Oculus Santa Cruz standalone headset: What’s the story so far?

During the third-annual Oculus Connect keynote, Facebook-owned Oculus VR announced something nobody expected: a standalone Rift headset.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the virtual-reality headset and revealed its codename, Santa Cruz. Here’s everything you need to know about Santa Cruz, including how it’s different from Oculus Rift and when it will be available. Keep checking back, as Pocket-lint plans to update this piece over time with the latest details. Also, check out our Oculus VR hub for more.

What is Santa Cruz?

Santa Cruz is a new VR headset from Oculus, but it’s in the prototype stages.

The most interesting thing about this prototype headset is that it is a standalone headset, meaning it is wireless in the same way that Microsoft’s HoloLens is wireless. The grand goal is that, unlike with the Oculus Rift VR headset, you’ll be mobile with Santa Cruz, because you won’t be tethered to a PC. You can simply pop on the VR headset and freely walk around.

How does Santa Cruz work?

Santa Cruz is basically a cable-free version of the Rift. According to TomsHardware.com, it offers six degrees of freedom (6DoF) with spatial tracking, where as the mobile Gear VR headset only offers only 3DoF with no spatial tracking. With this technology, you can physically walk around, and the virtual environment should respond to your movements accordingly.

From what we can tell, the form factor of the Santa Cruz looks nearly identical to the Rift. It appears to have a motherboard/computer on board, which is roughly the size of a deck of cards, attached to the rear head strap. There might be three USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0) and an HDMI port on this computer, and then underneath all that, there is a rechargeable battery.

There are no external sensors. Instead, the Santa Cruz uses inside-out tracking. It has four cameras, one on each corner of the front of the head-mounted display. We do not know their resolution. Oculus is being secretive on how the tracking works, but somehow, with just four fisheye cameras – and a lot of software magic, Oculus told CNET – it can deliver a wireless experience almost as good as the Rift.

We’re assuming the headset’s cameras provide some data, which is piped via HDMI to a SoC inside the computer on board (an additional band sits above the top adjustable band to relay information from the back to the front of the headset), and then the headset’s software, which some reports believe is Android-based, kicks in and uses that data to perform its VR “magic”.

There are obviously a lot of unanswered questions here, including questions about the precise processing power available in the prototype, but Oculus should be more forthcoming about Santa Cruz as the project progresses.

What’s it like to use Santa Cruz?

Those who have used the device say the weight of the computer and battery pack are not that noticeable. During the two demos Oculus VR offered, people reported they could move about freely in the virtual world, but theirs hands, arms, and legs were not visible. However, like rival HTC Vive, they did see a guardian system of translucent barriers when they got too close to a real wall.

One of the demos, which was pre-installed on the headset, was a brief walk around a cartoon world. This experience showed off the inside-out tracking. People reported being able to lean in and look closer at animated objects such as pigeons and flowers and even peer inside windows. The graphics weren’t mind-blowing, and there was a slight jutter on the bottom of the screen.

Overall, the consensus is that Santa Cruz is in early-days territory, but the future looks promising. As soon as Pocket-lint has a chance to play with the standalone headset, we will post a hands-on with our first impressions.

Is Santa Cruz like Samsung Gear VR?

No. Gear VR is sort of a “dumb” VR headset that relies on a smartphone for its display and processing power. Project Santa Cruz is a complete VR system. It’s like an Oculus Rift – only it’s cabe-free and offers 3DoF.

When will Santa Cruz be available?

There’s no word yet on when consumers will be able to play with Santa Cruz. It is still in prototype stages, and developers will likely have a period of time to play with it before the public gets a chance.

How much will Santa Cruz cost?

Oculus VR hasn’t even said it plans to sell the headset, though we’re assuming a finished version will one day hit retail. Until then, there is no word yet on how much the consumer version of Santa Cruz will cost.

Keep in mind the Rift’s $599 headset package, when combined with the controllers’ $199 price and the extra camera’s $79 price, makes the full Oculus platform more expensive than the $799 HTC Vive, which has two Lighthouse tracking boxes and two handheld controllers.

