An internal Apple document revealed the company plans to launch an XR headworn display (HMD) in 2022. Apple plans to evolve the smartglasses from a media consumption device into something more mobile with pass-through (seeing the world through your camera) technology, enhanced by speedy 5G, and contextually aware AI. This is a very big deal for many reasons, including (1) the use of pass through vs. the see-through approach of Magic Leap and the Microsoft HoloLens and (2) competitors with designs on the consumer market like Facebook, Snap and Magic Leap now have three years to establish their products. This is going to be fun.
Snap Specs 3 are now available.
Speaking of Magic Leap. News of their upcoming Series E financing broke as Variety revealed JP Morgan Chase had taken control of its patents as collateral for a massive line of credit. The company asserted this was normal in an announcement. Rumors have been building over the past several months as the company’s diverse and ambitious plans for an AI centric “Magicverse” have led to questions about its core spatial computing glasses. The company has not yet followed up the releases of its $2,300 developer XR glasses, The Magic Leap One, with a consumer device. They are slowly adding content, but it’s nothing like the torrid pace of new software hitting the Oculus Quest, which now has over fifty titles. And there was no follow up to Magic Leap’s first annual developer conference in LA last fall. We continue to follow its releases of apps like spatial Spotify (more about this below), while we wait for AAA titles promised in the fall of 2018.
Breaking Friday night, 11/15: Magic Leap Loses CFO Scott Henry & SVP Strategy John Gaeta Next reality described the company as having entered “collateral limbo.” Gaeta is a former ILMxLab honcho who famously won the sfx Oscar for The Matrix. CFO Henry said in a statement that “[CEO Rony Abovitz] and I have mutually agreed that it is time for me to step into an advisory role.” Which sounds a lot better than “CFO resigns amid funding woes.” Abovitz told us last year that he has “100 year investors.” We hope that’s still true. He’s teased victory from the jaws of defeat before, but these are the times that try men’s souls. Magic Leap must now squeeze through the narrow opening between Apple’s impending consumer AR device and Microsoft’s enterprise-focused HoloLens, which is integrated with Windows 10, thereby giving it a perhaps unassailable security advantage.
Early Sunday evening, November 17th, Magic Leap’s CEO Rony Abovitz said this on Twitter: “This sector is about unfolding a vision over time - and we have made many investments that will be seen in future platforms, software, and devices. A long view is essential to anyone really interested in spatial computing.”
New Snap Spectacles arrive, now with 2 cameras. The new version of Snap’s sunglasses-with-a-camera now has an additional camera for creating depth in the images it takes. The depth information also allows for more augmented reality effects to be overlayed atop the videos recorded using the Spectacles 3.
Tom Emrich, VP of 8th Wall (producers of a popular webXR development platform), made the Specs video above. Here’s how he did it with his new Specs 3:
-You wear the Spectacles
-Tap on the button on the top of the glasses
-It records a 10 second video using the 2 HD cameras
-There are no Effects live as there is no display to view this on the glasses
-You open Snapchat app
-You see new snaps can be imported
-You connect the glasses to your smartphone via a WiFi network
-You import the snap
-You tap edit and it generates the 3D version using the depth map from the two cameras
-You can then swipe to choose a 3D effect
The Spectacles can be ordered for $380 on the product’s website. This is big deal because, for the first time, Snap Specs are more than a camera on sunglasses, they can actually combine, even realistically anchor, digital content on the real world.
North now offers 36 different apps for its Focals smart glasses.
Our normally level headed friends at North emailed us with an with announcement they have added 36 apps to its Focals remarkably normal-looking smartglasses since they launched last fall, using the odd image above to promote it. During a beautiful sunset moment like this do we really want to be interrupted by a text, or the weather? This why AR Wearables need to be contextually aware.
Spotify releases AR app on Magic Leap. The new music app for Magic Leap shows a spatially aware interface for your music, i.e. an album cover positioned on your wall like a picture. The app is also capable of switching songs when you move from room to room. You can download the app on your Magic Leap One headset today, and you’ll need Spotify Premium to run it.
Flow’s 3D data visualization tools come to Magic Leap. Here’s why we love Flow: you can instantly upload any spreadsheet into its online platform, and like magic a spatial depiction of the data comes out. You can view it on a PC, Tablet and now, the Magic Leap One. The Flow Editor is available here
A virtual Jame Dean has been cast in an upcoming Vietnam War movie, courtesy of Worldwide XR, which ... [+]
Worldwide XR aims to bring icons like James Dean back to life virtually. The company currently has rights to over 400 celebrities, athletes, and sports teams and is already well underway bringing back James Dean for an upcoming Vietnam War movie “Finding Jack”. The team will also bring back stars like Bettie Page, Burt Reynolds, Andre The Giant, Lou Gehrig, and Maya Angelou. Worldwide XR is a merger between CMG Worldwide and Observe Media with intent to use CGI restoration to bring digital humans to traditional film.
Looking Glass Factory opens pre-orders for 32” 8k glasses-free 3D display. The new display, touted as holographic but technically lenticular, is the largest model from the company yet. The depth of the images reaches a few feet, compared to the few inches of smaller earlier models. Pricing has not yet been announced, but pre-orders are open for a Q1 ship date.
VR/AR conferencing company Glue Collaboration completes seed round of 3.5 million euro (~3.85 USD). The Helsinki-based company creates remote collaboration tools for VR/AR. It was started in 2017 and has since grown to over 30 team members. The round was led by Maki.vc, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on Nordic companies.
Virtuix Omni brings its Omni Arena to second Dave and Buster’s location. After success at their first Dave and Buster’s installation, Virtuix has opened their second Omni Arena at the entertainment chain.
John Carmack steps down from Oculus to focus on AI. While remaining as a Consulting CTO, Carmack will spend most of his time pursuing his own research into artificial general intelligence. The research is separate from Facebook, but he will still aide the company on the development side of Oculus.
An AR Spider-Man will be featured in DesignerCon Tech Zone in Anaheim, CA, on Nov. 22-24.
DesignerCon announces Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse AR Tunnel. DesignerCon, one of the largest annual art and design conventions in America, has announced an augmented reality collaboration with multidisciplinary artist and entrepreneur, Sutu; AR Partner EyeJack; and Sony Pictures Animation. The glitch art AR "Tunnel" will feature original art and animation from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Produced by DesignerCon Tech Zone Curator Jesse Damiani and Partnerships Director Jacob Patterson, the Tunnel will launch at DesignerCon 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Nov. 22-24, with a corresponding panel on Nov. 24 at 12:30pm.
Location based VR company ARena Space analyzed 9 months of visitor data. The company’s 11 locations in Eastern Europe received more than 150,000 visitors from December 2018 - August 2019. The analysis found that the majority of park visitors are millennial men and the most popular day is Sunday. As well as larger parks coincide with longer time spent at the venue and more return visits. And 93% of visitors are first time VR users.
“This Week In XR” is written and edited with Michael Eichenseer.
