FTC staff reportedly recommended against suing Meta

Image: Supernatural / Within Federal Trade Commission head Lina Khan overruled staff advice to intervene in a Meta virtual reality studio acquisition, Bloomberg reports. Sources reportedly told Bloomberg that staff had been “recommending against” suing ... more - theverge

Snap’s first AR game is a spooky ‘found phone’ mystery

Ghost Phone. | Image: Snap Snap has launched its first in-Snapchat augmented reality game, a spooky “found phone” title called Ghost Phone. In the game, you’ll work to solve the mystery of what happened to the previous owner of a smartphone, and you’ll ... more - theverge

FTC files to block Meta from buying VR fitness studio Within

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a complaint to block Meta from acquiring Within, the company behind the virtual reality fitness app Supernatural. The FTC claims Meta bought Within to absorb competition ... more - theverge

Yes, it’s weird for the two-year-old Meta Quest 2 to go up in price

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta just made the surprising announcement that it will be raising the price of its Quest 2 virtual reality headsets by $100 next month. If you did a double take upon seeing that news, we commiserate — it’s ... more - theverge

Zuckerberg says Meta and Apple are in ‘very deep, philosophical competition’ to build the metaverse

Photo by AMY OSBORNE / AFP via Getty Images Mark Zuckerberg believes that Apple and his company are in a “very deep, philosophical competition” to build the metaverse, suggesting the two tech giants are ready to butt heads in selling hardware for augmented ... more - theverge

Here’s where to buy the Meta Quest 2 before it costs $100 more

The Meta Quest 2 is arguably the default VR headset, but it’s getting more expensive soon. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The incredibly popular Meta Quest 2 VR headset will have its price increased starting in August, with the 128GB configuration ... more - theverge

Meta is raising Quest 2 headset prices by $100 next month

The headsets were some of the least expensive out there. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Meta Quest 2 (formerly known as the Oculus Quest 2) is about to get $100 more expensive, bringing the price for the 128GB model to $399.99 and ... more - theverge

Ready or not, the Glassholes are coming back

Google Glass. Every major tech company is working on computer glasses. None of them really want to go first. They all remember how Google Glass, and the “Glassholes” who wore them in public, became the laughingstock of the world. So they’ve been waiting, ... more - theverge

A company called Meta is suing Meta for naming itself Meta

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When Facebook changed its name to Meta in October, there were a few concerns that the company was planning to dominate the nascent metaverse — but there’s one aggrieved party that’s only now going public. An installation-art ... more - theverge

Google plans to test AR prototypes in public starting next month

Google is going to test AR devices in the real world soon. | Image: Google Google is planning to test augmented reality (AR) prototypes in public beginning next month, the company announced Tuesday. Google has been exploring concepts like AR glasses ... more - theverge

Watch this impressive AR demo ‘reset’ a room using latest Apple tech

Gone with a simple swipe. | Image: Russ Maschmeyer What if you could use the augmented reality features of a LiDAR-equipped iPhone to see how a room might look with all its furniture removed? That’s the idea behind a new AR prototype shown off by Shopify’s ... more - theverge

How the News Feed turned Facebook into a juggernaut

Mark Zuckerberg wants a fresh start. He’s betting his company’s future on the metaverse, imagining a world powered by AR glasses that’s lifted from the pages of science fiction. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still here in the present, grappling with ... more - theverge

Meta and Ray-Ban’s Stories glasses are adding WhatsApp support

Photo by Amanda Lopez for The Verge Meta and Ray-Bans’s Stories glasses are adding WhatsApp support, letting users make hands-free calls, send text messages, and hear messages read aloud. The addition follows the rollout of similar Facebook Messenger ... more - theverge

The Magic Leap 2 launches September 30th for $3,299

Image: Magic Leap The Magic Leap 2 headset is launching on September 30th for a starting price of $3,299. The mixed reality device is a smaller and lighter successor to the 2018 Magic Leap, and among other improvements, it features a wider field of view ... more - theverge

