And All That Hype, VR Companies, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?
1994 marks the peak of what many view as the first “Big Bubble” in VR popularity. There were literally hundreds of (mostly) entrepreneurial startups taking a wild fling and what seemed to be a game-changing technology. You could strike sparks anywhere! By...
Head Mounted Displays, How-To; Teardowns; Tutorials
Here’s a much more detailed tear down of the Virtual Research VR-4 Head Mounted Display, done by one of the engineers at VR sometime in 1994. He shows us how to remove the back light inverter and the main PCB. ‘Scuse the vintage VHS EP mode recording. I...
And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?
Scenes from a typical day in the virtual world of tomorrow: You wake up and attend to your daily bathroom rituals, which unfortunately will never be replaced by any virtual reality process… Thus, after your real world morning ceremonies are completed, it’s...
And All That Hype, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?
When did we first get a clue that VR might not fully live up to its promise? The National Academy of Science’s “Committee on Virtual Reality Research and Development” roster is a non-virtual who’s-who of the VR world circa 1994. They certainly...
And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
Back when VR really had some cred, the Diaspar Virtual Reality Network hopped on the bandwagon. Imagine, if you will, a dial-up service with a feature list, every item containing the phrase “will be”, as in this feature will be available… but when?...
And All That Hype, Where Are They Now?
The somewhat short lived “Virtual Reality Systems” magazine ran an irregular column “Bitz and Bytz” subtitled “These news items are excerpts of what happened in the world of Virtual Reality during the past 12 months.” Have a...
Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies
1994 brought one of the first “lightweight” head mounted displays, the CyberEye from then San Jose based General Reality. Offered in both stereoscopic and monoscopic versions, the CyberEye featured a flip-up visor which allowed users to see keyboards and...
Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies
By 1994 the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) exhibition floor was packed with VR systems. As a potential marketplace, blood was in the water and you couldn’t tell the fish from the sharks. With a very few exceptions most of...
And All That Hype, Cybersex, VR Companies, Where Are They Now?
Apparently Cybertech didn’t anticipate Torrents and the Usenet. Anyway, “sigh-burr-sex” seemed like a slam dunk in ’94. No one seemed concerned that a machine might rub you the wrong way. Money quotes from the Cybertech Systems marketing slick:...
