virtual reality

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IKEA Will Pay People to Work in Its Roblox Store

For 10 people, heading to work will mean logging into a virtual world

(Newser) - If you'd rather hide behind a computer than interact with real people, IKEA might have just the customer service job for you. The furniture chain is looking to hire workers for a virtual store on the popular gaming platform Roblox. The "Co-Worker Game" launching June 24 allows players...

Most Seniors Love Virtual Reality
At Retirement Homes,
Virtual Reality Is a Big Hit
new study
Feb 24, 2024 5:45 PM CST

At Retirement Homes, Virtual Reality Is a Big Hit

Study finds it improves the well-being of seniors

(Newser) - "Oh my God, that's beautiful," said Retired Army Col. Farrell Patrick as he used a virtual reality program to experience what it would be like to be in a Navy fighter jet flying off the Florida coast. Patrick is 91 and lives at the John Knox Village...

UK Police Investigate Girl's Virtual Rape

Traumatic VR attack and others like it could spawn new laws prohibiting such behavior

(Newser) - Police in the UK have launched what's believed to be the first investigation of an alleged virtual rape. A girl younger than 16 was using a virtual reality (VR) headset when avatars controlled by adult men attacked her avatar, causing what a senior officer describes as "psychological trauma...

Apple Unveils $3.5K 'Vision Pro' Goggles

'This marks the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology'

(Newser) - Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter's ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public's imagination. After years of speculation, Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed the arrival...

Flirting With Fake Bartender Could Fend Off Real Temptation

Virtual reality has entered the realm of relationship therapy

(Newser) - Staying monogamous has been one of humankind's most persistent partnership problems. Now, scientists in the virtual reality world think they may have a remedy of sorts to keep couples honest and cheating at bay. Futurism reports on some "strange research" out of Reichman University in Israel that suggests...

Meta Says It Lost Nearly $14B on VR Project Last Year

Zuckerberg says 2023 will be 'year of efficiency'

(Newser) - While Mark Zuckerberg's bet on virtual reality could still pay off, it's definitely been an expensive gamble: Meta said Wednesday that its Reality Labs division had a $4.28 billion operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing its losses for the year to $13.7 billion,...

Meta's Latest VR Headset Has Quite the Price Tag

Here's what the Meta Quest Pro offers

(Newser) - Facebook parent Meta unveiled a high-end virtual reality headset Tuesday with the hope that people will soon be using it to work and play in the still-elusive place called the "metaverse." The $1,500 Meta Quest Pro headset costs nearly four times what Meta's cheapest Quest 2...

Sources: Note in Exploded Package Named Famous Person

Writer slammed Mark Zuckerberg, VR developers: law enforcement officials on Northeastern incident

(Newser) - Update: A hard plastic container that exploded at Northeastern University on Tuesday evening contained a note criticizing the relationship between universities and virtual reality developers—and that called out Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg specifically. That's according to CNN , which cites law enforcement sources. ABC News also describes "an...

Walmart Is Getting Into an Unlikely New Sector

Retail giant files trademarks suggesting entry into the metaverse, with NFTs and cryptocurrency

(Newser) - Facebook isn't the only corporate behemoth wading into the metaverse . Now, Walmart appears to be dipping its toes in, filing multiple new trademarks at the end of last year that hint at plans to offer NFTs, a cryptocurrency, and virtual goods to consumers, reports CNBC . Although it's not...

Behold, Facebook Is Building a 'Metaverse'
Behold, Facebook Is
Building a 'Metaverse'
THE RUNDOWN
Oct 19, 2021 9:20 AM CDT

Behold, Facebook Is Building a 'Metaverse'

Company touts concept of a massive shared virtual world, but critics have some questions

(Newser) - In his 1992 sci-fi novel, Snow Crash , Neal Stephenson mentions a concept called the "Metaverse," a giant, shared virtual world combining augmented reality with virtual reality, where users appear as avatars and access this new world via special goggles. Facebook is now ready to bring that idea to...

