TMCnet News
Oculus goggles get hot competition on eBay [The Orange County Register :: ](Orange County Register (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) April 02--The value of Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles on eBay has risen since Facebook announced it was buying Oculus VR, the Irvine maker of the gaming gadget. For the week prior to the acquisition, the high-tech glasses were selling on the online auction site for an average price of $287.72. Since Mark Zuckerberg picked up the company, the price has risen 18.8 percent to $341.67. Keep in mind, this is the old version of the Rift goggles. The new version, planned to ship in July, became available March 19 for pre-order from Oculus at $350. But the Rift isn't the only virtual reality gizmo on the market. Take a gander at these related products that recently sold on eBay. -- The Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED movie-viewing glasses, which retails for $789, recently sold for as low as $160. Zeiss claims that the 3D-capable spectacles create a portable movie-theater atmosphere by hooking up to an iPhone and projecting the equivalent of a 40-inch image onto the glasses. An eBay user paid $1,050 in February for a pair that came with an accessory to track head movement and another to block outside light. -- The Z800 3DVisor from eMagin sold for $799 in January, one grand less than its retail price of $1799. The 3DVisor is a pair of three-dimensional gaming goggles that work with Windows computers. It has built-in head tracking, so players can control games by moving their heads. -- On the more affordable spectrum, the Durovis Dive from Shoogee has sold on eBay for between $61 and $103. Unlike the other devices, a user straps an iPhone or Android phone onto the Dive to serve as a quasi display that creates a virtual reality experience. The German company sells the gadget for 57 euros. On the move Darcy Patch has joined RealtyTrac, an Irvine seller of real estate data, as vice president of marketing and operations of the RealtyTrac Network. She previously served as director of marketing strategy at ServiceLink. Karen Inman is now chief operating officer at PCM of California Inc., an Associa company, a community-association management firm in Lake Forest. She previously worked at Esri, where she was an applications manager. New ventures Mitsubishi Electric US Inc., an electronics manufacturer in Cypress, provided 1,222 photovoltaic modules for solar panels installed at the Irvine research and development facility of Mazda North America. The system is designed to convert solar energy into 489,684 kWh of power every year, accounting for half of the facility's electricity needs. Mazda expects the installment to cut its electricity bill in half. Some of the project's financing came from the federal business energy investment tax credit and the California Solar Initiative rebate. IQinVision Inc., a San Juan Capistrano maker of Internet-based high-definition security cameras, has agreed to be purchased by Vicon Industries Inc., a company in Oxford, England, that makes video security and surveillance systems. The all-stock merger will give current IQinVision shareholders ownership of half of the outstanding common stock of the combined company. Vicon will own 9 million outstanding shares. The board of directors of both companies have OK'd the deal, expected to close by October, pending shareholder approval and other closing conditions. Three hundred people showed up for the grand opening of Full Psycle, an indoor cycling studio that opened at the north end of the Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach last month. The new studio, which takes over the spot previously occupied by Time Warner, includes fixed spin bicycles, two large screens that display performance statistics and team and individual races. Coming up U.S. Small Business Administration has teamed up with Yelp to host a free presentation that will introduce business owners to online review sites and online reputation monitoring. Topics will include how to respond to reviews, handle critical feedback and generate publicity through promotions. Local business owners and elite Yelp reviewers also will share their tips. The two-hour event takes place at at 9 a.m. April 9 at the Eureka Building at 1621 Alton Parkway in Irvine. Email [email protected] for details. Visit tinyurl.com/sbayelpoc to register. The SBA has also partnered with the the city of Rancho Santa Margarita and the city's Chamber of Commerce for a free business forum to teach small-business owners to protect their financial assets and accounts from cybercrime. An SBA representative will moderate a panel with Ronald T. Williams of Talon Executive Services Inc. in Costa Mesa and M. Alim Malik from the Irvine office of Jackson, DeMarco, Tidus & Peckenpaugh. The event runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 10 at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center, located at 22232 El Paseo. For details email [email protected] or call 949-709-7595. Visit rsmchamber.com and click on "events" to register. Overheard "I told Richard Branson I won't go up with Lady Gaga." Newport Beach executive Julie A. Hill, talking to the Register about a commercial spaceflight she will take on Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline Contact the writer: 714-796-3589 or [email protected] ___ (c)2014 The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.) Visit The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.) at www.ocregister.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |