Amazon job listing indicates a 3D VR video platform is on the way

By Gabe Carey March 8, 2016

amazon vr instant video platform year in review prime

Thanks to an Amazon job listing on GlassDoor, it’s now apparent that the Seattle-based e-commerce company is working on its own virtual reality platform.

This news stems from UploadVR, which originally noticed and reported on a senior software development manager position focused on virtual reality. Although the job posting opts to omit some crucial details, it does indicate that whatever Amazon has in store will emphasize “building the virtual reality experience within Amazon Video.”

Moreover, the listing adds that the company is planning on making “an ingestion and playback platform for virtual reality experiences,” meaning Amazon could effectively be working on a platform akin to Milk VR. With Netflix having already released its own Gear VR app and Hulu’s on its way, it makes sense that Amazon’s Prime Video service would make its way to a 360-degree format.

“The future will not be limited to passive 2D experiences,” the job posting continues. From that, we can infer that Amazon’s platform will exist in three dimensions, allowing it a clearcut advantage over competitors Netflix and Hulu.

It’s worth noting that Amazon Prime Instant video, like Hulu, is not yet available in North America outside of the United States. Historically speaking, Canada typically gets Amazon’s services much later than in the U.S., or sometimes not at all.

Google, too, is apparently working on some VR tech of its own, a unit with “solid plastic casing” in the spirit of Samsung’s Gear VR. Previously, the Alphabet subsidiary had released only an affordable entry-level HMD, appropriately named Google Cardboard, though it’s clearly time to offer up something a bit more sophisticated to align with the rest of the market.

Nevertheless, seeing yet another company as high-profile as Amazon enter the VR space presents a promising case for the emerging technology. It will be interesting to see how Prime Instant video compares to the efforts of its competitors.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A freelancer for Digital Trends, Gabe Carey has been covering the intersection of video games and technology since he was 16…

Photography

Meet the Samsung 360 Round, a pro-level 360 with 3D and impressive live-streams

Samsung 360 Round

Samsung’s newest 360 camera makes the popular consumer Gear 360 look a bit like a toy — The Samsung 360 Round uses 17 lenses to shoot 360 videos, and unlike the Gear 360, captures in 3D as a pro-level virtual reality camera. Officially announced on October 19 during the Samsung Developer Conference 2017, Samsung is touting the 360 Round as a “superior” virtual reality experience for professionals and enthusiasts.

The 360 Round uses eight stereo pairs of f/1.8 lenses — these stereo lenses are positioned with an intentional offset like the human eye to capture the scene in 3D. Along with the eight pairs around the edge of the 360 Round, the camera uses one more at the top to create the complete 360-degree view. Six internal microphones help capture immersive audio, which can also be aided with external microphones through two ports.

Social Media

VR objects are coming to your Facebook news feed with ‘3D posts’

Facebook 3D posts

Interactive 3D objects will be coming natively to your Facebook feed in the near future in the form of "3D posts," according to Facebook's head of social VR, Rachel Franklin. Facebook's entry into VR with the purchase of Oculus Rift several years ago seemed like an odd move to some for a social media company, but that forward-looking stance on how technology will bring us together is starting to pay off in interesting ways. The feature was announced during the Oculus Connect 4 keynote address on Wednesday, October 11.
Soon users will be able to create objects in Medium or Spaces, and then share them to their News Feed. Friends will be able to look at the objects from different perspectives and even interact with them. In the demonstration, viewers could slide open and closed the door of a little van in the post. Facebook is currently developing an API that will open that post type up to third-party software as well. VR users will also be able to easily take objects shared on their News Feed and bring them right into their Spaces.
https://twitter.com/OculusMedium/status/918179591235211264

The Facebook News Feed launched at first as a platform solely for text. In the subsequent decade it has expanded to include pictures, video, and most recently live, 360-degree feeds. Adding this new category of shareable content is potentially another major expansion to the site's utility as a connective tissue between disparate platforms.

Gaming

Forget the Virtual Boy, the VR64 is the most retro 3D-gaming headset ever

Commodore 64

As a shining example of nerdy perseverance and dedication to a truly retro technology, YouTube user 64Jim64 has made a virtual reality headset that is compatible with the Commodore 64. Better than that though, he coded his own compatible game, Street Defender, letting him do some old-school eight-bit gaming on a contemporary VR headset.

Although virtual reality might be most commonly enjoyed on consumer headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, there are a lot of different headsets out there now and some give you access to unique game libraries. In the case of the VR64 though, there is just one game and it is exclusive to the only headset in the world that supports it: 64Jim64's homemade VR64.