Researchers and autistic artists are exploring immersive visuals to study and simulate autism traits

At this early stage, virtual reality is basically a cool new high-tech toy. But researchers are discovering it can confer real-world benefits, including reducing pain and boosting creativity. A new study examines a particularly promising use for the immersive technology: increasing empathy. It finds that, compared to traditional approaches, using VR to experience the precarious life of a homeless person creates more, and longer-lasting, understanding and compassion for that often-ignored population.

In an industry marred by its lack of self-awareness, one project is creating a more inclusive vision of the world. By Cecilia Keating.

As workplace technology continues to improve, read how artificial intelligence, smart data and the gig economy will continue to transform the future of work.

If you walk in on someone exercising with with a VR headset on on, they might look pretty ridiculous. Perhaps you’d silently judge them for what might seem like random, awkward movements. If this describes you, a study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise may make you regret that snap judgment: The findings suggest that VR can actually play a powerful role in exercise performance, helping people push through physical discomfort.

After years of speculation, some mockery, and more than a little befuddlement, the Magic Leap augmented headset is arriving in the hands of developers and users — and its first product is a somewhat janky piece of magic.

Opportunity is the biggest currency for the successful Amazon Sellers worth their salt. Read out to grab more opportunities now....

From filmmaker Steven Spielberg comes the science fiction action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, which has become a worldwide phenomenon. The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world.

Each diner, each person has their own setting is completely 3D projection mapped and it looks like the chef is right there on the table making the food for them.

Someone at Oculus screwed up pretty badly today: An expired certificate appears to have soft-bricked all of the company's Rift VR headsets.

A new VR app lets you explore worlds with surprising depth and detail.

HTC announced today that the Vive Pro HMD, with an increased resolution of 2880x1600 and built-in headphones, will cost $799, the same price the Vive launched for in 2016. Pre-orders begin today, and shipping of the new headset will begin on April 5. Orders received before June 3 will include a six-month trial for Viveport, which gives you five games of your choice every month.

I was fortunate enough to catch a preview screening of Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s futuristic novel. It blew me away. What really caught my attention wasn’t just the awesome references to 1980s pop culture, or the mind-blowing set pieces. It was also the sub-text of the philosophical and cultural impact of gaming and related technologies.

Google recently pushed out Chrome 66, the latest update to the company’s web browser. Unbeknownst to the VR community, Google also quietly included WebVR integration for OpenVR-compatible headsets including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets.

Online classes are convenient, but they don't feel like college. The Rumii app could fix that.

Using nanostructures on a flat piece of glass can make lenses smaller, lighter and much cheaper – while providing better image quality.

The Smithsonian teams with Intel to virtualize Burning Man art.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to stand on an alien planet, NASA has you covered.

The media industry has long waited for virtual reality to live up to its potential. PwC projects it may finally be happening.

The question at the heart of this gamble is: are people really going to hang out in virtual reality?

Fay Nugent developed a fear of heights in her 30s. "It began after I went on a girls' weekend away," she says. "We had gone on an adventure activity called a tree-top walk. "I managed to climb up to do it - but then when it came to stepping out on to the high ropes, I just couldn't do it. "I felt physically ill and panicked, even though I knew I was perfectly safe."

We humans are deeply social creatures. We live our lives in the company of others: we work together, eat together, play together, and sleep together. Yet, for some of us, interacting with other people can really be “hell.” The prospect of talking with a stranger, ordering food in a restaurant, or speaking up in a work meeting, can, for some people, be an incredibly daunting and fear-provoking experience. This is very much the case for sufferers of “social anxiety disorder.”

Chinese drug rehab centers are using VR eye tracking to determine whether or not addicts are receptive to treatment.

About 65% of patients with schizophrenia experience verbal auditory hallucinations, which are characterized by harsh voices that emanate from body-less “others.” Usually, these “others” fit a common profile – they're domineering, derogatory and unremittingly hostile, making an already-burdensome condition even more painful for those who suffer from it.

Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida is confident that issues with current VR headsets will be improved upon in the future. Speaking to The Independent at the IFA technology conference in Berlin last week, Yoshida outlined many of the common problems with early VR headsets like the company’s own PlayStation VR (PSVR), noting that the tech was “still evolving” at the moment.

We’re excited to usher in the next era of VR gaming with the introduction of Oculus Quest, our first all-in-one VR gaming system. Oculus Quest will launch in Spring 2019 for $399 USD. Offering six degrees of freedom and Touch controllers, Oculus Quest makes it easy to jump right into the action—with no PC, no wires, and no external sensors. We have over 50 titles lined up for launch, with even more in the works including some of your favorite Rift games like Robo Recall, The Climb, and Moss.

Sometimes everybody wants to escape the complex world and go to another virtual world

In Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, humanity escapes a gritty dystopia by donning VR goggles and entering a virtual world called OASIS. Back here in a comparatively rosy 2013, we don’t have a fully immersive virtual experience—yet. But virtual reality is undergoing a renaissance. And while Oculus develops a consumer-ready virtual reality headset, Second Life creator, Philip Rosedale, and his latest startup, High Fidelity, are hard at work constructing a next-generation global virtual world.

In May 2012, a programmer named John Carmack tweeted a picture of what looked like steampunk bifocals made out of a black shoebox. “This is a lot cooler than it looks,” read the caption. He was right. Since then, that awkward contraption—now more streamlined, and known as the Oculus Rift—has become the most anticipated new product in gaming since the Nintendo Wii got people off the couch.

Virtual reality has a come a long way since the 1990s, the heady days of Lawnmower Man and epic battles with evil triangles and squares. But with the arrival of the Oculus Rift headset, VR is poised to change the way we play, work and learn. That may sound like hyperbole, but I assure you that it's entirely justified.

It's been a week and I still can't get my experience with the latest Oculus Rift prototype at CES 2014 out of my mind. The Oculus Rift, which made its debut at CES 2013 and then further enchanted reporters at E3 2013, is undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of technology I've ever seen.

Very soon, advances in neuroscience and technology are going to allow us to create virtual experiences that are far more fun and meaningful than real-world experiences—what happens then?

Virtual Reality is coming. As in, actual, good, user-friendly virtual reality. The stuff sci-fi has promised us for decades. Don’t take my word for it...

The most exciting aspect of contemporary virtual reality is its implications. Even using Oculus VR's early duct taped-prototype, most users immediately

We've figured out what affordable VR hardware will be capable of within a couple of years, and assembled a prototype that reveals that that level of VR hardware is capable of stunning VR experiences. That hardware is almost certainly going to appear in that timeframe, and it will be worth starting to develop for it now. This talk will discuss what that hardware is, and what it makes possible.