology from the traditional centralized model we’re used to, to a decentralized peer-to-peer model that works globally.

What makes ProsenseLive unique is that the platform will be the first P2P live streaming VR-platform that is accessible by global audiences.

Users of the ProsenseLive platform will be able to access both professional and amateur content, such as live broadcasts of sports games and concerts as well as user-generated content like live cams or webinars.

With the help of the blockchain, ProsenseLive also offers professional and amateur content creators the chance to produce live VR content on an affordable distribution solution that is extremely scalable and less censored than existing options.

The platform works this way.

To handle the process of video encryption, the transcoding process, as well as the delivery of content, there would be a decentralized network of Prosense Nodes partners working with the platform.

These node partners are then rewarded with VRP tokens, the official cryptocurrency of the Prosense platform.

Readers should also note that ProsenseTV is already a well-known and established company from Russian. The platform provides a wide range of VR broadcasting services and has successfully worked with companies like Google, Coca-Cola and Ikea in over 50 projects.

The biggest advantage of the platform is its decentralized nature.

Decentralized platforms use peer-to-peer transactions which are essentially data transfer architectures based on the idea of equality for all network members. There will be no dedicated servers or networks, unlike centralized services like Twitch or YouTube.

In decentralized networks, all of the participants in the platform are both clients and servers.

The main advantage of using a decentralized network is the nearly complete independence of the network’s working capacity. Building and maintaining servers to handle thousands of users is not only expensive but also hard to maintain without errors and failures.

The other advantages of using a decentralized platform are:

• Don’t need to depend on centralized servers or networks
• The platform can handle network changes without any issues
• The platform can be scaled extremely easily

ProsenseTV will also reward content creators by providing them with a transparent and efficient way in making money from content.

The blockchain guarantees that the payments are directly and automatically transferred from users to content providers as soon as the user accesses the content.

It is also impossible to fake or artificially inflates​ the statistics or the number of views on the platform. Everything else is strictly regulated and implemented with smart contracts so that content creators and users are both fairly rewarded.

ProsenseTV is also fighting against content piracy by planning to protect content streamed through ProsenseLive with a special tracking code next year.

The tracking code will be processed using Proof-of-Existence blockchain technology of the platform in order to provide 100% transparency and security. This code will then allow content owners to track their streams during each phase of delivery up to the end user.

All the content in ProsenseLive platform will also be distributed​ to multiple partner nodes which makes it impossible for viewers to illegally copy the content on the platform to somewhere else.

Finally, ProsenseTV encourages content creation by limiting censorship.

The distribution system of ProsenseTV’s content delivery eliminates any possibility of content being blocked by third-parties like advertisers or businesses.

Content can only be reviewed or edited by partner nodes or as a result of user complaints (inappropriate content, hate content, etc.)

ProsenseTV will launch a token sale for the VRP token.

The VRP token is a secure, internal currency that will be used by users to pay content creators directly for their content.

A percentage of each transaction will go to associated node owners as a reward for their participation.

The VRP token will also enable token holders to directly pay for other services such as launching their own broadcasts as well as unlocking access to unique features, such as player customization or various social functionality

Token name: VRP

Token base: Ethereum (ERC-20 compliant)

Token supply: 720,000,000

Token sale duration: 16th of November, 2017 to the 16th of December, 2017

Token sale target: $30,000,000

Token exchange rate: 1 VRP = $0.10

Prosense’s Website

Prosense’s whitepaper

The post ProsenseLive – The World’s First P2P Live Streaming VR-Platform Accessible To Anyone appeared first on ChipIn.

VR headsets have come a long way since the 1960s, with new variations forming such as augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). Ranging in price from $5 to $3,000, picking a VR headset to suit your needs and price range can be tricky. At the pace VR technology is evolving, even knowing if now is the right time to purchase is hard enough.

We’ve compiled a list of the Best Virtual Reality headsets currently available, so if you want a VR headset, you’ll likely find one to suit your needs here.

Best Virtual Reality Headsets

In the world of VR headsets the most sought after, high-end headsets need to be tethered to a PC to work. This is because the games and applications available for these headsets need the processing power, operating system and graphics cards that only PCs currently provide.

Unfortunately, not just any old PC will do. You’ll need a pretty decent processor and graphics card to really get the best from these VR headsets. This can substantially add to the overall cost of ownership, so if you don’t already have a PC that fits the recommended guidelines, keep it in mind.

These VR headsets are about out and out performance and are unparalleled in their ability to give you a true VR experience. Ultimately, this experience is what you’re paying for.

1. HTC Vive

HTC teamed up with Valve, a much-loved gaming company, to produce the HTC Vive and has been dominating the high end of the VR market since its release in 2016. Although VR headsets are still in their early days, the Vive took the whole industry to the next level by incorporating a room-scale feature and motion controllers for each hand.

HTC teamed up with Valve, a much-loved gaming company, to produce the HTC Vive.

