Intel shows off cordless virtual reality set

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Intel shows off cordless virtual reality set

Intel shows off cordless virtual reality set:- Intel staked a solid claim in virtual reality Tuesday at its developer forum, introducing the prototype for an untethered, all-in-one virtual reality headset it calls Project Alloy.

In his keynote, CEO Brian Krzanich made clear Intel wants its chips and technology to play a major role in this emerging market.

"Virtual reality represents one of those fundamental shifts that redefine the way we work, how we are going to entertain and how we communicate," he said.

Krzanich demonstrated a battery-powered, untethered virtual reality headset system that includes all the computational and graphic power it needs onboard. That in turn will set users free to move through virtual reality constructs without running into the physical constraints of a cord.

It also would allow the wearer to interact with the world in what’s being called augmented reality, technology that shows users an image overlay of their surroundings, giving them information about what they’re looking at or allowing them to manipulate virtual objects.

The Project Alloy headset incorporated Intel’s front-facing 3-D camera technology, which it calls Real Sense. That gives users the ability to use hand gestures to execute commands.

The headset Krzanich showed the audience was a single unit, no trailing wires, no tethering to a computer. The design contrasts with Facebook's Oculus Rift, the $600 VR headset that has been dinged by some reviewers because it tethers users to a box and limits movement.

It doesn’t appear that Intel actually plans to build VR headsets but rather to provide the design for various developers to work with.

By the second half of 2017 the company plans to make the specifications for Alloy available to all, “allowing everyone access to the build sheets, exactly what it takes to build an Alloy themselves,” Krzanich said.

That’s not surprising as Intel has never been a consumer product company, but instead enabling consumer products such as PC, said Brian Blau, a senior Intel analyst with Gartner.

“I suspect Project Alloy is similar to Google Daydream. It’s potentially a device, it's being prototyped, but it’s more of a set of specification that partners can use to build devices,” he said.

He noted that historically, Intel has worked hard to associate the Intel brand with new technologies, the long-running “Intel Inside” campaign for PCs branded that into consumers brains.

Now the Mountain View, Calif. company’s task is to associate the Intel brand with this new, all-in-one form for virtual reality, Blau said.

Intel did not announce how much the Project Alloy headset might sell for.

The bigger news long term may be that Intel and Microsoft plan on working together on virtual and augmented reality, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy.

Both companies were late to the game when it came to smartphones and it appears they don’t plan to miss this virtual train.

“Microsoft and Intel working together on mixed reality is a very positive sign and historically, more has been accomplished with the two working together than against each other,” said Moorhead.

Microsoft executive vice president Terry Myerson joined Intel's Krzanich on stage to say the two companies were working together on software to run virtual reality devices. Microsoft is developing its own VR headset, the HoloLens, which contains Intel chips. Additionally, Microsoft has said that all Windows 10 systems will have some capability of augmented reality capability.

Together, that adds up to a lot of ways for consumers to access this emerging technology, Moorhead said.

No cords

The untethered headset Krzanich showed the audience represents what could be the breakthrough form factor that will take VR from a niche device for game players to something that is truly becomes part of daily life in the way smartphones have.

How users enter virtual and augmented reality spaces today tends to fall into three groups. There are tethered headsets that plug into a computer, smartphone-based headsets that snap a phone into a headset and all-in-one headsets that contain all the processing and battery power.

“It’s a really interesting device because they have everything in one package, you don't have to worry about having the right smartphone or which headset you have, you don’t have to buy an expensive headset,” Blau said.

Source:- http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/08/16/intel-shows-off-cordless-virtual-reality-set/88862920/

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