8 ms·

Apple buys startup focused on lenses for AR glasses

167 points by sahin-boydas 8y ago

person_of_color 8y ago
How come I never hear about a startup until the acquisition? I want to join a company that will be acquired by FANG.
- techstrategist 8y ago
  That's not so easy, but you can make some predictions. What areas are going to be interesting to FANG in the coming years? What companies are doing something useful in that space? Who has something unique that FANG companies would have difficulty replicating in-house?
  - person_of_color 8y ago
    It would be great to come up with a service to crawl AngelList for predictions
- nosjwshere 8y ago
  FANG? Facebook, Apple n Google?
- wodenokoto 8y ago
  Seems like Google is buying every mobileOS with any sort of traction, so ...
- skrebbel 8y ago
  So does every VC out there and they're doing this as a fulltime job and they still suck at it :)
- douglaswlance 8y ago
  You'd be more likely to start one than work for one.
  - nickparker 8y ago
    This is an interesting claim and I can't decide if it's true. On the one hand, of the set of people working on companies which get acquired by FANG, I would bet a lot of money that less than 1/4 are founders. Even if the vast majority of them were acqui-hires with only founders, it just takes a few mid-sized acquisitions to tilt things back toward more non-founders. On the other hand, P(FANG acquisition | founding a company) might be higher than P(FANG acquisition | taking a dev job ~someplace~). Ie there are a lot of small companies out there who'd like to hire you but aren't high-growth high-tech startups with a shot at the outcome you want.
- jarsin 8y ago
  Ya bro and once they get acquired you'll be one of the first that gets to congratulate the newly rich founders. Next day your out of a job.
no1youknowz 8y ago
PolyMatter did a nice video on why "Apple Glasses Are Coming." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8
- skellera 8y ago
  While that’s a decent starting point, the larger reason is the App Store. Apple sees the value in being the interface for your daily computer interaction. Imagine being the interface to your world. You are the gatekeeper to everything a person sees. There is exponentially more value possible than the App Store and the App Store made them the largest company in the world. Everything that video says is why they can succeed but the driving force is selling more software.
  - DonHopkins 8y ago
    The driving force is selling more everything, by not just tracking how many eyeballs are looking, but also what they're looking at.
mickyvicky 8y ago
AR glasses is going to be more than 30 billion dollar net worth till 2020. Curious to know how audience is seeing it and experiencing it.
karmelapple 8y ago
The primary information available on their website seems to be associated with holographic data storage. They had a prototype working in 2010 [1]. Anyone familiar with this technology, and how it may compare to, say, SSDs? A 2012 article seems pretty down on them [2]. Akonia also simply acquired the assets after InPhase filed for bankruptcy in 2011 [3]. If so, being purchased by Apple has to be a big win for the Akonia investors! [1] http://akoniaholographics.com/holographic-data/index.html http://akoniaholographics.com/holographic-data/index.html [2] https://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/whatever-happened-to-holographic-storage-1099304 https://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPhase_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPhase_Technologies
mgazzer 8y ago
This news fits nicely with this theory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8
loa-in-backup 8y ago
And pays for articles that give them their beloved publicity on the net
outside1234 8y ago
i can't wait for Apple to figure out AR
- stesch 8y ago
  Apple bought Metaio in 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio
- techstrategist 8y ago
  There are already impressive things happening with ARKit; I have a feeling there will be plenty of developers using a relatively mature toolset already if/when they drop a real AR product outside of a phone. https://twitter.com/search?f=videos&vertical=default&q=%23arkit&src=typd https://twitter.com/search?f=videos&vertical=default&q=%23ar...
- zamalek 8y ago
  I honestly don't think we are close enough to the tools. It is the culmination of what is currently handwavium: neural interfaces, carbon nanotechnology, who knows? As a VR user and enthusiast, FOV is a problem that lenses simply can't solve - which is an even harder problem for AR. I'm not a big fan of Apple, but I can hand them the "polish card" (at least under Jobs). With our current level of technology, that level of polish is impossible.
  - oliveshell 8y ago
    We’ll never get there if we don’t start sometime... even if the development process might take a decade or two. No one is better prepared to judge whether the tools are ready than people who are being paid to try and make it work.
    - zamalek 8y ago
      I'm not saying that it's not worth it - just that we have a lot more to do than a single acquisition.
debt 8y ago
"The firm has a portfolio of more than 200 patents related to holographic systems and materials."
doublerebel 8y ago
It looks like the acquired startup, Akonia, uses waveguides like Hololens but uses photopolymer in place of the diffraction grating. https://mspoweruser.com/akonia-plans-holographic-waveguide-eye-piece-60-degree-field-view-oems/ https://mspoweruser.com/akonia-plans-holographic-waveguide-e... https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/26/akonia-uses-holography-to-create-transparent-augmented-reality-display/ https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/26/akonia-uses-holography-to... Whitepaper on the photopolymer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25835673/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25835673/ They were going to replace tape storage with holographic storage before they figured out how to apply it to AR. Here's the holographic storage pitch deck: https://science.energy.gov/~/media/np/pdf/sbir%2520sttr/SBIR_STTR_2016/Day2/Anderson_Akonia_Presentation_For_Publication.pdf https://science.energy.gov/~/media/np/pdf/sbir%2520sttr/SBIR... http://www.pdsw.org/pdsw15/slides/AkoniaHolographicsKeynote.pdf http://www.pdsw.org/pdsw15/slides/AkoniaHolographicsKeynote....
- threeseed 8y ago
  Akonia/Apple: 60° FOV (targeted) Hololens: 35° FOV (currently) Magic Leap: 40° FOV horizontal / 30° vertical (currently)
  - amelius 8y ago
    Humans: 210° FOV (for reference) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view
    - pen2l 8y ago
      Consider foveation as well — only a small part of that is truly in “focus”. Some up and coming be glasses take this into account and expend lesser resources on the part that’s outside the important part (they don’t render that part in a high resolution, so it’s left blurry, which is actually how our eyes work anyway)
      - Filligree 8y ago
        That only really works when combined with low-latency eye tracking. Yes, whatever we don't look directly at is really blurry, but our eyes move. On the other hand, eye tracking is just about ready already. I've heard Google is working on a VR system using foveated rendering with tracking.

