Facebook is partnering with Ray-Ban parent company Luxottica to help speed up development of its top-secret augmented reality glasses that are being developed out of its Facebook Reality Labs in Redmond, Washington. The social media company is hoping the new partnership will help them complete the glasses between 2023 and 2025. CNBC reports:The glasses are internally codenamed Orion, and they are designed to replace smartphones, the people said. The glasses would allow users to take calls, show information to users in a small display and live-stream their vantage point to their social media friends and followers. Facebook is also developing an artificial intelligence voice assistant that would serve as a user input for the glasses, CNBC previously reported. In addition, the company has experimented with a ring device that would allow users to input information via motion sensor. That device is code-named Agios.
The company has hundreds of employees at its Redmond offices working on technology for the AR glasses, but thus far, Facebook has struggled to reduce the size of the device into a form factor that consumers will find appealing, a person who worked on the device told CNBC. Given the long lead time, there's no guarantee that the glasses will be completed on time or ever ship. But one person familiar with the project said that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a strong interest in the glasses, and asked hardware chief Andrew Bosworth to prioritize them.
In 2003, I learned about memory glasses being developed at MIT and I drew a diagram of glasses with headphones built in, trying to find a better solution for wireless headphones, along with a design for a cable-free, non-wireless headphone for an ipod shuffle in 2006 and actually hacked together. I updated my thoughts in another blog entry in 2012, there are a few other posts throughout my blog on this subject, most of which bleed into AR.
This is what Bose has done but not in a way I would have thought, and they are also getting into AR, so it really is heading in this direction, now around $200.
Google and the country’s biggest brick-and-mortar retailers have one main problem in common: Amazon. Now both sides are acting like they are serious about working together to do something about it.
On Thursday, Target and Google announced that they are expanding what was a years-old delivery partnership from a small experiment in a handful of cities to the entire continental U.S.
The expansion will allow Target to become a retail partner in Google’s voice-shopping initiative, which lets owners of the Google Home “smart” speaker order items through voice commands like owners of the Echo can do from Amazon.
Voice commerce was the core of these recent announcements, and it may someday become popular for types of shopping like reordering household staples. But that’s not what is most interesting here to me.
Instead, it’s the promise that Target is also beginning to work with Google “to create innovative digital experiences using ... other cutting-edge technologies to elevate Target’s strength in style areas such as home, apparel and beauty.”
“Target and Google teams are working on ... building experiences that digitally replicate the joy of shopping a Target store to discover stylish and affordable products,” Target’s digital chief Mike McNamara said in a press release.
If I were a betting man, I’d wager that augmented reality will be one of the areas where the two sides will seriously explore a way to work together. A Target spokesperson said it’s too early to provide details on future partnerships between the companies.
One reason for my guess: The use of the phrase “digitally replicate the joy of shopping” above, which sounds like a hint at either augmented or virtual reality.
Another reason: Just this week, at the Shoptalk Europe conference, Google’s director of augmented reality, Greg Jones, pitched retailers in the audience on working together, and made the case why Google and retailers’ interests are aligned.
While nodding to the obvious threat Amazon poses to retailers, Jones admitted that the e-commerce giant is “also a threat to Google, since a lot of people are going to Amazon first when it comes to product search.” There is plenty of data to back that up.
And the tech giant has also worked with Pottery Barn on an augmented-reality app that lets shoppers get a visual idea of what a new piece of furniture will look like in their home. Ikea, Houzz and Wayfair have built similar solutions in their apps.
Jones also told the audience that Google would be building its own augmented-reality apps focused on the retail world. In a brief interview after his presentation, Jones said one goal of this initiative is to give a wide range of shoppers the benefits of AR features without requiring them to download a different app for every retailer they frequent.
To be sure, one voice-shopping or augmented-reality partnership won’t be the difference between thriving or failing in an increasingly Amazon-led world. But a series of smart partnerships over several years between Google and big retailers will give both sides the best chance at fighting back. They sure need each other.
Following up after an earlier report from Bloomberg on Apple’s behind the scenes efforts developing augmented reality tech, Financial Times is out with a profile today highlighting efforts by Apple, Facebook, and Magic Leap to build AR smart glasses.
Building on Bloomberg’s report that detailed Apple’s team of hundreds of engineers working on augmented reality features for iPhone that could later debut in a glasses product, FT says Apple has been working on the project for over a year and claims a launch is still at least a year away and “perhaps much longer.”
