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Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

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Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#591

Post by LoganDark »

SeanAnderson wrote: post #25

> While Orion won’t make its way into the hands of consumers harumph. This tech is cool, but there's a worrying trend of important tech companies creating larger than life PR announcements without anything I can actually get my hands/eyes on

> This tech is cool, but there's a worrying trend of important tech companies creating larger than life PR announcements without anything I can actually get my hands/eyes on

Funny thing is a company called Micronics actually recently launched an actual Kickstarter campaign for something they planned to ship to consumers, then they decided to sell to some enterprise company instead and cancel the campaign.

So even stuff that was advertised as for consumers isn't safe from never actually happening

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#592

Post by stevage »

ang_cire wrote: post #85

This is cool from a technical standpoint, but ultimately just feels like another gimmick. This feels like it's doing stuff that I could do faster or better (and definitely, more safely) on a computer or phone. I don't personally see the appeal of hands-free as a paradigm in most cases. Do we really want people talking on and looking at Zoom as they walk around the office? Or as they drive? Or as they are out shopping…

Would you actually take a call while running? I wouldn't.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#593

Post by al_borland »

zmmmmm wrote: post #466
Twirrim wrote: 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... )

I was an early adopter of the Galaxy Note which looked outlandishly large and goofy, back when people still spoke in awe of how Jobs made the 3.5" iPhone to fit the human hand naturally and no other form factor could possibly be right. Fast forward today and nearly every phone looks like a galaxy note. Turns out when the utility is there, people will adapt.

> to fit the human hand naturally and no other form factor could possibly be right.

I still think this is correct. "Features" like Reachability, and even Screen Time, are software solutions to hardware problems.

I don't think people would be as addicted to their smartphones if they stayed small. At that size, they were more of a tool, and a means to get something done when away from a proper computer. As the size increased, it became mobile-first, doom scrolling entered the picture, and people started asking if phones were bad of our mental health.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#594

Post by stevage »

crazygringo wrote: post #272
stvltvs wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Interesting point. the one serious accident I have had while cycling occurred while I was looking for a street sign.

Well designed AR apps would definitely be an improvement over looking down at a mounted phone, too.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#595

Post by smt88 »

ocean_moist wrote: post #512

This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but Meta is in the right direction and has to go on an Amazon type arc to align their employees with their vision. I watched this podcast that released around the same time and Zuckerberg's argument/vision for the future of Meta seems solid[0]. Generally, a large magnitude of value is created during "platform shifts" and they have now placed (really good) bets on VR/AR and…

> This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but Meta is in the right direction and has to go on an Amazon type arc to align their employees with their vision.

It's not just unpopular, it's just wrong.

Even if Zuckerberg's vision is good (and there's no reason to think it is, because he famously doesn't understand human beings and has never come up with a single product idea that became popular), he clearly has no ability to execute.

Spending $50B in a few years with almost no revenue to show for it has to be the biggest business failure of all time. Can you name a bigger one? Sure, Musk has destroyed roughly that much value on paper, but Zuckerberg actually set that much cash on fire building the Metaverse that no one asked for and no one uses.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#597

Post by al_borland »

impulser_ wrote: post #367
wewtyflakes wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first iphones and ipods were stunning for their time; they changed the industry and people would wait for hours on end in line at stores. It seems like a reach to compare these glasses to that.

I'm not comparing actual devices. I'm comparing how large they were when they were first released. The original iPod and iPhones were bricks compared to what the latest/last versions and it didn't have a touch screen and cameras. The point is, the size of new technology tend to shrink fast.

The original iPod might have been a brick compared to the iPod nano, but it still wasn't that big. I don't think many people today would be upset to carry an original iPod. It was much smaller than the discman sized devices it was competing with.

The original iPhone was one of the smallest iPhones ever made. It did nothing but get bigger over time. If you want to compare the modern smart phone to a Zack Morris phone, or the bag phones that came before it, that would be a better way to go if the argument is size reduction over time.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#598

Post by alasdair_ »

Fabricio20 wrote: post #49

Wow these look huge, I was expecting it from the comments but it still managed to surpass my expectations. I wonder if they managed to squeeze a battery in it and that's why it's so thick. Assuming it's light enough to not cause pain after some extended use it's a huge step up from the Quest series (and other VR headsets that cover your entire head pretty much!) and a completely different class of product compared to…

It has a battery in it (the puck is compute). It lasts 2 hours at the moment.

Re: Orion, our first true augmented reality glasses

#599

Post by al_borland »

bryan0 wrote: post #365

While still pretty clunky, I think I'd rather wear these for extended periods of time than Vision Pro glasses (100g vs 600g). This is the type of v1 minimalist design I was hoping Apple would go for. I assume Apple investigated this path but realized they would be cost prohibitive? (although when has that ever stopped Apple before?)

I'm sure Apple has prototypes like this internally. Apple clearly thinks AR is the way to go, and even tries to avoid calling Vision Pro VR. I think it's simply the tech isn't ready yet, and Apple isn't the type of company that develops in public. When we see what they have to offer, we'll be able to buy it within a matter of weeks or months.

Vision Pro could even be a red herring to get apps developed, so when their true mass market product launches it will already have thousands of native apps.

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