Blog: oculus rift

In the tradition of effective storytelling, the technology industry’s romantic narrative often involves two basic troupes: a garage and a dream. This alluring chronology is so embedded in start-up folklore that it permeates the foundation myths of everyone from Apple to Google, and it actually pre-dates Silicon Valley.

As the world’s largest e-commerce retailer increasingly flexing its content muscle, following a notable presence at the Golden Globes, Amazon has announced it is hiring a ‘Creative Director of Virtual Reality’.

Sony’s entry into the VR market came with a lot of hype and it was easy to see why. Initially developed under the codename ‘Project Morpheus’, it arrived with brand recognition (Playstation), high-profile gaming IP content (Resident Evil), and a lower price tag than both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Snap Inc, the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, have hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for a seemingly imminent IPO. In addition to being one of the first app generation unicorns (alongside Spotify and Uber) to go public, the company is doing so at a time when fellow social media giant Twitter is in the process of selling itself, having seemingly been stalled by acquisition discussions with Disney, Google and Salesforce.

Four years after its near-mythical Kickstarter campaign introduced the name Oculus Rift into the consciousness of virtual reality believers worldwide, the headset finally launches in the UK this week. Arguably the poster-child product for VR’s renaissance since its company’s acquisition by Facebook in 2014, its arrival feels more belated than triumphant – and is marked by serious questions over its ability to draw consumers beyond the die-hard gaming contingent.

Up until now, the on going ad blocker discussion was confined to the web rather than apps. But now an upcoming VPN based adblocker Been Choice promises to block ads in native apps like Facebook or Apple News.