Honestly, this should probably be totally out of the Xbox thread, because reading about it, this thing is way too expensive to be considered an Xbox accessory. This will be a high-end item that could eventually have use in gaming, but most likely for games that would be running on the device itself. Maybe years from now the tech will be cheaper and it will pair with a future Xbox, but this thing seems like more of a standalone product, or better paired with PC.
Microsoft HoloLens [Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Holograms]
Honestly, this should probably be totally out of the Xbox thread, because reading about it, this thing is way too expensive to be considered an Xbox accessory. This will be a high-end item that could eventually have use in gaming, but most likely for games that would be running on the device itself. Maybe years from now the tech will be cheaper and it will pair with a future Xbox, but this thing seems like more of a standalone product, or better paired with PC.
It's Augmented Reality + Augmented Virtuality which = Mixed Reality.
I wonder how much different that is from the way Sony does the dynamic lighting for AR.
Really difficult to understand. Maybe it's just a diffraction lens. a.k.a. holographic lens. With a diffraction pattern than makes the reflection a short focus lens, while the transmissive properties are still straight. Could be something else entirely.... "bounce around millions of times" and "ricochet" are pretty stupid terms to begin with when talking about light.
"works by tricking your brain into seeing light as matter." Okay.
I know of a device that ricochet at a perfect angle with millionth of an arc-second precision, trillions of particles per nano-second, at the exact speed of light. If you angle it just right toward you, that's where the magic happens. It tricks your brain into seeing light as a materialized clone of yourself.
A mirror.
"works by tricking your brain into seeing light as matter." Okay.
I know of a device that ricochet at a perfect angle with millionth of an arc-second precision, trillions of particles per nano-second, at the exact speed of light. If you angle it just right toward you, that's where the magic happens. It tricks your brain into seeing light as a materialized clone of yourself.
A mirror.
The Xbox version is likely to be a cheaper derivative. Anything we've heard rumor wise that matches up with this type of device has been XB related. And those rumors were for a device slated for the XB1 not years in future on a next next gen MS console.
Ditch the Kinect tech (a tech that originally was standard on the XB1), the cpu/gpu (the XB1 already has both) and drop in a cheaper and smaller battery should shave a considerable amount off the BOM. It comes down to cost of the projectors and the lenses.
Think fibre-optic cable. Inside a laser, the light bounces around a lot before finally exiting at the intended trajectory. It's certainly possible (maybe not millions!). The bit that doesn't make sense to me is the structure of the light. It has to exit at the correct position and direction to form the image. I'm thinking each 'pixel' has to be something akin to a laser in terms of the light travelling in structured rays. Maybe the holographic imaging piece takes output from a projection, bounces it around through some clever something that aligns the beams (think laminar flow in fluids), and it exits as a 'wide laser' will colour detail. This will have resolution dependent on projector, but with foveated rendering, they could bunch just enough high detail into the fovea and project the rest at low res. So you wouldn't need a 4k display. A crappy 400 pixel wide micro projector would probably be enough to provide perfect clarity at the fovea. The major issue will be lag.
Sadly bollocks. If the projection isn't rendered in a way that matches the environment, it won't look solid. But we know none of it looks solid. Unless the glasses are also an LCD that blacks out behind the projection, it'll look like light additive to the environment,
"Amazing simulation of emissive transparent materials!"
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Yup, while I'm don't like head mounted gear, I'm very interested to find out the tech involved. Especially the display/light projection mechanism to composite images with reality.
I'd also like to know what more about the 3rd processor. They have a standard or somewhat standard CPU, a GPU, and their silly sounding HPU. As tech this is certainly one of the more interesting things to come about in quite some time.
But yeah. With CPU, GPU, HPU, memory, special display, kinect-ish sensors, eye tracking sensors, etc. There's no way this is coming in under 500 USD. I'm thinking closer to 1000+ USD.
With the progress that Intel has made with Broadwell, I do not doubt that this piece of gear could be more powerful than many laptops with battery life greater than most tablets. Especially since it doesn't have a backlit display. This isn't to say that Broadwell is powering this device, just that there are already powerful CPUs that can operate in the 8-10 hour battery range (and that's with a backlit display) that could outperform most laptops on the market.
Regards,
SB
I'd also like to know what more about the 3rd processor. They have a standard or somewhat standard CPU, a GPU, and their silly sounding HPU. As tech this is certainly one of the more interesting things to come about in quite some time.
But yeah. With CPU, GPU, HPU, memory, special display, kinect-ish sensors, eye tracking sensors, etc. There's no way this is coming in under 500 USD. I'm thinking closer to 1000+ USD.
