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Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

techcrunch.com

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Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#161

Post by monk_e_boy »

emcq wrote: post #82
josephpmay wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I compete with Magic Leap, I'm probably in a pretty good position to answer this question. The main reason why ML is able to attract this level of investment is that their technology is literally decades ahead of what anybody else has. I haven't had the opportunity to try their headset out, but I know some people who have, and I haven't heard a single bad thing about it. The closest metaphor I can think of is seei…

Great points. While it's market is limited, I think Skully [0] is an interesting case of where AR can be more than just an entertainment device, in fact becoming a much more valuable safety device. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZtcH1HZ10

I think this is really under rated. Imagine how many telephone engineers who look at one of those junction boxes and want to know which telephone wire is hooked up to Mr Jones house? Or a mechanic who wants to know what spanner to used on a bolt. Or a nurse who wants to know a sleeping patients bio rythms. Or emergency responders who want to glance at the disaster and see routes through it to victims.

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#162

Post by mondoshawan »

rsp1984 wrote: post #70

I've been working on AR and related technologies for almost the last decade and I've been part of the first handful of people working on Google Glass. Bottom line I've seen a lot of promising AR technologies come and go. My personal take on this is that they may indeed have some very good, if not revolutionary, display technology. However : The big, big obstacle to delivering credible AR is latency. Contrary to VR, t…

I, too, was part of the first few folks to work on glass. Now I work at ML. Name here is June. We should talk. :-)

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#163

Post by fricken4 »

kafkaesq wrote: post #117
deftnerd wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't underestimate the positive environmental impact that replacing monitors and mobile phone screens might have. If this is successful and high-quality enough, we there would be less stuff manufactured that requires nasty chemicals, less to recycle, and less energy consumption.

Compared to... headsets? Not sure there's a positive tradeoff in terms of resources. And in terms of chronic physical strain (vision, neck muscles) there may be a negative tradeoff.

If we all lived in huts, subsisted on rice and beans, and travelled by bicycle, humanity wouldn't be threatening the stability of the biosphere; but of course, we're wired to crave richer experiences, we hoard, and we seek to acquire status which is demonstrated by how much excess cargo we have to waste.

The more aspects of the human experience we can ephemeralize, the less we need to go out and muck up the physical world to get what we want.

A just released Pew research study has shown that 1 in 5 are online almost constantly. Which is to say, their experience of the world is already largely virtual, and the role that their physical presence plays is, by extension, diminished.

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#164

Post by StavrosK »

S4M wrote: post #66
ksenzee wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess this makes me a pedant, but it bothers me to see big O notation used as a shortcut for "within an order of magnitude." It would probably be fine if everyone on HN had taken an algorithms class and knew the formal definition. In reality, a lot of people here are still learning what that capital O thing means, and if they see it used as "within an order of magnitude" we're doing them a disservice. (As someone w…

Also nitpicking, but in the mathematical sense, 1000B/year or 1k/year are also O(1B)/year.

Are they really? AFAIK you need to have a variable in there, so all those simplify to O(1) (not 1B). Which is in line with your point, I guess.

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#165

Post by fricken4 »

mosquito242 wrote: post #5

I don't know where I stand on this. To be raising such ridiculous amounts, they must have some incredible technology to demo. If they're anything close to what the second demo video shows, then they're basically building Tony Stark's home computer interface in Iron Man.

The rumor is that they intend to scale up a silicon photonic chip fab, which is very ambitious, and expensive. It will either be a spectacular failure, or a bold step into the future.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/538146/magic-leap-needs...

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#166

Post by moron4hire »

late2part wrote: post #118
zardo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neal Stevenson said he thought it was comparable to the change from printers to monitors as a UI.

Neal Stephenson is also paid by them. And he writes fiction. Thoughtful, interesting fiction. I remember when lots of credible people said that the Segway would change life, and whole cities would be built around it. Where is Segway now? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_Inc . [2] http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660-... [3] http://www.wired.com/2015/01/well-didnt-work-segway-technolo...

Let's not forget the millions he just blew on the "Clang!" Kickstarter and gave backers literally nothing to show for it.

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#167

Post by S4M »

StavrosK wrote: post #164
S4M wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also nitpicking, but in the mathematical sense, 1000B/year or 1k/year are also O(1B)/year.

Are they really? AFAIK you need to have a variable in there, so all those simplify to O(1) (not 1B). Which is in line with your point, I guess.

Yeah, O(1) or O(1B) is the same. However, 1B is o(0.01 * (age of the company)), even though the sun will have exploded before a company who's revenue is 1 cents * its age reach 1B.

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#168

Post by codeisawesome »

eric_h wrote: post #48
TeMPOraL wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's hope so. We see a lot of promises with this and HoloLens, but somehow production versions are still not here. I'm still not really sure if the latter isn't just a prank, or at least mostly post-recording CG. > they're basically building Tony Stark's home computer interface in Iron Man. Since you're bringing up Marvel - I fear the reality, at least with first released products, will turn out somewhat like this:…

> I'm still not really sure if the latter isn't just a prank, or at least mostly post-recording CG. The first video had a text disclaimer at the bottom of the entire video insisting that there was no post processing or CGI. The second video did not. I rest my case ;)

I... totally fell for that. Thanks for making me realise.

Re: Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C

#169

Post by rsp1984 »

mondoshawan wrote: post #162
rsp1984 wrote: post #70

I've been working on AR and related technologies for almost the last decade and I've been part of the first handful of people working on Google Glass. Bottom line I've seen a lot of promising AR technologies come and go. My personal take on this is that they may indeed have some very good, if not revolutionary, display technology. However : The big, big obstacle to delivering credible AR is latency. Contrary to VR, t…

I, too, was part of the first few folks to work on glass. Now I work at ML. Name here is June. We should talk. :-)

Cool, you have an email or Skype name?
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