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Echo VR

Why is Meta shutting down Echo VR?

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The critically acclaimed virtual reality game Echo VR will be going down in August, Meta announced last week. Since then, previous Meta consulting CTO John Carmack and Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth have both provided additional information about the shutdown.

The multiplayer VR-based game’s developer, Ready At Dawn, said on Tuesday that the game will be ending on August 1st, 2023 in a piece on Medium. According to the statement, gamers can play to their hearts’ content for the time being, buy the game, and re-download it.

Echo VR
Image Source: fossbytes.com

However, the article stated that following that, the game’s servers and services would be turned off. Echo Points can still be used by players up until that point, but there will be “no refunds on in-app purchases, DLC, and in-game currencies,” according to the post.

The creator of Echo VR, Ready at Dawn, has given a clue that it would be concentrating on the future. The Echo VR development team stated in a blog post on the closure that “by no means was this decision made lightly.

Also Read: When does Hogwarts Legacy come out?

But it was made for many good reasons and chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project. We can’t say anything about it yet, but we are all excited and need all hands on deck.”

According to UploadVR, Bosworth stated in an Instagram AMA that while the player base of Echo VR was “loyal as all get out,” it has decreased to the “low ten thousand.” He noted, “Unfortunately, keeping things alive takes work.

This is not like a return on investment money standpoint; it’s just those resources could be put to other uses that I think will be useful to the now tens of millions of people who are in VR.” Additionally, he said that certain “regulatory constraints” in Meta make maintaining the game more expensive.

The servers for Echo VR will continue to run until 1st August at 1 PM ET, after which time they will cease to exist entirely. While one would have thought that Meta would make it playable in a way similar to how Velan Studios is making Knockout City available, Bosworth appears to be ruling that out.

Echo VR has rapidly risen to the level of an e-sport in recent years. According to the Oculus website, Echo VR may be used with the Meta’s Oculus Quest, Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, and Rift S devices.

Also Read: Why Apex Legends Mobile is shutting down?

After donning their headsets, participants are transported into a zero-gravity arena where they engage in robotic combat using a combination of gaming prowess and athletic prowess. According to The Verge, the game was one of the centerpieces of the Oculus Quest and Rift S launches.

Following the launch of the Meta Quest (formerly Oculus Quest) and Rift S, Facebook acquired Ready At Dawn in 2020, establishing Echo VR as one of the company’s flagship games

Luxexcel

Meta buys smart lensmaker Luxexcel to further AR ambitions

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Meta is increasing its investment in the metaverse by acquiring Luxexcel which is a Dutch firm that focuses on 3D-printing corrective lenses for smart glasses. The information was first confirmed by the Dutch newspaper De Tijd via TechCrunch, and Meta has now clarified the acquisition to The Verge.

Luxexcel
Image Source: unboxedmagazine.com

“We’re excited that the Luxexcel team has joined Meta, deepening the existing partnership between the two companies,” Meta says in a statement provided by Ryan Moore, the company’s head of financial communications.

Source: theverge.com

Whilst details of the deal are uncertain, Meta CTO and Head of Reality Labs, Andrew Bosworth disclosed in a blog article previously this month that the firm is spending “about half” of the metaverse-focused team’s operational costs in augmented reality (AR) with the additional half going toward constructing virtual reality products (VR) since it continues to lose billions.

Luxexcel which was established in 2009, claims to be able to incorporate holographic film and projectors into prescription lenses to develop an augmented reality environment.

In 2021, it collaborated with WaveOptics, the firm that supplies the displays for Snap’s Spectacles, to develop a lens equipped with waveguides, or perhaps the transparent display technology required to overlay virtual objects on a real-world environment of the user.

Just as Meta works on its very first set of AR glasses, it is possible that we will not receive a final piece for some time. According to Bosworth, Meta’s AR glasses will necessitate years of upgrades as the company strives to make the device “slimmer, lightweight, efficient, and more effective.”

