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> Can you imagine how goofy you'd look sitting at a coffee shop and just sort of staring into the middle distance and talking, as you take a Zoom call?

Honestly, people used to say the same thing about Bluetooth hands-free devices years ago, and now no one even bats an eye when someone talks using AirPods.

It still looks goofy and takes me a moment to register they're talking to someone on a phone when they breeze by.

It still catches me off guard sometimes. Just a personal opinion, but it's a bit offputting because it's distracting to hear only one half of the conversation. My brain is dragged unwillingly into filling in the other half. Also we tend to talk kinda obnoxiously loud on the phone. But I guess that applies equally well to all public phone conversations.

why are you trying to listen in on other people's conversations? mind your business.

Personally, I'd love to mind my business, but some people are so obnoxiously loud I don't have a choice.

To clarify, I'm able to ignore in person conversations. Phone conversations are more distracting especially when they're loud. I'm unwillingly drawn into conversations I'd rather ignore.

When someone is talking loudly right next to you, they are MAKING it my business.

"...and then he had the nerve to tell me to keep my voice down!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! HAHAHAHAHA"

Some people act like the rest of us are NPCs.

ca. 25 years ago, I remember seeing the first comic comparing people with hands-free with the "village idiot" and making the point that we couldn't tell regular people apart from the village idiot any longer, because it'd implicitly already become normal.

In other words: This was normalized a generation ago.

And now I feel very old.

Yeah but those people still look stupid and are annoying (and selfish insecure) “look at me I’m in a coffee shop doing bidness”

Almost as annoying as people in airports/planes now watching their phones with no headphones. All out giving no ficks to people around them

I mean, I certainly do. People with airpids look incredibly goofy.

> no one even bats an eye

We absolutely do. And there are certain etiquettes that have evolved around airpods/ handsfree phone calls, that can make you weird or even rude to violate.

I definitely see the appeal.

A vastly larger screen where you don't have to crane your neck down to read the news? That sounds amazing for my daily commute, and so much healthier for my neck and shoulders.

And visible directions while cycling would be amazing, when it's unsafe to glance at your phone. (Audio directions aren't nearly as good, and wearing headphones/earbuds while cycling is illegal in a lot of places as well.) A heads-up display in your car should be safer too than looking down at the screen.

And if people are having video calls while walking, that doesn't seem any goofier or creepier from audio calls with earbuds, where it already looks like somebody talking to nobody.

Probably depends on your area, but when I was bike commuting, I refused to give in to the temptation to wear even one headphone. Staying completely focused and aware of traffic saved me quite a few times. You won't be surprised to know what I think about cycling with AR.

While cycling somewhere new I have to look upwards and to the side to search for small street name signs and try to read them, to know when to turn. Rather than looking at traffic and the road ahead of me.

A big glowing arrow is going to distract me far less than tiny street name signs.

AR is a big win here. In fact there are all sorts of safety improvements you can imagine for cycling specifically, including making you more aware of vehicles she other cyclists behind you to the side.

Interesting point. the one serious accident I have had while cycling occurred while I was looking for a street sign.

Well designed AR apps would definitely be an improvement over looking down at a mounted phone, too.

I could never ride with earbuds. AR? Totally different. It gives me more info while allowing me to keep my head up. Maps, way points, journey stats. Now, if they are watching movies, then that is simply insane.

> visible directions while cycling would be amazing, when it's unsafe to glance at your phone

> A heads-up display in your car should be safer too than looking down at the screen

The HUD in a car can't play YouTube. If you only use your glasses to show directions, that's great, but that's not the issue. Distracted drivers and riders is.

The actual, safe thing to do when you don't know which streets are which, or where you need to go, is to pull over to check, whether you're in a car or on a bike.

> A vastly larger screen where you don't have to crane your neck down to read the news?

The size part could be nice (though hands-free web navigation is a pain), but why do you have to crane your neck? You can lift your phone screen up to eye-level.

> The HUD in a car can't play YouTube.

It would be easy enough for safety regulations to limit permitted AR content when a person is driving. In fact, I'd be surprised if governments didn't -- I mean, the device manufacturers themselves would probably do it first. If someone died or killed someone) because they were watching YouTube while driving, can you imagine the public outcry and corporate brand damage?

> If you only use your glasses to show directions, that's great, but that's not the issue.

No, that's exactly the issue. Using glasses for their benefits. That's the part you seem to be ignoring.

> is to pull over to check

That's wildly unrealistic, not to mention full of its own safety problems. Where I live, there's literally nowhere to pull over -- there are lanes for driving and street parking. Period. And are you really going to be fulling to a full stop every five blocks or something?

> You can lift your phone screen up to eye-level.

Have you tried that? Do you realize the amount of shoulder fatigue that produces, and the resulting muscle tension that can produce long-term? Good luck holding your phone at eye level for 20 minutes. Perhaps you should try it before suggesting it.

What's weird to me with the call example is I can receive a video call but I can't respond with a video of me.

And I find being on a video call with someone just on audio very creepy.