Your movements around the room are tracked by two base stations, which are just two of the Vive’s 70 sensors (headset and controllers). There’s also a front-facing camera. The recommended space you need is 4.5 x 4.5m, so if you don’t have the space to spare maybe the Vive isn’t for you. While you’re moving around in this space you’ll need to be mindful of the cord tethering you to your PC, which is likely to be worth a pretty penny if it’s supporting the Vive.

It’s recommended you have an Intel Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480 graphics card and 4GB of RAM to get the most out of your Vive. You’ll also need to be running Windows 7 or newer, sorry Mac users but Macs don’t currently support the Vive.

Your movements around the room are tracked by two base stations, which are just two of the Vive’s 70 sensors (headset and controllers). There’s also a front-facing camera.

Visuals are crisp and clear thanks to 1080 x1200 pixels per eye. Although some users have said they can make out individual pixels, it’s still a class leading pixel density along with the Oculus Rift. There’s also an 110° field of view.

Motion sickness isn’t an issue thanks to a 90 fps refresh rate. Such a high pixel density and refresh rate is essential to fully immerse yourself in the games available for the HTC Vive. You can find these games on SteamVR.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to test out the HTC Vive at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. I played Front Defence, a 3rd person shooter. Overall I was impressed with the Vive, especially with the motion sensors, which picked up even the most minute movement I made. However, I did find the motion controllers lacked the functionality really needed for the game.

Thankfully, there are a lot of accessories available for the Vive that add to the in-game experience like guns, boxing gloves, and impact vests – some of these would probably have made my experience even more enjoyable.

The HTC Vive is, arguably, the best VR headset available right now but at $799.99, it’s not cheap.

Pros: 70 sensors, two base stations, and two motion controllers offer, arguably, the most immersive VR experience currently available.

Cons: There’s no getting around the $799.99 price tag, which is just the tip of the iceberg if you need to upgrade your PC in order to get the most out of the Vive.

2. Oculus Rift

Oculus is synonymous with Virtual Reality and the Rift was the most highly anticipated headset in recent years. Released in 2016 the Rift initially lost ground to HTC’s Vive, since it came with an Xbox controller instead of motion controllers. This has all changed though and motion controllers are now available for the Rift, and they’re excellent.

Oculus is synonymous with Virtual Reality and the Rift was the most highly anticipated headset in recent years.

The Rift is probably the best looking VR headset available right now, it’s also noticeably lighter and more comfortable than the Vive. So, a heavy VR session shouldn’t cause you too much discomfort.

Like the HTC Vive, the Rift offers 1080 x 1200 pixel resolution for each eye, an 110° field of view, and a 90 fps refresh rate. So again, motion sickness isn’t much of an issue and the visuals are crystal clear. All of these features are essential for making the most of the games available for the Rift, which can also be found on SteamVR.

The Oculus Rift Motion Controllers bring your VR experience to the next level

Again you’ll be tethered to a PC, but since there’s no room-scale feature, you won’t be moving around too much. This means there’s less of a chance of you snagging the cord and sending your PC crashing down. Oculus recommends you use an Intel Core i5-4590 processor, NVIDIA GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics card, and have 8GB of RAM in order to get the most from the Rift. Again, you’ll need to be running Windows 7 or newer, so Mac users will have to look elsewhere.

Choosing to get the motion controllers with the Rift will add $200 to the retail price, meaning the total will come to $798. If you don’t opt for the motion controllers you’ll need to use an Xbox controller, which does detract from the whole VR experience.

Pros: The Rift is a nice looking piece of kit and, thanks to its lightweight and ergonomic design, a lengthy VR session shouldn’t cause much discomfort.

Cons: The Rift costs about the same as the Vive but doesn’t offer a room-scale feature, meaning there’s less of an all round VR experience.

These VR headsets are tethered to consoles, much like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are to PCs. At the moment, the only players in this market are PlayStation but it’s expected that Microsoft will enter this market soon using the Xbox 1 console.

Users of these headsets will benefit from their manufacturer’s experience in the gaming industry, with plenty of Virtual Reality compatible games available already.

3. Playstation VR

The PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset is the only offering in this category at the moment. Like the Rift and Vive it is tethered, but not to a PC, the PSVR is tethered to the PlayStation 4. This is great for those who don’t have the high-end PCs needed for the Vive or Rift and don’t fancy upgrading. Of course, if you don’t already have a Playstation 4, you’re going faced with the same problem.

To get the most out of the PSVR headset you’ll want to get the PlayStation Camera and PlayStation Move (Motion Controllers).

If you do have a PlayStation 4, the PSVR is the ultimate accessory. Per eye the 5.7 inch OLED provides 960 x 1080 pixels, so not as much as the market leaders but still enough to provide sharp imagery. A 100° field of view is impressive, but still slightly behind the Rift and Vive. The PSVR leads the market with a 120 fps refresh rate, so even if you’re quite sensitive, you shouldn’t suffer much from motion sickness.

