Arstechnica
With billions of dollars and the fate of an entire industry on the line, Facebook’s Oculus unit has made its Rift virtual reality headset available for preorder. Retailing for $599, Rift is expected to start shipping in March, arstechnica reports. “That price will get users the headset, a head-tracking camera, an Xbox One controller, connection cables, a carrying case, and two included games,” it notes.
Slate
Slate investigates the algorithms that determine what content Facebook users see in their News Feeds. “According to a closely guarded and constantly shifting formula, Facebook’s news feed algorithm ranks [posts], in what it believes to be the precise order of how likely you are to find each post worthwhile,” it writes. “No one outside Facebook knows for sure how it does this, and no one inside the company will tell you.”
Tech Insider
Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley is super excited about a new feature that sends messages (like, say, a food recommendation) to mobile users’ lockscreens based on their current geographic location. Dubbed Pilgrim, Foursquare has been working on its underpinning technology for years. As Crowley tells Tech Insider, “Now he wants [Pilgrim] powering every other app on your phone.”
Wall Street Journal
From Facebook to Walt Disney, it seems like the entire tech and media business is betting its future on virtually reality. Unfortunately, as The Wall Street Journal reports, serious questions remain regarding the health affects of VR. “Virtual reality is grappling with questions about how it affects a user’s body and mind,” The Journal writes.
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