Royal Caribbean uses fuel cells to power cleaner cruise ships

It’s not just ground-based transportation that could stand to benefit from clean-running fuel cells. Cruise ship operator Royal Caribbean has revealed that it’s developing a new class of ship, the Icon, that will run on liquified natural gas fuel cells. The move would dramatically reduce the harmful emissions from the vessels (the company hints they’d output nothing more than water) without compromising on reliability or safety. Boats wouldn’t be stuck if they have to dock somewhere which can’t offer natural gas, either, as they could rely on distillate gas in a pinch.

Tests start with an existing cruise ship in 2017, although you’ll have to wait considerably longer for Icon-class ships to take to the seas. Shipbuilder Meyer Turku won’t deliver the first example until the second quarter of 2022, and you’ll have to wait until 2024 for the second. Still, it’s an important step. Pollution is a serious problem in the cruise ship industry, and it may only get worse as the ships get larger. Fuel cells could turn that around very quickly — you could go on vacation without worrying quite so much about hurting the planet.

Source: Royal Caribbean, PR Newswire

Daily news brief: A smarter Android, coming soon

What happened in Android on October 11? The same thing that happens every night, Pinky: It tried to take over the world.

This weekend, I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving the only way I know how: Taking a bunch of cool gadgets up to a rented cottage north of Toronto. There, I used the Moto Insta-Share Projector to cast Blue Jays baseball (#ourmoment) and the Presidential Debate (#notgoingthere) onto a patch of blank wall from a Moto Z Play, which was connected to a UE MEGABOOM Bluetooth speaker.

It was one of those situations where I, the tech-obsessed writer, got to show rather than tell. It was gratifying to realize that the bundle, pricey as it is, works with little setup and very low mental overhead. Contrasted with the mess of a Note 7 situation, which I had a hard time explaining to my friends, two of whom bought and returned the phone (one for an iPhone 7 Plus, the other a Galaxy S7 edge), it made me realize that we can’t take for granted the times when technology truly does improve our lives.

And now, today’s news.

The Galaxy Note 7 is dead

After a long and winding road, Samsung has discontinued the Galaxy Note 7. It seemed inevitable, and now Samsung can begin the process or bringing back in all remaining Note 7s in the wild that are still potentially unsafe. More

Google rolls out a Project Fi group plan

Up to six people can be on a single plan, with individual data limits and no contracts or commitments — new and current Fi customers can join groups immediately. The service is still limited to just Pixels and Nexuses, but this is a huge deal for lots of people who have been considering Project Fi but held off to keep their current family plan. More

Android 7.1 is coming — without a big Pixel feature

By now we know that the Pixel phones — big and small — are shipping with Android 7.1 Nougat. Google said that the phones would get features like support for quick actions on the home screen, and circular icons, as well as the Google Assistant and 24/7 support. Today, the company announced the impending release of Android 7.1 Nougat for other devices, such as the Nexus 6P and Pixel C. While those first two aforementioned features are there, Assistant and 24/7 support are nowhere to be found. The preview is coming in late October, and the final release, likely Android 7.1.1, will roll out publicly in early December. More

Oculus does the right thing

The Gear VR no longer works with the Note 7, despite both being made by Samsung. The rub? Oculus, makers of the software that powers the Note 7’s VR experience, forced an update that disables compatibility in light of Samsung’s Note 7 cancellation. More

Verizon’s Note 7 replacement strategy credits you for an upgrade

Verizon is making it easy for its Note 7 customers to get a new phone: Merely head to the site, log in and upgrade to a new device. Any new device. The company will credit you the amount, and then ship a recovery box to send back the defective Note 7. We’ve been hard on Verizon over the past few days, but this is a good move.

Samsung tries to convince Supreme Court that it shouldn’t pay Apple tax

Remember the patent infringement case between Samsung and Apple that began in 2011? Well, it’s still going on, and it’s escalated all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, justices heard from both sides after it allowed Samsung to appeal $399 million of the $940 million owed, revised from the original amount of $1.05 billion awarded back in August 2012. Since then, the companies have returned to court several times, and it appears we’re nearing an end to the tumult. Samsung’s camp is backed by big names like Google and Facebook who, according to Buzzfeed, say Apple’s stance on design patents are “out of step with modern technology.”

