i wouldn’t normally be concerned since any company releasing a VR product with this price tag is obviously going to fail… but it’s apple and somehow through exquisite branding and sleek design they have managed to create something that resonated with “tech reviewers” and rich folk who can afford it.
what’s really concerning is that it’s not marketed as a new VR headset, it’s marketed by apple and these “tech reviewers” as the new iphone, something you take with you everywhere and do your daily tasks in, consume content in etc…
and it’s dystopian. imagine you are watching youtube on this thing and when an ad shows up, you can’t look away, even if you try to they can track your eye movement and just move the window, you can’t mute it, you certainly cannot install adblock on it, you are forced to watch the ad until it satisfies apple or you just give up and take out the headset.
this is why i think all these tech giants (google meta apple etc) were/are interested in the “metaverse”. it holds both your vision and your hearing hostage, you cannot do anything else when using it but to just use the thing. a 100% efficiency attention machine, completely blocking you from the outside world.
i’m not concerned about this iteration as much as people are not hyped about this iteration. just like how people are hyped about the next apple vision, i’m more worried about the next iterations with somewhat lower price tag and better software availability. i hope it flops and i know it probably won’t achieve any sort of mainstream adoption even if it’s deemed a success because it probably can’t get less bulky and look less dorky, but the possibility is still worrying. what are your thoughts?
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I will continue not using it. I was interested in Oculus until they sold to FB and then I nope’d right out of that. I really did think VR was neat, but various things kept me from pulling the trigger. If it becomes the only way to use chunks of the internet, I just won’t use them; I grew up still in the analog world (though we did have BBS and very early dial-up in the '80s), and I could go back to it. I’d honestly miss educational content more than anything else, but I can get books. In my lifetime, that strategy would probably still work fine.
and it’s dystopian. imagine you are watching youtube on this thing and when an ad shows up, you can’t look away, even if you try to they can track your eye movement and just move the window, you can’t mute it, you certainly cannot install adblock on it, you are forced to watch the ad until it satisfies apple or you just give up and take out the headset.
I don’t see any difference to an iPhone there. If they wanted to, they could already track whether you’re looking at the ad (using the camera) or whether you muted it. You can turn off an iPhone, you can take off a Vision Pro. Apple hasn’t exactly been known for intrusive ads either.
NGL I saw the title and didn’t expect much from this. Good effort post, way to change my mind on this topic.
I worry about how consumerism and capitalism will kill us all but I don’t give a shit about this in particular. If I saw one in the wild the first thing I would do is give the owner and endless stream of shit for buying such a stupid waste of money.
i’m probably not gonna see one in the wild since income levels here does not allow discretionary spending of 3500 dollars, but don’t needlessly antagonize people. just tell 'em it looks cheap and move on it will do more damage than recognizing it’s an expensive gadget :)
I’ll interact with the world the way I see fit, thanks.
Exact mentality of every asshole everywhere
I don’t care what you think.
What if the person with the Vision Pro got it to help with a physical disability, and it has greatly improved their quality of life? Or what if it was gifted to them by a now passed friend or family member, and now holds a great deal of sentimental value to that individual? Do you not agree that criticizing in these (and likely many other) instances would be an asshole move on your part?
You don’t know how or why they obtained it, and their possession of it does not harm you in any way, shape, or form. Do you still not agree that being vocally and directly critical of the other person’s simple possession of this item is an asshole move?
People said exactly the same thing about smart phones when they first came out.
No they didn’t. Cell phones were magic in the 90s and every major iteration was met with rampant consumerism. No one, at any point, said holding an internet connected device in your hand was stupid. Find me ONE article.
https://mashable.com/article/iphone-2g-original-naysayers
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/saw-this-on-reddit-tonight-a-2007-iphone-will-fail-column.2240010/ (can’t seem to find the original article, so this is commentary and quotes from what the article said at the time)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7419784 (additional quotes and commentary on the same Bloomberg article, with other similar articles mentioned)
http://suckbusters2.blogspot.com/2007/06/apple-iphone-debut-to-flop-product-to.html?m=1 (good summary of the points that were made in opposition)
Android was going to be very different before the iPhone was revealed. That moment very clearly ushered in a new era for smartphones and phone technology in general. Now smartphones weren’t just for business people with an IT team for support, or wealthier and tech savvy individuals, they were for the masses. That undeniably changed the world (for better or worse), and there’s no way anyone could have predicted the outcome with any confidence at the time.
