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[Anton Sugar]

This article by PC Magazine does make an interesting point, in that this would probably be far more palatable to the general public than Google Glass. The very fact that it is somewhat bulky and conspicuous, and that it may not necessarily have a long enough battery life to be carried around everywhere, means that there is less incentive to use it outside, thus restricting its uses to home and social situations where you can easily get permission for it to be used by everyone present. This means there's less likely to be outrage about this.

Yuuup. I don't think I'd ever buy Google Glass, but I would absolutely buy this and use it in the comfort of my own home/property.

 

[M3d10n]

Why am I getting huge Project Milo vibes from this.
Like, it's too good to be true?

Project Milo + AR?

 

[Kinitari]

This article by PC Magazine does make an interesting point, in that this would probably be far more palatable to the general public than Google Glass. The very fact that it is somewhat bulky and conspicuous, and that it may not necessarily have a long enough battery life to be carried around everywhere, means that there is less incentive to use it outside, thus restricting its uses to home and social situations where you can easily get permission for it to be used by everyone present. This means there's less likely to be outrage about this.

This might be my severe techno-optimism speaking, but I think this is a concern that is only a concern until everyone has one. It's the fear of the device born of ignorance (not in an insulting way) that makes people nervous, is what my gut is telling me. If everyone has one, and they are super convenient (ie, they outright replace your smartphone) - people will take them everywhere and just leave them on. The side of this thing will obviously shrink, and there are competitors, like magic leap, who could potentially further this arms race - and you know Apple will step in.

The vision for AR glasses is ubiquity, not occasional use.

 

[jmood88]

Why am I getting huge Project Milo vibes from this.
Like, it's too good to be true?

I have no idea why you would connect the two since they have nothing to do with each other and the only people who interacted with Milo were those at Microsoft.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

This article by PC Magazine does make an interesting point, in that this would probably be far more palatable to the general public than Google Glass. The very fact that it is somewhat bulky and conspicuous, and that it may not necessarily have a long enough battery life to be carried around everywhere, means that there is less incentive to use it outside, thus restricting its uses to home and social situations where you can easily get permission for it to be used by everyone present. This means there's less likely to be outrage about this.

I think they did the right thing by not trying to hide the device. But beyond that there are bigger reasons why this has an improved chance at becoming socially acceptable. I don't know if it's mentioned in the article or not, but think about a situation where you see someone wearing one of those headsets seemingly interacting with thin air looking like a crazy person (remember when cell phone users were weird because it looked like they were talking to themselves?). Anyway, going by the artist's rendition released by MS, in certain situations you'd be able to hold up a tablet or smartphone and "see" whatever it is they were interacting with. The fact that you're not the only person who sees it instantly provides a very strong sense of credibility. And that could translate into people feeling far less uncomfortable using this kind of device in public.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Trying to collect Hololens impressions (should this be a separate thread), let me know if you have/find any:

Twitter:

@tomwarren: I just locked my phone, laptop, and everything into a locker and experienced Microsoft HoloLens. Holy shit.

@GI_AndyMc: Important first impression. In the videos I thought it filled your entire field of view, but it's more like a screen floating in space.

@GI_AndyMc: I'd say it's like a 16x9-ish monitor floating about 7 to 8 inches just in front of your face.

@NateRalph: And Minecraft! Sorry, Holobuilder. I poked sheep and blew up a bench and barely noticed the power cord tethering me to the ceiling.

@NateRalph: The HoloLens dev models are clunkier than what we saw today, but Skyping with someone who's drawing on the wall in front of you is surreal

Gizmodo: Project Hololens Hands-On: Incredible, Amazing, Prototype-y as Hell:

It's basically exactly what Magic Leap promises to deliver, except I can independently confirm it exists and that it legitimately blew my mind.

Like when I broke through a real-life wall with a Minecraft shovel and found veins of precious ore inside. Or when I installed a real-world light-switch in less than six minutes, with a guy named Joe on Skype drawing circles around the wire nut and voltage tester I needed to avoid frying myself. Or when I set foot on the surface of Mars without ever leaving my office, helping a ghostly NASA scientist assign tasks to the Mars Rover.

