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Comment by gamegoblin | Hacker News Reader

I assume they must have had a killer demo.

1. Put the goggles on some investor's head (in a normal looking room, but with known lighting and spatial properties...).

2. Show them some flashy demo that has some limitations, but promise that with their investment, they will be able to remove those limitations.

3. Investors, who probably lack the deep knowledge of optics to know that those limitations aren't so trivial, throw money at them. Because if those limitations (e.g. FOV, opacity) were removed, it would be world-changing tech.

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Reminds me of Silicon Valley's fictional Keenan Feldspar and his VR demo (likely based on Magic Leap): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8MAV9jhf04

Surely that was their take on Palmer Luckey and Oculus?

Didn't seem Palmer had any reality distortion field.

I've had the opportunity to demo their product on 3 different occasions. Each time it was a clunky interaction, stopped working in the middle of the demo, and I left thinking my kid's Playstation VR could run circles around their tech.

they allegedly had an insane demo for investors only, before around 2016 (at least that's when I heard of it) you needed to sign an NDA to even get in the room to see it.

The consumer product is quite lacking compared to what people said was a demonstration of game changing technology.

So: NDA, exclusive demo, controlled environment.

It makes it sound to me more like a Séance (with its usual implications) than anything else. Or, for an easier to understand analogy, selling a Disney ride as if it was real.

Now with COVID-19, they really DO have a killer demo:

1. Put the goggles on some investor's head.

2. Investor catches COVID-19 and dies.

Nobody wants to share VR or AR gear any more. The whole idea of location based VR / AR entertainment centers is deadly now.

If it's so great you can't believe it without trying it yourself, and nobody wants to stick their head in a device that anybody else has been drooling and coughing and vomiting in, it doesn't matter how great it is, nobody's going to try it.

> Nobody wants to share VR or AR gear any more. The whole idea of location based VR / AR entertainment centers is deadly now.

There's a price range where I could see buying one to be shared by everyone in my house, but not one for each individual.

For example, Valve Index is in that category for me.

Don't be such a wuss. None of that is something a little Lysol can't fix, and these places should have always been using such (though I imagine they don't).

You can disinfect your electronics with rubbing alcohol and/or removable covers, but don't put Lysol or other harsh cleaning agents on them

> Don't put lysol [on electronics]

Why shouldn't I? The exterior surfaces of "electronics" are just glass, plastic or aluminum and lysol seems to work fine on all three. It's sold in plastic bottles so it's not like it'd create nerve gas or something.

Not that I generally take marketing claims seriously, but lysol advertises itself as appropriate for use on electronics: https://www.lysol.com/cold-flu/home/how-to-clean-electronics... If there were any real danger, I expect their lawyers might not let them do that.

We have been using lysol wipes on the iPhones at my house for 5+ weeks without any issues. (one old 6s and two newish XRs)

Exterior surfaces for electronics are usually fine for stuff like Lysol. The fear is largely that if it gets inside on the electronic components it may leave behind conductive residues. Straight alcohol will entirely evaporate soon after application so a bit of ingress with the device powered off shouldn't cause any lasting effects, but who knows what makes up the fragrances and other ingredients in many cleaners.

Just use common sense. Wet a paper towel with the cleaner and wipe down the electronics with that, rather than dunking your phone into a bucket of the stuff.

Lysol can destroy delicate coatings, so your screen won't be as anti-reflective, or your device's innards might be less waterproof, etc

Some cleaners can mess up the texture of rubber parts too

be careful with alcohol, it can destroy screen coating as well. make sure to check website of specific hardware manufacturer.

"Facebook also noted that alcohol-based wipes and cleaners are not recommended for use on the lenses. The lenses can be damaged by alcohol, so users should opt to use a dry microfiber cloth instead. If a smudge is being stubborn, users can dab a small amount of water on the cloth as well, but alcohol should not be used on lenses at all, according to the company."

Anytime I've seen public VR demos they had a disposable cover. A quick google search brings up [1] as one example, and I'm sure cheaper alternatives exist too.

1: https://www.amazon.com/Vive-Disposable-Hygiene-Cover-Starter...

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