1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: Technology with Tech Stuff from Hey there, and welcome to 2 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff. I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I love technology. 3 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: That's what this show is all about, exploring the world 4 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 1: of tech, learning how it works, learning how it affects 5 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: our culture and our society, how it changes us, how 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: we change it. It's kind of a big old love 7 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: in of tech and squishy feelings. And today it doesn't 8 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: get any squishy here because we're talking about virtual reality 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: and augmented reality, a very squishy subject as it turns out, 10 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 1: because it's a definition that continuously changes. And we've explored 11 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: topics like augmented reality and virtual reality many many times 12 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: over the course of this show. You can find lots 13 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: of different episodes where we've covered the the subject, and 14 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: these days the two techn oologies tend to get categorized 15 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: together in a bigger bucket that is called mixed or 16 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: sometimes merged reality. And you could think of mixed reality 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: kind of like a spectrum. So on one end of 18 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: the spectrum you have near total virtual environments, so almost 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: everything that you would experience under this area would be 20 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,199 Speaker 1: created by a computer. You would be viewing it, likely 21 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: through some sort of head mounted display. There'd be some 22 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,039 Speaker 1: sort of interface that you would use in order to 23 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: have your physical interactions in the real space translated into 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: the virtual space. But everything you are experiencing ideally would 25 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: be created by computer. The ultimate version of this, of course, 26 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: would be the Holia Deck from Star Trek the next generation. 27 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: You would never really want to use the Holia Deck 28 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: because at least once a season that thing goes crazy 29 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: and tries to kill everybody aboard the ship, and yet 30 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: they keep using it. We'll talk more about Star Trek 31 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: technology soon, but not in this episode but in another one. 32 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: But that would be the ultimate representation a world where 33 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: everything is computer generated. Everything you can taste, touch, smell, 34 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: see here, everything comes from a computer. These days, we 35 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: don't really have anything that generates all of that kind 36 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,959 Speaker 1: of sensory data. Typically, the data that does get generated 37 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: involves your vision and your hearing and uh you know. 38 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: You might go to a specialized VR experience that incorporates 39 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: other elements. Let's say that you go to one where 40 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,920 Speaker 1: you are going to uh go through like a virtual 41 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: firefighting experience. They might use heaters to generate enough heat 42 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: to make it feel like you're actually passing close by 43 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: flames that sort of thing, but you know, typically at home, 44 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: you're not gonna do that, and you probably shouldn't for 45 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: fear of burning down your house. Now, on the other 46 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: end of that spectrum, you have almost everything rooted in 47 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: a physical world. You just have some digital information overlaid 48 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: on top of that physical world in some way. It 49 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: may be overlaid visually, so you might be wearing special 50 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: glasses or a headset, and through that headset you're looking 51 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: at the world around you, but there's also like a 52 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: heads up display style overlay on top of it. Or 53 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: it could be audio. It could be that you're looking 54 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: at something and then an audio accused in the system 55 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: you're using that you are interested in that thing, and 56 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: it starts to play audio. It could be all sorts 57 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: of different things. It really just has to be computer 58 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: generated information sent to you to augment your experience, thus 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: the augmented reality. Both of these kind of fall in 60 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: that spectrum where on one end you've got mostly the 61 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,839 Speaker 1: physical world with some virtual elements, and on the other 62 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: end you've got mostly virtual world, perhaps with some physical elements. 63 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: All of that falls into mixed reality, which can be 64 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: anywhere along that spectrum, and you might end up having 65 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: a largely virtual world and physical objects that you use 66 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: in the real world that are then mapped to the 67 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: virtual world. So, for example, you might have a real 68 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: set of table and chairs in the room that you 69 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: are currently in. You're wearing a headmounted display, so you 70 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: can see a virtual set of table and chairs in 71 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: front of you, and it turns out that they're mapped 72 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: to the actual physical table and chairs that are in 73 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,719 Speaker 1: the real space, which means that you could actually go 74 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: and sit down at that table because you have a 75 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: real chair and table inside the room that you are 76 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: currently in, your body is currently in, and the experience 77 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: of your physical body and the experience of your virtual 78 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: representation can be analogous. Uh. That obviously doesn't happen with 79 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: most implementations of virtual reality today. There's definitely some research 80 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: and development labs that are doing that sort of thing, 81 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: but typically if you're going out and buying a VR set, 82 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: whatever it may be, you're not getting something quite as 83 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: d as that, generally speaking, but it does fall into 84 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: that category of mixed reality. So it describes not just 85 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: the headset, not just the philosophy, but some of those 86 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: supplemental technologies we've seen rise up since the renewed push 87 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:17,799 Speaker 1: to make VR and A are a consumer technology. Uh, 88 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: there are lots of different control systems. There's that interactive 89 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: object approach I was talking about, and things along those 90 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: lines that all fall into this category. But the question remains, 91 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: is it actually ready to blossom as a consumer technology? 92 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:39,839 Speaker 1: Is VR and a R is mixed reality for that matter, 93 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: ready to become something that goes beyond just being interesting 94 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: or gimmicky and become a common piece of of consumer tech, 95 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: something analogous to a computer or a tablet or a smartphone, 96 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: something that a lot of people would end up adopting 97 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: and using a regular basis. Because we've had the same 98 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: question before and the answer has turned out to be no, 99 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: or at least no, not right now. You might remember 100 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: back in the if you're old enough, that virtual reality 101 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: was becoming a really big buzzword around the mid nineties 102 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: and there was this real push toward developing VR experiences. 103 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: Hollywood was taking a stab at imagining what that would mean, 104 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 1: and often they would create stories in which you had 105 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: characters entering computer generated worlds where everything was so realistic 106 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: that you could actually be directly affected by that computer 107 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: generated world. In other words, that whole idea of if 108 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: you die in the matrix, you die in real life. 109 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: That was a very common theme in those early VR 110 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: movie days. Uh. Of course, the reality of VR was 111 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: a world away from what was being depicted in Hollywood, 112 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: even given the primitive computer generated graphics of Hollywood at 113 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: that time, which are pretty sad. If you go back 114 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: and watch movies from the nineteen nineties that were very 115 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: heavy on computer generated graphics, you start to wonder why 116 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: anyone ever thought it was cool. But that's mostly from retrospect, obviously, 117 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: because things have improved so much in the years since then. 118 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: But as a consumer, it was incredibly disheartening to see 119 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: the reality of virtual reality versus the way it was 120 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: depicted in popular culture. You would go to, perhaps, say, 121 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: a an arcade that would have a VR set up. 122 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: There was one here in Georgia. It was actually at 123 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: Gwynette Place Mall. I'll never forget because I would spend 124 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: five of my hard earned dollars to spend a few 125 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: minutes in this experience, which involved you climbing onto a 126 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:55,119 Speaker 1: pedestal that had a raised little bar, kind of semicircular 127 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: bar around you that would keep you from falling off 128 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: said pedestal. They would lower an enormous headset onto you, 129 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: and the headset itself was suspended by cables from the 130 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: ceiling because it was too heavy for you to wear 131 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: as an independent headmelon display. This was much much bigger 132 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: and more bulky than anything you would find on the 133 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: market today. And then they would switch it on and 134 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: you would be transported to a wonderful world of primitive polygons. 135 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: The probably the the the big title that everyone encountered 136 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: at some point or another in those days, if you 137 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: were interested in VR, was Dactyl Nightmare. I think it 138 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: was called Dactyal mindmare. Is either Dactyal Nightmare Dactyal terror. 139 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:39,840 Speaker 1: It's not in my notes, but I do have distinct 140 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,199 Speaker 1: memories of experiencing, or perhaps enduring is a better word, 141 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: this particular program and the way it worked was it 142 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: was a multiplayer game, had various platforms. You can move around, 143 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: and you would use a controller too to move forward 144 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 1: or backward, or left or right. Your point of view 145 00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: was controlled by wherever your head was looking, but you're 146 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: a rule. Movement was controlled by a controller you held 147 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,719 Speaker 1: in your hands, so you didn't walk forward you just 148 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: used your you know, thumbstick or whatever in order to 149 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,559 Speaker 1: move your character forward. And it was a multiplayer game 150 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: where you were pitted against up to three other players. 151 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: I think I think it linked for play, at least 152 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: the version I played, I think it linked four players together. 153 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,679 Speaker 1: And you had a primitive looking little stick in your 154 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: virtual world in front of you. So if you held 155 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: your hands out in front of you, you could see 156 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: this primitive looking little stick with a little cube at 157 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:31,199 Speaker 1: the end of it that was actually a gun and 158 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: a bullet, and you would fire the gun and the 159 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: little cube would go flying at a less than bullet 160 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: speed velocity toward whatever you're aiming at. And you were 161 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: trying to take out your opponents. You're trying to score 162 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: as many points, essentially a deathmatch, trying to score as 163 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: many points against your opponents as you could. Meanwhile, a 164 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: pterodactyl made out of as many as perhaps six triangles 165 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,199 Speaker 1: would be flying overhead and trying to pick you up 166 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 1: and drop you, uh them where else on the map, 167 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: presumably to your death. And um. It was an interesting experience. 