Mark Zuckerberg said the device, priced at $199, would be the “most accessible VR experience ever”.

Sales of the company’s VR hardware have been slow since launching the first Oculus Rift headset in March 2016.

“If VR doesn’t go mass market at this price point, I think we can conclude that it never will,” said John Delaney, an analyst with IDC.

The existing budget way to get Facebook’s VR is the Samsung Gear VR at $129 – but that requires a high-end Samsung smartphone in order to work.

Speaking at Facebook’s yearly virtual reality developers conference in San Jose, Mr Zuckerberg acknowledged the slow adoption of the technology to date. But he said his company’s goal was that one day, it would get one billion people into VR.

To get there, the company needs to create a premium, standalone VR device that offers free movement. It hasn’t managed that yet – the new Oculus Go should still be regarded as a budget VR experience.

But the company’s new head of VR, Hugo Barra, also shared more details about Project Santa Cruz, Facebook’s prototype high-end device that will offer movement-tracking without the need for tethering to a computer, or the placing of sensors around a home.

Many had hoped Project Santa Cruz would get a public release date, having first been announced at this event last year. Facebook’s new head of VR, Hugo Barra, would only divulge that developers would be sent devices to work with within the next 12 months.

Until then, Oculus Go is Facebook’s biggest hope in stepping up the adoption of virtual reality among the general public.

The device will be sent to developers to start building with in November this year. It will offer better visuals than the current Gear VR, but drops well short of the premium VR experience offered by the Oculus Rift and Touch controllers.

‘Too crazy or complex’

But the future of this massively-hyped technology is unclear.

Mr Zuckerberg opened the conference with an admission that virtual reality was still some way from being a mainstream product. In an effort to reassure developers working on expensive VR projects, he insisted this was typical of all big new ideas.

“A lot of them seem maybe too crazy or complex at the start,” he told delegates.

“Some people say that VR is isolating and anti-social. I actually think it’s the opposite. We all have limits to our reality. Opening up more of those experiences to more of us – that’s not isolating, that’s freeing.”

Throughout 2017, Mr Zuckerberg – who has repeatedly said he’s not considering a run for president – has travelled the US, meeting regular Americans.

“A lot of the places I have visited don’t have the same economic opportunity as we have here [in California]. Enabling us to be present anywhere, creates opportunities for people everywhere.”

However, many think those opportunities will come from augmented reality, rather than virtual. Augmented reality is when digital images are placed over the real world in front of you.

The leader in this area is Microsoft with its Hololens product. It too suffers from expensive hardware and low adoption. But once the technology improves, some believe it might offer a great deal more than VR.

“I think one of the problems with VR as a mass-market proposition is that you’re unaware of what’s happening around you in reality,” said analyst Mr Delaney.

“So you’ll only wear one of these things in situations where you feel secure about that. Largely, for consumers, that means only at home or in the car [as a passenger]. So although VR can be connected to mobile networks, it is not really mobile.”

‘We’re working on it’

Some believe the missing link in making virtual reality popular with this masses is content. In other words, even with the hardware getting cheaper, there’s too few fun experiences to be had.

“Oculus Go is an important step to broaden the audience for VR,” remarked Geoff Blaber from CCS Insight.

“But as Google’s Daydream platform shows, consumers still lack a compelling reason to adopt it. Developer support and compelling content are critical to building mass market interest.”

Facebook pointed to several successes, including three Emmy awards won by VR titles this year.

Big Hollywood tie-ups, with studios like Marvel, will look to build on this – but it will take time. A newly-announced tie-up with games developer Respawn, creator of Titanfall, will bring a major new title, but not until at least 2019.

Another strategy for getting Oculus Rift in the hands of more people is to make it part of the world of work.

Facebook launched Oculus for Business, a scheme that will offer firms dedicated support and hardware bundle deals. The company would help firms put VR into their workflows, Mr Barra said.

Over the past three decades, promises of virtual reality have come in waves. This latest effort shows the most promise, by far – but the unavoidable detail is that the hardware still remains too cumbersome for the mass market. Premium VR is too big and too expensive.

“That’s not great,” Mr Zuckerberg told delegates. “We’re working on it.”

“Nothing is going to replace being with someone in person. But when we run up against the limits of reality, VR is going to make our reality that much better.”

–

Source: BBC

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HMD Odyssey joins previously announced VR headsets and hand controllers from Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer and Asus to form the launch hardware line-up for Microsoft’s new Mixed Reality platform.

Unlike earlier PC-based VR kit, the new products are able to track their wearers’ movements in a room without requiring additional external sensors.

But experts have questioned whether the market will support so many brands.

Until now, HTC’s Vive and Facebook’s Oculus Rift have had most of the market in high-end PC-based VR headsets to themselves.

But the two firms had only sold a combined total of just over one million headsets by the end of June, according to SuperData Research.

Both have cut their prices in recent months in an attempt to stimulate demand.

By contrast, Samsung’s more basic Gear VR – which works with some of its smartphones – had sold more than eight million units, according to the same market research.

