14 ms·

Magic Leap One now available for $2295

106 points by pbnjay 8y ago

pbnjay 8y ago
Sadly not available for my area, but I was happy to see the note about prescriptions. Thats probably one of my biggest complaints about the Rift and others is that it gets pretty uncomfortable with glasses on.
- tlb 8y ago
  You can't buy them yet, which made the system barely usable for me. It comes with an empty frame that accommodates round lenses. I popped the lenses out of an old pair of glasses and ground them to the right size and shape with a belt sander, and it works OK. You can eyeball the size accurately enough to fit snugly in the rubber frame.
- curuinor 8y ago
  You can get the Oculus Go with prescription lenses.
- rhinoceraptor 8y ago
  I had to buy a pair of glasses specifically to fit under my rift, I bought the smallest kids glasses I could find that I could get with my prescription. They look ridiculous, but that's ok. It was much cheaper than buying prescription inserts, I would have to special order them since my prescription is fairly high.
- jazzyjackson 8y ago
  I was very pleasantly surprised to find Hololens able to accommodate my glasses. Agreed wrt Rift.
alexnewman 8y ago
Any advantages over the hololens
- wilsonnb3 8y ago
  It's cheaper, and it looks like the controller it comes with has more features than the HoloLens clicker.
- sp332 8y ago
  It has two focal planes instead of one, which helps with depth perception a lot.
- ngokevin 8y ago
  Side-note that Hololens is over two years old, and a second iteration is coming.
- Ajedi32 8y ago
  $700 cheaper, less weight on your head, increased field-of-view, 6-DOF tracked controller, eye tracking, and support for two focal planes.
xutopia 8y ago
"Both the real world and virtual light rays initiate neural signals that pass from the retina to the visual part of the brain, creating unbelievably believable experiences." So light?
- sp332 8y ago
  It's a transparent display that lets you see the real world while also seeing what's on the screen. Edit: it's basically describing the advantage of AR over VR in general.
- onomics 8y ago
  Woah, virtual light rays travelling via neural signals! Oh wait, that's the same as looking at computer screen. I hate marketing speak..
smaili 8y ago
> We created a new kind of computer so we built a whole new operating system. One that gets the most out of our spatial computing system by working in tandem with digital lightfields and the brain. Lumin OS is fully optimized for environment recognition, persistent digital content and the performance to power high-fidelity visual experiences that turns your wildest imagination into even wilder realities. Super curious if it's built from the ground up or a mod of an existing OS.
- qeternity 8y ago
  These days "OS" is basically marketing speak for SDK on top of a Linux kernel.
  - computerphage 8y ago
    If that! I've seen company claim to be the "OS of banks" meaning they're a commonly used application for people doing something in a bank.
  - adrian_mrd 8y ago
    So true.
- CharlesW 8y ago
  It's Linux. "Magic Leap is best known for its hardware, but the roughly 1,500-person company has a large software team as well, and the Magic Leap One has a functional operating system and starting app suite. Its Linux-based Lumen OS…"[1] "There's also information on the Magic Leap's Lumin OS, a custom-built operating system based on open source/Linux tools."[2] [1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/8/17662040/magic-leap-one-creator-edition-preview-mixed-reality-glasses-launch https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/8/17662040/magic-leap-one-cr... [2] https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/magic-leap-first-set-ar-developer-tools/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/magic-leap-first-set-ar-...
- joezydeco 8y ago
  "Magic Leap says they have “built a whole new operating system” called LuminOS to take advantage of their “spatial computing system“. It is actually just Android with custom stuff on top, the same approach most people take when they want to claim they have built a whole operating system... I hope Magic Leap does cool stuff in the future, but the current UI is basically an Android Wear watch menu that floats in front of you." http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/
taurath 8y ago
Really seems like a money furnace for the investors here.
- pwaai 8y ago
  Well if you are privileged to invest in Magic Leap One, they probably aren't hurting...no sympathy from me when their plans to buy a yacht is ruined :/ It is backed by Google so there is probably plans to improve the hardware which as it stands is not impressive OR knowing Google they could pull the plug just as easily. In fact, Magic Leap One, is looking to be a major major flop, shortly after somebody released a review on the limited focal view and some annoying hardware designs I knew it was fucked.
  - 0xCMP 8y ago
    It's not all about the investors dude. Money misallocated means companies, solutions, and inventions that could have been built aren't since the money wasn't there. We all lose when that happens. This is a developer device. We'll see when they release the consumer one if it flops, but that'll probably be if no one makes the apps or games it needs to be successful.
    - Maybestring 8y ago
      These all seem a guaranteed flop at the consumer level. Limited FOV is going to kill it for almost everyone. I think they would sell more at double the price, if they doubled the FOV.
      - 0xCMP 8y ago
        Agreed. I'm sure they're aware of that. But they needed to get a device to developers given that they've "built a whole new operating system" (As Lucky explained, just built stuff on Android). Also from Palmer Lucky: They need to fix the controller. Either compromise on it or make something custom that works. Commercial applications will bring a lot of funding here and a wonky controller, when others exist which are not, will hamper that. They have the chicken, now they need developers to make eggs. Day One of a consumer Magic Leap device needs that for anyone to say "wow, I need to have one of those in my life."
