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Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Meta's new VR headset prototype is so advanced it passes the 'visual Turing test' — but would you look at the size of it?
While Mark Zuckerberg may be adamant that AI smart glasses are the future, Meta isn't giving up on virtual reality just yet. The company has just revealed its latest VR headset prototype, codenamed "Tiramisu." And it is, to put it nicely, absurdly large. As you can see in the image above, this headset is pretty gargantuan, and it reminds me of scenes in Futurama where Bender extends his eyes out of his head. Needless to say, this thing looks very front-heavy and rather uncomfortable to wear. That said, Meta claims that this is the closest any of its headsets have come to "passing the visual Turing test." In other words, Meta is inching closer to being able to trick your eyes into thinking they're looking at the real world — not some metaverse landscape that's blander than my grandmother's grilled chicken. Whether those claims hold any water is not clear, because we haven't tested the headset for ourselves. And the fact it's a prototype, with its absurd design, means we're not likely to be doing so anytime soon. Meta Reality Labs just showed their new VR headset prototype called Tiramisu which offers stunning realism with 90 PPD, ultra-high contrast and brightness 14x that of Quest 3. It's bulky with a narrow FOV but offers a glimpse of what could be visually possible in the future. 7, 2025 Apparently this headset offers 90 pixels per degree (PPD), which is considerably higher than what we can buy right now. Apple Vision Pro is 34 PPD, while Meta Quest 3 offers 26 PPD. Apparently, such high pixel density means that even the smallest on-screen lettering is legible to the wearer. The brightness is also claimed to be 14 times higher than the Quest 3 (1,400 nits), with ultra-high contrast. Meta claims there's something called "angular resolution" thrown in, which helps with those finer details, and promises to be 3.6 times better than the Quest 3's capabilities. That all sounds pretty darn impressive, at least on paper. The downside is the design of the headset itself. The bulk is a big issue, but it's also claimed that the Trismus headset has a narrow field of view. Just 33 x 33 degrees, in fact, which is pretty poor. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Needless to say, it's going to be hard to convince your brain you're not looking at a virtual landscape without matching (or ideally slightly exceeding) the same field of view as our eyes. Those black areas inside the headset would be a dead giveaway that it's all fake. That's before you consider the actual weight and feel of the headset itself. Still, progress is progress no matter how limited it might be in certain areas. The only way is forward from here. You're not likely to see such high-end specs in a consumer VR headset anytime soon. Not only does Meta need to figure out the field of view and bulk problems, the cost factor will also come into play. This stuff is going to be horrendously expensive, and as we've seen with the Apple Vision Pro, no amount of high-tech wizardry can make people buy something that's astronomically priced. For now, the closest you'll be getting to this is eating an actual tiramisu while wearing a Quest 3. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Meta Says Its Comically Large VR Headset Prototype Can Almost Mimic Human Sight
There are a lot of lofty goals in the world of VR, but delivering hyperrealism is among the most elusive. That's because there are tons of constraints with a realistic, world-rendering face computer: there's resolution, field of view, power, weight, battery—you name it. But just because obstacles abound doesn't mean the titans of XR and VR aren't trying, and when it comes to the ol' college try, Meta definitely gets an A for effort. In its latest endeavor, Meta unveiled Tiramisu, a new headset prototype that it says is the closest it's gotten to 'passing the visual Turing Test.' In nerd lingo, that means its headset is inching towards tricking the eyes into thinking that a virtual world is actually a real one. Without using this very experimental headset for myself, it's hard to say whether that's true or not, but if we're to believe Tiramisu (a fine dessert, I may add) is actually as advanced as Meta says it is, the future of VR may be less cooked than we thought. Meta Reality Labs just showed their new VR headset prototype called Tiramisu which offers stunning realism with 90 PPD, ultra-high contrast and brightness 14x that of Quest 3. It's bulky with a narrow FOV but offers a glimpse of what could be visually possible in the future. — Nathie (@NathieVR) August 7, 2025According to Meta, Tiramisu blows the Meta Quest 3 out of the water in a few key categories. One of them is contrast, where Meta says the Tiramisu has 3x the ability of the Quest 3. Another is brightness, and Meta says that Tiramisu has a whopping 14x ability in that arena compared to the Quest 3. The last, which is more esoteric, is called 'angular resolution,' and that helps users in VR see finer details in virtual worlds. In this last category, Tiramisu has 3.6x the ability of the Quest 3. On paper, that's a pretty wild improvement over what we have available to us in this present moment, but (and here comes the approach back to Earth) there's still a ways to go before any of this comes to a headset near you. As you may have noticed by the pictures Meta provided, Tiramisu is—how do I say this—a big, chonky boy. It's the long Furby of VR