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Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

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Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#271
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But _why_ are you glad to see Meta pushing towards AR? Genuine question.

They innovate. Look what Quest did for VR.

They innovate to infiltrate. 20ish years ago Steve Mann was beat up for invading people's comfort zone with AR glasses, then Google's AR users were "glassholes," now Meta is trying to make it cool. As much as I think AI is valuable, I hope they fail. The act of holding up a smartphone is much more explicit to signal to others they're about to lose all privacy to a centralized company. I don't think Quest is that innovative either, it's mostly first person shooters.

Where does Meta actually talk about things that could really be called "cool" at a society level? Or is it all just empty hype along the lines of Facebook being exploitation of social networking.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely see the appeal. A vastly larger screen where you don't have to crane your neck down to read the news? That sounds amazing for my daily commute, and so much healthier for my neck and shoulders. And visible directions while cycling would be amazing, when it's unsafe to glance at your phone. (Audio directions aren't nearly as good, and wearing headphones/earbuds while cycling is illegal in a lot of places a…

Probably depends on your area, but when I was bike commuting, I refused to give in to the temptation to wear even one headphone. Staying completely focused and aware of traffic saved me quite a few times. You won't be surprised to know what I think about cycling with AR.

While cycling somewhere new I have to look upwards and to the side to search for small street name signs and try to read them, to know when to turn. Rather than looking at traffic and the road ahead of me.

A big glowing arrow is going to distract me far less than tiny street name signs.

AR is a big win here. In fact there are all sorts of safety improvements you can imagine for cycling specifically, including making you more aware of vehicles she other cyclists behind you to the side.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#273

Is it just me, or are the videos that look like they're shot through the glasses extremely jerky and at a low frame rate? For me, buttery smooth animation and synchronization of the physical and projected world are table stakes.

It's a prototype...

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#274
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get the opportunity to try the Meta glasses, you will quickly see that it's more than just a gimmick, and they don't even have any display

But timing is everything. If everyone already has a device that is functionally equivalent in most cases, most won't make the switch. Isn't that why investors often look for 10x improvements for disruptive tech - switching costs discount the value of any incremental innovation, however cool the new tech is. AR via a phone/tablet seems to me to be just as good an interface as any headgear once you factor in the social…

> I can't think of non-entertainment contexts where AR is actually worth the effort over a screen interface.

This I agree with.

> AR via a phone/tablet seems to me to be just as good an interface as any headgear

This I cannot agree with. If you've used recent VR, you know it's the "real deal". We've caught up on the computing capabilities required for full color passthrough and even fairly lightweight headsets. Right now it's a matter of miniaturization, and bringing the cost down beyond the $10,000 price tag that current experiments are running.

If AR becomes a mainstream thing, people are going to want to ditch their phones the moment a good headset is available. If it's not (and I suspect it won't be; "AR" already exists on our phones and hasn't been popular since Pokemon GO) then people will remain apathetic.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#275
post #136
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must not be fun to see every new technological improvement as a horrific thing

It isn't. I miss when I didn't have to examine every new device to see what data about me it's going to Hoover up to some mothership to see how it can manipulate me to do things against my interest. But to the extent you're pitching it as some sort of reactionary lashing out against the bright glorious shining future... sorry. It's not me. It's tech. There has been a real change in the tech space. I used to just be a…

> But to the extent you're pitching it as some sort of reactionary lashing out against the bright glorious shining future... sorry. It's not me. It's tech. There has been a real change in the tech space. I used to just be able to take nearly for granted that tech is going to benefit me. Now I can't.

Tech was a lot more fun when the builders were amoral ("I'm just gonna build this, and if somebody misuses it, that's not my problem") rather than straight up immoral, but here we are.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#276
This will never be a real product. Putting it out as a "consumer grade prototype" is the pivot itself, garner the maximum PR impact and maybe snap a few customers who could be lured by most of the usability of the Vision Pro at fraction of the bulk (congrats for that!). But this ship has sailed for a decade now again.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#277
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the wristband reminds me of the Myo armband, this thing you could wear to control a computer did meta buy them out?

Yes, they did https://www.roadtovr.com/facebook-acquires-ctrl-labs-develop... I had the first myoband sdk and didn’t work for me. I imagine tech is much improved now

Thalmic (makers of Myo, later renamed to North) was acq. by Google actually.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#279

Still feels like Intel Vault was the best iteration of AR. I desperately wish someone would pick that back up.

I hadn't heard of these, they look good, but the gap between smart glasses with monochrome HUD and AR is quite large. Neat display tech though. Vaunt, not vault.

Hmmm that was an autocorrect I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the correction!

My understanding was that it was on its way for true AR, just with limited display capabilities. e.g., if I only wanted augmented information, monochrome is just fine.

I don't really need to be able to play pong badly to consider it AR.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#280
post #12

I know it's a prototype, but yikes those are large and goofy looking. Reminds me of the old 80's NHS glasses in the UK (which you could get for free if you couldn't afford otherwise). Or for those of you old enough, Brains from the old Supermarionation versions of the Thunderbird show ( https://i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk/incoming/article8451975.ec... )

Thick rims like those are considered high fashion right now. It's the opposite of goofy and says a lot about the audience here that you're all oblivious to this fact.
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