Niantic has been a fairly active investor in the augmented reality hardware space, so there is also the possibility that they’ve done a branding partnership with a startup on a project, but this cryptic image crop is certainly making it look like they’re showcasing a device with first-party branding. There’s also the potential that this is a product in the “smart glasses” category that doesn’t include a display but focuses on building audio or camera functionality into a pair of glasses. Niantic has previously announced that they’ve been working with Qualcomm to help define their reference design for their XR hardware platform.
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Facebook, Apple and Niantic Bet People Are Ready for Augmented-Reality Glasses
A millimeter-scale microLED display that fits onto a contact lens to provide augmented reality is, frankly, amazing, but for it to be useful it needs to know what to display. Last month at the IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference, augmented reality contact lens startup Mojo Vision in Saratoga, Calif., reported new details of the image chip and image processing circuits that tell their display what to paint onto your retina.
tech cycle definition:
A tech cycle is usually a 30-35 year-long period that begins with the early commercialization of a group of technologies and ends with the mass adoption and daily use of the technologies by consumers, businesses and organizations.
Predictions For the XR Tech Space
Some predict the rise of AR glasses, leading to the death of smartphones. Others dream of a future where VR replaces the need to go to a physical office, with most meetings taking place in virtual environments. AI will come to life with AI-controlled avatars participating in VR worlds and advising as our own AR advisors and consultants.
We are still in the early innings of this tech cycle, we are looking at the beginning of the adoption of AR, VR, and AI (mass adoption is quite a few years out). This inevitable future has been accelerated by COVID-19, as many have turned to virtual reality and augmented reality as ways to socialize while keeping a social distance.
FRL presented their concept of the “intelligent click,” a series of gestures, some large, some nearly unconscious nerve impulses, detected by a wrist band. This would communicate intent to the operating AI which would know, and anticipate, what the user needs to know, before the user knows they need it.
its goal is a “human centered interface,” which will use preferences and surroundings to infer intent, creating an “ultra low friction” computing experience.
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more on AR in this IMS blog https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=Augmented+reality
While COVID is driving clinical learning to VR, the teaching of human anatomy — which typically takes place in the early years of a medical degree — has already shifted to virtual reality in some universities. Case Western Reserve University’s medical school, for example, had been teaching anatomy on campus through content on Microsoft Hololens, rather than by dissecting cadavers as many universities do. Now, with students unable to come onto campus, the university has shipped headsets to students at home so they can continue learning at home.
The use of AR/VR in educational settings is on the rise, paving the way for new careers and a workforce trained to embrace technology.
If projections stay on track, the global spending on educational AR/VR is expected to rise from $1.8 billion to $12.6 billion over the next four years.
the International Data Corporation (IDC) released a report indicating that the pandemic has fueled an impressive forecast of worldwide expenditures on AR/VR, which are expected to grow from $12 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion by 2024.
rom completing spinal surgery to training at a high-tech facility, such as the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Davis Global Center, which has AR/VR and holographic technologies among its many offerings.
They’ve had huge success in China, but China is a pretty unique market. In late 2019, they expanded to Korea
the company is partnered with Deutsche Telekom and LG Uplus in Germany and Korea respectively, so it’s not too far a stretch to wager that the US branches of those carriers (T-Mobile and LG Electronics) will form at least part of their US distribution channels.
Finch Technologies makes body-tracking wearable devices to serve as controllers for XR applications and experiences including the recently announced FinchRing (this is the promised cherry on top).
The finger-worn hand tracker is designed to enable convenient and discreet 6-degree-of-freedom controls.
Tagesschau 2025 – an application based on a German news program that will present, among other features, holographic weather forecasts;
Apple’s working on solving this problem, too, according to a report in Nikkei Asia. The newspaper says that Apple is working with TSMC, its primary processor manufacturer, to develop a new kind of augmented reality display that’s printed directly on wafers, or the base layer for chips.
If Apple does eventually reveal a big leap forward in AR display technology — especially if the technology is developed and owned by Apple instead of a supplier — Apple could find itself with multi-year head-start in augmented reality as it did when the iPhone vaulted it to the head of the smartphone industry.
Apple is also adding hardware to its iPhones that hint at a headset-based future. High-end iPhones released in 2020 include advanced Lidar sensors embedded in their camera.
Microsoft has invested heavily in these kind of technologies, purchasing AltspaceVR, a social network for virtual reality, in 2018. Before it launched Hololens, it paid $150 million for intellectual property from a smartglasses pioneer.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks the most in public about his hopes for augmented reality. Last year, he said, “While I expect phones to still be our primary devices through most of this decade, at some point in the 2020s, we will get breakthrough augmented reality glasses that will redefine our relationship with technology.”
Taqtile had a compelling vision for using the Hololens for digital transformation for industrial frontline workers. The goal was to democratize expertise and make “everyone an expert.”
Taqtile’s content platform is called Manifest. It’s an enterprise platform for knowledge capture and reuse for industrial workers—a tool for structuring the “checklist” items for a particular task. It’s unlike anything we saw in the KM era. Manifest procedures contain instructions, photos, videos, pointers, and the like. If that’s not enough, it can also contact experts in real time—as with the BP Virtual Teamwork system.
