#3,079 – Apple Vision Pro Has Arrived

Yesterday was a historic day as the first Apple Vision Pro was sold in Manhattan, officially ushering in a new era of Spatial Computing.

By the end of the day early adopters were flooding social media with their reviews, excitedly posting about what the device could do, what it feels like, whether or not the pass through met their expectations. People were spotted wearing them while walking through city streets or riding the subway. Someone even got a ticket for wearing one while driving a Tesla. 

The early sentiments were overwhelmingly positive. Time seemed to fly by as the immersion was better than expected and the headset not as bulky as feared. Some people were even moved to tears. So completely blown away by the game-changing technology. While detractors pointed out that we’re now living in a Black Mirror episode. 

What’s amazing about the release of the Apple Vision Pro is that it came pre-loaded with over 600 apps. When the iPhone first debuted it didn’t even have a single one. As developers continue to innovate that number is only going to rise. The killer app of the AVP is likely going to be the app store itself.

Early highlights of user feedback has been the ability to watch TV shows and movies on giant 100 foot screens that you can blow up across your house or NBA League Pass where you can watch multiple games at once while also seeing box scores and stats in the air next to you. 

You can also pull a screen close to you and interact with it as if it was a giant iPad. Reaching out and touching buttons, or using your eyes to navigate, giving you the ability to surf the web or work in the air around you. 

You can also place virtual objects around your environment so as having a music player on your wall, allowing you to see the album cover art in addition to the volume or track controls.

Apple Vision Pro demo by @iamjesserichard breathes new life into the value of Album cover art. pic.twitter.com/YUaEq4HeUe

— Michael Darius (@darius) February 2, 2024

Other use cases have involved an app that teaches you how to play the piano and a way to make sure you don’t miss a spot when vacuuming. Basically, you now have the ability to see things that aren’t really there. To live in an augmented reality. 

If you wanted to have X open in your peripheral vision at all times you could do that. If you wanted to watch TV and browse the Internet at the same time you could do that. If you wanted to watch a movie inside a movie theater without leaving your house you could do that. If you’re the kind of person who has a lot of browser tabs open, works on multiple monitors, and is constantly refreshing apps to stay up to date then you’re probably going to love the Apple Vision Pro and the ability to always be surrounded by multiple screens. And thanks to passthrough you can still see your hands and your surroundings which you couldn’t do if this were just a virtual reality headset. Someone even demonstrated that they could eat lunch while wearing one and wouldn’t have to worry about their dirty hands touching the device since to use it you touch the air around you, not a controller. 

I do wonder if the Apple Vision Pro will lead to design changes in our homes. After all, why adorn your walls with TVs, paintings, posters or other decorative items when all you really need now is an open space that will enable you to see whatever it is that you’re using your AVP to view. Society itself could change as well as we get used to seeing people wear them out in public or as we get used to wearing them ourselves for work. The way that carrying around a mobile phone with us wherever we went became the norm will we also soon get to the point where everyone feels the need to carry around an AVP with them as well?

I had long been critical of Apple under Tim Cook’s stewardship. Since Steve Jobs died Apple seemed content to just keep iterating on their existing products, not create something new. Sure, the Apple Watch has come a long way and now has a lot of useful health features but it still pales in comparison to the outsized impact that the original iPhone had. But now with the Apple Vision Pro and Spatial Computing we have arrived at another pivotal inflection point in the history of technology. 

I still have concerns about how it would feel to wear for long periods of time and if I would even want to be removed from reality for that long. And obviously the price needs to come down a lot before it can truly go mainstream. But at the same time I’ve already seen enough, after just one day, to know that this device is the real deal. To know that a new era has truly arrived. 

The Apple Vision Pro has officially arrived.

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#3,077 – Holotile

The other day I tried my friend’s Oculus Rift VR headset. It was a fun time and a cool experience but I was so worried about bumping into something in his backyard or tripping over something in his living room that I couldn’t lose myself in the immersion. Even though the headset maps out your area and sets boundaries you could still easily have your momentum take you out of bounds and into harms way as many hilarious videos online have demonstrated. 

