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The Meta Quest 2 is sold out everywhere – paving the way for the Meta Quest 3S

July 2, 2024
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If you’ve waited until July 2024 to buy a Meta Quest 2 – nearly four years after its launch under the Oculus Quest 2 name – then you might be about to miss your chance, as the official Meta.com store is out of stock. However, it’s likely yet another sign that the Meta Quest 3S is ready to launch soon.

If you live in the US or Australia (or some of the other countries we checked, including Canada, France, and South Korea) instead of a blue “Add to bag” icon under the wildly popular Quest 2 VR headset, you’ll see a gray “Out of stock” notification instead. At the time of publishing it is still available in the UK, but only the cheapest £199.99 128GB Quest 2 can be bought – the pricier 256GB model is unavailable.

Even at third-party stores such as Amazon and Walmart most of the Quest 2s being sold appear to be from non-official resellers – at inflated, non RRP prices – suggesting stock is running dry everywhere. Again, a few bastions remain in select regions (such as the UK) but soon you won’t be able to buy a new Meta Quest 2 anywhere.

This is hardly the most shocking twist. The Meta Quest 3 is nearly a year old, and with Quest 3-exclusive software set to launch soon such as Batman: Arkham Shadow it’s not a surprise that Meta would want to phase out the older model so people instead buy the new headset.

Batman standing in the dark alone in Arkham Shadow — Is the Quest 3S looming in the shadows like Batman? (Image credit: Meta / Camouflaj)

However, the price gap between the new and older Meta Quest headsets is significant – a fact that makes VR less accessible now that the Quest 2 is going away.

Even ignoring the Meta Quest 2’s recent (phenomenally low) $ 199.99 / £199.99 / AU$ 359.99 price, its launch price of $ 299 / £299 / AU$ 479 is roughly 40% less than the Meta Quest 3’s official $ 499 / £479 / AU$ 799 price. While we think the Quest 3 is great value for money and worth that higher cost – we gave it five-stars in our review – $ 499 / £479 / AU$ 799 isn’t as budget-friendly a price as its predecessor.

That’s where a Meta Quest 3S comes in.

This Meta headset – twice leaked by Meta itself – will be more affordable than the Quest 3 with specs and a design that blend the new model with the Quest 2; so expect a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, dual 1,832 x 1,920 pixel per eye displays, and a bulky body at a cheaper price of hopefully $ 399 / £399 / AU$ 639 or less – though nothing has been officially confirmed.

With Meta Connect 2024 landing on September 25 and 26, we’re hoping we’ll hear something about the Meta Quest 3S there – which all signs point to. So if you’re looking to buy your first VR headset, a Quest gadget is the way to go. But even with cheap Quest 2 stock dwindling, we still think the best course of action is to wait for the Quest 3S to be announced. We shouldn’t be waiting for much longer.

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November 29, 2023
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Microsoft has revealed its ugly sweater for this year’s holiday season – and it’s going to be a real crowd-pleaser for fans of Windows XP.

And there are plenty of folks who regard this operating system as one of the best versions of Windows ever – after all, it’s the operating system that refused to die – so it turns out there’s been quite some demand for the sweater.

Windows XP vs. Windows 11 💻 which one will reign supreme?tune in now to find out and grab this year’s #WindowsUglySweater https://t.co/4ivmjtvG7n pic.twitter.com/dJ10dUL63aNovember 28, 2023

The cotton garment (well, 55% cotton, 45% acrylic) shows a stylized version of the Bliss (default) wallpaper for Windows XP, and it’s labeled as ‘Merry Blissmas’ in the product listing.

The design features the iconic fluffy clouds in a blue sky, with a green landscape underneath, and the addition of an oversized mouse cursor (you wouldn’t want anyone to miss the point of the sweater, now, would you?).

It’s yours via the Xbox Gear Shop for $ 70 (£56 in the UK, and around AU$ 105).

The sweater can be shipped internationally, across the globe, but if you want the bad news, it’s already sold out in the most common sizes.

Small, medium, large, and extra-large have all gone, with only the 2XL and 3XL sizes remaining. You can still request a notification for one of the sizes that’s currently out of stock, mind, so Microsoft will let you know when (or if) more inventory comes in.

