Meta’s VP of Horizon is leaving the company

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta’s Vivek Sharma, the company’s VP of its Horizon social VR platform, is leaving the company, as reported by Reuters . Meta spokesperson Bryan Pope confirmed Sharma’s departure to The Verge and said that Sharma ... more - theverge

How to switch your Quest from a Facebook account to a Meta account

Samar Haddad / The Verge If you’ve bought an Meta (formerly known as Oculus) Quest or Quest 2 virtual reality headset in the past few years, you’ve likely had to set it up using a Facebook account. While that makes sense given that the device is made ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg confirms new Meta VR headset will launch in October

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that Meta’s next virtual reality headset will arrive in October. Zuckerberg made the comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast, indicating the device — almost certainly the headset ... more - theverge

The Settlers of Catan will become a holographic AR board game in early 2023

“Not actual gameplay footage,” unfortunately. | Image: Tilt Five Catan , one of the most critically acclaimed board games ever made and one that averages over a million copies sold per year, is about to leap off the tabletop thanks to a unique augmented ... more - theverge

Quest VR owners have new Meta logins to use instead of Facebook

Adi Robertson using the Quest 2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta will now allow users of its Quest VR headsets to log in with a new Meta account instead of a Facebook account, the company announced on Tuesday. The company had said ... more - theverge

Sony says the PlayStation VR2 is coming in early 2023

The PlayStation VR2 | Image: Sony Sony’s PlayStation VR2 headset is coming in “early 2023,” according to posts the company made on Twitter and Instagram. Sony has been trickling information out about the upcoming headset over the past several months, ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg has responded to the metaverse memes

The new and improved Zuckerberg, coming to a Quest 2 near you. | Image: Mark Zuckerberg Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of his digital avatar standing in front of the Eiffel Tower and what I think is supposed to be la Sagrada Família ... more - theverge

Lego’s new motorized lighthouse has a working fresnel lens

Image: Lego In 1822, Augustin Fresnel invented a lens made of ringed prisms that could concentrate beams of light more effectively than reflectors or huge convex pieces of glass. These days, they’re used in spotlights and even most VR headsets. But originally, ... more - theverge

This Kickstarter project turns an iPhone into your smart home’s magic wand

Fluid One is an app that lets you point and click at smart home devices to control them. | Image: Fluid The smart home has an interface problem, and six undergrads from Duke think they’ve solved it with a Raspberry Pi and Apple’s U1 chip. They believe ... more - theverge

Logitech’s Chorus open-back headphones slide onto the Quest 2

The Chorus can be swiveled to find the right position for your ears. | Image: Logitech Logitech has announced the Chorus, a $99 audio accessory that aims to bolster sound quality coming out of the Meta Quest 2 VR headset. The appeal of the Chorus, as ... more - theverge

Final Fantasy VII Remake unofficially comes to VR with this PC mod

I still remember the hush that fell over the audience when Sony revealed the first trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake — and the cheers. Fans couldn’t wait to see these characters again in HD. But there may now be an even more immersive way to thrust ... more - theverge

Snap is planning to lay off employees

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel unveiling the company’s pair of AR glasses last year. | Photo by Snap Partner Summit 2021 - Snap Inc/Getty Images for Snap Inc Snap is in the early stages of planning layoffs, according to two people familiar with the plans. The ... more - theverge

Meta is shutting down one of its biggest VR games — but only for Quest 1 owners

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Around the same time Meta hiked up the price on its Quest 2 headsets, it also announced that it’s ending Quest 1 support for Population One , a popular battle-royale shooter set in virtual reality. BigBox VR, ... more - theverge

You can now preorder the Steam Deck in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve is expanding Steam Deck shipments to some regions that could take the handheld PC-meets-console to new heights. The company just announced that reservations are now open in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan ... more - theverge

Tinder steps back from metaverse dating plans as business falters

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amidst a disappointing set of earnings for the last quarter, Match Group has announced it’s scaling back Tinder’s metaverse dating ambitions and scrapping plans to offer an in-app Tinder Coins currency. Tinder ... more - theverge

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