CES is the number one place to get an inside scoop of what the tech industry will be pushing out in the next few years. Some companies use it as a platform to show what they are working on. Other companies use the worldwide platform to demo and reveal products that are ready to be shipped to consumers.
CES has hundreds of booths active each day, so keeping track of all of it can be a chore. We have created this day 2 recap to give you a brief summary of what has happened in Las Vegas during the second day of the Consumer Electronics Show. This post will be updated throughout the day. To find the most relevant information about VR and AR findings at CES 2020, check back at VRGear.com
Firefox Brings WebVR to Pico Headsets
Mozilla has announced that they are bringing their web virtual reality platform to Pico headsets. Firefox Reality is a web browser that is specifically made for virtual reality. This allows VR users to sync your Firefox Internet account, send tabs back and forth, sync your history and your favorite bookmarks, and easily manage and consume the VR-ready web.
Expect this to come with Mozilla Hubs. Hubs is a web-based social platform that Mozilla has been working to integrate with their users. This is planned to bring more uses to the Pico headsets for work, and it will be brought to all headsets in their lineup. This is said to launch sometime in the first quarter of 2020. You can expect a launch soon.
JBD Blinds at CES
Founded back in 2015, Chinese-based Jade Bird Display (JBD) has shown something of great value and very impressive to all AR/VR users and creators. The company has displayed both the most bright, dense, and small displays ever. Their brightest mini screen, 1,280 x 720 LED, is capable of pushing an insane 3,000,00 nits of brightness. Thats a big deal.
The iPhone 11 Pro is capable of 625 nits. A high-end HDR TV can get near 2,000 nits. As you could imagine, 3,000,000 would be nearly blinding and unnecessary. JBD has found a great use for in virtual and augmented reality. This would help the display of your headset not worry about output, and rather focus and optimize other parts of the headset. That means that if your headset is only using 0.01% of the possible display power, the headset could still push 3,000 nits. This is groundbreaking.
VRgineers Show 8K
VRgineers, the creators and producers of the business-focused VR headset the XTAL headset have brought improvements to CES this year. The newest headset that is being debuted will bring an ultra wide field of view, a combined 8K display (4K per eye), improved lenses for clear readability, and even a video passthrough add-on.
This new headset will bring “significantly better picture quality and readability”. Yeah, those things are important if you are trying to get some real work done in virtual reality. As for the external design of the headset, expect no changes this year. As you can see, XTAL headset will still look like a piece of face armor for the time being.
NextMind & Mind Reading
NextMind is a company out of Paris that is taking eye tracking to a whole new level. In fact, it isn’t doing eye tracking as much much as understanding what your mind is seeing. The system then sends a bluetooth action to the PC and then selects the option you are looking at. This is in the early stages, but it is impressive to say the least.
This is a non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG).The kit is still in the developer stages, and is only being shipped to select partnering companies in Q1. If you are a developer trying to get your hands on this, you can expect the NextMind to ship towards the end of Q2 for $400.
Hey Vive, Where Are You?
HTC Vive has been non-existent at CES in Las Vegas this year, and they finally broke the silence this morning. The company has released a statement saying that they aren’t planning on showing or releasing anything this week. They will, however, be at the Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona.
“We’ve got big things in store for 2020 and a new vision for VIVE that we look forward to sharing with you,” the statement said. We believe this will not only have to do with the latest Vive Cosmos headset, but the entire future of the company as well. Vive likely won’t be making any more statements or public announces for a month or so.
