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I went to a VR talk by Ted Schilowitz last week (futurist at 20th Century Fox, formerly of RED Camera) and he was raving about Magic Leap's tech. He said it was

I went to a VR talk by Ted Schilowitz last week (futurist at 20th Century Fox, formerly of RED Camera) and he was raving about Magic Leap's tech. He said it was actually as good in person as the demos would suggest. I was surprised to hear this because I had previously come to the conclusion this was just a visual Juicero.

johansch 9y ago
Possible explanations: a) They gave him some stock b) He doesn't really understand VR/AR at all I spent an hour or so going through the about 1000 people listed as working at Magic Leap on Linkedin the other month. I had a wow moment back then. So many deeply unqualified people for something like this. I think the number whose subject areas could even be relevant to the development of the tech was like at most 20. Out of about a thousand. Why not have a peek yourself? https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrentCompany=%5B%223098033%22%5D https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrent... (I see 1062 people at the moment.) The profiles of the rest of the people seemed like they were hired to create cool demos. So many graphics designers, motion designers, PR people, marketing people etc etc.
- jboggan 9y ago
  a) Quite possible. I think he had an NDA with them. b) No, I think he gets VR/AR, he had some interesting points and claimed to spend his entire workday with various VR/AR devices (lots of early prototypes) Your analysis of Magic Leap's employees is really interesting though, how complete do you think it was? I mean they must have more than 20 engineers working on it, what percentages did the employees break down into in terms of engineering, design/visual arts, office staff, etc.?
  - johansch 9y ago
    I didn't create a detailed breakup by field. The number of about 20 (very rough number) that I mentioned was for the number of hardware/optics people. There are a shitload of VFX/HR people/people managers though.
    - DonHopkins 9y ago
      I have heard from someone I trust who worked there, that the office is very crowded, noisy and chaotic, and it's difficult to get any work done because there are so many people chattering and having phone calls and meetings. The term "turkey farm" came to mind.
- WrtCdEvrydy 9y ago
  Otherwise known as "selling the idea".
- santaclaus 9y ago
  > I think the number whose subject areas could even be relevant to the development of the tech was like at most 20. Out of about a thousand. That is utterly bizarre. I know a few very qualified folks (tons of experience in VR, a couple at Oculus) who had applied to Magic Leap and were flat out ghosted.
- Nanite 9y ago
  I had the same feeling when I did that exercise last year, I think their headcount was in the low hundreds back back then. They personnel demographics still seems disproportionally skewed towards a "imminent" product launch, I see only a few photonics phd's, most of which don't have product experience.
munchbunny 9y ago
I used to be as skeptical, but conversations I've had through the grapevine with people I personally trust seem to imply that there really is something to Magic Leap's tech, but then again early Hololens demo-ers also raved. I'm guessing it'll end up a lot like gen 1 consumer VR headsets: you can see a clear demonstration of something really cool and under specific conditions it's genuinely engrossing, but it'll take a lot more before it really becomes widely useful.

johansch 9y ago

Possible explanations: a) They gave him some stock b) He doesn't really understand VR/AR at all I spent an hour or so going through the about 1000 people listed as working at Magic Leap on Linkedin the other month. I had a wow moment back then. So many deeply unqualified people for something like this. I think the number whose subject areas could even be relevant to the development of the tech was like at most 20. Out of about a thousand. Why not have a peek yourself? https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrentCompany=%5B%223098033%22%5D https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrent... (I see 1062 people at the moment.) The profiles of the rest of the people seemed like they were hired to create cool demos. So many graphics designers, motion designers, PR people, marketing people etc etc.

jboggan 9y ago
a) Quite possible. I think he had an NDA with them. b) No, I think he gets VR/AR, he had some interesting points and claimed to spend his entire workday with various VR/AR devices (lots of early prototypes) Your analysis of Magic Leap's employees is really interesting though, how complete do you think it was? I mean they must have more than 20 engineers working on it, what percentages did the employees break down into in terms of engineering, design/visual arts, office staff, etc.?
- johansch 9y ago
  I didn't create a detailed breakup by field. The number of about 20 (very rough number) that I mentioned was for the number of hardware/optics people. There are a shitload of VFX/HR people/people managers though.
  - DonHopkins 9y ago
    I have heard from someone I trust who worked there, that the office is very crowded, noisy and chaotic, and it's difficult to get any work done because there are so many people chattering and having phone calls and meetings. The term "turkey farm" came to mind.
WrtCdEvrydy 9y ago
Otherwise known as "selling the idea".
santaclaus 9y ago
> I think the number whose subject areas could even be relevant to the development of the tech was like at most 20. Out of about a thousand. That is utterly bizarre. I know a few very qualified folks (tons of experience in VR, a couple at Oculus) who had applied to Magic Leap and were flat out ghosted.
Nanite 9y ago
I had the same feeling when I did that exercise last year, I think their headcount was in the low hundreds back back then. They personnel demographics still seems disproportionally skewed towards a "imminent" product launch, I see only a few photonics phd's, most of which don't have product experience.

munchbunny 9y ago

I used to be as skeptical, but conversations I've had through the grapevine with people I personally trust seem to imply that there really is something to Magic Leap's tech, but then again early Hololens demo-ers also raved. I'm guessing it'll end up a lot like gen 1 consumer VR headsets: you can see a clear demonstration of something really cool and under specific conditions it's genuinely engrossing, but it'll take a lot more before it really becomes widely useful.