168 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 1: It was fun. It was not terribly immersive because the 169 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: graphics were so unrealistic. It was immersive in the sense 170 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 1: that you got the feeling that wherever you were looking 171 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: really was your point of view. So that was kind 172 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: of cool. But because of the limitations of the technology, 173 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: the limitations of the graphics, the fact that it was 174 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: this very bulky system that you could never completely ignore 175 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: all of those different factors meant that you never could 176 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: really lose yourself in that experience. And it's experiences like 177 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: that that caused people to become disenchanted with the concept 178 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: of virtual reality. And when they realized that it just 179 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: wasn't where they thought it should be based upon what 180 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: they were given to think of, they began to reject 181 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: virtual reality. The buzz really faded pretty quickly from the 182 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: whole concept, and from that point forward, at least for 183 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,959 Speaker 1: the next decade or so, uh, the people who are 184 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: working in the fields of virtual reality as well as 185 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,680 Speaker 1: augmented reality found themselves struggling for funding. It was really 186 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: difficult to get money to continue their research and development 187 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 1: because there was such a there's the bubble of interest 188 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: had deflated so rapidly. It really collapsed essentially, and the 189 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: disciplines took a really big step backward, and so development 190 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,680 Speaker 1: was proceeding much more slowly, and most of the advances 191 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: were happening in labs where people had very specific use 192 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: cases for virtual reality. So, for example, it's been used 193 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: extensively in immersion therapy to help people deal with various 194 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: types of anxieties and phobias, because it turns out that 195 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: a virtual experience, even one with relatively primitive graphics, can 196 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: inspire the same sort of physical reactions that we experience 197 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: when we encounter something that causes us stress in the 198 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: real world. So let's say you're afraid of heights, and 199 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,679 Speaker 1: you try on a virtual experience that smulates being at 200 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: the edge of a very tall surface, like perhaps at 201 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: the edge of the building, you might actually start to 202 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: feel your body react as if you were really in 203 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:12,320 Speaker 1: that location, even if the graphics are more cartoony. It 204 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: doesn't have to be photo realistic for this to work. 205 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: So people who would suffer from the fear of falling 206 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: from a great height would actually start to have that 207 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: same physical reaction, and psychologists and psychiatrists could use this 208 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,440 Speaker 1: to help people get more accustomed to the feelings and 209 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: to be able to control them and to be able 210 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: to deal with them in a constructive way as opposed 211 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: to being paralyzed by them with a phobia, and you 212 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: would know ultimately during this process that you were safe. 213 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: You're inside a room, inside a lab, You're nowhere close 214 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: to the edge of anything. You're not going to fall, 215 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: you're not going to get hurt. So rationally you would 216 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 1: be able to hold that onto that thought and you 217 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: wouldn't go into a full panic, hopefully, But even if 218 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: you did go into a full panic, it was very 219 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: easy to turn the system off, remove it, and then 220 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: to re ground yourself. And it was a way to 221 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: create this therapeutic approach to exposing somebody to the stimuli 222 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: that would set them off and become better at coping 223 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 1: with that situation so that they could then ultimately move 224 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,079 Speaker 1: about in the real world and not have that affect them. Well, 225 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,080 Speaker 1: it's a very powerful statement to say that virtual reality 226 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 1: could allow you to do this, even when the graphics 227 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 1: are not that terribly powerful. So you did see a 228 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: lot of various approaches using technology in that way, whether 229 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: it was with phobias or anxieties or post traumatic stress syndrome. 230 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: That kind of thing really kind of interesting and cool, 231 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: but removed from the mainstream public's consciousness. It wasn't a 232 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: consumer technology anymore. So VR did continue to advance, but 233 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: it was within the specific implementations, and this was more 234 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: or less the way things went for at least ten years. 235 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: Then fairly recently, within the last five or six years, 236 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: you started seeing devices like the Oculus Rift and the 237 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: HTC Vibe come out in an attempt to bring VR 238 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: back to the consumer space. A lot of things had 239 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: changed since the nineteen nineties. Moore's law had continued to 240 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: hold sway, and now we had computers that were much 241 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: more capable of generating and processing graphics at a high level, 242 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: a high refresh rate, high level resolution. UH. The technology 243 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: for tracking had become much cheaper, mostly because of smartphones. 244 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: The smartphone market had created this need for sensors that 245 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: were really small and very versatile. So you know, the 246 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: iPhone has that feature, as do love smartphones today, of 247 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: being able to flip from landscape to portrait mode depending 248 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: upon how you're holding the phone, whether it's horizontal or vertical. Well, 249 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: those same sensors can be used in virtual reality gear 250 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: and they're very small and they're relatively inexpensive because of 251 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: mass production. So we started seeing other industries grow, and 252 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: then the VR world began to repurpose some of the 253 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: technology from those industries and use them specifically in VR hardware, 254 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: and as a result, they meant that they didn't have 255 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: to develop all of that themselves, and it brought the 256 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: cost of of of research and development down and ultimately 257 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: ultimately the cost of the actual products once they were 258 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: ready to ship to the consumer, because if they if 259 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: VR specialists had had to build everything from the ground up, 260 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: VR sets would be way more expensive than they are now. 261 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: They're still expensive, don't get me wrong. We'll talk about 262 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: that problem in just a little bit. So Oculus and 263 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: HDC Vibe they come out. They're trying really hard to 264 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: make VR become a thing like it could have been 265 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: in the nineties if it weren't for the fact that 266 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: the reality was so far behind where our perception was. 267 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: They obviously still have some hurdles. Meanwhile, recently, actually Microsoft 268 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: announced a platform called hollow Lens, and they were looking 269 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: at getting into the augmented reality space, so a headset 270 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: that would actually overlay information on top of the real 271 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: world around you, as opposed to replacing the real world. 272 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 1: And obviously hollow Lens is just one example. There are 273 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: plenty of augmented reality applications out there for various types 274 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: of devices, but hollow lens was something that Microsoft developed 275 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: that was intended to be an augmented reality headset and 276 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: the UH. Since then, Microsoft has said that it's not 277 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: going to be its own consumer product. It was more 278 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: meant as a platform for developers to use in order 279 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: to develop augmented reality experiences, which then would be incorporated 280 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: into future products. It would not be a hollow lens 281 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: that you would go out and buy. It would be 282 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: something else, UH, which is kind of a shame. I 283 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: never got a chance to try a hollow lens. I 284 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: know they still exist, but I've never been able to 285 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: to try one on. I really hope one day to 286 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: change that and get an experience with a hollow lens. 287 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:12,159 Speaker 1: So today I want to look at the technologies and 288 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,919 Speaker 1: approaches companies are unleashing in an effort to get VR, 289 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: a R and mixed reality off the ground again, because 290 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,200 Speaker 1: for a while it looked like there was the possibility 291 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: that just like in the nineties when VR died, we 292 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: could see the same thing happened today. And the reason 293 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: for that there's actually several reasons. There's the fact that 294 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: it's expensive, it's a fractured landscape. There are a lot 295 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: of different options out there, and they're not all equal. Uh, 296 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 1: there's a perceived lack of content. So you could get 297 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,880 Speaker 1: the hardware, but then you wouldn't have a whole lot 298 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: to do with it, because until recently, there just weren't 299 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: as many experiences out there that you could point to 300 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,120 Speaker 1: and say, this is the reason you have to have 301 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: this kind of technology. They're just there weren't enough titles. 302 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: Whether it was an experience or a game or whatever 303 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,200 Speaker 1: you want to call it, there just wasn't enough there. 