Perhaps Vision Pro will be a success and usher in a new revolution in technology, or perhaps it will only ever be a niche device, or maybe it flops altogether in a short amount of time. No one can say for sure how things will play out until it happens.
I think about the Vision like I think about a new Gucci bag or a new set of Air Jordans. There’s a small, but very visible, community that is super into that product, probably for reasons not related to its actual functionality. The difference is that there’s a lot of overlap between Apple fans and broader technology enthusiast groups, where we’re more isolated from the Gucci and Jordan communities. There are lots of brand-based fan groups who will happily accept branded merch or content, but not interpret that as ‘advertising.’
The rest of the world tolerates spyware and especially ads if they feel like the product is worth the intrusion. There’s a reason Meta doesn’t have a logo watermark foating in the corner of Quest view field. There’s a reason VR is still very niche, almost entirely limited to gaming.
Maybe Vision’s AR experience will change that. Maybe viewing your entire life through a video camera with overlaid graphics has real-world value beyond privacy in co-working spaces. I doubt that value is $3000 and think Vision is more like Apple’s Newton than Apple’s iPhone.
It’s probably more like the Apple II than the Newton or iPhone. It cost $1300 at the time, which is about $6300 today. For early adopters, it was a revolutionary glimpse of the future. It took another 10 years for it to become widespread.
There are so many flaws with your take I don’t even know how to reply.
I will just say that:
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$3,500 is not a price that only rich people can afford, at least in the US. Many middle class folks can afford it with ease.
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It isn’t Apple’s fault that YouTube has ads. That is Google’s doing. Apple themselves are privacy focused and I never see targeted ads on any Apple app. The only places I even see ads are in the app store and in the TV app, and the TV ads are limited to promos of upcoming shows or movies.
People are constantly bashing Apple for their premium prices and walled garden while forgetting that nobody is targeting the folks who want a privacy oriented experience without ads blasting everywhere.
I switched to iOS because I got tired of Google watching my every move and I got tired of worrying if every app I download from google’s app store has malware or not.
hey no worries i’ll be interested to hear what you have to say if you think about it more. my point wasn’t just apple bashing i just don’t think adoption of this specific product will not be good, regardless of who its custodian is.
also just a point if you can spend 3500$ on this you are either financially irresponsible or absolutely rich, both in the US context where more than 50% 60% of people are living paycheck to paycheck, and in the global context where the percentage of people that can afford this with ease is basically a rounding error.
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It’s not like they can force you to wear the headset.
Unless of course it’s used for torture by IDF or smthn.
They sort of can! Likely, the ads will pause until you put the device back on or direct your attention back to it. Unskippable ads are rolling out on day 1, I’m betting.
I’m not american and i can’t imagine a world where someone with these weird ass ski goggles don’t get laughed at.
Not everyone cares if strangers are laughing at them. Especially the rich.
They do if it gets them assaulted and their $3,500 toy stolen.
Exactly the same with smart phones back in the day. And in fact still one of the most stolen items.
Precisely. Like Apple’s headset isn’t going to have lockdown and Find My features. It’s worthless stealing an iPhone now because it can easily be locked down and rendered useless.
People used to think someone who used a cell phone in public was a weirdo too. I remember at my high school grocery store job coworkers judging someone walking down the aisle on their phone.
Wow your country sounds horrible and toxic, I hope things get better and it evolves to the point where people can live their own lives without needless bullying and abuse for trivial things.
Could you imagine not having the social freedom to wear whatever the fuck you want without having someone else loudly judge you and tell you how to act?
/u/BruceTwarzen I hope you move to a better country from that shit hole you currently reside in and heal.
Maybe that user is still in secondary/high school and deals with that. I’m being charitable by this guess.
The last time I thought about what I might be perceived as when in public was when I was in school… I’m old now and free to go out in public with my partner in bad dragon hoodies.
If it succeeds, apple will pave the way, and then other options will emerge much like has happened with smartphones. There will be some FOSS version perfectly capable of blocking ads.
I mean, you can already use Monado on Linux for fully FOSS VR. I don’t think a standalone headset with AR running Linux would be unthinkable at all, Valve already made 2 VR headsets and a handheld gaming device running Linux. They just need to combine those 2 things. There’s also already a VR Linux desktop.
I’m waiting for a better index. So damn excited for that.
I’ve not really seen any overly positive reviews. Most reviews I’ve seen talk about it like it’s this neat thing that doesn’t really have much to do in it now and are saying you’d probably only use it 1/2 hr at a time because of the hefty weight, unless you’re sitting/laying on a couch. It’s kind of a confused piece of tech because Apple is desperate to call it “spatial computing” and market it like it’s AR, but really it’s a VR headset. Yet they’re really not taking advantage of the VR aspect.
