End Of Year Round Up: The Best VR Headsets Of 2024

The rise in popularity of Virtual Reality (VR) has been considerably slow. Still, it has had a significant influence in various industries, including gaming, education, entertainment, and even health care. However, with many models in the market, it’s difficult to determine which one offers the best virtual experience. That’s why I’m here to guide you on some of the best VR headsets of 2024.

By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly which headset will best meet your particular preferences and needs. 

Best VR Headsets of 2024

Here is a list of the best VR headsets of 2024:

1. Best Bang For Buck: The Pimax Crystal Light

For those seeking a high-quality VR without the trouble of a steep cost, the Pimax Crystal Light is your go-to set-up. It features an ultra-sharp resolution of 2880×2880 pixels per eye, with an impressive 35 pixels per degree. The display also uses QLED technology that offers vibrant colors and contrast compared to traditional LCD panels.

It’s also worth noting that the Crystal Light uses the exact same display as its more expensive sibling, the Pimax Crystal. Other significant improvements over the original Crystal include a 200-gram reduction in weight and a redesigned head strap. This means you’re getting the same top-tier display quality and added comfort at a cheaper price.

Pros

• Wide field-of-view (FOV) that contributes to a more immersive experience
• Uses inside-out tracking, which simplifies the setup and makes the headset more user-friendly
• Employs high-quality glass aspheric lenses that contribute to a large sweet spot

Cons

• There’s no eye-tracking feature
• Has a very large and clunky design

2. Best For Budget: Meta Quest 3S

The Meta Quest 3S is the best budget-friendly VR headset, offering impressive performance for its price. Most people would consider this setup to be a watered-down version of its well-received predecessor, the Meta Quest 3. However, Meta Quest 3S still carries more similarities than differences at a much lower price. 

The Meta Quest 3S consists of a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip along with 8GB of RAM. The combination of both helps deliver twice-as-fast GPU performance, thus catering to faster loading times and overall smoother gameplay. Additionally, the 3S has a dual RGB camera system, allowing for full-color passthrough during mixed-reality games. 

Pros

• Rated for a higher battery life than the Quest 3
• Has an “Action Button” to easily switch between passthrough and immersive modes
• A smoother and less jagged visual experience due to that extra processing power

Cons

• Consists of fresnel lenses, which lead to lower resolution and less sharp visuals
• Lacks the fine-tuning PD (Pupillary Distance) adjustments

3. Overall Best: Somnium VR1

The Somnium VR1 emerges as one of the best VR headsets due to its acute attention to quality. One of the standout features of this headset is its crystal-clear visuals and exceptional brightness, which help add to the immersive experience. Users are able to explore virtual worlds with such stunning details and vivid colors that other headsets dim in comparison. 

Another feature that contributes to VR1’s experience is its expansive FOV. Most high-end headsets feature an FOV of about 130 degrees. So, you’ll be glad to know that the Somnium VR1’s FOV is more than 120 degrees horizontally and 105 degrees vertically. This means you’ll be able to view more of your virtual surroundings at once and feel fully present in the environment. 

Pros

• Accommodates PDs of 58 mm – 76 mm through manual adjustment
• Headset can be fully opened and customized by expert users
• Can enjoy the content without technical glitches or interruptions

Cons

• Does not have built-in audio speakers
• Front-heavy design that weighs on the user’s neck after a while

Conclusion

The VR headset you choose to invest in can make or break your overall virtual experience. So, we’ve narrowed down your search to some of the best VR headsets. To get the most out of your money, go for the Pimax Crystal Light or Meta Quest 3S. If not, you can also consider the Somnium VR1 for overall quality.

Besides this, VR technology can also help improve the quality of life of dementia patients. If you want to help a loved one and learn more about this service, contact me today. I’m Alex Smale, and proud owner of the award-winning VR application, Immersicare.

The 3 Biggest AI Video Tools Shaking Up The Content Creation Market – Remaker AI, Viggle AI, and Krea AI – by Alex Smale

Video content creation, being one of the most lucrative markets today, has been the key to success for many businesses. Whether for affiliate marketing, ads, training tutorials, or simply entertainment, videos are consumers’ preferred medium. However, the creation and editing process can be quite a hassle. Luckily, AI video tools have streamlined this process, making video editing easy and less time-consuming.