304 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: Let's get to that cost issue. So the Oculus Rift 305 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:14,080 Speaker 1: as of the recording of this podcast, retails for four dollars, 306 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: and that includes the headset, some sensors, and the touch 307 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: controls that you would use to move around within a 308 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: virtual experience. The sensors track the movement of infrared LEDs 309 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: that are on the headset itself. This more accurately reflects 310 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,560 Speaker 1: your head movements within a game environment, so as you 311 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: move your head in the real world, it gets reflected 312 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 1: in the virtual environment. You can use three sensors and 313 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: that will get to three hundred sixty degrees of tracking 314 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: around you. Uh. Though there are some experiences that can 315 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 1: simulate three D sixty degree tracking using just two sensors, 316 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 1: but that's not for everything. You would need three sensors 317 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: to achieve that with all the different experiences that Oculus 318 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: works with. The HTC Vive retails for five dollars, so 319 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: it's a hundred dollars more are that includes the headset, 320 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: a couple of base stations, and some controllers. You can 321 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: set up the Vibe to work in a space of 322 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,240 Speaker 1: up to fifteen feet by fifteen feet, and that allows 323 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: you to actually move around inside a physical environment and 324 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: have those movements translate into the virtual world. So whereas 325 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: with the Oculus Rift, you're sitting at a desk typically 326 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: and you're using your point of view. You know, you 327 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:23,919 Speaker 1: move your head to change your point of view and 328 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: then use controllers to move around and stuff. You might 329 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 1: stand up for that, but you don't really move around 330 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: very much. HTC Vibe is meant to allow you to 331 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 1: move within a physical space and actually have that effect 332 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,959 Speaker 1: the way the the experience is playing out that you 333 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: are actually seeing in your headset. Both the Oculus and 334 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: the Vibe also require a fairly decent PC to to run, 335 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: although those requirements have also come down as things have 336 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 1: become optimized and the technology ends up getting less expensive 337 00:19:55,840 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: over time. When they first launched the Oculus in the HTC, 338 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 1: people said that typically you would need to spend around 339 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,719 Speaker 1: a thousand to undred dollars to get a PC that 340 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:12,879 Speaker 1: was decent enough to run VR experiences and have it 341 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 1: be a pleasant experience, not something that was frustrating or 342 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: didn't measure up to what your expectations were. Today, it's 343 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: about half that really, according to a lot of sites, 344 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: you could build a basic VR ready computer a gaming 345 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: rig for about six hundred dollars if you wanted to 346 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,919 Speaker 1: make the baseline system. Now. Obviously, the more money you 347 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: can invest in a rig with really good graphics, processing 348 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: and memory, the better your experience will be. But a minimum, 349 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: we're talking about six hundred dollars, and so that means 350 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: your average VR bundle all told. Let's say you don't 351 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: have this computer already, you want to go out and 352 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: buy all this, you're looking at around a thousand dollars 353 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: to maybe twelve hundred dollars just to start off, and 354 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: that's around your base level that's total. That's with the 355 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 1: VR set and the PC to run it off of, 356 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,639 Speaker 1: and it could be much more expensive if you want 357 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: to run it on a real beast of a gaming rig, 358 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: and at that point we're talking about a few thousand 359 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:14,640 Speaker 1: dollars easy. Uh. So there are other restrictions with those 360 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,919 Speaker 1: particular implementations. Another big one is that you're tethered to 361 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: a PC. And since you're tethered, meaning that you actually 362 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: have a cable running from your headset to the computer, 363 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: you're limited in how far away you can get. Even 364 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: with the HTC vive, you're limited and how far away 365 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 1: you can get from that base station and still be 366 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: able to uh to have your experience working. And it 367 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,920 Speaker 1: restricts your movement somewhat, especially if you're walking around a 368 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: fifteen by fifteen foot environment. You could get tangled up 369 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: pretty easily in that cable if you're not careful, and 370 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: that will really literally in some cases, cause your virtual 371 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: experience to come crashing down around you. So there are 372 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: other limitations beyond just the cost. But the cost is 373 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:58,399 Speaker 1: a big one. It's a big barrier to entry for 374 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: a lot of people. It means a people who have 375 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 1: a lot of disposable income, and they're big tech enthusiasts, 376 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: tend to be your audience. You just it's too expensive 377 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: for your average consumer who's just curious about it to 378 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: get into it. It's it's too big of a financial commitment. Now. 379 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: Not long after Oculus started drumming up excitement, developers for 380 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: smartphones began to create apps and supplemental products to turn 381 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: phones into simple VR or a R headsets. So Google 382 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,359 Speaker 1: launched Cardboard, for example. On Cardboard was kind of a 383 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:35,240 Speaker 1: platform for apps to turn Android phones into make shift 384 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:41,159 Speaker 1: VR headsets. You would actually build or order a cardboard 385 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: headset with some lenses, and the lenses would align properly 386 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,680 Speaker 1: so that you could actually get the three D sort 387 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: of effect of virtual reality, and the phone would act 388 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: as both the processor and the screen. You would slip 389 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,879 Speaker 1: that into this cardboard headset and then you would be 390 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,640 Speaker 1: able to look around and have various virtual reality experiences. 391 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: There were interesting, they were fairly limited, but pretty cool 392 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: ideas anyway, And the big draw of that approach was 393 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: that you didn't have to spend nearly so much money 394 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: to have a VR experience. So, in fact, if you 395 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: already had an Android phone capable of supporting cardboard, then 396 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,199 Speaker 1: you're really just talking about twenty dollars or less in 397 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: order to get the stuff you need to either make 398 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: or you're buying a cardboard headset, and that's the that's 399 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,439 Speaker 1: the financial uh investment you have to make, assuming you 400 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 1: already have the phone. Obviously, if you don't have the phone, 401 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,360 Speaker 1: then you have to add the phone's price in there, 402 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 1: and that ends up getting you back up in that 403 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: six eight hundred dollar arrange, depending up on the phone. 404 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: But the idea being that if you've already got a 405 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: big installation base, in other words, you've got a lot 406 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: of people out there who have phones that meet the 407 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,439 Speaker 1: minimum requirements for cardboard, it makes it pretty easy to 408 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: distribute an augmented reality or virtual reality experience. And in fact, 409 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: the last I checked cardboards user base was somewhere around 410 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: twenty five million people just for decent But how many 411 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: of those people are actually using cardboard on anything other 412 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 1: than I want to try it out and then I'll 413 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: never use it again level we don't know. The concept 414 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:17,399 Speaker 1: evolved into slightly more sophisticated implementations based on this same idea. So, 415 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: for example, you've got the Samsung Gear VR which is 416 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: a headset that relies upon a Samsung Galaxy handset to 417 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: be the processor and display, with the headset itself acting 418 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: as the mount and controller for the system. It's basically 419 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,480 Speaker 1: the same idea as Cardboard, but kind of a step further. Now. 420 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: I've got a lot more to say about Cardboard and 421 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: about the next evolution of Google's ARE strategy and VR strategy, 422 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: as well as some other companies and what they're doing. 423 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 1: Not to mention get into some of the cool stuff 424 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: that's coming out right now. But before I jump into that, 425 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:59,679 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. Something 426 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: that an update recently that also has helped kind of 427 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: keep VR alive while while it's trying to find an 428 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: audience is the PlayStation VR system. So Sony launched PlayStation 429 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 1: VR quite some time ago, and it's kind of again, 430 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,360 Speaker 1: sort of an in between system. It's more capable than 431 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: the smartphone based approaches, but it is less robust than 432 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 1: some of the ones that hook up to PCs, and 433 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: in fact, some people say that the the tracking software, 434 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: in particular when you're using the the PlayStation camera and 435 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: you're using the move controllers, that there's there's a little 436 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 1: bit of a disconnect there sometimes like it can get 437 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,719 Speaker 1: lost and suddenly, uh, you know, you realize that the 438 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 1: hands you were using that has a flashlight attached to 439 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,119 Speaker 1: it inside the game is slowly drifting up into the 440 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: right despite the fact that you're holding your hands straight 441 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: out in front of you. And it would be this 442 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: tracking disconnect that would occasionally recorrect itself, but it pulls 443 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 1: you out of the game because suddenly your body is 444 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: not in the game, your body is not behaving the 445 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: way your body is in real life, and there's that 446 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: part where they just aren't meeting together. It's and it's 447 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: not a great experience. Well Sony has continued to support 448 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: the platform rather than just let it die, which is encouraging. 449 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 1: It means that the company is really trying to make 450 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: sure that VR gets a good shot. And because so 451 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,960 Speaker 1: many people own a PS four, it's a it's an 452 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: install base that already exists. You don't have to go 453 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:33,439 Speaker 1: out and buy a new computer to run the PlayStation VR. 454 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: If you have a PS four, you've got the base 455 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: computer necessary to have that experience. So the new version 456 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: of the PlayStation VR, which was announced recently as the 457 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: recording of this podcast UH. It has some minor tweaks 458 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: to the design. One of those is that there are 459 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: headphones that are now integrated directly into the headset. Before 460 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: you had to have separate headphones, but now it's all 461 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: part of the same headset um that simplifies cable management. 462 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,080 Speaker 1: There are fewer cables to on around and so you're 463 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: not gonna get as many tangles that way. Also, there's 464 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,880 Speaker 1: an external processor unit box which allows for HDR pass through, 465 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: which makes it more convenient. HDR being high dynamic range. 466 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,480 Speaker 1: It has to do with the display of colors and 467 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: brightness on a screen, but to get more into that 468 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: would be more technical. The important thing to remember is 469 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 1: that Sony is working hard to try and make sure 470 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: that they give their VR platform the best chance for success, 471 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: which I think is encouraging. Now. Generally speaking, the experiences 472 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: that you have with the Oculus or HTC VIVE or 473 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: comparable headsets are more robust and impressive than the counterparts 474 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: that are smartphone based. There's just a lot more processing 475 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,200 Speaker 1: power their great air capabilities. There are a lot more 476 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: opportunities to incorporate different types of sensors to get more 477 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: precision with the tracking. UH now that's not to say 478 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: the smartphone approach is bad. It's still compelling. It's just 479 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: a little more limited. It's certainly less expensive if you 480 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 1: already own a smartphone, because then you can just repurpose 481 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: the technology you already have, or you can think of 482 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,719 Speaker 1: it as added value to the technology you already have 483 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: and a new use case for that technology. So it's 484 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,920 Speaker 1: a smartphone that you use for texting, email, taking photos, 485 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: and also having VR or a R experiences. That's really 486 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: compelling because if you already have it, you don't need 487 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,640 Speaker 1: to invest more money into buying a new thing. Meanwhile, 488 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,400 Speaker 1: on the a R side, you had a few interesting 489 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 1: implementations apart from Hollowlands, stuff like Google Glass, which I've 490 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: talked about in the previous episode. It's still technically a thing, 491 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: but it never really managed to become a real consumer product. 