To get the most out of the PSVR headset you’ll want to get the PlayStation Camera and PlayStation Move (motion controllers). The PlayStation Camera is essential just to get the PSVR to work, so be sure to pick one up. The motion controllers aren’t a necessity, as you can use a DualShock 4 controller, but are recommended to get the most immersive experience.

There are a number of VR specific games for the PSVR and a lot more in development. In case there aren’t enough Virtual Reality games to keep you entertained, there’s a theater mode that allows you to play existing Playstation 4 games on the headset.

At $400 the PSVR is a much cheaper way to get into the high-end VR market. With the motion controllers and the camera, the actual price is closer to $510, but that’s still nearly $300 cheaper than both the Vive and Rift. Some users have said they feel the PSVR is less polished than its competitors, but with the savings on offer, it might be better value for money.

Pros: Maybe the best value for money Virtual Reality headset on the market. There are some good games to choose from and more on the way.

Cons: The PlayStation camera isn’t really an ‘optional extra’ and is needed to really use the PSVR.

4. Xbox VR

Unfortunately, there’s no Virtual Reality headset on the market for Xbox users just yet. Microsoft announced that they will be releasing an MR headset specifically for the Xbox One and their next-gen console ‘Project Scorpio’ (yet to get an official name).

XBOX are releasing the most powerful console this summer with a new VR Headset

Unlike tethered Virtual Reality headsets, mobile VR headsets use smartphones for their software and hardware needs. A mobile VR headset holds your phone in place and shuts out any external light, two lenses sit between your eyes and the phone’s screen. Your phone then starts running a VR app, game or video.

By their nature, mobile VR headsets are dependent on your smartphone to work, so the hardware will make the difference. You’ll need a high-end processor to run the apps seamlessly. But your phone’s screen resolution may be the real deciding factor. Some users, even of flagship models, have said the resolution isn’t up to par. Although, if we start seeing more phones with 4k screens, like the Sony Xperia Z5, this issue could resolve itself.

Mobile VR headsets are much cheaper than tethered headsets but the experience isn’t as immersive. There is no axis head tracking, so leaning your head forward won’t move objects closer. The majority of mobile VR headsets don’t have motion controllers, which can disorientate people, as they can’t see their hands while playing the headset.

5. Google Daydream

Google’s Daydream is, arguably, the top dog in mobile VR headsets. At the moment, Daydream is only compatible with about three phones, but it will be compatible with more Android phones in the future.

Daydream comes with a motion sensitive controller. The controller has three buttons, with one doubling as a trackpad. It is by far the best controller for any mobile VR headsets currently available. So you can use the controller to point, play golf or simply turn up the volume. Although there aren’t a whole lot of apps or games specifically for the Daydream, lots are in development and, while you’re waiting, you can use ones written for Google Cardboard.

Google say this headset is about 30% lighter than its competitors (we assume they mean the Samsung Gear VR). Not only is it lightweight, but it’s comfy too. These features will be more important when Google launch more apps and features for Daydream and people are using it for longer VR sessions.

Best of all, Daydream only costs $79. Making it, probably, the most competitively priced mobile VR headset on the market.

Pros: Daydream comes with a better controller than any of its competitors and it only costs $79.

Cons: There are a very limited number of phones that are compatible with Daydream at the moment.

6. Samsung Gear VR

The Samsung Gear VR is a very well put together piece of kit. One big downside to the Gear VR is that it’s only compatible with the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphones (currently six devices).

There are controls built into the Gear that you can use while wearing the headset, but no hand controls. Using your phone for VR sessions can take its toll on the battery, however, the Gear has a pass-through connector, which charges your phone while using it.

Oculus and Samsung teamed up to build the software ecosystem for the Gear VR.

The latest Gear VR has a 101° field of view, which is up by 5° on the last model. Samsung has also reduced glare, and made the headset more ventilated – so the lenses won’t fog up while you’re using it.

Oculus and Samsung teamed up to build the software ecosystem for the Gear VR. There are already a handful of games and apps available for it and more to come. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use any of the apps or games made for Google Cardboard while you’re waiting.

You can pick up the Gear VR for around $85, which isn’t great compared to what the Daydream offers for less, but it’s still fair for a well-built VR headset.

Pros: Pass-through connector allowing for on-the-go charging is brilliant. New vents also work well and keep the lenses from fogging up.

Cons: The Gear VR is only compatible with the latest Samsung smartphones.

7. Merge VR Goggles

The merge VR Goggles are definitely the funkiest looking VR headset in this category. The violet colored foam doesn’t just make the Merge VR Goggles stand out from the crowd, it’s actually very functional. The soft foam makes this headset the most rugged in its class and ultra portable.

Although you’d imagine wearing, what is essentially a big Nerf dart, to be pretty comfortable, most reports suggest it’s not. This material may worry those who have a germ phobia, but it needn’t because Merge has made it antimicrobial.

One of the nice features on the Merge VR Goggles is a removable section at the front, which reveals your phone’s camera. This thoughtful touch from Merge means you’ll be able to use augmented reality (AR) apps, once they hit the market.

