Skip to main content

You can now experience the weather in VR thanks to AccuWeather and Oculus

accuweather weather for life vr 1
Image used with permission by copyright holder
In our ever-evolving quest to avoid going outside in order to check the weather, we not only have apps to give us details about the temperature and precipitation, but now we also have a VR experience. Because if the act of opening your front door is too hard, perhaps donning a VR headset is more feasible for you. AccuWeather recently debuted a new VR experience called AccuWeather — Weather for Life, which promises users “engaging 360 video content, current weather conditions, a daily and hourly forecast, and AccuWeather MinuteCast” so that they can experience the weather outside … from inside.

Thanks to this new feature from the weather app, you’ll be able to virtually experience a whole slew of weather animations from the comfort of your own home. Tired of the homeostatic environment of your living room? Just don a Samsung Gear and experience weather animations including stormy rain, snow, thunderstorms, and clouds.

Recommended Videos

In order to experience the weather through a headset, you’ll need to install the Oculus app to your compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone and create an account. Then, download the AccuWeather — Weather for Life app, and snap your smartphone into the Gear VR headset so you can see your screen and start the VR fun.

While you’ll  certainly be able to see the weather in your immediate area (down to your specific location), the AccuWeather VR experience will also give you access to other weather phenomena from around the country. And to keep things interesting, AccuWeather will add new videos every week, so no matter how big of a weather buff you may be, you’ll stay informed and entertained.

“AccuWeather is excited to partner with Samsung on the launch of the AccuWeather — Weather for Life app for Gear VR, bringing users the most accurate, most innovative weather forecasts and information available worldwide,” said Steven Smith, President of Digital Media at AccuWeather. “The app is interactive and easy for users to access immersive 360-degree video content and weather forecasts, all with the Superior Accuracy from AccuWeather they rely on, experiencing weather in revolutionary new ways.”

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
My quest to fully remove Microsoft Edge is finally complete
Microsoft Defender and Edge Security settings are open on a PC monitor.

I'm on a mission to eradicate Microsoft Edge from my PC.

It's not a slight against Microsoft -- I just don't particularly care for the Edge browser compared to some of the other best browsers out there. But Edge is different because Microsoft has tried -- and mostly failed -- to court its massive Windows user base, with some unsavory tactics, including making it nearly impossible to set a different default browser to massive, screen-overtaking popups when searching for the Chrome installer.

Read more
Nvidia’s RTX 40-series is coming to an end
Three RTX 4080 cards sitting on a pink background.

Out with the old, in with the new. According to Board Channels, Nvidia has now halted production for nearly all of its best graphics cards as it shifts focus to the RTX 50-series. Only one GPU remains in production, and some of the cards that are the most in demand are no longer being produced.

Nvidia hasn't officially announced that it's sunsetting the RTX 40-series, but we've been hearing more and more reports that imply that might be the case. The RTX 4090 was among the first cards to go out of production, and the discontinuation appears to have immediately affected the markets. Nvidia's behemoth flagship was hard to come by at the best of times, and now, as no more new units are being produced, it's safe to assume that this situation won't improve. The cheapest RTX 4090 I could find on Amazon costs nearly $2,000, but you can still snag one for .

Read more
Rest in pieces: Nvidia is finally ditching GeForce Experience for good
The Nvidia app on the Windows desktop.

We've had the Nvidia app for a while, but now, it's available officially. About a year ago, Nvidia launched the Nvidia app into beta as a one-stop-shop for managing some of its best graphics cards, including grabbing new drivers, messing around with different features, and optimizing your game settings. Now, it's out of beta, officially replacing the legacy GeForce Experience and Nvidia Control Panel apps, and with some new features in tow.

One of the biggest draws of the Nvidia app initially was driver downloads. It may seem mundane, but you'd previously need to download GeForce Experience and create an Nvidia account for GPU driver updates. If you didn't, you'd have to search and install your drivers manually. The Nvidia app gives you access to new drivers, and notifies you when they're ready, all without an Nvidia login. Now, signing in is optional for "bundles and rewards" offered by Nvidia.

Read more