Current Activities
(2016-05-23) And now the NVidia GeForce 1080 graphics card. After only 6 months it feels like time to build a new system!
(2016-05-19) Google Daydream coming this fall!
(2016-03-02) And the AR field is heating up too, with pre-order developer kits for Microsoft® Hololens ($3000) and Meta ($950). And MagicLeap seems to be getting more active as well.
(2016-02-29) Whether this is indeed the Year of VR, it will certainly be the year of VR headsets. The Oculus Rift and HTC/NVidia Vive are available (or sold out) for pre-order at $600+ and $800+ (and need a $1000+ computer to run them). Sony PlayStation VR will be out later this year. There are are also dozens of headsets (of varied quality and cost) for use with smartphones.
The technology is going to be changing so rapidly that device usable lifetime may be measured in months - this will be an expensive hobby!
(2016-02-18) I've had my Samsung Gear VR toy for a couple of months now. I'm not using it as much and I am not quite so much in awe, but it is still remarkable. Flaws are more noticeable - low resolution, lens distortion, file sizes, discomfort - and my sense of presence feels somewhat diminished with experience.
But none of this diminishes my belief in the profound effect VR will have (as I tell everyone - "the end of the world as we know it"). The technology is advancing extremely rapidly with new products and capabilities announced almost every day. It feels like full-time dedication is needed to keep up, but I have other interests also, so I'm not sure how that will happen.
(2015-11-11)
Building a new computer (finally), mostly to get a new graphics card and
heftier processing for development. The basic specs are-