As per The Verge’s Alex Heath, the first edition of Meta’s AR glasses would be accessible only to developers, similar to Snapchat‘s Spectacles, with two subsequent pairs potentially becoming accessible to customers over several years.

However, Meta is getting closer to its target, as it has added color video passthrough to its expensive latest Quest Pro headset. It also collaborated with Ray-Ban to roll out the Ray-Ban Stories which is a pair of smart glasses that include cameras, speakers, and also microphones, in 2021. The lenses do not include built-in displays, however, this recent venture may be able to help Meta achieve that in the future.

meta

Meta rolls out new privacy updates in bid to keep teen users safe

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New online safety precautions have been introduced by social media behemoth Meta to protect teenage users.

Last year, Meta introduced some of the steps that might be taken to keep teenagers away from possibly suspicious adults. For instance, the company forbids adults from contacting minors with whom they are not connected or from seeing adolescents in its People You May Know suggestions.

Meta
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On Monday, Meta said that it would add new safeguards to its social networking sites Facebook and Instagram to safeguard young users from harm online. Facebook announced in a blog post that anybody below 16, or 18 in some regions, will now automatically have more private settings for their accounts.

The company is experimenting with additional safeguards to prevent teens from communicating with questionable adults they are not related to, and they won’t display them in the People You May Know section for teens.

Read More: Meta Might do ‘Quiet Layoff’ and Axe over 12,000 Facebook Employees

The company is also completely eliminating the message button from teen Instagram profiles when they are visited by suspicious adults as an additional degree of security. According to Meta, an adult account that has lately been reported or blocked by a youngster qualifies as suspicious.

The updated tools come with more standard privacy settings and safety notifications. Some privacy options allow kids to control who may view their friends list, posts that they’re tagged in, and who can add comments on their public posts.

Meta noted, “We’re working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to build a global platform for teens who are worried intimate images they created might be shared on public online platforms without their consent.”

In order to combat the online proliferation of self-generated personal photographs, new tools and training are also being developed. Meta is collaborating with Thorn and their NoFiltr brand to develop instructional resources that will assist youngsters in lessening the shame and stigma associated with intimate photographs.

Meta noted, “We found that more than 75% of people that we reported to NCMEC for sharing child exploitative content shared the content out of outrage, poor humor, or disgust, and with no apparent intention of harm. Sharing this content violates our policies, regardless of intent.

We’re planning to launch a new PSA campaign that encourages people to stop and think before resharing those images online and to report them to us instead.”

Teens can use a variety of tools created by Meta to inform the platform when something in one of its apps causes them to feel uncomfortable. They are encouraged to use these tools through new notifications the company has introduced.

For instance, the company sends teens safety notifications with instructions on how to deal with abusive messages from adults and prompts them to report profiles to the platform when they block someone.

Over 100 million users viewed safety notifications on Messenger in a single month in 2021. Additionally, the company has made it simpler for users to access the reporting tools. As an outcome, the company received over 70% more reports from minors, in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021, on Instagram DM, and Facebook Messenger.

iMessage

A new ad campaign from Meta is aimed at the iMessage service from Apple

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In an advertisement that intensifies the business rivalries between the two prominent Silicon Valley tech companies, Meta has taken an aim at Apple’s iMessage.On Monday Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta shared a photo of an advertisement in New York’s Penn Station suggesting that WhatsApp from Meta is more private and secure than Apple’s iMessage and conventional text messages.

iMessage
Image Source: analyticsdrift.com

A billboard comparing WhatsApp’s “Private” bubble to the Green and Blue bubbles of Apple’s iMessage may be seen in the Meta CEO’s shared Instagram photo. Apple has consistently emphasized the privacy and safety of iMessage.

The blue and green bubbles in iMessage serve to distinguish between messages sent from an iPhone and those sent from an Android device. The blue bubble confirms that the recipient has an Apple device whereas the green bubble indicates that the receiver uses an Android device.

