Facebook wants to put augmented reality in your glasses

Facebook’s Oculus Rift virtual reality headset began shipping this month, but in the future the social network sees the technology shrinking to fit into a pair of glasses.

During the company’s annual F8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg presented a concept for a pair of smart glasses that he hopes we’ll all be wearing. He said he wants the smart glasses to be capable of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), something similar to Google Glass. 

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, presenting the future of VR/AR. Image source: Facebook.

“Augmented reality gives you the ability to see the world, but also deliver overlays on top of the real world,” Zuckerberg said. With augmented reality glasses, users could pull up a photo and resize it for viewing immediately in front of them, overlaid on top of the real world.

While on stage, Zuckerberg shared the social media giant’s 10-year road map. In addition to the company’s dedication to live-streaming, he detailed its thoughts on how AR and VR will affect our lives. He also showed off a video of a two-player VR game that Facebook is investigating. 

One of Facebook's VR/AR demonstrations. Image source: Facebook.

But this technology is for more than just gaming. During his presentation, he said that while his first steps were saved in a physical baby book, his children might be sharing their kids’ first steps via VR with family and friends.

During the second day of the conference, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer demonstrated a two-person VR app with a colleague back at the network’s headquarters. The virtual avatars traveled to various locations, and took a VR selfie to remember their “trip.”

Though impressive, Zuckerberg noted that “it’s going to take a long time to make this work.” And Facebook isn’t the only tech company interested in AR. Microsoft recently shipped its HoloLens headset to developers, and Snapchat is reportedly working on its own pair of AR glasses, too. 

Source: Mashable