Tag Archives: Oculus Rift

X-Ray Goggles

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I assume driving tanks is difficult, mostly because the vehicle is less “windows” and more “opaque metal”. When the bullets are flying it’s probably not a good idea to stick your head out and try to see where you’re going. The Norwegian army has elected to solve this problem with virtual reality. In this video, we see Norwegian soldiers navigating city blocks using the virtual reality technology known as Oculus Rift. Using civilian technology and design, the tank operator can “see” through the sides of his vehicle with a 185 degree range of motion. This application is much more cost effective than the army’s current option, comparing $10,000 cameras to $2,000 cameras, and the Oculus Rift’s fairly modest price of $350 to the army’s $35,000 current VR headset.

What Sparks Our FIre: Creating applications for technolgy that may save lives in the future.

What other uses can you think of for VR headsets?

The Oculus Rift/Facebook Marriage, and Why It Doesn’t Matter

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So, this past week Facebook acquired virtual reality wunderkind Oculus Rift for $2 billion in cash and stock. For Oculus, this is a huge win in a succession of huge wins. For Facebook, this is a long-term bet that may or may not pay off.

Oculus Rift gained prominence as the most successful Kickstarter campaign ever, raising $2 million in 2012 and $91 million in venture funding later. The headset is purported to be one of the most incredible virtual reality experiences available, according to Mashable. For a cool price of $2 billion, that’s an incredible turnaround.

For Facebook, this is not the first time they’ve dropped a huge amount of money on a tech startup. Earlier this year Facebook bought messaging service WhatsApp for $16 billion, so $2 billion for Oculus must seem like spare change. Mark Zuckerberg calls this move “a longterm bet on the future of computing.” In essence, it seems like this was just a move for ownership, and neither Oculus or Facebook will change much because of it.

This all may be true, but as far as the future of Facebook as a company, this may not have been the best investment. With the loss of Facebook’s “Cool Factor” amongst young people, it’s hard to see what Zuckerberg is justifying this purchase with. However, we will see how the purchase plays out and pays off in the future of Facebook.

What Sparks Our Fire: Watching how companies prepare for the future is important for us as advertisers. Seeing the ebb and flow of technology is what prepares us for the next big thing.

Have you tried an Oculus Rift?