AR Demands Peripherals

I saw it pointed out in another previous article, but eye motion is largely subconscious. Yes, you move your gaze when you want to click on something, but you also move your gaze when you _don't_ want to click on something, and consciously restricting where you look is very hard.

Maybe if it only moved the cursor and clicking was a separate input it could work. We'd need to come up with different paradigms for interactions that deal with hovering, mouse over/enter/leave, swiping, etc.

I'm not sure that I'm sold on peripherals for AR. However, if a companion device like a phone happens to be present, having non-touch screen tactile inputs would be nice, even something as simple as being able to squeeze or grip the phone body (a la Google/HTC's Active Edge), or tap it through one's pocket, avoiding having to take it out, orient the screen, make sure some other content isn't inadvertently on the screen, etc.

Using eye-gaze as cursor is something I've wanted on my desktop computing experience. It is so annoying when window management fails, but if it used the input form my webcam it could do the right thing.

Using Overlays, Immersed, etc for doing Desktop computing in VR is super painful. Mirroring your desktop monitor feels limiting, but individual applications as windows has focus issues.

It will be interesting to see if RealityOS fixes a lot of this out of the gate or if it will take years to have a decent coding experience in VR.

AR needs less peripherals. The number one reason people buy a headset and stop using it after a week is that the ergonomics are awful. No one wants to deal with all of that crap. My prediction for Apple AR is that they've really nailed down an integrated IR (maybe even LiDAR?) based 6DOF hand/finger pose recognition system, a la Leap Motion.

Honestly all I want is a browser/video player with my phone/watch acting as the scroll wheel, that's it.

I want touch-type on a physical keyboard at my arms and hands resting position. I want pocket keyboards for AR for these reasons below:

Allows you to input data without needing to look at the keyboard.

The positioning of the keyboard wherever your hands and arms rest comfortably, improving ergonomics.

Haptic Feedback

Multi-tasking. Comfortable typing while not disrupting my AR experience

imo the dream of AR/VR has already been shown in media like computer games and movies(my favorite being dead space and iron man) - people want another layer of reality overlaid on the real world but still want to be able to interact with the real world naturally.

a lot of the points in the article are flat out weird from a casual socially integrated user's perspective-

1. pointing/pinching/anything that makes it obvious you're interacting with something that only exists with you is flat out undesirable. not only are you making other people uncomfortable you are modifying social paradigms and will upset people(think of airpod users casually walking across a street while a car honks at them). a wave or a body part touch like thumbing your ear are highly desirable comparatively(activating transparency mode on an airpod using touch). in deadspace this is depicted as a user casually holding their hand over the ground to activate a virtual line that shows them where to go like the lines on factory floors.

2. interacting with something abnormally is out for the same reason. if i start talking to a banana or laughing at a wall everyone will KNOW i'm doing something else. why not just pick up a phone at that point? it's silly. it needs to be subtle enough to blend into every day activities. like touching the side of an airpod to reduce the volume/taking it out to pause music. natural.

3. no peripheral/pocket peripheral - these seem like a natural solution here until you realise humans like touching stuff and touch stuff accidentally. rubbing your fingers together with nothing between them is not satisfying to do. also cultural connotations that will be associated with them that will end up causing friction. pocket peripheral has the same problem as point number 2. also shown in the iron man movies where tony has multiple invisible controls that seems like they would be confusing to work around - imagine touching something and accidentally pushing away the virtual thing you were manipulating. now imagine doing that in a public space. the AR equivalent of a smartphone falling out of your hand and hitting your face when you fall asleep.

4. Desk peripheral - why wouldn't i just use a screen if i have dedicated space available. talking to my computer even with chatgpt like interaction would make every interaction feel like the tony stark talking to jarvis scenes - a dude talking down to a homonculus or being annoyed with them. hard pass - if a world renowned charismatic hollywood actor couldn't make it seem charming i doubt my undersocialized self will sound normal.(i'm already feeling this from chatgpt prompt engineering as i hammer this semi-personality to give output i desire, like berating a person in multiple creative ways til they give me what i want)

5. Gaze detection - other people can see your gaze. back to point number 1 - looking at someone intently as vital info pops up over their head? why not just ask the person - they're gonna know you're googling them in real time. friction. oh the info is always available? now you've got offensive graffiti over the spot everyone looks at for info. oh you look away from the person at the screen in front of your face for info - now they wonder what you're looking at(google glass)

AR seems like a cool concept until people with AR start interacting with everyone else. google glass's PR fiasco showed us this already- why does everyone who discusses AR make the same mistake over and over again.