Meta Announces Oculus v34 Horizon Update

The firm revealed updates to its virtual workspaces platform after rebranding as a Metaverse company

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Meta Announces First Update for Horizon as Part of Oculus v34 Roll-Out
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Published: November 4, 2021

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Rory Greener

US tech giant Meta announced updates this week to its recently released Horizon Workrooms virtual reality (VR) collaboration app for the Oculus Quest.

The announcement marks the first time Meta has updated its collaboration platform since its beta release in August, and comes days after the Menlo Park-based firm rebranded in late October.

The update includes improved whiteboard navigation where users can resize images by flipping their controller or alternatively, use handtracking.

In addition, the new ‘instant remote desktop connection’ feature means users can seamlessly connect to their personal computer in immersive Horizon environments.

The Menlo Park-based firm is adding further support for its remote desktop features by now officially supporting Apple M1 computers.

Meta has also improved augmented reality (AR) integration by boosting the accuracy of its Passthrough API when tracking real-world keyboards.

New Features for Oculus Version 34

Meta plans to update the entire Oculus operation system along with the v34 rollout will begin this week to improve overall accessibility on Quest devices.

In Oculus v34, Meta is improving voice commands for everyday tasks such as navigating media in Oculus TV or even checking the weather.

Back in May, V29 enabled iOS users to see their phone notifications inside a Quest headset, and the v34 version will allow Android users to receive the same accurate notifications in VR.

Further improvements include Space Sense, a mixed reality (MR) feature that improves Oculus’ guardian system with a virtual boundary to detect objects in a user’s play area and provide a safe VR experience, where the update accurately detects whether people or objects intrude into a play space.

Meta claims that Space Sense is a work in progress and more updates will come, but users can enable it under the Experimental Features tab in the Oculus system settings menu.

Mixed Reality on Quest

Back in July, Meta introduced its Passthrough API Experimental, providing developers the opportunity to create MR experiences using Oculus Quest hardware and software.

MR development for Quest headsets was initially experimental and not intended for general release, but as part of Oculus’ v34 update announcement, the firm revealed it would allow developers to publish MR applications onto the Quest and App Lab storefronts.

At the Facebook Connect event in late October, Meta introduced the Presence Platform, an ecosystem of MR software development kits intended to facilitate safe and seamless immersive experiences.

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