In short, we need a safe way to move in real life that will let us move in virtual reality any way we want. And Disney might have just invented that with their new Holotile.

TechCrunch explains:

“HoloTile — which recently made its YouTube debut at the end of a video honoring Disney Research fellow Lanny Smoot — is an extremely clever and honestly quite elegant solution to some of these issues.

The system is composed of hundreds of small, round ’tiles’ that look to be about the size of a silver dollar. Each serve as a kind of mini, omnidirectional treadmill. Working together, their only task is to stop the walker from leaving the pad.

‘I can walk on this omni directional floor in any direction I want,’ Smoot says in the video. ‘It will automatically do whatever it needs to have me stay on the floor. And what’s amazing about this is multiple people can be on it and all walking independently. They can walk in virtual reality, and so many other things.’

The ability to support multiple people is, perhaps, the most impressive bit of all of this. Of course, plenty of questions abound, including top speed (Smoot is moving very deliberately in the video) and how much weight they’re capable of sporting. The big caveat to all of this is that the HoloTile appears to very much be a research project at the moment.”

Hopefully, this technology advances from research project to actual product and becomes a household product and not just something used at Disney theme parks.

Is HoloTile the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,073 – AI Week: Palworld

I’ve written about Pokémon Go and Pokémon Sleep and now Pokémon with guns? Apparently, so. That’s because the game Palworld, described as Pokémon with guns, has taken the Internet by storm over the last few days. After all, if you want a game to find success in America you’ve got to add guns.

Vice explains:

“In Palworld, Pocketpair took the basic formula of Pokémon and set it in a Breath of the Wild style open world. It took the popular survival and crafting genre tropes of Minecraft and blended them with the cartoony fun of Pokémon. Then it made everything a little dark by allowing you to force Pals to work in mines and manufacture weapons. Players can even butcher captured Pals for their meat. In practice, Palworld is a functional open-world survival game that tasks players with collecting resources—including pals to help with combat and construction—and building the home base of their dreams while traversing the world and tackling bosses.”

The biggest question surrounding Palworld is not how it came to be or what it’s all about but rather how it was made at all. Namely, was it made using AI? Are the derivative characters generative?

According to Vice:

“There’s no good evidence that AI was used to make Palworld. To justify the claim, people point to various tweets from Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe. In the tweets, Mizobe talks at length about AI and ponders how AI-generated images and assets might evade copyright protections.

‘If passed through the filter of AI, the images are often not [depicting] a specific thing, so maybe the copyright issue is resolved?’ Mizobe wrote in a tweet from 2022, which was translated from Japanese. In another tweet, from 2023, he wrote: ‘We might see true AI-powered games on GPT4 this year…!’

Pocketpair also published a game in 2022 that did use generative AI, but it was also the entire point of the game. In AI: Art Imposter, groups of players compete in an art competition using an AI system. All players get a ‘theme’ and have to use a prompt generated to make artwork based on the theme. But one of the players didn’t get the memo. When the art is revealed, the players have to guess who made their art without knowing the theme.

Pocketpair obviously isn’t above using AI to make video games, but the only time it’s done so it was clear about what the systems were used for.”

Even if it wasn’t made using AI the fact that there’s speculation that it was is an interesting commentary on today’s state of affairs as we’re getting to the point where one can no longer tell what was made by AI and what wasn’t. It’s probably only a matter of time now before we do get games that are fully made using AI and then business will really pick up. 

It’s been said that 2024 is going to be the year of AI Video but perhaps that extends to AI Video Games as well. Either way, the emergence of Palworld feels like a pivotal moment. Either the first AI hit or the last one before AI takes over.

Is Palworld the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,062 – CES 2024: G-turn

CES is usually best known for new unveiling new visual displays, sound systems, VR headsets, smart home appliances, Internet of Things connected devices, and other hardware. But they also display upcoming car features and this year the G-Turn from Mercedes was all the rage. Giving drivers the ability to stop on a dime and turn around without needing a 7 point turn or traditional U-turn.

