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HTC is launching an all-in-one Vive headset just for China

HTC is launching an all-in-one Vive headset just for China

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HTC Vive Standalone VR headset

HTC is partnering with Qualcomm for a self-contained Vive virtual reality headset exclusive to the Chinese market. The headset, called the Vive Standalone, is billed as a “premium” device and will run apps from HTC’s Viveport platform. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 835 chip and is based on Qualcomm’s all-in-one reference design, which includes inside-out positional tracking that would put it in the company of high-end tethered headsets.

We don’t know how much the Vive Standalone will cost, its exact technical specs, how people will interact with it, or when it’s coming out. HTC will supposedly be releasing that information in the coming months, after today’s reveal at the ChinaJoy entertainment expo. It’s a separate product from the standalone HTC Google Daydream headset that was announced this spring, although its silhouette looks very similar to that of the Vive standalone Daydream headset. The biggest difference may simply be that unlike Daydream, it’s not reliant on the Google Play Store, which is only sporadically available in China.

Today’s news comes soon after rumors that Oculus is partnering with Xiaomi to introduce an all-in-one headset with a China-specific model, although that headset is said to not feature positional tracking. Unlike the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive already has a significant presence in China. But a standalone headset would open up a new market of customers who don’t want to buy PCs or install dedicated tracking setups — a market that’s becoming very attractive to every VR company.

Today’s Storystream

Feed refreshed A minute ago Yes, it happened again.

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Elizabeth LopattoA minute ago
The SPAC-lash is here.

So remember the craze for SPACs, an alternative way to take a company public? The times, they have a-changed: the SPAC King of Silicon Valley, Chamath Palihapitiya, couldn’t find acquisition targets for two of his piles of cash. One of them, Social Capital Hedosophia VI, is the largest-ever SPAC.


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Richard Lawler7 minutes ago
Use every (mega) pixel.

Halide is touted as one of the best photography apps on the iPhone, and as usual, it has a new update out to help you get the most out of the best camera available on the platform — that 48-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Version 2.9.0 of Halide is live in the App Store, with quick 48MP shooting directly to HEIC or JPG and many other new features.


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Nilay Patel8 minutes ago
Speaking of CarPlay.

Dan posted about CarPlay earlier and it reminded me that wireless CarPlay has actually set Apple back in its quest to somehow take over the car market — problems with it disconnecting are the number one complaint from new car owners, according to JD Power. Something to think about as Apple continues its relentless quest to remove all the ports from our phones.

The most frequent problem reported across the industry regardless of powertrain type or brand cachet related to smartphone connectivity. Dropped connections with Apple CarPlay was the number one problem, as Android Auto complaints leveled off from last year. Further, the number of reported problems with wireless Apple CarPlay increased as well, due to the feature being offered in more cars. 


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Richard LawlerTwo hours ago
PC gamers showed up for a PlayStation hit.

NPD’s August update for videogame sales has arrived, noting that PS5 was number one in hardware sales for the month and that new-gen hardware sales are up significantly from last year due to improved supply for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S.

But the most astounding leap came from Marvel’s Spider-Man, which jumped from 84th on the chart the month before to number 3, thanks to Sony re-releasing the PlayStation exclusive on PC via Steam (and Steam Deck).


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Dan SeifertTwo hours ago
Apple’s CarPlay is still frustratingly basic.

Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels has blogged about the frustrations he’s had migrating to a new iPhone and not having his CarPlay preferences carry over, despite every other app on his phone copying over correctly.

I’m with him on that, but I’m more annoyed by the second point he highlights: CarPlay still treats every vehicle you connect to as a different thing. Instead of preserving your preferences when you plug in to a different car, it makes you set it all up again for each new vehicle. This is annoying for families with more than one car; it’s downright maddening for frequent users of rental cars. Seems like a simple thing to fix!


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Richard Lawler12:49 PM UTC
Adnan is out.

Yesterday, a Baltimore City Circuit judge overturned the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, setting him free — for the moment — after serving 23 years in a case documented by the podcast Serial. This morning, host Sarah Koenig released Serial’s first new episode in seven years.

It’s Baltimore, 2022. Adnan Syed has spent the last 23 years incarcerated, serving a life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee, a crime he says he didn’t commit. He has exhausted every legal avenue for relief, including a petition to the United States Supreme Court. But then, a prosecutor in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office stumbled upon two handwritten notes in Adnan’s case file, and that changed everything.


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James Vincent11:48 AM UTC
For every living human there are 2.5 million ants, say scientists, unprompted.

I honestly don’t know what to do with this information, which comes via The Washington Post. This is just one guy’s opinion, but it seems like an awful lot of ants. Like God accidentally maxed out the ant-slider or spilled a bag of “Oops! All ants!” into the biosphere during Creation. What I need is a lie down and to not think about the millions — sorry, 20 quadrillion — of ants out there.


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Thomas Ricker9:01 AM UTC
Pixel Watch to start at $349.99?

9to5Google reports that the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi model of the Pixel Watch will start at $349.99, after having previously reported the cellular model will cost $399.99. That puts them above Samsung’s $279.99 Galaxy Watch 5 and closer to what Apple charges (starting at $399 for the Series 8). We’ll know for sure come October 6th.


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Nilay Patel3:25 AM UTC
“Obviously Peacock sucks.”

Kim Masters has a good piece on Warner Brothers Discovery looking for a new DC studio chief, with rampant speculation that the endgame is Comcast buying the whole thing in 2024 to beef up Peacock.

Many top industry execs are so convinced a deal will happen that some are pre-mourning an event that may never happen. “People feel like it’s Comcast for sure,” says the head of one company. “It’s going to be so depressing to lose another major studio [after Disney bought Fox]. And Warners was the Tiffany studio.”


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Nathan Edwards2:30 AM UTC
How’s that eSIM-only iPhone working out for you?

In my article about Apple dropping the physical SIM on the iPhone 14, I said it was “probably fine” for people on major US carriers. I also mentioned that my iPhone 11 had a physical Verizon SIM and an eSIM from a carrier in the Netherlands. This weekend I upgraded to an iPhone 14 Pro. The Verizon SIM transferred without a hitch. The other one? Not so much. Guess it’s time to admit to myself that I’m never moving back to Amsterdam.


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Mitchell Clark1:50 AM UTC
More testimony on how working at Tesla is a nightmare for women.

Rolling Stone interviewed five women involved in the several sexual harassment lawsuits against the automaker.

Hearing them describe how they were treated, and how Tesla failed to defend them (and sometimes actively punished them) is difficult.


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Nilay Patel1:36 AM UTC
Amazon says streaming Thursday Night Football was a huge success.

The official Nielsen numbers aren’t in, but a memo from Amazon’s Jay Marine says the game was “the most watched night of primetime in the U.S. in the history of Prime Video” and he expects the company exceeded the 12.5 million viewers it promised advertisers.

Amazon can’t go five minutes without pushing an unverifiable and unquantifiable statistic, so Marine also claimed the game was “the biggest three hours for U.S. Prime sign ups ever in the history of Amazon — including Prime Day, Cyber Monday and Black Friday.” Truly the emptiest of data points from the people who run Next Gen Stats Powered By AWS.