Android Pay coming to Canada at some point

I feel like I’ve been reporting this for two years now, but it appears that Android Pay could be coming to Canada in the near future. Snippets of code referencing Interac, Canada’s monopolistic debit network, were found in the latest version of the app. You want more than that? Hah. Keep waiting. Android Pay is currently available in the U.S., UK, Singapore, and Australia.

Have a great night, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

This video show what a smoking Samsung Galaxy Note 7 looks like

A smoking Galaxy Note 7 is a very frightening thing to experience, apparently.

Samsung has ended production of the Galaxy Note 7 due to reports that both original and replacement units of the phone were catching on fire, and now a video shows how at least one of the incidents occurred. The Associated Press published the video, which you can see below. 

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 alternatives

In the minute-long surveillance clip, you can see Dee Decasa of Honolulu holding her Galaxy Note 7 as it began to smoke Sunday morning. This is the sixth reported replacement device to catch on fire in the US. Decasa looks so alarmed that after bringing the device into the kitchen, she appears to faint onto a couch. At that point, another person in the video is seen trying to make her comfortable on the floor with pillows.

The media has published several photos of Galaxy Note 7 units after they’ve exploded, including one that happened on a Southwest Airlines flight during boarding, but this is the first video to show one actually smoking.

Samsung now sells smart built-in home appliances like wall ovens

Samsung sells smart home appliances like refrigerators and washers, but up until now, it never offered smart built-in appliances.

The South Korean company on Tuesday introduced a new line of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled wall ovens, cooktops, and range hoods. These appliances, which will be available starting in November, work with Samsung’s SmartThings Hub, which lets you connect and remotely control all of your smart products from one place. The new line is expensive, but we’re sure there are premium consumers out there who are interested.

Prices will range from $1,100 for the cooktops and range hood to $4,000 for the double wall oven. There are double- and single-wall ovens that cost between $2,199 to $3,999. With them, you can control and monitor your cooking food from your phone. The gas cooktops cost between $1,199 to $1,699, while the electric are $1,099 to $1,499, and the induction ones are $2,099 to $2,499.

The smart range hoods cost between $1,099 to $1,299, you can sync them with the cooktops. You’ll of course need to do a bit of home remodeling in order to outfit your house with these appliances, which will further increase your total.

But if you’re up for the expense and challenge, Samsung’s new built-in products should suit your needs.

Comic books come to VR through an app

You may have felt immersed in a comic book before, but never quite so literally as this. Madefire has released a free Gear VR preview app that lets you read its Motion Books in virtual reality. As you might guess, it’s all about depth. Pages now fill your view, and creators can add 3D layers to individual panels. While it’s not real 3D (your childhood dreams of exploring comic universes will have to wait), it beats staring at completely flat pictures on a PC or tablet.

You’ll initially get just a smattering of sample comics to read (such as Injustice: Year One and Madefire’s own Mono: The Old Curiosity Shop), but Madefire hopes to add some level of VR support to its entire 10,000-plus comic catalog by the holidays. Are you going to regularly read comics with a headset from now on? Probably not, especially since Madefire’s library only represents a slice of the comic book world. However, it’s a good example of how VR can boost an ordinary reading experience.

Via: TechCrunch, Android Community

Source: Oculus, Marketwired

Skin-grown cells could help you recover from heart attacks

Scientists have taken numerous shots at repairing hearts following heart attacks, but an experimental approach might do a better job than most. Japanese researchers are developing a technique that repairs hearts using cells grown from the skin of a genetically similar donor. If you convert stem cells into heart cells and inject them into affected areas, they can replace damaged tissue and help the organ pump more like it did before the attack.

Early tests with monkeys are far from perfect. The cells only repaired repaired 16 percent of damaged tissue, and the monkeys still needed drugs to prevent their bodies from rejecting donor cells (in theory, that shouldn’t be necessary with this technique). The simians also developed irregular heartbeats, although those might only be temporary. If the team can refine its technique, though, there could be a time when a heart attack doesn’t leave you quite so weakened as it does today.

Via: The Guardian

Source: Nature