It's not like the Oculus Rift, where you're totally immersed in a virtual world practically anywhere you look. The current Hololens field of view is TINY! I wasn't even impressed at first. All that weight for this? But that's when I noticed that I wasn't just looking at some ghostly transparent representation of Mars superimposed on my vision. I was standing in a room filled with objects. Posters covering the walls. And yet somehow—without blocking my vision—the Hololens was making those objects almost totally invisible.

Wired: Project HoloLens: Our Exclusive Hands-On With Microsoft’s Holographic Goggles

Another scenario lands me on a virtual Mars-scape. Kipman developed it in close collaboration with NASA rocket scientist Jeff Norris, who spent much of the first half of 2014 flying back and forth between Seattle and his Southern California home to help develop the scenario. With a quick upward gesture, I toggle from computer screens that monitor the Curiosity rover’s progress across the planet’s surface to the virtual experience of being on the planet. The ground is a parched, dusty sandstone, and so realistic that as I take a step, my legs begin to quiver. They don’t trust what my eyes are showing them. Behind me, the rover towers seven feet tall, its metal arm reaching out from its body like a tentacle. The sun shines brightly over the rover, creating short black shadows on the ground beneath its legs.

After exploring Mars, I don’t want to remove the headset, which has provided a glimpse of a combination of computing tools that make the unimaginable feel real. NASA felt the same way. Norris will roll out Project HoloLens this summer so that agency scientists can use it to collaborate on a mission.

The Verge: Up close with the HoloLens, Microsoft's most intriguing product in years

But it was all worth it, because HoloLens is probably the most intriguing (and, in many ways, most infuriating) technology we've experienced since the Oculus Rift. And there are many parallels with VR to be had: both are immersive, but in different ways; both require you to strap a weird thing on your head; both leave you grinning like at absolute idiot at a scene only you can see. And, crucially, both need more work when it comes to thinking through exactly how to control and interact with virtual things.

But before you can apply your jaded "I've done VR before" attitude to this situation, you look down at the coffee table and there's a castle sitting right on the damn thing. It's not shimmery, but it's not quite real either. It's just sitting there, perfectly flat on the table, reacting in space to your head movements as lifelike as the actual table. There's no lag at all, it's simply magic.

And you definitely have a big stupid grin on your face even through the contraption that's strapped to it is pressing your eyeglasses into the bridge of your nose in a painful way.

Glace: you point your head at something
AirTap: you make a "Number 1" sign with your hand, then move your finger down like you're depressing a lever
Voice: you can issue commands, usually to switch what "tool" you're using
Mouse: So actually the neatest thing is that objects you use to interact with computers can be used to interact with holograms.

Business Insider: I Just Tried Microsoft's Remarkable Holographic Headset — Here's What It's Like

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-hololens-hands-on-2015-1#ixzz3PVXy4hEs

I just had a 40-minute in-person demonstration of HoloLens, Microsoft's new computer headset, and I'm convinced that personal computing is on the verge of a major change.

HoloLens is less jarring than Oculus, and a lot more flexible. With HoloLens, the programmer can control transparency of real-world objects. For instance, in one demo, the program superimposed the Martian landscape all around me, and I could barely see through it — except when I was looking at one particular PC monitor, which appeared front and center.

It's closest to Google Glass, but I never saw a very good immersive application in Glass -- it was always just a little tiny bit of information superimposed on the real world. Glass seemed more geared toward taking in information, like recording video. HoloLens was more interactive and two way. (Apparently Magic Leap, which in October got a $542 million investment from Google, is working on something similar, but we haven't seen it yet.)

 

[Kinitari]

Trying to collect Hololens impressions (should this be a separate thread), let me know if you have/find any:

Twitter:





Project Hololens Hands-On: Incredible, Amazing, Prototype-y as Hell:





Project HoloLens: Our Exclusive Hands-On With Microsoft’s Holographic Goggles

So the FOV isn't super high, which makes sense when I think about the FOV of that onstage demo. Other than that, I am seeing comparisons to magic leap already. I am really hoping that magic leap matches or exceeds what we've seen so far. And if I am here hoping, I'm hoping Apple throws it's hat into the ring too. I want this goddamn AR-arms race to pop off.

 

[Kinyou]

Google Glass wasn't AR, it was a headmounted camera and a tiny screen in the corner of your vision. Put your phone on an 18" stick and strap it to your head, and you've got a rough approximation of Google Glass.

You're right, after looking up the definition Google Glass should fall under Mediated Reality, since it doesn't actually project anything onto the real world.

