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Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses

38 points by brazukadev 1y ago

giancarlostoro 1y ago
I want VR goggles like the ones in Cowboy Bebop, whoever makes really thin ones even if they are directly running on from a computer.
- xingped 1y ago
  Big Screen Beyond?
  - giancarlostoro 1y ago
    Can I travel cyberspace with those? Lol always loved the concepts in that show.
bigyabai 1y ago
Love him or hate him, nobody makes Tim Cook dance like Zuckerberg. My fortune cookie was right, we do live in interesting times...
A_D_E_P_T 1y ago
https://archive.ph/2CLXe https://archive.ph/2CLXe Now, the problem is that nobody likes smartglasses/"AI glasses"
- Everdred2dx 1y ago
  tiktok influencers seem to love them because they can record strangers without them knowing. so there’s that…
- hu3 1y ago
  Don't worry, if Apple "invents" it, suddenly AR glasses will be the best thing ever.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - A_D_E_P_T 1y ago
    Google Glass was "cool" for about five minutes, then, after test units shipped, it became the biggest laughing stock of 2013. (It was a simpler time.) Since then, just about every glasses-based project has fallen flat, and Snap's "spectacles" are possibly the most laughable tech product ever released. I don't think that Apple can overcome the aversion people feel when they interact with somebody wearing AR glasses with video recorders. It's going to look and feel like all the rest -- like something done in poor taste.
  - rchaud 1y ago
    That doesn't hold water anymore. The AVP was a huge flop, and it's clear Apple is chasing trends now; rumor is they're working on a folding iPhone, which Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, Pixel etc have had for half a decade.
    - Someone 1y ago
      > rumor is they're working on a folding iPhone I think it’s a safe bet Apple has had prototypes of foldable iPhones and iPads for years in its labs. That they don’t have a product must be because they haven’t found the screens good enough yet.
estimator7292 1y ago
Why can't anyone innovate anymore? Why is everything in the industry an oroborus eating its own shit? Just fads chasing fads and nobody ever has a unique (let alone good) idea.
- pedalpete 1y ago
  So is Meta's idea not good? Apple shouldn't copy that idea? Or is Meta's and everyone else's ideas so bad that nobody should do anything? Please clarify exactly what you're complaining about.
- dyauspitr 1y ago
  It’s a good innovative idea and frankly if they can fit that into the regular glasses form factor it will be a huge hit. The new Meta glasses are almost there.
- yalogin 1y ago
  What do you mean cannot innovate? Ideas that appeal to mass market are really really hard to do. There isn’t that much you can on top of what we already have. Glasses are the best form factor and putting together the hardware; software and user experience isn’t there even now. The fact that every company is going there tells you that we are going to get choices and a whole host of new experiences. I don’t follow why you are so dismissive
ebbi 1y ago
I demoed the Vision Pro recently (live in a country with no Apple Store), and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the experience. But it was too bulky and too pricy. Subsequently, I've tried a pair of Xreal One. I really like the concept, especially for what I used it for, which was as a secondary monitor when hooked to my MBP. Probably a niche use-case for sure, but if Apple can pull it off with a better resolution, it's something I would seriously consider purchasing.
- dublin 1y ago
  Likewise - I tried the demo recently, and it's really impressive. I wanted to try it because the new CAD package I'm using (Sharpr3D) runs on it, and it seemed like a good idea to try that. (Unfortunately, despite being one of the most impressive and serious 3D apps for VisionPro, it's not one that the Apple store (at least here in Austin) was able to demo.) But the demo also really convinced me that there is no damn way I'm going to want that ridiculously heavy and bulky hardware on my head for more than a few minutes. It's impressive, but pretty expensive, and completely impractical. It makes a great demo, but it's a miserably uncooked product - very well though out in some ways, but missing big targets like weight and comfort by a mile. Maybe in a few more years...
trafficante 1y ago
I wonder if Apple will be able to bridge the biggest gap between their hardware and Meta’s: the price gap The new Ray Ban AR glasses retail at a Meta subsidized $800 - has Apple ever released subsidized hardware? I remember when the Vision Pro’s BoM got leaked prior to announcement and people calculated out the pre-bulk discount cost at around $2500 (iirc). I saw crazy posts predicting it would get subsidized down to $2k, some saying they’d eat R&D and price it at hw cost, and a few realists claiming $2750-3000 was a more realistic target. It launched at $3500. If history is any guide, it won’t matter if Apple Glass 1.0 is a generation and a half above whatever Meta is selling if they keep going with the 5x price differential.
dkobia 1y ago
Meta is onto something pretty remarkable. The only problem with their glasses is that they’re built by Meta.
- achr2 1y ago
  Well said, I would buy them in a heartbeat if it was from a moral company.