The first iPad also had shitty reviews and then it still established itself. I wouldn’t judge too early just based on these initial reviews.
I’m actually hopeful for it and hope it does ok enough and that they release a cheaper Vision SE or something that’s at least in the realm of possibility for commoners to own. I just think Apple itself is kind of confused about what this thing should be and I think their walled garden approach could hurt them in the long run on this.
Indeed. Has all the VR features, but tries to sell as AR device with little to no AR use cases with the exception of a text field opening up over a real bluetooth keyboard. Having dozens of screens and apps floating around you isn’t “AR”, it’s VR. And that you can see the real world has already been done by Occulus years ago. Sure this is a better quality and leverages the Apple ecosystem, but you can’t sell it believably as an AR device yet. That said, the apps of the first iPhone weren’t great either, so let’s see how they iterate over this 600g ski goggles.
It’s not VR if you can see the real world. That’s literally the only distinction between the two and you messed it up.
All the new Quests have a see-through function. That’s nothing new for VR devices. AVP got only 12ms delay and sacrificed FOV for image clarity, but that’s the only innovation.
it’s a toy for hype-susceptible tech-impaired rich snobs. what’s to be worried about?
Is this a copy/paste from when Google Glasses launched and then completely disappeared within months? I feel like I’ve seen this panic before.
Your problem is with capitalism and an Apple VR doesn’t change that.
Your problem is with capitalism and an Apple VR doesn’t change that.
Google glass never actually “launched” in any meaningful sense of the word, and was a rough-as-fuck user experience.
Ironically what did it in was the ability to record video. People were so panicked about being filmed that they started reacting violently to glass users (called glassholes). From that point on it sort of became a laughing stock. Not cool. A tainted product.
Apple seems to have mitigated the obvious pitfalls, let’s see how it shakes out.
In terms of privacy in public, the Vision Pro isn’t much different from Google Glass. Both have video recording capabilities, and both displayed some form of indication when recording.
The only real difference is that the Vision Pro is easier to spot in public due to the bulkier design.
It will be interesting to see if there will be similar “Glasshole” reaction to the Vision Pro once they are seen in public enough.
Not like vision peo aint also recording everything :p
And if not for the environment travking then for their passthrough and tracking.And probably a shitload of telemetry.
It’s funny that you don’t know what you don’t know. Google glass definitely launched, and is used by certain businesses. They went B2B instead of B2C and apparently did well enough.
You are right! There were enterprise editions that apparently were for sale until 2023.
Yeah, they had a surprisingly long life time, given they were created by Google.
People were complaining when newspapers were new that itd take everyones attention and make people distant. I think its great that more VR stuff is happening because the tech can be used for so much and lets people experience things they might not have otherwise.
If you were hospitalized for a long period would you rather watch the ceiling/small TV or would you want to travel the world via VR?
All new tech can be used for good or bad but we shouldnt stop progressingThis is anecdotal, but I see all of these VR rooms or stores at malls or on outlet areas where you can play with VR heat and have fun. They are almost always empty. I VERY rarely ever see people in them.
There another entertainment venue near me that has bowing and games and stuff. They also have a VR area that I have never seen open. Don’t know if it’s just constantly broken or if nobody is actually interested in it.
Went to one of these with my co-workers. We were the only ones and nobody was there before we arrived and when we left there wasn’t anybody else coming in either.
They probably have to constantly update the HW to actually get customers and then it has to be expensive enough that the few that come, make them a profit.
Eh, you’re talking what, $1500 for a headset and rig? Even if you have 4 setups at one of those kiosks the cost to have someone running it is going to quickly outpace the cost of the hardware.
I know a guy who used to run one of these businesses. He pivoted to something else because of the expenses, and hardware wasn’t the biggest. The monthly license fees for games are outrageous when you want to provide them to the public. Which means you have to constantly bet on which game’s demand will outweigh its cost on a monthly basis.
Before COVID, his place was very busy. I went many times and it was a lot of fun. His business was profitable, but because of the cost of games still not super successful.
I agree that the expense of paying someone to run the spot would quickly outpace the cost of hardware, but in his case he was running the whole thing himself. Even with nobody to pay for their time, his margins were never great.
Then COVID came along. That really killed it. No one wants to wear a VR headset that was just worn by a sweaty stranger minutes earlier during a pandemic.
someone should make a de-facebooked custom rom for the meta quest
