Live data from Hacker News

Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

techcrunch.com

21–30 of 118 posts

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#21
post #17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried their demo at CVPR a few months ago. It was super immersive and crisp. You interact with an AI "guide" who shows you how to look around, pick things up, stick them on the wall, etc. It was surprisingly unnerving to look the AI in the eyes and have her react to my gestures. Beyond a sweet demo, not sure what the value in the product would be for a general consumer option, but cool technology for sure.

They have a demo now???

Had to wait forever to get a time slot. They do 10-15 minute demos in a temporary room they put up on the expo floor.

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#22
I was at Daqri from employee ~12 to ~300. It was a wild ride and I've got some really amazing memories with only a bit of scarring to show for it :)

Daqri was really good at recruiting amazing people, and really bad at turning them into a functioning company. Communication between teams (and particularly offices) was really lacking; I remember back when the helmet was built on Android (in LA) and all the vision scientists were working on iOS (in Sunnyvale), they had this amazing world-tracking demo that we just couldn't use.

The Two Trees photonics tech is absolutely amazing, check it out if you get a chance - field programmable holograms. Point the thing at any glass surface and you get a hologram "in" it. Blew my mind the first time I saw it! Dunno if it ever made it into headware.

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What have they achieved, has anyone been blown away by them? For me just getting into VR thanks to Oculus Quest which I have to say is an amazing product for the price.

I've heard it's pretty meh, not the revolution they promised - Hololens 2 is supposed to be better.

I don't like the clumsy look of Magic Leap or Hololens 2. Nreal has created glasses which look like sunglasses. That's the future. I could wear them in public. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/1/9/18176083/nr...

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#24
post #12

The company I work for is trialing AR solutions for remote support purposes. We've tried the glasses and customers hate it because it literally makes them motion sick. Our current thing is phone/tablet based where you can basically stream real time video to our support staff and each party can draw on the screen, and whatever they draw stays where it is in physical space. Customers love it, it works great. Nobody wan…

What's the company?

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#25

The most widespread, successful use case AR which I can see currently is AR Filter i.e. snapchat filters and those who copied it. The reason IMO, is most of the users who use snapchat filters wouldn't even know what Augmented Reality is. It is that intuitive use case which can make high-tech get widespread consumer adoption. Looking at the rate at which limited attention, instant gratification apps are conquering mar…

Consumer AR is very, very different from industrial AR. The business case for industrial is huge, I have no idea what the business case is for consumer :P

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I feel the exact opposite. I don't see VR providing a whole lot outside the area of entertainment. How often do you want to be completely removed from the physical world on a regular basis. Even when you do want immersion a good story or a game with good mechanics is far more important in entertainment than the medium it's delivered though. This is the reason people still read books, why retro video games…

> and why 3D continually fails I must be mis-understanding what you mean by 3D continually fails. 3D titles are the majoriy of the 140billion game business. Titles like Fortnite, Minecraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty, to name a few billion dollar titles are all 3D. I don't know if there is a single billion dollar 2D title. Maybe the top 3 mobile games?

I think you're mixing up 3D like you get with stereoscopic glasses and the freedom to move in 3D (versus, say, 2D Donkey Kong or Pac Man).

Fortnite, Minecraft, Call of Duty etc. are (largely) presented on two dimensional screens

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#27
post #3

Magic Leap next?

What have they achieved, has anyone been blown away by them? For me just getting into VR thanks to Oculus Quest which I have to say is an amazing product for the price.

The AR hype bubble is collapsing now. The not-actually-tech bubble (WeWork, Uber) is next. I think it'll be AI after that (is that bubble even still around?). Great times to be picking up cheap office furniture!

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I feel the exact opposite. I don't see VR providing a whole lot outside the area of entertainment. How often do you want to be completely removed from the physical world on a regular basis. Even when you do want immersion a good story or a game with good mechanics is far more important in entertainment than the medium it's delivered though. This is the reason people still read books, why retro video games…

I'd love it. If I could go to a space where I'm immersed in code, data, paint or sound and could interact with it to create, I'd be all sold on VR. It would provide me with a whole new medium to transfer my thoughts in. But AR? What can I get with it that I can't with a phone? The information speed is near instant to what I need as a human. And what can I get with it that won't be ads?

> If I could go to a space where I'm immersed in code, data, paint or sound and could interact with it to create, I'd be all sold on VR.

I'm not saying that wouldn't be cool, but using coding as an example, how much more immersed are you going to be coding in VR as opposed to going into a quite room where no one will disturb you with multiple monitors. The extra immersion is cool, but I don't being slightly more immersed in the way VR provides will lead to any sort of technological revolution.

> But AR? What can I get with it that I can't with a phone?

It's not about getting new information, it's about not needing the phone to provide that information. Think about a surgeon having the parts of heart overlaid on the body while doing surgery. Think about firefighters having the blueprints of the building they are entering in front of their eyes.

The value of AR isn't providing new information, it provides an alternative to relying on memory for that information.

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I feel the exact opposite. I don't see VR providing a whole lot outside the area of entertainment. How often do you want to be completely removed from the physical world on a regular basis. Even when you do want immersion a good story or a game with good mechanics is far more important in entertainment than the medium it's delivered though. This is the reason people still read books, why retro video games…

> and why 3D continually fails I must be mis-understanding what you mean by 3D continually fails. 3D titles are the majoriy of the 140billion game business. Titles like Fortnite, Minecraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty, to name a few billion dollar titles are all 3D. I don't know if there is a single billion dollar 2D title. Maybe the top 3 mobile games?

Generally when people refer to 3D they mean each eye receiving different images as opposed to 3D models being shown on a 2D screen.

Re: Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

#30
post #12

The company I work for is trialing AR solutions for remote support purposes. We've tried the glasses and customers hate it because it literally makes them motion sick. Our current thing is phone/tablet based where you can basically stream real time video to our support staff and each party can draw on the screen, and whatever they draw stays where it is in physical space. Customers love it, it works great. Nobody wan…

What's the company?

The company with the software we're trying?

It's PTC's Vuforia Chalk: https://chalk.vuforia.com/

Post reply on HN