Facebook has won a patent for a head-mounted display (HMD) device combining a small high-resolution display with a large lower-resolution screen.

This headset incorporates eye tracking-driven foveated rendering, a process that involves rendering most of the view into a virtual world at lower resolution apart from the area directly in front of where the user’s eye is pointed.

The area in front of the eye, where a human eye perceives the greatest detail, is rendered at a higher resolution.

Unlike in...

Google has submitted patent documents for ‘augmented and/or virtual reality footwear’ – in a potential attempt to solve a key problem with VR around locomotion.

When does a VR world become truly virtual? Of course, put a headset on and you are in a virtual world, but you cannot walk about in it – at least not very far until reality kicks in. Google’s patent aims to enable what they describe as...

HTC is making its enterprise-flavoured Vive Focus virtual reality (VR) set available in Western markets, promising a variety of new applications in the process.

The launch ‘reinforces Vive’s increased commitment to bringing best-in-class design and software expertise – paired with the world’s best VR hardware – to businesses of all sizes’, in the company’s words.

Say hello to the Oculus Quest. Launched at Oculus Connect earlier this week, the headset is billed as the company’s first all-in-one VR gaming system – with a starting price of $399.

“We’re excited to usher in the next era of VR gaming with the introduction of Oculus Quest,” the team wrote in a...

Shipments of VR headsets went down 33% year on year, according to IDC – but the analyst firm expects this to be merely a blip as the market finds its footing.

The figures, which appear in the company’s latest Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker, found declines in each of the primary markets.

Screenless viewers went down from 1 million headsets...

It has certainly taken its time – but Magic Leap has finally taken the leap and announced the availability of its augmented reality (AR) headset.

The Magic Leap One Creator Edition, in the words of the company, is ‘a spatial computing system that brings digital content to life here in the real world with us. Its unique design and technology lets in natural light waves together with softly layered synthetic lightfields, enabling creators to build unbelievably believable interactive experiences and...

Google has announced that Chrome, the world’s most popular browser used by 44.5% of users, is now available on its VR (virtual reality) Daydream headsets.

Announced on its blog yesterday, the search and tech giant said users of Google Daydream View and Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream can now launch Chrome directly from their homepage and interact with any webpage while in VR.

Google promises that “all the features you...

A “pioneering” virtual reality (VR) therapy, which has proven to reduce blood pressure and pain levels among people with neurological conditions, is going to be rolled out across the UK.

According to BBC Scotland, the therapy has been trialled at the Sue Ryder neurological care centre in Aberdeen, where it has been used to support people with conditions such as cerebral palsy, MS and motor neurone disease, as well as those with brain...

Virtual reality could be about to get a lot more, well, real.

A Finnish startup known as Varjo claims to be developing a VR headset whose resolution could actually match that of the human eye.

It achieves this by mimicking the way that our vision works, a process called foveation, where our eyes will only see one small area in front of us in a high resolution; the rest, as you will probably now be noticing, is rather more blurry.

Varjo attempts to replicate this process by using two displays within the...

International Data Corporation (IDC) Canada has announced the latest release of its IDC's Worldwide Semiannual Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide forecasting Canada's hardware, software and services spending on the two technologies combined is set to total C$602 million by 2018, increasing to $8 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 90%.

Consumer, healthcare, and retail, powering immersive and realistic images, sounds, and experiences that simulate physical presence in a virtual environment will lead...