headsets, which definitely puts a damper on the whole super-immersion thing. I don't know about you, but if I'm wearing an oversized trough on my head, that might break the illusion of a hyperrealistic VRChat sesh with my buds. On top of that, Meta says the FOV of its groundbreaking experimental headset is also (contrary to the size of the headset) very small. In fact, it's only 33 x 33 degrees. To put that in perspective, the human eye typically sees about 200 degrees with a vertical FOV of 135 degrees. As you may have noted with some back-of-the-napkin math, that's a pretty big difference. But this is all experimental stuff, to be fair, and the fact that Meta can achieve those improvements even with a very, very small window of visual information is exciting in and of itself. There are tons of hurdles to translating that research into something commercially viable—on top of the size, Meta is using glass optical lenses as opposed to plastic, which I'm going to go ahead and assume are a f**kton more expensive. Big and expensive haven't exactly translated well in the VR world; just ask Apple. I started this week by declaring that VR is cooked, and maybe it still is, but that doesn't mean I want it to be cooked. As much as I'm excited about the emergent future of smart glasses, I still think endeavoring to create a more immersive face computer is not just fun, but potentially groundbreaking. If Tiramisu is any indication, we've still got a while until we arrive at that hyperrealistic future, but I think I speak on behalf of all the other VR nerds out there when I say, I'd like some dessert eventually.
Tom's Guide
01-08-2025
- Tom's Guide
Meta just revealed a new XR display prototype — and it may be the biggest leap in smart glasses since Google Glass
Smart glasses are evolving at a rapid pace — incredible display tech coming to AR specs and AI breakthroughs making the likes of the Oakley Meta HSTN's incredibly intelligent. But we all know the end goal is a pair of glasses that brings these two worlds together. And researchers at Meta Reality Labs and Stanford University may have just given us the clearest glimpse yet of this future. Yes, I know the researcher pictured above kind of looks like a Cyberpunk pirate, but that eyepatch is a prototype holographic XR display — creating full 3D holograms on a screen thin enough to be used in a standard-sized pair of glasses. This is the holy grail that companies have been chasing down, and Meta just took one giant step closer to it. So let's get into the details of this mixed reality tech. Basically, it's a combination of custom glass and silicon along with AI-driven algorithms to render 'perceptually realistic 3D images,' as the researchers say in their paper. To make this happen, there's a custom ultra-thin waveguide display driving the visuals — using a laser to project onto a uniquely-textured part of the lens glass for picture clarity. After this, it goes through a polarizer so we can see it, and a custom-designed Spatial Light Modulator that will (you guessed it) modulate light — the special thing being that it will do so on an individual pixel-by-pixel basis to render a 'full-resolution holographic' image we can see. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. That's right. Holograms. Unlike your standard VR headsets and AR glasses that use eye-confusion techniques to simulate depth, this system can produce true holograms by reconstructing them entirely through light. There's both a wide field of view and a large eyebox to accommodate all possible pupil positions for accessibility. 'The world has never seen a display like this with a large field of view, a large eyebox, and such image quality in a holographic display,' Gordon Wetzstein, Stanford electrical engineering professor told the Stanford Report. 'It's the best 3D display created so far and a great step forward – but there are lots of open challenges yet to solve.' And even better? All of this is crammed into a panel just 3mm thin! That is significant for the future progress of stuffing displays into glasses without needing bird bath optics. One challenge to note, though, is this is mixed reality and not augmented. The wording is critical here, as the mixed reality reference means the optics are not transparent. But that being said, with this being the second of three projects to bring this to life in a commercial project, there's no doubt that what we're looking at here is a breakthrough. Don't expect this tech to come to glasses you can buy for another few years, but if this mixed reality display can become augmented, that's the dream I've been having over the past four years of testing and writing about smart glasses! My apologies to the phones team, but the clock has just started ticking on a new frontier of personal devices. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Euronews
29-07-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Here's how Meta's new AI wristband works