Overdrive sums it up best:

“Forget flying cars and holographic displays, it is the production-ready all-electric G-Class, aka EQG, that turned heads at CES 2024. In a Las Vegas Strip showcase, Mercedes-Benz unleashed the EQG’s party trick: a 360-degree tank turn dubbed the ‘G-turn.’

‘This impressive maneuver is possible by four independent electric motors at each wheel, allowing the EQG to rotate effortlessly on its own axis. Think of it as a mechanical ballerina, turning on a dime with one side’s wheels spinning clockwise, whereas the other spin counter-clockwise. While not entirely new (an EQG prototype already displayed this feature on sand earlier), the potential G-turn’s inclusion in the production-ready EQG promises exciting possibilities, especially while off-road.

The 360deg tank turn or G-turn might not be everyday necessity, but its potential uses range from getting out of stuck situations while exploring off-road trails to simply impressing your friends. Going by the internet’s buzz, the latter scenario appears more likely.”

If you’ve ever done donuts or figure eights in an empty parking lot or been involved in a high speed police chase then the G-turn is for you.

Is the G-turn the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,061 – CES 2024: Ballie

It seems inevitable at this point. A future in which we live with robotic companions that help us with house chores, hang out with us, and entertain us. But instead of humanoid robots like in I, Robot what if we had rollable projectors that act more like cute pets? That could be possible thanks to Samsung’s Ballie which recently return to CES after a few year hiatus.

The Verge explains:

“In a charming video, Ballie (which Samsung once again showed off in a playful yellow color) had a bunch of clever projection tricks, including playing a video of a bird for a dog to watch, displaying a video call on a wall, and showing a fitness video for someone working out. Samsung also says in a press email that Ballie can automatically adjust the projection depending on how far away it is from the wall and your lighting conditions and that ‘it’s the world’s first projector to automatically detect people’s posture and facial angle and adjust the optimal projection angle for you.’

But in the video, the robot also served as a smart home assistant, turning on lights and dispensing dog food and texting somebody to tell them what it was doing. (The press email says that Ballie can control ‘air conditioners, lights, laundry machines, and more.’) Ballie can also follow you around the house and greet you when you come in the door. At the end of the video, Ballie filled a ceiling above the actors’ bed with a cosmic scene.”

You can watch the video referenced above here:

This technology reminds me a lot of BB-8 from Star Wars but that’s not entirely accurate as it functions slightly differently.  

According to Ars Technica:

“The 2024 Ballie is no longer a ball droid, and instead is a sphere mounted on three wheels, giving it basically the same locomotion as a robot vacuum. The new Ballie is also bigger, growing from about the size of a softball to the size of a bowling ball, and it’s now a two-handed lift. This bigger size can give production Ballie a more practical battery size and make room for a projector. It looks like the sides of the sphere body are stationary (that’s where the wheels are mounted), while the sphere’s center can still rotate up or down, allowing Ballie to aim the camera/projector mounted on the front.”

Either way it’s clear that Ballie is well on its way to joining our homes in the near future. I feel confidant in projecting that.

Is Ballie the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,060 – CES 2024: Transparent TVs

The annual Consumer and Electronic Show (CES) just wrapped up and this year there were quite a few impressive new technologies unveiled. Starting with Transparent TVs which could be poised to revolutionize what our living rooms look like in the future.

As CNET puts it, “At CES 2024, both LG and Samsung debuted big screen transparent TVs. Like something out of science fiction, these are absolutely as crazy as they sound. When the TVs is off, it’s like it’s no longer there. Not invisible exactly, but if you didn’t know what it was, you’d never guess that in a fraction of a section it could be showing episodes of Star Trek or The Expanse.”

This could enable you to objects on display behind your TV that you’ll be able to view when your TV is off or to turn your screen into something else when you’re not using it, such as a fish tank.

As Mashable puts it, “A transparent TV might not be the most practical product. Why would you want a TV you can see through when the goal is to watch it? But that’s where LG’s innovation comes in. The LG Signature OLED T is a regular (albeit high-end) OLED TV that has a transparent mode when the contrast filter is lifted. This means when you’re not watching it, the display seamlessly blends into the background.”