Both android and iOS operating systems work with the Merge VR Goggles, and at $59, it’s a pretty cheap way for Apple users to have some VR fun.

Pros: The soft foam used in this headset makes it virtually indestructible and the removable slot, which will make this AR capable, is a nice touch.

Cons: Many users have reported comfort issues after long VR sessions.

8. Google Cardboard

Google’s Cardboard has been around since 2014 and will have been many people’s first encounter with VR. You can either download instructions and make your own Cardboard or buy a kit.

If you do decide to make your own, it shouldn’t take long as there’s not much to it. Once you’ve put it together just download a VR app, pop your phone in and enjoy.

Google’s Cardboard has been around since 2014 and will have been many people’s first encounter with VR.

Admittedly, this isn’t the best or most refined VR experience you’ll ever have, but it’s much better than most people expect it to be. This is especially true when you consider you can make one for basically nothing or buy one for around $15.

Pros: The Cardboard is really cheap and accessible to everyone, regardless of if you’re using an android or iOS.

Cons: This isn’t the best quality VR headset and functionality is limited.

9. Homido V2

Homido has improved massively on their first VR headset with the V2. Both iOS and Android users will be able to use the V2, which is nice for the iOS users who sometimes get the short end of the stick with other headsets.

The V2 has a 100° field of view, which is pretty good for a mobile VR headset. A standout feature of the V2, however, is adjustable lenses for people who are nearsighted or farsighted. These adjustable lenses also come in useful if you want to let one of the kids have a go.

Homido has improved massively on their first VR headset with the V2. Both iOS and Android users will be able to use the V2.

The headpiece itself is well designed and foam around the V2 is comfy and interchangeable. Interchangeable pads are good news, as playing some VR games is sweaty work. There’s also a button on the top right side of the V2 that can be used as a clicker for apps.

At $79.99, the Homido V2 is a direct competitor to Google’s Daydream on price, but not functionality. Although, the V2 could be a good option if you don’t have a phone compatible with the Daydream.

Pros: The adjustable lenses and removable exterior foam piece are good features not found on many VR headsets at any price.

Cons: At $79.99 the V2 is coming up against Google’s Daydream and Samsung’s Gear VR, which are, arguably, better VR headsets.

10. Freefly VR

Many people who use the Freefly VR consider it to be the best mid-range mobile VR headset on the market. The reason a lot of people can say this: the Freefly VR is compatible with most popular smartphones ranging from 4.7-6.1 inches.

The Freefly VR has a unique wing mechanism and foam clasps that hold your phone in place. This makes it easy to pop your phone in and out, which is a nice touch if you’re sharing with friends.

The padded exterior of the Freefly VR makes it a seriously comfortable headset. The 120° field of vision is class leading and only matched by the PlayStation VR, which is much more expensive.

This comfort and wide field of view do come at a price, as the headset is a bit clunky-looking. But it’s unlikely to be something you’ll be thinking about while wearing it. More than likely, you’ll be focused on using the controller that comes with the Freefly VR. This thumb-sized controller is called the ‘Glide’ and has four buttons and a joystick. Unfortunately, the Glide isn’t compatible with iOS, but you can get the Freefly VR with crossfire triggers which are compatible with iOS.

Above all else, the best thing about the Freefly VR has to be the price. For the Freefly VR and Glide controller the price is $42 and for the Freefly with crossfire triggers, it’s $59.

Pros: The Freefly VR is amazing value for money and compatible with most phones.

Cons: The Freefly VR isn’t the nicest looking piece of equipment on the market and the Glide controller doesn’t work with iOS.

This is the area where the most exciting developments are being made in the VR industry. These Virtual Reality headsets are sold to developers and are often open source. The technology in these headsets is generally a step ahead of anything on the consumer market.
Keep a close eye on this space to get an idea of where the future of VR and AR is heading.

11. Fove O

The Fove O is one of the most exciting Virtual Reality headsets currently in development, incorporating technology that is sure to be standard in VR headsets of the future. The Fove O tracks your eyes using two infrared eye trackers, this allows you to focus on something as you would in real life – VR is about to get a whole lot more realistic.

The Fove O is one of the most exciting Virtual Reality headsets currently in development, incorporating technology that is sure to be standard in VR headsets of the future.

Images can be magnified, focused on or distorted depending on where your eyes are looking. You’ll also be able to interact with games and apps by looking at items. The screen refresh rate is 70 fps, so not as good as high-end consumer headsets, but it’s likely Fove would up the refresh rate on a consumer model. Eye tracking happens at the much higher rate of 120 fps, which is necessary to keep up with the speed that our eyes move and focus.

With a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, the 5.7-inch display on the Fove O is one of the highest resolution screens on any VR headset available. Unfortunately, there are still no concrete launch plans for a consumer model, but you can pick up the registered developers kit for $599.

Pros: Eye tracking is one of the most promising developments in VR at the moment and is sure to make the whole experience feel more real.

Cons: There are no solid consumer launch plans yet.