How Russia Is Getting Its Cows to Chill: VR Headsets
Yes, This Is a Cow
in a VR Headset
Nov 27, 2019 10:00 AM CST

Yes, This Is a Cow in a VR Headset

Russian initiative says VR headsets reduce bovine anxiety, may boost milk production

(Newser) - We imagine when cows dream, they must dream of lazily idling in sunny green pastures. On one Russian farm, a virtual reality experiment is being conducted in the hopes that such visions can help cows pump out more milk. The Moscow Times reports that a regional agricultural administration has fitted...

Virtual Reality Chat Room Stunned as Robot Has Seizure

'There was nothing we could do'

(Newser) - It was business as usual in the virtual reality chat room until the robot had a seizure. The Verge reports the unnerving incident happened Wednesday on VRChat, where users in the forms of avatars can interact with each other. According to the Daily Dot , "Morty, Sonic, Knuckles, a dude...

Mark Zuckerberg Shows How Not to Promote a New Product

Facebook CEO intros Spaces app by 'teleporting' to hurricane-destroyed Puerto Rico

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg was excited to show off the new Facebook Spaces app Monday, a virtual-reality product that allows cartoon versions of yourself to wander in faraway places, so he decided to demonstrate with a "magical" tour—of hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico. "There's a lot of people who are...

With Public Lands at Risk, Patagonia and Google Act

Virtual-reality film series 'total immersion' into Bears Ears National Monument experience

(Newser) - Republican leaders are trying to turn back the clock on Barack Obama's designation of two national monuments in Utah and Maine. But if outdoors-oriented company Patagonia and Google have anything to do with it, they're going to get the word out that public lands are worthy of being...

Facebook Ordered to Pay $500M in Virtual Reality Case

It was sued for stealing trade secrets, but jury found company guilty on other counts

(Newser) - Facebook is going to have to cough up $500 million in real money for unlawfully using another company's virtual reality technology. A jury decided Wednesday that VR pioneer Oculus, which Facebook bought for $2 billion in 2014 , infringed copyright and trademarks when it used code from games maker Zenimax...

To Catch Nazis, Prosecutors Go 'Back in Time'

Virtual reality model shows Auschwitz circa 1940s

(Newser) - As World War II waned, Nazis were ordered to destroy evidence of the Final Solution at Auschwitz so that only a portion of the original camp remains today. That makes corroborating testimony of suspected war criminals difficult—but not impossible, thanks to virtual reality. Using original construction plans, period photographs,...

Car Lot of the Future May Have No Cars

Cadillac considers switching to virtual showrooms

(Newser) - With sales slipping—down 12% in 2016, according to Automative News —Cadillac is considering going virtual with some of its 925 dealerships. First and foremost, having a dealership that doesn't need to contain actual cars would drastically reduce overhead, the Wall Street Journal reports. Secondly, PC Magazine believes...

Oculus Rift Ushers In New Era of Virtual Reality

Much-hyped headsets begin arriving Monday

(Newser) - It's a big day for the world of virtual reality: The much-hyped Oculus Rift headsets—made by the Facebook-owned company Oculus—begin arriving on consumers' doorsteps.
  • Time runs down the basics, including cost. The headset itself is $599, but you'll also need a high-end PC. "All told,
...

Facebook Drops $2B on Virtual Reality Pioneer

Oculus buy 'creeps out' game makers

(Newser) - Facebook has bought pioneering virtual-reality headset maker Oculus for $2 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg is pretty excited about it. The startup's immersive headset for video game developers has been a big hit, but Facebook appears ready to take virtual reality beyond gaming, Business Insider finds. "After games, we'...

New Frontier to Help Addicts: Virtual Reality

Researchers put them in fake worlds, help them learn to cope

(Newser) - Addicts looking to kick their habit in the real world might benefit from doing so first in a virtual one. At least that's the theory behind a growing body of research, explains PopSci . The idea is to have the addicts play a game of sorts in which their characters...

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