whateveryou381 8y ago
Site purchasing does not work. Leads to a page "oops" that has one button "return to magic"
- foobaw 8y ago
  Maybe a fake CTA to measure interest..
interdrift 8y ago
Too much.
- sp332 8y ago
  It's an engineering prototype that you can buy. Hololens was $3,000 and this is better than Hololens.
  - dna_polymerase 8y ago
    How is this better? You seem somewhat involved with them.
    - sp332 8y ago
      I'm just taking a break at work, chill. https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leap-one-first-hands-impressions-for-hololens-developers-0186411/ https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leap-one-first-ha...
- mtgx 8y ago
  Microsoft's Hololens is quite a bit more: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy Definitely too much for consumers, though. The price needs to drop at least 3x, which it probably will in a couple of years.
dna_polymerase 8y ago
I remember the first articles about this super secretive start up from not the Silicon Valley, that did some super amazing stuff, loads of VC-cash and all that. This thing now looks really underwhelming. The pages full of marketing talk to present basically another (better, maybe) HoloLens.
- sp332 8y ago
  What's wrong with being a better Hololens?
  - dna_polymerase 8y ago
    Nothing wrong, but given all the buzz I expected something incredible. This right now has already be done, by Microsoft, so I don't really see how they could possibly compete in this market.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - DonHopkins 8y ago
      And Microsoft managed to ship Hololens without settling any sexual discrimination lawsuits. (Obviously they have better lawyers!) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/14/magic-leap-faces-sexual-discrimination-suit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/14/magic-lea... https://mic.com/articles/168619/the-most-damning-allegations-from-the-sexual-discrimination-complaint-against-magic-leap https://mic.com/articles/168619/the-most-damning-allegations... https://www.wired.com/2017/05/magic-leap-bias-suit-sexism-sign-failure/ https://www.wired.com/2017/05/magic-leap-bias-suit-sexism-si... >Thanks to Campbell's lawsuit, a whole new host of questions have arisen, as well as a sinking suspicion that the company is even more dysfunctional than previously thought. Excessive hype is one sign of a company possibly foundering due to mismanagement. Misogyny of the kind alleged by Campbell suggests dysfunction on a whole other level. As incidents of sexism in tech pile up, it's becoming clear that misogyny in the industry is both a moral travesty and a potential warning sign that a business is in trouble.
newfocogi 8y ago
What happened to Magic Leap's advanced photonic lightfield chip? I thought the thing that made Magic Leap special was their light field tech, but this just appears to be stacked wave guides, which other than having 2 focal planes seems to be the same tech as Hololens.
- jarsin 8y ago
  The chip plus nano machines that enter your eyes cortex are coming in the next round of funding.
- ickwabe 8y ago
  I think it's in there in the "waveguide" tech. iFixit has a pretty good write on on their tear down and they mention this. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Leap+One+Teardown/112245 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Leap+One+Teardown/1122... Also... https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/23/teardown-of-magic-leap-one-reveals-highly-advanced-placeholder-tech/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/23/teardown-of-magic-leap-one...
- GW150914 8y ago
  It never existed and was never going to exist, except as marketing and investor hype. Same with their fiber-scanning display, and everything else that doesn’t add up to, “like a Hololens, but with a much dimmer view of the real world and more useless patents.” https://www.kguttag.com/2018/08/27/palmer-luckey-founder-of-oculus-magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ https://www.kguttag.com/2018/08/27/palmer-luckey-founder-of-... Quote from Palmer Luckey in that blog: “The ML1 is a not a “lightfield projector” or display by any broadly accepted definition, and as a Bi-Focal Display, only solves vergence-accommodation conflict in contrived demos that put all UI and environmental elements at one of two focus planes. Mismatch occurs at all other depths. In much the same way, a broken clock displays the correct time twice a day.“ Downvotes aside, are there any actual counterpoints to be offered to this critique? It is like a Hololens, it does have a dimmer view, it doesn’t match their many promises and early patents, it is slightly cheaper and has a slightly better FOV than HL, but it’s also wired to their Lightpack. All in all I’d say the investors should be carrying pitchforks and torches.
kadendogthing 8y ago
Are they planning a sort of technical deep dive/developer Q&A? The page reeks of marketing and is extremely lax on any kind of substantial details that would make me want to purchase one of these things. I've enjoyed my vive and rift since they both came out, and I'd love to try this gadget out. It doesn't appear to be worth the cost at face value though.
- DonHopkins 8y ago
  I'm shocked, I say shocked, that something from Magic Leap could possibly be said to reek of marketing. You should spend the next six minutes and seventeen seconds of your life watching this amazing piece of public relations magic that transparently unveils the deep truth of what Magic Leap is really all about: The synthesis of imagination: Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap at TEDxSarasota https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY
  - hexeater 8y ago
    I suppose we have to suffer this type of non-content in order to enable those who ultimately deliver the goods!
    - DonHopkins 8y ago
