1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,240 It appears that Apple's vision for the future is this, a VR headset. 2 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:14,200 They're cool and quite a bit of fun, at least for a while. 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,840 And at this year's WWDC, we're expecting to see their version of it. 4 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:25,280 From what I know about Apple's history, this seems off, an Apple VR platform that seems 5 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,880 so open-ended and unresolved. I'm not confident and I don't know why. 6 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,520 So to see if I'm the only one, out of the announcement, let's ask people what they 7 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,640 want from an Apple VR headset. 8 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,800 Mark, do I look cool wearing these? 9 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,280 A little bit. Kind of, but probably just wear inside. 10 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,280 You look cooler. What? Kind of. 11 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:58,280 Kind of look like a bug. I don't know where to look. Look, like there's cameras right above your nose. 12 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,440 You look like a Star Wars alien if I just focus on that. 13 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,720 This headset has been a long time coming, actually, with rumors trickling out steadily 14 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,040 for the past eight years. 15 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:13,280 People have been speculating about the specs, but I'm more interested in the whole point 16 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:18,160 of Apple's headset. Because frankly, I think it's worth tamping down expectation. 17 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:22,120 So if I had to sum it up, it's probably not going to be amazing. 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,840 In my opinion, what they're going to probably announce or release according to all those 19 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:32,520 rumors, it's going to be kind of VR headsets with potentially C2 applications. 20 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,800 To help me on my journey, I reached out to Zane Bahamri, a lead analyst for Display Imaging, 21 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,200 as well as Eugene Fumay, Dean of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University here in Burnaby. 22 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,840 I would have preferred the straight AR solution personally. 23 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:52,480 I think there would be a lower barrier to acceptance, and more people would try it out. 24 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:58,240 I think AR actually has more potential in society at large. 25 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:03,840 The very fact you're looking at me through this VR headset, and I'm not sharing that 26 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:08,800 experience with you, is fundamentally problematic. 27 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:14,320 But I'm not too surprised that they would go to a VR setting first. 28 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:20,560 There is an opportunity to capitalize on existing VR applications, interesting graphics games, 29 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,760 and having a pass-through gives you an AR-ish experience. 30 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:30,320 The closest analog to what's expected is this, the MetaQuest Pro. 31 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,000 I've been using it for the past week, and it's really sold me on what VR offers, 32 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,240 especially in terms of immersion and sense of scale in virtual worlds. 33 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:45,680 Whoa, cool apartment! Unfortunately, it's decent hardware controlled by maddening Meta software. 34 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:53,920 But fortunately, this is what Apple does best. Take an established category that's a little lost, and then show the world how it should be done. 35 00:02:53,920 --> 00:03:01,040 It's what they did with the PC, it's what they did with the music player, it's what they did with the cell phone, and I guess what they're doing with the Apple Watch. 36 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,520 The question is, are those past successes any indication that Apple will be the company to 37 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:10,640 finally crack VR, or is this just a radically different challenge from what they faced before? 38 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:20,960 Search! We have to remember that this idea of extending reality has been around for millennia. 39 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:25,440 I mean, you know, with the development of eyeglasses and microscopes and telescopes, 40 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,400 we're kind of extending the nature of the reality we can perceive. 41 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,480 So this idea of augmenting reality has been around a long time. 42 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,880 The difference is that those were all purpose-built. 