492 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: Google tried to make that happen and then ultimately made 493 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 1: the decision that it just wasn't quite ready to be 494 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,479 Speaker 1: a consumer product. So there are some consumers, some crazy 495 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 1: folks like myself who plopped down the money to buy 496 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: a pair of Google Glass, And yes I did at 497 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: one time own a pair, although technically I didn't own them, 498 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 1: the company owned them, and I got to use them, 499 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: but the cost of them and the limited use cases, 500 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,479 Speaker 1: I mean, there really weren't a whole lot of things 501 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: you could do with Google Glass when they first came out, 502 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: and meant that it was a tough sell to the 503 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: average person. It became kind of a status symbol among 504 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: tech geeks. But beyond that, you know, I had very 505 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: limited use. The coolest thing you could do with it 506 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: is use your voice to take a photo with your glasses, 507 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 1: and people thought that was awesome because they felt like 508 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: you were using the future to take their photograph. I 509 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: know because I attended a Dragon Con wearing a set 510 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: of Google Glass and I would ask people in cosplay 511 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: outfits if I could take their photo, and they would 512 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,600 Speaker 1: say yes, And then I would use the phrase, which 513 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna use because it's the same one that 514 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,479 Speaker 1: will make my phone in my pocket take a picture 515 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: inside my pocket. But I would use that that phrase 516 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 1: and out loud, just say it out loud, and my 517 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: glasses would take the photo. And so the first image 518 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: I would take of every single cause player was one 519 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 1: of them looking confused because I had just said out 520 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: loud what I was going to do and then stared 521 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: at them and then they realized what I had done 522 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: and thought it was super cool, and then I would 523 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: have to take a second photo so that there would 524 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: actually be one that was good and not just as 525 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 1: someone going what uh, fun little tangent, but the point 526 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,440 Speaker 1: being that that a R experience was very limited and 527 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: it just wasn't ready, and so we didn't really ever 528 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: see that become a mature consumer product. There is still 529 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,479 Speaker 1: Google Glass out there. It's being used, uh, mostly in 530 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: manufacturing and other like business to business operations, not so 531 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: much for consumers. Uh. But another limitation of consumer VR 532 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,480 Speaker 1: headsets has been the use case for consumers, they fall 533 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 1: into what Microsoft refers to as various scales of experiences 534 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: and what what can you do with it? And and 535 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: how limited are you? Like, how restricted are you to 536 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: a specific space? So Microsoft says that you can look 537 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: at VR experiences in terms of the scale they provide. 538 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,239 Speaker 1: A simple VR headset might allow you to change your 539 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,440 Speaker 1: point of view by moving your head left and right, 540 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: so you turn your head left or you turn your 541 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: head right, or you might tilt it up or down, 542 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: and your perspective would change in accordance with that you're 543 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,120 Speaker 1: essentially changing the camera view that you are seeing with 544 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: the displays that are right in front of your eyes. 545 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: But that's about it. That would be like the head 546 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: scale level of VR, and it's also the least immersive 547 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: of the various scales. Other head orientations would not be 548 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:31,960 Speaker 1: able to be captured with that type of technology necessarily 549 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: just wouldn't have the capability. So if you were to 550 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: tilt your head, not just turn it, but tilted to 551 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: the side while you're turning it, it may not reflect that, 552 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: it may not change that that that plane of view 553 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: with that particular scale. Now, out of all the headsets 554 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: that are out there on the market, none of them 555 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: really fall into that category, except maybe some of the 556 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 1: smartphone based technology. But the standalone headsets, or or rather 557 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: the dedicated handsets, they're not and alone because they pair 558 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: with a computer. Those dedicated headsets can do more than that. 559 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,440 Speaker 1: That next scale is called desk scale. Again, this is 560 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: according to Microsoft, and in this implementation of VR, the 561 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: headset has other sensors that can track movement and head orientation, 562 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: so that if you tilt your head, your perspective will 563 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: change accordingly. And at that scale you can even lean forward, 564 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 1: or you can lean back and your point of view 565 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: will change. You'll you'll appear to get closer or further 566 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: away from whatever it is you are looking at within 567 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: the virtual environment. Or you can even bend over and 568 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: look under a virtual object and actually see, Like imagine 569 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: that there's a table in front of you. You could 570 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,320 Speaker 1: squat down and your point of view would go below 571 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: the table. You can even lean forward and look up 572 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: and look under the underside of the table. Maybe you 573 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,160 Speaker 1: see that someone's written something down there, such as tech 574 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: stuff rocks, and you think, wow, that's kind of cool. 575 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: What an easter egg. Everyone should know that. I don't 576 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: know why they didn't carve it on the top of 577 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: the table. Carve it on the top of the table. 578 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: Don't don't car unreal tables, only virtual tables, all right, 579 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: But that would be what the basic Oculus Rift could do. 580 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 1: When it first launched. It had this level of UH interactivity, 581 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: but that was that was the extent of it. That's 582 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: as far as you could go. The next scale up 583 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: would be the room scale, and that's what Microsoft would 584 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: say the HTC Vibe would fall into. So the Vibe 585 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: has those supplemental base camp sensors that often you would 586 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: hear them just called lighthouses, and you would set these 587 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 1: up to map out the dimensions of a room. You 588 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: would typically put them in opposite corners of a room, 589 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: and they could map out a room as large as 590 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: fifteen feet by fifteen feet or anything smaller than that 591 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 1: up to a certain amount. And these base camps, they 592 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: were sensors that could detect where the headset was in 593 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: relation to, say, the walls of the room, and it 594 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: meant that you could move around in your physical space, 595 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: and the base camp would allow you to see how 596 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: that movement is translated into the virtual brands. And if 597 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: you got too close to an actual physical wall, it 598 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: would alert you in the virtual experience by having the 599 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: wall in front of you shimmer, or you would see 600 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,800 Speaker 1: something that would indicate, hey, you're getting kind of close 601 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: to the edge. You need to change direction or else 602 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: you're gonna slam face first into this wall that you 603 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: cannot see because you're looking at a display, You're not 604 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: looking at the physical world around you. So it was 605 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:25,799 Speaker 1: kind of like the Holia deck. If you've ever watched 606 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,480 Speaker 1: Star Trek and you saw whenever the the image was 607 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,560 Speaker 1: flickering and you get that grid pattern of the actual 608 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,879 Speaker 1: Holi deck without any program running. It's kind of like that. 609 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: Typically you get this little display that lets you know, hey, 610 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 1: you're getting a little too close to the wall. You 611 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,359 Speaker 1: may want to stop this before you end up hurting 612 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: yourself or causing any damage. Now, Microsoft envisions a new scale. 613 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: They call it the world scale. This would allow you 614 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: to move through various physical spaces. You would not be 615 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 1: limited to a single room necessarily. Uh. You wouldn't have 616 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 1: to designate a specific room in your house for VR 617 00:34:58,080 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: because the heads that you wear would be able to 618 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,560 Speaker 1: send your environment from the inside out. They call it 619 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,920 Speaker 1: inside out tracking, So it frees you of the need 620 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: for supplemental sensors. You don't need any base camps or 621 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: anything like that. Everything is built into the headset, at 622 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,359 Speaker 1: least for the sensing part of it. It's the philosophy 623 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 1: that they decided to follow when they launched the mixed 624 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:23,359 Speaker 1: Reality headset program now uh now. In November, Google then 625 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: unveiled the new initiative called Daydream. Daydream represents a shift 626 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: in Google support of augmented reality and virtual reality functionality. 627 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: So instead of making those features an app level function 628 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:36,839 Speaker 1: where you would build an app, and the app then 629 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,960 Speaker 1: communicates with the operating system stack and gets the processing 630 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 1: information it needs and thus translates it into the experience 631 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,799 Speaker 1: that you have. Google said, how about we build some 632 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:49,960 Speaker 1: of that capability directly into the operating system. That was 633 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:54,279 Speaker 1: what Daydream does, and it's available on Android builds from 634 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:58,120 Speaker 1: newgat which is seven point one and later. And that 635 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: means that if you have a Daydream capable phone, it 636 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:05,279 Speaker 1: has this capability built into the operating system itself. It 637 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: gives deeper or the capability of building deeper, more rich 638 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. They also launched several cases. Essentially, 639 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,440 Speaker 1: they are headsets that are phone cases that you wear, 640 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: and very recently they announced updates to that, and the 641 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:28,319 Speaker 1: updates I think cost twenty dollars more prepare on the 642 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,240 Speaker 1: low end, so it used to be seventy nine dollars 643 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,480 Speaker 1: now it's for one of these things. But they also 644 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,319 Speaker 1: come in different colors, so if you want to hot 645 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: pink one, you can get one. They're pretty So I'm 646 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 1: recording this particular episode in early October, and not long 647 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 1: before I went into the recording booth, Google launched some 648 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,480 Speaker 1: new day dream products, and that includes those headsets I 649 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: was talking about. And Google has consistently earned itself a 650 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: reputation over the past for creating products that were designed 651 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 1: by and four engineers, which sometimes, at least on casual glance, 652 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:08,400 Speaker 1: seems to go hand in hand with a certain lack 653 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: of aesthetic appeal. If you compare that to a company 654 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:16,000 Speaker 1: like Apple, which really puts aesthetics very high up on 655 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,279 Speaker 1: the list of important features, higher up than including the 656 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,359 Speaker 1: latest technologies. In fact, you see that, you know that 657 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 1: has a more immediate appeal to the consumer than Android 658 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,880 Speaker 1: ones do. But now we're starting to see some updates 659 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: to that, which is kind of nice. Also, I'll touch 660 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,239 Speaker 1: back on Apple a little bit later in this episode. 