21 ms·

Is Palmer Luckey right about Magic Leap being a tragic heap?

11 points by HBlix 8y ago

ipsum2 8y ago
99% of this article is quoting or rehashing what Palmer said in his blog post here: http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ and 1% of explaining that the claimed "fiber-scanning display" was not EL-wire, but some lasers to a DLP. Just read the original blog post, its more organized and clearer than this rehashed news article.
- dang 8y ago
  It was discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17848887 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17848887
threeseed 8y ago
Magic Leap has applied for hundreds of patents and dozens have already been approved: https://patents.justia.com/assignee/magic-leap-inc https://patents.justia.com/assignee/magic-leap-inc Even if the product fails the process might end up being quite lucrative. I actually suspect this is the reason VCs are comfortable to hand over the ridiculous amounts of money.
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  For what purpose, cross licensing instead of being bashed as derivative of Microsoft patents?
alexc05 8y ago
Palmer Luckey is a MAGA troll who donated at least $10k to pay people to "shitpost" during the 2016 election. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/oculus-rift-vr-palmer-luckey-trump-shitposts https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/oculus-ri... Why would anyone take his opinion trashing a competitor to the product seriously?
- chrisbolt 8y ago
  https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem
- Scuds 8y ago
  That's nothing compared to what he's doing now. https://www.wired.com/story/palmer-luckey-anduril-border-wall/ https://www.wired.com/story/palmer-luckey-anduril-border-wal...
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  Even a hired tool is right every now and again. He seems to be quite factual right now.
Ajedi32 8y ago
When considering whether or not Magic Leap will succeed, I think it's helpful to set aside all the hype and speculation and just look at the Magic Leap One for what it is. As far as I'm aware, the Magic Leap One is the best AR headset on the market today, at least in terms of the hardware. Compared to its stiffest competition, the Hololens, it's lighter on your head, has a wider field of view, is $700 cheaper, and features eye tracking, a 6-DOF controller, and a dual-focal display. But is that enough? Even with all those improvements, it's still a $2,295 headset with a fairly small FOV and several significant technical constraints. Clearly it's not ready yet for mass adoption with general consumers, so the question is; what's next? Is Magic Leap planning to release an updated version in a couple years that's less than half the price and technically superior to their existing headset? Can they last that long without any major revenue source? Or do they have other means of becoming profitable (perhaps commercial applications of the tech)? Still lots of unanswered questions here.
kapauldo 8y ago
It's as good as occulus. They're both solutions looking for problems.

11 points by HBlix 8y ago

99% of this article is quoting or rehashing what Palmer said in his blog post here: http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/ and 1% of explaining that the claimed "fiber-scanning display" was not EL-wire, but some lasers to a DLP. Just read the original blog post, its more organized and clearer than this rehashed news article.

dang 8y ago
It was discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17848887 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17848887

threeseed 8y ago

Magic Leap has applied for hundreds of patents and dozens have already been approved: https://patents.justia.com/assignee/magic-leap-inc https://patents.justia.com/assignee/magic-leap-inc Even if the product fails the process might end up being quite lucrative. I actually suspect this is the reason VCs are comfortable to hand over the ridiculous amounts of money.

AstralStorm 8y ago
For what purpose, cross licensing instead of being bashed as derivative of Microsoft patents?

alexc05 8y ago

Palmer Luckey is a MAGA troll who donated at least $10k to pay people to "shitpost" during the 2016 election. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/oculus-rift-vr-palmer-luckey-trump-shitposts https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/oculus-ri... Why would anyone take his opinion trashing a competitor to the product seriously?

chrisbolt 8y ago
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem
Scuds 8y ago
That's nothing compared to what he's doing now. https://www.wired.com/story/palmer-luckey-anduril-border-wall/ https://www.wired.com/story/palmer-luckey-anduril-border-wal...
AstralStorm 8y ago
Even a hired tool is right every now and again. He seems to be quite factual right now.

Ajedi32 8y ago

When considering whether or not Magic Leap will succeed, I think it's helpful to set aside all the hype and speculation and just look at the Magic Leap One for what it is. As far as I'm aware, the Magic Leap One is the best AR headset on the market today, at least in terms of the hardware. Compared to its stiffest competition, the Hololens, it's lighter on your head, has a wider field of view, is $700 cheaper, and features eye tracking, a 6-DOF controller, and a dual-focal display. But is that enough? Even with all those improvements, it's still a $2,295 headset with a fairly small FOV and several significant technical constraints. Clearly it's not ready yet for mass adoption with general consumers, so the question is; what's next? Is Magic Leap planning to release an updated version in a couple years that's less than half the price and technically superior to their existing headset? Can they last that long without any major revenue source? Or do they have other means of becoming profitable (perhaps commercial applications of the tech)? Still lots of unanswered questions here.

kapauldo 8y ago

It's as good as occulus. They're both solutions looking for problems.