Sure, here goes:
Okay, so here’s the deal. An Italian tennis star just nabbed the Wimbledon trophy for the first time ever. Which is kinda wild, right? Being Italian and all, maybe I’ve got to pull off my own historic first. Got ideas? Hit me up in the comments. But for now, let’s stumble through some XR news highlights. Yep, doing the ol’ roundup routine once more.
This Week’s Juicy Bits
XPANCEO Becomes an XR Unicorn… or something like that
Huh, XPANCEO snagged a whopping $250M and is all set to flaunt its shiny new $1.35 billion valuation. That’s “unicorn” status for you startup geeks. I swear, I’ve been gushing about smart contact lenses since forever, so seeing XPANCEO zooming ahead with investments? Thrilling! They say something might launch in 2026. Okay, cool. But is that realistic? We’ll see. I played around with some of their prototypes back at AWE Europe. They functioned! Wow! Crossing fingers this cash pushes their wild ideas closer to reality. Kudos to Roman Axelrod and Valentyn Volkov. Dubai trip, anyone?
Oh, and Upload VR’s Indie Day!
Upload VR ran another indie showcase—no jaw-dropping surprises here, but a good platform for small XR games to shine. Like, a co-op game called Elsewhere Electric is dropping soon, plus some other nifty things that just might tickle your fancy if you’re into that sort of stuff.
Samsung’s Silent Treatment
Remember Samsung’s supposed Moohan headset? It never even got a shoutout at their Unpacked event. Like, nada. Maybe there’s more cooking behind the scenes. All those rumors might just be smoke and mirrors. Stay tuned, I guess?
Quick Hits on Meta, Canon, and Others
Meta just tossed $3.5B into Luxottica—cuz, why not? Canon’s fiddling with MR headsets again. Is it pricey? Uh, yes. Also, Viture’s flaunting new XR glasses featuring something they call "The Beast." And those Ray-Ban Meta 3 leaks? True or just cyber whispers? Time will tell.
Apple Vision Pro Rumors… Again
Every week it’s the same song and dance—rumors swirling about an Apple Vision Pro refresh. Latest chatter says maybe this year, with an M4 chip, not M5. What’s next week’s guess going to say? Who knows.
And Then There’s RealSense
Hey, remember RealSense cameras? I heard they spun out from Intel with $50M funding. Surprise!
Biggest VR LAN Party Ever?
Jeff Baz, that dude with the knack for organizing VR shindigs, you know? Nailed a massive VR LAN party—130 headsets buzzing in a warehouse. Just wow!
A Whirlwind of XR Events
Mentra hosted a mad hackathon about smartglasses. Buzz was electric all over social media. Can’t wait to see what they came up with.
Oh, tons more happened. Some new game updates and content sneak peeks. But we’ll wrap it here.
Lastly, a shoutout to my patrons backing this ride. Grateful! Oh, and here’s a charity plug—donate to the Red Cross if you can. Much love.