  - garbawarb 1y ago
    Can you give an example of a moral company? Is Apple one?
    - foxyv 1y ago
      Naturally, moral is a relative term when it comes to companies in a society like ours. However I would say Purism, Pine64, Raspberry Pi, or Framework would be acceptable.
    - bitpush 1y ago
      Yes. If you close your eyes on cozying up to authoritarian regimes. Apple operates in China at Beijing's pleasure. Much of it is behind the scenes because that's how Chinese like to do. Compare that to US, where everything is a show. Look no further than the gold plated plaque that Apple gave to Trump. That was shameful.
      - euroderf 1y ago
        An imperfect analogy, but... Apple conserves privacy in the US by exporting privacy violations to China. Kind of like relocating your polluting industrial processes overseas.
        bigyabai 1y ago
        Funny thing is, we can assume that all the nasty stuff happens in China... but Apple is still a US company. However Tim Cook kisses up to Trump in public is corollary to how he kisses ass in private. If Chinese iCloud servers had backdoored HSMs installed without anyone throwing a hissy-fit, imagine what kind of control the US Government has had for the past decade...
abaymado 1y ago
I have owned both Quest 3 and the Vision Pro. It is safe to say that what Meta lacks in quality, it makes up for with creativity. When I initially bought the Quest 3, it felt unnatural, bulky, and had a poor resolution. I regretted the purchase after a few minutes. But then I started downloading apps, mainly social apps like "Big Screen", where random people can create/join rooms. I started joining these rooms with my 480p avatar with low expectations. But to my surprise, each room was unique, with crypto talks, atheist/religious debates. I accidentally even stumbled on a rap battle room, where people were passing around a mic and free styling. All of a sudden, it felt like the Metaverse. The social interaction overshadowed the corky avatar and somehow convinced my brain that I was talking to a real human being and not an avatar. I got invited to demo the Vision Pro prior to its release. They had already announced it at WWDC at this point. Given the price tag and the fact that it is Apple, I had high expectations. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was even more amazed. The cinema was phenomenal. After a few updates, my avatar or persona, like Apple likes to call it, looked just like me. But the plateau came too fast. Everything I tried on demoed the first day was everything it had to offer, just with different content. I still use the Vision Pro 2/3 times a week to watch movies or shows, and it is still a mind-blowing experience, but nothing that would make me rush to put the Vision Pro on. I wish Apple would follow Meta’s footprint and bring more social apps to the Vision Pro. I don't want to be on FaceTime with people I know and watch an Apple TV show. I want to join rooms with randoms arguing about why Bitcoin will be in the future.
- paool 1y ago
  To be fair, big screen has been around since the oculus DK2 days, so they had a lot of time to iterate. But ya, apple should be more Dev friendly overall.
  - bigyabai 1y ago
    Apple doesn't support VR/AR standards like OpenXR, so really developers haven't had a lot of time to iterate. They've had a lot of time to experiment, and then were asked to write a program from scratch for a headset without motion-tracked controllers.
bitpush 1y ago
Speaking of Vision Pro - People were convinced that Apple was playing 4D chess with Liquid Glass and how that's going to prep the normies to the new world of VR. Now that Vision is a certified dud (killedbyapple?) I wonder what'll happen to those thought leaders who were breathlessly trying to make sense of a UX upgrade
NoPicklez 1y ago
So long as the glasses have some sort of HUD where I can read messages, track heath metrics rather than a pair of glasses with a camera and voice integration only. I really don't see the value in sunglasses that I can talk to, I want augmented reality or a HUD.
bentt 1y ago
I applaud Meta's efforts here. If they spearhead Camera/AI glasses, then nobody will trust the product and it will die.
kotaKat 1y ago
Is there a reliable source for this that ISN’T Gurman or Bloomberg? He’s got a track record of spouting bullshit so he can drive the AAPL needle on the Terminal.
karmakaze 1y ago
Weird world where Meta does innovative hardware research and Apple makes the Vision Pro, then again with (actual) AR glasses. Competition is good.
pipeline_peak 1y ago
Funny how Post-Jobs Apple blatantly follows the pack. It would be nice if they did something slightly less predictable. Of course then they’d have to start taking risks again…
wpm 1y ago
"If you were a product person at IBM or Xerox, so you make a better copier or computer. So what? When you have monopoly market share, the company's not any more successful. So the people that can make the company more successful are sales and marketing people, and they end up running the companies. And the product people get driven out of the decision making forums, and the companies forget what it means to make great products. The product sensibility and the product genius that brought them to that monopolistic position gets rotted out by people running these companies that have no conception of a good product versus a bad product."