Zuckerberg made a post on Instagram stating, “WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android, including group chats. With WhatsApp, you can also set all new chats to disappear with the tap of a button. And last year we introduced end-to-end encrypted backups too. All of which iMessage still doesn’t have.”

End-to-end encryption refers to the design of the messaging system, which prevents the service provider from viewing the contents of the texts or providing them in compliance with a legal order. iMessage and WhatsApp are both encrypted.

On either service, however, messages and backups might be kept in a fashion that allows the company to access them. Wireless cellular carriers preserve SMS communications.

There are several factors for Meta to criticize Apple in this situation. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media businesses’ advertising has suffered since Apple’s ‘App Tracking Transparency’ tool was made available in April 2021.

By using this option, social media companies are prevented from tracking a user’s data on other websites or apps. According to one report, this Apple feature would cost Facebook nearly $22 billion alone in 2022. This feature debuted with iOS 14.5.

The Meta ad follows a previous effort by Google in which it attacked the blue bubbles used by iMessage. Google wants Apple to use Rich Communication Services(RCS), a newer text messaging technology that replaces SMS communications with enhanced capabilities and encryption.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook advised users to just purchase one iPhone for each person they wish to interact with, indicating that the company currently has no intentions to do this. However, if WhatsApp becomes a serious competition in the US, it’s absolutely feasible that its stance may change.

Over 2 billion people use WhatsApp worldwide. In the US, it isn’t the default texting app. Meta seeks to increase WhatsApp’s US user base. Recently, Meta has promoted WhatsApp focusing on security and privacy.

Not just Meta, but other tech firms have criticized iMessage from Apple. A valid criticism of Apple’s privacy-focused iPhone advertising is the reality that iMessage still relies on SMS and cannot be used to safely contact people who use Android phones.

In the meantime, a recent update to WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, allowed certain beta testers to create groups with up to 1,024 members.

Meta Quest Pro

Meta releases new $1500 Meta Quest Pro VR Headset

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled the all-new Quest Pro(formerly Project Cambria), a premium $1500 Meta Quest Pro VR Headset, at Meta’s annual Connect conference.

Meta Quest Pro
Image Source: laptopmag.com

The $1,500 headset, which was presented at Meta’s Connect Conference, will be available to buy from October 25. Users can also place pre-orders on the Meta website. The launch is a part of Meta’s strategy to grow its user base.

Since its release in 2020, the Quest Pro’s predecessor, the Quest 2, had a sale of around 15 million units. Unlike its predecessor, Quest Pro supports mixed reality, allowing users to view digital content overlaid on the actual world.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, called mixed reality “the next major step for VR.”

Meta Quest Pro is the first in a lineup of cutting-edge headsets designed to increase the potential of mixed and virtual reality. The headset’s pancake lenses compress light multiple times, resulting in smaller overall dimensions and crisper sights. Overall, the Meta Quest Pro headset is more ergonomic and balanced because of the new, flared battery on the back.

The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ processor. It offers 256GB of internal storage and 12GB of RAM. In order to provide users with a full-color mixed reality and virtual environment, it features ten high-resolution sensors, five of which are located within the headset and five outside.

There are two LCD panels that provide richer, more vibrant colors due to the local dimming and quantum dot technology. Meta Quest Pro’s design enables users to switch between the physical and virtual worlds while using their peripheral vision. If the user desires an immersive experience, magnetic partial light blocks are included in the box. It contains sensors for detecting the eyes and capturing facial expressions.

For a richer virtual experience, if the person raises an eyebrow, grins, or just engages in eye contact with somebody, their avatar does the same. To track the user’s position in 3D space independently of the headset, the headset contains three built-in sensors for each controller. In comparison to Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro provides 10% more pixels per degree and 37% more pixels per inch.