661 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:37,960 Speaker 1: Now we know that Google has brought over people from 662 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:42,080 Speaker 1: HTC to work on hardware. HTC makes mobile devices. They 663 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,880 Speaker 1: also make the HTC Vibe, which I've talked about already 664 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: in this podcast. We also know the HTC is hard 665 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,360 Speaker 1: at work on a standalone device in its Vivee line. 666 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,920 Speaker 1: And this standalone device is truly stand alone, uh the 667 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 1: Oculus and the HTC Vibe. Like I said, they require 668 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: a PC to do all the processing. The ht C 669 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: Vibe standalone would be its own independent piece of machinery. 670 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:06,840 Speaker 1: You wear it on your head. It does not connect 671 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: to a phone or a computer. It does all the 672 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:14,920 Speaker 1: processing right there on the unit itself, and there's no 673 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:16,759 Speaker 1: real word on what the specs are going to be 674 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,919 Speaker 1: or what sort of experiences it will deliver. Uh, if 675 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: you actually were to visit the HTC website, you would 676 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 1: see a futuristic representation of the headset, but you would 677 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: not actually see the hardware itself. It would be kind 678 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: of this illustration over actual real people. So you see 679 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:36,600 Speaker 1: like this virtual glowing green headset that is transparent and 680 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:40,520 Speaker 1: clearly it's computer generated on top of actual people. You know, 681 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 1: that's not what it's gonna really look like when it launches. 682 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: That's kind of a cool video. It's likely to be 683 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,640 Speaker 1: somewhere in between the existing smartphone based headsets and the 684 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,920 Speaker 1: dedicated tethered headsets like Oculus and HTC Vibe as far 685 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 1: as the experience as it can deliver. But it does 686 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:57,040 Speaker 1: mean it's completely untethered, which is very attractive piece of 687 00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,120 Speaker 1: of of our very attractive feature. I should say, You're 688 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,600 Speaker 1: not going to be tied down with any cables. Google 689 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,160 Speaker 1: strategy for this device is to incorporate a technology for 690 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: the company is calling up World Sense, and it sounds 691 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:10,319 Speaker 1: to me like World Sense is a lot like that 692 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: Microsoft approach I talked about earlier, the idea that inside 693 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,000 Speaker 1: out tracking. So in this implementation, the headsets would contain 694 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:21,000 Speaker 1: multiple sensors and they would not rely just on those 695 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: sensors for orientation but also environment tracking. And Microsoft the 696 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:30,360 Speaker 1: inside out tracking strategy relies largely on optical sensors, in 697 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:34,560 Speaker 1: other words, cameras, So you're not using base sensors like 698 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,160 Speaker 1: you would with HTC vive. Everything is built into the 699 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:41,359 Speaker 1: headset itself, and so the headset is gathering all the 700 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:46,080 Speaker 1: information it needs to feed into your virtual experience. Uh 701 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,279 Speaker 1: they face outward the cameras, they can detect walls or 702 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 1: other surfaces or obstacles, and then as they detect them, 703 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: it can incorporate that information into whatever your experiences, depending 704 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 1: upon how people have programmed the experience. So it may 705 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 1: again be kind of like that Holio deck thing where 706 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:03,280 Speaker 1: if you get too close to the wall, it starts 707 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: to shimmer and tell you, hey, don't hurt yourself. Now, 708 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:12,759 Speaker 1: Microsoft isn't necessarily developing its own hardware. They do have 709 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,440 Speaker 1: kind of a developer kit that you can order if 710 00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,120 Speaker 1: you're a developer, but they're not really interested in making 711 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,759 Speaker 1: the hardware themselves. Instead, the company has developed a set 712 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 1: of specifications that headsets must meet at minimum to qualify 713 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,640 Speaker 1: as one of the immersive headsets that falls under Microsoft 714 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:33,279 Speaker 1: Mixed Reality. Other companies like acer A, Sous, Samsung, and 715 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:37,200 Speaker 1: things like that are actually developing the headsets themselves. So 716 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,879 Speaker 1: this is sort of like just looking at the world 717 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:45,000 Speaker 1: of PCs. Microsoft doesn't make computers. Microsoft makes the operating 718 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:48,719 Speaker 1: system that PCs use, so or at least Windows based 719 00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:53,240 Speaker 1: PCs obviously, so it's similar to that Microsoft has created 720 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 1: the bare minimum specs that a system must meet in 721 00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:01,400 Speaker 1: order to be part of this mixed reality platform. Typically, 722 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: these headsets have a display that consists of two high 723 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,160 Speaker 1: resolution displays, so one for each eye. Typically they're liquid 724 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: crystal displays for your base models l c d s. 725 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:14,760 Speaker 1: In other words, that style display will not as crisp 726 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,560 Speaker 1: as something like an oh LED screen can provide a 727 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,719 Speaker 1: high resolution experience at a reduced costs. So the HP 728 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,080 Speaker 1: Windows Mixed Reality development addition, so there's kind of like 729 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,719 Speaker 1: the base level for if you want to develop a 730 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,839 Speaker 1: R experiences or VR experiences using this It has two 731 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 1: high res l c D displays at fourteen forty by 732 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 1: fourteen forty resolutions, so fourteen forty pixels across fourteen forty 733 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:42,680 Speaker 1: pixels down per PERV display. The displays refresh at ninety hurts, 734 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:46,280 Speaker 1: which means the image in those displays regenerates ninety times 735 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,440 Speaker 1: a second. Refresh rate is one of the factors that 736 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,400 Speaker 1: really helps create a smooth and seamless experience, and a 737 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: bad refresh rate can have a similar effect as that 738 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:57,920 Speaker 1: of latency. Latency is that delay between when you send 739 00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:01,239 Speaker 1: a command to a system and when that command is executed. 740 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,640 Speaker 1: So in a traditional video game, you might notice that 741 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,000 Speaker 1: if you press a jump button, your character might take 742 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:10,720 Speaker 1: a moment before it actually jumps. There's a delay between 743 00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: when you hit the button and when something happens, which 744 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:16,319 Speaker 1: makes those kind of games incredibly frustrating because getting the 745 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:19,480 Speaker 1: timing down for jumping when you want it to is 746 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,800 Speaker 1: really really tricky. The latency and VR is typically way 747 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: worse than that, because if you notice a delay between 748 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,640 Speaker 1: when you say turn your head and when your point 749 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:32,480 Speaker 1: of view shifts. As a result, you start getting this 750 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,799 Speaker 1: unpleasant swimmy feeling, and if you do it long enough, 751 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 1: you can end up getting motion sickness or VR sickness 752 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 1: as your brain tries to suss out what's going on 753 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,800 Speaker 1: because it can tell you're moving, but your point of 754 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 1: view doesn't move, and then your point of view starts 755 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:50,480 Speaker 1: to move and doesn't stop until after you've stopped moving. 756 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:52,680 Speaker 1: This disconnect is enough to make your brain say, hey, 757 00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:54,400 Speaker 1: you know what we need to do. Just get rid 758 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,919 Speaker 1: of everything you've eaten for the day, so get out 759 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:01,360 Speaker 1: of here, guys, And you start feeling really nauseated. It 760 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:03,600 Speaker 1: is not a fun experience, and it can take a 761 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 1: couple of hours for you to start feeling normal again. 762 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:11,839 Speaker 1: A slower refresh rate can also create a similar situation. 763 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,240 Speaker 1: For one thing, you can get dropped frames. Dropped frames 764 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:17,719 Speaker 1: being like if you were imagine you're watching a movie 765 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:21,400 Speaker 1: and somehow some of the frames between one moment and 766 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:23,640 Speaker 1: another moment are gone, so you're starting to see the 767 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: movie move in these really herky jerky motions where things 768 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,440 Speaker 1: are jumping across the screen instead of moving smoothly. The 769 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: same thing can happen if you've got a poor refresh 770 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:37,800 Speaker 1: rate with your various equipment, and that can also create 771 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,440 Speaker 1: this jagged, inconsistent experience. It's like living in one of 772 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,839 Speaker 1: those awful horror movies where everyone's moving in really quick 773 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,680 Speaker 1: starts and stops. The developer kit has a three and 774 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:50,680 Speaker 1: a half millimeter jack or for headphones or microphone support, 775 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 1: so you can actually pair headphones with a mic to 776 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,080 Speaker 1: the headset itself, but it's not incorporated directly into the headset. 777 00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,840 Speaker 1: Other manufacturers can choose to incorporate the speakers so that 778 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:02,960 Speaker 1: they are part of the headset itself if they want to. 779 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 1: H The headset has to connect to a computer station 780 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:08,400 Speaker 1: through an HDM two point O and USB three point 781 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 1: oh cable, which are packaged together as a single cable. 782 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:14,919 Speaker 1: They have outlets or plugs to go in both, but uh, 783 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:16,719 Speaker 1: they end up being one cable, so you don't have 784 00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,480 Speaker 1: to have two cables dangling from this headset. It does 785 00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:22,520 Speaker 1: mean you're tethered to a machine. So technically, yeah, you 786 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:25,920 Speaker 1: could move around different rooms because the headset has got 787 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,839 Speaker 1: all the equipment to sense the environment, but you're still 788 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,120 Speaker 1: limited by distance to your computer because you have to 789 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: be wired to a machine that's doing all the processing. 790 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,960 Speaker 1: The latest headset in this mixed reality lineup as of 791 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,400 Speaker 1: the recording of this podcast, and the rate is the 792 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: Samsung Odyssey, and several outlets like The Verge, c net 793 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:48,759 Speaker 1: and Digital Trends have had very positive things to say 794 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,480 Speaker 1: about their experiences. They've named it as the best Microsoft 795 00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:56,440 Speaker 1: mixed reality headset so far. About probably about half a 796 00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:59,160 Speaker 1: dozen different headsets have launched already, and this one appears 797 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 1: to be the front runner. It sports some oh LED screens, 798 00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:04,560 Speaker 1: so it's not using l c D, and it has 799 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,920 Speaker 1: a larger field of view than the other headsets that 800 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:10,640 Speaker 1: have come out so far. It also includes built in speakers. 