Digital Explorers' Diary #41
Today: Apple Vision Pro, AI risks and the Meta Quest 3 headset!
Welcome to the Digital Explorers' Diary #41!
A curated collection of thought-provoking topics about interactive technologies, AI, web3, sense-making, entrepreneurship, and psychology.
Executive summary:
The Apple Vision Pro Headset is a product positioning masterclass.
Meta announces the Quest 3 Headset.
And a few news around AI risks!
Apple Vision Pro Headset: A product positioning masterclass
If there is a brand that can bring awareness and adoption to new technology, it's Apple. You might have seen both incredible reviews and pessimistic ones. I'm on the former, but not for the device itself, but by the positioning of it and Apple’s end goal I’m foreseeing. And the name is on point: it’s a new vision of the future for Apple. Will they succeed?
Let's dive in!
Apple is showcasing basic usage only; why?
During the release, the usages shown are not technologically innovative. Apart from the volumetric pictures and photos, everything else was already possible many years ago.
Take a step back: what's the end goal? In the long term, Apple wants this type of device to become ubiquitous, replacing the phone and laptops. But XR headsets are still very new to most of the population. Showing complex games, an obscure "Metaverse", or intricate business uses is not going to engage new users.
It must be simple. A very large virtual screen to work or watch movies: everyone gets it. Look at the words used on the home page: in the first half, the only « tricky » word is spatial computing, and everything else is focused on explaining what that means in simple words and clear videos.
Yes, we tech nerds would have loved a communication showcasing incredible XR capabilities, but we are not the end target persona.
Is it really too expensive?
At $3,499, it's one of the most expensive headsets on the market, and related to the first argument; one will say: "Very expensive for a virtual screen!"
Yes, it's expensive, and for a reason. First, it’s Apple. We pay the brand. Then, if we look under the hood, the Vison Pro packs amazing technologies that promise incredible quality. Two processors, arrays of outward and inward cameras and sensors, depth sensor, extremely high-quality displays, and lenses…
It will sell. First, to us XR professionals, because we have to try it and have it to develop experiences on it. And it will to Apple fanboys with money, a luxury object to gain early adopters’ status, similar to the Macintosh in 1984 that sold for $2,495 at that time!
It shows how XR is difficult and totally new. Yeah, iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods are innovative, but phones, watches, and headphones existed long before. Here, Apple’s ambition is to re-invent the computer and create a totally different era. Will they succeed?
By setting a ground of extremely high quality, Apple guarantees that what might be the first XR experience for many users is flawless. Therefore driving adoption.
A focus on ease of usage
Apart from the need for custom prescription lenses, everything in the Vision Pro is oriented for ease of usage. You won't have to raise your hands to make hand gestures. Your eyes become the mouse. Your voice the keyboard.
Apple wants to transform computing, indeed. The 3D camera is transforming standard photography into spatial photography and the entertainment and work experience in spatial experiences as well.
One note about the battery. It’s external and lasts 2 hours. It might mean that the headset itself is already heavy if they judged that including the battery on the head was too much. To me, it’s the big issue with the Vision Pro. But maybe most users will use it seated and plugged in?
What I'm wondering, though...
What is the purpose of the outward screen? One of the major issues of XR headsets is the user feeling isolated from their environment and other persons, and vice-versa. Is Apple trying to solve this issue by showing the users’ eyes on the front screen, so others can still feel as if they are present?
And if we look ahead, with that outward-facing screen, has Apple invented the ultimate blend between headset and AR glasses? Similar to the AirPods, where you can choose between noise-canceling and transparency, is the Vision Pro a way to choose between full isolation and presence in a room?
And finally… Will we, in a few years, wear this type of device all day? I’m a technologist, but I really worry about unintended consequences. With TV, Social Networks, and Smartphones, we are adding abstractions, augmentations, and virtual layers from reality; and some eminent thinkers of our age think it’s one of the causes of the Meaning Crisis. A topic for another episode, maybe?
Oh, and a last fun fact. The two major game development engines are currently Unity and Unreal Engine. Apple has selected Unity. Wonder why? Maybe because Epic Games, the creator of Unreal Engine, sued Apple in 2020.
This Week's News:
Apple is dominating the news, but here are some interesting things to note:
A US Air Force official claimed that they ran a simulation where an AI-controlled drone ended up killing its human operators, but the USAF denied having run such an experiment. Even if it never happened, it’s a good example of AI risks where the AI would do anything to satisfy its optimization target.
Meta has officially announced the Meta Quest 3
At a $499,99 price tag, what is Meta sacrificing in order to pull such a (relatively) low price compared to the Quest Pro? The major one is that there is no eye/face tracking, which will prevent your expressions from being translated into your avatar.
The color cameras and depth sensor indicate a focus on Mixed Reality, which makes sense as MR was the focus of most Zuckerberg Quest videos!
Good insights, as usual, from the Clearer Thinking podcast, this time with Jim Rutt, that gave a good overview of AI risks:
AGI risk - An AI becomes more intelligent than all humans, then creates its next version, more intelligent than it, and boom, it kills all humans in the process of some goal we won’t even be aware of.
Bad usages of narrow AI: governments building social credit scores with face recognition, companies building more precise and targeted advertisements, etc.
Acceleration of the current society: more efficient supply chain, more new products, more consumerism… And probably a quicker reach of planetary boundaries.
Related, the environmental risks associated with a world dominated by computing.
Decrease of human capacity as we defer decisions to AI - basically Idiocracy becoming a reality.
From the Podcast
Every week, I’m teaming up with Guillaume Brincin and Sébastien Spas on the Lost In Immersion podcast.
We discussed the Quest 3; see above!
We have mentioned this capability many times, but it gets real: AI will bring new life to games with AI-powered characters.
The NVidia demo is a bit disappointing, though, as the highlighted conversation is quite basic. Is this a real limitation of the technology or a PR mistake?
If it’s real, it’s impressive, as there seems to be no latency.
Thanks to AI, games and virtual worlds will become more and more lively!
Most current AR lenses use only one layer of depth to display virtual elements. This is not natural for our eyes, leading to fatigue when using AR glasses for a long time. This is what companies like CREAL and Vividq are trying to solve.
This could be a key factor driving the adoption of AR glasses, as fatigue is one of the main friction points.
Tune in at 10 am UTC on Wednesdays on Twitch, and listen to the replays on Youtube!