Apple first began to build a team to examine the feasibility of a head-worn device more than a year ago. Now, it is devoting more resources to its augmented-reality efforts, with the aim of taking it from a science project towards a consumer product, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. However, any launch is still at least a year away, perhaps much longer. Apple declined to comment.
As its engineers have become more adept at miniaturisation technology with products such as its AirPods wireless headphones and the iPad’s Pencil, AR seems to have overtaken Apple’s secretive car project as the company’s top priority for its next big launch, beyond the iPhone.
The report adds that secretive startup Magic Leap will beat both Apple and Facebook to releasing a product with the company planning augmented reality eyewear for release later this year. That product is said to compete with Microsoft’s HoloLens and cost around $1000:
The “light-field” eyewear is said to be smaller than Microsoft’s HoloLens, with a wider field of view, but larger than a regular pair of glasses. The headgear will be tethered to a small pack that provides battery and processing power, to put in a pocket or attach to a belt, and is likely to cost in excess of $1,000. Magic Leap declined to comment.
Several reports in recent months have detailed what appear to be hints that Apple is planning augmented reality features for its next-generation iPhones. In addition to related acquisitions, several supply chain reports have said the next iPhone’s will use 3D depth-sensing technology to add augmented reality features to the device’s camera. That could allow for applications such as augmented reality gaming and facial recognition, but it’s still unclear exactly what Apple is planning.
You can read FT’s full report (behind paywall) here.
The tech titan is working with the German optics maker to create lightweight augmented reality glasses, according to tech evangelist Robert Scoble.
Apple is focusing its rumored interest in the augmented reality space on creating a new pair of AR glasses with Carl Zeiss, according to a new report.
The tech titan is working with the German optics manufacturer on a pair of lightweight AR/mixed reality glasses, according to tech evangelist Robert Scoble. The project, which could be announced as early as this year, was confirmed by a Zeiss employee, Scoble wrote in a Facebook post Monday.
Unlike virtual reality, which promises to immerse goggle-wearing users in new and exciting digital worlds, AR overlays images and data atop the real world. The best-known example of AR today is Pokemon Go, in which Pokemon characters appear on players' phone screens amid the streets or parks they're exploring.
Apple's hinted before it was more interested in augmented reality than virtual reality. In September, Apple CEO Tim Cook told ABC News that he saw bigger possibilities for AR than VR, since AR allows people to be more "present."
"There's virtual reality and there's augmented reality -- both of these are incredibly interesting," Cook said in the interview. "But my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far."
The company has filed several patents with the the US Patent and Trademark Office that deal with augmented reality. For example, an Apple patent application published in 2014 called "Transparent electronic device" envisioned a way of overlaying images over real-world viewable objects.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lumus Ltd. recently confirmed a $30 million funding round led by Quanta and HTC. Lumus is a leading provider and developer of augmented reality technology.
Following from the $15 million funding led by Shanda Group and Crystal-Optech in June, Lumus Ltd. recently announced a $30 million Series C round of funding led by Quanta Computer, the world’s largest notebook computer ODM company, along with HTC and other strategic investors. “AR/VR is well aligned with our growth strategy and we’re pleased to invest in the Lumus optics solution for augmented reality”, says C.C. Leung, vice chairman and president of Taiwan-based Quanta. “This is pioneering technology, and we have great confidence in Lumus as an innovator and industry leader for transparent optical displays in the AR market.”
Founded in 2000, Lumus has established itself as a leading provider and developer of the core enabling technology for augmented reality. Their ‘Optical Engine’, which combines a patented Light-Guide Optical Element and a miniature projector, is already found in AR devices used in industries such as aviation, logistics, medical care, and the military. The technology is also being applied to consumer products in the development stage, with the current DK-50 development kit being provided to leading consumer electronics and smart eye-wear manufacturers, sporting a 40 degree field of view – larger than Microsoft’s HoloLens. Speaking to TechCrunch, Lumus CEO Ben Weinberger revealed that a prototype with a 50% larger field of view than the DK-50 will be shown at CES next month.
HTC’s interest is understandable, as their current involvement in VR will inevitably converge with AR in the near future. Alvin Wang Graylin, HTC China Regional President of Vive, recently predicted that the first ‘integrated selectable AR+VR product’ would arrive in 2018. “We are very committed to AR/VR,” says David Chang, COO of HTC. “Our current investment is aligned with HTC’s natural extension into augmented reality following our successful VIVE launch earlier this year.”