801 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,320 Speaker 1: The resolution on those oh LEDs is also a little 802 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:15,560 Speaker 1: bit better than the l c D ones. It's at 803 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:19,600 Speaker 1: fourteen forty by six hundred. It's priced at five hundred dollars, 804 00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:21,800 Speaker 1: which puts it right in line with the Oculus Rift 805 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:24,960 Speaker 1: and other mixed reality headsets have launched at price points 806 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:29,239 Speaker 1: between three and four d fifty dollars. The reviews make 807 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:31,480 Speaker 1: it sound like the Samsung device is the one to 808 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:35,920 Speaker 1: go for if you're interested in this Microsoft mixed reality platform. 809 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,320 Speaker 1: I have to point out, however, I have not personally 810 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:41,839 Speaker 1: tried out any of these headsets. I have no personal experience, 811 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,600 Speaker 1: so what do I know. I just read some reviews 812 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,840 Speaker 1: that seemed really really positive on it. So do your research. 813 00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,279 Speaker 1: If you're going to get into VR in any way, 814 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:53,239 Speaker 1: make sure you research all the different options before you 815 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:55,880 Speaker 1: make your choice. I think an informed opinion is the 816 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 1: most important thing from a consumer standpoint. I do want 817 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:00,520 Speaker 1: to try all of these at some point, just to 818 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:04,120 Speaker 1: kind of see what the gamut of experiences really happens 819 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,080 Speaker 1: to be. And another part of the Microsoft approach involves 820 00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:10,359 Speaker 1: these interesting controllers. Typically you would hold one in each hand, 821 00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:12,919 Speaker 1: and they look like little sticks with like a ring 822 00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:15,920 Speaker 1: shaped extension at one end of them. That same end 823 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,520 Speaker 1: also has an analog thumbstick and a touchpad that you 824 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:20,200 Speaker 1: can use with your thumbs, and the body of the 825 00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:22,680 Speaker 1: controller features a button and a trigger, which gives you 826 00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:25,440 Speaker 1: a lot more options to interact with your virtual environment. 827 00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:27,640 Speaker 1: The rings at the end of the controllers have l 828 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: e d s on them, so the cameras that are 829 00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:33,719 Speaker 1: mounted on your headset can view the l e d s. 830 00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:37,720 Speaker 1: It actually tracks the movement of the controllers by keeping 831 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:40,040 Speaker 1: an optical view of where those l e d s 832 00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,000 Speaker 1: are and how they're aligned. So by tilting your hand, 833 00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:45,520 Speaker 1: it can actually detect that tilt by the way those 834 00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,239 Speaker 1: L e D s are displayed and reflect that in 835 00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:50,359 Speaker 1: the virtual world. It's supposed to give you much more 836 00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:54,359 Speaker 1: precision for the way you move your hands in real 837 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:57,280 Speaker 1: life and how that is translated in the virtual environment. 838 00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,879 Speaker 1: And uh, you don't again have worry about any sort 839 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,160 Speaker 1: of external sensors because it's all built into the headset. 840 00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:06,120 Speaker 1: I really do want to give it a try and 841 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:09,399 Speaker 1: see what that experience is like. Now, there are other 842 00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,200 Speaker 1: interfaces that people are looking at. Uh. We you know, 843 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:14,440 Speaker 1: I just talked about controllers, and all of these different 844 00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:19,239 Speaker 1: headsets have various controller systems that are similar. Some of 845 00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,280 Speaker 1: them have controllers that have a lot of those sensors 846 00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:25,880 Speaker 1: built into the controllers themselves, so you've got like gyroscopes, accelerometers, 847 00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:28,800 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. A lot of them also include 848 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:32,360 Speaker 1: some other form of tracking. So with the oculus you 849 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:36,640 Speaker 1: might be able to use L e ed uh l 850 00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:39,920 Speaker 1: E ed um that are led that are are projecting 851 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:42,439 Speaker 1: an infrared which means that we can't see the light, 852 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:46,040 Speaker 1: but a computer can see it with the right camera 853 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:50,040 Speaker 1: and track the movements of those controls that way. But 854 00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:53,560 Speaker 1: we also are seeing people work with other forms of interfaces, 855 00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:57,000 Speaker 1: things like voice commands or just your controls, or if 856 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,000 Speaker 1: you listen to the recent episodes about eye tracking techno 857 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,640 Speaker 1: oology and gaming, you realize that eye tracking technology is 858 00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,160 Speaker 1: also a potential interface with virtual reality. Where you are 859 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:10,040 Speaker 1: looking and where you're paying attention could end up becoming 860 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:14,120 Speaker 1: a way to actually interact with your environment, either directly 861 00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:18,000 Speaker 1: or in concert with some other interface like a controller. 862 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:20,880 Speaker 1: So we are seeing some other innovation in the space, 863 00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:25,040 Speaker 1: although that's rolling out a little more gradually than this 864 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:28,480 Speaker 1: basic approach, which is to be expected. You know, every evolution, 865 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:32,200 Speaker 1: we're going to see more of these different interfaces built 866 00:48:32,239 --> 00:48:37,200 Speaker 1: into the system itself. Now, before I go into the 867 00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:39,520 Speaker 1: next break, I do want to talk about one thing 868 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:42,600 Speaker 1: that isn't going to happen as well as one thing 869 00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:45,040 Speaker 1: that is still continuing, and that both of these things 870 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:50,520 Speaker 1: come from Intel. So in tween, Intel had been working 871 00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:55,160 Speaker 1: on a project called code named Alloy Project Alloy, and 872 00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:58,600 Speaker 1: this was supposed to be a standalone headset. It was 873 00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:02,560 Speaker 1: not going to require a an additional PC or phone 874 00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:04,520 Speaker 1: or anything of those lines. It was gonna do all 875 00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:07,920 Speaker 1: the processing itself. It was gonna be a VR or 876 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,000 Speaker 1: mixed reality headset. It was going to have the cameras 877 00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,840 Speaker 1: sort of this inside out tracking that that Microsoft is 878 00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:18,960 Speaker 1: also using. UH. It was to include all sorts of 879 00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:24,759 Speaker 1: interesting technologies and strategies for dealing with mixed reality. It 880 00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,719 Speaker 1: looked really, really cool, but it's now dead in the 881 00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:31,480 Speaker 1: water Until has discontinued the project. And the stated reason, 882 00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:34,960 Speaker 1: and I have no reason to dispute this, is that 883 00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:38,360 Speaker 1: Intel was finding it very difficult to find partners to 884 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:42,280 Speaker 1: actually build the parts that would be used to create 885 00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:46,600 Speaker 1: the project Alloy headsets. They were not finding people interested 886 00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:49,319 Speaker 1: in that, partly because the Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets were 887 00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:51,840 Speaker 1: coming out, and so people were kind of migrating towards 888 00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:55,120 Speaker 1: that platform instead of wanting to divide their attention to 889 00:49:55,280 --> 00:50:00,279 Speaker 1: two different but similar platforms. So Intel eventually he said, 890 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:03,960 Speaker 1: you know what, we'd be better served going a slightly 891 00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:06,279 Speaker 1: different route. That it's not going to pay off in 892 00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:08,000 Speaker 1: the long run if we stick with this. There's too 893 00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:11,239 Speaker 1: much UH competition in the market space. Even if you 894 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:14,640 Speaker 1: just look at Microsoft Mixed Reality. Like I said, about 895 00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:18,439 Speaker 1: a half dozen different headsets have already launched, so there's 896 00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:22,600 Speaker 1: already gonna be crazy competition. Just in that category than 897 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,520 Speaker 1: to launch something that is similar but in a different category, 898 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:28,480 Speaker 1: it would be even more difficult to get a dedicaid 899 00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:32,080 Speaker 1: consumer base. So what they have pivoted towards doing is 900 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:35,280 Speaker 1: working on a technology that would be very beneficial toward 901 00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:39,200 Speaker 1: people who are making headsets for virtual reality that would 902 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:42,600 Speaker 1: pair with a PC, but they would not need a 903 00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:46,640 Speaker 1: cable between the two. And that is why gig as 904 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:51,560 Speaker 1: in WiFi, but why gig like in the the gigabit 905 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:57,680 Speaker 1: spectrum for data transfer, so it has a lot more throughput. Like, 906 00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:00,239 Speaker 1: it's not it's not that the information is going fast, suster. 907 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:03,359 Speaker 1: Keep in mind informations traveling at the speed of light. 908 00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:05,360 Speaker 1: You can't make it go faster. You can just send 909 00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:08,399 Speaker 1: more information at a time so it gets to its 910 00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:13,960 Speaker 1: destination and can return faster because you're sending bigger groups, 911 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:17,040 Speaker 1: bigger chunks of data. Not that it's going faster, but 912 00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:19,920 Speaker 1: you're seeing the bigger chunks. Well, that's what Intel is 913 00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:22,640 Speaker 1: working on. They're working on this y gig technology so 914 00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:27,279 Speaker 1: that future implementations of these headsets will be able to 915 00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:32,160 Speaker 1: work with properly equipped PCs and have this wireless data 916 00:51:32,239 --> 00:51:35,920 Speaker 1: transfer at very high throughputs. So that you can have 917 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:40,520 Speaker 1: that virtual reality experience without being tied down to the machine. 918 00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:44,840 Speaker 1: As long as you are within range of the transmission 919 00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:48,000 Speaker 1: of that data, you would be able to continue this experience. 920 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:52,120 Speaker 1: Then you would really have that inside out tracking experience 921 00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:56,960 Speaker 1: where you're you're not you're not tethered physically to a device. 922 00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,040 Speaker 1: You can move from room to room and you don't 923 00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:00,920 Speaker 1: have to worry about tripping. Oh, we're at least not 924 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:03,440 Speaker 1: tripping over a cable. You can trip over, say a 925 00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,120 Speaker 1: pet or something else that you cannot see that the 926 00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:08,840 Speaker 1: system has not picked up on, but you wouldn't be 927 00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:12,120 Speaker 1: tangled up in cables this way. So while I'm sad 928 00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:16,200 Speaker 1: to see Project Alloy go away or really never materialize, 929 00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,080 Speaker 1: I am really pleased to hear about the y gig 930 00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:21,960 Speaker 1: initiative and hope that that ends up turning into something special. 