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Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

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Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#121

Post by crooked-v »

screye wrote: post #53

A counter point on premium VR headsets. They are teleportation devices. I've used every popular VR device, but one Vision Pro experience stood out - 'The Haleakala environment'[1] It was literally like being transported there. I know because I had been in that exact spot a few years before. I have a rich visual memory which served as reference, and no exaggeration, it felt like was there. I was immediately in tears.…

> The hardware is already there.

Well, sort of. The quality of display and control hardware is there; the comfort of the device as a whole absolutely is not. And I'm saying that as one of those weirdos who will get into VR for 4-hour sessions.

It's also absolutely worse off than it could have otherwise been, to an extent way more severe than any other Apple device, by the Apple obsession with aesthetics over functionality. Even aside from the weight issues with all the glass and metal, they created the worst possible design for comfort when it comes to how it actually sits on your head.

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#122

Post by dtjohnnymonkey »

lostlogin wrote: post #85
screye wrote: post #53

A counter point on premium VR headsets. They are teleportation devices. I've used every popular VR device, but one Vision Pro experience stood out - 'The Haleakala environment'[1] It was literally like being transported there. I know because I had been in that exact spot a few years before. I have a rich visual memory which served as reference, and no exaggeration, it felt like was there. I was immediately in tears.…

> I have family with disabilities. This has an interesting history. I’m struggling to find it and hope I have it right. John Gruber or maybe Accidental Tech Podcast did a segment on an podcast ages ago in relation to accessibility settings on the iPhone. Whoever it was credited a particular Apple engineer who pushed hard with accessibility features arguing that at some point, everyone has some sort of issue (sight, h…

I felt this keenly when my children were very young. At times I only had one arm/hand free because I was holding a child in the other. Or I could only read poorly in the dark because I didn’t want to turn on the lights and disturb the kids.

Since then I always see accessibility thinking as a universal benefit, not just for the “abled”.

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#123

Post by technion »

Keyframe wrote: post #71

Raise your hand who was there during the first boom and doom of VR/AR headset/glasses in the 90's? A cycle or couple of more and we'll be there, maybe.

Oh yeah. I remember when it was only in pubs so I could only play these games with a guardian. I remember everyone knowing the traditional monitor would be gone in a few years.

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#124

Post by paxys »

jkubicek wrote: post #107
khazhoux wrote: post #93

I have an AVP. It’s the best TV and movie-watching experience I’ve ever had, in some ways even better than Metreon IMAX

The best TV and movie-watching experience _if you aren't eating or drinking_. I love watching movies on my AVP, but the experience of groping for a popcorn bowl semi-blindly is enough of a turn-off that I end up just using our regular TV most of the time.

And if you don't watch stuff with your friends or family.

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#125

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

PKop wrote: post #76
pocketarc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or maybe these are just products we don't need? That's exactly it, they're products we don't -need-. If you already have a smartphone, that's good enough. This is the same problem that plagues the AI assistant devices - it doesn't matter what they can do, they won't replace your smartphone. Which means you're asking someone to carry (and pay for) a smartphone + an extra device. That's a big ask. It's also the reaso…

> it doesn't matter what they can do No it very much matters what they can do, and it's "not much". If they could do a lot more any of these products would be very popular.

They're at the 1980s toy computer level of usefulness - fun to play with, a few useful applications, but hopelessly clumsy and underpowered in terms of real user needs.

No one was sure what real user needs would be in the 80s. It turned out the all-time killer USP was a global data network, which could be accessed through keyboard+screen terminals and pocket devices, and which replaced a lot of slow paper and phone call transactions of all kinds with near-instant access.

VR/AR is currently a wart on that. It won't come into its own until there's some equivalent new killer USP, which isn't just a different way of accessing what's there already.

I'd guess there's going to be some kind of live AI rendering of both real and simulated interactions. But it's going to have to be far beyond what we're used to today to be interesting.

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#126

Post by TaylorAlexander »

screye wrote: post #53

A counter point on premium VR headsets. They are teleportation devices. I've used every popular VR device, but one Vision Pro experience stood out - 'The Haleakala environment'[1] It was literally like being transported there. I know because I had been in that exact spot a few years before. I have a rich visual memory which served as reference, and no exaggeration, it felt like was there. I was immediately in tears.…

I grew up in the redwood forest and I do not always have enough time in my life to go back to them. I would love a vision pro experience where I can be in the redwoods! I think for me the teleportation experience is more important than gaming, tho gaming is rad too (I loved Half Life Alyx on my Index).

Do you know if there are environments available that are in the redwood forest?

Also does anyone know what kind of money someone could make publishing these environments? I have some videography experience - I would be inclined to rent a high end VR camera and create some captures for Vision Pro, but it would be nice if I could sell them on the app store and earn enough to buy a Vision Pro.

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#128

Post by m3kw9 »

geoelectric wrote: post #111
screye wrote: post #53

A counter point on premium VR headsets. They are teleportation devices. I've used every popular VR device, but one Vision Pro experience stood out - 'The Haleakala environment'[1] It was literally like being transported there. I know because I had been in that exact spot a few years before. I have a rich visual memory which served as reference, and no exaggeration, it felt like was there. I was immediately in tears.…

The thing is that I don’t really see the Vision Pro as Palm OS. Palm OS was out for years and years and was really successful, all things considered. Sure, it wasn’t as ubiquitous as iOS or Android now, but it obviously filled a niche for a large enough number of people that it stuck around and pioneered that market. I had a Kyocera 6035 Palm “smartphone” over half a decade before the iPhone came out, and the Handspr…

Is just too pricey and a bit cumbersome for masses, the tech is good and we could all use it even just for some experiences that can only be done in VR

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#129

Post by gyomu »

salzig wrote: post #83

IMHO: the AVP is a DevKit that is sold to consumers. But more polished then the typical DevKit. But looking into the past and seeing how many people where eager to buy GoogleGlas/Oculus Devkits, why shouldn’t a brand like apple decide to push out a devkit as high price consumer device, instead of trying to keep a devkit for a upcoming product a secret? I’m still wondering what direction the product can and will take…

Because they invested billions of dollars into making said devkit and despite seeming promising the actual general usefulness of it was still extremely unclear, so it was down to 2 choices: a) kill it, or b) ship it and see what happens when the rubber meets the road.

Arguably Apple has never done b) before, but then again they’ve also never poured billions into a R&D project like this before. (The only other example that comes to mind is the car, and that one got killed, so maybe they were loath to kill the two billion dollar science fair projects at the same time).

Re: Meta cancels high-end mixed reality headset after Apple Vision Pro struggles

#130

Post by Manuel_D »

numpad0 wrote: post #62

Isn't it simple why AVP isn't moving? They don't treat anime-loli-porn content, chiefly VRChat, as first class citizens, if they support those at all. Tons of people have bought and are buying Quest 2 and 3 as well as its competitors with sole intent of using it with VRChat. Don't you guys all remember that iPhoneOS had YouTube since version 1.0, before it even had App Store? Where would you think iOS would have been…

Meta isn't treating NSFW stuff as a first class citizen either. Most VR porn apps have a roundabout way of accessing them. E.g. you have DeoVR which is absolutely, 100%, intended for normal content consumption and it's just a coincidence that its video protocol is compatible with SLR.
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