Disney is partnering with Apple to launch Vision Pro Augmented Reality headset, including a virtual Walt Disney World

the.dreamfinderJun 08, 2023

A suggested read about AR/VR adoption by Matthew Ball. https://www.matthewball.vc/all/why-vrar-gets-farther-away-as-it-comes-into-focus Dr. Timothy Witham, who is also director of the hospital’s Spinal Fusion Laboratory, likened the experience to driving a car with GPS. I love this analogy because it shows how XR can complement existing devices and behaviors rather than displace them (it also complements reality, rather than disconnecting us from it). Put another way, we drive a car with GPS; we don’t drive GPS instead of a car, and GPS doesn’t replace the onboard computer either. What’s more, many of us travel more often because GPS exists. Dr. Witham also provides a framework through which we can evaluate the utility XR devices. To exist, they need not upend convention, just deliver better and/or faster and/or cheaper and/or more reliable outcomes. But even under these more moderated measures, the future seems far off. GPS began to see non-military adoption in the 1990s, but it took another two decades to mature in cost and quality to become a part of daily life. Furthermore, the mainstream value in GPS was not only in improving commutes but in enabling applications as diverse as Tinder, Siri, Yelp, Spotify, and many others.

MisterPenguinJun 08, 2023

I don't like Russell Brand. I can smell him thru the TV screen.

Hawkeye_2018Jun 08, 2023

I doubt it

networkproJun 08, 2023

Russell Brand just put up an amusing video on the Vision Pro and Apple.

CommunicoraJun 08, 2023

New technology and gadgets are very fun, but it is an amusing cycle. When I had my first "real" job a bunch of us got our Christmas bonuses and headed over to MicroCenter to buy the very first Palm Pilots. The founder of the studio we worked at brought in his Newton and I later realized I used the Palm Pilot about as much as he had used his Newton. That is to say, not much at all. Things changed when the Handspring Visor came out. I loved downloading news on that at home and reading it on the bus. It is funny to think of now, but I felt like I was living in the future! I'm a bit skeptical about how popular these will be with your average consumer, but I bet we will see a lot of them in the first/business class cabin on airplanes. I can also picture the insufferable bosses who will wear them during all staff zoom meetings. Ugh. Haha

TraumaJun 08, 2023

One of those days that changed the world forever.

StripesJun 08, 2023

networkproJun 08, 2023

What's it going to be? Or They can spout all the niceties of its intended uses, but human nature will take over to turn those fluffy cluds and rainbows to something much less savory.

WDWFREAK53Jun 08, 2023

When it comes to this product…do you think it’s the next step in seclusion? People are already antisocial with their noses in their phones but now this will really shut people out from the world around them. So, Mr. Goldblum….what’s that?

UNCgolfJun 07, 2023

Yeah, that's what I think. VR will settle in as a somewhat lesser version of the iPad/tablet -- a secondary use device for the average consumer. There will be people who make it their primary use device, but they won't be the majority. It's a boon for both hardware developers and end users that VR can be included in the same device as AR/MR, though, instead of having to develop/purchase something wholly separate. There was a push to do that with tablets/laptops, but it seems to have mostly failed (at least for the time being).

MrPromeyJun 07, 2023

To be fair, we're kind of past the boom days of smart phones when changes between versions were dramatic. Faster processors, more ram, better camera - rinse and repeat. OS improvements are more on the level of refinements than advancements in a lot of cases, too. Some have come up with ways to differentiate like with the folding phones but the market is now pretty mature in terms of covering people's needs/expectations. That's kind of why Apple needs to find new places to shake money from. A lot of people are sitting on their existing phones for 2, 3, 4 years instead of feeling compelled to get the latest and greatest each cycle, now.

TraumaJun 07, 2023

I hear ya. I just didn’t know that it was a thing with cell phones. It’s cool to see people passionate about the tech. I get a new phone and can’t even tell the difference from the last one. That’s how tech stupid I am.

MisterPenguinJun 07, 2023

Also a thread? You mean there are other threads about a thing that isn't out yet, e.g., a ride or an attraction or a park or a movie or a show; and people pile in there to air grievances about it before it's complete?! Why, I've never heard of such a thing!!

MrPromeyJun 07, 2023

Thanks for the elaboration. At this point, it seems like the two biggest players are moving to a VR/AR/MR model rather than just VR (and Apple's working hard to keep the stink of VR away from their devices by not even mentioning it) so I think that'll eventually be the direction everyone moves and VR won't really fail, it'll just be evolved away from as the primary use-case of these devices going forward - still there for gaming and other cases where someone would want it but not the default. Sony will probably be the last pure VR holdout with their PSVR2 but being tethered to a game console, that unit would have had incredibly limited appeal as an AR/MR device even if they had incorporated it, anyway. For Meta, I think Apple entering the ring may have been the best possible thing for them. Their system interface is a bit... lacking and I'm sure they'll start "borrowing" UI concepts from the new OS almost immediately and Apple will do a better job of creating the impression that this is a must in people's lives than Mark was ever going to. That combined with them coming in at a fraction of the price will make their hardware, at least in the short term, the everyone-who-want's-one alternative with no needed battery. In the long-term, I wouldn't be surprised to see them settle into an Android like position which, would be sort of fitting considering what's under the hood of the OS in these.