12. Razer OSVR HDK 2

The purpose of the Razer OSVR HDK 2 is to make a VR developer’s life easier, taking away the problems presented by hardware and software. The headset is open source, so third parties can do whatever they want to develop it.

Unfortunately for the developers, the Razer OSVR HDK 2 won’t win any awards for comfort. But the dual OLED 2160 x 1200 pixel on the OSVR HDK 2 would be a pleasure to look at.

If you’d like to try your hand at developing, you can purchase the Razer OSVR HDK 2 for $399.

Pros: We love how much easier this headset makes life for developers.

Cons: Developers often have to spend hours testing, which is something we wouldn’t fancy doing with the OSVR HDK 2 due to its poor comfort.

13. Microsoft HoloLens

The Hololens is sure to be another developmental headset that’s going to revolutionize the VR industry. It merges the worlds of VR and AR, although strictly speaking, the Hololens is an AR headset. The HoloLens is available now, but only the developers kit and only if you’re a Windows Insider member.

The HoloLens incorporates holographic images with your real world surroundings. This means you could turn your office desk into the cockpit of a fighter jet or play an instructional cooking video alongside the food you’re actually preparing. Some apps almost completely immerse you in a virtual world, while others rely heavily on your surroundings. The opportunities for combining the worlds of VR and AR are nearly endless.

Please check out our other article: Microsoft, Where Is the HoloLens?

Gestures are recognized with Kinect-style technology and there is also voice recognition software. All we know about the quality of the images is that they’re high definition and displayed on a screen with a 120° field of view.

I had the chance to shortly test the Microsoft Hololens at the recent Wearable Tech Show and while the demo version was limited, it showcased the potential of Augmented Reality really well.

One of the other highlight features of the HoLoLens is that, although it runs using Windows 10, it’s not tethered to anything. All the hardware and software needed, including the battery, is contained within the HoloLens itself. This is another feature we’re sure VR tech producers will be eager to bring to the consumer market.

The HoloLens is packed with revolutionary features, but if you want them you’ll have to pay $3,000. Standout features call for standout prices.

Pros: The HoloLens bridges the gap between VR and AR, making it something you could incorporate into your daily life.

Cons: It’s $3,000, need we say anymore?

su_spoiler title=”4. Is it the software or hardware that will get the biggest updates in the next generation of VR headsets?” open=”yes” style=”fancy”]Industry experts predict that the software will provide the greatest improvements over the next year or so. But there are promising hardware developments taking place at the moment, eye tracking on the Fove O is an example of this.[/su_spoiler]

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Survival horror is the A-lister here that clearly lends itself to the medium, but there are some great exploration, story and party games out there too. Developers are now beginning to really fulfill the potential of VR games, and it will only get better from here.

Maybe you’re already a VR fan but want to discover something new, or perhaps you want to introduce your friends to the hobby with a kick-ass title to blow them away. There’s something here for everyone, even the kids!

Best Playstations VR Games

There’s just something about Survival Horror which makes it such a good genre for Virtual Reality, and the freshly released Paranormal Activity – The Lost Soul (based on the movie franchise) is a fantastic example of this deliciously terrifying match of theme and technology.

Exploring the haunted house in the game is exactly the kind of goose-bump-inducing experience any horror fan will love. The story, which we won’t spoil here, lasts about 5-10 hours and it’ll keep you hooked until the very end, but it’s the fact this game was designed for VR specifically which makes it shine and you scream.

You can play both standing and Room Scale, and the game does away with teleportation for movement (a common mechanic in VR) – you have to slowly inch your way through every corridor of this dark and brooding house with only a flashlight.

This forces you to see every gory little detail the devs have put in, and even disabled the classic “click-to-turn” function has been disabled which means you have to turn around to look or run away. Don’t play this in tight spaces!

Technically VR has been around for quite a long time, but it was execution that was lacking so far.

Resident Evil 7 is the game that executed well and made audiences stand up and take notice. Biohazard, as this RE is known, moves away from the action focus of previous games and really puts an emphasis on the “survival” part of survival horror.

As you’d expect from Capcom, the narrative is pitch-perfect, like a very well directed movie. Set in a derelict plantation with strong echoes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the VR really puts you at the very center of the story.

The use of virtual reality here enhances the story more than the mechanics – Resident Evil 7 began the design without VR in mind, and you will, of course, be shooting at stuff, but that’s not why you should pick up the game right now – it’s about the immersion. Playing through the harrowing story of the Baker family using Virtual Reality is the difference between being in the audience and being an actor on the stage.

Have you played an escape room? It’s a game in which you and some friends are locked in a room and have an hour to solve all the puzzles and challenges within it to get back out. This is exactly what “I expect you to die” feels like.

The game is like a kindergarten version of the SAW movies – bright colors! Sunny skies! Cartoon villain voiceover! Ridiculous life-and-death situations!

You’ll have to use your wits to get out of the various scenarios – like being locked in a car with a time bomb – but the beauty of the VR here is that you are physically looking for stuff. You’re not just clicking that drawer to see if it has the hint you need to defuse the bomb, you’re reaching for it, tugging at it before turning your head to scan the room for a key. It’s an exhilarating experience, but expect to die. A lot.

