Alright, here we go. So you know how Italy just scored its first-ever Wimbledon win? Well, that got me thinking. I’m Italian, after all, and I thought, "What groundbreaking thing can I do?" Drop your genius ideas in the comments! But for now, let’s steer back to familiar territory—here’s my take on this week’s big XR happenings. Again. Because why not?
News that kinda shook the week
Alright, first off, XPANCEO. This Dubai-based whiz company just raked in $250M for its smart contact lenses project. So now, it’s a "unicorn." Why a unicorn? No clue. Startup jargon, I guess. The cool part? They gave me a peek into their lab sometime back, showing off these wild prototypes. Tried a couple at AWE Europe and yep, they work. Fingers crossed they hit the market. Maybe not for everyone, but diabetes folks might find some life-changing stuff here. Big cheers to the XPANCEO team—Roman and Valentyn, you legends! Dubai trip someday, anyone?
Other stuff that tickled my brain
Moving on, Upload VR’s Summer Showcase 2025—not packed with mind-blowers, but some indie gems definitely surfaced. Can’t cover all, that’s what the "more info" links are for, trust me. Quick highlights though:
- Elsewhere Electric is dropping July 23rd. Co-op game shenanigans on Quest and Steam.
- Reach has a snazzy trailer out. Mark your calendars.
- Virtual Skate and hand-foot coordination in VR, August 21st is the date.
- Fixer Undercover channels MacGyver vibes—prison, puzzles, the works.
- How To God—ever fancied being a deity? Beta is trickling out this month.
And oh, Samsung decided to keep their Project Moohan hush-hush at Unpacked. Speculations run wild—must be tweaking it, or they have a flair for mysterious hype-building. Who knows?
A few more blips and bloops
- Meta sank $3.5B into Luxottica. That’s big bucks to buddy up over glasses.
- Canon’s MR headset—apparently, an enterprise headset priced at insanity levels is coming.
- New Ray-Ban Meta 3 renders leaked? Aperol and Bellini models going public soon, or so the buzz goes.
On the brightened horizons, the rumor mill is heavy with Apple’s Vision Pro refresh—coming when, with what magic chipset? Your guess is as good as mine till the next rumor drop.
Miscellaneous bits and pieces
- RealSense is back—from Intel’s past, now standalone and $50M richer.
- And some dude, Jeff Baz—mad props, did a 130-headset VR LAN gig. Imagine the chaos, in a good way. Hats off, Jeff.
- Mentra’s hackathon stirred up quite the crowd over smartglasses OS ideas. Bring on the creativity!
Content carnival
- Quest’s getting a tactical mixed reality bash with Table Troopers real soon.
- Grit and Valor – 1949: history meets VR. Count me intrigued.
- BuildPort Xumia: spaceship crafting meets deal alert—down from $10 to $6.
- And if horror’s your jam, BlackGate is on pre-order—get ready for spooky asymmetric fun in October.
Last but not least, for the gamers, Prison Boss Prohibition is hilarious. Co-op chaos with minor tracking tantrums.
Alright, enough yammering. To those who donate for good causes, like helping Ukraine through the Red Cross—you rock, honestly. Link’s down there if you feel generous.
Stay quirky, folks. Cheers!
