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What Facebook’s Oculus, Google See In Virtual Reality’s Future

Loading the player… At this week’s Vision Summit for virtual reality and augmented reality in Hollywood, executives from Facebook ( FB )-owned Oculus, Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google and Sony ( SNE )-owned PlayStation shared their insights about the future of VR. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, who sold his company to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion, said that both hardware and software developers need to be successful for VR to be prosperous, with two key measures of success being dollars spent on content and hours spent playing content. Facebook has said Oculus Headset and Rift-ready PC bundles will go on presale next Tuesday, starting at $1,499. Oculus is offering the bundles at a discounted rate to get more gear out there. Apple Momentum Google’s VP of VR, Clay Bavor, pressed the point that the Internet giant’s goal is “VR for everyone.” He said that some 5 million of the cheap Google Cardboard viewers — which use smartphones to show VR content — had shipped as of the end of 2015, with 30 million Google Play Store app downloads. He said that there’s “similar momentum” on Apple ( AAPL ) iOS. Google is also working in the augmented reality space with its Project Tango, which enables mobile devices “to navigate the physical world similar to how we do as humans.” Microsoft’s HoloLens In Space? Sony is one of the companies working with NASA on robot control and space exploration demos. Microsoft ’s ( MSFT ) HoloLens is also said to have space applications. Dr. Richard Marks, the director of PlayStation Magic Lab, said that Sony’s VR platform will have the capability to be used with other entertainment content besides games, including movies, painting, sculpting and potentially even live concerts.

Facebook And Amazon Lead 5 Top Tech Stocks On The Move

Loading the player… Let’s take a look at five standout tech stocks on IBD’s Stocks on the Move screen, which are trading in big volume: Facebook ( FB ),  Amazon ( AMZN ), NetEase ( NTES ), Activision Blizzard ( ATVI ) and Cray ( CRAY ). Internet Giants On The Rise Facebook is on the IBD 50 list with a highest-possible IBD Composite Rating of 99. That means its shares outperform 99% of all stocks in the market as measured by fundamental and technical factors, including earnings and sales growth, profit margins, return on equity and relative share-price performance. The stock has tried to retake the 50-day line this week, but has yet to close above that level. It’s attempted to retake the line again today, but gains faded to just 0.1% near midday. Facebook is trading about 12% below its all-time high reached on Feb. 2. Amazon has a 71 Composite Rating. The stock has suffered since the e-commerce company missed quarterly earnings estimates late last month. Shares breached the 200-day line in the days following the report and continued lower. But Amazon is now on track for its third up-day in a row, climbing 1.6% Friday. Top Gaming Stocks Move In Different Directions NetEase earns a 99 Composite Rating. When the Chinese gaming company reports quarterly results on Feb. 24, analysts expect the bottom line to grow 30%. Shares jumped in quick turnover, retaking the 200-day line in intraday trade. But the stock pared its gains to just a 1% rise and fell back below that level. NetEase is trading 24% off of its high reached in late December. Activision has a 93 Composite Rating. The video game publisher missed quarterly earnings and sales estimates late Thursday and gave conservative guidance. Shares dropped below the 200-day line last week and got close to retaking that level in Thursday’s session. Today the stock plunged 9.5% in huge volume, hitting a five and a half month low in intraday trade. Activision is now trading 30% below its late December peak. Supercomputer Maker Stages Downside Reversal And Cray beat quarterly estimates late Thursday, but its guidance was light. The supercomputer maker staged a big downside reversal and fell back below its 50-day line, dropping almost 3%. It’s trading about 17% below its recent high. Cray has a Composite Rating of 95. Image provided by Shutterstock .

AT&T Fires Back On 5G Amid Verizon Push, Touts 5G To Homes

Aiming to grab some 5G limelight back from Verizon Communications ( VZ ), AT&T ( T ) announced on Friday plans for trials of next-generation 5G wireless technology in 2016 and, in a surprise, touted 5G services to fixed locations such as homes and businesses, not mobile devices. Verizon ( VZ ) in September declared its intention to be a global leader , and the first in the U.S., in rolling out a 5G wireless network commercially. AT&T has been less vocal, but on Friday CEO Randall Stephenson said in a CNBC interview that 5G speeds could potentially match fiber-optic connections to homes. “Actually, we are getting performance and testing that says that we can get as good a performance off 5G wireless technology into the home as we’re getting off fiber today,” he told CNBC. On its Q4 earnings conference call on Jan. 21, Verizon also hinted at fixed broadband. “We would hope that the FCC moves quickly to adopt the rules to facilitate 5G deployment,” said Verizon CFO Fran Shammo. “(When you) think about 5G, it may not just be about mobility. It may be about other use cases; it’s not just about mobility.” AT&T agreed to deploy fixed broadband services to homes in rural areas using 4G technology as part of conditions tied to its acquisition of satellite TV broadcaster DirecTV Group in July. On Friday, AT&T  said that it will test 5G technologies in Austin, Texas, with Intel ( INTC ) and   Ericsson ( ERIC ). AT&T says that it sees a role for 5G in “virtual reality, self-driving cars, robotics and smart cities.” Tech Standards For 5G Wireless Not Yet Set AT&T says that it expects 5G speeds to be anywhere from 10 to 100 times faster than 4G LTE connections, much as Verizon has stated. Verizon has said that it plans to deploy 5G commercially in 2017, though its plans are still vague. AT&T said it expects to deploy 5G after standards are set. “We’re conducting our 5G trials in such a way that we’ll be able to pivot to compliant commercial deployments once 5G technology standards are set. The international standards body, 3GPP, will likely complete the first phase of that process in 2018,” the company said in a press r elease . Europe, South Korea, Japan and China all have 5G initiatives under way. South Korea plans large-scale 5G testing around the 2018 Winter Olympics. In Japan,  NTT DoCoMo ( DCM ) is gearing up for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The next World Radiocommunication Conference, where 5G spectrum allocation is expected to be discussed, isn’t until 2019. Many countries, including the U.S., are looking at high frequencies, such as 24 GHz and 37 GHz, for 5G services. However, 5G could surface earlier in bands below 6 GHz, some analysts say.  In that case, networks could continue using interfaces designed for LTE gear. Also, 5G marketing battles could start long before higher-bandwidth 5G services are ready commercially.