Spatial Realities (english)

About Spatial Realities (english)

Understand the next computing revolution! Spatial Realities is your update on everything related to Extended Reality (XR), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Spatial Computing, and the Metaverse. Tech Journalist Thomas Riedel, together with co-hosts and guests, takes you behind the scenes of major platforms (Apple, Meta, Google, Samsung, HTC Vive, Snap, and more). We discuss trends such as AI glasses, Generative AI, or Gaussian Splatting, and highlight developments that matter to both the B2B industry and gaming enthusiasts. Our topics at a glance: 🚀 Strategy & News: Current developments surrounding visionOS, HorizonOS, Android XR, SnapOS, OpenXR, and much more. 🛠 Industry Insights: How companies are already utilizing XR for training, design, and collaboration today. 🌐 Open Standards: What organizations like the Metaverse Standards Forum and the Alliance for Open USD are doing and why it matters. 🧠 UX & Design: What defines a truly great immersive experience? From ethical questions to hardware analysis: We draw a comprehensive picture of the XR industry. Subscribe to Spatial Realities for deep dives and relevant news from the world of spatial computers. 📝 Note regarding release schedule: This feed focuses on select English-language interviews and specials. Updates here may be less frequent. Do you speak German? Check out our main feed "Spatial Realities (Deutsch)" for weekly updates and over 120 episodes covering the entire XR landscape.

Publisher

Thomas Riedel

Category

news · news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Aug 2023

Latest episode

29 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

23 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Oct 2026

   E139 - Smart Glasses Momentum vs. VR Plateau: Samsung Leaks, Alibaba Eye-Tracking, OpenXR Containers and Ironman with Specs

   Like in the old days: This is an atmospheric solo episode with Thomas Riedel. The News: - Samsung Smart Glasses Design Leak - Google adds Android XR glasses connections to phones through Play services - Smart Glasses with Eyetracking? - Third-quarter revenue numbers from EssilorLuxottica and Meta: Quest down, Smart Glasses up - Korea cross-ministry conter measurements against illegal recording with Smart Glases - Meta Smart Glasses recorded unknowingly - AltspaceVR is back! - Native Facetracking support in VRChat - OpenXR offers Apple-Like cross-plattform spatial multitasking API - Robert Downy Junior as Ambassador for Specs

2. 

   8 Oct 2026

   E137 - Draymond Green’s 180° Doc, Meta VR Glasses FOV Drama, Samsung Smart Glasses & TDK’s Retinal Projection

   WATCHING FILMS IN VR: DRAYMOND GREEN & IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING Thomas Riedel and Thomas Bedenk checked out Meta Quest’s new docuseries Open Season featuring NBA bad boy Draymond Green, and they’re definitely digging the 180-degree stereoscopic setup shot on Blackmagic Ursa cams. You genuinely feel like you're riding shotgun in his Porsche, but whether this kind of expensive, subsidized storytelling will ever turn a real profit remains a big question mark. FOV DRAMA: THE NEW META VR GLASSES VR enthusiasts are already whining about the rumored 70-degree field of view and Meta’s 54-degree dev safe zone, but the hosts aren't sweating it. Sure, following a fast-moving ball in sports might suck with a narrower view, but paired with crisp OLEDs, it’s more than enough screen real estate to chill on the couch and binge movies. HARDWARE LEAKS: SAMSUNG'S INCOMING SMART GLASSES Spotted FCC filings hint that Samsung is finally getting ready to drop its own displayless AI glasses, teaming up with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster for a bunch of frame styles. As an Android fanboy, Thomas is hyped to get proper ecosystem integration and give Meta some much-needed competition in the wearable game. LASERS TO THE EYE: TDK’S DIRECT RETINAL PROJECTION TDK showed off a wild new setup that bounces lasers straight onto your retina via meta-optic mirrors, neatly killing the annoying vergence-accommodation conflict. It could pave the way for super slim, normal-looking frames, but with monochrome green visuals and the nightmare of needing pinpoint eye tracking, it’s not taking over the world just yet.

3. 

   24 Sept 2026

   Special - Meta Connect 2026 - All about Muse, Glasses and the Puck

   Is Meta serious about confidential VMs for Muse? Is Charm targeted at kids? Are Meta VR Glasses the best VR glasses yet? In this episode Thomas and Thomas are discussing Meta Connect revelations of 2026! PARTNER OF THE EPISODE: https://immersive-x.de Five years after the metaverse hype, we find ourselves in an era defined by smart glasses and compute pucks. That is the central takeaway from this Meta Connect special of Spatial Realities, where Thomas Bedenk and I sat down right after the keynote to analyze Meta’s latest announcements and what they mean for the XR landscape. The clear centerpiece of Meta's strategy is AI, spearheaded by Meta Muse—an autonomous agent running in private virtual machines designed to plan, purchase, and manage everyday digital life. Alongside Muse came an unexpected hardware companion: the Muse Charm. Shaped like a Tamagotchi with a display, camera, and 5G connectivity, it strips the assistant down into a standalone, approachable physical token. But while it feels accessible, it also raises immediate questions about target audiences, privacy boundaries, and how comfortable we truly are handing over our digital routines to an AI ecosystem. On the glasses front, Meta expanded its hardware lineup across multiple tiers. Most notable is the move into pure audio glasses without cameras, trading optical data capture for privacy-conscious users, lighter weight, and extended battery life. Meanwhile, the flagship Ray-Ban Meta line received a Gen 3 upgrade featuring slimmer frames, improved battery life, six microphones, and Dolby Atmos spatial audio capture, accompanied by new frame styles and software-driven hearing corrections. The most discussed hardware of the night, however, was the new Meta VR glasses. Positioned with the tri-part marketing pitch "cinema, computer, console," the device weighs roughly 100 grams on the face by offloading its processing and battery into a wired pocket puck. With micro-OLED displays running at 120 Hz, downward-facing cameras for hand tracking, and integrated eye tracking, Meta aims to deliver a high-clarity spatial viewer rather than an ultra-wide FOV headset. It serves as a spiritual successor to the Quest Pro line, sacrificing peripheral immersion for portability, high PPD sharpness, and lighter wear. At $1,299, the VR glasses mark a distinct shift toward portable media consumption and lightweight computing. Yet, as we examine in our discussion, Meta’s recurring bottleneck remains unchanged: while hardware form factors are shrinking into practical devices, the ecosystem still lacks dedicated, mature productivity software to turn spatial computing into an indispensable everyday tool.

Podcast Authority Score: 4 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

7

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0