Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts

Thursday, January 20, 2022

An Effort to do some noise reduction.



I'm offering a timeline of recent events. I think the AR space is heating up significantly, and someone is going to make a move soon. 

If we are priced taking into account the enormous number of subscriptions that the near eye display can enable.... that's great thing. (The last presentation made noises about a subscription-like model for LiDAR)

...will the ultimate valuation of the NED vertical take into consideration the enormous potential for sales of subscriptions through these devices? My bet is yes. 

In my humble opinion, that would make it worth more than Activision. (That's how I see it, you make up your own mind.)

March 2021

  • “We believe that MR/AR products could replace all display-equipped electronics in the long term” (CultofMac)

September 2021

This is a particularly interesting month. 

October 28, 2021

  • Investor Place Interview 15:10 - 15:15 RAYBAN Mentioned 
  • Barrons: Apple could replace iPhone with Augmented Reality Devices
    This might be something to ignore, but the Barrons has good credibility and Ming-Chi Kuo has excellent credibiliy in calling Apples moves and products.

    Applescoop has him at 80+% reliability -- when dealing with a company that is as secretive as Apple, that's very impressive. (His run of good calls is MUCH longer than what is on the linked page

December 28, 2021

The development must be viewed through the prism of the ongoing talent war between Apple and Meta, formerly Facebook. According to reports so far, Meta has been poaching key engineers from Apple’s silicon, augmented reality, wearable, hardware and software divisions for the past few months.

January 6, 2022


This tells me that they're in a bigger hurry than they used to be, or things have heated up and they need to accelerate their previous delivery targets.

If you can own your own OS you can have more control. If you do it faster -- you may have to share with someone else, but there may be additional benefits to being faster. (Android has been the platform so far) 

January 10, 2022

January 18, 2022

January 25, 2022 (Thanks S2upid!)




Maybe this explains better?

Big Tech AR GAME owner:

"We can make HUGE money with subscriptions to these games."
MicroVision Representative:

"I know you want to buy our Near Eye vertical based only on the "widget" value it has.

We are going to sell it to you based on the widget value PLUS the value you will get from being able to sell future subscriptions. (and ads, and in-app purchases...)

In the case of Activision, that's $68.7 Billion for 31 games.

Steam has 50,000 games. It looks like the fruit company wants to make near eye display replace all the screens... your move.

{maybe we need to focus on ads... just imagine how intrusive Facebook could be when it highlights the business it's advertising as you walk past it.}




Facebook-Ray Ban Glasses (PR started in September 2021)

FACEBOOK RAYBAN SEPTEMBER 2021 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, January 10, 2022

Recent Presentation and the Upside.

1st Things first. Whatever you buy or sell is on you. 

I know this is read by other people, but it started as a place for me to keep my notes and not lose them -- and that's largely what it still is, and I haven't been keeping as up on things as I used to.

Posts are rare now, largely because there are a lot more eyes on Microvision than there used to be and you can see a lot of discussion, references and new information on the r/mvis reddit board... 


  • The most valuable part of MicroVision is the Near Eye display. 
    • As much as the focus of the investing public is on LiDAR, don't forget this.
    •  it's big enough that I think that LiDAR could serve its primary function as a distraction.
    • Apple / Barrons -- AR device 4th Quarter 2022. (Ming-Chi Kuo rarely gets things wrong.)
      • "Apple will launch an augmented-reality headset in the fourth quarter of 2022, and could sell more than a billion of the new devices over the next 10 years, one analyst asserted in a research note Friday."
    • Replace All Screens?
  • Given 4th Quarter 2022, Near Eye Display is likely to have a breakthrough very soon.
    • Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other players are ALL working on Augmented Reality technology and content.
    • MicroVision has BEST near eye display solution in the world. 
    • The Near Eye Display could be sold as a whole at any time
    • Some other arrangement involving Near Eye Display could show up. (and value based on subscriptions -- would be most profitable for us. (Look at the Beats post, and the Microvision presentation to see that.)
  • Companies desperate for AR.... will be REALLY good for Microvision Stockholders       
  • The number of subscriptions that can be sold with AR devices is ENORMOUS. If we have the value proposition for near eye display changing to emulate the way the value proposition has just been modified for LiDAR as illustrated in the recent Microvision LiDAR presentation.... then.... we will do really well.


  • Microsoft has gotten HUGE increases in productivity with Hololens, and AR Games... will be gigantic.

I believe they are quiet about the near eye display on purpose and for strategic reasons.. (NDA, deal underway.... negotiating tactic.... )

As Snow tells me... the elephant in the room named Ned...

