WebXR Brings Hand Tracking to the Quest
Facebook released a new version of the Oculus Browser with support for WebXR, including the experimental hands API. This quickly led to a variety of public demos and then a contribution to the Three.js source code. One of the subdued but still important releases was an experimental implementation of WebXR Layers which enables a raft of performance and visual fidelity improvements.
WebXR Device API Nearing Recommendation Status
Publication of the latest draft of the core WebXR spec is one of the final steps before becoming a standard. This version includes many changes based on feedback from the W3C Technical Advisory Group, comments from the wider web community, and tweaks based on lessons learned from early deployments in a variety of browsers. This step also smooths the path to standardization for modules including the above-mentioned hands and layer APIs.
Cryptovoxels Grid Server is Live
What started in 2018 as a friends-only experiment to use the Ethereum blockchain for digital space ownership has launched this week as a multi-user immersive web space with user-contributed scripting and a distinct visual aesthetic.
Servo Rendering into Unity
The Mozilla Reality team took the idea of their previous work to export Unity projects to WebXR and flipped it inside out, this time bringing their Servo web engine into native Unity apps. Game authors can now include dynamic web content in their native apps to bridge the gap between static art and the open web. The immersive web is permeable!