931 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:24,319 Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna take another quick break, but when we 932 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:27,640 Speaker 1: come back, I'm gonna tell you about how Apple, the 933 00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:32,200 Speaker 1: company I infamously apparently despise according to some of you 934 00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:34,239 Speaker 1: out there, I don't despise Apple, but a lot of 935 00:52:34,239 --> 00:52:36,839 Speaker 1: people say I've gotten anti mac bias. We're gonna talk 936 00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,960 Speaker 1: about how Apple is making a really big impact in 937 00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:43,239 Speaker 1: the world of a R. But first let's take another 938 00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:53,120 Speaker 1: quick break to thank our sponsor. Now let's talk a 939 00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:57,880 Speaker 1: little bit about Apple and Apple's recent approach to augmented reality, 940 00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:00,920 Speaker 1: because I think it's actually a really important step for 941 00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:03,279 Speaker 1: a R as a whole. And you guys, if you've 942 00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:05,520 Speaker 1: listened to tech stuff for a while, you know I'm 943 00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:08,760 Speaker 1: not someone who owns an iPhone. I own Android devices, 944 00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:11,719 Speaker 1: I don't have a Mac, I own PCs, but I 945 00:53:11,760 --> 00:53:15,200 Speaker 1: recognize the important contributions Apple has made to the field 946 00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:17,680 Speaker 1: of technology, and when it comes to a R, I 947 00:53:17,680 --> 00:53:20,319 Speaker 1: think it's one of the most important steps so far. 948 00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:22,600 Speaker 1: And I'll explain why it's actually not so much from 949 00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:27,279 Speaker 1: a technology perspective as it is a market perspective. So 950 00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:31,359 Speaker 1: in September of Apple made augmented reality a really big 951 00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:33,400 Speaker 1: part of its launch of the iPhone eight and iPhone 952 00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:38,040 Speaker 1: ten handsets or iPhone X if you were like me 953 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:39,160 Speaker 1: and not sure if they were going to call it 954 00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:42,160 Speaker 1: the iPhone ten or not. Also a side note, whatever 955 00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:45,880 Speaker 1: happened to the number nine? Windows skipped it and iPhone 956 00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:49,719 Speaker 1: skipped it, So that's kind of sad, right, So this 957 00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:54,840 Speaker 1: particular pair of handsets they introduced upon the launch the 958 00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:58,600 Speaker 1: the creation of the A R Kit platform directly incorporating 959 00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:02,920 Speaker 1: a R functionality in to the Apple operating system. So again, 960 00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 1: kind of like Daydream, it's no longer a layer that's 961 00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:10,319 Speaker 1: excluded only or reserved only for apps. It actually goes 962 00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:14,319 Speaker 1: deeper into the operating system stack itself. There's there's fundamental 963 00:54:14,400 --> 00:54:19,600 Speaker 1: support for augmented reality features inside iOS at this point, 964 00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:22,759 Speaker 1: and that's a big deal. So when you pair it 965 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:25,520 Speaker 1: with something like the A eleven bionic chip that was 966 00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:28,040 Speaker 1: being used in processing power for the iPhone eight and 967 00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:31,759 Speaker 1: iPhone tent, it creates the opportunity for really powerful are experiences. 968 00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:35,160 Speaker 1: And if you watched that demonstration, you've got to see 969 00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:38,120 Speaker 1: some of those A R demos that were really kind 970 00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:41,080 Speaker 1: of cool. It showed you what you could potentially do 971 00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:44,200 Speaker 1: with one of these apps, especially the games. I love 972 00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:46,640 Speaker 1: the various games you could play where you can turn 973 00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:53,200 Speaker 1: a blank tabletop into a massive gaming virtual gaming uh 974 00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:57,279 Speaker 1: board if you want. The The possibilities there are really 975 00:54:57,320 --> 00:55:00,600 Speaker 1: limitless when you think about it's kind of cool. Well, 976 00:55:00,880 --> 00:55:02,560 Speaker 1: the thing that I think is really important here is 977 00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,239 Speaker 1: not necessarily the technology side, but as I said, the 978 00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:08,239 Speaker 1: market side. And by that I mean if you look 979 00:55:08,239 --> 00:55:11,759 Speaker 1: at market share for the mobile operating systems that are 980 00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:14,680 Speaker 1: on the market. If you look at most sources, they 981 00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:18,080 Speaker 1: tell you that Android handsets make up somewhere in the 982 00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:22,920 Speaker 1: seventy percentile range, typically in the mid seventies, somewhere around there, 983 00:55:22,960 --> 00:55:26,520 Speaker 1: sometimes as high as eight depending upon the source. If 984 00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:28,800 Speaker 1: you look at iOS, they tend to be in the twenties, 985 00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:32,760 Speaker 1: the low twenties. So averaging that all out, it means 986 00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:36,359 Speaker 1: that there are three times as many Android devices as 987 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,239 Speaker 1: there are Apple devices out in the wild for the 988 00:55:39,280 --> 00:55:43,399 Speaker 1: mobile side. Uh, that's just rough math. So you've got 989 00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:47,080 Speaker 1: way more Android phones than you have iOS phones. However, 990 00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:51,279 Speaker 1: it has only been this year, that is twenty seventeen, 991 00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:55,880 Speaker 1: that we've seen the Google Android app store make as 992 00:55:55,960 --> 00:56:00,640 Speaker 1: much revenue as the Apple iOS store. So there are 993 00:56:00,680 --> 00:56:04,359 Speaker 1: fewer Apple devices out there in the wild, but they 994 00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:08,799 Speaker 1: were making more money on the apps side than Google was. 995 00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:13,000 Speaker 1: This tells you that people who buy iPhones are more 996 00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:16,399 Speaker 1: likely to pay money for the apps than people who 997 00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:20,760 Speaker 1: buy Android phones. So when Apple starts to natively support 998 00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:26,120 Speaker 1: augmented reality, that creates a business opportunity for developers who 999 00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:28,920 Speaker 1: want to make a r experiences, but they also want 1000 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:31,520 Speaker 1: to make money from it. They they can't just make 1001 00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:33,959 Speaker 1: it just to make it. They they got to cover 1002 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:36,040 Speaker 1: their costs. They've got to make a profit. They have 1003 00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:40,440 Speaker 1: to run a business. So by having a very popular 1004 00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:44,680 Speaker 1: mobile platform, one that has a proven track record for 1005 00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:49,080 Speaker 1: having an audience of engaged, passionate users who are willing 1006 00:56:49,160 --> 00:56:52,680 Speaker 1: to spend money on apps, that's a very powerful use 1007 00:56:52,719 --> 00:56:56,319 Speaker 1: case scenario from the developer side. Now, as consumers, you 1008 00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:59,040 Speaker 1: don't necessarily care about that right away, unless you're an 1009 00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:01,080 Speaker 1: iPhone user, in which case you care about it because 1010 00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:03,239 Speaker 1: it means you get to benefit from it. But if 1011 00:57:03,239 --> 00:57:06,360 Speaker 1: you're an Android user, or you use some other operating 1012 00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:09,640 Speaker 1: system for your mobile device for whatever reason, you might say, well, 1013 00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:12,360 Speaker 1: why do I care if Apple does this, It's because 1014 00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:15,800 Speaker 1: it drives that research and development. And because it drives 1015 00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:18,960 Speaker 1: that research and development, you're going to see similar activity 1016 00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:22,680 Speaker 1: on other platforms. So even if you don't have an iPhone, 1017 00:57:22,920 --> 00:57:25,880 Speaker 1: you'll start to see more and more work done in 1018 00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:28,640 Speaker 1: the augmented reality space, with people coming up with new 1019 00:57:28,680 --> 00:57:32,240 Speaker 1: ideas for using augmented reality in ways that actually add 1020 00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:34,840 Speaker 1: value to an experience. So it's not just a gimmick. 1021 00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:37,640 Speaker 1: It's not just you hold your phone up to a 1022 00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:40,800 Speaker 1: movie poster and you see a trailer play out of 1023 00:57:40,840 --> 00:57:45,600 Speaker 1: that movie. It's not something so transitional as that, or 1024 00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:49,240 Speaker 1: or just you know, just just this this light experience 1025 00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:51,800 Speaker 1: that doesn't really mean anything. It could actually be something 1026 00:57:51,880 --> 00:57:55,800 Speaker 1: much more powerful. For example, the the implementation I saw 1027 00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:59,400 Speaker 1: most recently that I love is a NASA augmented reality 1028 00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:02,800 Speaker 1: app where you can take a globe and you hold 1029 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:05,200 Speaker 1: your phone up so that you're looking at the globe 1030 00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:08,720 Speaker 1: through your phone, and it projects over the globe the 1031 00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:12,280 Speaker 1: position of various satellites in real time, so you can 1032 00:58:12,320 --> 00:58:16,080 Speaker 1: see where the International Space Station is in orbit around 1033 00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:18,320 Speaker 1: the Earth in relation to the globe, and you can 1034 00:58:18,320 --> 00:58:21,360 Speaker 1: actually see its pathway in which way it's going, And 1035 00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:23,800 Speaker 1: so anytime you hold your phone up, it will show 1036 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:28,120 Speaker 1: you the current location of that particular satellite. I think 1037 00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:31,240 Speaker 1: that's amazing to be able to actually visualize where something 1038 00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:35,440 Speaker 1: is by using a physical object in combination with digital 1039 00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:38,680 Speaker 1: information that you're able to access through some device like 1040 00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:41,520 Speaker 1: a phone. To me, that's a very powerful statement. There's 1041 00:58:41,560 --> 00:58:44,840 Speaker 1: also an exhibit going on at the Franklin Institute in 1042 00:58:44,920 --> 00:58:49,400 Speaker 1: Philadelphia where they have terra cotta warriors, the statues that 1043 00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:53,080 Speaker 1: were dug up in China. These warriors, the statues have 1044 00:58:53,120 --> 00:58:56,760 Speaker 1: remained pretty resilient over hundreds of years, but they used 1045 00:58:56,800 --> 00:59:00,760 Speaker 1: to hold weapons and tools that have since rotted away. 1046 00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:04,400 Speaker 1: There's nothing left of them. They've disintegrated. There have been 1047 00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:07,320 Speaker 1: a lot of archaeologists, art historians, people on those lines, 1048 00:59:07,360 --> 00:59:12,120 Speaker 1: along with designers, artists, computer scientists who have worked together 1049 00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:15,720 Speaker 1: to create an augmented reality application where you can see 1050 00:59:15,760 --> 00:59:19,640 Speaker 1: this exhibit at the Franklin Institute. You can download this app, 1051 00:59:20,040 --> 00:59:23,000 Speaker 1: You hold your phone up and it will project onto 1052 00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:27,680 Speaker 1: the the image of the statue. Whatever the tools were, 1053 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:31,320 Speaker 1: or weapons or whatever that the statue should be holding, 1054 00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:35,240 Speaker 1: but they're now gone. So if the statue was supposed 1055 00:59:35,280 --> 00:59:38,040 Speaker 1: to have its hands resting on a sword, you will 1056 00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:42,360 Speaker 1: see the sword in the augmented reality application, and you 1057 00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:44,800 Speaker 1: can actually see what the statue look like just after 1058 00:59:44,840 --> 00:59:46,760 Speaker 1: it was built, as opposed to what it just looks 1059 00:59:46,760 --> 00:59:50,160 Speaker 1: like now. Those are just two little examples of how 1060 00:59:50,200 --> 00:59:55,360 Speaker 1: augmented reality can really truly augment your experience. It's doing 1061 00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:59,400 Speaker 1: what the name implies, it's actually adding to your experience 1062 00:59:59,440 --> 01:00:02,960 Speaker 1: of whatever that moment is, and to me, that's incredibly 1063 01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:06,400 Speaker 1: powerful because you can imagine all sorts of implementations of 1064 01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:11,960 Speaker 1: augmented reality that could make a learning experience much more 1065 01:00:12,120 --> 01:00:15,320 Speaker 1: rich and impactful, and it will stay with you. It's 1066 01:00:15,360 --> 01:00:17,520 Speaker 1: something that you walk away from and you have a 1067 01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:22,040 Speaker 1: greater understanding of whatever it was you were witnessing, as 1068 01:00:22,040 --> 01:00:24,760 Speaker 1: opposed to just that was cool. I saw a little 1069 01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:28,840 Speaker 1: cartoon elephant run by on a poster, which ad italy 1070 01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:31,960 Speaker 1: is cool, but again, isn't really going to stick with 1071 01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:36,080 Speaker 1: you the way a learning experience will. So I think 1072 01:00:36,080 --> 01:00:39,760 Speaker 1: that Apple incorporating this into their operating system is going 1073 01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:44,560 Speaker 1: to add a lot more omph behind the industry. We're 1074 01:00:44,600 --> 01:00:46,439 Speaker 1: gonna see a lot more development. We're going to see 1075 01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:50,120 Speaker 1: people thinking about augmented reality in new ways, and that's 1076 01:00:50,120 --> 01:00:52,640 Speaker 1: going to benefit everybody Further down the line. It's going 1077 01:00:52,680 --> 01:00:56,320 Speaker 1: to benefit iPhone users first, which is unfortunate for me 1078 01:00:56,400 --> 01:01:01,680 Speaker 1: because I don't own an iPhone, but I'm very optimistic 1079 01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:04,360 Speaker 1: about how that's going to affect the industry overall in 1080 01:01:04,360 --> 01:01:06,840 Speaker 1: the long term. So I would say that Apple getting 1081 01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:10,240 Speaker 1: into that game is one of the best shots in 1082 01:01:10,240 --> 01:01:14,080 Speaker 1: the arm for augmented reality in a long time. It's 1083 01:01:14,120 --> 01:01:18,120 Speaker 1: something that can actually have a demonstrable positive effect on 1084 01:01:18,160 --> 01:01:21,520 Speaker 1: the industry as a whole that otherwise we would have 1085 01:01:21,560 --> 01:01:26,600 Speaker 1: been possibly watching this fade away or be reduced to 1086 01:01:26,720 --> 01:01:31,800 Speaker 1: a much more niche market, things like research and development, manufacturing, 1087 01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:37,880 Speaker 1: um you know, uh, various types of assemblies where you 1088 01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:39,840 Speaker 1: need to be able to see where things are going 1089 01:01:39,880 --> 01:01:42,440 Speaker 1: to go together, so you use augmented reality so that 1090 01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:45,280 Speaker 1: way you know where to place various components. Actually, that's 1091 01:01:45,320 --> 01:01:49,560 Speaker 1: how augmented reality got started. Someone created a really clever 1092 01:01:49,680 --> 01:01:52,040 Speaker 1: program that would show you where the wires, where the 1093 01:01:52,080 --> 01:01:57,720 Speaker 1: cabling needed to go inside of an aircraft's infrastructure, so 1094 01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:02,120 Speaker 1: that you would actually have the proper ablingh and that 1095 01:02:02,200 --> 01:02:04,120 Speaker 1: way you knew exactly where you need to lay the 1096 01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:08,440 Speaker 1: cables in order for it to fit within the construction 1097 01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:12,200 Speaker 1: of that that airplane. Same sort of thing. We might 1098 01:02:12,320 --> 01:02:15,200 Speaker 1: have only seen a R used in those areas if 1099 01:02:15,240 --> 01:02:18,240 Speaker 1: we didn't get companies like Apple behind it. Now, that 1100 01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:21,000 Speaker 1: doesn't guarantee that augmented reality is going to take off. 1101 01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:24,720 Speaker 1: It doesn't guarantee that virtual reality is going to emerge 1102 01:02:24,760 --> 01:02:29,840 Speaker 1: and become its own, fully fleshed consumer technology, but it 1103 01:02:30,040 --> 01:02:34,680 Speaker 1: definitely improves the odds. It's giving it every chance of success. 