Then, complete with the much-maligned (virtual) self-portrait aid and smartphone, take a photo showing the scene in the background.
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Virtual reality is the “ultimate social platform where physical differences disappear, really feeling like you’re there”, said Yaser Sheikh, head of Facebook’s Oculus Research team, here at the company’s annual developer conference F8. After shooting a few VR selfies, Schroepfer was able to upload the picture to his Facebook wall by dropping it into a virtual mailbox.
Now you can “poke” your friends in VR too.
But for the world’s largest social network, virtual reality is not limited to strapping a screen on your head to watch a presidential debate, play ping-pong or access VR porn.
“Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home”, Zuckerberg said when he announced the acquisition two years ago. The Facebook executive said he expects both virtual reality and augmented reality to become like reading glasses and that smartphones and TVs will be just things of the past. Showing off the interactive space together, despite the distance between them, the two toured through 360 photos-presented as bowling ball-sized spheres that grew into the world around them-drew drawings and even took a virtual selfie to upload directly to the Facebook News Feed. For one, Facebook commands a vast trove of data on the estimated 1.6 billion people who use the main service and the 900 million who use Messenger.Zuckerberg used the words “hope” and “optimism” in describing his vision, while shunning those who try to divide and separate. “The technology disappears and you’re simply interacting with another person”, he said. “Genuine, deeply convincing interactions, remotely”, is the goal.
“Self-righteousness isn’t very proactive: We can talk about taxes, we can talk about jobs and even immigration, but that doesn’t really put food on the table and save lives”, she said.
During the conference being held at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, April 12 (Wednesday, April 13 in Manila), Zuckerberg called out people who are against the “idea of a connected world and a global community”.
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Above: Facebook is working on capturing lifelike motions.