You have to defuse a time-bomb. You know nothing about defusing bombs, but here you are; a ticking explosive right in front, staring at a messy combination of wires and switches thanks to PlayStation’s VR headset.

Your friends, however, know about defusing bombs – they have the (printable, IRL-physical) manual right in front of them, the information at their fingertips. But they can’t see the bomb. They have to tell you what to do.

“What do you see?” they’ll ask you, and you’ll frantically try to describe the wires and switches in front of you while they flip the pages to find out which color wire to cut first.

This is one of my favorite party games ever. It’s been out for a while, and initially was not a VR release – you would play on a computer with the screen turned away from them, and it’s an absolute blast (I’m sorry) for an evening with friends.

While only one person is using VR at one time, the puzzle it presents reaches new highs in virtual reality – and the conversations it generates are amazing: “You don’t know what I saw in there! You don’t know what it’s like! Go on, you try!”

You are an eagle, flying around a crumbling Paris where you can do battle against other eagles, complete missions or just soar above the city in free flight mode.

Sold yet?

The game is quite simple and the best thing about it is how well the Virtual Reality here was handled by Ubisoft. In theory, everything about it would make for some serious motion sickness, but gamer after gamer has said they can play this for hours and be free of nausea.

Some actions are handled with a controller, but motion and vision are mostly done through head motions. Flying, banking, turning and swooping is all extremely intuitive, and the constant soft light of dusk over the French capital actually makes it quite a relaxing experience too.

There are a few things you should know about Batman: Arkham VR. First and foremost, it is a story more than a game, and thus you’ll only really play it once. But oh boy, what a story.

Having the villains and the characters stand in front of you, look you in the eye as they speak, their mad cackling surrounding you… it will raise give you a thrill like no other.

The twists and turns that take you through the plot are very well written, and the tactile sensations the VR gives you – there’s a particular section in a morgue in which you’ll feel dirty, much more than a controller could ever convey – really make this quite an intimate experience.

Speaking of getting your hands dirty, Surgeon Simulator lets you do just that, though I think Surgeon Simulator as a title is a bit reductive – it would be more precise to describe it as “Crazy Surgeon Operating in Ridiculous Situations Like Sometimes in Space Simulator.”

You may have heard bad things about this game, and that’s fair enough: when it initially came out it was extremely buggy and the VR tracking and controls were sub-par. The devs have since apologized, listened to the community and patched it up and while not the perfect game, a quick-fire operation or two is a great way of spending ten minutes gaming and it’s also a classic “Yeah you think you can do better?! Show me” game to enjoy with friends.

But then it dawns on you that of course, EVE is a fantastic VR game – it’s got the biggest space battles out there. Space Battles in VR. That’s what Eve: Valkyrie is and if you’ve ever enjoyed Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5, you have to play it.

It’s immediately fun: the controls are very intuitive and easy to learn before you’re thrown right into the void to fight with and against other players online. “Checking your six” has never been cooler than you actually looking over your shoulder to see enemy and friendly ships screaming past in a hail of laser fire.

Valkyrie shares the world and lore of EVE: Online, but that’s as far as it gets. This is a deep-space team dogfight that will keep you coming back.

It was never going to take long for VR to be used in a mech game. Don your Exosuit and start beating on other robots (both AI and other players) in the mechanized combat league through a range of arenas and sport. The game is set 50 years in a future where Robot Wars has gotten seriously out of hand and forgotten about health and safety, but you’re not here for the story.

The immersion here is intense – you’ll use the controller a lot, but RIGS requires a lot of situational awareness, so you’ll be cranking and turning your head to scan for and aim at opponents. The game options range from your classic Death Match to sports similar to Football or Basketball except with mechs and guns. I really don’t need to sell this to you, do I?

Robo Recall is probably the most action-packed in this list alongside RIGS. Plenty of people have described this as an over-the-top 90s action flick where the guns never run out of bullets and the good guys can land headshots while shooting behind their back. In Epic Games’ Robo Recall you are an agent “recalling” faulty robots, and the movie that immediately comes to mind is actually I, Robot.

It’s the controls that really make the experience exciting – there are plenty of little touches (like the way you reach for the gun in your holster) that keep you at the center of the action. It never feels like there’s a disconnect – it’s extremely responsive, high adrenaline and will have you holding your breath as you cleave through swarms of robots with combos that look a little like the crazy stunts Dante pulls off in Devil May Cry.

Robinson: The Journey is beautiful. There will be moments, and many of them, where you stop playing and just stare in awe at the scenery in front of you.

Crytek have become very good at this over the years (especially with Far Cry 3) but Robinson, with its mix of sci-fi and Jurassic Park, is truly a notch above on all scales of immersion and wonder.

There are downsides: unfortunately, the VR is not implemented fully, as the game lacks motion controls, and on the mechanics-story spectrum, The Journey is heavily weighted towards story.

