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Comment by dmode | Hacker News Reader

Magic Leap raised boatloads of money, which game me the impression that they are really building something mass market that can be useful for most people in this world. I am not into gaming and have kids, so cannot wear AR glasses in my home and walk around. Are there use cases for Magic Leap that support non gamers ? Or is it mostly a niche product like an Oculus ?

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>Are there use cases for Magic Leap that support non gamers ? Or is it mostly a niche product like an Oculus ?

AR will definitely be the way forward for all computing. This brief awkward period of 50ish years using analog inputs and physical screens which we are currently living through will be seen as a blip in the history of human-computer interaction hundreds of years from now. However the only use case for this iteration of the technology is for developers to begin working on new interaction paradigms and app ideas for AR in general. We're still years away from true consumer tech but I can admit as someone very familiar with VR/AR hardware that the Magic Leap One is a solid evolutionary step forward from what we've seen so far. I'm not impressed enough to buy one yet, but at least the company has shown they aren't total vaporware at this point and hopefully they can keep improving.

I am a big VR/AR fan, but I am interacting with this forum sitting in a chair moving my hands max 2 inches there and back. That's comfortable. That's something I can do for hours and hours. It's quite possible that VR/AR will augment, not replace.

The real trick is going to come from the new interaction models that are invented ... I'm not just talking about the generic point, touch, and gesture UX that we have today in the AR/VR space; I'm talking about entirely new categories of tasks and abilities that are simply not possible using the inputs of today. We're already starting to see some really innovative art being created by "physically" being in the space (as in Tilt Brush) ... I wonder when we'll start seeing more 3d content creation tools being VR-native. Or CAD tools where you can lay out changes to a structure in real time ... that one is especially interesting given that you can (in theory) make a real-time map of your environment using some of the "inside out" positioning sensors that are already on headsets today.

Total replacement won't come until things are completely seamless, but it's definitely happening. Especially in cars. It will just become completely seamless for you to ask your car to display directions from Google maps as an AR projection on all the vehicle windows. Once these headsets get down to a normal pair of glasses with full FOV, people will just wear them all day every day. At that point the lines between reality and virtual will blur and AR will be the default interaction.

On the timescale OP is talking about there is a decent chance users won’t have to move their hands/fingers at all.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/19/facebook-brain-interface/

AR would replace the display, not all input mechanisms.

What if I don't trust facebook with my brainstate? (Or google or literally any other company.)

The problem is people don't want stuff on their face.

They tolerate glasses because they are a necessity for most wearers. But if you hang outside the LensCrafters store and ask people, nearly all would tell you they generally dislike wearing them[0].

[0] Yeah, I know, there are people who wear them for "fashion".

I love my glasses. They help me see better. They are so light I don't even remember that I am wearing them. They also provide rudimentary physical and UV radiation protection for my eyes. They transition to a darker color outdoors and reduce glare. They also look nice on me. Would be fun to see a poll on whether people in general like or dislike glasses.

I think a better pool would be to see if people would replace their laptop or smartphone with a pair of glasses because after all this is what the smartglass manufacturers aim to do.

I definitely would.

Hell, these days I find myself dreaming of AR contact lenses, so I could peruse some discreet computing in situations where I'm otherwise unoccupied, but the social context demands me not fiddling with a phone.

Of course people will tolerate glasses(more or less smart) if the experience is worth it.

I don't think people ever enjoyed carrying things around(laptops, tablets, smartphones etc) but they do. They don't really like big loudspeakers or TVs or tv setup boxes either still they buy them.

I would replace both my laptop and my smartphone with a pair of glasses anytime(if it would be possible).

Why does this technology have to replace laptops and smartphones?

Smartphones and tablets didn't replace keyboards. They are good at somethings and laptops/desktops are good at others.

Smartphones and tablets replaced laptops and PCs entirely for many people and partially for the rest. You have a limited amount of time and budget, that's why it has to replace a current device(smartphone, laptop, tv). These devices already got all our time.

Hmmm, this reads like those old predictions that we will type all of our text via voice dictation in the future.

Turns out keyboards work great and are way less frustrating and more precise and the voice to text is only used in special use cases such as driving and for simple queries.

There are masses of people out there who don't type SMS out anymore, and let the errors fall where they may. I know a few people like that, some have written whole essays using speech to text.

In terms of throwing ideas into text using as little effort as possible, Google has definitely nailed it with their transcription offering. Its incredibly accurate and free for consumers to use. Hopefully Sphinx and Mozilla's DeepSpeech will improve rapidly, otherwise this will remain Google's domain.

Is an Oculus niche? I brought my Go on a family vacation last month, and after trying it on, both my sisters wanted one. Neither are people I would say have ever gamed much before, but after they experienced it, they were sold.

Did they end up buying their own VR gear then? My sister said she loved Star Wars after watching episode III in theaters, but still hasn't seen any of the others.

They both put it on their gift lists for the rest of the family to chip in on around the holidays. =)

I'm cautiously optimistic about using this for data visualizations in AR. I've messed around with genomic models using Hololense and have found that AR works better then VR in a lab or collaborative environment where there is benefit to seeing others while looking at the same augmented reality. I'm curious if this will be better for medical imaging and other biological sequence visualizations (then Holo lense). Better in this case would translate to more accurate tracking of my eyes, interaction with the built environment, and higher quality resolution. I still am yearning for a AR experience that let's me walk through my databases and interact a la Minority Report or my personal favorite movie-reference to VR "Disclosure" featuring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore https://youtu.be/dJcakDNtHDA

They are, this is a developer device. They want apps and games to be available first. (Friend)

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