The US is behind other democracies which have required photo id for social media and other content. And even if I disagree with these laws, surely you jest that showing a proof of age is not the same thing as surveilling and scoring.
It's standard for gaming with a regular screen. Not having VR controllers is a huge detriment for VR gaming. Yes there are some games which can work just using hands, but most existing VR titles will not work, and any titles developed for it will lack input complexity of ones which do support it.
>not to sound rude, but that's a bit of a stretch.
Not to me. I've spent several thousand hours in VR. When it comes to watching a video with someone else online, the most immersive way is in VR. Things like the now defunct Rabb.it or Watch Together are for many technical reasons better (no screen door, don't need any bulky headset). But it doesn't feel like being there with your friend.
>Difference is proprioception enables you to feel limbs that are actually there, which is not as good as tricking your brain to feel something that it's not there.
I've witnessed dozens of people who can "feel" a virtual touch from another avatar on their avatar. VR tech from 5 years ago was good enough to already elicit such reactions. The determinant seems to me to be time spent in a sufficiently immersive virtual world. And we've had those for many years already.
But it's not a mac and gaming is the current biggest application for VR. Apple could have gone on a spending spree and built up a family of games if they were interested.
During Covid & lockdowns, loads of people watched movies together. It's not much different from watching a movie with a friend at your own place. VR gives the activity sense of presence which is hard to describe, but basically it's even more of a social experience.
Apple's largely been affordable luxury that 100's of millions buy. They're more akin to buying Starbucks over Dunk donuts. Their products usually would be in the price range of 1.3-1.5x more expensive than competitors but offering something which is uniquely good. This product is 3.5X more expensive than the next comparable device while missing key capabilities.
Meta Quest Pro has much of what the Apple device offers while providing controllers for a significantly better gaming experience for $2500 cheaper. Considering the strongest consistent use case of VR thus far has been gaming, Apple has a huge miss IMO.
> Meta looks like it just got its lunch eaten pretty thoroughly
I don't see how you can come to that conclusion. Meta's offerings looks far better in my view. Unless, I'm missing something here, Meta's Quest Pro appears to provide basically 95% of the experience for $2,500 less, while providing great controllers for gaming. All in a form factor which IMO is better (no wired hip battery).