Facebook to acquire CTRL-Labs

Facebook Inc. agreed to acquired CTRL-Labs, a technology startup that is building software to let people control a digital avatar using only their thoughts. The world’s largest social network is paying between $500 million and $1 billion.

The closely held four-year-old start-up, which has dozens of employees and has raised tens of millions in venture capital, uses a bracelet to measure neuron activity in a subject’s arm to determine movement that person is thinking about, even if they aren’t physically moving. That neuron activity is then translated into movement on a digital screen.

Technology like CTRL-Labs’s may someday be a crucial part of products like augmented reality glasses, where a user might want to control a computer without the need for buttons or a keyboard.

Facebook has been pushing deeper into augmented reality technology, including the development of a hands-free pair of AR glasses. In 2017, it announced a “brain-computer interface" that could someday let people turn their thoughts into actual text on a screen by monitoring signals in the brain. The CTRL-Labs technology is attempting to solve a similar problem.

Google buys Eyefluence

Google has acquired a 3-year-old-eye-tracking company for virtual and augmented reality headsets, signaling the tech giant’s interest in the immersive technologies. Eyefluence develops eye-interaction technologies to control VR and AR headsets. Eyes can instantaneously transform intent into action, enabling communication as fast as you can see.

Google released its Cardboard smartphone VR visor in mid-2014 and its Daydream View VR headset in early October. The company is also reportedly working on a high-end VR headset. The deal allows Google to put Eyefluence's technology into VR and AR products like Daydream, allowing third-party developers and publishers to use it as part of the Google's UI toolkit, said Lewis Ward, research director for gaming and VR/AR at IDC.

Functional eye-tracking is a widely desired feature in virtual reality and augmented reality, which lets digital images interact with the physical world. Eye-tracking tech would curb some of the latency and accessibility issues that keep the nascent media to a niche fan base. Google has invested heavily in VR, launching tailored software and introducing its own mobile headset earlier this month. Google has also invested directly in Magic Leap, a start-up that is also purportedly working on eye interaction technology.

Eye-tracking is a very important technology to future virtual reality headsets. Other companies in the space like SMI and Tobii have devoted efforts to using the eye as a method of signaling attention in interfaces but Eyefluence has devoted itself fully to using eye gesture cues for navigating menus and making selections.

Facebook Oculus buys Pebbles Interfaces

Facebook owned virtual reality startup Oculus has confirmed that it is acquiring Pebbles Interfaces, a computer vision and depth sensing Technology Company based in Israel. Founded in 2010, Pebbles Interfaces develops advanced motion sensors that recreate physical objects within the digital realm, irrespective of the angle or range.

It also claims to have no latency, which would be a major boost for Oculus and its Virtual Reality headset. Pebbles Interfaces has built technology that uses custom optics, sensor systems and algorithms to monitor hand movement. Over time, technology breakthroughs in sensors will unlock new human interaction methods in VR and revolutionize the way people communicate in virtual worlds.

Following a $450,000 seed round raised in 2011, Pebbles Interfaces closed a chunky $11 Million round in 2013, which included big investors such as SanDisk. In a separate announcement, Pebbles Interfaces explains why it agreed to join Oculus, saying that it is at the forefront of the shift virtual reality has made in recent times, and it will help advance our vision of building immersive experiences and revolutionizing digital human interaction.

Facebook acquired Oculus for $2 Billion in March 2014. In June 2014, Oculus acquired Carbon Design Group, a Seattle based company that helped Microsoft design the Xbox 360 Controller, Kinect motion sensing camera. Two weeks later, Oculus acquired game networking engine RakNet and swiftly made it open source. Last year, Oculus acquired Nimble VR and 13^th Lab before going to snap up computer vision startup Surreal Vision in May.