If you’re someone who is into design and likes to decorate their home this could be the perfect TV for you. A way to blend your home entertainment center into your living room instead of having it be the centerpiece of your entire setup. 

Is a Transparent TV the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,058 – Information Week: Wrist Phones

We already wear a lot of things on our wrists from bracelets and watches to fitness trackers and smart watches and soon we could be adding one more thing: our phones. That’s because Motorola is working on a concept shape shifting device with a bendable screen that can morph into different positions and be worn around our wrists when we’re not using it. An adaptive wallpaper feature, powered by AI, can even get the display to match your outfit.

According to PC Mag:

“Lenovo has dubbed the concept an ‘adaptive display’ smartphone, which can be shaped into different forms, depending on your needs. In terms of specs, the device features a flexible OLED panel with a screen resolution at full HD plus. 

‘The adaptive display concept can be adjusted from a standard Android phone experience in a flat position to being wrapped for a wrist-worn experience or positioned in several stand modes,’ the company added. 

Hence, the phone can become like a smartwatch when wrapped around the wrist. The phone’s ability to curl also means it can prop itself up and take pictures as you stand away from the device and pose.”

That last point, about using the phone’s bendable nature so that you can stand it up to take pictures is what I think the main selling point should be. Forgot about wearing it on your wrist when you might already have something else there or could easily fling it off or knock into something. Instead just take it out of your pocket and set it up so that it can take pictures of your group while you are out hiking and don’t have anyone who can take a picture for you. 

Is a wrist phone the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,057 – Information Week: Project Silica

I’ve collected thousands of books but long term it’s a pointless endeavor. All my books are just going to turn to dust some day. A scenario that’s outlined in the Three Body Problem Trilogy.

Meanwhile stores like Best Buy and Dollar Tree have stopped carrying physical media. With so many people turning to streaming services the days of buying a movie to pop into a DVD player are coming to an end. That’s the problem with physical media. At some point, as technology advances, the format you’re using could go by the way side, causing you to lose the ability to retrieve the information stored on your discs.

But in the future we could have a long term solution to the data storage problem. A way to store data on glass plates courtesy of Microsoft’s Project Silica. And it could help us preserve music into the distant future.

PC World explains:

“Microsoft Research, the R&D arm of the Redmond software giant, is testing the storage of huge amounts of data on glass plates in a futuristic initiative dubbed ‘Project Silica.’ If successful, it could be used to store information for thousands of years without degradation.

The Microsoft researchers store the data in the glass using three-dimensional pixels called voxels. In contrast to classical storage methods such as magnetic spinning disks, the ‘saucer-sized glass plates of Project Silica will store data for thousands of years and create sustainable storage for the world,’ as Microsoft describes it.

Magnetic storage, while widely used, is problematic, according to Microsoft. Because of their limited lifespan, they need to be recopied frequently, which increases energy consumption and operating costs over time: ‘A hard disk drive might last five years. A tape, well, if you’re brave, it might last ten years’, explains Ant Rowstron, Distinguished Engineer, Project Silica.

According to Microsoft, storing data on glass is a concept that dates back to the 19th century. Back then, people stored individual photographic negatives on glass plates. Today, however, Microsoft sees the potential for a small glass disc to store several terabytes of data: around 1.75 million songs (roughly 13 years of music) should fit on a small glass disc. The goal of the Silica project is to write data into a glass and store it on a shelf until it is needed. Once written, the data inside the glass cannot be changed.

Microsoft describes the process as follows:

‘Data is stored in glass via a four-step process: writing with an ultrafast femtosecond laser, reading through a computer-controlled microscope, decoding, and finally, storing in a library. The library is passive, with no electricity in any of the storage units. The complexity is within the robots that charge as they idle inside the lab, awakening when data is needed. They climb the shelves, fetch the glass, and then zip back to the reader.’

‘Initially, the laser writing process was inefficient, but after years of refinement, the team can now store several TB in a single glass plate that could last 10,000 years. For a sense of scale, each plate could store around 3,500 movies. Or enough non-stop movies to play for over half a year without repeating.’

