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Meta’s AR/VR hardware roadmap for the next four years

atlasunshrugged 4y ago
Of all the things Meta is doing, I'm glad it's pouring in funds into the space. Even if they're not successful, I bet they help move the industry forward and develop new tech that some other company can pick up later as things get more economical or as new capabilities emerge and make AR/VR really accessible
- lampshades 4y ago
  For all the hate they get, Meta is the only company that is making a real impact on moving this industry forward right now.
- gruffin 4y ago
  Same here. I work at Meta (outside Reality Labs) and don't believe the company will see any commercial success with AR/VR long term. But I'm bullish about VR having amazing potential and I'm glad to see its evolution get accelerated by all these investments.
fatnoah 4y ago
FWIW, this has roughly been the plan for a while. Full-on, daily-wearable AR is a major end goal. When you look at the past and present roadmaps, it's been all about progressively building hardware and software capabilities to enable this, such as smaller and more powerful headsets, mixed reality as a step to AR, controlling experiences via wrist input, glasses as a computing form factor, etc.
- koolala 4y ago
  “We should be able to run a very good ads business,” he said. “I think it’s easy to imagine how ads would show up in space when you have AR glasses on. Our ability to track conversions, which is where there has been a lot of focus as a company, should also be close to 100 percent.” Is the plan really to have an always-on device that records everything you say through your entire life for advertisement? Edit: conversions not conversations! false alarm! thank god...
  - pavlov 4y ago
    So far in computing history, nobody has ever gone broke by underestimating the average consumer's disregard for their own data privacy... It's sad if Meta doesn't see a need to internally reform on this front, though. Regardless of the financial bottom line, the company culture must evolve beyond defaulting to solutions that ultimately boil down to "everything that goes through our servers is fair game for us". I thought Zuck's E2E encryption promises a couple years ago were somewhat earnest at the time, but that may be all past.
  - meepmorp 4y ago
    Sucking up personal data to develop an ad profile is a tried and true strategy for them, and it's hardly surprising that they'd at least look into replicating that in the metaverse.
  - KaiserPro 4y ago
    > “We should be able to run a very good ads business,” As someone who works in research for AR and related stuff, its really _awesome_ to see a leader thoroughly piss in the well before its even launched a practical device. We all know that AR is a privacy issue, and if handled badly, will hamper society to huge extent. Yet, here we have this preening shit overriding all the privacy lessons the industry has learnt over the last 10 years.
  - theRealMe 4y ago
    Note that it says “track conversions” not “track conversations”. Tracking conversions means that they will know if they displayed an ad to you, that you bought the thing advertised. If that’s not what you misread, then carry on.
    - koolala 4y ago
      Yeah I totally misread it, couldn't believe it. Kind of unfortunate how easy it is to misread - lots of people seem to be.
  - johnbellone 4y ago
    How is that any different from your watch or phone? I have yet to find a real compelling use-case for wearables outside of the health space. But after playing games in VR it is quite apparent where everything will be going. It'll be interesting to see how much Apple is able to integrate into their first pass of their AR headset. I'm curious to see how long it'll take for us to have a daily wearable headset that is as accessible as our other devices to developers. We'll certainly see some awesome innovation, and, of course, people looking to simply mine your life so they can sell you another pair of sneakers.
dougmwne 4y ago
20 million Quest 2 headsets is no joke. That's comparable to the sales of the Xbox Series X. Meta is suddenly the 4th major game console vendor. That's significantly more sales than any other VR headset in history. Most sold less than 1 million units. PSVR is in second place at about 5 million units. And all that with basically Playstation 2 era graphics and a trash game library with no real AAA titles.
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  A lot of people just use their quest to play beat saber. I only play two games on mine (FitXR and Beat Saber), but that’s enough for 40m-1h a day. I don’t think I would ever game on my quest, however.
  - dougmwne 4y ago
    It is a fabulous exercise device. I have also found that Thrill of the Fight is an amazing stress buster. I think it’s because it hooks into the fight or flight response and closes the loop on chronic stress by letting you punch it in the face.
