Skip to main content

You can now high-five in VR

An update to the Meta Quest VR headset is allowing improved hand gestures, which includes both clapping and high-fiving in VR.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg has often painted a vision of an immersive metaverse, where people could interact almost as if they would in real life. Meta’s ambitions are one step closer, as the company showed off enhanced hand tracking support for its Quest VR headset. They attempt to provide much more natural motions to make virtual interactions less awkward.

Object and Clapping

The company detailed the update in a blog post on its Oculus developer page:

Recommended Videos

“Today, we’re unlocking major improvements to our Hand Tracking API, Presence Platform’s hand tracking capability—including step-change improvements in tracking continuity, gesture support, movement, and performance. This update also allows fast and overlapping hand movements, enables clapping and other hand-over-hand interactions, and opens up nearly endless object manipulation possibilities.”

Meta attributes these improvements to a developing a new machine learning method to better understand hand movements, particularly when the hand is occluded (blocked) or moving quickly. Meta says this opens up the use of the hands for apps that require more robust and complex tracking.

Developers who have already built-in hand tracking using Presence Platform simply need to add a single element in the Android Manifest file <meta-data android:name=”com.oculus.handtracking.version” android:value=”V2.0″/>. This allows devs to use the same API calls as before, but with the added benefit of better performance and tracking. Meanwhile, those using Unity or Unreal Engine will have to wait for further configuration details.

Fast Waving

This upgrade could change how interactions are done in a fully virtual space and open up the door to controller-less VR. You’d be able to fully use your hands and fingers as you would in real life (for the most part) and interact with virtual objects and people more naturally.

If anything, this fulfills Microsoft’s original dream for the Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The Kinect was marketed to be “controller-free gaming” and allowed players to move more naturally. It was supposed to be an easier alternative to the Nintendo Wii, which used the motion-controlled Wii-mote for imitating gestures.

This hand tracking update dovetails nicely with rumors that Meta will be releasing a “Quest 2 Pro” later this year. The updated headset will reportedly include upgraded 2160 x 2160 mini-LED displays and facial recognition.

David Matthews
David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…
The delay is over — you can now generate images with ChatGPT for free
OpenAI ChatGPT image

After an explosive launch, a viral trend, and some melted GPUs, the new image generation feature for ChatGPT is now available to free users. The feature originally launched on March 25 but because paid subscribers utterly flooded OpenAI with requests for Ghiblified images, CEO Sam Altman announced the next day that the rollout to free users would be delayed "a while."

Luckily, it appears this delay is over just five days later -- Altman has already published another X post saying that "image gen [is] now rolled out to all free users!"

Read more
I turned a mossy tree into a 3D world and walked inside with my Quest 3
Alan Truly captures a 3D scan of a forest scene to view later in VR.

I live in a heavily forested area, so I don’t have to travel far to enjoy an early spring walk through the woods. I’m always seeking new ways to capture the essence of the experience. Photos are great and videos can record even more of a beautiful location, but it’s not quite the same as being there. I want to relive that moment, particularly when the weather makes going out more challenging.

Fortunately, technology keeps opening up new opportunities, like turning a real location or tangible object into a 3D world or digital twin I can visit from home. My latest experiments let me scan a lush mossy patch beside a tree with an eye-catching arched root. With my Quest 3 or Quest 3S VR headset, anyone can find and walk around that spot again. It’s almost like taking a piece of the forest inside. This is the kind of metaverse I’d like to see more of.

Read more
You can now have secret chats with Google’s Gemini in incognito mode
Launching Gemini Deep Research query on Chrome desktop.

You can now have a quick chat with Gemini on your web browser without having to sign in first. And, to speed up the process, the Gemini website even takes you directly to the chat window instead of showing you a landing page first.

This move, spotted by 9To5Google, is pretty smart as it allows unconvinced users to try out the product with no strings attached. With any luck, they'll enjoy the experience and decide to sign up to get access to more of the features.

Read more