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Posted on 04/30/2015 8:11:55 PM PDT by dayglored
We've learned some amazing things about Microsoft's Windows Holographic platform since it was announced back in January. We know that NASA is using it to virtually explore Mars, and you can play Minecraft on your coffee table, and today we learned that the company will integrate all universal apps running on Windows 10 into the experience.
But a short demo near the end of today's Microsoft Build 2015 keynote showed us a little bit more about how HoloLens can help blend virtual reality with the real world to create what the company calls "mixed reality." A small metal robot drove on stage, and the presenter used HoloLens to make a cute robotic avatar float above it. What was, just moments before, an inhuman hodgepodge of metal and plastic now had a much more familiar and anthropomorphic form.
With the 3D-mapping capabilities of HoloLens, the robot was able to navigate the stage, plot a course to move around, and even adjust that course when Alex Kipman stepped in its way. Think of it as a Roomba, only much, much cooler.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...
Our Early VerdictI hope HoloLens will be a Surface Pro 3 rather than a Zune; this is an amazing technology that's fun to use but also enormously useful for work. I don't know how much it will cost or how often you'll need to recharge it, but I want one.
For
Against
- Augmented reality made useful and engaging
- Windows 10 means it will be easy for developers to write HoloLens apps
- No VR nausea or 3D headaches
Update March 2015: Looks like gaming is definitely a go for the HoloLens. During GDC 2015, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer led a panel discussing the importance of games on the augmented reality device:
- Price and battery life unknown
- You may have issues if you wear glasses
- You're going to look strange wearing and using it
"We see this as a full Windows 10 device with holographic capability..."
Spencer also mentioned that the HoloLens APIs will be made available with Windows 10 gaming SDK.
Thanks to tacticalogic for the heads up!
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/29/8511289/microsoft-build-2015-hololens-robot-singularity
Paperclip torture guy GOES ON STEROIDS...?
Very cool.
Pretty much. Except now Clippy is in 3D, and can walk around...
What’s holographic about it? It’s a virtual reality headset.
One word:
Porn.
Oh my.
stop making sense.
I checked into this and I have declared it at least 1,037 times cooler than the Apple Watch. The videos I saw were unbelievable. I’ll need at least 2-3 sets in my house for Minecraft alone. I wonder if it will it also work with Solidworks? I can definitely see this replacing my iPad.
As for the Verge statement “You’re going to look strange wearing and using it”. I say that within a few years, the saying will go that folks will “look strange without it” (Brave New World?)
Maybe in a different manifestation of the technology. The relative transparency of the images this device presents doesn't strike me as something that would be well suited for slack-jawed media consumption.
It's definitely going to find some useful applications, and so far it hasn't generated any Chris Kyle scale lengths of smiley-faced cap lock spam.
Correct. It annoys me too that MS uses the word "hologram" to refer to "3D glasses".
Used in a dark room, the image transparency issue goes away.
I agree with Uncle Miltie that one of the big early uses of this will be interactive 3D porn.
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