Additionally, users will notice a 50% improvement in the periphery of the screen and a 25% rise in full-field visual acuity in the center. The color spectrum has also increased by 1.3 times from the previous version. The device comes with rechargeable batteries and a TruTouch Haptics system.

The Quest Pro has a battery life of one to two hours, though users can also use the device while it’s charging. According to Meta, a complete battery charge will take about two hours.

Microsoft CEO and Chairman Satya Nadella also joined Zuckerberg to reveal a brand-new partnership that will bring potent new work and productivity features to Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 in the coming years. These tools include apps for Microsoft Teams and Windows 365 as well as the capability to attend a Teams meeting from within Meta Horizon Workrooms.

Most likely, Apple’s rumored AR/VR headset will compete with Meta’s newest headset. The advancement of Meta’s headsets is essential to the company’s plans for the Metaverse, wherein Mr. Zuckerberg envisions a brand-new internet where users can play and work together.

Metaverse is a virtual environment where users may both conduct their daily lives as avatars and explore fantastical virtual worlds. Although several IT companies are developing their metaverses, it will probably be years before any are materialized. There have been conflicting reviews of Meta’s current virtual reality environment, Horizons, and there have also been allegations of sexual assault and violence committed by avatars there.

Meta

Meta Might do ‘Quiet Layoff’ and Axe over 12,000 Facebook Employees

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Meta Platforms is implementing “quiet layoffs” at Facebook to reduce its workforce as global constraints and declining ad expenditure pose severe issues for Big Tech corporations.

Meta
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According to a Business Insider report, Facebook executives are currently in the midst of carrying out “quiet layoffs” of underperforming employees, which might result in thousands of workers receiving pink slips. Executives around the firm were instructed by Facebook leadership to choose at least 15% of the employees in their teams to be classified as “needs support” through an internal review process. This targeted restructuring raises the possibility of removing 12,000 employees or 15% of Facebook’s staff.

The report said that the possible layoffs were made public last week through a post by a Meta employee on Blind. Blind is a popular app amongst tech employees that requires a valid workplace email account to use the portal anonymously.

In Facebook’s employee-review procedure, an employee “in need of support” is regarded as performing below the benchmark standards. Such employees are placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP), which typically results in layoffs.

Facebook employees made predictions on the work app Blind that anyone who fell into the 15% bracket would probably lose their jobs. If 15% of Facebook’s workforce were to be let go, 12,000 workers might lose their jobs.

As per Business Insider, In July 2022, Maher Saba, Facebook’s chief engineer, reportedly told its managers that they should identify team employees that “needs support”. However, they did not give a specific percentage.

During the weekly Q&A session, Zuckerberg told its employees:

“ I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now, but from what we’re seeing it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively.”

In May 2022, the company announced a recruiting freeze that has since been extended to all of Meta’s other departments and verticals. While this is going on, a few employees have been given 30 to 60 days to find a new position within the company or leave. Meta has a longtime policy of dismissing the employee when a job position is eliminated but an employee cannot locate a replacement within the firm.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pinned the blame on the economy and forewarned that the company would have to go through a downsizing or restructuring process. Zuckerberg said that all of Meta’s departments and subsidiary companies including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, would be experiencing budget cuts.

The CEO mentioned that Facebook had significant growth during the initial 18 years of its existence. However, according to Zuckerberg, recent quarters’ sales and revenue statistics have plateaued.

Meta’s move is in line with similar measures made by other major tech companies including Google, Apple, and Microsoft. To reduce costs while maintaining operating margins, some companies have stopped hiring new employees or started issuing pink slips to existing ones.

As per data collated by Crunchbase until late July, over 32,000 tech employees were laid off from their jobs in the USA.

After a surge in success that escalated during the pandemic, the tech sector has been experiencing a lull lately. Many tech giants are halting or ceasing hiring in the face of a more widespread global economic slowdown, interest rate hikes, and regulatory challenges.