      Just like the way we had to suffer through the developer slave auctions at the infamous Microsoft "Pax Romana" toga party in Spartan Arena they rented along with real live lions for the DirectX II launch party, which decades later eventually led to the Hololens. The ends always justify the means. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.programmer/lNrrRSSOqik https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.programmer... https://books.google.nl/books?id=1wEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=microsoft+auctioned+off+developers+toga+party+%22CGDC%22&source=bl&ots=cNT6TMgNe6&sig=l-E7xzlMdFOZTNsC24OPQZC0CgQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW96CoyJDdAhUKbFAKHUoOB3kQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=microsoft%20auctioned%20off%20developers%20toga%20party%20%22CGDC%22&f=false https://books.google.nl/books?id=1wEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT115&lpg=P... >If somebody entered a tournament and won, they got money and gifts from the sponsors. If they lost, centurions would march them off at spear point and confine them to the slave pit to be auctioned to the audience or fed to the lions. There were two live lions at the party, but only one actually escaped during the event. (I witnessed the event. The lions were real, and Microsoft was handing out as much free Silly String to drunken developers as they could carry. The article accurately goes on to describe the Roman orgy, slave girls in brightly colored robes and slave men in loin cloths and sandals, and slaves hand feeding grapes to the party's corporate sponsors wearing robes, and fanning them with palms, and the slave auction. But I digress...)
nickthemagicman 8y ago
Was the part at the end about the Airbender and zuko a dig at journalists?
- drivebyubnt 8y ago
  It was a dig at Palmer Luckey, who wrote a scathing review of the MLP. https://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ https://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
vijaybritto 8y ago
Is it just AR? Or is it something different? All the hype for so many years showed console level graphics in the ads but the real videos show low quality android level graphics.
- jazzyjackson 8y ago
  I haven't seen anything that differentiates it from Hololens at this point. Their 'waveguide' tech apparently allows it to create graphics in focus at 0.5m and also at 5m, but having items become out of focus with the rest of the world, never seemed like a hindrance to me since if I wasn't focused on it, well, I wasn't paying attention. They have eye-tracking tech but aren't using it yet. The Palmer piece (Magic Leap is a Tragic Heap) breaks down that this is a Tegra X2 running an Android OS. The console level graphics were most assuredly vaporware.
  - freeone3000 8y ago
    It has a slightly wider field of view and two focal planes. Also, it's cheaper.
    - GW150914 8y ago
      It also has a wired headset to a belt computing device, and a dimmer view of the real world. I’m not convinced that the FOV is worth that.
      - DonHopkins 8y ago
        When I see "belt computing" I think of Factorio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSfVqIkVEnI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSfVqIkVEnI
    - jazzyjackson 8y ago
      Well it's 2 years later so I hope the same tech would be cheaper ;)
40acres 8y ago
It's interesting reading startup literature regarding MVPs and iterating quickly and notice that almost none of it applies to the AR/VR space. Between Magic Leap and Ubiquty6 it seems like the most interesting players in AR are more notable for their funding rounds than for anything else. Magic Leap is rolling out their own hardware so it's more understandable but its really hard to justify spending $2K on a first generation AR device. If I had to put money on it I think Magic Leap will go the way of General Magic, lots of cool tech and ideas in a product that was ultimately too expensive and too late to drive the company forward but will be looked upon as a great innovator once another company uses their inventions and packages it in a low cost, user friendly interface.
- dantheman 8y ago
  Oculus started out as an MVP. It was a kickstarter project.
  - kapauldo 8y ago
    And so shall it die. The most overpriced buyout in history.
- eganist 8y ago
  > ultimately too expensive and too late Their only (admittedly public) rival in the space is Microsoft, and adoption of HoloLens even as a developer platform hasn't exactly been groundbreaking. There are still many laps left 'til the finish line.
  - jvagner 8y ago
    Or we remember it like we remember 3D TVs.
  - turbojerry 8y ago
    There are more rivals than Microsoft e.g.- https://www.osterhoutgroup.com/home https://www.osterhoutgroup.com/home https://www.vuzix.com https://www.vuzix.com https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805968217/mix-the-smallest-ar-glasses-with-immersive-96fov https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805968217/mix-the-small... https://www.epson.co.uk/products/see-through-mobile-viewer/moverio-bt-300 https://www.epson.co.uk/products/see-through-mobile-viewer/m...
dmode 8y ago
Magic Leap raised boatloads of money, which game me the impression that they are really building something mass market that can be useful for most people in this world. I am not into gaming and have kids, so cannot wear AR glasses in my home and walk around. Are there use cases for Magic Leap that support non gamers ? Or is it mostly a niche product like an Oculus ?
- rpdillon 8y ago
  Is an Oculus niche? I brought my Go on a family vacation last month, and after trying it on, both my sisters wanted one. Neither are people I would say have ever gamed much before, but after they experienced it, they were sold.
  - jessedhillon 8y ago
    Did they end up buying their own VR gear then? My sister said she loved Star Wars after watching episode III in theaters, but still hasn't seen any of the others.
    - rpdillon 8y ago
      They both put it on their gift lists for the rest of the family to chip in on around the holidays. =)
- 0xCMP 8y ago
  They are, this is a developer device. They want apps and games to be available first. (Friend)
- aphextron 8y ago