43 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:44,320 What we're dealing with here with these glass technologies is we've been through a cycle since, 44 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:49,600 you know, the mid-1960s, and they've really been largely the same kind of applications, 45 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:56,080 simulation technologies, and it's moved into the idea of immersive computer graphics environments, 46 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:02,080 games, and so on. So the cycle of applications hasn't changed that much, and the nature of the, 47 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,720 frankly, the form factor has not changed that much. 48 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:11,440 And the use case, the application is really what's missing. And I mean, if we look at the history, you opened up with the VR. 49 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,800 Don't know if you remember, 2014, Max Zuckerberg by Oculus for two billion, 50 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:22,720 and he says, no worry, we're going to start with the video gamers, and then it's going to be what he 51 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:27,120 called a social VR. It's going to be for everyone. You're going to be able to call the grandma or the 52 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:32,400 VR and so on and so forth. Lo and behold, we are many years after that, and the market is only 53 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:37,680 the video gamers and the industrial applications. I'm sure you've heard that there are a lot of 54 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:43,600 rumors that Apple's going to release a headset similar to this. What should it do? Like, what's 55 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:51,360 I don't want to watch like Netflix outside, but like maybe scan some areas, maybe make 56 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:56,720 graphs, I don't know. Final Cut Pro, my new editing setup. So you would edit Final Cut Pro in like a 57 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:01,920 virtual world? That'd be amazing. What's that movie? Minority report? Minority report, but like video 58 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:07,680 editing. I'm not an Apple. I don't have anything Apple, so I don't, if it could get my wife interested 59 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:13,280 in it, then I would buy it. Seriously, if this could get your wife into VR, that would make it work well. 60 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:20,960 Yeah. The more that being in a VR environment is more like being in the real world, this is obvious. 61 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:26,320 The more I want to try it. Yeah. Yeah, it would be cool if it can incorporate with some like 62 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:33,840 applications where you can like do like draping or some sort or pattern making. 63 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:38,800 Because gravity sketch can already do something similar with like drawing in a 3D space with 64 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:44,720 VR headsets. What would it have to do to be revolutionary and useful? You'd have to be able 65 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:52,000 to use it while it's charging. Okay. Would I want to watch a movie through an AR VR headset? 66 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:57,040 No, we already saw the problem with that with stereo televisions. You lose track of your 67 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:02,640 companions. What I would want is something where there's nothing but a gain. And there seems to be 68 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:08,320 a situation where there's a gain, but there's a demonstrable loss. So if it's win-win-win along 69 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:13,840 the way, then I'm in. Well, it's interesting you mentioned like that we've been making progress 70 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:17,840 forward, but there's always been kind of caveats. It kind of feels then that we're not getting as 71 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:23,920 far as we could. Like there's lots of obstacles in the way. What we haven't seemed to have gotten 72 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:31,040 past is getting really into the mainstream. We seem to be stuck in the early adopter world 73 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:38,400 with these technologies. Unlike, say, you know, look at where we've gone with games technologies 74 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:44,320 and how far people are willing to go to really upgrade their systems so that they get the best 75 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:50,160 possible experience. They're early adopters, but there's many others that have joined. There's a 76 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:55,600 huge momentum to the point that video games are a gigantic industry that dwarfs the moving industry. 77 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,920 So show me more gains. And you know, I'm all in if they do. 78 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,920 Like VR, the rumors of Apple's headset haven't shown a win-win though. It sounds more like a 79 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:12,080 compromise. The dream and intention from the start was to create a set of augmented reality 80 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:18,080 glasses, which wouldn't look out of place on your face while displaying an interface in your space. 81 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,920 But that's not happening. Instead, we're getting mixed reality. And that's quite new. 82 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:30,080 Using this makes that hard to see, though. Sure, I can walk around with it just fine, 83 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,320 but the effect from these cameras make me feel like Scott Pilgrim battling the X's. 84 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:39,200 And who wants to do that? In 2017, Apple launched ARKit for developers, 85 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,360 and for a few years after, they would demo how the LiDAR sensors in their pro-mobile devices 86 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:50,720 could enable such amazing experiences, like Lego on a table or overlays in clips. Perhaps the best 87 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:55,600 experience I've been able to find is the AR walking directions in Apple Maps. That would be great 88 00:07:55,600 --> 00:08:02,000 in a pair of glasses, but only if I'm willing to be seen out in public with them. What I'm hoping for 89 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:09,200 is that we see a lot of creative people looking at these beyond-games technologies, that they'll 90 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:18,080 be looking at more somber or austere applications that really will help people. And another aspect 91 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,560 of this is how do we make these devices more inclusive? But we really need creative software 92 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:26,640 people to generate and develop really interesting, inclusive applications. 