38 points by brazukadev 1y ago

I want VR goggles like the ones in Cowboy Bebop, whoever makes really thin ones even if they are directly running on from a computer.

xingped 1y ago
Big Screen Beyond?
- giancarlostoro 1y ago
  Can I travel cyberspace with those? Lol always loved the concepts in that show.

bigyabai 1y ago

Love him or hate him, nobody makes Tim Cook dance like Zuckerberg. My fortune cookie was right, we do live in interesting times...

A_D_E_P_T 1y ago

https://archive.ph/2CLXe https://archive.ph/2CLXe Now, the problem is that nobody likes smartglasses/"AI glasses"

Everdred2dx 1y ago
tiktok influencers seem to love them because they can record strangers without them knowing. so there’s that…
hu3 1y ago
Don't worry, if Apple "invents" it, suddenly AR glasses will be the best thing ever.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- A_D_E_P_T 1y ago
  Google Glass was "cool" for about five minutes, then, after test units shipped, it became the biggest laughing stock of 2013. (It was a simpler time.) Since then, just about every glasses-based project has fallen flat, and Snap's "spectacles" are possibly the most laughable tech product ever released. I don't think that Apple can overcome the aversion people feel when they interact with somebody wearing AR glasses with video recorders. It's going to look and feel like all the rest -- like something done in poor taste.
- rchaud 1y ago
  That doesn't hold water anymore. The AVP was a huge flop, and it's clear Apple is chasing trends now; rumor is they're working on a folding iPhone, which Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, Pixel etc have had for half a decade.
  - Someone 1y ago
    > rumor is they're working on a folding iPhone I think it’s a safe bet Apple has had prototypes of foldable iPhones and iPads for years in its labs. That they don’t have a product must be because they haven’t found the screens good enough yet.

estimator7292 1y ago

Why can't anyone innovate anymore? Why is everything in the industry an oroborus eating its own shit? Just fads chasing fads and nobody ever has a unique (let alone good) idea.

pedalpete 1y ago
So is Meta's idea not good? Apple shouldn't copy that idea? Or is Meta's and everyone else's ideas so bad that nobody should do anything? Please clarify exactly what you're complaining about.
dyauspitr 1y ago
It’s a good innovative idea and frankly if they can fit that into the regular glasses form factor it will be a huge hit. The new Meta glasses are almost there.
yalogin 1y ago
What do you mean cannot innovate? Ideas that appeal to mass market are really really hard to do. There isn’t that much you can on top of what we already have. Glasses are the best form factor and putting together the hardware; software and user experience isn’t there even now. The fact that every company is going there tells you that we are going to get choices and a whole host of new experiences. I don’t follow why you are so dismissive

ebbi 1y ago

I demoed the Vision Pro recently (live in a country with no Apple Store), and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the experience. But it was too bulky and too pricy. Subsequently, I've tried a pair of Xreal One. I really like the concept, especially for what I used it for, which was as a secondary monitor when hooked to my MBP. Probably a niche use-case for sure, but if Apple can pull it off with a better resolution, it's something I would seriously consider purchasing.

dublin 1y ago
Likewise - I tried the demo recently, and it's really impressive. I wanted to try it because the new CAD package I'm using (Sharpr3D) runs on it, and it seemed like a good idea to try that. (Unfortunately, despite being one of the most impressive and serious 3D apps for VisionPro, it's not one that the Apple store (at least here in Austin) was able to demo.) But the demo also really convinced me that there is no damn way I'm going to want that ridiculously heavy and bulky hardware on my head for more than a few minutes. It's impressive, but pretty expensive, and completely impractical. It makes a great demo, but it's a miserably uncooked product - very well though out in some ways, but missing big targets like weight and comfort by a mile. Maybe in a few more years...

trafficante 1y ago

I wonder if Apple will be able to bridge the biggest gap between their hardware and Meta’s: the price gap The new Ray Ban AR glasses retail at a Meta subsidized $800 - has Apple ever released subsidized hardware? I remember when the Vision Pro’s BoM got leaked prior to announcement and people calculated out the pre-bulk discount cost at around $2500 (iirc). I saw crazy posts predicting it would get subsidized down to $2k, some saying they’d eat R&D and price it at hw cost, and a few realists claiming $2750-3000 was a more realistic target. It launched at $3500. If history is any guide, it won’t matter if Apple Glass 1.0 is a generation and a half above whatever Meta is selling if they keep going with the 5x price differential.

dkobia 1y ago

Meta is onto something pretty remarkable. The only problem with their glasses is that they’re built by Meta.

