Picture for illustrative purposes only. ARCHIVE

Meta unveiled a high-end virtual reality headset on Tuesday, designed for work and play in the metaverse. The $1,500 Meta Quest Pro headset features high-resolution sensors that allow people to see mixed virtual and augmented reality in full color, as well as eye tracking and "natural facial expressions" that mimic the wearer's facial movements, making their avatars appear natural when interacting with other avatars in virtual-reality environments. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is amid a corporate transformation it estimates will take years to complete. It aspires to grow from a provider of social platforms to a dominant power in a developing virtual-reality construct called the metaverse — the internet brought to life. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described the metaverse as an immersive virtual environment that people can virtually "enter" rather than just view on a screen. The company is investing billions in metaverse plans that will take years to pay off. VR headsets are already popular with some gamers, but Meta knows that won't be enough to make the metaverse mainstream. As such, it's setting office — and home office — workers in its sights. "Meta is positioning the new Meta Quest Pro headset as an alternative to using a laptop," said Rolf Illenberger, founder and managing director of VRdirect, which builds VR environments for businesses. Meta also announced that its metaverse avatars would soon have legs, a crucial detail missing since the avatars' debut last year. BKM/ Expat Media
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