If I'm not a weirdo for that, then it's distinctly worse than a hands free voice call, which we already have

Just stand in front of a mirror lol

> Can you imagine how goofy you'd look sitting at a coffee shop and just sort of staring into the middle distance and talking, as you take a Zoom call?

While I agree with you, you could also say the same thing about mashing a black square with your thumbs at a coffee shop or walking around a grocery store with little piece of plastic in your ear and talking to someone.

Staring at your phone > unconsciously staring at an increasingly uncomfortable person trying to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee

> you could also say the same thing about ...walking around a grocery store with little piece of plastic in your ear and talking to someone

Yes, you can. And I would.

If you get the opportunity to try the Meta glasses, you will quickly see that it's more than just a gimmick, and they don't even have any display

Orion is a see through device with screen. Something like Hololens.

that's what I said, the Meta glasses don't even have a display and they're insanely useful (through the AI assistant, the speakers, the microphone, the camera). I can't imagine how game changer something that also has a display will be.

What are you finding them useful for?

* I take calls on them all the time when I'm outside, it works so well I don't even take my earbuds anymore if I know I won't be listening to music

* If I don't have my earbuds, I'll use them to listen to a podcast or even some songs while outside

* I use the AI assistant ALL THE TIME, it's soooo practical to have it always on, I don't need to pick up my phone it's like someone is always next to me ready to answer any questions I have

* I record videos and take pictures with it all the time, it's so much faster than taking out my phone if I need to quickly catch something, also as people don't realize your filming I have super authentic videos with my friends and family where people aren't acting weird because they realize they're being filmed (I think this is going to go away as soon as these become more mainstream, so this is THE moment to catch some memories with it IMO!)

* Mine are prescription sunglasses, so I use them by design when I'm outside during sunny days, so all of that is just additional bonus I get for free just by wearing my sunglasses

> AI assistant ALL THE TIME

This is my personal hell.

great comment, I don't get it

Suppose they're referring to the Ray-Bans Wayfarers, no display, just front facing camera and audio

I thought it was very gimmicky, I tried taking lots of family photos but none of them were any good, between the vertical format and, you know, not being able to frame the shot. Also I never adapted to having an LLM in my ear (big network induced lag times didn't help), so ymmv

All I want are glasses that can tell me where I left my wallet but I don't think we'll see it this decade.

Plus, “that person’s name is ‘jazzyjackson’” when you’re looking at them

they're not as good for pictures as they are for videos, for videos they really shine.

But timing is everything. If everyone already has a device that is functionally equivalent in most cases, most won't make the switch. Isn't that why investors often look for 10x improvements for disruptive tech - switching costs discount the value of any incremental innovation, however cool the new tech is.

AR via a phone/tablet seems to me to be just as good an interface as any headgear once you factor in the social cues when using AR around other people. Even then, I can't think of non-entertainment contexts where AR is actually worth the effort over a screen interface.

> I can't think of non-entertainment contexts where AR is actually worth the effort over a screen interface.

This I agree with.

> AR via a phone/tablet seems to me to be just as good an interface as any headgear

This I cannot agree with. If you've used recent VR, you know it's the "real deal". We've caught up on the computing capabilities required for full color passthrough and even fairly lightweight headsets. Right now it's a matter of miniaturization, and bringing the cost down beyond the $10,000 price tag that current experiments are running.

If AR becomes a mainstream thing, people are going to want to ditch their phones the moment a good headset is available. If it's not (and I suspect it won't be; "AR" already exists on our phones and hasn't been popular since Pokemon GO) then people will remain apathetic.

Use my meta ray bans many times a week since last October ..just in Banff canoeing and was able to continue rowing while filming.

Watching content & or working using smart glasses doesn't make sense to me but using them to ask it count how many ppl in a room, keep the score of my pickleball game or whatever game that involves using vision to keep score and many other innovative ideas are useful to exciting prospects personally.

Yet overall my Ray bans are a great pair of sunglasses that let me take pics or video either hands free or not. They need improvement when using to talk on phone and upon a year of using them smart glasses I don't think will replace the smartphone as u cant take selfies with them.

I think the real killer use case of AR glasses is when multiple people have them and can look at shared 3D content. The TV show "The First" (sadly cancelled) did a good job of showing use cases for this.

Reminds me of the Microsoft Surface from the mid 00s.

Never seemed to take off though.

Because you're thinking of the possibilities from a very narrow angle (communication, passive media consumption, and productivity).

The educational potential for AR is absolutely incredible. Imagine being able to look down at a breadboard, and have it overlay explanations, diagrams, current flows, etc.

Imagine putting a person in front of you who is juggling (mills mess, box pattern, etc) and slowing it down to exactly see how to learn it.

Imagine being able to practice drawing by putting a model of any human in the center of your room, and walk around it as you sketch on actual canvas.

Imagine being able to head to the nearest open soccer field, and throw down a bunch of ninjas throwing ninja stars at you, and you have to physically duck and weave while running full tilt down the field.