Regarding the presentation.....


The presentation was about LiDAR, and a new way to monetize it. That's a pretty good reason that they talked only about LiDAR.

  • The Microvision presentation changed no timelines...
  • The Presentation described a means of increasing revenue with LiDAR


Monday, June 29, 2020

The Value Question: Near Eye Display

NEAR EYE DISPLAY

The Value of MicroVision to it's share holders is going to be a portion of the total value it provides to people.... what will that be?

The Value of Use.. 
"I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list....That didn't look so good, but then someone at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle and a man on a bicycle blew the condor away. That's what a computer is to me: the computer is the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."
                                                                                 --- Steve Jobs


The Near Eye display will allow us to use that bicycle for our minds everywhere we go, everywhere we are, and with everything we do. Increasing efficiency, improving productivity. Allowing creativity to be harnessed much more easily, errors to be found and corrected earlier.

The benefits of a PC will no longer limited to a desktop, laptop, or something we have to sit down and focus on. It could be there all the while we are doing.

Kipman wasn't lying when he said they built that new game-changing device around the display that they... er... (MICROVISION) invented... While I think they're scoundrels for claiming credit for the display it is a testament to how amazing it is.

Taqtile's motto is "Everyone is an expert."  That illustrates the value very well.

Taqtile

My visit to Taqtile:

making people who don't know act as though they know. Giving them a knowledge advantage immediately. (You can walk into a facility and perform processes recorded by an expert. You don't have to be the expert to do it.)
Particularly important is Knowledge Capture

The results of this go directly to the bottom line and the efficiency improvements companies have recorded with Hololens are stunning. (a reliable 10% improvement is the stuff of wet dreams. They're getting 90% improvement.) Efficiency improvement

WHO IS WORKING WITH HOLOLENS?


King County Wastewater Treatment


Will it GAME?
Do not forget Pokemon Go. Games are HUGE, and I think the effort to come up with games for this will be huge... do not forget that there was a special introduction of a gaming company at one of the Hololens presentations.





Gaming? Microsoft bought Minecraft, has it for Hololens... and it's really popular.

Minecraft Second Most Popular Game Ever


How many companies to make AR devices using MicroVision's display?

Well, we know Microsoft, Apple, Google, Magic Leap, Facebook, and probably the big computer makers (Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Acer, etc.) will all want in on Augmented Reality.

(Remember, Kipman said "anyone can make their own hololens" and Trimble IS making their own Hololens.)

Apple is doing it --- there are enough patents and leaks to show this. Some of what they are doing is in the open with their "AR Kit." 

Google Had "Glass"

Magic Leap is AR (associated with Google)

I'm nearly certain that Hololens1 and Magic Leap used the same display.

Facebook has AR/VR  -- And also has a substantial facility right up the road from MicroVision HQ. It is unmarked and apparently. secret. (There is nothing on the outside that says "Facebook," nothing on any vehicle that brags about Facebook, no people wearing anything labeled with it can be seen outside. -- I took a picture of the front door a couple of years ago, and my phone did ask me if I wanted to tag the picture I took at Oculus.

Behind it is another facility that is part of Microsoft, and there is a shuttle running between the two campuses.

They will all need the best near-eye display they can get.
There is nothing better yet on the horizon that looks like it will be serviceable. When that appears, it may still be years before it's usable and possible to manufacture in quantity.

A side-note here. We may look at a device and think that it looks simple -- the good things are. MicroVision's core tech, which is essentially a vibrating mirror, looks really simple. Getting it to work as it has to -- and then also assembling the components is anything but simple. Making the sub-components-- the mirror, the magnets, etc., to the precision required is not a simple process. Developing a reliable way to do this in quantity had to be extraordinarily difficult and time consuming. This has made it difficult in the past for holders of MicroVision -- because we were waiting, and it seemed like nothing was happening. This is now a hurdle that MicroVision has cleared. Any potential competing technology has yet to clear this hurdle, and it's a significant one. The distance between prototype and released product is huge.


What are the "killer" applications?

An important question with any new technology. (If you have the first fax machine -- it's cool but useless... there has to be something to DO with it.)

This should not be a problem with AR.

Personal computers were around prior to the early 1980's. They were basically toys, things to tinker with, until the killer app, arrived.
In marketing terminology, a killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is any computer program or software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, a video game console, software, a programming language, a software platform, or an operating system.[1] In other words, consumers would buy the (usually expensive) hardware just to run that application. A killer app can substantially increase sales of the platform on which it runs.[2][3]
For the PC the killer application was the spreadsheet. It took what could be an astonishingly tedious task (prone to errors) and made it happen in a twinkle. (No time to explain it in detail here, but trust me and check here: Visicalc BBC)

After the arrival of the spreadsheet, the PC went crazy.

