Apple's Tim Cook Says AR and VR Are For 'Connection' and 'Communication' (theverge.com) 44
Tim Cook's vision for AR and VR hasn't changed. "For almost a decade, Apple's CEO has been banging the drum that AR is more important than VR and that AR is fundamentally about bringing people together," reports The Verge. "And he's still at it." From the report: "If you think about the technology itself with augmented reality, just to take one side of the AR/VR piece, the idea that you could overlay the physical world with things from the digital world could greatly enhance people's communication, people's connection," Cook told GQ's Zach Baron in a long and very interesting profile just published by the magazine. Cook told Baron that he's interested in collaboration; he said something about measuring glass walls; he said his thinking on glasses-as-gadget has changed over the years.
None of this is a product announcement, of course, only the latest in a long string of hints about what Apple sees in this space. Cook's been on this particular line since at least 2016, when he said on Good Morning America that AR "gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things -- visually -- for both of us to see." [...] At various times over the years, Cook has said AR is a powerful technology for education, that he thinks it'll be as common as "eating three meals a day," and that he thinks AR is as big an idea as the smartphone. But he keeps coming back to the idea that AR should be meant to bring people together in the real world, not keep them apart or transport them to another universe entirely.
Cook also offered what sounds like an explanation for why the headset, which has been heavily rumored over the last couple of years, has taken so long to come out. "I'm not interested in putting together pieces of somebody else's stuff," he told GQ. "Because we want to control the primary technology. Because we know that's how you innovate." Maybe the most revealing thing in the story is the way Cook explains Apple -- or at least explains the way he hopes you'll see Apple. He talks frequently about Apple's environmental commitments, its loud fight against "the data-industrial complex," and the way Apple is trying to help people have better relationships with technology. (Conveniently ignoring that Apple is perhaps more responsible for our phone addictions than any other company, of course.) "Because my philosophy is, if you're looking at the phone more than you're looking in somebody's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing." Apple plans to unveil a mixed-reality headset on June 5th at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
None of this is a product announcement, of course, only the latest in a long string of hints about what Apple sees in this space. Cook's been on this particular line since at least 2016, when he said on Good Morning America that AR "gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things -- visually -- for both of us to see." [...] At various times over the years, Cook has said AR is a powerful technology for education, that he thinks it'll be as common as "eating three meals a day," and that he thinks AR is as big an idea as the smartphone. But he keeps coming back to the idea that AR should be meant to bring people together in the real world, not keep them apart or transport them to another universe entirely.
Cook also offered what sounds like an explanation for why the headset, which has been heavily rumored over the last couple of years, has taken so long to come out. "I'm not interested in putting together pieces of somebody else's stuff," he told GQ. "Because we want to control the primary technology. Because we know that's how you innovate." Maybe the most revealing thing in the story is the way Cook explains Apple -- or at least explains the way he hopes you'll see Apple. He talks frequently about Apple's environmental commitments, its loud fight against "the data-industrial complex," and the way Apple is trying to help people have better relationships with technology. (Conveniently ignoring that Apple is perhaps more responsible for our phone addictions than any other company, of course.) "Because my philosophy is, if you're looking at the phone more than you're looking in somebody's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing." Apple plans to unveil a mixed-reality headset on June 5th at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
No (Score:2)
People don't want to deal with each other like that. If communication was so compelling video calling and phone calls would be more popular than texting and tiktok We want escapism and entertainment.
Re: (Score:3)
Is that what we want?
Or is it the result of an onslaught of people desperately seeking
even a few seconds of validation and attention?
Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)
He's just some business guy, not a tech visionary. I doubt he understands or cares about any of the stuff his PR people put in front of him to spout to the media.
Why would he? He's fabulously wealthy and completely out of touch with what ordinary people need or want and none of it matters as long as Apple continues to make money.
Re: No (Score:2)
And when you read between the lines, you see exactly what his business end game is: He wants to be the first mover so that he can control the market.
Could they do that? Maybe. But I get a strong feeling that this will resonate with consumers almost exactly the way 3d touch did: Some people will swear how awesome it is, because it's apple, but they won't actually use it. And most of the applications apple makes are pretty shit, 99% of the value from iphone comes entirely from the third party apps. Exactly wh
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How about Amazon and eBay? Nobody's encroached on their territory.
