this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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I left the headline like the original, but I see this as a massive win for Apple. The device is ridiculously expensive, isn't even on sale yet and already has 150 apps specifically designed for that.

If Google did this, it wouldn't even get 150 dedicated apps even years after launch (and the guaranteed demise of it) and even if it was something super cheap like being made of fucking cardboard.

This is something that as an Android user I envy a lot from the Apple ecosystem.

Apple: this is a new feature => devs implement them in their apps the very next day even if it launches officially in 6 months.

Google: this is a new feature => devs ignore it, apps start to support it after 5-6 Android versions

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[–] noctisatrae@beehaw.org 40 points 10 months ago (6 children)

I feel like I’m the only person in this room feeling like it’s kinda dystopian! Do you really want to see those devices become the norm?

With the father filming his children and all that shit we saw in the ad? Let’s live in the present, not through the camera of a device made by mega-corporation.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 24 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I think people who are into it can be into it and people who aren't don't have to be. Every innovation had detractors lamenting it. And many of those innovations miss the mark and never take off.

Dystopian seems to really overstate it. I'm not rushing out to buy one but I'm not ruling it out eventually if I find a good use case. Probably not filming my kids but maybe there's something. Some kind of mixed reality LARP game maybe.

[–] noctisatrae@beehaw.org 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

As a developer I’m so excited that’s true, but that’s ridiculous the way they portray it as a normal thing to wear it in public lol it’s so eerie

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 9 points 10 months ago

I think of the marketing as a bunch of nerds who want it to exist for niche reasons trying to find a way to appeal to normies because who is going to spend that much money to watch a dragon set fire to New York or have CGI bad guys lurking around corners only to pop out to be shot or going to comicon to have the amazing cosplays somehow enhanced even further with animation.

I feel like it's inherently a non-mass market device trying desperately for mass-market appeal because nerds can't afford $10k to stomp around the city as a giant mech in the hope they run into another one and have a duel.

But let's be more real. How cool would it be to look around and see other users with a tag cloud and you instantly know you can talk to that person about Star Wars or anime or football or dating? How much easier would it be to make small talk or even friends?

There's a lot of potential in such a device if it takes off. But I don't know if the devices are mature enough yet. And achieving mass-market appeal is a whole other hurdle and if it can't get past that the rest is moot.

Obviously I wouldn't want to see Apple be the only game in town. There has to be a minimum of two significant players to drive innovation, but someone has to create the market first. Apple might be able to do that.

[–] pimento64@sopuli.xyz 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah but that's just marketing bullshit, just like how in real life, (normal and attractive) people don't pull out a Nintendo Switch and pass around joycons to play Mario Kart on the phablet-sized screen at trendy rooftop cocktail parties.

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago

What would you call wearing some chunky headphones while walking down the street?

A couple decades ago, only freaks did that.

Nowadays it's so popular, people don't even take them off when entering a shop, or going to the doctor (source: went to the doctor yesterday, sat next to a couple people with chunky headphones isolating themselves from the real world).

[–] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The ad is really dystopian, the dad is ignoring the kid IRL and playing with memories of that kid

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago

Now: the dad watches his smartphone and shouts "more to the left!" while the kids try to play.

Tomorrow: the dad is interacting with the kids IRL, while what he experiences gets recorded transparently.

After tomorrow: "drink a verification can to start recording..."

There is a thin line between dystopian, utopian, and back to dystopian 🤷

[–] fushuan@lemm.ee 9 points 10 months ago

I see potential on the technology as a fake monitor. No need to have monitors on your PC setup, just connect the thingy into your PC and use it to generate a fake screen. Now I want a movie, the fake screen takes the whole wall, now a game, it takes 27', now to work, it creates 3-4 virtual screens/apps to place in the wall.

I would pay a lot for something like it. The freedom it provides seems great. If the thing has the resolution it says it has, and they showed how you could connect it to a mac, if it takes off, the only possible future I see for high end PCs is virtual monitors.

[–] davehtaylor@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Especially with the fake "eye" it creates for you on the front of the device. It's creepy and dystopian af. Like we're all sitting around wearing AR goggles, with fake eyes displayed on the outside so it still looks like we're engaging with people around us.

I mean, I can maybe see a use case for something like this, where you're prototyping a build, modelling something, etc. Especially if you have more than one person and they can all collaborate on and interact with the same objects. But I'm having a really hard time seeing other use cases. Gaming on macOS isn't really a thing, as much as the latest Apple silicon releases would like you to believe. AAA devs aren't porting their games to macOS. So what else? Watching movies? Browsing the web? Why would I spend nearly $4000 for a device to do that?

I think Apple overall is generally really good about taking existing tech and pushing the envelope with it, and/or making it more usable and appealing for the masses. And even if this thing does represent a big step in xR, what's the end goal? What's the killer app? What's the overall... vision for the product?

[–] storcholus@feddit.de 3 points 10 months ago

I put googley eyes on my quest and saved a bunch of money compared to the apple thing

[–] Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

Especially with the fake "eye" it creates for you on the front of the device.

I can totally see a fringe use case for meetings etc. where you can look super attentive while daydreaming or sleeping.

[–] Zworf@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Can you view that ad somewhere online? I'd love to see it (to understand better how Apple is marketing this thing)

[–] noctisatrae@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Zworf@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Thank you!!

I don't really see the "Apple portrays people outside wearing the headset" that was mentioned here though. The only example given of that is on a plane which is a time where most people prefer to socially distance themselves from their fellow passengers anyway.

[–] noctisatrae@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

When he watches memories of his children instead of being in the moment and playing with them lol

[–] Zworf@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

Ah but I had a feeling about this that his kids were already grown up and gone.

But indeed, when it was purportedly recorded he wouldn't have been playing with them, good point.