achr2 1y ago
Well said, I would buy them in a heartbeat if it was from a moral company.
- garbawarb 1y ago
  Can you give an example of a moral company? Is Apple one?
  - foxyv 1y ago
    Naturally, moral is a relative term when it comes to companies in a society like ours. However I would say Purism, Pine64, Raspberry Pi, or Framework would be acceptable.
  - bitpush 1y ago
    Yes. If you close your eyes on cozying up to authoritarian regimes. Apple operates in China at Beijing's pleasure. Much of it is behind the scenes because that's how Chinese like to do. Compare that to US, where everything is a show. Look no further than the gold plated plaque that Apple gave to Trump. That was shameful.
    - euroderf 1y ago
      An imperfect analogy, but... Apple conserves privacy in the US by exporting privacy violations to China. Kind of like relocating your polluting industrial processes overseas.
      - bigyabai 1y ago
        Funny thing is, we can assume that all the nasty stuff happens in China... but Apple is still a US company. However Tim Cook kisses up to Trump in public is corollary to how he kisses ass in private. If Chinese iCloud servers had backdoored HSMs installed without anyone throwing a hissy-fit, imagine what kind of control the US Government has had for the past decade...

abaymado 1y ago

I have owned both Quest 3 and the Vision Pro. It is safe to say that what Meta lacks in quality, it makes up for with creativity. When I initially bought the Quest 3, it felt unnatural, bulky, and had a poor resolution. I regretted the purchase after a few minutes. But then I started downloading apps, mainly social apps like "Big Screen", where random people can create/join rooms. I started joining these rooms with my 480p avatar with low expectations. But to my surprise, each room was unique, with crypto talks, atheist/religious debates. I accidentally even stumbled on a rap battle room, where people were passing around a mic and free styling. All of a sudden, it felt like the Metaverse. The social interaction overshadowed the corky avatar and somehow convinced my brain that I was talking to a real human being and not an avatar. I got invited to demo the Vision Pro prior to its release. They had already announced it at WWDC at this point. Given the price tag and the fact that it is Apple, I had high expectations. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was even more amazed. The cinema was phenomenal. After a few updates, my avatar or persona, like Apple likes to call it, looked just like me. But the plateau came too fast. Everything I tried on demoed the first day was everything it had to offer, just with different content. I still use the Vision Pro 2/3 times a week to watch movies or shows, and it is still a mind-blowing experience, but nothing that would make me rush to put the Vision Pro on. I wish Apple would follow Meta’s footprint and bring more social apps to the Vision Pro. I don't want to be on FaceTime with people I know and watch an Apple TV show. I want to join rooms with randoms arguing about why Bitcoin will be in the future.

paool 1y ago
To be fair, big screen has been around since the oculus DK2 days, so they had a lot of time to iterate. But ya, apple should be more Dev friendly overall.
- bigyabai 1y ago
  Apple doesn't support VR/AR standards like OpenXR, so really developers haven't had a lot of time to iterate. They've had a lot of time to experiment, and then were asked to write a program from scratch for a headset without motion-tracked controllers.

bitpush 1y ago

Speaking of Vision Pro - People were convinced that Apple was playing 4D chess with Liquid Glass and how that's going to prep the normies to the new world of VR. Now that Vision is a certified dud (killedbyapple?) I wonder what'll happen to those thought leaders who were breathlessly trying to make sense of a UX upgrade

NoPicklez 1y ago

So long as the glasses have some sort of HUD where I can read messages, track heath metrics rather than a pair of glasses with a camera and voice integration only. I really don't see the value in sunglasses that I can talk to, I want augmented reality or a HUD.

bentt 1y ago

I applaud Meta's efforts here. If they spearhead Camera/AI glasses, then nobody will trust the product and it will die.

kotaKat 1y ago

Is there a reliable source for this that ISN’T Gurman or Bloomberg? He’s got a track record of spouting bullshit so he can drive the AAPL needle on the Terminal.

karmakaze 1y ago

Weird world where Meta does innovative hardware research and Apple makes the Vision Pro, then again with (actual) AR glasses. Competition is good.

pipeline_peak 1y ago

Funny how Post-Jobs Apple blatantly follows the pack. It would be nice if they did something slightly less predictable. Of course then they’d have to start taking risks again…

wpm 1y ago

"If you were a product person at IBM or Xerox, so you make a better copier or computer. So what? When you have monopoly market share, the company's not any more successful. So the people that can make the company more successful are sales and marketing people, and they end up running the companies. And the product people get driven out of the decision making forums, and the companies forget what it means to make great products. The product sensibility and the product genius that brought them to that monopolistic position gets rotted out by people running these companies that have no conception of a good product versus a bad product."