Magic Leap 2: The most immersive AR platform for enterprise
magicleap.com
magicleap.com
If you’d rather not click (and I totally understand) let me tell you that the Leap 2 costs between $3200 for the base model and up to $5000 for the enterprise model, which gives you a better viewpoint.
It took a bit longer than we'd have liked, but like... Our present is starting to look like the future imagined back when I was a kid. It's very exciting.
With a lot less Yakuza.
Hey, we’re talking about the future - there’s still time.
The original "Mall Ninja" story unironically talked about wheeling around in a golf cart. It's a short stone's throw to a segway from there.
> What good are the cops going to be if a shooter shows up at your > workplace??? How about your kid’s school, remember Columbine? I’ll > tell you what the cops will do, call the SWAT team and screw > around trying to locate the front door for 30 minutes, ...
;)
1: Hatsune Miku on a Kabuki-cho billboard over news headline reporting US-Russia tensions over Ukraine(2014) https://twitter.com/kno2502/status/440101207596494850
More lightweight, sure, higher pixel density, sure, but that's not a context that changes the offer.
In actual human computer relationship and function, it just feels like Myron Krueger's Videoplace from the 1980s is being perennially reinvented.
Please tell me how stupid and out of touch I am. I probably just don't get it
http://milweesci.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/2/4/13247648/mannapd...
I suspect headsets will become a thing when they're cheaper than TVs - just because the the display will be much better. Combined with ear buds - I think it'll just be a way better budget TV experience for some.
Other than that - I don't ever see it going anywhere near mainstream like cell phones or even smart buds.
Historically, Microsoft doesn’t know how to make revolutionary product lines profitable and sustainable long term. Kinect was an amazing concept with consecutive poor execution. My memory might be off but they also had 1st crack at iPod, and their current foray into both VR and AR are both underwhelming so far. MS does best when they wait and copy a proven concept. Even then success isn’t always guaranteed
We still will be hitting sci-fi soon. Just not with those companies. I have more faith in Apple, Sony, and Meta. Google will try again and I would be surprised if Amazon didn’t try as well
I just had a really weird realization when reading through your list of potential successors. ("Apple, Sony, and Meta"). There's only one name on that list I root for.
Meta? Fuck no. Obviously not them. Nothing else to say here.
Apple? Eh. Sure. I have no ill will against Apple. I have many reasons to continue admiring what they do, and I have some reasons to oppose them (the walls on the garden seem a little too high). On balance they've dominated consumer tech for the best reason: their shit is solid and innovative.
SONY. It's been too long since they last lead technology and design trends. Sony was the Walkman, the CD, the Trinitron. There's never been a remote control as good as a Sony. They have a sleek-but-utilitarian design aesthetic. In the 80s and 90s, you just couldn't go wrong if you picked a Sony for your TV, stereo, or whatever.
For some reason I really want them to be ascendant again. To have a resurgence the same way Apple did starting with the iMac in 1997.
Everyone seems desperate for anime Microsoft Bob and I just don’t see it.
Hololens is AR too.
So this is for things like projecting onto surfaces or creating 3d models for presentation. Hololens's big example is elevator repair where it projects datasheets onto walls so you can see them without needing a spare hand to hold a phone/document.
The cancer called advertising has already consumed consumer tech, the vast majority of people are complacent with the situation, and the only escape is real-life where cost, technological and physical limitations prevent the same level of advertising (yes there are billboards, but that's nothing compared to what digital advertising has become).
VR would essentially remove all those limitations, and since people are complacent and clearly don't mind it, we'd end up in a world like this video depicts: https://vimeo.com/166807261. Hell, Facebook or "Meta" is going all-in on VR for a reason.
Look at stable diffusion as a comparison, blows everyone's mind every day for 30 days, moving at an incredible pace, and for free...
Sure hardware, vs. software but still, we're in different leagues.
Interesting choice in the use of the comma. I know this comment leaves nothing towards the furtherment of the discussion, but it was just odd enough to make me have to stop. I know I typo/myspell, grammatically f'up, there/they're/their typo, all the time, so I'm not grammar pro myself, but just trying to see, if maybe, I can use the, comma, too.
What would happen to the desktop market if they offered up an infinite payment plan that allowed for annual trade-ins/upgrades like phones? We used to do that with leasing companies for data room equipment, but I never saw it for normal user computers (not that I'm well versed in all manners computer leasing).
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3uN7d51Cco for the kinda cringe show video. But the tech is real and there.
It worked in making me interested in the product at least. A standalone headset with Linux and not by Facebook? Those details are all I needed to know regardless of any marketing video.
Got anything ‘real’ to compare it to?
except they aren't shipping yet .... I'm a big fan but you really can't count it as a comparison until its really in production. They have barely assembled prototype units yet let alone got the tech fully working.
And even then, its a completely different thing. The magic leap is true AR with real world pass through and full hand tracking. Whether its any good or not I don't know but the use cases they are targeting - surgeons etc are not going to strap a SimlarVR to their head.
PS: that was rhetorical
The project was presumably shrouded in such secrecy that the marketing folks had no idea what they were actually selling.
They obviously over played their hand and they were given tons of hype and probably felt the pressure. Not an excuse obviously. But we shouldn’t shame people for shooting for the moon and landing on earth.
The fact they got some professionals to eventually run it and have real serious applications is ultimately a net positive for society.
Eventually the price and tech might get practical for consumers, it makes sense to go up market / business before consumer.
Sure, but in this case they were telling the public that they'd reach the moon soon, even though they were just building a new sort of plane.
They were just lying.
EDIT: Here's Karl Guttag commenting on Reddit about the version I'm referring to, The Beast: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicleap/comments/9al4lo/magic_lea...
It's fundamentally different from what the ML1 ended up being.
