NDM WEEK 22 (ii)

Facebook sets up 'social VR' team to explore virtual reality beyond games

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/22/facebook-social-virtual-reality-beyond-games-mark-zuckerberg
Facebook has created a “social VR” team to explore virtual-reality technology’s potential beyond games, as it prepares for the consumer launch of its Oculus Rift VR headset.Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed the plans in a surprise appearance at Samsung’s Mobile World Congress press conference, while talking up the popularity of 360-degree videos on Facebook, and on Samsung’s Gear VR headset – which uses technology from Oculus.“People have already watched more than a million hours of video in Gear VR,”explained a blog post from Facebook following the event. “Already, millions of people watch 360 videos on Facebook every day.

• Virtual reality is already one of the hot topics at this year’s Mobile World Congress conference.
• HTC has confirmed that its Vive headset will cost $799, with pre-orders opening at the end of February. Meanwhile, LG is launching its own headset, designed to work with its new G5 Android smartphone.

 More than 20,000 have been uploaded, with hundreds more added daily.”Facebook is upping the quality of 360-degree videos on its service, while tasking its new team with developing other kinds of non-games content for VR headsets.