167 points by sahin-boydas 8y ago

person_of_color 8y ago

How come I never hear about a startup until the acquisition? I want to join a company that will be acquired by FANG.

techstrategist 8y ago
That's not so easy, but you can make some predictions. What areas are going to be interesting to FANG in the coming years? What companies are doing something useful in that space? Who has something unique that FANG companies would have difficulty replicating in-house?
- person_of_color 8y ago
  It would be great to come up with a service to crawl AngelList for predictions
nosjwshere 8y ago
FANG? Facebook, Apple n Google?
wodenokoto 8y ago
Seems like Google is buying every mobileOS with any sort of traction, so ...
skrebbel 8y ago
So does every VC out there and they're doing this as a fulltime job and they still suck at it :)
douglaswlance 8y ago
You'd be more likely to start one than work for one.
- nickparker 8y ago
  This is an interesting claim and I can't decide if it's true. On the one hand, of the set of people working on companies which get acquired by FANG, I would bet a lot of money that less than 1/4 are founders. Even if the vast majority of them were acqui-hires with only founders, it just takes a few mid-sized acquisitions to tilt things back toward more non-founders. On the other hand, P(FANG acquisition | founding a company) might be higher than P(FANG acquisition | taking a dev job ~someplace~). Ie there are a lot of small companies out there who'd like to hire you but aren't high-growth high-tech startups with a shot at the outcome you want.
jarsin 8y ago
Ya bro and once they get acquired you'll be one of the first that gets to congratulate the newly rich founders. Next day your out of a job.

no1youknowz 8y ago

PolyMatter did a nice video on why "Apple Glasses Are Coming." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8

skellera 8y ago
While that’s a decent starting point, the larger reason is the App Store. Apple sees the value in being the interface for your daily computer interaction. Imagine being the interface to your world. You are the gatekeeper to everything a person sees. There is exponentially more value possible than the App Store and the App Store made them the largest company in the world. Everything that video says is why they can succeed but the driving force is selling more software.
- DonHopkins 8y ago
  The driving force is selling more everything, by not just tracking how many eyeballs are looking, but also what they're looking at.