The puzzles are nothing to write home about, but they’ll keep you engaged. It’s the story and the way its told that will have you putting on the VR headset, however. The awe comes not just from active storytelling, it comes from the environment and the visual clues around you. You can tell this place has been lived in, that a story has happened and wasn’t just “placed” here by the developers.

Frankly, if they removed the puzzles and made this game a walking simulator, a la Dear Esther, I would be exploring it most evenings.

Virtual Reality not in the first person.

Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But Wayward Sky does exactly that, a point-and-click adventure set in a gorgeous 3D city floating in the sky which lets you switch between first and third person views.

To solve the puzzles of this cute adventure, you need to really understand your surroundings and explore, and by doing so you’ll fall in love with the world and the care that’s gone into it. It’s like looking into a colorful dollhouse made by a master craftsman, noticing the details and realizing that’s how the door swings open by itself.

It’s a relatively simple game, but a fantastic proof of concept for the power of non-first-person VR and a great puzzle for kids to solve.

Ever wondered how you would fare shooting your way out of a bank heist? Of course you have.

The London Heist is one of five games in the “PlayStation VR Worlds” bundle, which sometimes feel more like a demo disc for Sony’s Virtual Reality. It’s a decent bundle to try out VR and see if it’s for you, but London Heist could stand alone really.

The story (of a London Heist, surprise surprise) involves a lot of firing guns and getaway cars and has some impressive London gangsters talking to you – the attention to detail is notable.

It’s the shooting galleries side-games that will really grab your attention, though.They’ve got cool ideas oozing out of them like using your left hand to pop cartridges into your shotgun or the user interface not keeping track of bullets (so you have to keep count yourself unless you want to be caught with an empty clip at the wrong time.)

Shooting at moving targets and having to pick out the correct ones amongst “friendlies” is also great fun in VR. It’s the kind of game you’ll play for five minutes at a time when you want a quick break before moving on to something meatier, and a great introduction to PlayStation’s Virtual Reality.

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The HoloLens is a direct technological upgrade to Google’s failed project, the Google Glass. While both headsets used see-through lenses, the Google Glass was a lot lighter in the technology front, and due to a lack of promotion from Google, coupled with a failure to impress the public, the Google Glass ultimately failed and was forgotten about. That is until the HoloLens was revealed to the public, dazing everyone with its many features and utilities.

In spite of its huge success with the public following its unveiling, the HoloLens seems to have completely fallen off the map for many technology enthusiasts, as Microsoft completely dropped the ball on advertising the headset and building hype for it. In order to understand what happened to Microsoft’s ambitious augmented reality project and how it got to where it is now, we need to create a roadmap and go over the events that helped define the HoloLens in the public’s eye.

One of the things that initially created hype around Microsoft’s holographic headset was that it came out of left field: after a fairly uneventful event at the Windows 10 press conference, the public was hit with what would be the most interesting thing Microsoft had produced in years. Alex Kipman, the man leading the team behind HoloLens, presented the headset in all its full glory, after years of working on it in complete secrecy. The public got to see a convincing trailer and an on-stage demo of the HoloLens, with people using the headset to communicate, share files, explore the surface of Mars as if they were there, and play Minecraft in a brand new way.

Alex Kipman, the man leading the team behind HoloLens, presented the headset in all its full glory, after years of working on it in complete secrecy.

But the element of surprise is just one of the many factors that got technology fans and casual computer users alike to spread the word about the HoloLens. The biggest factor was the fact that unlike Google Glass, the HoloLens promised a lot: from being its own computer and not needing tethering to a mobile device to being able to control the holograms you see with simple hand gestures and voice commands. No matter what their stance on Microsoft was, people were genuinely impressed by the initiative, as it brought a breath of fresh air into a market oversaturated by mobile phones and virtual reality headsets.

Minecraft is the world’s second best-selling video game across all platforms, being behind only Tetris, a classic known by everyone ever since its release in 1984. What makes Minecraft great is the fact that it appeals to younger audiences by challenging their creativity and imagination and placing them into a world where they are free to create whatever they want, with some users going as far as creating actual working programs inside the game’s world.

Playing Minecraft with the Microsoft Hololens Augmented Reality Headset is Mindblowing

Given that Microsoft now owns Minecraft and its development team, and given the huge success and influence the game has on pop culture, the next step was logical: use Minecraft as a stepping stone for HoloLens’ foray into gaming. Therefore, only a few months after the HoloLens’ review, at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo (also known as E3), the world got to experience a brand new way of playing Minecraft. Using the HoloLens, the player got to project the entire Minecraft world onto a surface of his choice and was able to manipulate the world and his focus using voice commands. As fantastic as the demonstration looked, people were quick to debunk it based on the reviews of journalists who got to experience the HoloLens, who claimed that the field of view of the HoloLens is way smaller than what was shown on-stage at E3.

