consumer | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 19 May 2021 07:12:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png consumer | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Bringing HoloLens to consumer market still part of Microsoft’s AR plans https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/bringing-hololens-to-consumer-market-still-part-of-microsofts-ar-plans/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/bringing-hololens-to-consumer-market-still-part-of-microsofts-ar-plans/#respond Tue, 18 May 2021 13:01:58 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=515734 It has been over five years since Microsoft first announced the HoloLens and while the AR headset has had its updates and upgrades, it is still primarily reserved for developers, engineers and the US military. There has been very little discussion around whether or not the HoloLens will eventually become a consumer product, but as …

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It has been over five years since Microsoft first announced the HoloLens and while the AR headset has had its updates and upgrades, it is still primarily reserved for developers, engineers and the US military. There has been very little discussion around whether or not the HoloLens will eventually become a consumer product, but as it turns out, consumer-grade AR hardware is still a priority for Microsoft. 

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft's Alex Kipman, a leader on the HoloLens project, explained that bringing the headset to consumers is still a big part of Microsoft's plan, but getting there is a long journey.

hololens.jpg

“We are absolutely working on a consumer journey for HoloLens. I’m happy to confirm that and say that is a very important part of our strategy”, Kipman said. “You don’t get to lead a new medium of computing if you’re not going to be in consumer”.

Unfortunately, there is no roadmap or timetable. Current rumours indicate that Apple is going to bring its own Augmented Reality device to the consumer market within the next couple of years. That increased competition may push Microsoft to make some consumer-oriented announcement in a similar time frame.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The HoloLens is an awesome piece of tech, but it is still far too expensive and software/gaming support still needs to be addressed beyond small demos. How long do you think it will take for a HoloLens device to reach consumers?

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Tobii eye-tracking tech is making its way in to more devices https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/tobii-eye-tracking-tech-is-making-its-way-in-to-more-devices/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/tobii-eye-tracking-tech-is-making-its-way-in-to-more-devices/#respond Thu, 15 Oct 2015 19:14:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=271931 Eye-tracking company, Tobii announced today that its software and hardware is at the point where it is ready to be implemented with consumer devices, like laptops, or possibly even virtual reality or augmented reality products in the future. Tobii has been well-known in this space for quite some time and has spent the last couple …

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Eye-tracking company, Tobii announced today that its software and hardware is at the point where it is ready to be implemented with consumer devices, like laptops, or possibly even virtual reality or augmented reality products in the future. Tobii has been well-known in this space for quite some time and has spent the last couple of years refining its technology.

In the past, Tobii has licensed out its technology to third-party companies, like Ubisoft. At one point, one of the Assassin's Creed games allowed you to pause by moving your gaze away from the screen, using Tobii's eye tracking technology.

TobiiPro_X2_Eye_Tracker_3_1

Tobii Tech, the arm of the company dedicated to consumer devices, is now gearing up to try and get its eye tracking technology in to more devices over the next year. Device makers can already apply to receive the reference design information to prepare upcoming products for this technology.

We don't know exactly how people will decide to use this eye tracking technology just yet, or how useful it will be. Perhaps laptop makers could use it to see when you're looking away from the screen and automatically lower brightness levels to save on power. We may even see webcams begin to implement the technology, which means desktop users could then take advantage of eye tracking features in games.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Tobii has been around for quite some time, I've even reported on the technology before. It is nice to finally see that it has matured to a point that it is ready for consumer devices. Though we have yet to see exactly how useful it could be. 

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Obama set to announce new privacy measures for citizens https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/obama-set-to-announce-new-privacy-measures-for-citizens/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/obama-set-to-announce-new-privacy-measures-for-citizens/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2015 10:56:40 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=230086 A lot of privacy advocates got a little worried during the press-conference where US President Barack Obama addressed the Sony hack, as he stated that the security breach was exactly why extra online powers needed to be given to intelligence agencies to thwart those responsible. However, just a few weeks later and instead of pushing for extra …

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A lot of privacy advocates got a little worried during the press-conference where US President Barack Obama addressed the Sony hack, as he stated that the security breach was exactly why extra online powers needed to be given to intelligence agencies to thwart those responsible. However, just a few weeks later and instead of pushing for extra powers for the NSA and other groups, he's instead announced upcoming measures to improve privacy for US citizens.

The address where Obama outlines the plans is set to take place later today (16:55 GMT) and as Reuters reports, will act as a preview of his State of the Union address, slated for 20th January. His speech is expected to contain several privacy enhancing measures, as well as making the public more aware when hacks do take place. One piece of potential legislature would force companies to inform any of their customers within 30 days, should their details be stolen.

obama

If given approval by congress, his proposal would also see the international trade in stolen identities criminalised and bring back the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights which was initially proposed back in 2012 If enacted into law, it could give US citizens much more control over the data collected and held on them by US companies. It would allow them to demand better safeguards for any data collected and would bring about “reasonable limits” on the amount of data they could gather too.

Obama is also keen to better protect students and is hoping to have the practice of gathering and selling their data banned, as well as using data from educational programs to target adverts at said students.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Some nice measures there, even if it is a bit of an underarm throw. There's much more than could be done to tighten up privacy, but it seems unlikely at this point that Obama will do much to really curtail the NSA and its snooping. 