“VR is still a very youthful medium,” commented Kevin Joyce, editor-in-chief of the news site VR Focus.

“There’s a number of significant barriers to entry – price, lack of variety in software collections etc – all of which are slowly being addressed.

“But in the short term, I do think we’ll see some of the hardware manufacturers in the current race fall before the final hurdle [since some] will want a return on their investment sooner rather than later.”

Halo VR

Microsoft hosted an event in San Francisco to mark the release of a new version of Windows 10 on 17 October that supports new virtual and augmented reality capabilities.

Samsung’s headset was pitched as a premium way to experience VR, thanks to it featuring higher-resolution OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays than the other new kit. It also has a slightly wider field-of-view and integrated headphones.

However, its $499 (£425) price makes it more expensive and it will go on sale a month later in November.

Other announcements included:

• Microsoft has acquired AltSpaceVR, a virtual reality-based social media platform. It had announced its closure earlier in the year only to reverse the decision without explanation later
• the release of Halo Recruit, a “brief” VR experience set in the firm’s sci-fi video game world. It will be given away free later this month

Microsoft is also developing an AR-based headset that does not require a separate PC called the HoloLens. But a prototype sold to developers costs £2,719 and there was no update as to when it will get a mass-market release.

One industry-watcher suggested that consumers tempted to invest in Microsoft and its partners’ VR tech should wait a while before making a purchase.

“The launch of all of those head mounted displays will create a lot of competition and possibly price aggressiveness in this space in the coming holiday season,” Annette Zimmermann from the consultancy Gartner told the BBC.

“Until now all PC vendors were linking their high-end devices with Oculus or HTC headsets.

“With their own headsets available, it is likely that they will focus on promoting bundles with their own devices.”

–

Source: BBC

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Mr Adjaho is alleged to have taken decisions on the Constitution Review Commission’s recommendations on entrenched provisions without seeking the consent of Parliament.

The Speaker reportedly failed to also present the recommendations being proposed by government to the House.

The Minority says Mr. Adjaho’s actions are unconstitutional and inappropriate, adding that, “the whole process of constitutional amendment is turning out to be nothing other than an executive review of the national constitution.”

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Alhaji Muntaka downplayed the accusations the Minority  levelled against Mr. Adjaho.

He said he is convinced that “Mr. Adjaho consulted both the Majority and Minority in Parliament before taking his decision.”

According to him, Mr. Adjaho had every right to refer the matter to the Council of State.

The Asawase MP opined that the press briefing organized by the Minority MPs smacks of partisanship; a development which should not be encouraged when discussing serious state matters.

Meanwhile, a Legal Practitioner, Yaw Oppong backed the Minority’s claim that the the bill was not appropriately referred to the Council of State since it was not in accordance with the constitution.

He explained that “until the bill is gazetted for six months, introduced to Parliament, then Parliament refers to the Council of State, the bill cannot be said to have been properly referred to the Council of State.”

Quoting Article 291 of the 1992 Constitution, Mr Oppong said: “A bill to amend the provision of this constitution which is not an entrenched provision shall not be introduced to Parliament unless it has been published twice in the gazette with the second publication being made at least three months after the first and at least ten days after the second publication.”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, the MPs said the Speaker failed to bring the amendment being proposed by government to the House.

The NPP caucus said Mr. Adjoho, on his own forwarded the document to the Council of State without recourse to Parliament.

MP for Bekwai, Joe Osei-Owusu, who is also Chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Committee in an interview with Citi FM’s Parliamentary correspondent, Richard Dela Sky said the Speaker’s action ”is inappropriate.”

”… Parliament is not in session, the speaker is not a Member of Parliament and so that action that he is purporting to take on behalf of Parliament is inappropriate. The speaker acting alone does not have the constitutional power to initiate any law making process,” he said.

He went on to say that “the Speaker is not a Member of Parliament. To that extent, there is no legislative power vested in him, to act alone. Article 290 deals with the legislative process which any partition of the constitution may be amended.”

Mr. Osei-Owusu added that the speaker should have placed the matter before Parliament before it was forwarded to the Council of State.

He added that “the whole process of constitutional amendment is turning out to be nothing other than an executive review of the national constitution.”

Background

The Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) was created and constituted by the late President John Mills and on January 11, 2010, he inaugurated the Commission to review the 1992 Constitution.

The setting up of the CRC was criticized by some who thought the President was violating the constitution.

Nonetheless, the Commission went on to execute its duties by consulting sections of the general public and later proffered some possible amendments.

The executive arm of government reviewed the report by the CRC and later issued a white paper which rejected portions of the report.

A Constitutional Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) was set up to ensure that the amendments proffered by the CRC and that of the government white paper were effected.

The Attorney General was authorized by the President, John Mahama, to formulate the combined proposals from the CRC and the government white paper into a bill to be sent to Parliament for consideration and possible approval.

Click on link to read the full statement from the Minority

Minority statement on Doe Adjaho

By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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