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Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

arstechnica.com

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Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#41

Post by nl »

YZF wrote: post #22
djrogers wrote: post #14

I believe that this has way more chance to revolutionize human/computer interaction than anything Occulus is doing. Outside of specific areas (like gaming and certain types of video based entertainment), this type of AR/MR is much more useful than Rift style VR. You can interact with others, your environment, and other systems without the isolation or nausea of VR. On top of that, being able to supplement the real wo…

I think these are two fundamentally different things: AR, as would suggest, augments reality. VR however allows for creation of a completely synthetic reality. Reality can then be anything and you're liberated from reality. So fundamentally VR has more potential than AR. Things like nausea may take some time to work out but they're not unsolvable. For example, if the issue is the disconnect between the acceleration/o…

So fundamentally VR has more potential than AR

I couldn't agree more completely. I live in a physical world, and my god I wish I could connect it better to the information world.

I don't care at all about VR. I'll try it because it's new, but I have close to zero interest in gaming and beyond that there a very few use cases where it is interesting. Design maybe, but a lot of these uses cases actually work better as AR anyway.

You argue that we can bypass the orientation senses by injecting signal into nerves, but that the tactile challenge in VR is impossible?

Yes, you have to wear it. But glasses aren't a big deal - and will keep getting better - and AFAIK you have to wear VR gear too.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#42

Post by incepted »

nl wrote: post #41
YZF wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think these are two fundamentally different things: AR, as would suggest, augments reality. VR however allows for creation of a completely synthetic reality. Reality can then be anything and you're liberated from reality. So fundamentally VR has more potential than AR. Things like nausea may take some time to work out but they're not unsolvable. For example, if the issue is the disconnect between the acceleration/o…

So fundamentally VR has more potential than AR I couldn't agree more completely. I live in a physical world, and my god I wish I could connect it better to the information world. I don't care at all about VR. I'll try it because it's new, but I have close to zero interest in gaming and beyond that there a very few use cases where it is interesting. Design maybe, but a lot of these uses cases actually work better as A…

> I couldn't agree more completely.

Mmmh... you say you agree with the previous poster but your message seems to disagree completely.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#43

Post by julianpye »

This is the type of technology that is crying out for a killerapp, but may end up struggling to find one.

I had a Vodafone R&D team working with the Sony 3D AR glasses (aka 'Tom Hanks CES glasses'). We loved the tech and had a great playground, but couldn't get to the creation of one app that solved a clear painpoint.

We ended up with glorious tech demos, but they were all suited for a short-lived themepark attraction but not for ongoing use.

Anyway, I am excitedly waiting for someone who can do better than us.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#44

Post by sp332 »

yazaddaruvala wrote: post #34
bijection wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If AR is VR with transparency, wouldn't that mean that AR is a superset of VR, in the same way that RGBA images are a superset of RGB images? Or looking at it another way, isn't VR just AR with the lights off?

Isn't AR just VR with a re-projection of real-time video stream from front mounted cameras?

I think you're being funny, but the Vive's AR is literally this.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#45

Post by sp332 »

anc84 wrote: post #38

Huh, that felt more like native advertising than something I would expect honest journalism to be like.

Ars Technica doesn't do native advertising. All Condé Nast properties clearly call out native ads, so you'd know if they did. What feels dishonest about it anyway?

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#46

Post by daveguy »

usrusr wrote: post #40
13of40 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are two fundamental reasons it's "janky": 1. It's version 1. 2. It's an interface that nobody's used before. Neither of these is a mark against the technology. Go ask a caveman to use a version 1 iPhone, and see if he falls in love with it or just trash-talks it on an internet forum.

But the iPhone did not require you to "step inside" of it. There's a whole world of difference in the threshold for "good enough" between a device you hold in your hand and one that you put on your head, overlaying your whole view. With a smartphone, you can still go all xkcd:303 during periods of waiting. Head mounted? Not so sure that works out well. That being said, maybe the hololens can be good enough nonetheles…

I agree that the interface is much more important with this, where you are immersed, than iPhone where you can step away easily. The adjustments people made to iPhone were getting used to a non-textile keyboard and finding other controls on the screen -- but those controls worked well. Shake reduction could probably help significantly. Definitely some sort of stabilization in the representation between you and your cursor.