Microsoft advises: “Machine wash cold, tumble dry low, and never take off.”

As an added bonus, some of the money goes to charity – namely The Nature Conservancy, which aims to protect our environment and combat climate change.

Windows XP Sweater — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: Do sweat it

Microsoft’s holiday sweaters have become pretty famous at this point. In the past we’ve had the likes of Clippy last year (maybe a retired Copilot could be on a future sweater, though Microsoft better hope not, with the amount of eggs it has in that particular basket), and a Windows 95 sweater.

Indeed, there was a Windows XP sweater back in 2019 (which was also available in 2020, when Microsoft resurrected some past designs), covered with the ‘XP’ logo, but this take is a bit more subtle – aside from the stupidly supersized mouse pointer, anyway.

If there’s one point of criticism here, it’s that Microsoft should be making more of these garments. They’re clearly popular sweaters, and to be sold out of most sizes already is obviously going to be disappointing for those keen to get a slice of ‘bliss’ for the festive period.

We’re still waiting for the BSoD, frankly (that's the 'Blue Sweater of Death').

Via Tom’s Hardware

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January 4, 2022
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Twitter has officially completed the sale of its mobile ads platform MoPub to AppLovin, netting the company a cool $ 1.05 billion.

MoPub helped Twitter generate around $ 190 million in revenue during 2020, but the company felt that having the platform was impacting its ability to execute in other areas, such as catering to SMBs and e-commerce, both of which are areas of strength for Meta (formerly Facebook).

The deal was originally announced in October 2021.

Out with the old

“With the sale of MoPub completed, we continue to concentrate our efforts on enhancing ads across our platform,” Twitter GM of Revenue Products Bruce Falck said. “Our goal is to deliver faster growth in key areas and accelerate our product development.”

At the time of the deal, AppLovin said that MoPub was being used by 45,000 apps to monetize, reaching 1.5 billion addressable users around the world.

“Developers benefit from more features to help drive higher monetization opportunities and streamline workflows, leading to increased revenue for their businesses. We believe the power of this unified platform will be unparalleled in today’s market,” said AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi.

“We are excited to execute on this strategic acquisition with our sights set on operating the largest and most robust in-app advertising platform that enhances the growth of the broader mobile app ecosystem.”

According to Twitter, many MoPub features will sunset on March 31, 2022, although the MoPub Dashboard and Reporting will remain live until April 8, 2022.

While Twitter has outsized influence, its finances are generally much weaker than its rivals, leading to an ambitious plan to double revenues to $ 7.5 billion per year (or more) by 2023.

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December 21, 2021
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Microsoft has announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the online advertising and analytics firm Xandr from AT&T.

The agreement builds on a decade-long relationship between Xandr, its predecessor companies and the software giant for delivering digital media solutions for advertisers on a global scale. Through its data-enabled technology platform, Xandr provides tools which power a diverse ecosystem that connects marketers and media owners through first-party, data-led advertising solutions across its network.

President of web experiences at Microsoft, Mikhail Parakhin explained in a press release how its acquisition of Xandr will help shape the digital ad marketplace of the future, saying:

“With Xandr’s talent and technology, Microsoft can accelerate the delivery of its digital advertising and retail media solutions, shaping tomorrow’s digital ad marketplace into one that respects consumer privacy preferences, understands publishers’ relationships with consumers and helps advertisers meet their goals.”

Shaping the future of digital advertising

Microsoft and Xandr have a shared vision for the digital ad marketplace of the future as well as complementary strengths to empower the open web so that everyone can thrive and do so in a way that is consistent with the software giant's commitment to strong data governance and consumer privacy practices.

Through the acquisition, Microsoft will be able to accelerate the delivery of digital advertising solutions for the open web by combining its audience understanding, technology and global advertising customer base with Xandr's large-scale, data-driven platforms for advertising.

The company brings a number of advertising platforms to the table including its cross-screen, first-party data-centered buying platform Xandr Invest as well as its full funnel marketing offering Xandr Monetize.

By acquiring Xandr, Microsoft aims to become organizations' media partner of choice for the open web and we'll likely hear more on its plans for the digital ad marketplace of the future once the transaction officially closes following regulatory review.

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