Images of Mark Zuckerberg’s VR glasses show the Minority Report update that puts floating computer screens around you

META is testing a new feature for its Quest 3 headset that allows users to drag levitating screens into their field of vision.

The experimental feature allows users to move windows like the browser or other applications around the screen.

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The Quest 3, launching in October 2023, is a virtual reality headset – a pair of glasses with a screen that projects 3D digital images into the user’s field of vision.

Currently, the headset only supports three virtual windows docked side by side.

However, a Data miner I stumbled upon the new feature in version 67 of the Meta Quest Public Test Channel, where users can test software updates before their full release.

It looks like everyone will soon be able to move up to three two-dimensional windows – like browser, settings and library – while three others remain docked.

The feature is reminiscent of technology introduced in 2002 film Minority Reportbased on the 1956 short story of the same name.

Director Steven Spielberg recruited 15 experts to think of examples of technology that could exist in 2054.

In the film, Tom Cruise’s character can be seen manipulating a holographic wall of images and data as they float in front of him.

Based on images from Quest 3, the technology may have arrived decades ahead of schedule.

The feature also draws comparisons to Apple’s Vision Pro, which gives users the same ability to move windows freely. You can pinch and drag the window bar from side to side, closer or further away.

Both the Quest 3 and Vision Pro are examples of mixed reality headsets.

AR vs. VR

You may have heard of augmented reality and virtual reality, commonly called AR and VR.

AR devices like the Microsoft HoloLens and the original Google Glass are transparent.

This means you see everything in front of you, with images or text projected onto whatever you’re looking at.

Meanwhile, VR gives the impression that you are somewhere else, immersing you in a digital world.

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The Quest 3’s predecessor, Quest 2, is an example of a VR headset. It’s opaque rather than clear, meaning users can’t see what’s around them in the real world.

The Quest 3 falls into an in-between category known as mixed reality, which seamlessly blends the boundaries between the physical and digital.

Often adds overlays and real objects in a virtually rendered world.

Examples Meta provides are “playing a virtual piano on your coffee table” and “opening a portal in your living room.”