mickyvicky 8y ago

AR glasses is going to be more than 30 billion dollar net worth till 2020. Curious to know how audience is seeing it and experiencing it.

karmelapple 8y ago

The primary information available on their website seems to be associated with holographic data storage. They had a prototype working in 2010 [1]. Anyone familiar with this technology, and how it may compare to, say, SSDs? A 2012 article seems pretty down on them [2]. Akonia also simply acquired the assets after InPhase filed for bankruptcy in 2011 [3]. If so, being purchased by Apple has to be a big win for the Akonia investors! [1] http://akoniaholographics.com/holographic-data/index.html http://akoniaholographics.com/holographic-data/index.html [2] https://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/whatever-happened-to-holographic-storage-1099304 https://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPhase_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPhase_Technologies

mgazzer 8y ago

This news fits nicely with this theory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8

loa-in-backup 8y ago

And pays for articles that give them their beloved publicity on the net

outside1234 8y ago

i can't wait for Apple to figure out AR

stesch 8y ago
Apple bought Metaio in 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio
techstrategist 8y ago
There are already impressive things happening with ARKit; I have a feeling there will be plenty of developers using a relatively mature toolset already if/when they drop a real AR product outside of a phone. https://twitter.com/search?f=videos&vertical=default&q=%23arkit&src=typd https://twitter.com/search?f=videos&vertical=default&q=%23ar...
zamalek 8y ago
I honestly don't think we are close enough to the tools. It is the culmination of what is currently handwavium: neural interfaces, carbon nanotechnology, who knows? As a VR user and enthusiast, FOV is a problem that lenses simply can't solve - which is an even harder problem for AR. I'm not a big fan of Apple, but I can hand them the "polish card" (at least under Jobs). With our current level of technology, that level of polish is impossible.
- oliveshell 8y ago
  We’ll never get there if we don’t start sometime... even if the development process might take a decade or two. No one is better prepared to judge whether the tools are ready than people who are being paid to try and make it work.
  - zamalek 8y ago
    I'm not saying that it's not worth it - just that we have a lot more to do than a single acquisition.

debt 8y ago

"The firm has a portfolio of more than 200 patents related to holographic systems and materials."

doublerebel 8y ago

It looks like the acquired startup, Akonia, uses waveguides like Hololens but uses photopolymer in place of the diffraction grating. https://mspoweruser.com/akonia-plans-holographic-waveguide-eye-piece-60-degree-field-view-oems/ https://mspoweruser.com/akonia-plans-holographic-waveguide-e... https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/26/akonia-uses-holography-to-create-transparent-augmented-reality-display/ https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/26/akonia-uses-holography-to... Whitepaper on the photopolymer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25835673/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25835673/ They were going to replace tape storage with holographic storage before they figured out how to apply it to AR. Here's the holographic storage pitch deck: https://science.energy.gov/~/media/np/pdf/sbir%2520sttr/SBIR_STTR_2016/Day2/Anderson_Akonia_Presentation_For_Publication.pdf https://science.energy.gov/~/media/np/pdf/sbir%2520sttr/SBIR... http://www.pdsw.org/pdsw15/slides/AkoniaHolographicsKeynote.pdf http://www.pdsw.org/pdsw15/slides/AkoniaHolographicsKeynote....

threeseed 8y ago
Akonia/Apple: 60° FOV (targeted) Hololens: 35° FOV (currently) Magic Leap: 40° FOV horizontal / 30° vertical (currently)
- amelius 8y ago
  Humans: 210° FOV (for reference) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view
  - pen2l 8y ago
    Consider foveation as well — only a small part of that is truly in “focus”. Some up and coming be glasses take this into account and expend lesser resources on the part that’s outside the important part (they don’t render that part in a high resolution, so it’s left blurry, which is actually how our eyes work anyway)
    - Filligree 8y ago
      That only really works when combined with low-latency eye tracking. Yes, whatever we don't look directly at is really blurry, but our eyes move. On the other hand, eye tracking is just about ready already. I've heard Google is working on a VR system using foveated rendering with tracking.