Trying to collect Hololens impressions (should this be a separate thread), let me know if you have/find any:

Twitter:

Hope that the FOV is something that will be improved.

 

[Guy.brush]

If it works as well as the demo and promotional video suggest, it's not gimmicky at all. In fact it could be far less gimmicky than VR.
The fact that it doesn't obscure your normal visual field is a huge factor.

The promotional video seems like all shots are post-3d tracked and stabilized.
The live demo actually "cheated" in the sense that there was a perfect object for easy real-time tracking right where the actress was looking. Not everyone will have these cubic forms in their living room.

Kinect, then VR. GoogleGlass, now another push for AR and all of them directly into the living room, rather than trying to gain traction as a matured tool in a work environment. Have radiologists, 3d artists, vehicle designers, the military use this stuff for a couple of years and then bring it to mainstream.
It feels like all these recent tech pushes are too prototypey and years before they are ready for primetime.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Are those QR codes on the castle?

 

[Kinitari]

Are those QR codes on the castle?

Nah, that's just how minecraft does glas cubes.

 

[terrisus]

It's finally time!

This is what I want.

 

[Thug Waffle]

Aaaah, Skype as a collaborative tool for work with HoloLens makes much more sense than just standard Skyping.

get the fuck outta here...

this future thing seems dope

 

[Blargonaut]

Also, this reminds me of the BMW Augmented Reality project meant as a mechanic's aid:

 

[Air]

Microsoft stay delivering. Lots of potential with this and i think they're off to a great start. This is the future.

 

[Anton Sugar]

get the fuck outta here...

this future thing seems dope

Yeah, dawg. That's almost exactly what the "fix the light switch" demo was that journalists got to do. Broken light switch, call an MS tech on Skype, they draw diagrams on the actual light switch that you're looking at, telling you where to connect what, etc. And you're seeing it all as they draw it on your wall.

 

[DataStream]

My friend was at the event as a journalist (a cynical one at that). He walked away pretty stunned.

 

[DOWN]

I know it'll be janky for the first few years, and tons of applications won't use it, but that said...

FUCK YEAH

I'm ready to work like this:

Nope. It still needs to be viewed through glass or glasses.

 

[Stinkles]

I want to go to mars.

 

[Ape]

I want to see the AR race start too. Come on Google, let's do this!

As far as I'm concerned VR is niche and doesn't have the same applications AR does. I'm so excited about this tech and what it can bring but this is just the start. I'm sure that this will look like a virtual boy compared to a Morpheus soon enough and that's so damn exciting.

 

[Shamrock7r]

This looks amazing. Wow

 

[...Scatter...]

Can you guys get Cortana model into HoloLens?

I need this in my life

 

[Future]

This looks way better than oculus and glass. Tried glass personally and it was pretty bad. Awkward to use and look at. Oculus helmets I always want to take off within 10 minutes. Cool to hear the impressions are good

 

[Mik2121]

The way they present this, I would expect it to have much thinner glasses. For the oculus rift you need quite the screen and I understand the space, but this overlays stuff on top of real life so they could potentially make do with less pixels.
Ideally, an Occulus Rift with transparent screen that goes fully opaque if you want to, and with a smaller body would be the best. I guess we are still quite a few years away from that though...

 

[Bravoexo]

TVs are gonna go bye bye with this around.

 

[Blablurn]

 

[Darklord]

TVs are gonna go bye bye with this around.

No they won't. People don't want to spend all day with a huge visor on their face.

 

[Easy_D]

Nope. It still needs to be viewed through glass or glasses.

The actual way he works would be exactly the same though, just with glasses.

 

[rudii]

I've always been intrigued by the concept of AR, but the one thing that always take me out of the experience is the fact that it is just an overlay. For instance if a movie was projected on a far away wall, no matter how far that projection is, the moment you raise your hand you are behind the image. You are never in front or above the projection. I wonder if they have worked a way around that.

 

[Log4Girlz]

tiny field of view? meh

 

[LemonGremlin]

I've always been intrigued by the concept of AR, but the one thing that always take me out of the experience is the fact that it is just an overlay. For instance if a movie was projected on a far away wall, no matter how far that projection is, the moment you raise your hand you are behind the image. You are never in front or above the projection. I wonder if they have worked a way around that.

The Kinect depth camera could mask that occluded part of the projection out?

