4 ms·

Since the article didn't seem to mention... can someone explain why this is newsworthy? My smoothbrained self just doesn't get it.

bee_rider 1y ago
The site’s “about us” page appears to be lorem ipsum, so I guess it is probably just somebody’s blog. Showing up there doesn’t make it necessarily newsworthy I guess. Lumus is just a company. So “Lumus waveguide” doesn’t seem to tell us much other than the supplier.
- modeless 1y ago
  Karl Guttag has published far more information than you ever wanted to know about Lumus in the past, e.g. https://kguttag.com/2021/05/24/exclusive-lumus-maximus-2k-x-2k-per-eye-3000-nits-50-fov-with-though-the-optics-pictures/ https://kguttag.com/2021/05/24/exclusive-lumus-maximus-2k-x-...
- mrandish 1y ago
  The "About" link on the upper left of the site's homepage goes here: https://kguttag.com/about-karl-guttag/ https://kguttag.com/about-karl-guttag/ But I found his blog a couple years ago and have been reading it ever since. Karl follows VR/AR display tech obsessively, goes to all the shows/conferences and talks with all the companies - then does highly technical, in-depth write-ups of what's new and notable - which often includes his unvarnished opinions. His blog is read by basically everyone in the industry, so all the companies give him briefings and demos despite the fact he'll call it like he sees it. Which is why he's pretty much my go to source when any new VR/AR display tech gets announced. Even more valuable to me, he'll mention when companies are lagging or falling short of expectations and he'll even speculate about where things could (or should) go. His blog is basically like having a buddy who's an expert industry insider who'll tell you what he really thinks over a beer - which is pretty invaluable if you're someone who's interested and technical but doesn't follow this space that closely. That doesn't mean Karl's opinion is always correct but it is certainly well-informed and usually supported with technical data - although he did say this post was just a quick note that a video was leaked. He'll probably have a real post after it's announced and a deep dive once he gets his hands on one. Interesting fact: Karl's career was as a chip architect. He designed key parts of the the Texas Instruments 9918 - the first general purpose video display processor which was used in dozens of 80s computers and game systems including Sega Master System (and coined the term "sprite"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_%28computer_graphics%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_%28computer_graphics%29 https://kguttag.com/2025/07/01/tms9918-the-first-sprite-chip-presentation-at-vcf-southwest/ https://kguttag.com/2025/07/01/tms9918-the-first-sprite-chip... So yeah, he's just "some random retired guy with a blog" but a guy with 150 patents and dozens of published technical papers. But being some random retired guy with a blog, he makes little effort to be accessible to first-time visitors or do design, marketing, etc. You just have to read-in and when you do, you pretty quickly figure out this guy knows his stuff.
ericskiff 1y ago
Folks have been predicting that the next big shift in computing will be onto glasses that we wear and away from our phones. The tech just hasn’t been there yet and most of the devices that do this are heavy clunky and hot Meta is investing billions to get out ahead of this shift and to own the entertainment and data (and thus advertising) layers that sit on top of the real world through these glasses The rumor mill is abuzz that Facebook finally making a play for it in the next set of smart glasses after a few years of sticking to VR headsets and audio/camera only glasses
- actionfromafar 1y ago
  Facebook is trying so very hard to be Innovative Online Industries.
  - Mr_Eri_Atlov 1y ago
    "I get that reference."
    - Octoth0rpe 1y ago
      And that's the whole book
      - actionfromafar 1y ago
        No deep insights there, but it was a beautiful romp while it lasted :)
- adrr 1y ago
  Why do they call the smart glasses when they just send everything to the smart phone? Nothing is done on device.
  - delecti 1y ago
    They're also called smartwatches, when most of them are pretty useless without a phone. Even if they offload everything to the phone, they're still much "smarter" than normal glasses, which just sit there doing nothing but correcting vision.
0x303 1y ago
My understanding is that this specific type of lens projection technology hasn't been available at the consumer level before, and is a step up from previous AR approaches. Noteworthy because it's an interesting extra technical insight about a soon to be announced Meta product, if that's your kind of thing
modeless 1y ago
The Meta Ray-Bans have been extremely successful for a completely new consumer device form factor. But they don't have a screen. Meta is releasing new glasses with a screen and this is a look into the display technology they are using. It is "newsworthy" for tech people who are interested in the development of new technology in displays and optics, and new computing devices more generally. This is the kind of content HN was made for, much more so than the Israel/Gaza or Bertrand Russell stories I see on the front page right now for example.
- Octoth0rpe 1y ago
  > The Meta Ray-Bans have been extremely successful for a completely new consumer device form factor. Do you have any sources on them being a successful product by any measurable standard? I honestly wasn't aware that they were even being sold, and I'm sure I don't know anyone that owns a pair. I'm not exactly their target market, but I think at least some in my social circle are.
  - davedx 1y ago
    My friend in England has a pair. They’re selling extremely well
    - adhamsalama 1y ago
      My mate Paul says they're not.
  - nickthegreek 1y ago
    over 2mil sold since oct 2023.
    - haijo2 1y ago
      .... thats nothing. Id hardly call that a success when you consider Meta's resources for marketing. Google is also finding that blasting YT with ads of Google Pixel does not work very well.