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      I don't really have the space for Thrill of the Fight, rhythm boxing and rhythm slicing are fairly stationary, so I don't have to worry about crashing into anything.
      - dougmwne 4y ago
        Yet more friction. It actually takes quite a bit of space to not smack into things playing the more active games.
  - jobs_throwaway 4y ago
    > I don’t think I would ever game on my quest, however. Why is that?
jobs_throwaway 4y ago
> Eventually, he said the band will let the wearer use a virtual keyboard and type at the same words per minute as what mobile phones allow. Why wouldn't this allow the same WPM as typing on a physical keyboard? Typing at mobile speed is not a good goal
- throwaway4aday 4y ago
  I doubt their wristband can do a good job of tracking the exact position of each finger tip. The videos they've shown of it seem to show people using a thumb swipe motion or slightly twitching their muscles as input.
cma 4y ago
Edit: ignore, misread "conversions" as "conversations"
- jsnell 4y ago
  Is it possible you've just misread something? The quote is about tracking conversions, not about tracking conversations.
  - cma 4y ago
    Oh wow, yeah big misread. The big focus as a company was probably referring to tracking conversions after the Apple changes.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ozten 4y ago
“We should be able to run a very good ads business,” he said. “I think it’s easy to imagine how ads would show up in space when you have AR glasses on. Our ability to track conversions, which is where there has been a lot of focus as a company, should also be close to 100 percent.”
- doomleika 4y ago
  If they don't misuse it(which they always do). For "ad" purpose only I don't see much of an issue. Targeted ads are nice(compared to untargeted one).
- nathanaldensr 4y ago
  It's so amazing to see this pinnacle of human achievement...for serving ads.
- koolala 4y ago
  conversions not conversations! It was super easy to misread!
hesdeadjim 4y ago
I have never understood the obsession with AR glasses being a replacement for a phone or them becoming some critical lifestyle product. I wear regular glasses and I can’t fucking stand it. They can be broken, scratched, lost, their prescription outdated, and expensive. Oh and if you want to see outside in the sun you need prescription sunglasses too, and maybe some prescription goggles if you ski... The only thing I dislike more than glasses is contacts. So I’m to expect that somehow I’ll want to dump my phone for an even more inconvenient device?
- doomleika 4y ago
  A HUD with natural hand-gesture interface would be very nice and the revoluation of next level of digitilization and UI. Being able to analysis thing infront me brings so much values. Also, replaces monitors, no more expensive setups just to get half-decent workstation. Gosh, I sound like salesmen but I really wish this to be true.
- fullshark 4y ago
  An always on eyeglass computer means advertisements can be shown to the user even if they haven't reached into their pocket and are actively staring at their phone. Think about how much more attention per day that is now available to monetized.
  - lampshades 4y ago
    This is short sighted. There are companies (Apple) working on headsets that don’t make their revenue from ads but from hardware and software. The value add of a headset is it replaces every other screen in your life and will hopefully, one day, be much more convenient than any other the other screens were.
    - fullshark 4y ago
      That is short sighted, the short term will be about providing consumer surplus to build a customer base but the eventual reality will be what current always connected computing is.
lampshades 4y ago
> Mixed reality will be a huge selling point, and Rabkin said there will be a new “smart guardian” to help wearers navigate the real world while they are wearing the device. Hopefully we see this for the Quest Pro soon. I hate being bugged about a guardian while walking through the house.
upon_drumhead 4y ago
> employees were told that Meta’s flagship Quest 3 headset coming later this year will be two times thinner For the love of god, can we please turn back the tide of “times thinner”? It’s “1/3rd as thick” (I think?)
karmakaze 4y ago
This is good to see, but it seems late and lacking by the time they'll come out. Bigscreen Beyond is the new VR benchmark. Hedging VR on AR might not be a winning formula vs choosing one. Apple may win AR and Valve/Bigscreen/etc can win VR with Meta lost in the middle.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  Bigscreen is a PCVR device that requires external lighthouse tracking. That approach is basically dead in the water outside of a small community of enthusiasts as it is way too high friction.
anuraaga 4y ago
[flagged]