  >Are there use cases for Magic Leap that support non gamers ? Or is it mostly a niche product like an Oculus ? AR will definitely be the way forward for all computing. This brief awkward period of 50ish years using analog inputs and physical screens which we are currently living through will be seen as a blip in the history of human-computer interaction hundreds of years from now. However the only use case for this iteration of the technology is for developers to begin working on new interaction paradigms and app ideas for AR in general. We're still years away from true consumer tech but I can admit as someone very familiar with VR/AR hardware that the Magic Leap One is a solid evolutionary step forward from what we've seen so far. I'm not impressed enough to buy one yet, but at least the company has shown they aren't total vaporware at this point and hopefully they can keep improving.
Raphmedia 8y ago
Before judging the price, remember that other less useful luxury tech gadgets have similar price points. E.g. Sony's new Aibo at $2899.
- IshKebab 8y ago
  And Aibo is now reasonably priced and a huge success?
- jarsin 8y ago
  I don't have kids yet, but when I do I am so glad I won't have to buy them a dog that craps all over everything. So worth 3k. Thank god to SNE.
- spjt 8y ago
  Sony makes other stuff.
rglover 8y ago
Cool to see tech like this moving forward. Still think we're 5-10 years off from folks really adopting this stuff heavily (especially with a higher price point like this), but man, it's going to get wild. $50 says one day Alexa will just be sitting on your couch, taking on whatever form you'd like (e.g., Bill Murray, snacking on Fig Newtons waiting for commands). Does anyone know what would be a good way to start dabbling in developing environments/experiences for these and other AR devices?
- epmaybe 8y ago
  unity has a pretty beginner-friendly toolset for windows mixed reality, I would check that out for sure. In terms of getting an AR capable device, I think some of the screen only (not holograms but camera-based to display) MR devices are relatively cheap, somewhere in the $200-500 USD range. It's a pretty fun experience, maybe you'll have an interesting use case :)
spullara 8y ago
I have one of these and a Hololens. Basically the ML1 is incremental improvement. There are still no mainstream consumer use cases that are plausible.
- sbr464 8y ago
  Curious--how is the font rendering/text quality? Example, working with digital cards with a title, short description, maybe numbers (currency/stats etc), reading them quickly and organizing them. I'm familiar with Oculus, so maybe in general and compared to the Rift?
  - spullara 8y ago
    Hard to say. The experience is quite a bit different than VR headsets. I can imagine that with its small FoV that it ought to be a bit better but I don't have an easy way to compare them.
    - ReverseCold 8y ago
      How about...How big does text need to be in order for you to be able to comfortably read it? (Compare using a quarter or other common object a certain distance away from you.) For example on the rift, text is readable when it's the size of a quarter ~3 feet away from me.
- sand500 8y ago
  Incremental improvement and $700 cheaper.
  - ngokevin 8y ago
    Over a 2+ year old product that is about to release a next version. At this stage, price is not a big deal. It's not close to consumer targeting. At least Microsoft gives some out to developers.
    - 8y ago
mattbierner 8y ago
Any developers actively creating (and sharing) interesting stuff for the device? The examples on their website feel like stuff I’ve seen before. I’d be interested in hearing about the good things and the challenges of developing for their platform and for AR in general
hartator 8y ago
Really, really cool. I don’t any usecases in mind, but I want one. I wish someone can just port a Sublime text or A VSCode on the headset, and code from here.
Razengan 8y ago
Chiming in on the questions regarding use cases etc.: Aside from letting artists and engineers paint/sculpt/model more intuitively in 3D space, I still believe that the killer app for VR on the consumer side would be virtual tourism. Coming full circle to the View-Master [0], except this time people could practically live in their favorite fantasy or sci-fi locations. Imagine being part of the crew on the USS Enterprise, or idling the hours away smoking the halflings' leaf in the Shire.. Right now though, VR is just a fancy display tech, but with lower [apparent] resolution than many existing 2D displays and comparatively poor, often fatigue-inducing interactivity in almost all cases, apart from the aforementioned placement of 3D objects. Why has nobody dared to drop the pretenses yet, and actually take VR to the level it professes to be: supplanting reality? Make it more than just a display. Invent some kind of cabin with climate control and aromatic components, that lets your other senses and your entire body feel like you're someplace else. Feel the tropical wind on your face without leaving the concrete jungle of your megacity. Of course at first such tech would be too expense to have in most people's homes. So you might also usher in a renaissance of public arcades; VRcades? :) People could start going there as an alternative to expensive vacations. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master
- DickVanDyke 8y ago
  I guess you answered your own question. There is a cart/horse problem with VR/AR. The tech isn't quite there, so no one wants to buy it, and people aren't going to improve it unless the money is there. And since people aren't buying it, the money isn't there...so the tech isn't quite there... Maybe in time.
- arnaudsm 8y ago
  I'm skeptic about virtual tourism. We already have 4K HDR screens that display gorgeous pictures, but people still go to the museum to admire paintings. Tourism is more of a social act than a content-consumption one. People brag when they go to the museum, but never when they binge-watch paintings at 3 AM on the Internet.
  - Razengan 8y ago
8bitsrule 8y ago
Quite the name. Pretty sure that Rudolf Nureyev already cornered that market tho.

