HardwareVR HardwareExcellent news—Apple Vision Pro headsets can no longer be filled with VR spidersWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareVR HardwareExcellent news—Apple Vision Pro headsets can no longer be filled with VR spidersWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Apple)
An admission: I am not a fan of big spiders. I’m especially not a fan of big spiders right up in my face, which is why I’m glad I’ve never experienced an issue a researcher discovered with theApple Vision Proheadset—which allowed them to create a website that displayed giant animated arachnids and screeching bats in a wearers field of vision.
Ryan Pickren, master of mischief,discoveredthat Apple’s WebKit still supported an older 3D model viewing standard that allowed them to render animated objects on an Apple Vision Pro (viaFuturism). With a simple bit of code, any website could be configured to instruct visionOS Safari to treat certain links as instructions to render 3D models, displaying them on the Vision Pro’s high-resolution internal screens as if they were in the room.
Pickren also discovered that a similar technique could add spatial audio, in order to make sound effects appear as if they were coming from the animations themselves. Bully.
So what models were chosen, out of a vast array of potential options, to appear inside Apple’sallegedly strugglingVR headset? Well, spiders of course, big horrible spiders, seemingly skittering all over your desk. Slightly less horrifying (depending on your particular phobias, I imagine) was a flock of bats, which I’ve just learned can also be referred to as a"cauldron". The more you know!
Still, Pickren informed Apple of the exploit back in February, and the company appears to have addressed the issue in its JunevisionOS 1.2 update. Apple has also awarded the researcher with a bounty for finding the bug, or I suppose in this case, developing a horrifying method to force them into your VR space.
Eesh. The whole endeavour raises some interesting possibilities, however. It’s reminiscent of those old-school jump scare videos that used to plague early versions of video hosting sites (examples of which I shall not link to here). All very well, if highly heart-straining, on a 2D plane.
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But rendered right in front of your eyes, seemingly interacting with the environment around you? That seems like a new level of stress I’d previously never considered. Thanks, Ryan.
It could be worse, however. Our hardware overlord, Dave James, informs me that he no longer uses hisMeta Quest 2thanks to the discovery of a very real, very large spider inside it when attaching the headset to his face some time ago.
There you go. That possibility is in my brain now, and thanks to this article, yours too. Enjoy your next VR session!
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
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Meta could take a step back from designing VR headsets and lend other companies access to its Horizon OS instead
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The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April
Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans
The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements
Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot
Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene
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