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Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

wired.com

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Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#171

Post by rsp1984 »

discardorama wrote: post #161

I tuned out when I read this: "Sensors flood the device with terabytes of data every second, all managed with an onboard CPU, GPU and first-of-its-kind HPU (holographic processing unit)." I'm sorry, but there is no wearable device which can handle terabytes of data per second. Heck, my brand new Haswell has a peak memory bandwidth of 17GB/s; even to the L1 cache, its theoretical max is 700GB/s. This sounds like a puf…

They probably confused that with GB. Not sure which sensors would even put out Terabytes per second. Let's assume they have a brand new high dynamic range RGB-D camera that has 32 bits per channel at 60 Hz. To reach 1 TB/s that camera would have to have approx. 1 Gigapixel. --> Not very likely.

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#172

Post by zo1 »

pharke wrote: post #142
rbanffy wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the camera, it's easy to understand how they make the objects feel solid - they just overlay it over the video feed. How would that work on the glasses, I have no idea. Does it have LCD shutters that block incoming light where they want to add a "solid" object?

If you pause at 9 seconds in and check out the rig they're using to film the feed where the virtual objects are visible, it looks as though they are using the same lenses that are on the goggles to display the virtual objects in front of what the camera is recording. So I would bet that what we are seeing in the video is exactly what the user is seeing and not something added on the fly by other means.

That is amazing. So you have two (or more) people that hook into the same "scene", with the kick being that they see it from a different angle. Wow, very nice.

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#173

Post by tormeh »

discardorama wrote: post #161

I tuned out when I read this: "Sensors flood the device with terabytes of data every second, all managed with an onboard CPU, GPU and first-of-its-kind HPU (holographic processing unit)." I'm sorry, but there is no wearable device which can handle terabytes of data per second. Heck, my brand new Haswell has a peak memory bandwidth of 17GB/s; even to the L1 cache, its theoretical max is 700GB/s. This sounds like a puf…

It's Wired. The only reason we care about them is that sometimes they report badly on something others don't report on at all.

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#174

Post by seanv »

trsohmers wrote: post #160
aquark wrote: post #121

It looks impressive, but it would help to be able to tell the hype from reality: "Sensors flood the device with terabytes of data every second" ... somehow I doubt the aggregate bandwidth of the device is > 1TB\s Makes it harder to know how much of the rest of the 'explanations' are accurate.

Terabytes is out there, terabits not so much... I'm developing a single chip with 3Tbit (384GBytes/s) aggregate external (chip to chip) bandwidth, and with 8TByte/s aggregate internal (core to core) bandwidth.

I feel like you're the kind of guy (or girl) who could explain really complex nerdy things to me on a regular basis and I'd be ok with that

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#175

Post by pyrocat »

mkolodny wrote: post #166
rndn wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the product website with three promo videos on it: http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

I think this type of AR / holographic technology has many, many more potential real-world applications than VR. With VR, you're shutting yourself off from the outside world. Here, you're enhancing the outside world with technology. You still get to interact with others. Using HoloLens doesn't stop you from doing almost anything. What I'm curious to find out is whether HoloLens will run into the same core problem as G…

I noticed that the promo videos all show you doing things indoors, in more or less private settings. Your living room, your kitchen, your workspace. Contrasted to initial Google Glass video (skydiving, jogging, meeting for lunch .etc) I think it's safe to say Microsoft has learned from Google's mistakes.

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#176

Post by ghurtado »

Someone1234 wrote: post #96
mentos wrote: post #62

What is the killer app that will get people to go out and buy these? I don't think Holo Studio is it. Where is your imagination racing to?

"Adult entertainment" and, no, I am not joking. That would be a major market for this technology.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/pbblogassets/uploads/2014/10/Brainst...

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#177

Post by TheTaO »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #149
GrantS wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how they go out of their way to describe this as NOT augmented reality when... that's exactly what it is. The only time the term appears on the product page is here: "Microsoft HoloLens goes beyond augmented reality and virtual reality by enabling you to interact with three-dimensional holograms blended with your real world. " I understand the marketing reasons for this, but contrast this with the fa…

AR is traditionally a 2D projection on 3D space. This is a 3D projection that you interact with. Sure, its still AR on some level, but I think differentiating the product makes a lot of sense. My idea of AR is a boring HUD-like system that fits in with things like flying fighter jets. This holographic projection is different and notably so. MS could find the middle ground between lush 3D VR-like environments and the…

When we say virtual reality, there is this implicit expectation (at least in my mind) that its an always ON experience. The Video here did show some of that too but I think scoping it to specific tasks at least initially would be very powerful. So you don't wear these bulky, dorky glasses/headsets all day long but only when you need to do specific things. And then you return to your normal life.

In the early days of computer, the usage was like that...very task oriented. When you are done you go back to your non-digital life. It's only when the technology and public perception changes, you start carrying PCs in your pocket all day long like we are doing today.

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#178

Post by sanqui »

rdrey wrote: post #133
djokkataja wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virtual hangout--do things with friends even if they're all over the world. It would also be extremely useful for remote work.

You could see their faces, if they're in front of webcams, but they couldn't see your face (because you'll be wearing these.)

Virtual avatars? They seemed popular in the past, but maybe the general public wouldn't want them today.

Re: Hands-On with Microsoft's New Holographic Goggles

#179

Post by ftcHn »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #140

I think Microsoft re-branding Augmented reality as "holographic" is hugely impactful and, with the new wave of AR and CV products that are coming onto the market [1] might be the thing that makes people take it seriously. It's just so much easier to explain to people what it is if you say Holographic vs Augmented Reality - even though it is technically wrong. Kudos to MSFT for making that leap. [1] Shameless plug for…

Visidraft might be useful for an idea at our company. The video looks good but the "Get Visdraft Now" button doesn't do anything. Is it available yet? Pricing?
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