106 points by pbnjay 8y ago

Sadly not available for my area, but I was happy to see the note about prescriptions. Thats probably one of my biggest complaints about the Rift and others is that it gets pretty uncomfortable with glasses on.

tlb 8y ago
You can't buy them yet, which made the system barely usable for me. It comes with an empty frame that accommodates round lenses. I popped the lenses out of an old pair of glasses and ground them to the right size and shape with a belt sander, and it works OK. You can eyeball the size accurately enough to fit snugly in the rubber frame.
curuinor 8y ago
You can get the Oculus Go with prescription lenses.
rhinoceraptor 8y ago
I had to buy a pair of glasses specifically to fit under my rift, I bought the smallest kids glasses I could find that I could get with my prescription. They look ridiculous, but that's ok. It was much cheaper than buying prescription inserts, I would have to special order them since my prescription is fairly high.
jazzyjackson 8y ago
I was very pleasantly surprised to find Hololens able to accommodate my glasses. Agreed wrt Rift.

alexnewman 8y ago

Any advantages over the hololens

wilsonnb3 8y ago
It's cheaper, and it looks like the controller it comes with has more features than the HoloLens clicker.
sp332 8y ago
It has two focal planes instead of one, which helps with depth perception a lot.
ngokevin 8y ago
Side-note that Hololens is over two years old, and a second iteration is coming.
Ajedi32 8y ago
$700 cheaper, less weight on your head, increased field-of-view, 6-DOF tracked controller, eye tracking, and support for two focal planes.

xutopia 8y ago

"Both the real world and virtual light rays initiate neural signals that pass from the retina to the visual part of the brain, creating unbelievably believable experiences." So light?

sp332 8y ago
It's a transparent display that lets you see the real world while also seeing what's on the screen. Edit: it's basically describing the advantage of AR over VR in general.
onomics 8y ago
Woah, virtual light rays travelling via neural signals! Oh wait, that's the same as looking at computer screen. I hate marketing speak..

smaili 8y ago

> We created a new kind of computer so we built a whole new operating system. One that gets the most out of our spatial computing system by working in tandem with digital lightfields and the brain. Lumin OS is fully optimized for environment recognition, persistent digital content and the performance to power high-fidelity visual experiences that turns your wildest imagination into even wilder realities. Super curious if it's built from the ground up or a mod of an existing OS.

qeternity 8y ago
These days "OS" is basically marketing speak for SDK on top of a Linux kernel.
- computerphage 8y ago
  If that! I've seen company claim to be the "OS of banks" meaning they're a commonly used application for people doing something in a bank.
- adrian_mrd 8y ago
  So true.
CharlesW 8y ago
It's Linux. "Magic Leap is best known for its hardware, but the roughly 1,500-person company has a large software team as well, and the Magic Leap One has a functional operating system and starting app suite. Its Linux-based Lumen OS…"[1] "There's also information on the Magic Leap's Lumin OS, a custom-built operating system based on open source/Linux tools."[2] [1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/8/17662040/magic-leap-one-creator-edition-preview-mixed-reality-glasses-launch https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/8/17662040/magic-leap-one-cr... [2] https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/magic-leap-first-set-ar-developer-tools/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/magic-leap-first-set-ar-...
joezydeco 8y ago
"Magic Leap says they have “built a whole new operating system” called LuminOS to take advantage of their “spatial computing system“. It is actually just Android with custom stuff on top, the same approach most people take when they want to claim they have built a whole operating system... I hope Magic Leap does cool stuff in the future, but the current UI is basically an Android Wear watch menu that floats in front of you." http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/

taurath 8y ago

Really seems like a money furnace for the investors here.

pwaai 8y ago
Well if you are privileged to invest in Magic Leap One, they probably aren't hurting...no sympathy from me when their plans to buy a yacht is ruined :/ It is backed by Google so there is probably plans to improve the hardware which as it stands is not impressive OR knowing Google they could pull the plug just as easily. In fact, Magic Leap One, is looking to be a major major flop, shortly after somebody released a review on the limited focal view and some annoying hardware designs I knew it was fucked.
- 0xCMP 8y ago
  It's not all about the investors dude. Money misallocated means companies, solutions, and inventions that could have been built aren't since the money wasn't there. We all lose when that happens. This is a developer device. We'll see when they release the consumer one if it flops, but that'll probably be if no one makes the apps or games it needs to be successful.
  - Maybestring 8y ago
    These all seem a guaranteed flop at the consumer level. Limited FOV is going to kill it for almost everyone. I think they would sell more at double the price, if they doubled the FOV.
    - 0xCMP 8y ago
      Agreed. I'm sure they're aware of that. But they needed to get a device to developers given that they've "built a whole new operating system" (As Lucky explained, just built stuff on Android). Also from Palmer Lucky: They need to fix the controller. Either compromise on it or make something custom that works. Commercial applications will bring a lot of funding here and a wonky controller, when others exist which are not, will hamper that. They have the chicken, now they need developers to make eggs. Day One of a consumer Magic Leap device needs that for anyone to say "wow, I need to have one of those in my life."