Maybe not, but we should shame them for promising the sun and delivering a rock. It's like if Xerox made a fake ad showing a machine that can clone sheep with a button push, but ended up only delivering a new copier with slightly better performance. It's the kind of outright lie that should be unacceptable from any company.
We should shame them for lying in their marketing materials.
Bullshitters erode the trust in the ecosystem that honest entrepreneurs rely on. (Yes, Elizabeth Holmes, I'm looking at you)
It's also how I view Nikola[4]. Every mention of that name reminds me of a fake electric semi truck rolling downhill.
[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Corporation#Fraud_alleg...
It sounded a lot like they were just throwing lots of money at equipment for doing work on hype research topics (metamaterials was a big thing at the time) to see if it could solve some of their problems, but really without much thought on if it makes sense. She was talking about how it was cool to work for a place where there were absolutely no money constrains, but it also sounded a bit like "I am at a company but doing stuff which seems more blue sky research than at uni... Why?".
To me the current wave of quantum computing startups sound very similar.
AR makes sense if the hardware is possible, I’m not sure we’re there yet.
There's a lot of amazing tech in Magic Leap 2, better optics overall including a bigger FoV, better content solidity and text legibility, our dynamic dimming tech, great spatial audio, a powerful processor and GPU.
It's tough to prove to everyone on HN how far we've come, but seeing is believing. If you get a chance to check it out at a conference or event, give it a shot.
Its still early days for wearable AR in general, but we are really focused on making a great and open platform for developers to build their solutions for visionary businesses who are learning how to use AR in practical ways.
If you have any questions about Magic Leap 2, ask away, I'll try to answer everything I can.
I've gotten to wear and use both the Magic Leap 1 and Magic Leap 2. These devices are like wearing technology 15 years into the future. It's absolutely wild seeing what is possible. It's crazy because you all are hating so much, but they're out here shipping enterprise products and services and doing it as a first-in-class device.
I'm especially confused because some of you are comparing this device to VR devices when it's a completely different product focus. VR != AR folks. And if you got the chance to try and see it, you would completely understand the vision.
I'm incredibly hyped about Magic Leap and can't wait for this technology to become more widely available. What they're doing there is nuts, and exciting!
All you all need to go touch grass.
How does the specs of the enterprise edition compare to something like the PSVR2 or Project Cambria specs? I'm kind of new to VR.
I found a real life demo of this item, I don't know why it's so hard to find actual footage of it at this point of the company's lifecycle.
Having been a VR enthusiast for a while, I will say I am very confident there is something valuable in it. Halving the weight and doubling the resolution of the headsets is within sight and going to truly expand the range of possible / viable applications. What emerges in the end as truly valuable applications is an unknown but that's exactly why its fun to be around during these stages of the tech evolution.
This would be particularly useful for CAD, engineering, but also just plain old 3d gaming that doesn't cause problems with your equilibrium.
No one was ever motivated enough to come back and play with it more.
AR will also not become 'big' it will be a niche thing for certain jobs.
ML I remember the school sport indoor area with a whale flying around.
Yeah let's see how the future will look like. I don't think this will ever be the big thint
You never see movies with people walking around with big VR headsets, they walk around with AR glasses and that would most probably be in the distant future.
I got lasik to get rid of my glasses.
There is nothing I'm currently missing. I'm contrary I'm actually trying to do less with my phone.
I don't think people wanna sit in public transport wearing a gadget. I don't think anyone really wanna sit in a coffee place while wearing ar glasses.
What do you think people would like to do with ar?
Beyond that, AR has significant applications in technical fields simply as an in-field reference and augmented system state visualizer.
But I don't think we will see them 'normal' in our daily life's.
There’s tons of complex jobs like this in the military, healthcare, high end niche manufacturing, etc.
There’s also the sales aspect where you help customers visualize products like a car demo to executives.
The barrier seems to be customization and staffing the implementation. You could generalize some things like certain specialized surgeries and create platforms across other fields. But most might require a mix of 3d, coders, and designers/art directors.
So we could see the equivalent of video production studios or web design shops for AR. Then these same shops will find patterns and develop products to generalize them.
Edit: For example, Daqri was one (but far from the only) AR companies that thought B2B was the way. They went out of business in 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/12/another-high-flying-heavil...
Not sure I’m willing to pay several thousand dollars for it though.
Not to mention, the vast majority of games try to pull you into their world, and make it seem large or even unending. AR directly works against both goals: you are integrating the game into familiar surroundings, and the game space becomes severely limited. Sure, there is some space for things like Pokemon Go or other "bring the magic/tech/? into your daily life", but this is a very limited setting.
From this point of view, I believe gaming with AR is never going to take off (though there could well be space for a handful of extremely popular games, like Minecraft or Pokemon Go), and VR is far more promising in this space. I also think that neither VR nor AR will make any serious impact unless and until some new control scheme is invented that can actually feel different than sitting in front of a screen (but with the screen hanging from your head).
In another life, I managed a team working on Google Glass and tbh I'm not surprised that they still don't have more compelling use cases. Hands-on training is a relatively niche market. And the medical example - separating conjoined twins - seems like it could be handled just as well or better via VR or just a standard display. The dirty secret of the space is that enterprises want to de-skill labor wherever possible to save costs. But if a step in the value creation process can be truly de-skilled it likely can be automated, and if it can't, human beings learn well enough that they don't need (or want) the goggles strapped to their face for long.
Does it do literally anything else?
Vague allusions to "training" and "support" seem like grasping at straws.
In the promo video it looks like you loose at least 30-60% light.
edit supposedly 2000 nits, which is meant to allow it to be visible in normal light.
It's incredibly impressive and to be honest it's a little surprising how good it is.
I guess the immersiveness needs a bit more work