Glass storage is still in its early stages, according to Microsoft, and experts believe it will need 3 to 4 more stages of development before it can be used commercially, But the advantages are obvious: it is durable, sustainable and cost-effective. The main costs are incurred in the initial stages when the data is embedded in these heavy-duty glass plates, but ongoing maintenance costs are minimal once stored.

The Elire Group is working with Microsoft Research’s Project Silica team to harness this technology for its ‘Global Music Vault’ in Svalbard, Norway. Using silica-based glass plates, the company aims to create a permanent archive that not only withstands electromagnetic pulses and extreme temperatures, but is also environmentally friendly. This vault will complement repositories such as the Global Seed Vault and the Arctic World Archive and provide a comprehensive repository for musical heritage – from classical operas to modern hits and indigenous compositions.”

Allegedly such a technology could store data for 10,000 years. Ensuring that future generations get to enjoy Uncle Jesse’s band from Full House as much as we did.

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#3,056 – Information Week: Proto

This is epic!

Those of you who know me personally know that I say epic a lot. But this time it’s warranted. Because that’s the name of the device. The Proto Epic. The world’s first holographic communications platform capable of beaming in a full scale, life sized image of you so that you can be anywhere at any time. An attempt to make the digital real.

Of course you wouldn’t actually be there. Just seeming as if you were. There’s even a smaller table top version available as well. Perfect for catching up with grandma. 

Now you might be saying to yourself why would I add an expensive item that’s going to take up a lot of space in my home when I can just facetime someone on my phone and iPad? And you’d be right. But there could be a use case for this technology. Such as beaming in William Shatner to give a talk at a tech conference:

Yesterday @WilliamShatner beamed in Captain Kirk-style to give opening messages at the @AgeTechCollab stage at #CES in Las Vegas. Then @DanielleDDuplin and @theNuzzy talk a little bit about the Proto Hologram technology that he beamed into.

Want to learn more or see a demo?… pic.twitter.com/eAl5znJfL8

— Proto Hologram (@ProtoHologram) January 12, 2024

In fact, with companies cutting back on travel expenses and people possibly needing to stay at home when a pandemic is occurring I can see this becoming the de facto way for all presentations to be given. Performers could put on concerts this way and stand up comedians can perform from home. Safe from disease, crazed fans throwing phones, and hecklers. Perhaps people would even go on first dates this way. To see each other in person but from a safe distance. A better version of having a phone call before a first meet.

Either way, it’s an interesting new technology. That even if it doesn’t revolutionize the way we communicate could still find a niche audience.

Is Proto the Greatest Idea Ever?

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#3,049 – Archax

Science fiction may have once again inspired real life innovation as we may soon have giant mech suits that we can wear/pilot and turn into vehicles.

According to Business Insider:

“A Japanese startup developed a 15-foot-tall robot that can morph into ‘vehicle mode’ like the hit movie series ‘Transformers,’ which premiered 16 years ago. 

The robot, called Archax, can be operated by a pilot who sits inside, much like the Amplified Mobility Platform exoskeleton suit in ‘Avatar.’

Tokyo-based Tsubame Industries completed its prototype of the robot this summer and plans to sell five for $3 million each, Reuters reported. 

The robot maker says on its website that the luxury market, such as ‘ultra-luxury cars and private jets,’ is the benchmark of its products, and it assumes its main customers will be wealthy people who will purchase them for domestic rather than commercial use.  

The CEO of Tsubame Industries, Ryo Yoshida, told Reuters that it’s been in development for two years. ‘The initial reason for creating it was that I wanted to make a new vehicle,’ he said. ‘In addition, Japan is really strong in the animation, games, and robot industries, as well as in automobiles, so I thought it would be great if I could create a product that compressed all these elements into one that says, ‘This is Japan.'”

The other day I saw that a bathroom sink in a McDonalds in Japan that had a built in phone cleaner.

This Japanese Mcdonalds has a phone cleaner in the bathroom pic.twitter.com/6pto6WSBhV

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) January 5, 2024

That to me says “This is Japan”. But I guess a real life Transformer or mech suit from Avatar isn’t far behind!

Is Archax the Greatest Idea Ever?

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