whateveryou381 8y ago

Site purchasing does not work. Leads to a page "oops" that has one button "return to magic"

foobaw 8y ago
Maybe a fake CTA to measure interest..

interdrift 8y ago

Too much.

sp332 8y ago
It's an engineering prototype that you can buy. Hololens was $3,000 and this is better than Hololens.
- dna_polymerase 8y ago
  How is this better? You seem somewhat involved with them.
  - sp332 8y ago
    I'm just taking a break at work, chill. https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leap-one-first-hands-impressions-for-hololens-developers-0186411/ https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leap-one-first-ha...
mtgx 8y ago
Microsoft's Hololens is quite a bit more: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy Definitely too much for consumers, though. The price needs to drop at least 3x, which it probably will in a couple of years.

dna_polymerase 8y ago

I remember the first articles about this super secretive start up from not the Silicon Valley, that did some super amazing stuff, loads of VC-cash and all that. This thing now looks really underwhelming. The pages full of marketing talk to present basically another (better, maybe) HoloLens.

sp332 8y ago
What's wrong with being a better Hololens?
- dna_polymerase 8y ago
  Nothing wrong, but given all the buzz I expected something incredible. This right now has already be done, by Microsoft, so I don't really see how they could possibly compete in this market.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - DonHopkins 8y ago
    And Microsoft managed to ship Hololens without settling any sexual discrimination lawsuits. (Obviously they have better lawyers!) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/14/magic-leap-faces-sexual-discrimination-suit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/14/magic-lea... https://mic.com/articles/168619/the-most-damning-allegations-from-the-sexual-discrimination-complaint-against-magic-leap https://mic.com/articles/168619/the-most-damning-allegations... https://www.wired.com/2017/05/magic-leap-bias-suit-sexism-sign-failure/ https://www.wired.com/2017/05/magic-leap-bias-suit-sexism-si... >Thanks to Campbell's lawsuit, a whole new host of questions have arisen, as well as a sinking suspicion that the company is even more dysfunctional than previously thought. Excessive hype is one sign of a company possibly foundering due to mismanagement. Misogyny of the kind alleged by Campbell suggests dysfunction on a whole other level. As incidents of sexism in tech pile up, it's becoming clear that misogyny in the industry is both a moral travesty and a potential warning sign that a business is in trouble.

newfocogi 8y ago

What happened to Magic Leap's advanced photonic lightfield chip? I thought the thing that made Magic Leap special was their light field tech, but this just appears to be stacked wave guides, which other than having 2 focal planes seems to be the same tech as Hololens.

jarsin 8y ago
The chip plus nano machines that enter your eyes cortex are coming in the next round of funding.
ickwabe 8y ago
I think it's in there in the "waveguide" tech. iFixit has a pretty good write on on their tear down and they mention this. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Leap+One+Teardown/112245 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Leap+One+Teardown/1122... Also... https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/23/teardown-of-magic-leap-one-reveals-highly-advanced-placeholder-tech/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/23/teardown-of-magic-leap-one...
GW150914 8y ago
It never existed and was never going to exist, except as marketing and investor hype. Same with their fiber-scanning display, and everything else that doesn’t add up to, “like a Hololens, but with a much dimmer view of the real world and more useless patents.” https://www.kguttag.com/2018/08/27/palmer-luckey-founder-of-oculus-magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ https://www.kguttag.com/2018/08/27/palmer-luckey-founder-of-... Quote from Palmer Luckey in that blog: “The ML1 is a not a “lightfield projector” or display by any broadly accepted definition, and as a Bi-Focal Display, only solves vergence-accommodation conflict in contrived demos that put all UI and environmental elements at one of two focus planes. Mismatch occurs at all other depths. In much the same way, a broken clock displays the correct time twice a day.“ Downvotes aside, are there any actual counterpoints to be offered to this critique? It is like a Hololens, it does have a dimmer view, it doesn’t match their many promises and early patents, it is slightly cheaper and has a slightly better FOV than HL, but it’s also wired to their Lightpack. All in all I’d say the investors should be carrying pitchforks and torches.

kadendogthing 8y ago

Are they planning a sort of technical deep dive/developer Q&A? The page reeks of marketing and is extremely lax on any kind of substantial details that would make me want to purchase one of these things. I've enjoyed my vive and rift since they both came out, and I'd love to try this gadget out. It doesn't appear to be worth the cost at face value though.