While the combined $45 million funding is eclipsed by the staggering $793.5 million Series C investment in Magic Leap earlier this year, the new financing is a tremendous boost to Lumus. According to the press release, they plan to ‘expand development, operations, and marketing of its display technology for the AR and smart eyewear industry’. The rapid rise of AR investment is expected to continue; in a recent IDC study, it was predicted that AR could become an everyday technology for more than a billion consumers within the next five years, with 30 percent of Global 2000 companies incorporating AR and VR into their marketing programs during 2017.
“This new funding will help Lumus continue to scale up our R&D and production in response to the growing demand from companies creating new augmented reality and mixed reality applications, including consumer electronics and smart eyeglasses,” says Ben Weinberger. “We also plan to ramp up our marketing efforts in order to realize and capture the tremendous potential of our unique technology to re-envision reality in the booming AR industry.”
- See more at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/188387/20161209/magic-leap-ceo-refutes-reports-that-claim-the-ar-startup-oversold-its-headset.htm#sthash.iEiAxLDE.dpuf
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz has responded to the reports that said the AR startup "oversold" the device it's working on.
The product in question is an AR headset that sports the same form factor as a pair of common glasses with a lot of power under the hood, and the people behind it have promised it would boast revolutionary technology that'll trump the competition such as Microsoft's HoloLens.
However, The Information recently revealed that the company is having some problems in making that a reality. That said, Abovitz hints otherwise.
Abovitz: Production Test Runs Already In Gear
Taking things to Twitter, Abovitz says that Magic Leap's factory is now conducting "mini-production runs" of the device, describing it as "small, sleek, and cool."
In our factory now: we are making mini-production test runs of our first system: small, sleek, cool
Of course, this contradicts earlier claims that product is far from happening. More than that, he also posted on Magic Leap's blog, urging everyone to "stay tuned."
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz speaks at the WSJDLive conference last October.
Magic Leap’s allegedly revolutionary augmented reality technology may in fact be years away from completion and, as it stands now, is noticeably inferior to Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, according to a report from The Information. The report, which incorporates an interview with Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz, reveals that the company posted a misleading product demo last year showcasing its technology. The company has also had trouble miniaturizing its AR tech from a bulky helmet-sized device into a pair of everyday glasses, as Abovitz has repeatedly claimed the finished product will accomplish.
The revelations undermine one of the most secretive firms in the technology industry, casting Magic Leap as a fast-growing startup that has overhyped its product with wild marketing stunts and unrealized ambition. The company has raked in $1.4 billion in funding at a valuation of $4.5 billion. Investors include Google, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and Silicon Valley juggernaut Andreessen Horowitz. It has done so by convincing prominent tech and entertainment figures that it has a cutting-edge, never-before-seen technology that can realistically create virtual objects and blend them with the real world. Magic Leap did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company has repeatedly used YouTube videos to demonstrate its version of AR, showing tiny elephants in the palms of people’s hands and a life-sized whale jumping out of a virtual ocean on a gymnasium floor. But at least one of these videos — showing an alien invader video game that let the wearer of the supposed headset or glasses make use of real-world objects — was created by visual effects studio Weta Workshop. Prior to today, it was believed Weta had simply created the visual assets for the game. However, The Information reveals the entire video was created by the studio. Magic Leap nonetheless used it to recruit employees to work at its South Florida headquarters. “This is a game we’re playing around the office right now,” reads the video’s description — an assertion that could not have been true.
The Information received a rare product demonstration at Magic Leap, describing the device as a large helmet that connects to a desktop computer using multiple cables. The demo is described as having elements similar to the HoloLens, but with images that are in some cases blurrier and more jittery than Microsoft’s prototype. The HoloLens is now available in a developer kit form for $3,000, and it can be worn completely untethered from a computer.
The crux of the problem appears to be Magic Leap’s gamble on a so-called fiber scanning display, which shines a laser through a fiber optic cable that moves rapidly back and forth to draw images out of light. The company thought the fiber scanning display could be Magic Leap’s breakthrough tech, allowing it to shrink down the extremely expensive hardware used on a previous prototype — a refrigerator-sized device known internally as the “Beast.”
According to The Information, Magic Leap still has not been able to get the fiber scanning display to work. It has since demoted it to a long-term research project. “You ultimately in engineering have to make tradeoffs,” Abovitz said in the interview. Still, the company’s latest prototype appears to be the size of a standard pair of glasses. It’s known internally as the PEQ, for product equivalent, and yet Magic Leap declined to demonstrate it for The Information. Abovitz claims it is only slightly less capable than the earlier, tethered prototypes, but denied that it now uses technology similar to the HoloLens.
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