Hololens

[clyde]

Microsoft announces an AR device and made a mock-up video.

I'm unable to separate the real from the illusion.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/21/7867641/windows-holographic-is-the-next-era-of-windows

[Twig]

Good timing 'cause I've been watching this anime

 

 

which is about a bunch of kids about ten years into the mass adoption of AR glasses where there's an entire cyberworld overlay on top of the real world and BASICALLY WHAT I'M SAYING IS if the future of AR is anything like this, I'm sold.

[clyde]

I just can't tell how much of it is concept video and how much of it is already demonstratable.

[Twig]

The video is all just concept, pretty sure. At the very least, the video is usually filmed from a third-person perspective of the people using the thing, so you can definitely be sure it's not real there, even if they do have a working prototype of some of those things.

 

Much of it is pretty reasonable, though, in my opinion. Dunno if it'll look that good, but that's a different topic from just is it doable.

[clyde]

We are talking about technology that could possibly make it so that you don't have to put your toys away. That would be awesome. I want an empty room with a bunch of simulated tools and toys. I have all this junk. I want to replace it all with emulators.

[Twig]

Yeah, the only problem I have with that idea (as I've mentioned in the anime thread, actually, when talking about Dennou Coil!) is the lack of a tactile response really kind of sucks. Buuuuut, if this kind of thing continues, I could see a sort of glove that gives you a slight rumble on your fingertips and that alone could be enough, I think. And it'd be completely optional, too, ideally.

 

The future is rad. U:

[Professor Video Games]

Finally the game from that Next Generation episode can become a reality.

[Bjorn]

I see that, and actually think about just having it for work more than gaming.  If I could basically set up my office and eliminate a whole fuckton of physical stuff (monitor, calendar, white board), I think I'd do that at the right price. 

[Nachimir]

"Target render excites tech journalists".

[tegan]

you put on the glasses and see that j allard is actually a weird purple skeleton man with mirrored eyeballs wearing an "OBEY" hooie

[tegan]

we can only begin to imagine what users will create with this technology

 

[Twig]

NASA and Microsoft already working together for that walk-on-Mars thing in the concept video.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/january/nasa-microsoft-collaboration-will-allow-scientists-to-work-on-mars/#.VMBRySvF87F

 

O:

[Twig]

RPS has a writeup.

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/01/22/minecraft-hololens-minecraft-reality/

 

  Quote

Wherever I look, Mars appears. In a strange way, they both seem real, two layers of reality coexisting in a way that sounds cacophonous but feels oddly intuitive.

 

  Quote

When he finishes with his creation, the man wearing the HoloLens digitally picks the koala in his hands and set it down on a nearby couch, right next to a 3D printed car that was also designed in HoloStudio. Shortly afterwards, the man walks over to the couch, moves the car out of the way, and sits down. For a moment I feel disoriented, like the muscles of my brain are stretching in an unfamiliar way. Why did he move the car and not the koala? I wonder for a moment. Because the car is real, and the koala isn’t, I remind myself.

 

  Quote

I notice a small band of Minecraft zombies lurking nearby, and decide that it’s time for them to die. “Shovel,” I say, and the cursor transforms into a digging tool. Before my Microsoft guides can give me further instructions, I click a block beneath one of the zombies, and he disappear through the hole like I’ve opened up a trap door beneath him. I laugh. What I’m actually supposed to do, however, is switch tools and drop a torch near several blocks of dynamite, setting off a chain reaction and blowing all the zombies to hell. I happily oblige. Shortly after the explosion, a virtual lacuna opens up in the coffee table; when I walk closer and peer downward, I see the zombies tumbling into a sea of lava.

 

...This is sounding pretty cool, dudes! It also sounds almost unbelievable. That level of fidelity in interaction, and no complaints of accidental clicks or inaccuracy? Is this real life?

[tegan]

Despite making fun of it so much, this is actually something I'm legitimately excited for. I've been waiting years for something like this.

 

I really wanna know what's up with the hilarious Nintendog sitting down next to the guy at the end of the video though.

[mikemariano]

I forgot about that nightmare GIF!

[TychoCelchuuu]

I'll believe it when I holo-see it.

[sclpls]

I want to play holo board games.

[Nachimir]

There hasn't been a single mention of resolution, has there? That could be bad or good in this case, but given that dot pitches for some displays are already beyond human vision, I expect within a few decades mentions of resolution in product related guff will seem like a quaint artefact of our time.

[antikewl]

  On 1/23/2015 at 11:13 AM, Nachimir said:

There hasn't been a single mention of resolution, has there? That could be bad or good in this case, but given that dot pitches for some displays are already beyond human vision, I expect within a few decades mentions of resolution in product related guff will seem like a quaint artefact of our time.

 

MS are keeping mum about specs right now, but: "The holograms did not have very high resolution, and sometimes they were a little dull. Yet they were crisp enough to instantly create the illusion of reality" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/technology/personaltech/the-microsoft-hololens-a-sensational-vision-of-the-pcs-future.html?_r=0

[kaputt]

I think it's interesting, but I hope they don't discard regular controllers and a more traditional concept of a screen when creating games for this. I think it can be really great for creating games with visual elements that take over your room, but I still think the image needs to be focused somewhere, and it still demands physical controllers because of the feedback.

It would be nice if they hired Spike Jonze to actually make that cursing alien game he visualized for Her.

[BigJKO]

The only negatives I've seen mentioned so far are the very limited input at this moment and the fact that the AR is only visible within a rectangle in the middle of your vision, making it less immersive than the video implies. Both of those bum me out a bit, but I'm still excited about the possibilities of it!

 

Other than that the word 'magic' is brought up frequently in almost all hands-ons.. MAGIC!   

[toblix]

Not to be the guy who's always complaining about Microsoft, but when did Microsoft last introduce a new crazy technology in a way that wasn't awkward, clearly idiotic and ultimately a failure?

 

And the rectangle thing, I'm assuming that's just a limitation of the prototype, that they haven't gotten as far as Oculus with the display, with regards to size and everything?