DonHopkins 8y ago
I'm shocked, I say shocked, that something from Magic Leap could possibly be said to reek of marketing. You should spend the next six minutes and seventeen seconds of your life watching this amazing piece of public relations magic that transparently unveils the deep truth of what Magic Leap is really all about: The synthesis of imagination: Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap at TEDxSarasota https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY
- hexeater 8y ago
  I suppose we have to suffer this type of non-content in order to enable those who ultimately deliver the goods!
  - DonHopkins 8y ago
    Just like the way we had to suffer through the developer slave auctions at the infamous Microsoft "Pax Romana" toga party in Spartan Arena they rented along with real live lions for the DirectX II launch party, which decades later eventually led to the Hololens. The ends always justify the means. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.programmer/lNrrRSSOqik https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.programmer... https://books.google.nl/books?id=1wEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=microsoft+auctioned+off+developers+toga+party+%22CGDC%22&source=bl&ots=cNT6TMgNe6&sig=l-E7xzlMdFOZTNsC24OPQZC0CgQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW96CoyJDdAhUKbFAKHUoOB3kQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=microsoft%20auctioned%20off%20developers%20toga%20party%20%22CGDC%22&f=false https://books.google.nl/books?id=1wEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT115&lpg=P... >If somebody entered a tournament and won, they got money and gifts from the sponsors. If they lost, centurions would march them off at spear point and confine them to the slave pit to be auctioned to the audience or fed to the lions. There were two live lions at the party, but only one actually escaped during the event. (I witnessed the event. The lions were real, and Microsoft was handing out as much free Silly String to drunken developers as they could carry. The article accurately goes on to describe the Roman orgy, slave girls in brightly colored robes and slave men in loin cloths and sandals, and slaves hand feeding grapes to the party's corporate sponsors wearing robes, and fanning them with palms, and the slave auction. But I digress...)

nickthemagicman 8y ago

Was the part at the end about the Airbender and zuko a dig at journalists?

drivebyubnt 8y ago
It was a dig at Palmer Luckey, who wrote a scathing review of the MLP. https://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ https://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

vijaybritto 8y ago

Is it just AR? Or is it something different? All the hype for so many years showed console level graphics in the ads but the real videos show low quality android level graphics.

jazzyjackson 8y ago
I haven't seen anything that differentiates it from Hololens at this point. Their 'waveguide' tech apparently allows it to create graphics in focus at 0.5m and also at 5m, but having items become out of focus with the rest of the world, never seemed like a hindrance to me since if I wasn't focused on it, well, I wasn't paying attention. They have eye-tracking tech but aren't using it yet. The Palmer piece (Magic Leap is a Tragic Heap) breaks down that this is a Tegra X2 running an Android OS. The console level graphics were most assuredly vaporware.
- freeone3000 8y ago
  It has a slightly wider field of view and two focal planes. Also, it's cheaper.
  - GW150914 8y ago
    It also has a wired headset to a belt computing device, and a dimmer view of the real world. I’m not convinced that the FOV is worth that.
    - DonHopkins 8y ago
      When I see "belt computing" I think of Factorio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSfVqIkVEnI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSfVqIkVEnI
  - jazzyjackson 8y ago
    Well it's 2 years later so I hope the same tech would be cheaper ;)

40acres 8y ago

It's interesting reading startup literature regarding MVPs and iterating quickly and notice that almost none of it applies to the AR/VR space. Between Magic Leap and Ubiquty6 it seems like the most interesting players in AR are more notable for their funding rounds than for anything else. Magic Leap is rolling out their own hardware so it's more understandable but its really hard to justify spending $2K on a first generation AR device. If I had to put money on it I think Magic Leap will go the way of General Magic, lots of cool tech and ideas in a product that was ultimately too expensive and too late to drive the company forward but will be looked upon as a great innovator once another company uses their inventions and packages it in a low cost, user friendly interface.

dantheman 8y ago
Oculus started out as an MVP. It was a kickstarter project.
- kapauldo 8y ago
  And so shall it die. The most overpriced buyout in history.
eganist 8y ago
> ultimately too expensive and too late Their only (admittedly public) rival in the space is Microsoft, and adoption of HoloLens even as a developer platform hasn't exactly been groundbreaking. There are still many laps left 'til the finish line.
- jvagner 8y ago
  Or we remember it like we remember 3D TVs.
- turbojerry 8y ago
  There are more rivals than Microsoft e.g.- https://www.osterhoutgroup.com/home https://www.osterhoutgroup.com/home https://www.vuzix.com https://www.vuzix.com https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805968217/mix-the-smallest-ar-glasses-with-immersive-96fov https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805968217/mix-the-small... https://www.epson.co.uk/products/see-through-mobile-viewer/moverio-bt-300 https://www.epson.co.uk/products/see-through-mobile-viewer/m...

dmode 8y ago

Magic Leap raised boatloads of money, which game me the impression that they are really building something mass market that can be useful for most people in this world. I am not into gaming and have kids, so cannot wear AR glasses in my home and walk around. Are there use cases for Magic Leap that support non gamers ? Or is it mostly a niche product like an Oculus ?

rpdillon 8y ago
Is an Oculus niche? I brought my Go on a family vacation last month, and after trying it on, both my sisters wanted one. Neither are people I would say have ever gamed much before, but after they experienced it, they were sold.
- jessedhillon 8y ago
  Did they end up buying their own VR gear then? My sister said she loved Star Wars after watching episode III in theaters, but still hasn't seen any of the others.
  - rpdillon 8y ago
    They both put it on their gift lists for the rest of the family to chip in on around the holidays. =)
0xCMP 8y ago
They are, this is a developer device. They want apps and games to be available first. (Friend)
aphextron 8y ago
>Are there use cases for Magic Leap that support non gamers ? Or is it mostly a niche product like an Oculus ? AR will definitely be the way forward for all computing. This brief awkward period of 50ish years using analog inputs and physical screens which we are currently living through will be seen as a blip in the history of human-computer interaction hundreds of years from now. However the only use case for this iteration of the technology is for developers to begin working on new interaction paradigms and app ideas for AR in general. We're still years away from true consumer tech but I can admit as someone very familiar with VR/AR hardware that the Magic Leap One is a solid evolutionary step forward from what we've seen so far. I'm not impressed enough to buy one yet, but at least the company has shown they aren't total vaporware at this point and hopefully they can keep improving.