Of all the things Meta is doing, I'm glad it's pouring in funds into the space. Even if they're not successful, I bet they help move the industry forward and develop new tech that some other company can pick up later as things get more economical or as new capabilities emerge and make AR/VR really accessible

lampshades 4y ago
For all the hate they get, Meta is the only company that is making a real impact on moving this industry forward right now.
gruffin 4y ago
Same here. I work at Meta (outside Reality Labs) and don't believe the company will see any commercial success with AR/VR long term. But I'm bullish about VR having amazing potential and I'm glad to see its evolution get accelerated by all these investments.

fatnoah 4y ago

FWIW, this has roughly been the plan for a while. Full-on, daily-wearable AR is a major end goal. When you look at the past and present roadmaps, it's been all about progressively building hardware and software capabilities to enable this, such as smaller and more powerful headsets, mixed reality as a step to AR, controlling experiences via wrist input, glasses as a computing form factor, etc.

koolala 4y ago
“We should be able to run a very good ads business,” he said. “I think it’s easy to imagine how ads would show up in space when you have AR glasses on. Our ability to track conversions, which is where there has been a lot of focus as a company, should also be close to 100 percent.” Is the plan really to have an always-on device that records everything you say through your entire life for advertisement? Edit: conversions not conversations! false alarm! thank god...
- pavlov 4y ago
  So far in computing history, nobody has ever gone broke by underestimating the average consumer's disregard for their own data privacy... It's sad if Meta doesn't see a need to internally reform on this front, though. Regardless of the financial bottom line, the company culture must evolve beyond defaulting to solutions that ultimately boil down to "everything that goes through our servers is fair game for us". I thought Zuck's E2E encryption promises a couple years ago were somewhat earnest at the time, but that may be all past.
- meepmorp 4y ago
  Sucking up personal data to develop an ad profile is a tried and true strategy for them, and it's hardly surprising that they'd at least look into replicating that in the metaverse.
- KaiserPro 4y ago
  > “We should be able to run a very good ads business,” As someone who works in research for AR and related stuff, its really _awesome_ to see a leader thoroughly piss in the well before its even launched a practical device. We all know that AR is a privacy issue, and if handled badly, will hamper society to huge extent. Yet, here we have this preening shit overriding all the privacy lessons the industry has learnt over the last 10 years.
- theRealMe 4y ago
  Note that it says “track conversions” not “track conversations”. Tracking conversions means that they will know if they displayed an ad to you, that you bought the thing advertised. If that’s not what you misread, then carry on.
  - koolala 4y ago
    Yeah I totally misread it, couldn't believe it. Kind of unfortunate how easy it is to misread - lots of people seem to be.
- johnbellone 4y ago
  How is that any different from your watch or phone? I have yet to find a real compelling use-case for wearables outside of the health space. But after playing games in VR it is quite apparent where everything will be going. It'll be interesting to see how much Apple is able to integrate into their first pass of their AR headset. I'm curious to see how long it'll take for us to have a daily wearable headset that is as accessible as our other devices to developers. We'll certainly see some awesome innovation, and, of course, people looking to simply mine your life so they can sell you another pair of sneakers.

dougmwne 4y ago

20 million Quest 2 headsets is no joke. That's comparable to the sales of the Xbox Series X. Meta is suddenly the 4th major game console vendor. That's significantly more sales than any other VR headset in history. Most sold less than 1 million units. PSVR is in second place at about 5 million units. And all that with basically Playstation 2 era graphics and a trash game library with no real AAA titles.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
A lot of people just use their quest to play beat saber. I only play two games on mine (FitXR and Beat Saber), but that’s enough for 40m-1h a day. I don’t think I would ever game on my quest, however.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  It is a fabulous exercise device. I have also found that Thrill of the Fight is an amazing stress buster. I think it’s because it hooks into the fight or flight response and closes the loop on chronic stress by letting you punch it in the face.
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    I don't really have the space for Thrill of the Fight, rhythm boxing and rhythm slicing are fairly stationary, so I don't have to worry about crashing into anything.
    - dougmwne 4y ago
      Yet more friction. It actually takes quite a bit of space to not smack into things playing the more active games.
- jobs_throwaway 4y ago
  > I don’t think I would ever game on my quest, however. Why is that?

