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Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

bloomberg.com

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Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#71

Post by maxxxxx »

walrus01 wrote: post #68
maxxxxx wrote: post #63

Has there ever been a company that sucked up huge amounts of investment, made vague and questionable claims over many years and then came out with tech that backed their claims? From my casual observation this type of company immediately fizzles out as soon as they take something to the market and people see the real product.

In telecom, Iridium spent close to a billion dollars but did actually succeed in building a truly worldwide (pole to pole) handheld satellite phone network which also supported SMS and low-data-rate M2M. Then went bankrupt and was acquired. The tech was revolutionary at the time, 18 years ago (handheld phone size vs. 10 kilogram fat briefcase sized inmarsat terminal that didn't work above 60 degrees latitude), the re…

I didn't follow Iridium closely but as far as I know it didn't have this secrecy around them. The tech was well understood. Unlike Magic Leap where there are still rumors about what they are actually doing.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#72

Post by godzillabrennus »

igloofoo wrote: post #17

Changing the world one murdered-by-starvation Yemeni at a time. How do you accept funding from oppressive, dictatorial, mysoginist regimes and then claim to “make the world a better place”? Sigh. The political implications are so ironically cringe-worthy

How many Iraqi civilians died from the USA led invasion?

What nation has the highest level of incarceration in the world?

In Saudi Arabia their regime is hereditary but in the USA we elect our leaders.

Who should we be angry at?

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#73

Post by walrus01 »

root_axis wrote: post #57
patrickaljord wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think any kind of AR glasses that do not look like regular glasses are going to be a tough sell to the general public at least. I think we're still years away from this kind of tech though. I mean if it were possible today Apple would be all over it. Can Magic Leap pull it off before Apple if it is at all possible to do it in the next 5 to 10 years? I'm doubtful.

> look like regular glasses This just isn't possible in the foreseeable future. Maybe someone will figure out how to fit enough processing power for decent AR into the "regular glasses" form-factor within the next couple decades, but there is no discernible path to a viable battery that could work in that form-factor even if we didn't have to also make room for the GPU. Additionally, none of this takes into account h…

as a person who has spent a fair amount of time researching the current state of the art for battery technology, both in watt-hours per kilogram and watt-hours per cubic cm: I have to agree with you. Anything with sufficient processing power to drive a high resolution, 60 fps AR display is going to need a good amount of battery. And that amount of battery is not going to fit into a google glass or hololens sized thing without needing to be recharged every half hour of usage.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#74

Post by michaelbuckbee »

Zelphyr wrote: post #30

Regardless of whether Magic Leap is a Theranos level scam (and I personally think it is), this is additional evidence that there are massive amounts of investment money available out there.

Theranos' tech plain didn't work. If you're looking for a historical analogy that fits better, I'd suggest Segway.

There's a number of parallels with Magic Leap. Both have engineering founders. Both founders made their first big money in medical tech (Kamen with stents and Abovitz with Mako Surgical).

Where things got away from Segway was on the PR + Hype front and that seems where Magic Leap is at as well. Magic Leap is going to ship something this year, it will likely be "ok" but not brilliant and then after a few iterations and a half dozen years it may well be a device on a similar trajectory to how we use mobile phones.

That's why all the money is going to these companies, the thought is that the patents and expertise is going to lay the foundation for what replaces mobile phones and what's a $500 million dollar bet against a 5 Trillion a year industry.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#75

Post by kozak »

walrus01 wrote: post #26
goshx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and 6% sales tax

but depending on your political views, you also have to tolerate living in florida , which can be a distasteful experience to people whose cultural, religious and political values more closely align with the residents of portland, OR.

Could you please explain to a non-American what do you mean here? Sounds like something that is interesting to know :)

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#76

Post by walrus01 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #71
walrus01 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In telecom, Iridium spent close to a billion dollars but did actually succeed in building a truly worldwide (pole to pole) handheld satellite phone network which also supported SMS and low-data-rate M2M. Then went bankrupt and was acquired. The tech was revolutionary at the time, 18 years ago (handheld phone size vs. 10 kilogram fat briefcase sized inmarsat terminal that didn't work above 60 degrees latitude), the re…

I didn't follow Iridium closely but as far as I know it didn't have this secrecy around them. The tech was well understood. Unlike Magic Leap where there are still rumors about what they are actually doing.

That is true. What stood out to me about Magic Leap is that the huge/weird looking AR glasses look a lot to me like the AR version of an Iridium 9505 (first generation handheld) phone. Something that is so bulky and weird that you'll only use one if you absolutely need to. That and the combination of ridiculous amount of VC money.

If you compare a 9505 to a current generation 9575:

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&hs=DVL&channel=f...

if you hold and use one, a 9505 is huge and has short battery life.

current gen: https://www.google.com/search?q=iridium+9575&num=100&client=...

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#77

Post by webkike »

tnoue0i9nt wrote: post #61
Zelphyr wrote: post #30

Regardless of whether Magic Leap is a Theranos level scam (and I personally think it is), this is additional evidence that there are massive amounts of investment money available out there.

I used to work with people who now work there. I can say for sure that they are both good at what they do and good people. If it is a scam, the employees I know there don't appear to think so. Also, Theranos was lying to the general public about very important health issues that affect your daily life. So far, Magic Leap hasn't released a single product. Even if they do, at worst it will be a computer that isn't as g…

I also know people who work there. Very talented engineers. I find it highly unlikely that they have been duped. And even if they are, they're sure as shit still making money out of the deal.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#78

Post by maxxxxx »

walrus01 wrote: post #76
maxxxxx wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't follow Iridium closely but as far as I know it didn't have this secrecy around them. The tech was well understood. Unlike Magic Leap where there are still rumors about what they are actually doing.

That is true. What stood out to me about Magic Leap is that the huge/weird looking AR glasses look a lot to me like the AR version of an Iridium 9505 (first generation handheld) phone. Something that is so bulky and weird that you'll only use one if you absolutely need to. That and the combination of ridiculous amount of VC money. If you compare a 9505 to a current generation 9575: https://www.google.com/search?clien…

You could sell the old Iridium as "retro" phone and make a lot of money now :-)

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#79

Post by walrus01 »

kozak wrote: post #75
walrus01 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but depending on your political views, you also have to tolerate living in florida , which can be a distasteful experience to people whose cultural, religious and political values more closely align with the residents of portland, OR.

Could you please explain to a non-American what do you mean here? Sounds like something that is interesting to know :)

in brief, and this is a highly anecdotal biased view, florida (in aggregate, not the more liberal cities) is a deep red state that generally agrees with Trump.

https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president...

as a random white person, caucasian floridians I have met are racist as hell. You would not believe the things that come out of their mouths when there are no ethnic/religious minorities within earshot and they believe you to be a person that might agree with their worldview.

it's a state that believes in cutting taxes to the level that they have the absolute bare minimum of social services, government services and other things that people in a western european nation (or canada, au, nz) take for granted.

florida is a state that regularly elects, at the state and county level, christian-religious politicians who will attempt to do things like make abortion illegal, introduce religious into public schools, and other policies generally supported by the evangelical religious right wing.

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