Vergecast: Meta’s future AR glasses and Elon Musk’s attempt to take over Twitter

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast , where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel discusses the week in tech news with the reporters and editors ... more - theverge

Meta is working on a web version of its Horizon Worlds metaverse platform

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta is planning to bring its Horizon Worlds social metaverse platform to the web, Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth said in a tweet on Thursday. Being available on the web would mark a major expansion for the platform, ... more - theverge

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is making an AR pet game called Peridot

Niantic, the developer behind the blockbuster success Pokémon Go , has announced its next augmented reality game — and once again, it’s full of adorable creatures. Called Peridot , the game is all about caring for and breeding magical critters. Think ... more - theverge

Behind Mark Zuckerberg’s big plans for AR glasses

Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images Meta is racing to release its first AR glasses in 2024, but sources believe it’ll take a lot longer for them to become mainstream Continue reading… ... more - theverge

TikTok opens AR effects tool to all users

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is rolling out its augmented reality effects tool to all creators and developers after launching a closed beta test last fall. Effect House allows creators to make their own AR camera effects that can be ... more - theverge

Meta will let Horizon creators sell virtual items

Horizon Worlds is testing some monetization options. | Image: Meta Meta is testing new features to let creators make money within Horizon Worlds, the company’s social metaverse platform for Quest VR headsets that is soon coming to mobile phones and possibly ... more - theverge

The latest update for Quest headsets lets you chill in a study with mountainside views

Think of it less as a vacation and more as an off-site retreat. | Image: Meta Meta is delivering a new virtual office environment for all of you out there who work in VR. As part of the v39 software update coming to Meta Quest and Quest 2 VR headsets, ... more - theverge

Facebook won’t hold its F8 developer conference this year after pivoting to Meta

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta won’t be holding its F8 developer conference in 2022, the company announced Wednesday. “Similar to years past, we are taking a brief break in programming and will not hold F8 in 2022 while we gear up on new ... more - theverge

Video game history is colliding: Sierra founders are bringing a seminal text adventure game to VR

Roberta and Ken Williams, founders of Sierra and influential game designers | Photo by John Storey/Getty Images Ken and Roberta Williams, two of the most influential figures in video game history, are bringing the original 1976 text adventure Colossal ... more - theverge

Apple brings detailed city maps to Canada

A 3D view of Toronto’s City Hall. | Image: Apple Apple Maps’ more detailed, three-dimensional cities that launched with iOS 15 are coming to Canada, offering better driving navigation, transit directions, and an augmented reality walking experience. ... more - theverge

Snap buys brain-computer interface startup for future AR glasses

Snap will discontinue the selling of NextMind’s developer kit pictured above. | NextMind Meta, Apple, and a slew of other tech companies are building augmented reality glasses with displays that place computing on the world around you. The idea is that ... more - theverge

An official NFL game is coming to Meta Quest and PSVR

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images The National Football League is stepping into virtual reality with the announcement of a new official VR game. It will be developed in partnership with sports technology company StatusPro, which makes use of player ... more - theverge

Instagram’s promised parental controls arrive in the US

Instagram’s parental control features in action. | Image: Meta Instagram’s new parental controls, announced in December, are launching today in the US. The service’s head, Adam Mosseri, refers to them as the company’s “first set” of parental supervision ... more - theverge

Reggie Fils-Aimé doesn’t believe in Meta’s verse

“Facebook itself is not an innovative company,” said the former Nintendo boss. | Image: Bloomberg Reggie Fils-Aimé (who led Nintendo of America before Bowser took over) isn’t impressed with the company formerly known as Facebook, or its idea of the metaverse. ... more - theverge

Niantic’s ‘largest acquisition to date’ shows the company is still pushing on AR

Niantic’s Captain Doty mascot. | Image: Niantic Niantic is acquiring 8th Wall, a company that helps developers make web-based augmented reality apps, in what it says is its “largest acquisition to date.” The acquisition will help boost Niantic’s Lightship ... more - theverge

