Oculus reportedly planning $200 standalone wireless VR headset for 2018

Facebook is set to reveal a standalone Oculus virtual reality headset sometime later this year, Bloomberg reports^[1], with a ship date of sometime in 2018. The headset will work without requiring a tethered PC or smartphone, according to the report, and will be branded with the Oculus name around the world, except in China, where it’ll carry Xiaomi trade dress and run some Xiaomi software as part of a partnership that extends to manufacturing plans for the device.

Wireless VR, and VR that doesn’t require any additional devices beyond a headset is a known goal for Facebook and Oculus, as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously discussed a mid-point category between entry-level smartphone-based VR as demonstrated by the Samsung Gear VR, and PC-based high-end VR like that found in the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. HTC announced its intentions to build a standalone VR device based on Google’s Daydream platform earlier this year.

Samsung is also working on standalone VR, with reported “Odyssey” branding. Facebook has also said it’s working on wireless version of the Rift, with equivalent power to that device when tethered to a PC currently, as Bloomberg notes. This new device, which bears the code-name “Pacific,” according to the report, will look like the Rift in terms of design but be lighter than the current Samsung Gear VR headset, and will be powered by a Snapdragon mobile processor with better graphics capabilities than the Gear VR, but without positional tracking like that made possible on the Rift via Oculus sensors.

The key ingredient here will be the balance of price and performance: Facebook will reportedly sell the headset for around $200, which could help it attract a much broader audience vs. the more expensive Rift (which is...

There are four interesting developments taking place in the gold and silver market that precious metals investors should be aware of. While Americans continue to place all the BETS in the CASINO called Wall Street, via stocks, bonds and real estate, the EAST has been acquiring record amounts of gold and silver. Furthermore, something interesting seems to have changed recently in the Silver Eagle sales market.

FIRST DEVELOPMENT: Let’s start off with showing the stunning amount of silver India imported in May. According to Smaulgld.com, India imported nearly 2,000% more silver in May 2017 vs May 2016:

Matter-a-fact, India imported nearly the same amount of silver in May, than they received from January-April. Also, we can see that May’s 1,473 metric tons of silver imports is 2-4 times more than any of the prior months. Something has inspired the Indians to import that much silver this past May.

SECOND DEVELOPMENT: India also imported a record amount of gold in May:

According to Smaulgld’s article, INDIAN GOLD IMPORTS ON RECORD PACE IN 2017:

So, for some reason, India’s gold and silver imports surged in May. It will be interesting to see what their figures are for June and July. Please check out the Smaulgld.com site run by Louis Cammarosano. He does an excellent job covering updates on the Gold and Silver Market.