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Captain

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Apple has a new headset. Will either flop hard or all the iSheep will be wearing them and be more annoying than ever. I hope it flops. I really don't want to live in this nightmare they are building.

 
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LostintheCycle

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Lol, this appeals only to middle-class gadget guys. Even if it weren't so expensive I don't think people would bother. Reminds me of this old thing
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Deckade

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I was surprised how quickly I went from being excited for the unveiling to being grossed out by the marketing. I felt both of the live capture examples were really, really bad choices and they would have been better off showing it on non intimate casual moments rather than a fucking birthday. For a pretty online guy they've cemented me staying off ar/vr for the immediate future.
Eagerly awaiting the first iBorg getting run over for trying to watch disney+ while crossing the street :gigachad:
 

ignika98

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Companies can't ever seem to get this stuff right. The thing about wearable tech like this is that it's always a pain in the ass to use. I guarantee this thing is gonna be uncomfortable as shit, and come with more safety warnings about prolonged usage than a Nintendo console. On top of that, it offers no greater functionality than your phone or PC already provides. There's going to be very little reason to actually use something like this outside of the initial novelty factor.

This is the same reason why VR gaming never really took off despite multiple attempts by many different companies. Your product either needs to be easier to use than the current offerings, or offer something new and substantial. Taking things that people already have and wrapping them in a gimmicky box that you strap to your face isn't gonna cut it.

Also it looks ugly as hell. If you're gonna make something that people are gonna wear around, at least make it look nice and/or discreet.
 
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Null043

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There have been many casual AR/VR wearables in the past(See google glass, hololens, nreal), but none of them was as mainstream as this one. imo this is just the step 1, as in ipod 1g(the big old brick) step 1. Not many people bought it at the time, but with time and improvements the wearebles will get cheaper and people will start to buy these stuff. it might replace computers and smartphones, act as a health tracker and all. Let's wait and see what the future brings us, it might be a whole mirrors edge type of thing, im talking abt the gridlink thingy.
 

Cobalt

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I really hope this doesn't take off. But then again when the Airpods came out it got people to spend 500% more for the same shitty Apple earbuds but minus the wires and with the bulky case that took up more pocket space than the wired ones. If this thing is actually that technically impressive and they can get the price down then people will buy it.
 
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LostintheCycle

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So now looking at it again, I've noticed that since the Oculus Rift entered people's heads some decade ago, VR headsets have addressed the major detractors more and more, mostly about comfort. This new things hypes itself up to be lightweight and comfortable. I'm sure it will be if you believe their spiel about their fancy aluminium chassis and whatnot, but the thing that hasn't been addressed is why someone should use these, as others have pointed out.
I'm hedging my bets on them pawning these off to schools and businesses under the various pretenses the idiots we call higher-ups always fall victim for (productivity, future-proofing, etc). Maybe businesses will start assigning the future annual iterations of devices like these, if this takes off in any measure, to their work-from-home employees so they can attend their virtual meetings or whatever. I cannot imagine anything that could sell the average Joe on these devices other than "I have to use it for work", in which case he would then consider using it more for other things such as watching Disney+ and scrolling social media while laying in bed without having to hold his phone. In this sort of way this device could offer more convenience. Then of course, adoption would necessarily spread like a virus to lots of other people.

Apple promises a simple development experience for it, utilising many of their existing technologies or others like Unity. They release the SDK next month. Perhaps it'd be simple enough to port to that people would be willing to give it a shot, even if it's userbase will probably not be large. I mean, they couldn't expect a modicum of success unless it were.

Of course, I don't like the privacy implications. They have cameras on the outside and inside of this thing. The outer ones make sense, so that you can see the outer world with it. I'm more concerned about the inner cameras, which the one thing they claim it's for is displaying your eyes on the outside of the device.
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Aside from the fact it makes you look like a dork wearing scuba gear, this opens up a whole new avenue of surveying users without their knowledge. So far the method of measuring user reactions has been through how they interact with the computer, but that isn't deep enough. With this, you could perhaps know exactly what a user is looking at, how they read the user interface, measure their emotions at any point; social media companies could improve their social media addiction algorithms by an insane margin with this extra depth and precision.