Apple Health will soon integrate Oculus Move VR fitness stats

Supernatural / Within Meta is making another big push for VR fitness. Starting in April, the company will make it possible to see your VR fitness stats from Oculus Move in more places instead of just within a VR app on the Quest and Quest 2 headset. ... more - theverge

The future of makeup is lipstick you can print

The YSL Rouge Sur Mesure can print up to 4,000 shades Continue reading… ... more - theverge

The Magic Leap 2 isn’t a revolution, but it’s a visible improvement

I’m looking at a mountain range projected on a wooden table. The mountain range isn’t part of a flashy game or art project. I can’t reach out and touch it like a real object. Thanks to some still-in-progress software optimization, it glitches a little ... more - theverge

HTC pivots from blockchain to the metaverse for its next smartphone gimmick

HTC’s slow-motion fall from smartphone grace is reportedly set to continue in 2022, with the company said to be working on a new “metaverse”-focused phone in April as the remnants of the once-flagship smartphone company continues to desperately cling ... more - theverge

Sony’s 2021 Bravia XR TVs are finally getting a promised VRR software update

The much-anticipated feature is rolling out to TVs like the X90J. | Image: Sony Sony reportedly started rolling out an update to enable variable refresh rate on its 2021 TVs with the Bravia XR processor almost a year after promising that the feature ... more - theverge

Meta reportedly breaks up the 300-person team that was building a hybrid VR / AR OS

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta has reportedly broken up the around 300-person team tasked with working on an OS for AR and VR headsets, moving some of the engineers to teams working on AR glasses and Oculus (er, Quest) headsets, according ... more - theverge

A Meta prototype lets you build virtual worlds by describing them

Meta Meta is testing an artificial intelligence system that lets people build parts of virtual worlds by describing them, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off a prototype at a live event today. Proof of the concept, called Builder Bot, could eventually ... more - theverge

Sony finally reveals the PlayStation VR2’s design

Sony has finally revealed the design of its next-generation PlayStation VR2 headset, after it announced it in February 2021, showed off the controllers last March, and confirmed it would be called PlayStation VR2 in January. The new design features a ... more - theverge

Meta’s social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 users

A clubby experience in Horizon Worlds. | Image: Meta Facebook has bet its future on virtual reality and the metaverse, rebranding to Meta and spending billions a year to build hardware and software that extends beyond traditional social media. But the ... more - theverge

Microsoft to remove AltspaceVR social hubs and tighten up safety and moderation

Microsoft acquired AltspaceVR in 2017. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is removing all social hubs hosted in AltspaceVR and requiring users to log into the virtual reality app using a Microsoft account. The changes are designed to improve safety and moderation ... more - theverge

This 5G neckband from Motorola could make XR glasses less bulky

The neckband looks a lot like a plastic lanyard. | Image: Motorola Motorola has a new wearable 5G neckband that is designed to power lightweight VR and AR headsets (collectively known as XR headsets) such as parent company Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 smart ... more - theverge

Meta’s Quest 2 Super Bowl ad takes a retired animatronic dog into the metaverse

Image: Facebook Meta has debuted its Quest 2 Super Bowl ad ahead of the big game, and it’s hard to get a grasp on how exactly it’s supposed to promote the metaverse (via Wall Street Journal ). It evokes a strange mix of nostalgia — and the slight fear ... more - theverge

Is “realityOS” Apple’s newest operating system?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s long-rumored virtual or augmented reality headset might not launch until 2023, but developers have spotted additional mentions of a new “realityOS” that could power it. First referenced as “rOS” in 2017 ... more - theverge

Microsoft claims HoloLens is ‘doing great’ after reports version 3 was canceled

Microsoft’s Alex Kipman with the HoloLens 2. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft claims “HoloLens is doing great” after a report earlier this week revealed HoloLens 3 may have been canceled. Business Insider reported on Wednesday that Microsoft ... more - theverge

Les Mills is jumping into the metaverse with VR boxing

The Les Mills BODYCOMBAT VR app. | Image: Les Mills Popular fitness club Les Mills is punching and kicking its way into the metaverse with a new VR game, BODYCOMBAT VR. The $29.99 game is an extension of an existing workout series that combines shadowboxing ... more - theverge