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Still on that, eh? I though I explained this to you already. More than once.
What people want AR to do and what AR can do are very different things. The things that can be done either can't be done well or aren't terribly interesting. The big problems that aren't solved, again, are related to modeling the wearer's immediate environment and their place in it.
Even if these mysterious innovators exist, which is unlikely, they've had ample time to try out new concepts in that space with existing hardware.
Re:No (Score:5, Interesting)
So in the corporate environment video calls have been the norm for me for 15 years, I realize I work in a fairly well heeled institutions, but note the plural. Video calls, as advertised are kind of useless, some people really insist upon it, but I don't want to look at people. Similarly, I've never found the white board to be very easy to read on the other side of the video call, and it is perhaps the one meeting device that can't be an email.
The killer app for video calls is, and continues to be screenshare. Whether it is notes or a working document, somethign technical (code, schematics, what have you), test plans or charts, that is I think absolutely a major benefit to video calls and justified the investment many companies have made. But with the exception of some living documents, most of this is canned presentations. It's not dialog, it's presentation. I've had some luck doing flow-charts or diagramming on the fly, but nothing quite beats the white board.
So a thing headsets could offer is to bridge that final gap. It wouldn't take much. In fact you probably could do more with it than just a white board given the medium. I've already managed to do functional drawings "in air" on the vive years ago. It's clunky, needs some spit and polish, but it'd be light-years ahead of trying to draw boxes in powerpoint.
Will a company pay $3k/person for that? No, but amidst other things it can offer, it might make sense.
don't believe the hype (Score:2)
It's so sad (Score:2)
Seeing all of these out of touch nerds think VR is the next big thing. 3D has always been, and always will be, a gimmick. It's useful in the same sense that an amusement park ride is useful. It doesn't actually solve any problem, and most tech novices will be confused/sickened by the experience.
I enjoyed the hell out of HL: Alyx, Google Earth, The Lab, and Beat Saber... but what else is there? VR has had several killer apps but it still feels like it's struggling to find a foothold.
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Seeing all of these out of touch nerds think VR is the next big thing
Ironic you should mention being out of touch when you think Apple is doing VR, when they are doing AR. totally different.
Re: It's so sad (Score:2)
sex (Score:2)
Sex is way better for "connection" and "communication" than a headset can ever be.
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Yes, and every night but you can't afford her.
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Sex is way better for "connection" and "communication" than a headset can ever be.
Apple has been on the prudish side of the whole technology-for-sex thing for awhile now. I doubt it will change just so their new headset can sell a little bit better.
Or do you mean having sex is better than a $3k headset? Heck, for my budget a Wendy's cheeseburger is better than a $3k headset.
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Sex is way better for "connection" and "communication" than a headset can ever be.
Apple has been on the prudish side of the whole technology-for-sex thing for awhile now. I doubt it will change just so their new headset can sell a little bit better.
Or do you mean having sex is better than a $3k headset? Heck, for my budget a Wendy's cheeseburger is better than a $3k headset.
If I had $3k to throw around, I can think of a LOT of things I'd rather do than throw it at a headset that'll be used a couple times then tossed in a drawer to be forgotten until I clean that desk out again. That's the thing folks like Cook won't understand until it bites them in the ass. You can't take a downturned economy and go out to people and say, "You know that thousand dollar toy we think everyone should be able to buy at least once every two years or more? Check this shit out. It costs three times
Re: (Score:2)
It's not even a sales-pitch. It's like the antithesis of a sales-pitch. Maybe they should shut up about it until they have some clue what it could actually be used for?
I beg to differ. You don't know Apple. It's blindingly obvious what this thing is for: it's another iPhone accessory, just like Apple Watch. Its sole purpose is to pair with an iPhone and give you floaty iPhone notifications and text messages in the air. It's not going to do a damn thing else besides spur another round of Glasshole bans, but Apple doesn't care. It's not supposed to be useful. It's supposed to sell more of the newest iPhone. You can bet the GP's Wendy's cheeseburger that it will only
looking into someone's eyes (Score:2)
> "Because my philosophy is, if you're looking at the phone more than you're looking in somebody's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing."