1104 01:02:35,600 --> 01:02:37,280 Speaker 1: There's some other things I want to chat about, just 1105 01:02:37,440 --> 01:02:41,040 Speaker 1: very briefly. We've got some upcoming technology that has not 1106 01:02:41,160 --> 01:02:43,960 Speaker 1: yet come out. There's an HTC vibe standalone I mentioned 1107 01:02:43,960 --> 01:02:46,200 Speaker 1: earlier that hasn't yet come out, but should be out 1108 01:02:46,240 --> 01:02:48,720 Speaker 1: any month now by the time you listen to this podcast. 1109 01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:52,160 Speaker 1: Maybe it is out. I don't know. But then there's 1110 01:02:52,160 --> 01:02:54,280 Speaker 1: something that I wanted to chat about because we've been 1111 01:02:54,320 --> 01:02:56,560 Speaker 1: hearing about it for a couple of years and it's 1112 01:02:56,600 --> 01:03:00,840 Speaker 1: become one of those legendary almost mythical beasts in the 1113 01:03:00,880 --> 01:03:03,360 Speaker 1: technology world. You might argue that it is the Duke 1114 01:03:03,520 --> 01:03:08,080 Speaker 1: Nukem Forever a VR, and that is Magic Leap. Magic 1115 01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:11,760 Speaker 1: Leap is a company that people have been really paying 1116 01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:13,880 Speaker 1: attention to for, like I said, a couple of years. 1117 01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:18,040 Speaker 1: They've raised millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in fundraising 1118 01:03:18,440 --> 01:03:21,600 Speaker 1: and there's no product out there to speak of yet. 1119 01:03:22,520 --> 01:03:26,440 Speaker 1: Magic Leap refresh their website in September. They raised half 1120 01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:31,680 Speaker 1: a billion dollars in funding, so five million dollars in funding. 1121 01:03:32,720 --> 01:03:35,520 Speaker 1: They may have a project to launch in six months. 1122 01:03:35,560 --> 01:03:41,920 Speaker 1: We don't know. Supposedly, this device will require a secondary 1123 01:03:42,160 --> 01:03:45,040 Speaker 1: device to run off of, so it'll it'll depend upon 1124 01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:49,000 Speaker 1: processing power from something else like a PC or maybe 1125 01:03:49,080 --> 01:03:54,360 Speaker 1: a smartphone. It's supposed to be an experience that's going 1126 01:03:54,360 --> 01:03:57,160 Speaker 1: to be bigger than something like Google Glass, but maybe 1127 01:03:57,360 --> 01:04:03,320 Speaker 1: less inclusive than a full VR headset um and some 1128 01:04:03,360 --> 01:04:05,480 Speaker 1: people are saying that the cost of it maybe anywhere 1129 01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:10,360 Speaker 1: between fills. And the question is is will the technology 1130 01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:15,120 Speaker 1: be so compelling, will the experience be so phenomenal, Will 1131 01:04:15,160 --> 01:04:19,240 Speaker 1: the implementation be so effective that people will find that 1132 01:04:19,240 --> 01:04:22,560 Speaker 1: that important enough to actually spend more than a thousand 1133 01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:26,480 Speaker 1: dollars on the product? Or are we going to see 1134 01:04:26,600 --> 01:04:30,280 Speaker 1: enough devices that are at the few hundred dollar level 1135 01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:34,280 Speaker 1: that don't have all of those features, that they don't 1136 01:04:34,320 --> 01:04:38,960 Speaker 1: have all the capabilities of this this seemingly magical device 1137 01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:43,160 Speaker 1: that we have not yet seen. Will they be seen 1138 01:04:43,200 --> 01:04:46,040 Speaker 1: as being valuable enough that no one will bother with 1139 01:04:46,120 --> 01:04:48,800 Speaker 1: Magic Leap because there are cheaper alternatives on the market 1140 01:04:48,800 --> 01:04:51,360 Speaker 1: that yes, they're not going to deliver the same experience, 1141 01:04:51,520 --> 01:04:53,840 Speaker 1: but the experience they do deliver will be quote unquote 1142 01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:58,120 Speaker 1: good enough. Uh, it's too early to say. Some people, 1143 01:04:58,600 --> 01:05:01,760 Speaker 1: like including myself, would say, are a little skeptical. They 1144 01:05:01,800 --> 01:05:05,800 Speaker 1: think that magically perhaps has taken too long from the 1145 01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:10,840 Speaker 1: point where people knew something was in development, too launching anything. 1146 01:05:11,640 --> 01:05:13,600 Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that they can't turn around and 1147 01:05:13,680 --> 01:05:16,840 Speaker 1: completely blow us all away. It just makes that barrier 1148 01:05:17,600 --> 01:05:21,640 Speaker 1: more challenging to overcome. So magic leap is something that 1149 01:05:21,680 --> 01:05:24,400 Speaker 1: everyone's really taking a close look at and hoping that 1150 01:05:24,440 --> 01:05:27,080 Speaker 1: they learn more about it. The last thing I want 1151 01:05:27,080 --> 01:05:30,160 Speaker 1: to talk about is a little bit on the philosophy 1152 01:05:30,240 --> 01:05:34,560 Speaker 1: of virtual reality and augmented reality and the concept of 1153 01:05:34,600 --> 01:05:38,120 Speaker 1: reality itself, which starts to get a little philosophical. Now, 1154 01:05:38,120 --> 01:05:40,640 Speaker 1: before I get into this discussion, I gotta admit I'm 1155 01:05:40,680 --> 01:05:44,280 Speaker 1: a pragmatic son of a gun. I tend to be 1156 01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:48,040 Speaker 1: very practical. I have very little use for most philosophical 1157 01:05:48,160 --> 01:05:51,800 Speaker 1: arguments because when you boil it down, if you if 1158 01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:54,080 Speaker 1: the answer at the end of the day is there's 1159 01:05:54,120 --> 01:05:56,840 Speaker 1: no possible way of knowing, I just find it useless 1160 01:05:56,880 --> 01:05:59,960 Speaker 1: to talk about. Uh So, I'm I'm a terrible full 1161 01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:02,880 Speaker 1: bosophy student. You don't want me in your class. I am. 1162 01:06:03,040 --> 01:06:06,000 Speaker 1: I am very much like why does this matter? And 1163 01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:07,840 Speaker 1: you know, eventually are like, could you just go somewhere 1164 01:06:07,840 --> 01:06:09,680 Speaker 1: else and do something else, and I'll say thank you. 1165 01:06:10,680 --> 01:06:13,640 Speaker 1: But there is something about philosophy that I need to 1166 01:06:13,640 --> 01:06:17,120 Speaker 1: talk about, and that is our ability to experience reality. 1167 01:06:17,560 --> 01:06:21,240 Speaker 1: So I would consider myself kind of an objectivist. I 1168 01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:26,480 Speaker 1: think there is an objective reality that exists. However, our 1169 01:06:26,560 --> 01:06:31,160 Speaker 1: experience of reality is by definition subjective. It is subject 1170 01:06:31,400 --> 01:06:37,040 Speaker 1: to the information our senses bring in to our ourselves, 1171 01:06:37,040 --> 01:06:41,200 Speaker 1: to our brains. That we experience reality based upon how 1172 01:06:41,280 --> 01:06:44,160 Speaker 1: our senses pick up the information around us, whether it's 1173 01:06:44,160 --> 01:06:47,360 Speaker 1: site or whether it's our sense of hearing or touch 1174 01:06:47,480 --> 01:06:49,920 Speaker 1: or taste, whatever it may be. But that's how we 1175 01:06:50,080 --> 01:06:55,120 Speaker 1: filter reality our brains constructed. We experience the senses. Our 1176 01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:59,040 Speaker 1: brains take the information create the construct that is reality. 1177 01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:03,360 Speaker 1: So every and has their own subjective experience of reality. 1178 01:07:03,440 --> 01:07:05,840 Speaker 1: There's no way to know if your subjective experience of 1179 01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:08,600 Speaker 1: reality is exactly the same as mine, and maybe that 1180 01:07:08,640 --> 01:07:11,560 Speaker 1: there's some things that are different. We can tell with 1181 01:07:11,600 --> 01:07:14,920 Speaker 1: some people obviously that their experiences are different. Perhaps uh, 1182 01:07:14,960 --> 01:07:18,280 Speaker 1: they are not able to experience colors on the same 1183 01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:22,840 Speaker 1: way that the the mean person can the average person. 1184 01:07:23,120 --> 01:07:26,520 Speaker 1: So people who have color blindness, they obviously have and 1185 01:07:26,720 --> 01:07:30,920 Speaker 1: they cannot detect certain colors they cannot differentiate them. There 1186 01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:33,919 Speaker 1: are some people who are able to recognize a much 1187 01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:38,320 Speaker 1: wider array of colors at at tinier gradations, much better 1188 01:07:38,560 --> 01:07:40,800 Speaker 1: than the average person is, so we know the scale 1189 01:07:40,840 --> 01:07:43,320 Speaker 1: goes the other way too well. You could argue that 1190 01:07:43,360 --> 01:07:46,520 Speaker 1: they are actually experiencing reality slightly differently than the rest 1191 01:07:46,520 --> 01:07:48,760 Speaker 1: of us are. We're not able to perceive that, and 1192 01:07:48,800 --> 01:07:50,840 Speaker 1: we know that there are things going on in reality 1193 01:07:50,880 --> 01:07:53,840 Speaker 1: that we cannot perceive. For example, we call it the 1194 01:07:53,920 --> 01:07:57,760 Speaker 1: visible spectrum of light because by definition, it's the spectrum 1195 01:07:57,760 --> 01:08:00,760 Speaker 1: of light that we ourselves can perceive, but things like 1196 01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:04,360 Speaker 1: ultra violet light and infrared light without the aid of electronics, 1197 01:08:04,480 --> 01:08:08,360 Speaker 1: we can't see those. So there are definitely things that 1198 01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:11,720 Speaker 1: are happening around us all the time that are imperceptible 1199 01:08:11,760 --> 01:08:14,560 Speaker 1: to us. It doesn't mean they don't exist. They do. 1200 01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:19,840 Speaker 1: We just cannot experience them consciously, and so to our 1201 01:08:19,920 --> 01:08:23,400 Speaker 1: day to day existence, it's almost as if that stuff 1202 01:08:23,439 --> 01:08:28,200 Speaker 1: doesn't exist. However, with virtual reality and augmented reality, we 1203 01:08:28,280 --> 01:08:32,040 Speaker 1: can take some of that stuff and convert it into 1204 01:08:32,080 --> 01:08:37,599 Speaker 1: experiences that we can consciously understand. A very simple example 1205 01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:39,719 Speaker 1: of this, you could argue that one type of augmented 1206 01:08:39,760 --> 01:08:43,439 Speaker 1: reality would be night vision goggles, which end up picking 1207 01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:48,240 Speaker 1: up things like infrared wavelengths and then translating that into 1208 01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:52,080 Speaker 1: visible light that we can actually see. So it's taking 1209 01:08:52,080 --> 01:08:54,960 Speaker 1: something that is invisible to us and converting it into 1210 01:08:55,040 --> 01:08:58,960 Speaker 1: a format that is visible. Augmented in virtual reality could 1211 01:08:59,000 --> 01:09:02,160 Speaker 1: do the same thing. Beyond that, you could construct whatever 1212 01:09:02,520 --> 01:09:06,760 Speaker 1: stimuli you like in the virtual environment and people could 1213 01:09:06,760 --> 01:09:10,120 Speaker 1: experience it that way. And because our sense of reality 1214 01:09:10,439 --> 01:09:14,479 Speaker 1: is shaped by the data our senses bring in, it 1215 01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:18,600 Speaker 1: means we could literally reshape reality, at least on a 1216 01:09:18,640 --> 01:09:23,280 Speaker 1: subjective level, on an individual basis, for a temporary amount 1217 01:09:23,280 --> 01:09:25,960 Speaker 1: of time. And that sounds like a lot of qualifiers, 1218 01:09:26,000 --> 01:09:30,040 Speaker 1: but it is an incredibly powerful idea. We've already seen 1219 01:09:30,120 --> 01:09:32,479 Speaker 1: that you can use this sort of approach to treat 1220 01:09:32,520 --> 01:09:36,799 Speaker 1: people who are having anxieties or phobias about different subjects, 1221 01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:39,840 Speaker 1: but you could use it for all sorts of different applications. 1222 01:09:40,200 --> 01:09:45,080 Speaker 1: You could have your reality shifted in very subtle ways 1223 01:09:45,200 --> 01:09:50,120 Speaker 1: or dramatic ways. And because our our brains are synthesizing 1224 01:09:50,120 --> 01:09:52,840 Speaker 1: our sense of reality based upon all of this information, 1225 01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:57,200 Speaker 1: our reality changes as a result. I think that's pretty 1226 01:09:57,200 --> 01:10:00,479 Speaker 1: cool idea, even if it's just a temporary thing, and 1227 01:10:00,560 --> 01:10:03,760 Speaker 1: even if it never really sinks in on a deeper level, 1228 01:10:03,840 --> 01:10:08,120 Speaker 1: it's just a really fascinating concept to me. It's one 1229 01:10:08,160 --> 01:10:12,400 Speaker 1: of those potentials for technology that I find simultaneously exciting 1230 01:10:12,880 --> 01:10:16,240 Speaker 1: and potentially terrifying, depending upon the implementation. If I'm being 1231 01:10:16,240 --> 01:10:19,960 Speaker 1: perfectly honest, But when do you have the opportunity to 1232 01:10:19,960 --> 01:10:24,840 Speaker 1: talk about something so kind of brainy and cool like that. Now, 1233 01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:26,960 Speaker 1: maybe you don't agree, Maybe you think, God, most of 1234 01:10:27,000 --> 01:10:30,960 Speaker 1: this is a passing entertainment and there's nothing really deep 1235 01:10:31,120 --> 01:10:34,160 Speaker 1: or meaningful about it beyond the fact that it's a 1236 01:10:34,200 --> 01:10:36,880 Speaker 1: new way to accept information. And I'm not really going 1237 01:10:36,920 --> 01:10:40,559 Speaker 1: to argue with you, because I might just be reading 1238 01:10:40,560 --> 01:10:42,880 Speaker 1: too much into this and I might just have stars 1239 01:10:42,880 --> 01:10:45,639 Speaker 1: in my eyes, largely because of the head mounted display 1240 01:10:45,680 --> 01:10:48,439 Speaker 1: I'm currently wearing. And if you're not watching this live, 1241 01:10:48,520 --> 01:10:50,080 Speaker 1: you don't know if I'm telling the truth or not, 1242 01:10:50,120 --> 01:10:54,000 Speaker 1: So don't test me, guys. That wraps up this episode 1243 01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:56,320 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff. If you want to know more about 1244 01:10:56,360 --> 01:11:00,240 Speaker 1: augmented reality or virtual reality, I've got other episod szades 1245 01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:02,599 Speaker 1: of tech stuff that I published on the subject. There's 1246 01:11:02,680 --> 01:11:05,479 Speaker 1: also some great articles on how stuff works dot com. 1247 01:11:05,520 --> 01:11:08,080 Speaker 1: That's the website I I used to work for how 1248 01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:10,320 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com as a writer. Now I'm a 1249 01:11:10,360 --> 01:11:14,040 Speaker 1: podcaster and video host extraordinaire. But if you guys want 1250 01:11:14,040 --> 01:11:17,040 Speaker 1: to check out that, you'll see tons more information about 1251 01:11:17,080 --> 01:11:20,679 Speaker 1: the subject, really fascinating research as well. And of course, 1252 01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:23,040 Speaker 1: if you want to reach out to me, you wanna Hey, 1253 01:11:23,160 --> 01:11:25,280 Speaker 1: maybe you have some comments or some questions. Maybe you're 1254 01:11:25,320 --> 01:11:26,840 Speaker 1: someone who works in the field and you want to 1255 01:11:26,840 --> 01:11:30,559 Speaker 1: talk to me more about either mixed reality or one 1256 01:11:30,600 --> 01:11:34,000 Speaker 1: of the specific implementations I've chatted about. Please reach out. 1257 01:11:34,200 --> 01:11:37,519 Speaker 1: Let me know. My email address is tech stuff at 1258 01:11:37,640 --> 01:11:39,960 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, or you can drop me 1259 01:11:39,960 --> 01:11:42,519 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook or Twitter. I use the same 1260 01:11:42,560 --> 01:11:44,839 Speaker 1: handle at both of those for this show. The handle 1261 01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:48,040 Speaker 1: is text stuff h s W. If you would like 1262 01:11:48,080 --> 01:11:51,360 Speaker 1: to watch me record shows live, go to twitch dot 1263 01:11:51,400 --> 01:11:54,120 Speaker 1: tv slash tech Stuff. I've got the schedule there. I 1264 01:11:54,200 --> 01:11:57,599 Speaker 1: typically record on Wednesdays and Fridays, and you can watch 1265 01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:01,320 Speaker 1: as I ramble about technology and occasionally chat with the 1266 01:12:01,400 --> 01:12:05,599 Speaker 1: chat room and uh frequently make mistakes and make Ramsey 1267 01:12:05,600 --> 01:12:08,599 Speaker 1: have to record me again. Anyway, I hope to see 1268 01:12:08,640 --> 01:12:11,240 Speaker 1: you guys there and I will talk to you again 1269 01:12:11,840 --> 01:12:20,280 Speaker 1: really soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 1270 01:12:20,320 --> 01:12:31,680 Speaker 1: Because it hostaff works dot com