Imagine sending a text or playing a game without lifting a finger. Or at least, without moving it very much. This wristband, developed by Meta's researchers, might just make that real. The team recently published a study on a new wrist-worn device that turns the slightest muscle twitches into commands that a computer can understand. The 'neuromotor wristband' is designed to capture the intention behind the movement, even if the user's hand isn't touching a screen or surface. It can detect and decode electrical signals produced by forearm muscles using artificial intelligence (AI). In a video demonstration, a user writes the words 'hello world' in mid-air, and a visualisation of the corresponding text appears alongside. Meta also showed how people can move a cursor around a screen and play games using only finger taps or tiny hand motions. "It really is a somewhat breathtaking set of discoveries we have here,' Thomas Reardon, vice president of research at Meta Reality Labs, said in a company-provided video explanation. How does it work? Most brain machine interfaces available today require surgery. Meanwhile, the electrodes in the wristband pick up signals sent from the brain to the muscles, instead of putting the sensors directly in the brain by drilling into the skull. 'We decided to take a different approach and record from the natural output of the brain. We don't need to go into your body to listen to [it]. We can do that from the side of the body," Reardon said. The wrist and forearm are packed with muscles that control hand and finger movements. These neuromuscular signals are processed in real time and send commands to computers via Bluetooth. The Meta team collected training data from thousands of participants to build an AI that works for users with different movement styles. The team says the wristband will be able to help a wide spectrum of users, from individuals with disabilities to everyday users. "We took the approach of saying, how would we build something such that it just worked right out of the box with eight billion people?' Reardon said. 'This research that we're publishing demonstrates that there are some inherent, what we call scaling laws, that allow us to build a general model for really all of civilisation, such that people can put on a band and start using their brain directly,' Reardon added. 'They elect those signals from their brain in a general way to control a computer'. Patrick Kaifosh, director of research science at Meta Reality Labs, said he expects 'the technology to go a great deal farther'. 'What you've seen is these scaling curves continue as you get more people, more participants, data, it gets better and better," he added. Meta says it hopes that the study offers a blueprint to the broader scientific community 'to create neuromotor interfaces of their own,' according to a statement. It has recently released over 100 hours of muscle signal data from more than 300 participants. For more on this story, watch the video in the media player above.
Tom's Guide
21-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
New Meta prototype headsets combine goggle-like design with ultra-wide VR — and it could be a sneak peek at the Meta Quest 4
The Meta Quest 4 may not arrive until 2027, but for now, we may have seen a sneak peek of what the next VR headset is heading towards — and it comes with a mighty field of view (FOV). Researchers at Meta Reality Labs have revealed VR and MR headset prototypes offering an ultra-wide horizontal FOV of 180 degrees, with a goggle-like design that hangs over the user's face. This is a huge leap over the Meta Quest 3, which offers around a 100-degree FOV. In the report, the researchers demonstrate the VR and MR prototype headsets, comparing the views in virtual and mixed reality to those of a Meta Quest 3. The VR prototype uses "high-curvature reflective polarizers" in a custom optical design to achieve its ultra-wide field of view, while the MR headset also offers the same FOV but uses 80MP cameras at 60 frames per second (FPS). A video showcases the difference in view between virtual and mixed reality, and there's a clear distinction in what is visible. Notably, the Quest 3 is shown with a circular view of an office, with the prototype's FOV offering a wider horizontal view — now with a person in sight. You can see the difference in views in both VR and MR below. "We [developed] a pair of wide field-of-view headsets, each achieving a horizontal FOV of 180 degrees with resolution and form factor comparable to current consumer devices," the research report states. "Our prototype headsets establish a new state-of-the-art in immersive virtual and mixed reality experiences, pointing to the user benefits of wider FOVs for entertainment and telepresence applications." Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. As the report points out, humans have a horizontal field of view of around 200 degrees, so these headsets aim to bring our sight closer to what's seen in VR and MR. It also notes that other consumer VR devices offer a wide field of view, like the Pimax Crystal Super with its 140 FOV (as Road to VR points out), but "come at the cost of larger form factors, limiting physical comfort and social acceptance." This would be a major upgrade for many of the best VR headsets, but it remains to be seen if we'll see the features of these prototypes in action anytime soon. While the Meta Quest 4 is rumored to be delayed in favor of "Meta Celeste" smart glasses, the VR and MR headset prototypes may give us an inkling of what to expect in next-gen devices. Rumors of "Quest 4 VR goggles" have been rumbling, as per a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and with these prototypes resembling more of a goggle-like design, this may be what Meta is heading towards. Plus, with this jump in horizontal FOV allowing for further immersion into VR and MR, this could be a key upgrade for the upcoming VR headset. Still, this is only a prototype, and it's unclear whether Meta will ultimately incorporate something like this into its plans. It will be interesting to see what type of upgrades the rumored Meta Quest 4 will arrive with, but if it's a broader field of view, it will certainly be welcome. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
