It's too bad the economic incentives make this company take a stealth route. The problem is so large, and potentially so game-changing (both literally and figuratively) that I fail to see how one company could possibly capture all the value created, and it makes me sad that it would even try.
Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
41–50 of 167 posts
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#42This is notable not just because of Neal Stephenson, but because his blog post contains what I think is the most detailed public description of the tech so far: --- Here’s where you’re probably expecting the sales pitch about how mind-blowingly awesome the demo was. But it’s a little more interesting than that. Yes, I saw something on that optical table I had never seen before--something that only Magic Leap, as far…
One of the things that's interesting to me about that quote is the phrase "optical table." I think that there's a presumption (that I've shared) that Magic Leap is trying to make AR goggles or glasses. But, as has been extensively commented upon in the past, that's just crazy. We're just barely at the point of doing semi-decent VR (Oculus Rift) and just barely at the point of doing semi-decent wearable heads-up displ…
I think you should read this as "what they are doing in the lab."
An "optical table" is to optical technologies as a solderless breadboard is to electronics.
Basically, it's a big, stable platform with lots of threaded holes of a standard size and pitch for attaching lasers, mirrors, etc. Most have some kind of pneumatic isolation or damping to keep vibrations from being transmitted from the floor. Things like interference phenomena are sensitive to displacements of a few nanometers, so you really don't want things like passing trucks to ruin your experiments!
Examples here: http://www.newport.com/Optical-Table-Selection-Guide/140219/...
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had no idea what the company does until I bailed from their site and read a comment here. Yes, I could have dug deeper, like the person posting that comment did (thanks), but damn, gimme a reason . And no, having $CELEBRITY in your company is not enough reason. Two utilitarian sentences on what your thing is, and then all the literate prose you can produce. But gimme those two sentences.
Give you a reason for what? You're all acting like this company owes you an explanation of what it does.
They're selling something. If they want people to hand over cash, it might be practical to tell us what it is.
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#44"...to produce a synthesized light field that falls upon the retina in the same way as light reflected from real objects in your environment"
Goes back to Carmack's idea presented in one of his Quakecon sessions (although obviously the idea has been in sci fi for a long time).
This is interesting, I have an idea of how it might work:
Producing a synthesized light field could be done with a huge array of tiny mirrors or refractive material (I know stuff like this has been done in the past). By simulating directional rays coming in, I'm guessing your eyes could be tricked into thinking there is depth since the movement of each eye would change the amount of light absorbed (i.e. "focusing" on different objects in the light field). I could be wrong about this, have not thought it through very well.
All that said, they've raised over $500 million from Google Ventures and others, so I'm guessing there is something here, as lacking as the website is.
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#45This is notable not just because of Neal Stephenson, but because his blog post contains what I think is the most detailed public description of the tech so far: --- Here’s where you’re probably expecting the sales pitch about how mind-blowingly awesome the demo was. But it’s a little more interesting than that. Yes, I saw something on that optical table I had never seen before--something that only Magic Leap, as far…
Stupid question: Who is Neal Stephenson, and why is he famous?
Wikipedia suggests that he's a sci-fi author, is there a particular reason for his fame, could you recommend some of his works?
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#46This Gizmodo article does a great job of demystifying MagicLeap's tech by digging into the founder's background, patent filings, and trademark applications:
http://gizmodo.com/how-magic-leap-is-secretly-creating-a-new...
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#47This is notable not just because of Neal Stephenson, but because his blog post contains what I think is the most detailed public description of the tech so far: --- Here’s where you’re probably expecting the sales pitch about how mind-blowingly awesome the demo was. But it’s a little more interesting than that. Yes, I saw something on that optical table I had never seen before--something that only Magic Leap, as far…
Stupid question: Who is Neal Stephenson, and why is he famous? Wikipedia suggests that he's a sci-fi author, is there a particular reason for his fame, could you recommend some of his works?
Stephenson's post mentions Snow Crash. Start there.
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#48[deleted]
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#49The hype for me is tempered pretty heavily by what happened to Clang. I'm still very curious what Magic Leap is all about though.
What/who is Clang (apart from the compiler)?
Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had no idea what the company does until I bailed from their site and read a comment here. Yes, I could have dug deeper, like the person posting that comment did (thanks), but damn, gimme a reason . And no, having $CELEBRITY in your company is not enough reason. Two utilitarian sentences on what your thing is, and then all the literate prose you can produce. But gimme those two sentences.
Give you a reason for what? You're all acting like this company owes you an explanation of what it does.
Actually it's the other way around, a company that doesn't give me those two sentences is acting like I owe them my time.
My feedback, and similar feedback from others, is not a complaint, it's feedback. Or, as someone else once said, "treasure your bugs."