Read on as I cover the top 3 AI video tools that can assist in boosting your digital marketing videos.

Top 3 AI Video Tools for Content Creation

With over 200 million content creators worldwide, making content that stands out can be difficult. That’s why I recommend the following  AI tools to raise the quality of your videos:

Remaker AI

Remaker AI is a tool popular among consumers for its seamless face-swapping features. The outcome is so realistic that most videos made by the tool go viral. It’s best used for making gifs and humorous videos for ads and social media reels. 

Another great thing about the tool is its ability to enhance the quality of pre-existing videos. Simply upload any low-resolution video, and AI technology will work its magic in just a few minutes. In the end, you’ll get a high-quality, professional-level video that was originally unusable.

Pros:

• Easy to learn and use, making it great for beginner content creators.
• Supports multiple video formats.
• You get free credits in the beginning to test the features without investing.

Cons:

• The face-swapping feature isn’t as seamless with cluttered backgrounds.
• The loading can be occasionally slow.
• Some basic features cannot be accessed without a VIP membership.

Viggle AI

Viggle AI is designed to be your handy video assistant that creates content according to your text prompts. This helps turn your vision into reality without knowing any complicated editing skills. In fact, you can even use the tool’s pre-existing templates if you’re not sure where to start.

The AI tool also stands out from competitors because of its animation features. You can make unique characters and have them do your desired movements. Then, you can integrate them into your video to make original content.

Pros:

• Has an intuitive interface that can be steered by easy dragging and dropping.
• The tool uses a JST-1 3D physics model to make animation movements look real.
• Multiple users can collaborate on a project.

Cons:

• Some advanced features will take time to learn.
• Text-to-video text prompts may get misinterpreted by the tool.

Krea AI

Krea AI has a video generation feature called Beta Video. Using this feature, you can create your video using text prompts. You can even use negative text prompts if you want to remove something from the generated outcome.

Besides that, the tool also lets you create videos through images. Simply upload the image of your choice and then add animations. Additionally, Krea AI uses deep learning algorithms to enhance the resolution, stability, color, and frame rate of pre-existing videos.

Pros:

• Impressive processing speed.
• Allows you to generate videos from still pictures.
• Users can train personalized AI models to meet their particular style requirements.

Cons:

• You can’t do much with the free plan of the tool.
• The paid plans can be more costly than those of competitor tools.

Conclusion

To grow your business or be a top influencer, video content creation is an essential digital marketing skill to have. All you need to do is experiment with the above-mentioned AI video tools to see which one meets your needs best. Once you find the right one, let your creativity flow to make different styles of video content.

For more digital marketing skills that can bring your business success, contact me, Alex Smale, today. My years of digital marketing experience in various industries are just what you need to put your business on the map.

Will A.I. Replace Digital Marketers?

Recently, artificial intelligence has made itself a prominent role in digital marketing. This technology has been incredibly useful in streamlining various processes and providing valuable insights into market trends. However, with all AI has to offer, is it truly capable of usurping digital marketers? Or is digital marketing a job that just can’t be replaced by AI?

To answer your questions, this article explores the influence of AI in digital marketing and whether it’s sufficient enough to get the job done.

How AI is Used in Digital Marketing

Here are some different ways artificial intelligence is used in digital marketing:

• Creating Content: AI is increasingly being used to write marketing content, including product descriptions, social media posts, emails, etc. It also assists in generating multimedia like images, audio, and video.

• Performing Data Analytics: AI also excels at analyzing large data sets and extracting meaningful information from them. It quickly uncovers trends and customer behavior patterns that can help improve your marketing plan.

• Customer Service: Artificial intelligence can also contribute to customer support through AI-powered chatbots. They can answer frequently asked questions, handle complaints, and guide users through their purchases. 

Can Digital Marketers Be Replaced By A.I.?

Despite advancements in AI, it hasn’t been able to replace digital marketers. This is because there are a few attributes of marketing jobs that AI just can’t replicate. Like, AI can’t create original ideas and lacks critical thinking and emotional intelligence. Let’s go into particular examples of these points to understand it properly:

1. Can’t Create Original Ideas

The success of your digital marketing strategy relies on creating innovative and original ideas that also resonate with your audience. Unfortunately, most AI tools solely generate content from already existing data. So, while AI can develop decent-quality content, it won’t help set you apart from the competition. 

