Hacker News with Generative AI: Virtual Reality

Isolated older adults find joy and connection through virtual singing (news.northwestern.edu)
A new Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine study finds that, even when singing with others in a virtual setting, the benefits abound.
Virtually Tour Salvador Dali Theatre Museum in Figueres, Spain (salvador-dali.org)
The Foundation is happy to make publicly available the virtual visit of the Theatre-Museum Dalí.
Virtual human – a living cadaver – pushes boundaries of anatomical science(2018) (news.cuanschutz.edu)
When Victor Spitzer, PhD, director of the Center for Human Simulation at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, talks about his friend Susan Potter, he often describes her as “persistent.”
AI Avatars Escape the Uncanny Valley (a16z.com)
What happens when AI doesn’t just generate content, but embodies it?
3D Army Land Navigation Courses (army.mil)
Use Edge, Chrome, or Firefox for best experience.
Glubux's Powerwall (2016) (secondlifestorage.com)
A quick presentation of my project.
Play the Virtual Organ from Arp Schnitger (orgelstadt-hamburg.de)
Bigscreen Beyond 2 (bigscreenvr.com)
It Might Be Time to Admit the Great VR Experiment Has Failed (howtogeek.com)
Tonari Portals: be together in-person, anywhere (tonari.no)
What went wrong with Horizon Worlds? Ex-Meta dev shares insider insights (ycombinator.com)
After writing about Meta’s highly misguided $50 million bounty for developers to create content in Horizon Worlds, a former software engineer at Horizon Worlds reached out to me.
GTA 3 on a Volumetric Display [video] (youtube.com)
Meta's Awful 'Horizon Worlds' Ad Helps Explain $70B Metaverse Loss (forbes.com)
This is supposed to be a “pivotal” year for the metaverse, according to the company that spearheaded the concept, Meta, even renaming the entire company after the idea. But if you want to check in on its flagship product, Horizon Worlds, you will quickly understand why this division of the company has lost nearly $70 billion over the last few years.
What will happen if you do an entire woodworking project using a VR headset? [video] (youtube.com)
The NBA Apple Vision Pro app now has a 3D tabletop view (uploadvr.com)
The official NBA Apple Vision Pro app now has Tabletop, a diorama-scale virtual representation of the live game you're watching.
Google Confirms Android XR Allows Passthrough Camera Access (roadtovr.com)
Developers of mixed reality games have been clamoring for passthrough camera access on Quest for a while now, something now-departed Meta VP of XR Mark Rabkin said would come with the release of a new camera Passthrough API sometime in early 2025. Now, Google has confirmed that Android XR includes access to passthrough cameras, letting developers fine tune their mixed reality experiences from the get-go.
John Carmack: PCVR a Boutique Niche, Beat Saber Far More Important Than HL: Alyx (uploadvr.com)
John Carmack described PC VR as "a boutique niche", standalone VR as "the biggest win that VR ever had", and Beat Saber as "far more important than Half-Life: Alyx".
Android XR will allow camera access like on the phone (skarredghost.com)
Passthrough camera access is a hot topic in the XR community right now and while the positions of Meta, Apple, and Pico are known, everyone is wondering what Google will do with Android XR. After I’ve spoken directly with the company, I can tell you that they will offer a solution similar to the one on the phone. Keep reading to discover more!
Dungeons and Dragons VR is finally official, and it sounds incredible (androidcentral.com)
Make your chair rotate in VR (skarredghost.com)
On my last day at CES, I tried the Roto VR Explorer chair. It’s been an interesting experience, not without some flaws, but certainly one worth telling. So keep reading to discover this VR accessory!
Saint Peter Basilica digital experience (basilicasanpietro.va)
Your browser does not support the video tag.<p>Select an experience</p>
Virtual Vette – Racing Simulator Built from Wrecked Corvette (instructables.com)
This project started because I was looking for a way to encourage and reward my son, Daniel, for earning his Eagle Scout rank.
Apple Vision Pro May Now Be Out of Production (macrumors.com)
Apple's first-generation Vision Pro headset may have now ceased production, following reports of reduced demand and production cuts earlier in the year.
Tokyo makes 3D data available (tokyo.lg.jp)
サイバー空間上に東京都を再現し、様々なデータを重ねることで、これまでは気づき得なかった新たな視点に出会うことができます。
Electronic lollipop that lets you taste things in virtual reality (bgr.com)
A new “VR lollipop” could soon let you taste things in virtual reality.
Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro (macrumors.com)
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro.
Android XR (google)
In partnership with Samsung and Qualcomm, we announced Android XR, a platform to extend your reality to explore, connect and create in new ways.
Virtual Geometry in Bevy 0.15 (jms55.github.io)
It's been a little over 5 months since my last post where I talked about the very early prototype of virtual geometry I wrote for Bevy 0.14.
Licking this "lollipop" will let you taste virtual flavors (arstechnica.com)
A team of Hong Kong scientists has now developed a handheld user interface shaped like a lollipop capable of re-creating several different flavors in a virtual environment, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Lens breakthrough paves the way for ultrathin cameras (physicsworld.com)
A research team headed up at Seoul National University has pioneered an innovative metasurface-based folded lens system, paving the way for a new generation of slimline cameras for use in smartphones and augmented/virtual reality devices.