The best Prime Day 2022 gaming deals

The best deals on games and accessories you can find on Prime Day | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon Prime Day is finally upon us, and with it comes a variety of excellent deals on gaming hardware and accessories, not to mention games. ... more - theverge

Oppo’s Air Glass is an AR experiment with one great idea

Photo by Charles Pratt / The Verge Augmented reality, monocle style Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Meta Quest headsets will finally stop requiring a Facebook account

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta is introducing a new account system for its virtual reality headsets, changing a 2020 requirement that most users log in with Facebook. The new “Meta accounts” don’t require users to sign up for Facebook, ... more - theverge

The GTA V modder we just wrote about has been slapped with a DMCA takedown

Last Friday, we introduced you to Luke Ross: a modder who now makes $20,000 a month on Patreon bringing big games like Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 to virtual reality. But the publisher of those games, Take-Two Interactive, was apparently ... more - theverge

Meta open sources early-stage AI translation tool that works across 200 languages

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Social media conglomerate Meta has created a single AI model capable of translating across 200 different languages, including many not supported by current commercial tools. The company is open-sourcing the project ... more - theverge

Meet the modder making $20,000 a month bringing the biggest games to VR

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge Luke Ross is doing what most game publishers won’t Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Pokémon Go developer Niantic cancels four projects and lays off more than 80 people

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Niantic, which has been trying to replicate the massive success of Pokémon Go with other mobile AR games, is laying off 8 percent of its workforce and canceling four projects, as reported by Bloomberg . “We recently decided ... more - theverge

Niantic is making a real-world NBA game

Pokémon Go developer Niantic has announced yet another new game, this time with its first foray into the world of sports. It’s called NBA All World , and it’s — as you’d expect from Niantic — a location-based game that also has augmented reality elements. ... more - theverge

HTC’s smartphone division limps on with metaverse-focused Desire 22 Pro

The HTC Desire 22 Pro. | Image: HTC It hasn’t released a competitive flagship device in years, but HTC’s smartphone division isn’t throwing in the towel just yet. Today it announced the HTC Desire 22 Pro, a follow-up to last year’s HTC Desire 21 Pro, ... more - theverge

Apple’s mixed reality headset will reportedly come with an M2 chip

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s mixed reality headset has been shrouded in rumors for months now, and a new report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman indicates that it could come with Apple’s flagship M2 processor. According to Gurman, Apple’s ... more - theverge

Apple’s AR / VR headset could release in January, analyst predicts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset, which will reportedly offer a combination of augmented and virtual reality experiences, will “likely release” in January 2023, according to respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi ... more - theverge

Tim Cook is getting a lot less coy about Apple’s AR headset

More or less confirmation that an AR headset is coming. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tim Cook teased that Apple’s working on an augmented reality, or AR, product in an interview with state-run outlet China Daily , telling AR fans to “stay ... more - theverge

Welcome to our new Wednesday edition of The Vergecast

We have big news for listeners of The Vergecast , The Verge’ s flagship podcast. We are now publishing twice a week — on Wednesdays and Fridays! On Fridays, it’ll be the same show you know and love, with Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz hanging ... more - theverge

Microsoft, Meta, and others are founding a metaverse open standards group

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft, Epic Games, Meta, and 33 other companies and organizations have formed a standards group for “metaverse” tech. The Metaverse Standards Forum is supposed to foster open, interoperable standards for augmented ... more - theverge

Oculus VR games are up to 40 percent off through June 26th

Resident Evil 4 on the Quest store is discounted to $35.99. | Oculus Meta has kicked off a Summer Sale on Quest VR games, and there are over 60 titles on sale. It might be a good time to stock up on games for a Quest 2 headset, especially if you’ve been ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg has so many VR headset prototypes to show us

Mark Zuckerberg tries on the Holocake 2 prototype. | Meta Reality Labs And none of them are shipping Continue reading… ... more - theverge