93 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:32,560 So what kind of applications can we expect developers to make? Currently the most compelling 94 00:08:32,560 --> 00:08:38,960 use case for VR is gaming, but that's the one thing Apple's the worst at. If a developer wants 95 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,760 to make a game, they have to use Apple's Metal API, whereas most are using Vulkan. 96 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,880 So if you were to take the number of VR developers and cross them with the number of Metal API 97 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:54,720 developers, I imagine the Venn diagram overlap is quite slim. Not to mention if they have to give 98 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:59,520 30% of all transactions on the platform to Apple, which has already strained the company's 99 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,520 relationships with developers, even on top of App Store review struggles. 100 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:10,000 But maybe we don't need any new applications. We just need the applications we already have 101 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,960 with a new interface and in a new way, which is what Apple's done exceedingly well. The 102 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,800 Macintosh had the mouse, the iPod had the click wheel, the iPhone had multi-touch. 103 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:30,560 You know, one of the things that we really might want to think more about is the whole 104 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:36,720 nature of display systems. As I went through my understanding of computer graphics, I was forced 105 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:43,520 to learn about magic. And the magic starts with things like cathode ray tubes. They're magic. 106 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:50,640 Then we go to, you know, we went to LCDs and to LEDs, magic. But one of the things that we're stuck 107 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:59,360 with is the display. And it means that we have to go to the display. The promise of AR and VR, 108 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:05,600 in particular AR, is that we can be freed from the display as a fixed thing. 109 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,640 We actually have an opportunity to get a glimpse of what this is like with the in real 110 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,760 air glasses. And I gave Eugene a chance to try them out himself. 111 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:20,000 You know, that's really good. I think I could actually use this. That's always being the promise 112 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:28,160 of it. And that's, I think, a place where we can kind of imagine really a world where the computer, 113 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,720 and in some sense, the display disappears. It's simply part of a human visual system, 114 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:37,520 part of the cognitive processing we do. I think it will happen though. And that's, 115 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:44,400 that's really something for us to be thinking about as human beings. What will happen when we 116 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:50,240 are completely unmoored from, you know, the home office and the display systems that we 117 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:57,120 essentially have our faces stuck into. Now the display travel with us. It's kind of cool when 118 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:02,400 you think about that as it's as the promise of the technology. It's really interesting that you 119 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:07,120 bring up, you know, replacing screens because that is kind of a compelling application. And is 120 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:13,920 it really that simple? I think it is that simple. And, but then we have to have the compelling 121 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,720 applications. I could imagine sitting in the office managing Windows floating in space, 122 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:23,360 maybe even video editing a timeline that spans across the entirety of the desk. 123 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:29,440 The office use case is where meta has been trying to go and they've yet to set the world on fire. 124 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,360 But meta is an apple. 125 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:39,360 And the apple coming in would be kind of a strong commitment. So they're going to release something 126 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:45,760 that's top level that she goes through. And I'm really hoping that it creates the emulation 127 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:51,440 and the development that's needed for the whole industry because you can have the best hardware. 128 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:57,280 If you don't have anything to use it for, it's going to be useless. So you can see, right? 129 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:03,040 But you know, it's going to happen. Like this is going to happen. Does it happen now versus 130 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:10,880 the next wheel of reincarnation? That's going to be the interesting question. 131 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:18,320 So yeah, it's been a 50 some odd year process. And it'll just be very interesting to see 132 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:25,360 where we end up. I think, you know, given Apple's reputation, I think they'll likely have a very 133 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:31,760 nice looking headset. Thanks for making this Mac Address a virtual reality. If you're excited for 134 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,280 Apple's headset, give this video a like. And if you want to learn about it when it gets announced, 135 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,440 well, you might as well subscribe. Now, I'm curious in the comments below what you think 136 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,920 the right use case for one of these is.