Well that's disappointing. It seemed like they had cool products, and it's too bad to see it bought up by an advertising/spyware company with a history of killing products.
dont worry soon your options will be Apple or Alibabe/Huawei.
Google Acquires North
21–30 of 215 posts
Re: Google Acquires North
#22Sad. I have their Myo band sitting around, but the company appears to never have gotten a solid hit. RIP Thalmic/North. It'd be nice if Google was somehow prohibited from snapping up even more companies while under numerous investigations for antitrust during a global pandemic, but I think that attempted legislation has fallen flat.
Looks like North wasnt doing too well selling their tech. Would it preferable if Microsoft or Apple or Amazon or some chinese company picked them up instead ?
Microsoft or Apple or Amazon would all be preferable to Google, actually, yes. Good ideas go to Google to die.
Re: Google Acquires North
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they are not as good as the Hololens 2, not interested. That device is off the hook good, really impressed with MS as a long time Linux user
HoloLens and Focals/Google Glass aren't really comparable products, as far as I'm aware. HoloLens is meant like, mostly to be used indoors on specific purposes/experiences with a (relatively) short battery life, Focals/Glass is like a daily-wear type of device like a watch.
You can use HL2 out doors and with an extra battery, you could get a full day. I'm seeing 3 hours of usage.
What the HL2 has is the first good interface to AR/XR with incredible touch, hand tracking, and situational awareness. All AR will end up like this. It's so much better of an experience and designed to share with friends.
Re: Google Acquires North
#24North was previously known as Thalmic labs, and their first product was the Myo, a gesture-based input device. More recently, they created Focals, a smart glasses product. More on their blog here: https://www.bynorth.com/
Funny story about the Myo. It was a promising device and seemed to me like it had great niche applications (such as medical). Founders weren't interested in that I guess and moved to smart glasses. Last summer they sold the patents for Myo to a company called CTRL Labs for about $20M. In the fall Facebook snatched up CTRL Labs for $500M - $1B, and their product description was basically that of the Myo.
More info:
https://betakit.com/ctrl-labs-acquires-norths-patents-for-my...
Re: Google Acquires North
#25Smart Glasses?! Please! I've been waiting since forever. This is the only "smart" tech I've been so interested in. I already wear glasses, why not make them more useful? Meanwhile watches get in the way of using keyboards and interacting with things, and you constantly take them off. Can't use them if your hand is busy either, like holding a drink. They're not as convenient as they seem.
A few more years will see good options. The HL2 is the experience, but not the form factor
Re: Google Acquires North
#26Cool, who here has tried Focals by North? I was thinking of getting them for everyday walking around and reading. My problem is I still don't understand what the interface is like. Can it project a screen to it or not? I'm perfectly happy to see a translucent IDE/browser window in my field of view.
Getting them now is probably not a good idea, because: > The first-gen North Focals glasses won't work after July 31, 2020, but North is issuing refunds to people who bought the smartglasses https://support.bynorth.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045128691
They had something on their website about a gen 2 coming out this year. Maybe that's not the case anymore?
Re: Google Acquires North
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getting them now is probably not a good idea, because: > The first-gen North Focals glasses won't work after July 31, 2020, but North is issuing refunds to people who bought the smartglasses https://support.bynorth.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045128691
They had something on their website about a gen 2 coming out this year. Maybe that's not the case anymore?
From the link I posted:
> We will not be shipping Focals 2.0, but we hope you will continue the journey with us as we start this next chapter.
Re: Google Acquires North
#28North was previously known as Thalmic labs, and their first product was the Myo, a gesture-based input device. More recently, they created Focals, a smart glasses product. More on their blog here: https://www.bynorth.com/
Funny story about the Myo. It was a promising device and seemed to me like it had great niche applications (such as medical). Founders weren't interested in that I guess and moved to smart glasses. Last summer they sold the patents for Myo to a company called CTRL Labs for about $20M. In the fall Facebook snatched up CTRL Labs for $500M - $1B, and their product description was basically that of the Myo. More info: ht…
Wow!
Re: Google Acquires North
#29Well that's disappointing. It seemed like they had cool products, and it's too bad to see it bought up by an advertising/spyware company with a history of killing products.
dont worry soon your options will be Apple or Alibabe/Huawei.
Microsoft is in the running as well with the most advanced device available today. This could be the one chance to get back into the consumer market if they have the desire.
Re: Google Acquires North
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
They had something on their website about a gen 2 coming out this year. Maybe that's not the case anymore?
From the link I posted: > We will not be shipping Focals 2.0, but we hope you will continue the journey with us as we start this next chapter.
Cool, thanks, I hadn't been there in a while