Hasta La Gadget!

Insiders claim that employees are locked out, key engineers and entire teams are resigning, and it looks like Twitter Blue may end up postponed again.

Yesterday at the Snapdragon Summit, Hugo Swart, Vice President, XR Product Management, Qualcomm, unveiled the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1, a hardware platform made of three chips that will power the next-gen augmented reality glasses.

The new Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 is the latest addition to Qualcomm’s extended reality (XR) product line.

The system is made of an AR processor, located inside the right arm of the glasses, an AR co-processor located on the front in the middle, right behind the camera module, and a Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 connectivity chip located inside the left temple.

For once, Qualcomm did not integrate all the chips in a single large SoC but has split the hardware into three small packages to help OEMs deliver thin and light designs for their next-gen AR glasses.

To enable the slim form factor, the Snapdragon AR2 distributes the processing workload between the glasses and a Snapdragon-powered smartphone, PC, or other compatible host devices.

According to the chip maker, the main processor occupies a 40% smaller PCB area on glass compared to the Wireless AR Smart Viewer Reference Design powered by Snapdragon XR2.

The AR2 platform achieves a 50% boost in AI performance while consuming 50% less power than the previous generation. Qualcomm designed the AR2 to power glasses that will compute using less than 1W.

The AR processor, optimized for low motion-to-photon latency (sub-9ms), supports up to 9 cameras for scanning the environment and for the user.

The AR processor features a hardware acceleration engine for better user motion tracking and localization, and an AI accelerator to reduce latency for input interactions such as hand tracking or 6DoF. Finally, the chip manages the display output.

The AR co-processor aggregates camera and sensor data and features eye-tracking for foveated rendering, to optimize graphics rendering performance. Additionally, the computing unit delivers iris authentication.

The connectivity chip is based on Qualcomm FastConnect 7800, a connectivity system that supports Wi-Fi 7. Thanks to this tiny connectivity chip, OEMs will be able to deliver sub-2ms latency between the AR glasses and the smartphone host device. Qualcomm provides the FastConnect XR Software Suite 2.0, to help developers better control the XR data, reduce latency and jitter, and prevent interference.

Qualcomm offers the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform, an OpenXR SDK tailored to Qualcomm XR products that provides commonly needed software functions that most XR apps require.

Since Snapdragon Spaces adheres to the open-source specifications, the AR2 system of three chips could also work with a non-Snapdragon phone or mobile device. We can safely assume that Snapdragon Spaces works optimally with the most recent Snapdragon mobile devices.

History of Qualcomm XR platforms:

Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1, Qualcomm’s latest chipset for VR headsets, combines Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual reality (VR), launched on October 11, 2022, and powers the Meta Quest Pro announced at Meta Connect 2022. The XR2 Plus delivers 50% higher sustained power and 30% improved thermal performance over its predecessor.

Snapdragon XR2 5G (XR2 Gen 1) launched on December 4, 2019, an XR platform that powers, among other devices, the Lynx R-1 Mixed Reality (MR) headset, and the Wireless AR Smart Viewer reference design.

Snapdragon XR1 launched in May 2018 that powers the Lenovo ThinkReality A3 smart glasses launched at CES 2021.

Snapdragon AR2 Multi-chip Architecture for AR Glasses

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Hyundai Home, a seamless service intended to transition an owner’s home and car to the same source of clean electric power, is now on the market.

If you’re gifting an Xbox Series S or X this year, or even grabbing one for yourself, here’s a chance to get an extra Xbox Core controller for just $40. We saw the Xbox Core controllers get a more a more modest 26 percent discount back in September, but this sale matches the lowest prices we’ve seen yet. Right now the black and white versions of the official joypads are 35 percent off, and the lime green (aka electric volt) colorway is seeing a decent, 31 percent discount. Some of the special edition Core controllers are on sale too, like the shimmery lunar shift, which is $20 off. 

New Xbox consoles are going to be a popular gift this year, and an extra controller is great for local multiplayer sessions, or if you just want to have a backup on hand. The Core controllers have textured trigger buttons, custom button mapping and a 3.5 mm headset jack. They run on two AA batteries, with your first set included, and get around 40 hours of play on a charge.  

If you want a little more comfort and customization, plus a rechargeable battery, you might try one of Xbox’s Elite controllers. They’re only seeing an eight percent discount off their usual $180, but that still saves you a tidy $15. Or to shave off that pesky Bluetooth lag, Amazon also has wireless adapter Xbox controllers on sale. The controller connects via Bluetooth to any Xbox console or Windows PC, or plug in the dongle to your PC to help eliminate the latency some people experience with Bluetooth connections. The adapter also lets you connect up to eight controllers for local multiplayer gaming. 

Shop the Xbox controller sale at Amazon

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

In the latest example of what seems like daily Big Tech job cuts, Roku announced plans today to lay off around 200 employees, nearly seven percent of its workforce. The streaming company wrote in an SEC filing that it plans to cut the jobs in the US due to “economic conditions.” The company estimates it will pay between $28 and $31 million for the reductions, primarily because of severance payments, notice pay (where applicable), employee benefits contributions and related costs.

Roku says most of the layoffs will happen in Q4, with the remaining cuts expected to be “substantially complete” by the end of Q1 2023. In a statement released today, Roku said, “Taking these actions now will allow us to focus our investments on key strategic priorities to drive future growth and enhance our leadership position.”

These layoffs follow a warning from Roku in its latest quarterly results that it anticipates a year-over-year revenue decline for Q4. The company’s shares dropped almost three percent today in trading before the bell.

Big Tech job cuts have become an unfortunate trend in recent months. Roku’s layoffs follow downsizing from Meta, which laid off 11,000 employees last week; Twitter, which cut approximately 3,800 jobs earlier this month; plus Amazon and Microsoft. Although Apple has so far remained an exception, it imposed a hiring freeze expected to continue into late 2023. Likewise, Disney is reportedly freezing hiring and anticipating cuts, while Netflix laid off around 300 people back in June. Streaming-focused companies — Roku included — have faced the dual challenges of an uncertain economy and a revenue decline following a boom during the coronavirus pandemic.