Snapshot of Oculus Founder’s Life after Facebook Bought his Company for $2 Billion

Not many people know Palmer Luckey. He is the person who created his first virtual reality headset and eventually makes a company out of it. He is only 22 years old. Last year, Facebook bought his company for $2 Billion, making his wealth swollen to more than $500 million, according to Forbes estimation.

Let us take a look how his life has changed after the bought over.

Luckey currently lives in Silicon Valley town. Some of the known figure who is also lives in the area such as Google chairman, Eric Schmidt and HP CEO Meg Whitman. Apparently, he spends a lot of time in executive-level suite in Facebook Headquarter in Menlo Park.

Luckey is a laid-back person. He is known for his casual look. On a typical day, he wears a Hawaiian shirt and sandals. If possible he prefers to be barefoot. In an interview with Telegraph, “We invented shoes to protect our feet from the harsh environment, but I live in modern-day California. It’s pretty safe here. Nothing’s going to happen if I take them off”.

After the Facebook deal, he bought a $120,000 Tesla Model S. He also drives 1986 GMC van which comes with a red shag carpet inside.

He spent the last year traveling, recruiting engineers and demoing in Rift. He also traveled to Cologne, Germany where the Gamescom exhibition took place. In October, his work in virtual reality has been honored by Smithsonian with an American Ingenuity Award.

Overall, Palmer Luckey tends to shy away from the media as he figured that it was not really about him but it was about something bigger than any of us.

Snapshot of Oculus Founder’s Life after Facebook Bought his Company for $2 Billion

Samsung"s Gear VR available for 150 GBP

Along with the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge, and Gear S, Samsung also launched the Gear VR during its event at IFA Berlin. The company used the event to reveal not just its new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, but also the Gear VR head-mounted display (HMD) that will use it’s 5.7-inch Quad HD display for virtual reality (VR) experiences.

At the moment, the virtual reality headset developed in partnership with Oculus is already up for pre-order in the UK. Mobile Fun is currently accepting pre-orders for Gear VR starting at £150 GBP(or €189).

The online retailer identifies itself as a ‘Samsung Authorized Dealer’, lending some weight to this price tag. On the other hand, Mobile Fun is known for putting up pre-order pages for newly announced mobile devices very early, sometimes too early.

Unfortunately the site doesn’t mention a shipping date, indicating we’re still left with the vague mid-October 2014 window. Given that the retailer is a phone accessory specialist, it doesn’t list the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or its pricing, leaving that part of the cost in question.

The Samsung Gear VR uses the 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy Note 4, which slides inside the headset itself. It uses accelorator, magnetic, gyrometer and proximity sensors in creating the 360 degree experience. Samsung says there’s a super accuracy sensor that means virtually no lag while using the wireless Gear VR.

Samsung"s Gear VR available for 150 GBP

Introducing the Samsung Gear Virtual Reality Headset

Samsung Electronics launched the next generation Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition in wearable technology,enabling users to fully engage themselves in a cinematic virtual reality atmosphere. Powered by Oculus, a Facebook company and a leader in virtual reality technology, Samsung Gear VR brings a completely innovative way to consume and experience mobile content.

South Korean giant claims that the newly announced Gear VR has been optimised for the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, providing stunning and engaging visuals at a mobile-leading resolution. The Galaxy Note 4 features a 5.7-inch Quad-HD (1440×2560 pixel) Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 515pi.

“The Samsung Gear VR goes far beyond expectations of how mobile technology can be used to consume content, and is a powerful representation of the progressive innovation of the Gear series. We are pleased to have partnered with Oculus VR to bring this incredibly immersive mobile content experience to consumers,” commented by JK Shin, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

With the Gear VR Innovator Edition, users can sit in the best seat of a theater, can be on-stage of a performance with full 360 3D video, and can enjoy gaming like it’s never been seen before – inside stunning worlds where imagination becomes reality. It continues Samsung’s leadership in the Super AMOLED display technology through innovative technology and compelling wearable design to expand the definition of mobile life.It is completely wireless, so users can be fully engaged in virtual worlds of film, gaming, 360 degree video, and education/experimental content without being tethered to a computer.

John Carmack, CTO of Oculus said, “We are thrilled to reveal the Gear VR Innovator Edition, a state-of-the-art mobile VR experience powered by Oculus. The deep technical partnership with Samsung has enabled us to create a virtual reality headset with world class resolution and performance, all on a completely mobile platform.”

The Samsung Gear VR will be available in Frost White through the Samsung online channel and selectively by carriers this year. Moreover Gear VR has gone up for pre-order via a third-party retailer MobileFun in the UK, revealing price of $249 (roughly Rs. 15,100).

Full details and product images are available at www.samsungmobilepress.com and www.oculus.com/blog/.