In addition to the on-stage Minecraft demo, journalists who attended E3 got to experience a HoloLens demo that put them inside a briefing from the Halo universe, which is one of the most iconic Xbox franchises. This demo received a lot of praise from many publications, with some saying that because of the headset’s ability to function completely disconnected from any other device, they felt that they were truly inside the Halo universe.

After E3, Microsoft seemed to know they had gold on their hands, as they were determined to push the HoloLens in every possible domain and make it as relevant as ever. Therefore, less than two weeks after the Microsoft E3 event where HoloLens captivated everyone, Microsoft announced a partnership program with NASA called Sidekick that would have boosted the HoloLens, along with its popularity, into space. Literally: the astronauts aboard the International Space Station were supposed to receive two HoloLens headsets that would have enabled them to communicate and receive instructions from Earth more efficiently than ever before. However, it seems that fate had other plans for Microsoft and the revolutionary headset.

On 28 June 2015, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to deliver the two HoloLens headsets, along with other technology and resources, to the astronauts that were eagerly awaiting on the International Space Station. The flight, which was broadcasted live on the Internet and on certain television channels, seemed to be successful at first, with the rocket’s first stage going as expected. However, in the second stage of flight, the rocket exploded, much to everyone’s dismay. According to Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, the explosion was caused due to “an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank.”

Following the failed attempt, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella tweeted that they understand the difficulty of launching a rocket into space and that they were not discouraged from being a NASA partner, and that they were willing to try again at another time.

Several days later, completely unfazed by the failure of their first partnership program with NASA, Microsoft announced that it would grant a HoloLens development kit along with a $100,000 grant to 5 different academies that submitted the best ideas involving holographic computing. After this project, Microsoft seems to have suddenly dropped the ball on marketing and promoting the HoloLens, as the interest for the headset dropped amongst the general public. Nothing of note happened at Microsoft’s Build event in October, and that seemed to be the case up until February of 2016 when the HoloLens finally became available for preorder.

At the end of February 2016, Microsoft officially announced a release date for the first iteration of HoloLens available to the public. Called the Development Version, it shipped on March 30 to those who preordered, and you can still buy it today, as long as you are willing to pay $3,000 to get a version suited for developers, and as long as you are a resident of the United States or Canada. However, unless you are truly dedicated to owning a headset, or you have a brilliant idea that uses holographic computing, it’s advisable to wait for the future generations of HoloLens.

Called the Development Version, it shipped on March 30 to those who preordered, and you can still buy it today, as long as you are willing to pay $3,000 to get a version suited for developers

Even though this iteration of the headset might not be targeted to the average user, chances are that most of the people reading this article didn’t even know that the HoloLens had launched. This is a testament to Microsoft’s shoddy marketing for it during the past year and might spell doom for the once-famed headset. It is no doubt that once the headset will have a reasonable price point for the casual user, it will catch on eventually, but this will have to happen with the help of Microsoft’s advertising team.

Following a not-so-popular release of the Development Edition, Microsoft was at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, announcing partnerships with multiple computer manufacturers that are going to be creating third-party augmented reality headsets. The third-party headsets will use the technology behind the HoloLens in order to provide users with a taste of the full experience that will come with an eventual release of the HoloLens targeted towards consumers. While the third-party headsets will only cost around $300, they will require a constant connection to a PC, so you will not be able to take them around the city as you would’ve guessed.

Additionally, there are rumors circulating the Internet that a Hololens 2 is about to be announced by Microsoft. The second version of the Hololens is supposed to be the first version designed for actual commercial use and currently, has two styles. One will be more lightweight and normal-looking, in the style of Google Glass, and will feature an Infrared sensor and a camera in the middle, between the lenses. The other is supposed to look much like the existing, Development Edition, and may have features such as voice modulators and creating realistic holograms using shadows. Not much else is known about the upcoming version, apart from the fact that an estimated release date is 2018.

If you are not planning to wait around for Microsoft to release a consumer edition of the HoloLens, or if you don’t want to experience augmented reality on a poorer version of the famed headset, then you should check out some of the alternatives on the market. Microsoft is definitely not the first to use augmented reality, and it won’t be the last. The unexpected success of Pokemon Go shows us that anyone can use holograms in a successful way.

MetaVision Meta 2 available for pre-order

If that is way over your budget, then perhaps the clever ZapBox might do the job for you. This “Google Cardboard-esque” approach to augmented reality only costs 30 dollars but requires you to pop your phone into the holder and spread some “chips” around your room in order to control the holograms. The ZapBox was an absolute hit on Kickstarter and is set to release in May 2017.

What if you don’t enjoy the look of the Hololens, and you thought that Google Glass had it right the first time? Well, there are a number of headsets for you! The best Google Glass clones are arguably the Vuzix Smart Glasses line. Starting at 1000 dollars for the most basic model, the M100, the Vuzix glasses function much like the Google Glass, requiring you to connect them to your phone, while also having their own App Store, which means that what they can do is only limited by the imagination of their users.

If none of the alternatives above caught your eye, then you could always hop over to Kickstarter, as there are many start-up companies with their unique spin on augmented reality that could always use some extra funding.

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