Amazon announcement on June 18 | Hacker News Reader

Amazon announcement on June 18

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22 pointsgurupanguji18 comments

‘Project Smith’ 3D eye-tracking phone with motion-sensing UI a la Kinect.

  The screen itself is not 3D, but the front of the phone has 4 cameras
  placed on each corner of the phone, this is to track the user's
  eyes/head and move the UI to give the impression of 3D. Similar to
  what iOS 7 is achieving simply by using the phone's accelerometer.
  The advantage being that it's not based on how the phone moves, but
  how the head moves.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6485698

It likely does eye tracking which creates a very stunning 3d effect. Sounds awesome.

Here's a demo of the effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9kPI7_vhAU

I'm betting it's the amazon phone with the 3D display that was leaked.

Indeed, it would make sense with people moving their head around. Link to rumor: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142412788732474410...

I hate links to wsj because they are always behind a paywall

Try following the result here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Amazon+is+Developing+Smartph...

Obviously a handheld device (phone) of some sort with a motion sensor/face tracker? Lets you rotate an item view by moving your head?

if this is inferred 3d from head tracking going to be really interesting how amazon deals with this for 3rd party developers. How do you implement and design a 3d mobile app and have it gracefully degrade to 2d? I think the reason we haven't seen this sooner come out of Apple is because of the design challenges, not just for the metaphors that need to be invented but because of all the necessary API/semantic work necessary to have a graceful migration to 3d. If things are not set up to make 3d a natural, universal extension of the mobile experience for all apps, for a phone with enough users that make it worthwhile to do so, it will be doomed to be a gimmick.

I'm not really sure how related this is, but T-Mobile is also having an Uncarrier announcement on the 18th: http://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobile-to-usher-in-uncarrier-5-0-.... I don't think an Amazon phone announcement would be the primary focus of such a "special" (according to T-Mobile) announcement, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a connection - perhaps they are the launch partner for this hypothetical phone?

Split discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7848334

An announcement of an announcement does not make for a good HN post. Let's wait until something of substance happens.

Dang, you've been doing some great work, and I really appreciate it, but won't you just let us talk about what we want to talk about without berating us about it all the time? You've been making some pretty heavy-handed imperatives lately, and while I haven't seen any evidence of you using your powers of moderation to act on those comments, the fact that you're a known moderator, and by all appearances the most active one, does make me a bit uncomfortable. Add to that the extreme difficulty of determining when the mods are using their powers, due to the backend secrecy of HN, and it seems like a very dangerous tack to be taking with regards to the site.

This article has started to drop suspiciously quickly - whether that's users flagging it or you or another mod messing with the votes I don't know. But it's worrying.

In this case, the webpage itself was pretty boring, but it led to a discussion about a very interesting piece of technology and UI idea, one which I and, judging by its high-front-page status, a number of other HN readers, enjoyed very much. I'd hate for discussions like this to be stifled by overmoderation.

I'm dismayed that even one user would feel like I'm berating them all the time.

The question here isn't what you can talk about. Two discussions on this are currently open; you're welcome to keep them going. It's whether the story and/or discussions are substantive enough to belong on HN's front page. I'm not seeing the substance here. The story is an announcement of an announcement, and the top comment on the main thread just now is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7848774, which is the opposite of what HN calls for. This makes sense, given that there's no actual substance to discuss.

That's my call on that story, anyway. Of course, we don't get every call right. Moderation is guesswork, and we rely on the community to point out our mistakes.

Your point about HN moderation seeming heavy-handed is really a side effect of greater transparency. Because what we do has gotten more visible, it seems like it's new. But it isn't new—it's the way things have always worked. Hacker News from day one has been a blend of community upvotes and active curation. Sadly, one consequence of greater transparency is that some people feel like we've suddenly become heavy-handed and manipulative. It isn't true, but I understand why it might seem that way.

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the well-thought-out response. The moderation has always made me a bit uncomfortable, but its results are pretty plain to see, so I guess I'll shut up and put up. You're probably right that my uneasiness is due to increased transparency, which is actually a very positive development, IMO.

Thanks again for the work you do. Sorry for the somewhat knee-jerk reaction.

Not at all, and thanks for posting this follow-up. It brought my dismay level back down. :)

This is interesting, especially given the developer questions:

> Are you interested in developing apps that utilize a novel type of sensor?

> Do you have machine learning experience? Please describe.

> Describe an innovative way in which you have used gyroscopes, accelerometers, compass, or other sensors in your app development

Those all involve positioning.

Someone pull a CSI and enhance the reflection in the glasses at about 43 seconds in!

The video looks like a parody of an Amazon product announcement.

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