 

Product Specifications for Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition:

 

Gear VR	Optical Lens	96˚ Field of View
	Sensor	Accelerator, Gyrometer, Magnetic, Proximity
	Motion to Photon Latency	< 20ms
	Focal Adjustment	Covers Nearsighted / Farsighted Eyes
	Interpupillary Distance Coverage	55 ~ 71 mm
	Physical User Interface	Touch Pad, Back Button, Volume Key
	Connection	microUSB 1.1 connection to the Galaxy Note 4
	Dimension (Headset)	198(W) x 116(L) x 90(H)mm
	Contents	Available through Oculus Store
		microSD Card(16GB) in-box: A collection of 360-degree videos and 3D movie trailers from major studios will be pre-loaded.
	Marvel’s Avengers; Age of Ultron offers Samsung Gear VR users to have exclusive access to Tony Stark’s Lab inside the all new Avengers Tower.
	IMAX offers samples of Hollywood and documentary films in a virtual theatre with Samsung Gear VR ? the next best thing to a live IMAX experience.
	DreamWorks VR from DreamWorks Animation allows Samsung Gear VR users to interact and laugh with DreamWorks characters and content in a whole new way like never before.
	Legendary’s Pacific Rim Jaeger Pilot is an immersive content experience that puts viewers at center of the action with Samsung Gear VR.
	Cirque du Soleil Media presents a 360 live-action 3D VR experience, featuring an act from Zarkana filmed by Felix & Paul Studios for Samsung Gear VR.
	M-GO Advanced, a new paradigm for digital video VR applications, offers an unmatched interactive search and discovery experience with Samsung Gear VR.
	Vevo offers more than 100,000 HD music videos, live concert events and original programming can be enjoyed in an immersive, full-screen theater experience on Samsung Gear VR.
	Protocol Zero (working title) from DENA offers Samsung Gear VR players to infiltrate enemy grounds undetected in blackout conditions with hi-tech optics including night vision, X-ray vision, and thermal vision.
	Qualcomm Vuforia connects the physical world with digital experiences to demand attention, drive engagement and deliver value through a mobile vision platform that enables apps to see with Samsung Gear VR.

 

Introducing the Samsung Gear Virtual Reality Headset

Samsung Partners with Oculus to Make VR Headset

Samsung is working with Oculus VR to release Virtual Reality products. Oculus VR is a virtual reality startup company owned by Facebook and the company has kick started the current wave of VR products.

Samsung is handling the hardware side of the product, while Oculus handles the software. It’s a swap deal, Samsung would give Oculus early access to its next generation OLED screens while Oculus would give Samsung early access to its mobile software development kit and helps user interface software development. Oculus continues to make products of its own such as gaming focused PC based virtual reality headset and it’s in need of Samsung’s next generation OLED screens for the product development. Now, let’s see more on the unlikely partnership between Samsung and Oculus.

Though Samsung wants to be the first company in the market to release a virtual reality headset, it’s not ready to invest so much of time and money that Oculus and Sony are. Aside, Oculus wants to make a gaming focused high quality virtual reality headset, but it doesn’t want to rush without required high quality next generation hardware. Thus, these two companies partner with each other to meet their immediate business needs. Oculus makes the software for Samsung’s upcoming virtual reality headset and Samsung makes OLED screens for Oculus’ final product.

The partnership has both risk and benefits. Samsung is a consumer electronics giant and the company investing in marketing and producing its own virtual reality headset hugely grows the medium. If it’s not a good product then it can possibly poison the medium and the product could turn in to another Virtual Boy. It might make consumers even more apprehensive about virtual reality as a medium.

Sources told that Samsung is using an early form of Oculus’ mobile SDK; it’s an exclusive use as part of the deal between the companies. As part of the deal Oculus is getting OLED screens that are of higher resolution than 1080p, the screens will be used in a few of Samsung’s next phones.

Hardware

Samsung’s VR headset uses your phone directly instead of having its own screen. VR headset plugs in to your phone using an existing port most probably via micro-USB and becomes the screen. The headset comes with a built-in sensors and an accelerometer, so any motion tracking functionality wouldn’t consume phone’s processor.

There are few folks who have dev kits are still running the VR headset on Galaxy s4 phones and they say the experience is too good. Said that, the device would run either a Galaxy S5 or potentially its successor and of course it will be tweaked for optimal VR headset performance. The VR headset can be used as a standalone media device or with a paired game controller.

You can see through the phone using the rear camera, which shows a video feed of the outside world to your eyes. It’s a smart addition for more realistic long-term use.

The unit got some buttons including standard Android buttons such as Home, Back and Recent Apps. Visibility to the details of other buttons is too minimal at this stage however it’s been told that none of the buttons are used for interactivity. But, there are chances for changes to these specifications to chance when the final product is made available to consumers.

Software

The dev kit got a basic UI (User Interface); it’s an empty 3D space with various demos. You interact with floating objects by nodding at them. Nodding at an object selects it basically. The interactivity method may be far different in the final product comparing to the dev kit. It’s told that the final software would contain voice, touch and more forms of interaction.

Now, UI and OS are in a very early stage. Oculus’ mobile SDK is in very early stage, the software it’s able to build isn’t close to a finished product. There was some information shared about two different demos, neither of which involved interactivity. First demo, you are at the beach with jamming hippies and the in the second one, you dive from a plane. The sources said that they were impressed with the device.

Samsung may advertize this device as a media player as well. There are very few media experiences for virtual reality headsets. It’s said that gaming experiences are pared down and there are no guarantee Samsung will ship VR headset with a game pad. The company is focusing on larger market instead of just the early adopter who’ll take a chance on VR headset. Samsung and Oculus are taking a risk in partnering on this virtual reality headset and it has attracted a lot of attentions, let’s wait and see how this partnership and product evolves.

Samsung Partners with Oculus to Make VR Headset