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To me the important part of this is not how it looks, but the potential for this. It is clear that this is a a first product in a category that will change a l

To me the important part of this is not how it looks, but the potential for this. It is clear that this is a a first product in a category that will change a lot over the next several years, especially as the hardware improves. I don't see Apple discontinuing this quickly like Google Glasses and Microsoft HoloLens. I would not wear this out, but in a few years maybe things can shrink down enough to make that more realistic.

tracerbulletx 3y ago
Also if enough people start wearing it all the time people will just get over the weirdness. It's not impossible that will happen.
- methodical 3y ago
  Good point. Things are weird until they're normalized- just look at what happened with the airpods
  - valbaca 3y ago
    When were airpods weird? People had already been wearing apple earbuds since the iPod came out and had been wearing headphones since the Sony Walkman
    - goosinmouse 3y ago
      it was a very very short period of time. But there was a time where people were made fun of for talking to themselves with little white stubs sticking out of their ear. It's an interesting read through the initial airpod announcement thread on reddit. https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/51mxn5/the_new_airpods_priced_at_159/ https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/51mxn5/the_new_airpo... Some of my favorite comments. Pretty crazy that people didn't really understand wireless earbuds while today they're taken for granted. "Cigarettes in my ears" "They forgot that people are less likely to adopt new technologies that make them look stupid." "Yeah, they should at least be able to strap to each other." "My feeling on these headphones is entirely contingent on sound quality. As it is, I could get a pair of bluetooth headphones from Audio Technica for under 100$." "The only user interface is by tapping the AirPods to talk to Siri, even to adjust the volume. No thanks." "I don't see any consumer base other than die hard apple fans that can use these pair of head phones, earphones or whatever they are called. Runners would definitely not buy these as there is a high risk of them falling out of the ears. Even for a regular person there a huge risk of running into one another making the earphones fall and stepping on them. Interesting scenario would be when 2 airpods users run into one another and damage their devices and then sit over a coffee just to discuss how foolish decision they made buying this piece of shit." And then Nostradamus showed up in the comments "It looks like the kind of thing people will mock before they use it and then when they use it they'll realize that it's actually pretty good overall and everyone will just kind of simmer down about the whole thing."
      - jwestbury 3y ago
        > Even for a regular person there a huge risk of running into one another making the earphones fall and stepping on them. This is my favourite bit. Does this person just go around running into people all day every day? Maybe they need to look up from their phone more.
methodical 3y ago
Couldn't agree more- the technology just doesn't exist to deliver something of this sort in a way that doesn't come across as dystopian, which is unfortunate. They'll definitely iterate to bring it to a more seamless solution that seems less like going into a different world and ignoring reality.
- nerdjon 3y ago
  I think also, this is not something that can be developed in a vacuum. I mean look at the Apple Watch. When it was first announced it was advertised as something very different from what it morphed into. We have a lot of UI and software interaction that we need to figure out before we have the proper hardware. This will remain very niche, but it is a starting point.
weaksauce 3y ago
yeah my immediate reaction was to laugh at how ridiculous it looks but the features are amazing. i didn't expect much but damn they hit it out of the park if all of it works as well as they are saying.

tracerbulletx 3y ago

Also if enough people start wearing it all the time people will just get over the weirdness. It's not impossible that will happen.

methodical 3y ago
Good point. Things are weird until they're normalized- just look at what happened with the airpods
- valbaca 3y ago
  When were airpods weird? People had already been wearing apple earbuds since the iPod came out and had been wearing headphones since the Sony Walkman
  - goosinmouse 3y ago
    it was a very very short period of time. But there was a time where people were made fun of for talking to themselves with little white stubs sticking out of their ear. It's an interesting read through the initial airpod announcement thread on reddit. https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/51mxn5/the_new_airpods_priced_at_159/ https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/51mxn5/the_new_airpo... Some of my favorite comments. Pretty crazy that people didn't really understand wireless earbuds while today they're taken for granted. "Cigarettes in my ears" "They forgot that people are less likely to adopt new technologies that make them look stupid." "Yeah, they should at least be able to strap to each other." "My feeling on these headphones is entirely contingent on sound quality. As it is, I could get a pair of bluetooth headphones from Audio Technica for under 100$." "The only user interface is by tapping the AirPods to talk to Siri, even to adjust the volume. No thanks." "I don't see any consumer base other than die hard apple fans that can use these pair of head phones, earphones or whatever they are called. Runners would definitely not buy these as there is a high risk of them falling out of the ears. Even for a regular person there a huge risk of running into one another making the earphones fall and stepping on them. Interesting scenario would be when 2 airpods users run into one another and damage their devices and then sit over a coffee just to discuss how foolish decision they made buying this piece of shit." And then Nostradamus showed up in the comments "It looks like the kind of thing people will mock before they use it and then when they use it they'll realize that it's actually pretty good overall and everyone will just kind of simmer down about the whole thing."
    - jwestbury 3y ago
      > Even for a regular person there a huge risk of running into one another making the earphones fall and stepping on them. This is my favourite bit. Does this person just go around running into people all day every day? Maybe they need to look up from their phone more.

methodical 3y ago

Couldn't agree more- the technology just doesn't exist to deliver something of this sort in a way that doesn't come across as dystopian, which is unfortunate. They'll definitely iterate to bring it to a more seamless solution that seems less like going into a different world and ignoring reality.

nerdjon 3y ago
I think also, this is not something that can be developed in a vacuum. I mean look at the Apple Watch. When it was first announced it was advertised as something very different from what it morphed into. We have a lot of UI and software interaction that we need to figure out before we have the proper hardware. This will remain very niche, but it is a starting point.

weaksauce 3y ago

yeah my immediate reaction was to laugh at how ridiculous it looks but the features are amazing. i didn't expect much but damn they hit it out of the park if all of it works as well as they are saying.