bee_rider 1y ago

The site’s “about us” page appears to be lorem ipsum, so I guess it is probably just somebody’s blog. Showing up there doesn’t make it necessarily newsworthy I guess. Lumus is just a company. So “Lumus waveguide” doesn’t seem to tell us much other than the supplier.

modeless 1y ago
Karl Guttag has published far more information than you ever wanted to know about Lumus in the past, e.g. https://kguttag.com/2021/05/24/exclusive-lumus-maximus-2k-x-2k-per-eye-3000-nits-50-fov-with-though-the-optics-pictures/ https://kguttag.com/2021/05/24/exclusive-lumus-maximus-2k-x-...
mrandish 1y ago
The "About" link on the upper left of the site's homepage goes here: https://kguttag.com/about-karl-guttag/ https://kguttag.com/about-karl-guttag/ But I found his blog a couple years ago and have been reading it ever since. Karl follows VR/AR display tech obsessively, goes to all the shows/conferences and talks with all the companies - then does highly technical, in-depth write-ups of what's new and notable - which often includes his unvarnished opinions. His blog is read by basically everyone in the industry, so all the companies give him briefings and demos despite the fact he'll call it like he sees it. Which is why he's pretty much my go to source when any new VR/AR display tech gets announced. Even more valuable to me, he'll mention when companies are lagging or falling short of expectations and he'll even speculate about where things could (or should) go. His blog is basically like having a buddy who's an expert industry insider who'll tell you what he really thinks over a beer - which is pretty invaluable if you're someone who's interested and technical but doesn't follow this space that closely. That doesn't mean Karl's opinion is always correct but it is certainly well-informed and usually supported with technical data - although he did say this post was just a quick note that a video was leaked. He'll probably have a real post after it's announced and a deep dive once he gets his hands on one. Interesting fact: Karl's career was as a chip architect. He designed key parts of the the Texas Instruments 9918 - the first general purpose video display processor which was used in dozens of 80s computers and game systems including Sega Master System (and coined the term "sprite"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_%28computer_graphics%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_%28computer_graphics%29 https://kguttag.com/2025/07/01/tms9918-the-first-sprite-chip-presentation-at-vcf-southwest/ https://kguttag.com/2025/07/01/tms9918-the-first-sprite-chip... So yeah, he's just "some random retired guy with a blog" but a guy with 150 patents and dozens of published technical papers. But being some random retired guy with a blog, he makes little effort to be accessible to first-time visitors or do design, marketing, etc. You just have to read-in and when you do, you pretty quickly figure out this guy knows his stuff.

ericskiff 1y ago

Folks have been predicting that the next big shift in computing will be onto glasses that we wear and away from our phones. The tech just hasn’t been there yet and most of the devices that do this are heavy clunky and hot Meta is investing billions to get out ahead of this shift and to own the entertainment and data (and thus advertising) layers that sit on top of the real world through these glasses The rumor mill is abuzz that Facebook finally making a play for it in the next set of smart glasses after a few years of sticking to VR headsets and audio/camera only glasses

actionfromafar 1y ago
Facebook is trying so very hard to be Innovative Online Industries.
- Mr_Eri_Atlov 1y ago
  "I get that reference."
  - Octoth0rpe 1y ago
    And that's the whole book
    - actionfromafar 1y ago
      No deep insights there, but it was a beautiful romp while it lasted :)
adrr 1y ago
Why do they call the smart glasses when they just send everything to the smart phone? Nothing is done on device.
- delecti 1y ago
  They're also called smartwatches, when most of them are pretty useless without a phone. Even if they offload everything to the phone, they're still much "smarter" than normal glasses, which just sit there doing nothing but correcting vision.

0x303 1y ago

My understanding is that this specific type of lens projection technology hasn't been available at the consumer level before, and is a step up from previous AR approaches. Noteworthy because it's an interesting extra technical insight about a soon to be announced Meta product, if that's your kind of thing

modeless 1y ago

The Meta Ray-Bans have been extremely successful for a completely new consumer device form factor. But they don't have a screen. Meta is releasing new glasses with a screen and this is a look into the display technology they are using. It is "newsworthy" for tech people who are interested in the development of new technology in displays and optics, and new computing devices more generally. This is the kind of content HN was made for, much more so than the Israel/Gaza or Bertrand Russell stories I see on the front page right now for example.

Octoth0rpe 1y ago
> The Meta Ray-Bans have been extremely successful for a completely new consumer device form factor. Do you have any sources on them being a successful product by any measurable standard? I honestly wasn't aware that they were even being sold, and I'm sure I don't know anyone that owns a pair. I'm not exactly their target market, but I think at least some in my social circle are.
- davedx 1y ago
  My friend in England has a pair. They’re selling extremely well
  - adhamsalama 1y ago
    My mate Paul says they're not.
- nickthegreek 1y ago
  over 2mil sold since oct 2023.
  - haijo2 1y ago
    .... thats nothing. Id hardly call that a success when you consider Meta's resources for marketing. Google is also finding that blasting YT with ads of Google Pixel does not work very well.