 

[Green Embers]

The Kinect depth camera could mask that occluded part of the projection out?

It would have to for any sort of interface to work, wouldn't it? We did see people clicking on things with their fingers.

 

[Fallout-with-swords]

I know they are going to avoid a lot of the "looks stupid" backlash that Google Glass got/ is getting since you would only use it in the house, but there are still people out there who balk at wearing big 3D glasses at home because they think it looks dumb. And the person wearing the device is then essentially ignoring everyone else in the house.

Beyond that, I don't see it being it very practical. Why would I watch Netflix on this thing when I have a TV in the room, why does my weather need to be visualized. I use Google Now which updates me with similar info and I look at it a few times each day for a few seconds, I see the weather, game scores, traffic, etc. and then I don't need it for the rest of the day.

I don't think this thing is going to be picked up by the mainstream, I think with VR, or even those movie watching visors, it's different because you are sitting down to do something. With this thing you are expected to carry on with your daily routine in your house with this thing on. So for me, looks really cool, no idea why I would ever use it.

 

[Flai]

No they won't. People don't want to spend all day with a huge visor on their face.

The second or third gen version of this could already be a "sunglass" formfactor !

 

[Neuromancer]

Business Insider: I Just Tried Microsoft's Remarkable Holographic Headset — Here's What It's Like

But it felt a lot more finished than Oculus, which today shows nothing more than a few short (if really impressive) video loops.

Wait what

 

[Anton Sugar]

I've always been intrigued by the concept of AR, but the one thing that always take me out of the experience is the fact that it is just an overlay. For instance if a movie was projected on a far away wall, no matter how far that projection is, the moment you raise your hand you are behind the image. You are never in front or above the projection. I wonder if they have worked a way around that.

They apparently have SOME way of doing this. A few impressions have mentioned how impressed they were that, in the Mars demo, the surface of Mars "took over" everything in the room EXCEPT a computer that the user was supposed to use. So there was a normal computer (which was in the room) sitting in the middle of "Mars".

I don't think this thing is going to be picked up by the mainstream, I think with VR, or even those movie watching visors, it's different because you are sitting down to do something. With this thing you are expected to carry on with your daily routine in your house with this thing on. So for me, looks really cool, no idea why I would ever use it.

I think the tricky part will be knowing what this is useful for and what it's not. There are some actions that will always be faster or more precise with a mouse or some other input method.

I try to think of my daily work at home. A lot of it is video editing, color grading, photo editing, etc.

Lately I've been thinking about getting a printer so I can print photos or images with color schemes, compositions, etc. that inspire me or I want to emulate/imitate.

With this, it would be wonderful if, instead of having to print out and actually pin pieces of paper to my board, an AR "hologram" could instead cover the wall next to my workstation and I could throw all the pieces that inspire me up on that wall, freely looking at them, exchanging them, zooming, etc.

I think about reading and note-taking. When I read, I mark up my books a ton. I underline them, make stars, dog-ear pages, etc. Then, I have the tedious process of going back through my notes and logging them all in my computer so I can reference them later (usually in OneNote). I have considered using OfficeLens to just capture and translate pages directly to text, but I make a TON of notes.

Maybe with this, I could have a way of reading and taking notes in sort of a real-time way. It would save me a ton of time and work

I know these aren't the sexiest implementations, but I think the way to sell this device is to show how helpful it could be in day-to-day life. That's how I'd want to use it.

 

[a secret-boss]

When I look at a person I want stats spewing out so I can yell OVER 9000 power level

 

[jmood88]

Do you routinely have an audience in your house or something? Why does it matter how goofy you look?

 

[Kyonashi]

Norris joins me virtually, appearing as a three-dimensional human-shaped golden orb in the Mars-scape. (In reality, he’s in the room next door.)

How can something be 'human-shaped' and also an orb? I'm having difficulty picturing that.

 

[Anton Sugar]

How can something be 'human-shaped' and also an orb? I'm having difficulty picturing that.

From other impressions/mockups, think a gold T1000, maybe?

 

[FLAguy954]

Aaaah, Skype as a collaborative tool for work with HoloLens makes much more sense than just standard Skyping.

Holy shit, that is a superb way to use it! I am impressed.

 

[inm8num2]

Peter Molyneux warns Microsoft against "over-promising" with Windows Holographic.

Heh.