Space Channel 5 makes a funky return in VR

Back in the heady days of 2016, when VR hype was at its peak amid hardware launches from Oculus, HTC, and Sony, it felt entirely natural for the killer app to be the transformative PlayStation VR conversion of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez . Here was a cult ... more - theverge

Qualcomm reveals a headset design for its latest VR chips

Qualcomm Qualcomm has revealed a reference design for its new virtual and augmented reality platform. The headset offers a rough guide for building with the Snapdragon XR2 — a 5G-enabled chipset designed for VR/AR hardware. The design is a prototype ... more - theverge

Purdue online students can now graduate in VR

Purdue University Global will let some graduates join its 2020 commencement ceremony through virtual reality. Around 75 students will get a Google Cardboard-style VR viewer and watch the ceremony through a 360-degree camera feed alongside around 400 ... more - theverge

HTC unveils new Vive Cosmos VR lineup with swappable faceplates

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge HTC is expanding its range of virtual reality headsets today with multiple new variants of the Vive Cosmos. The original Cosmos launched last year as a $699 high-end PC-powered system that used inside-out tracking ... more - theverge

Facebook sued by the IRS for $9 billion in unpaid taxes

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is facing a lawsuit from the US Internal Revenue Service, which claims the social network owes $9 billion in unpaid taxes, according to Reuters . That lawsuit went to trial in a San Francisco court on ... more - theverge

Save on leather iPhone cases, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and more

Apple’s Smart Battery case shown on the iPhone XS, XR, and XS Max. Today’s deal excludes the iPhone XR’s case | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge If you’ve been putting off buying a case for your iPhone 11 Pro, Pro Max, iPhone XS, or iPhone XS Max, ... more - theverge

Apple now lets you shop directly in augmented reality

This week, Apple began rolling out a new update to its Quick Look augmented reality tool, letting iPhone and iPad users check out products in AR and then buy them directly. Quick Look already let retailers offer an AR preview of their products by uploading ... more - theverge

Sony reportedly battling to keep PlayStation 5 price down

Sony is struggling to land on a price for its upcoming PlayStation 5 console, according to a new report by Bloomberg, with component shortages potentially pushing the MSRP beyond that of the PS4. The bill of materials is said to be at around $450 right ... more - theverge

AR Pianist app is fun to watch, but that’s about it

Image: Massive Technologies AR and VR company Massive Technologies has just released an app called AR Pianist which superimposes virtual musicians on pianos to give you “piano concerts from the comfort of your living room.” The app was first teased last ... more - theverge

Sundance VR and AR got extremely weird in 2020

Scarecrow | Sundance Institute Don’t forget to bring a swimsuit Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Sundance 2020: reviews from the annual indie film festival

Photo by Anna Kooris / Sundance Institute VR, independent film, and sneak peeks from streaming services Continue reading… ... more - theverge

La Llorona review: not the ghost story you’re expecting

Sundance Institute Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. In 2019, the blockbuster Conjuring franchise produced a film ... more - theverge

Google Maps gets a new icon and more tabs to celebrate 15th anniversary

Google Maps is turning 15 years old, and to celebrate, Google is rolling out a new icon for the service along with a slightly redesigned app and a couple of new features. The biggest change here might be the icon itself — gone is the classic map intersection ... more - theverge

Shirley is a gothic drama about Shirley Jackson’s haunted life

Thatcher Keats / Sundance Institute Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Shirley Jackson is best known for her creepiest ... more - theverge

Pepe the Frog died, and part of the internet died with him

Kurt Keppeler and Christian Bruno / Sundance Institute Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Years ago, the birth ... more - theverge

New Oculus Quest update makes controller-free hand tracking much easier

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Oculus’s newest update for its wireless Oculus Quest VR headset should make tracking your hands in virtual reality without a controller much easier (via UploadVR ). Controller-free hand tracking was first rolled ... more - theverge

Google opens its latest Google Glass AR headset for direct purchase

Image: Google Google is making its latest augmented reality headset, Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2, available for direct purchase, nearly a year after launching it through select workplace partners for $999 a unit. The price remains the same, but ... more - theverge

Tesla review: a weird, fourth-wall-breaking take on the internet’s favorite inventor

Sundance Institute Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Thomas Edison is the inventor you learn about in school. ... more - theverge

Zola review: proof that a viral Twitter thread can make a great movie

Anna Kooris / Sundance Institute Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. In 2015, a little-known Twitter user named ... more - theverge

Filmic DoubleTake lets you record from two iPhone cameras at the same time

Users can choose two of the four lenses to record from on the iPhone 11 Pro. Filmic is releasing a new app for iPhones today that allows you to capture video from two cameras at once. The app, called DoubleTake, was first previewed at Apple’s iPhone ... more - theverge

Atari-branded hotels with e-sports studios and game rooms are coming to the US

Image: Atari Atari has licensed its name for a number of brand partnerships in the gaming space, but the company’s latest deal to build eight Atari-branded hotels marks its foray into the hospitality industry. The company announced a licensing deal with ... more - theverge

Spree review: in search of an audience

Sundance Film Festival Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. When a real-life killer finds fame on a forum or a social ... more - theverge

Pokémon Go’s live events drove nearly $250 million in tourism revenue last year

Photo by Dani Deahl / The Verge Niantic Labs says its live events for augmented reality hit Pokémon Go contributed $247 million in tourism revenue last year across three cities. The announcement on Wednesday was paired with the new schedule for 2020 ... more - theverge

Oculus is dropping the Oculus Go from its business platform

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Oculus’ virtual reality business software program is dropping support for the budget Go headset, pushing users toward the fuller-featured Quest. UploadVR noted today that the “Oculus for Business” page no longer ... more - theverge

While you wait for Half-Life: Alyx, catch up on every classic Half-Life game for free

Half-Life: Alyx will launch in March 2020 for PC-based VR headsets, but right now, Valve is giving gamers the opportunity to catch up on (almost) everything Half-Life- related at no expense. For the next two months, each of the Half-Life games will be ... more - theverge

Lenovo is building another standalone VR headset

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lenovo hasn’t made the best bets in virtual reality so far, but it seems like the company’s about to try again — according to a new FCC filing for the “Lenovo VR3030S,” which company docs identify as an upcoming ... more - theverge

Valve says it’s ‘absolutely not working’ on Left 4 Dead 3

Valve Valve has put an end to rumors about Left 4 Dead 3 being in development, by stating that the studio hasn’t been working on it for years. “We’ve seen rumors to this effect for the last couple of months,” Valve said in a statement to IGN . “We did ... more - theverge

Facebook gives Oculus Go permanent $50 price cut

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook has permanently cut the price of its Oculus Go VR headset. “Oculus Go is now priced at $149, which is equal to a $50 price drop,” the company tells UploadVR . “We are applying comparable discounts ... more - theverge

The Vive Pro just got $200 cheaper ahead of Half-Life: Alyx

HTC has cut the price of its high-end Vive Pro virtual reality headset by $200, making one of the most expensive big-name headsets a little more affordable. The price cut applies to three different packages. The Vive Pro headset alone — without the tracking ... more - theverge

This startup wants to put a tiny display on a contact lens

A new Silicon Valley startup is trying to build the “world’s first true smart contact lens,” putting a screen right against your eye that can enhance your vision of the world. The startup, Mojo Vision, showed off a very early prototype in meetings at ... more - theverge