Launch HN: Supermedium (YC W18) – A full VR browser for web-based VR content

Supermedium is a full VR browser for web-based VR content. Download the browser at https://supermedium.com, put on a headset, and navigate dozens of full VR sites. Pages load quickly and are built with Web standards (WebGL, WebVR, JS). Anyone can publish and share VR content, regardless of whether that content is bite-sized, wacky, lower fidelity, a store’s homepage, an educational outing for a few students, a meme, or something taboo. Anything goes.

Back in 2012, I was researching for headsets that I could watch movies on. I thought it would be cool to have a giant TV anywhere at home or on the go. Soon I became a lurker in the MTBS3D.com forums. I followed the first conversations between Palmer Luckey and John Carmack experimenting with VR hardware [1]. I was one of the 50 members that sent money to Palmer Luckey’s personal PayPal account to get a DIY prototype kit of the early Oculus Rift [2]. I got to try an early version of the Rift and an early 3D-printed prototype of what would become the HTC Vive. It felt the future was approaching quickly and I did not want miss out on the next technological revolution. I was on a quest to find a way to combine my knowledge of the Web with my newly discovered passion in VR.

Kevin and I were teammates on the original Mozilla VR team that kicked off the WebVR initiative. Together we created and grew A-Frame, an open source framework to help Web developers build VR content in the browser. Two years later, we continue to volunteer our time to maintain A-Frame alongside its community.

We are kids from the Web; we formed as programmers using browsers as our playground. We loved learning from others using the built-in developer tools and sharing our experiments with just a link. But we witnessed first-hand how slowly the Web reacted to the rise of smartphones and app store ecosystems. The Web became an afterthought.

We know it is still the early days for VR. VR hardware is expensive, clunky, and software feels undercooked. But we believe that in the future, headsets (whether VR or AR) will replace traditional displays, transforming the way we interact with computers. We want the Web to be a first-class citizen on VR and on immersive platforms going forward. We founded Supermedium to try to help establish the Web as a valuable foundation for the next big shifts in personal computing. We want to bring the best ingredients of the Web to VR. And it starts with a browser.

Looking forward to hearing feedback!

Diego and Kevin

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[1] https://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=14777&sid...

[2] https://www.mtbs3d.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=14777&p=7...

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