4 ms·

I think you are right about the timing strategy and about the tech improvements. Displays and optics have been some of the blockers. 6DOF tracking seems to be

I think you are right about the timing strategy and about the tech improvements. Displays and optics have been some of the blockers. 6DOF tracking seems to be mostly solved (albeit in a very costly manner) and seemingly settled on inside-out tracking. Controls are IMHO a very weak point with no clear line of sight path to a solution. Software could help, but so far I think that poor engineering did not help to highlight the hardware qualities of the various prototype we've seen (I've not tried everything but I would not call any of those a mass-market product) Industrial design could be the magic sauce, this is why people have been hoping for Apple to save the day. Given their recent track record I am not convinced this will happen.

threeseed 4y ago
Apple can bring far more than just industrial design. a) Have acquired [1] a ridiculous number of AR/VR companies including Limbak [2] who have conceptual lens designs which are far better than anything on the market today. b) Proven supply chain and expertise with LiDAR, MicroLED, Photonics, Glass, Custom Silicon, Batteries, Power Management, Wearable Fabrics etc. c) Up to version 6 of their ARKit SDK [3] and decade of experience in building ultra low power operating systems e.g. Secure Enclave OS, watchOS etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIr4Em03B5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIr4Em03B5s [3] https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/arkit/ https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/arkit/
- charcircuit 4y ago
  >and decade of experience in building ultra low power operating systems e.g. Secure Enclave OS, watchOS etc. The latest rumors say that the current headset requires you to carry a large battery separate to it all for 2 hours of battery life. That sounds like a failure to be ultra low power.
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    2 hours is fine for VR, you can’t play much longer than that anyways. For AR it’s probably not that great, however.
    - charcircuit 4y ago
      My point was that in order to reach a viable battery life they had to compromise by forcing people to carry around a large battery pack.
      - boppo1 4y ago
        Killer app: figure out how to power it off the energy stored in my adipose tissue.
        zemvpferreira 4y ago
        Would inertial charging like an automatic watch be a possiblity for a vr headset? I'd love that actually!
        danpalmer 4y ago
        Probably not. Inertial charging still requires that you put the effort in, the trick is that with watches it's very little effort – equivalent to winding the watch every few days – so you don't feel it. If you have ever used a hand-crank torch or radio, or something else that converts effort into power, you'll know that it takes a fair bit of effort, and that's for low power devices. Inertial charging to recoup, say, 5k mAh to charge a smart phone for a day, would therefore require a lot of effort. This would be spread out over a day, but might feel like, for example, carrying a heavy backpack the whole day.
        cassianoleal 4y ago
        Could it be used to charge that external battery and significantly improve its autonomy? :D
jay_kyburz 4y ago
I'm quite excited about VR/AR while sitting at my desk with traditional mouse and keyboard. I also think console game controllers and the hand tracking controllers that ships with the Oculus and Vive are are excellent. I think the greatest weakness of VR is total immersion. Its not clear to me that people will ever really want to be completely shut off from reality while in virtual space.
- chaostheory 4y ago
  > Its not clear to me that people will ever really want to be completely shut off from reality while in virtual space. I don’t feel that you’d want this all the time, but if for some reason you cant go outside; being able to be in a completely virtual environment gives you a giant sense of space

threeseed 4y ago

Apple can bring far more than just industrial design. a) Have acquired [1] a ridiculous number of AR/VR companies including Limbak [2] who have conceptual lens designs which are far better than anything on the market today. b) Proven supply chain and expertise with LiDAR, MicroLED, Photonics, Glass, Custom Silicon, Batteries, Power Management, Wearable Fabrics etc. c) Up to version 6 of their ARKit SDK [3] and decade of experience in building ultra low power operating systems e.g. Secure Enclave OS, watchOS etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIr4Em03B5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIr4Em03B5s [3] https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/arkit/ https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/arkit/

charcircuit 4y ago
>and decade of experience in building ultra low power operating systems e.g. Secure Enclave OS, watchOS etc. The latest rumors say that the current headset requires you to carry a large battery separate to it all for 2 hours of battery life. That sounds like a failure to be ultra low power.
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  2 hours is fine for VR, you can’t play much longer than that anyways. For AR it’s probably not that great, however.
  - charcircuit 4y ago
    My point was that in order to reach a viable battery life they had to compromise by forcing people to carry around a large battery pack.
    - boppo1 4y ago
      Killer app: figure out how to power it off the energy stored in my adipose tissue.
      - zemvpferreira 4y ago
        Would inertial charging like an automatic watch be a possiblity for a vr headset? I'd love that actually!
        danpalmer 4y ago
        Probably not. Inertial charging still requires that you put the effort in, the trick is that with watches it's very little effort – equivalent to winding the watch every few days – so you don't feel it. If you have ever used a hand-crank torch or radio, or something else that converts effort into power, you'll know that it takes a fair bit of effort, and that's for low power devices. Inertial charging to recoup, say, 5k mAh to charge a smart phone for a day, would therefore require a lot of effort. This would be spread out over a day, but might feel like, for example, carrying a heavy backpack the whole day.
        cassianoleal 4y ago
        Could it be used to charge that external battery and significantly improve its autonomy? :D

jay_kyburz 4y ago

I'm quite excited about VR/AR while sitting at my desk with traditional mouse and keyboard. I also think console game controllers and the hand tracking controllers that ships with the Oculus and Vive are are excellent. I think the greatest weakness of VR is total immersion. Its not clear to me that people will ever really want to be completely shut off from reality while in virtual space.

chaostheory 4y ago
> Its not clear to me that people will ever really want to be completely shut off from reality while in virtual space. I don’t feel that you’d want this all the time, but if for some reason you cant go outside; being able to be in a completely virtual environment gives you a giant sense of space