The creativity to drive your strategy can only come from human-based marketing, as it’s not limited to current trends. Instead, humans take inspiration from personal experience and cultural context to create wholly original content. 

2. Lacks Critical Thinking

As mentioned before, artificial intelligence excels at deriving information from large sets of data to improve your marketing strategy. However, AI lacks the critical thinking to properly use this information. It’s incapable of understanding complex situations, weighing the pros and cons, or predicting potential outcomes. 

That’s why data analytics rely on human intelligence to judge and draw conclusions from the given information. Human marketers have the intuition, contextual understanding, and decision-making skills to navigate the digital market. 

3. Lacks Emotional Intelligence

Another driving force of a successful marketing strategy is having the ability to understand and recognize your customer’s needs. It helps foster genuine relationships with your customers and build brand loyalty. However, artificial intelligence is unable to empathize and understand the emotional nuances of customer behavior.

This is one of the major reasons 88% of customers would rather speak to a person than a chatbox. They have the emotional intelligence to interpret a customer’s needs, consider their preferences, and relate to their concerns.

Conclusion

Although artificial intelligence plays a significant role in digital marketing, it can only ever be used as a supportive tool rather than a replacement. AI can never replicate the originality, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence needed to run digital marketing strategies. These are qualities you’ll only find human marketers are equipped with.

If you’re interested in learning more about digital marketing, contact me at Alex Smale to discover how I can help scale your business. My skills as a digital marketer can help your business thrive and grow.

Let’s shake hands and make it worth it for you. 

What Does CPM (Cost per Mille) Actually Mean?

The growth of any company these days heavily relies on its digital marketing strategies. However, for an effective digital marketing strategy, certain metrics must be constantly analyzed. Among these metrics, monitoring the CPM of the ads is especially important. But what does CPM mean, and how does it exactly work? 

For the answers to your queries, read on as we discuss CPM and its importance for a business.

What Does CPM Mean?

The full form of CPM is Cost per Mille. It is also known as the cost per thousand impressions. It can be defined as the money a business spends for a thousand ad impressions. Impressions are the number of times your ads are viewed by users. The more views you get, the more your brand’s reach and, hence, more chances for sales.

By monitoring the CPM of an ad, a company can evaluate the cost-effectiveness of its marketing campaign. Besides this, the metric also helps you evaluate optimal budgets for running ads on various platforms.

How Can CPM Be Calculated?

CPM can be calculated using the following formula:

CPM = (cost ÷ impressions) × 1000

So, if you’re spending $1000 running an ad that receives 100,000 impressions, the CPM will be:

CPM = (1000 ÷100,000) × 1000 = $10

This means that for every 1000 views of your ad, you are spending $10. Now, you may be wondering what the generally good CPM value is. It primarily depends on the platform you’re running the ad on.

For more clarity, let’s take the example of Facebook ads. The average Facebook CPM for technology-based services was $9.98 in 2023. So, any CPM value significantly higher than that for similar product/service ads would be a red flag. 

Ways to Lower the CPM Value of Your Ads

Now that you’ve learned what CPM means and how it can be calculated let’s understand how it can be lowered. You can do this by adjusting the following factors:

Target Audience: The more general your audience, the more you’ll have to pay for your ads. By making your ads more relevant to a specific audience, you can pay less while still getting more engagement. 

Timing and Placement: Running ads on multiple platforms is costly and often unnecessary. Only place ads on the best-performing platforms that guarantee significant returns. Also, be strategic with the timing and frequency of the ads by analyzing peak interaction hours.

Appeal: An aesthetically pleasing ad relevant to the target audience will attract more people. This will encourage user engagement and views, lowering the overall CPM.

Bid Strategy: Bid strategies are always a great way to adjust a CPM value. You may have to experiment with a few in the beginning to find the one that works best for you. This may take time, but experimenting is important for all digital marketing strategies.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to run ads for your business online, CPM is a crucial metric to monitor. Now that you know the answer to “What does CPM mean?” you’re all ready to get started,

However, if you still think you need more guidance, contact me today! I’m Alex Smale, and I can help you plan a highly effective digital marketing strategy for your brand. My years of experience as a digital marketer, business consultant, and developer have helped boost the growth of many businesses.