I'm not sure if position finding for the head is very separate from rendering, just because it is so smooth when he moves. I think head positioning is very separate from gesture positioning -- which is why cursors are jumpy. Maybe 13of40 is right on getting used to the interface -- maybe the user is holding his hand out too straight, not straight enough or something to that effect, but that still seems more of an interface problem than user problem. I do wish it was priced closer to oculus. At that oculus pricing I would probably get one, but at 4x it seems not quite there (interface and lacking apps).

13of40 - I think it is more "version 1" issues with the shake and a lack of the best human-to-computer interface rather than an "interface that nobody's used".

Put-that-there[0] is an interface from the early 1980's that seems like it would do well to reduce the janky interactions. Speech recognition probably isn't quite where it needs to be for a generic setup (as opposed to the structured setup of put-that-there).

Like I said, the computer to human side -- rendering virtual objects over a real field -- is beautiful. The quirks with incomplete map information aren't too distracting because we are good at filling in the gaps. The human to computer side needs work because it takes 30s to do a simple resizing operation. If you could say "make that screen 90 percent of my field of view" at any time the vid author wouldn't be complaining that getting too close causes clipping of his field of view.

[0]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pr2KIPQOKE

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#47

Post by jameshart »

YZF wrote: post #22
djrogers wrote: post #14

I believe that this has way more chance to revolutionize human/computer interaction than anything Occulus is doing. Outside of specific areas (like gaming and certain types of video based entertainment), this type of AR/MR is much more useful than Rift style VR. You can interact with others, your environment, and other systems without the isolation or nausea of VR. On top of that, being able to supplement the real wo…

I think these are two fundamentally different things: AR, as would suggest, augments reality. VR however allows for creation of a completely synthetic reality. Reality can then be anything and you're liberated from reality. So fundamentally VR has more potential than AR. Things like nausea may take some time to work out but they're not unsolvable. For example, if the issue is the disconnect between the acceleration/o…

You can't remove reality just by replacing the visual and auditory inputs. Your body still has to exist in the space it's in. AR acknowledges that that reality is still there; VR denies it.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#48

Post by imtringued »

personjerry wrote: post #3
onetimePete wrote: post #2

This baby is very hungry. Room decoration - Nom. Gaming Nom. Fashion Industry. Nom. Gadget and Entertainment Industry (TV, Posters). Nom. Advertising Industry - and Self Expression. Nom. Next ten years will be spend with feeding everything to it. He who wraps the last layer around the world, to sell it to the users, makes everything wrapped his organelles over time. Well played Microsoft, well played. If we could dec…

I don't see it. Could you explain some of those industries? And the layers and organelles analogy? Also (and especially) the wifi point, I didn't get how that related at all.

No clue about his wifi argument but AR could become very useful for wifi heatmapping allowing you to see where reception is particularly good or bad and let you place the access points accordingly.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#49

Post by imtringued »

djrogers wrote: post #14

I believe that this has way more chance to revolutionize human/computer interaction than anything Occulus is doing. Outside of specific areas (like gaming and certain types of video based entertainment), this type of AR/MR is much more useful than Rift style VR. You can interact with others, your environment, and other systems without the isolation or nausea of VR. On top of that, being able to supplement the real wo…

VR is for the living room. AR is for everything else.

Re: Hands-on with HoloLens: On the cusp of a revolution

#50

Post by badsock »

VonGuard wrote: post #21

I played with Hololens at Build this week. I believe, after seeing it, using it, and even developing a little with it, that this device is truly revolutionary, and Google is wasting its money in Florida. I shook my head back and forth like a dog trying to dry itself off, and the images I saw barely wiggled. The images are bright enough to completely occlude reality. The software dev stuff is from MS, so it is polishe…

What does Hololens do that Magic Leap doesn't? Information is very sparse, but I had the impression that the latter is a superset of the former.
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