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Inside Magic Leap

forbes.com

191–200 of 220 posts

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article brings up a big issue: even if Magic Leap fails to deliver, they just might own all of the relevant patents. This could make AR needlessly expensive for decades.

except they seem like they're all business method or software patents which will much hard to enforce: At the time the Mayo case was decided, there was some uncertainty over whether it applied only to natural principles (laws of nature) or more generally to patent eligibility of all abstract ideas and general principles, including those involved in software patents. The Alice decision confirmed that the test was gene…

Federal Circuit has been invalidating software patents at an alarming rate ever since, all relying on the Alice decision.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/patent-eligibility-criteria-l...

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the light that is received by the retina in day to day life is highly incoherent thus it is unlikely that you can produce a destructive wavefront for it.

One of their patents mentions using stacked diffraction optical elements. Details unclear: >[0216] Such may be used to cancel light from the planar waveguides with respect to light from the background or real world, in some respects similar to noise canceling headphones. http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=H...

> One of their patents mentions using stacked diffraction optical elements [DOE].

> http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=H....

I believe this particular excerpt is referring to the use of the layered and controllable DOEs to curve light projected from their scanning fibers that ultimately forms the virtual object image on the retina, rather than using the DOEs to attenuate ambient light (see my reply to Kelsolaar above).

However, if I'm interpreting their literature correctly, you are correct in that they are able to use (at least a portion of) these DOE layers to generate the moire patterns that will ultimately be capable of form black/clear image masks.

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#193
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has about as much hype as Ginger (Segway Transporter) did before it was launched. Disrupting multi-billion dollar industries in a single bound, changing the world forever at it's launch. But in reality what it really takes to disrupt an industry is both a disruptive product and a really compelling mass-market price point. One of the reasons the Segway PT failed is it was $6k to buy. That severely limits the addr…

Counterpoint: the classical POV is that you start with a niche and worry about crossing the chasm later (and they require very different marketing strategies etc.). I'd argue Tesla is a modern example of executing that overall strategy from the getgo.

Tesla is / was only a half-niche though, cars are a strong and established market. They also had the (huge) benefit that their customers got tax breaks and subsidies because their cars are emission-free, dropping their effective price.

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#194
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you just calculate the surface normals? What am I missing?

You had to be able to orient the normals correctly. For a hull this might be easy enough but for many objects it was a challenge.

Gouraud shading like it's 1989? :)

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a cable leading from these glasses to your pocket where you have a tablet-size device doing all the heavy lifting, most likely using mobile SoC's. Pretty sure you can't run a desktop CPU and GPU on a pocketable device. > You don't get 1080gtx performance or anything remotely close to that with a setup like this. Its mobile-level graphics. A.) the pocket device is the light source array that feed the scannin…

> we're thinking about simply releasing as a FOSH project. More details would be fantastic

Well, our light field display concept is fairly different from ML's in the manner in which we scan the light into the eye. We propose using very narrow collimated wavefronts instead of broad/potentially curved wavefronts. The system can still be used to support accomodation, potentially to a greater degree than is possible using layered DOE's (I don't know for sure) which we do not propose to use.

The resultant display has an inherently smaller exit pupil, but we'll layout a method to actively expand the exit pupil, enough to support typical maximum eye rotation range and minimum eye pupil dilation (~2mm) without vignetting the virtual image with natural eye movements. The benefit of this method is virtually unlimitted FOV.

Certainly still in development, but we think releasing what we've come up with thus far into the wild as FOSH and seeing what the crowd can bring to the design is a fun idea.

I'm currently working on a simple "Hello World" write up that will explain the device components, some basic plans for prototyping done to date and the development hurdles that still need to be overcome. I'm planning to use this to introduce the project. It's definitely not an easy project, but I don't see any component that can't be fabricated by a crafty homebrew engineer.

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#196
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was also disappointed by that statement. I would expect much more from the first applications. Let me try to be constructive and think of some: + To have a cat even if you can't feed it or clean up (elderly). + To find out how it is to have a baby, how to feed it, how to care for it. + Dating first with an avatar before going for the real deal. + Searching for things without having to open cabinets or boxes. + Colo…

All I really need personally is glasses that can show me text when I look at someone reminding me what their name is. That Terminator tech - seamless glasses that let you assign and view little annotations on things.

I'm pretty sure a lot of bodyguards will be using the glasses to spot people with specific attributes (face shows stress, etc.) in a crowd and love the terminator version.

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#197
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was struck by the careful phrasing in the article and didn't want to dog pile on it at first - I note other reasons elsewhere why I'm rather dubious - but here's the line: > The centerpiece of Magic Leap’s technology is a head-mounted display, but the final product should fit into a pair of spectacles. When you’re wearing the device, it doesn’t block your view of the world; the hardware projects an image directly o…

>the hardware projects an image directly onto your retina through an optics system built into a piece of semitransparent glass Isn't this exactly how every display works? Possibly sans glass even...

I think what they mean by that is the difference between light going "projector -> eyes" or "projector -> glass piece in front of your eyes -> eyes".

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#198

So clearly the author is sympathetic to the aura that Magic Leap is cultivating through secrecy and selective media engagements: > When it arrives–best guess is within the next 18 months–it could usher in a new era of computing, a next-generation interface we’ll use for decades to come. ...which may be a pretty valid statement or sentiment overall, but later in the article, we get to the crux of the "potential" futur…

I think that is a very salient observation. To reach its full potential the unit needs both pixel occlusion (which is knocking out the light your eye would normally see with light you generation) and pixel registration (which is keeping the pixel in the same place in 3-space outside of you). All of the demos focus on occlusion (the creatures seem like they really are in your room) and skate over registration accuracy…

You could always "cheat" and use a marker. It's obviously not as powerful but if I can put a marker on any surface and create a virtual screen, it would already be huge.

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#199

Seems like most people here are skeptical/dubious of ML. I don't blame them there is a lot of hype. But it is quite fascinating technology. If you look seriously at the detailed technical coverage on how the technology works [1] and watch the recent Stanford lecture by Brian Schowengerdt [2], Co-Founder of Magic Leap, then I think you will see why ML is actually quite special. Personally I am fascinated and optimisti…

Hi there, About usability: I have used the hololens for entire battery charges (about 3hours). I work on various experiments in AR, including path finding, assembly, etc. Had no noticeable eye fatigue. Hololens works great already, and although light field may bring a technology imporvement, ML seems to come a tad too late (I mean, all the ML videos I have seen can be produced with an hololens)... but I'd love to be convinced.

Re: Inside Magic Leap

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uploadvr demystified this stuff a couple years ago: http://uploadvr.com/magic-leap-how-it-works/ Magic leap is a pair of glasses you wear on your face that displays AR imagery through a clear glass lens. There's a cable leading from these glasses to your pocket where you have a tablet-size device doing all the heavy lifting, most likely using mobile SoC's. Pretty sure you can't run a desktop CPU and GPU on a pocketab…

Reminds me that a company a while back tried to pitch such a system on the cheap. It was basically a bulky visor that you put your smartphone into. inside the visor was a angled piece of glass that would make your phone screen appear to be hovering in the air in front of you.

An AR Cardboard would be awesome. I searched some weeks ago if someone worked on this without luck. Do you remember the name of this company?
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