So strap on this headset where you cannot stop looking closely at the other person's eyes, and you cannot disable the blink filter. We'll all be staring into each others eyes wondering how soon we can get the headset off.
Re: looking into someone's eyes (Score:5, Funny)
So strap on
I think you've already summed up what most people will use it for.
Comment removed (Score:3)
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Connectivity and communication that requires an expensive headset... Only Apple could sell that.
Presumably though this is going to be crappy Metaverse style avatars, not video. 2D video in a 3D environment doesn't work. I guess maybe they could realtime map a face onto a 3D head, but unless they have made vast strides in that area it won't look good.
I think VR has a better chance of succeeding, mainly because one day we will reach the point where we can live stream VR porn reliably.
So is in person interaction (Score:2)
Apple's mixed-reality headset or any companies.... (Score:2)
This is a solution to the seats in office issue (Score:2)
According to Tim, this will allow people to communicate, connect and collaborate. (Probably other alliterative things as well.)
This makes it sound like Tim can sell the big building he's been trying to fill since the pandemic. Perhaps it can be used as a real go-kart track. People will have to come into the office to actually use the track.
Re: (Score:2)
He may be hoping to empty the office so the ship can take off and take him back to his home planet?
I'd love an Apple spin on Google Glass... (Score:2)
For AR, I'd just like an Apple spin on Google Glass, hopefully one that is less conspicuous than Google Glass but basically just a pair of glasses.
Unfortunately I think they're too hung up on the VR aspect of things so we're going to get stuck with this huge stupid headset that will only work when you're alone or in really weird situations.
AR can be useful, VR⦠not so much (Score:2)
On the other hand, especially for those of us who wear glasses already, adding a heads up display for messages, weather, mapping and such… AR can be amazing. Frankly who cares about conferencing. And while I think things like Pokemon Go AR would be fun, I do not see utility to actual augmented reality.
What I think could be interesting would be that when I get to a shop window, instea
Not even a little bit, Tim Apple (Score:2)
Better communication and connection are pretty difficult to achieve with a headset or AR/VR technology, since you're actively wearingthe source and it's not capturing or reproducing your communication interface with the world (aka, your face) to
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The only thing AR would ever be useful for to me is for engineering and development. Times when you can actually benefit from a computer overlay on what you're seeing yourself in the world, or easy access to information while not losing sight of your surroundings.
That'd be fantastic for doing robotics development—if and only if setting it up took less time than doing the robotics. It'd be very useful to be able to look at your robot attempting an action and get a real-time readout of motor current draw and temperature on a little label hovering in the vicinity of each motor. Even more useful if it could respond to verbal controls: "Plot the current draw for the wrist axial motor for the last 30 seconds," and that one label blows up into a plot instead of the
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There's also some lighter-weight natural speech rec AI that you could probably get some functions to work wit
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You could potentially do exactly this with Unreal or Unity and a simple voice command software like VoiceAttack. If the robotics platform has an API from the control software or serial output of the values you want to plot, it's pretty straightforward to have it enlarge/move/plot the data when a key command is pressed.
Easy enough to add either an API or a data stream (or both) if there isn't one, and at this point that should be a standard feature of robotics frameworks. For some it is. Orocos has a ReportingComponent which can provide a TCP stream. That part is easy enough. The difficulty I was referring to was in the positioning of the UI elements within the field of view of the AR headset. Having them just floating out at the edges isn't a whole lot better than just having a physical screen sitting next to the ro
version 15 (Score:2)
What are they going to call version 15 of their AR?
Missing the real value of AR (Score:2)
I always see all these replies saying there's no killer use-case for AR and doubting the value of AR.
And those posts are invariably questioning the value of AR to the users.
Wake up and smell the Facebook data. It isn't really about value for the users. That's just the bait.
AR will happen because whoever can convince people to bring wearable interactive videocameras into their homes, yards, offices, and other social spaces, will capture the rest of the personal-data iceberg of which memes and selfies and 140
While avoiding it (Score:1)
in real life...
It's all meat (Score:2)
Gimmie my deck and a jack and leave me the f alone.
Oh, and a Texas catheter