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Another heavily-funded AR headset startup is shutting down

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

#91

Post by shkkmo »

jackbrookes wrote: post #46
magashna wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I spend most of my time in real life, which is why the modern equivalent of a pop-up book isn't that interesting to me. AR needs to have its "killer app" to draw me in. It's not there yet. Meanwhile, VR can take me to another world. Games like Thumper, Audioshield and Beat Saber are enough to sell me on a crazy musical experience.

The cool thing about AR is you can think of any single app and it could be a killer app people would pay for. Imagine eye glasses that allowed you to just "zoom in" by clicking your fingers. Or glasses that seamlessly translate written text into your native language. Or highlighted the path you should take whilst walking to work using GPS navigation. Any of those alone would be compelling products, the cool thing is…

Once you reach an actual "eye glasses" form factor that is capable of general purpose use, a lot more things before viable.

But the "killer apps" you mention are all just slightly more convenient versions of existing products (smart phones, binoculars) and are thus very dependent on a small enough form factor to realize that convenience.

Not having to carry and pullout a laptop out to view live Google maps directions is a killer app. Not having to pull my phone out is a much smaller convenience. It only becomes a killer app when the convenience of wearing smart glasses surpasses that of having a smart phone in your pocket (which is a long way off).

I do think there are killer apps that are in the nearer future. Anything where the rapidity of access to information conveys significant advantages is far less dependent of the form factor for success. You see this in the existing success of AR for business where those efficiencies can boost productivity.

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

#92

Post by sfifs »

RangerScience wrote: post #25
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #14

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

The problem with Industrial AR is that most use cases I've seen (maintainance, instruction manuals, support etc) are cost centers, not profit centers. It will generally cost more to produce than the current methods - so business investments will me made only where the benefits are an order of magnitude than the "paper or iPad manual" solution. I'm sure there will be a few use cases but not as many as most people seem to expect.

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

#93

Post by zen35 »

RangerScience wrote: post #24
mdszy wrote: 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?

Sounds similar to: https://www.streem.pro/

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

#94

Post by mdszy »

mdorazio wrote: post #86
iamjk wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the company you work for?

Looks like https://szy.io/

Well, that's my own little dealio where I make/sell electronics kits and resell used equipment. That's not involved in AR at all and it's just a little side-thing I do.

I have a separate full time job and I'm not totally comfortable with sharing who I work for, my apologies.

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

#95

Post by mdszy »

iamjk wrote: post #33
mdszy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company with the software we're trying? It's PTC's Vuforia Chalk: https://chalk.vuforia.com/

What's the company you work for?

Sorry, I'm not comfortable with sharing that. I'll just say that it's a company that manufactures high-end industrial converting equipment.

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

#96

Post by mdszy »

chrisjc wrote: post #52
mdszy wrote: 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…

> and whatever they draw stays where it is in physical space. Wow... that's a great way to utilize AR.

Yeah, our customers find great value in it. It's very nice for our support folks to be able to draw on something and say "try adjusting this control" and things of that nature.

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

#97

Post by myself248 »

pathartl wrote: post #75
misterprime wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't have categorized this as AR, but perhaps you're right. Would this instead be called a "heads up display"? I guess not, since it's not something that's shown on the windows you're looking through.

I'd say it's more of a HUD. If there was a 3D render of where walls might be or bumps might be, then I'd consider that AR.

But it's the literal opposite of heads-up; you lower your view and stare at the radio to see the camera. If you were looking at the mirror and it was adding to the normal reflection you're already seeing, that would be heads-up.

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

#98

Post by jonas21 »

Robotbeat wrote: post #57

Can someone explain to me why sufficiently good VR can't function as AR? Just to lay out my point: AR has to have extremely good detail, framerate, and even depth of field to work well. It has to track everything perfectly and blend the two lightfields seemlessly or the immersion is broken and you risk nausea or at least annoyance. But if you have high framerate, ability to simulate depth of field, high knowledge of…

That's what Varjo is betting on: https://varjo.com/xr-1/

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

#99

Post by mycall »

RangerScience wrote: post #79
Darkphibre wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen demos of this with Hololens. It really opens up new interactions. Neat stuff. Disclaimer: I work at Microsoft, but not on Hololens. All opinions my own, etc.

At Daqri we called this "remote expert", and it was always one of the potential products with the highest demand. My favorite use-case is that in nuclear power plants, they have two people do everything - one to do, one to watch (not in a big brother sense, but more in like a pair programming sense), but this means two people in an irradiated environment. With the AR tech, the second person can be in another room. (A…

Leaky coax is perfect attack vector for bad actors.

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

#100

Post by mycall »

rococode wrote: post #32

I spent 3 months working on an AR project on the Magic Leap (the best funded AR startup, I think?). My conclusion was that the hardware just isn't there yet. VR tech feels impressive because the hardware works well. AR tech, on the other hand, still feels very much like a prototype, and far from real production use. Some of the main deal-breaker issues are heat, discomfort, dizziness, and software instability (I wrot…

I would be happy with simple text tags over things I see, for location-based knowledge. Like proper nouns, life pro tips, distance, reminders, object relationships, adverts (need to pay for it somehow), snapshots (upload photo), etc. AR doesn't need to involve graphics (besides the recognition aspect).
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