Meta unveils VR headset demo

Meta’s Starburst virtual reality prototype doesn’t look anything like a traditional headset.

From some angles, it looks like someone ripped the guts out of a tiny desktop computer — including the fans — and attached a pair of heavy-duty handles to it. And those are crucial because Starburst is too heavy to wear, a result of the bulky, self-contained lamp bolted to its back.

By Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s admission, Starburst is “wildly impractical” in its current form. But for a company that wants to give its users virtual experiences that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, these enormous VR binoculars are still an important development.

To truly blur the line between the physical and the virtual — or passing the “visual Turing test,” as some researchers say — Meta has to clear some serious hurdles. Future headsets need to be sleeker than the ones we have now, and yet more capable. And the screens inside them need to be sharper, smarter, and brighter than anything out there right now.

That fact that these prototypes exist is proof that these problems can be tackled individually — if not always elegantly. The real rub, though, is building a single headset that addresses all of these areas and manages to be comfortable and power-efficient at the same time

Meta’s revenue growth has begun to slow and Reuters reported last month that the Reality Labs division could not afford to pursue certain projects. Hiring has also slowed at the company, though spokesperson Elana Widmann said Meta has “no plans for layoffs at this time.” And while the company was expected to release a pair of augmented reality glasses code-named Project Nazare in 2024, those plans were said to have been scrapped in favor of turning them into a demo device.

“We’re evaluating key priorities across the company and putting energy behind them especially as they relate to our core business and Reality Labs,” Widmann said.

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