jobs_throwaway 4y ago

> Eventually, he said the band will let the wearer use a virtual keyboard and type at the same words per minute as what mobile phones allow. Why wouldn't this allow the same WPM as typing on a physical keyboard? Typing at mobile speed is not a good goal

throwaway4aday 4y ago
I doubt their wristband can do a good job of tracking the exact position of each finger tip. The videos they've shown of it seem to show people using a thumb swipe motion or slightly twitching their muscles as input.

cma 4y ago

Edit: ignore, misread "conversions" as "conversations"

jsnell 4y ago
Is it possible you've just misread something? The quote is about tracking conversions, not about tracking conversations.
- cma 4y ago
  Oh wow, yeah big misread. The big focus as a company was probably referring to tracking conversions after the Apple changes.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

ozten 4y ago

“We should be able to run a very good ads business,” he said. “I think it’s easy to imagine how ads would show up in space when you have AR glasses on. Our ability to track conversions, which is where there has been a lot of focus as a company, should also be close to 100 percent.”

doomleika 4y ago
If they don't misuse it(which they always do). For "ad" purpose only I don't see much of an issue. Targeted ads are nice(compared to untargeted one).
nathanaldensr 4y ago
It's so amazing to see this pinnacle of human achievement...for serving ads.
koolala 4y ago
conversions not conversations! It was super easy to misread!

hesdeadjim 4y ago

I have never understood the obsession with AR glasses being a replacement for a phone or them becoming some critical lifestyle product. I wear regular glasses and I can’t fucking stand it. They can be broken, scratched, lost, their prescription outdated, and expensive. Oh and if you want to see outside in the sun you need prescription sunglasses too, and maybe some prescription goggles if you ski... The only thing I dislike more than glasses is contacts. So I’m to expect that somehow I’ll want to dump my phone for an even more inconvenient device?

doomleika 4y ago
A HUD with natural hand-gesture interface would be very nice and the revoluation of next level of digitilization and UI. Being able to analysis thing infront me brings so much values. Also, replaces monitors, no more expensive setups just to get half-decent workstation. Gosh, I sound like salesmen but I really wish this to be true.
fullshark 4y ago
An always on eyeglass computer means advertisements can be shown to the user even if they haven't reached into their pocket and are actively staring at their phone. Think about how much more attention per day that is now available to monetized.
- lampshades 4y ago
  This is short sighted. There are companies (Apple) working on headsets that don’t make their revenue from ads but from hardware and software. The value add of a headset is it replaces every other screen in your life and will hopefully, one day, be much more convenient than any other the other screens were.
  - fullshark 4y ago
    That is short sighted, the short term will be about providing consumer surplus to build a customer base but the eventual reality will be what current always connected computing is.

lampshades 4y ago

> Mixed reality will be a huge selling point, and Rabkin said there will be a new “smart guardian” to help wearers navigate the real world while they are wearing the device. Hopefully we see this for the Quest Pro soon. I hate being bugged about a guardian while walking through the house.

upon_drumhead 4y ago

> employees were told that Meta’s flagship Quest 3 headset coming later this year will be two times thinner For the love of god, can we please turn back the tide of “times thinner”? It’s “1/3rd as thick” (I think?)

karmakaze 4y ago

This is good to see, but it seems late and lacking by the time they'll come out. Bigscreen Beyond is the new VR benchmark. Hedging VR on AR might not be a winning formula vs choosing one. Apple may win AR and Valve/Bigscreen/etc can win VR with Meta lost in the middle.

dougmwne 4y ago
Bigscreen is a PCVR device that requires external lighthouse tracking. That approach is basically dead in the water outside of a small community of enthusiasts as it is way too high friction.

anuraaga 4y ago

[flagged]