Raphmedia 8y ago

Before judging the price, remember that other less useful luxury tech gadgets have similar price points. E.g. Sony's new Aibo at $2899.

IshKebab 8y ago
And Aibo is now reasonably priced and a huge success?
jarsin 8y ago
I don't have kids yet, but when I do I am so glad I won't have to buy them a dog that craps all over everything. So worth 3k. Thank god to SNE.
spjt 8y ago
Sony makes other stuff.

rglover 8y ago

Cool to see tech like this moving forward. Still think we're 5-10 years off from folks really adopting this stuff heavily (especially with a higher price point like this), but man, it's going to get wild. $50 says one day Alexa will just be sitting on your couch, taking on whatever form you'd like (e.g., Bill Murray, snacking on Fig Newtons waiting for commands). Does anyone know what would be a good way to start dabbling in developing environments/experiences for these and other AR devices?

epmaybe 8y ago
unity has a pretty beginner-friendly toolset for windows mixed reality, I would check that out for sure. In terms of getting an AR capable device, I think some of the screen only (not holograms but camera-based to display) MR devices are relatively cheap, somewhere in the $200-500 USD range. It's a pretty fun experience, maybe you'll have an interesting use case :)

spullara 8y ago

I have one of these and a Hololens. Basically the ML1 is incremental improvement. There are still no mainstream consumer use cases that are plausible.

sbr464 8y ago
Curious--how is the font rendering/text quality? Example, working with digital cards with a title, short description, maybe numbers (currency/stats etc), reading them quickly and organizing them. I'm familiar with Oculus, so maybe in general and compared to the Rift?
- spullara 8y ago
  Hard to say. The experience is quite a bit different than VR headsets. I can imagine that with its small FoV that it ought to be a bit better but I don't have an easy way to compare them.
  - ReverseCold 8y ago
    How about...How big does text need to be in order for you to be able to comfortably read it? (Compare using a quarter or other common object a certain distance away from you.) For example on the rift, text is readable when it's the size of a quarter ~3 feet away from me.
sand500 8y ago
Incremental improvement and $700 cheaper.
- ngokevin 8y ago
  Over a 2+ year old product that is about to release a next version. At this stage, price is not a big deal. It's not close to consumer targeting. At least Microsoft gives some out to developers.
  - 8y ago

mattbierner 8y ago

Any developers actively creating (and sharing) interesting stuff for the device? The examples on their website feel like stuff I’ve seen before. I’d be interested in hearing about the good things and the challenges of developing for their platform and for AR in general

hartator 8y ago

Really, really cool. I don’t any usecases in mind, but I want one. I wish someone can just port a Sublime text or A VSCode on the headset, and code from here.

Razengan 8y ago

Chiming in on the questions regarding use cases etc.: Aside from letting artists and engineers paint/sculpt/model more intuitively in 3D space, I still believe that the killer app for VR on the consumer side would be virtual tourism. Coming full circle to the View-Master [0], except this time people could practically live in their favorite fantasy or sci-fi locations. Imagine being part of the crew on the USS Enterprise, or idling the hours away smoking the halflings' leaf in the Shire.. Right now though, VR is just a fancy display tech, but with lower [apparent] resolution than many existing 2D displays and comparatively poor, often fatigue-inducing interactivity in almost all cases, apart from the aforementioned placement of 3D objects. Why has nobody dared to drop the pretenses yet, and actually take VR to the level it professes to be: supplanting reality? Make it more than just a display. Invent some kind of cabin with climate control and aromatic components, that lets your other senses and your entire body feel like you're someplace else. Feel the tropical wind on your face without leaving the concrete jungle of your megacity. Of course at first such tech would be too expense to have in most people's homes. So you might also usher in a renaissance of public arcades; VRcades? :) People could start going there as an alternative to expensive vacations. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master

DickVanDyke 8y ago
I guess you answered your own question. There is a cart/horse problem with VR/AR. The tech isn't quite there, so no one wants to buy it, and people aren't going to improve it unless the money is there. And since people aren't buying it, the money isn't there...so the tech isn't quite there... Maybe in time.
arnaudsm 8y ago
I'm skeptic about virtual tourism. We already have 4K HDR screens that display gorgeous pictures, but people still go to the museum to admire paintings. Tourism is more of a social act than a content-consumption one. People brag when they go to the museum, but never when they binge-watch paintings at 3 AM on the Internet.
- Razengan 8y ago

8bitsrule 8y ago

Quite the name. Pretty sure that Rudolf Nureyev already cornered that market tho.