Everything that came before could be laughed at, but Apple stinking their shitty finger in this pie is concerning because they are a designated industry leader who can worm their way into anything. Look at how they gutted their architecture for over a decade and made more money on it. Look at how they successfully gaslit organisations to get locked into their systems so now you see classrooms filled with ungodly Mac computers.
If they can succeed in inching people towards this premise, either through the way I described or otherwise, then it would become a permanent fixture until something worse comes along.

I sincerely hope this device will be a major and embarrassing flop.
 
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Regal

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For a couple years I was heavy into the VR/AR dev/indie scene. Not necessarily an expert, but that's all to say I have been watching this tech for a while.

Is the product awesome? Yes. Is it enough to make AR a thing? No. Like the Hololens that provides similar tech and at a similar price point, this will only be found in very specific industries. Devs aren't going to update their apps to support the .001% of users that use AR headsets either. The wildcard here is that the Hololens wasn't available to the public like this headset is so who knows. Apple has the Cool factor too.

re:dystopia - this isn't dystopic yet. My fear is that these headsets may eventually become yet another expense corpos have marketed to hell to make it essentially required for you to participate in society. "Oh you don't have the $3000 Meta Mask? How do you get any work done or see your friends?!"
 

splashy

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ofc it's gonna be incredibly expensive it's a first gen product and it's got a bunch of tech in it so it can give you the itoddler experience. idk why they're trying to market it to a consumer audience anyone looking at this will just think "oh i'll just buy a normal vr headset instead" or think "that's too expensive." the microsoft holo whatever thing can be bought by a normal consumer but that's not really the target demographic and i think that enterprise target makes more sense than a general consumer base. at least until the technology comes down enough in price to be even somewhat affordable to normal people.
 
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PizzaW0lf

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I personally think AR has the potential to be great and I would use it instead of looking down at a phone all the time. It's going to be weird and maybe dystopic to see the digital world and the real world blend together like this...

But this specific device just looks so obnoxious... :spaceGhost:
 
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like ok can be used in education... unless not used badly
 
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no_chill

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What the fuck did just happen?? I opened this thread 30mins ago and now my entire feed on YouTube is filled with this garbage about the new iToddler glasses! Unbe-fucking-liveable. And I'm not even interested in tech channels and didn't clicked any links in this Thread!
 
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What the fuck did just happen?? I opened this thread 30mins ago and now my entire feed on YouTube is filled with this garbage about the new iToddler glasses! Unbe-fucking-liveable. And I'm not even interested in tech channels and didn't clicked any links in this Thread!
spreads like fire
twitter and tumblr is full of it
 
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Ugh ofc. Did zoomers already forgot the Google Glass? Same shit in Green
dw they dont. thats the main joke there, with price ofc too
sad thing, more of it, is, how "bad ad is still ad"... in this sense
 
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At this point I think Apple thinks more like a cigarette company than a tech company. I remember when I was in middle school and the apple watch came out, and the only people who had it were rich kids who loved to spend money on the newest fad. eventually that piece of tech became part of their lives and they still own one today, despite it being little more than a gimped phone you can wear on your wrist. I feel like this VR headset is going in the same direction; appeal to young kids who can get their parents to buy this toy, get hooked on it (just look at ipads), and then buy them more as an adult. Because no adult today would look at that and think "by god I need a pair of goofy goggles to get into AR!" but a child might. Only those who get immersed in a piece of tech from a young age see it as a necessity, because they have had it for so long.

my prediction? It'll flop, some geeky tech enthusiasts will buy it so they can connect it to their smart thermometer and smart fridge so they can hop onto the metaverse while eating diner.
 
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