These took me 10 seconds to think of a bunch of things that I would personally want assuming the AR glasses can eventually overcome bright light, good battery life, etc.

See, the only one there that actually sounds useful to me and not a clumsier version of something I can already do, is the breadboard. But I'd much rather have that as a holo table-like system than AR glasses: https://newatlas.com/vr/voxon-photonics-3d-hologram-volumetr...

Sounds like a great application of a Dynamicland-like lab system, especially in an educational environment like a university which already has a lab setup.

I am one of the people who own and enjoy using an Apple Vision Pro. A year ago, my wife and I welcomed our daughter to the world. Having a device that can be interacted with hands-free and produces no outward light has been useful more than once in the last year. A front-facing camera pointing at the world around me lets me share my girl with family far away in a first-person POV. There are use cases beyond Zooming from a coffee shop for which devices like these are welcomed innovations and definitely appealing. And that doesn't even count that I just genuinely like working with my headset on at my desk. I'm a spatial thinker, so arranging things I need around me makes sense.

> I don't personally see the appeal of hands-free as a paradigm in most cases. Do we really want people talking on and looking at Zoom as they walk around the office? Or as they drive? Or as they are out shopping

I can see this being extremely useful, especially if the person on the other can see what you're looking at. Interactive remote troubleshooting!

> Can you imagine how goofy you'd look sitting at a coffee shop and just sort of staring into the middle distance and talking, as you take a Zoom call?

No goofier than someone talking through their airpods.

Especially for the blind. There are many volunteers who help blind people do normal day-to-day tasks and having a view through glasses affixed to a blind person’s face would make it that much easier. https://www.bemyeyes.com/

>Do we really want people talking on and looking at Zoom as they walk around the office? Or as they drive? Or as they are out shopping? I also see ESPN and YouTube, so yeah... this thing better detect when you're moving at speed and disable video apps.

People already do that using mobile phones. With glasses there is at least some visibility of things in front of you.

You're assuming people look out front and are paying attention to the "background" of whatever they're watching with their glasses.

I remember when the iPad came out and everyone was making jokes about it. No one would image a phone would be a primary computing device. Don't know if glasses are the next major step, but a handheld phone being a computing device is a transitory thing.

I mean in the full dystopian setting, it’s always doing facial recognition and labeling everyone you see with names, profiles, credit score etc. It could do a little more digging and tell you exactly what a person would respond to while making a sale, what they’re worried about, what they deeply care about etc. Information like that, person to person would change society.

Has anyone made a tool for that yet? Maybe use llama, provide all of a person’s online profiles as context and ask it to determine the persons fears, weaknesses etc.

Would you actually take a call while running? I wouldn't.

I mean, yes? I stop running while I'm talking, but If my S.O. calls me, I'm definitely going to answer.

Interesting, I can't really think of anything urgent enough that couldn't wait 20 minutes for me to get home, bet we have different lives.

> Can you imagine how goofy you'd look sitting at a coffee shop and just sort of staring into the middle distance and talking, as you take a Zoom call?

yeah, I do that daily with xreal glasses. Never met more interesting people like this. As I can see normally but with a very large screen, people sit next to me , want to try and often buy them themselves on the spot. I also don't have to carry an annoying laptop.

> an annoying laptop

See, I feel like maybe this is the disconnect I'm having from others who seem to enjoy AR/ VR.

My laptop isn't "annoying" to me, it's fun. I want an excuse to use it, and it's customized out the wazzoo. Right now I'm building a cyberdeck using a FriendlyElec CM3588 and I'm making the case out of wood, after modeling it out in FreeCAD. I've been drooling over all the customization I can do with a fully bespoke setup.

Ah but that's another story :) I love custom builds and I love retro stuff. But that I do for fun as well. I modden a cf19 toughbook with a new screen, ble keyboard, mostly batteries and a rasberry pi for many day battery life. And my house is full with all kinds of modded computers, new and old. Just when I travel, which is a lot of the time, I don't want to take anything but clothes; the xreal is perfect for this.

Nah, for travel you sling your cyberdeck across your back like a guitar, and when someone's like, "what time is it in Tokyo?", instead of asking some lame AI in your glasses, you get to whip it off your back like you're about to launch into Stairway To Heaven, Ctrl+b+c into a new tmux window, and pull up the answer in Lynx in seconds.

...And you can't be wearing glasses, otherwise you can't pull your shades down afterwards as you shake out your mullet.

Reference cyberdeck to pull this off: https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberDeck/comments/10fk91k/cyberdec...

I love it!

It is funny as I do want to make a synth / compute cyberdeck in one. Nice.

you start with wearing these at home

But what if while you are talking to someone it automatically displays a subway surfer video next to their face /s

Putting stuff in front of your phase is a more natural interface than having to hold a rectangle you look into. But the friction of phone screens might be quite healthy to society.

On the other hand in blue collar work this is invaluable. Basically the same market every other AR headset is going after: overlaying plans or live sensor data over your viewpoint, being able to share a common viewpoint when troubleshooting with people remotely, sending out low-skilled people on support calls with experts directing them remotely, etc