With the progress that Intel has made with Broadwell, I do not doubt that this piece of gear could be more powerful than many laptops with battery life greater than most tablets. Especially since it doesn't have a backlit display. This isn't to say that Broadwell is powering this device, just that there are already powerful CPUs that can operate in the 8-10 hour battery range (and that's with a backlit display) that could outperform most laptops on the market.
Regards,
SB
There's theories that the Universe is in fact a hologram. This ungodly machine could be the end of our existence. It's been nice knowing you all.
They did say APU right? So possible that it is AMD, maybe even part of the same tech in X1? Would love to see Broadwell in it, especially if it is going to be running some sort of 3D modeling apps, versions of photoshop (maybe) for example, Zbrush, etc. I would trust Intel here over a low power Jag based apu.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Well, looks like one of the reasons for the Minecraft purchase may be linked to this device...
From a very interesting article that is worth the read. http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-nadella/
Smart that everything you need to start development of apps for the HoloLens (or anything holographic) is standard with Windows 10, it appears.
Also interesting that the existence of this project owes itself to Steve Ballmer, as it has been in development for 5 years now. As much as people love to hate him. He did much to keep MS constantly moving forward.
Regards,
SB
From a very interesting article that is worth the read. http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-nadella/
Smart that everything you need to start development of apps for the HoloLens (or anything holographic) is standard with Windows 10, it appears.
Also interesting that the existence of this project owes itself to Steve Ballmer, as it has been in development for 5 years now. As much as people love to hate him. He did much to keep MS constantly moving forward.
Regards,
SB
Engadget talks about their hands-on with today's 4 demos...
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/21/microsoft-hololens-hands-on/
Tommy McClain
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/21/microsoft-hololens-hands-on/
Tommy McClain
(((interference)))
Veteran
So this is basically Fortaleza which we've known they've been working on from their 2013 leaked vision doc.
Biggest problem (vs Oculus/Morpheus) is that the objects i renders won't appear solid but slightly transparent, but it'll definitely be very useful for non-gaming uses (3D modelling, visualisation etc).
Biggest problem (vs Oculus/Morpheus) is that the objects i renders won't appear solid but slightly transparent, but it'll definitely be very useful for non-gaming uses (3D modelling, visualisation etc).
Gizmodo on HoloLens hand-on
http://gizmodo.com/project-hololens-hands-on-incredible-amazing-prototy-1680934585
http://gizmodo.com/project-hololens-hands-on-incredible-amazing-prototy-1680934585
I'm not sure I can agree
http://www.techinsights.com/teardown.com/samsung-note-4-galaxy-alpha/
The note 4 processor was $40.50 the celluar/wifi /Bluetooth cost 12.50 the sdram was only $5 and the nand $9 .
The
The note 4 has 3 GB of lpddr 3 and 32GB MLC and the cpu is a pretty fast quad core cpu.
We'd need to know more about the Hpu but I think it be a large leap to get past the several hundred dollar range
Another article from Engadget on the specs that they could get...
They did have this...
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Tom's Hardware Hands-On
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/hololens-hands-on,news-20341.html
Tommy McClain
not much
They did have this...
Tom's Hardware Hands-On
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/hololens-hands-on,news-20341.html
Tommy McClain
Silent_Buddha
Legend
That's also ignoring a custom sensor to track pupil and eye movement.
The multiple custom sensors for motion control and depth sensing.
Likely multiple audio output devices.
Special "holographic" (for lack of a better term) lenses and potentially a custom light projection unit.
And much of that miniaturized. The Kinect like sensors are likely far smaller and far more expensive than the Kinect 2 sensors, for example.
This thing has more custom hardware and is significantly more powerful than a Nokia Lumia 1020. It's likely more powerful than either console albeit quite likely with a weaker GPU. Sure it may be possible for the BOM to only be around 500 USD, but MS are likely to want to make a profit on the unit as well.
Much of those components aren't likely to enjoy the economies of scale of most of the components found in any given tablet/smartphone. And add to that, they aren't looking for 300 USD tablet margin levels. They are more likely looking at iPad/iPhone margin levels. It's a premium device unlike anything else on the market. It has significantly more hardware and more complex hardware than the Oculus Rift and that is shooting for a 300 USD price point. For a dumb (meaning no advanced computing like being able to run Windows 10) display.
This is Oculus Rift + Full on computer + multiple sensors + more advanced display + self contained power unit. I don't see MS subsidizing the unit when there are no serious competitors to it. Competition may arise in the future, but it's probably safe to say that MS has a leg up on anyone trying to do something similar.
Regards,
SB
