Microsoft to ship developer HoloLens in March

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2015, file photo, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, left, smiles as he tries on a HoloLens device with colleagues Alex Kipman, right, and Terry Myerson following an event demonstrating new features of Windows 10 at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft said it will start shipping a developer version of its augmented reality device, HoloLens, for $3,000, by the end of March 2016. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Microsoft says it will start shipping a developer version of its augmented reality device, HoloLens, for $3,000 on March 30.

That’s around the same time Facebook’s Oculus will begin shipping the consumer version of its Rift virtual-reality headset for $600. HoloLens differs from the Oculus Rift in that it makes the viewer see three-dimensional objects in the real world, rather than blocking out the real and replacing it with a 360-degree fictional universe.

The HoloLens operates on Windows 10 and unlike the Rift, requires no tethering to a separate computer.

It’ll use a custom-built chip designed on an Intel platform. It’ll let users record high-definition video that recreates a mix of holographs overlaid on the real world that can be shared with people without the device.

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