Image source: Wikimedia

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Oculus VR talks consumer rift V2, cheaper V1 https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/oculus-vr-talks-consumer-rift-v2-cheaper-v1/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/oculus-vr-talks-consumer-rift-v2-cheaper-v1/#respond Thu, 12 Jun 2014 07:30:10 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=197807 There were a lot of concerns from gamers about the future of Oculus VR when Facebook bought it from founder Palmer Luckey earlier this year for a cool $2 billion. People thought it would become a social networking device, or too much of a profit focused product, but it sounds like so far at least, …

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There were a lot of concerns from gamers about the future of Oculus VR when Facebook bought it from founder Palmer Luckey earlier this year for a cool $2 billion. People thought it would become a social networking device, or too much of a profit focused product, but it sounds like so far at least, the aims of the company are pretty much the same. Make a great gaming device and get the hardware into as many people's hands as possible, for the lowest possible cost.

Ironically considering everyone's worries, the reason Oculus VR is staying on track so much is because of the Facebook buy out. Without that extra development money, Oculus would have needed to focus on making a profit to keep the company afloat. Now it has no fear of that, instead the fear is that the technology won't snowball quickly enough to retain the company's relevance. To help that happen, Facebook's back burner of cash will allow Oculus to sell the Rift at the cheapest price possible, just to get it out there.

“I think [the Facebook buyout] is going to allow us to deliver consumer V1 at a lower cost, because we're not trying to drive a high margin on this,” said Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe in an interview with Ars. “Mark [Zuckerberg], especially, wants to bring the cost down, him more than me. I do, too, but at the same time we were planning to run a business, hopefully a break-even [or] profitable business off of this, not a money-losing business. Mark is much more in the mindset of ‘Let's get this to scale with the best quality product at the lowest cost possible.'”

iribe
Iribe seen here earlier this year at TechCrunch's Disrupt. Photo Source: TechCrunch

On top of that though, while Facebook won't contribute as much to the development of the consumer Rift V1, which has a largely finalised design, it will come in to play with the second version.

“It is going to allow us to deliver a much better consumer V2, that's for sure,” Iribe continued. “Hardware-wise, we were pretty locked in already [for Version 1]… but [Facebook] will allow us to make consumer V2 totally incredible.”

Unfortunately, despite the interviewers persistence, Iribe wouldn't be drawn on any of the questions regarding a release date for the consumer version of the Rift. He did however say that after the Devkit 2 launched, he hoped some high quality experiences would be made by the developer community, so that when the consumer version launches, it'll have plenty to offer people. He also said that he expects such experiences to take 12-18 months to create.

So it looks like the consumer Rift could launch in Summer-Autumn of 2015.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I still haven't saved up enough to get my pre-order in for the devkit 2. I don't think I can wait until next year for an HD Rift experience, it's too far away. 

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Analysts ponder 3% drop in chip market for 2012 https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/harrison/analysts-ponder-3-drop-in-chip-market-for-2012/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/harrison/analysts-ponder-3-drop-in-chip-market-for-2012/#respond Tue, 03 Jul 2012 08:30:32 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=97975 While everyone seems to agree that 2013 will be lucky for most, 2012 is definitely turning into a disaster zone for most of the chip producers on the planet, in one way or another. Analysts at the Carnegie Group are now saying that they think they predicted 2012 to be 3% higher than it will …

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While everyone seems to agree that 2013 will be lucky for most, 2012 is definitely turning into a disaster zone for most of the chip producers on the planet, in one way or another. Analysts at the Carnegie Group are now saying that they think they predicted 2012 to be 3% higher than it will actually turn out to be. KitGuru pulls out its trusty slide rule to consider what this means.

Many companies posting an increase in sales for Q1 better get ready for some terrible news when it adds up the same numbers for Q2.

That's the kind of conclusion that KitGuru is drawing from the available data. When you take into account the European football championships, the up-coming Olympics, economic meltdown in southern Europe – as well as the world plus dog needing a holiday to get away from it all – you need to wonder, “How much money will be left to buy a new PC?”

Alongside that, we all know that the iPhone 5 will be hitting our stores and our pockets soon enough [Big news coming soon here, so watch this KitGuru space – Ed].

With all of these factors against technology companies, what does the outlook seem to be like for the future?

Well, in 2013, almost every analyst is predicting growth. Whether it will come from Microsoft launching a new operating system, Apple driving forward with a possible pair of new iPads or corporate refresh cycles that will be looking at their ‘old' Windows 7 systems and deciding that they needs new equipment, is uncertain – but there appears to be hope.

One of the biggest potential drivers for the new year will be energy conservation. We've seen a lot of systems in the KitGuru Labs with chunky power supplies and an array of CPU/GPU options that are hungry for electrons.

At the same time, you need to consider what is possible with something like an APU-powered PC like the Sapphire Edge HD3, which almost looks like it could survive on sunlight.

If you're wondering where the ‘meat' is, compared to all the fluffy-potato opinions, then we can tell you that sources close to IDC are predicting a doubling in sales of consumer computers costing under £200, with a 45% increase in those costing around £250. Not bad.

Consumer sales of systems around the £400 mark are expected to take a hit.

However, the single largest increase is predicted to be in the £699 market where sales are expected to increase by more than 250% in 2013. Which would be a fully-loaded Intel Core i3 or an overclocked AMD FX-based system.

Two varieties of Classic Canadian Chips

KitGuru says: Whatever the driver for 2013, we can expect some pitiful results in 2012 – especially for companies which don't have the right R&D/Marketing/Sales Direction in place. If there was one time to have the right person at the helm, it's on the way out of a recession.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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