The killer app for Hololens?

There are several already. Trimble has one - Overlay of design in the physical world.  This increases efficiency in construction hugely and doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how it would. It will save a lot of time and therefore a lot of money. Problems will become apparent more quickly, be solved sooner, and best -- they'll be solved while they're potential problems instead of real ones.


"Benefits every industry that deals with 3D spatial data." Nearly everything we deal with is "3D." -- so the appeal is broad.



Knowledge Capture. This can be used already, and it's huge. You don't need to "train" someone for a job, you have your smartest person do it.... and those who come after can copy. (Everyone's an expert.)

What I am looking forward to most, is being able to learn languages.

An endlessly patient teacher that scans the environment and labels everything in the target language? Sign me up.


How big will the use of Augmented Reality Be?

Microsoft itself said that Hololens would be bigger than the PC.

Microsoft's Stock was worth about $0.09 in 1986; 10 years later in 1996 it was worth $9.00 (A 9,900% Gain.) If we consider Microsoft until the introduction of the X-Box (2001) You get about $30/share (A 33,000% Gain) -- That's perspective on "how big can augmented reality be."

The PC is huge, because it's nearly ubiquitous. It's everywhere. Hololens will be more everywhere, because it can be 'more everywhere' -- not anchored to a desk, table or lap. If you want to use a PC you have to look away from whatever else might be around and focus on the PC... not so with hololens.

In 1976 the number of PCS being used in the US was effectively zero, Apple showed up then and sold some. Then Radio Shack hat the TSR-80 --- by the year 2000 PCs were literally everywhere. They continue to get better.

How much will they earn? 

(and how much will someone pay for those earnings?)

Any answer to this question is guesswork. The value will be significant, because the value it brings to the user will be significant.

There is no good way to come up with this number... {I readily admit that this is guesswork. You are reading guesses. Don't make your decisions based on my guesswork, base your decisions on your own guesswork. If you have a solid critique or method of guessing that you think is better than mine, I'd be happy to read, consider and possibly post it too.... if we get enough people working on it, we might actually arrive at a good guess.

 To do this, I'm going to plop some possibly numbers into the Personal Computer "killer application" and see where the numbers lead.

I like to come up with a couple of frameworks of thinking (always willing to throw an unworkable framework out) and sort of come up with a range. (And after wrestling with this for quite some time, have decided to rely on the fairly basic model below. --- it could be wildly off... I admit that, but it involves the least guessing.)

Method 1 (I claim no accuracy, this is a framework.)

  • $70 Billion Euros for the next four years --- my SWAG then is $100 billion in the next FIVE years, which is my preferred time horizon. (since a euro is 1.1 USD I'll consider them equivalent.)
  • Assume that a display would account for about 10% of the price of the computer. ($900 computer, $900 software + $200 for a monitor) 
  • Use 10% of the total AR market for display
  • Use 1/2 of the 10% as the MicroVision share. 
 $100 Billion * .1 =$10 Billion *.5 = $5Billion.

Using this method my SWAG(scientific wild-ass guess) is $5Billion (Divide into the 140 million shares = $35/share (To be conservative, cut it in half again) = $17/share (This vertical)

After spending some time thinking about it, that's the only guess I'm willing to make here... it's taking an "accepted number" and extrapolating. Trying to anticipate the market with all its variables is a daunting task, and probably not worth the effort, because EACH stage is guess work. I could be off by miles already -- but I think the guess is reasonable and the theory sound.

Some of the basis I'm using came from the video below. (It says $70 Billion in the next four years)


Errors happen all the time with data... they happen even more with speculative future-anticipating  (I know this) Read this for some background: I'm skeptical of Data

 

Quick Summary so far:

Interactive Display SWAG = $14
Near Eye Display SWAG   = $17-35
LiDAR............................... = ?
Display only.......................= ?
                                            = $31-49

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Quantas Virtual Cockpit

This would make me very happy. Right now, I'm doing some initial training with a few posters hung up. This would be fantastic.

Hey Microsoft, do you have this in CRJ-200?

Microsoft


Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Race to Replace Smart Phones

Got the heads up on this from a couple of different sources last night and this morning.

This is where we are.


Given that Microsoft is shipping... it will be happening sooner than CNBC thinks.

CNBC

Fox News


The video is from Fox news.... I've had trouble getting it to play.

****

****



Most of the biggest names in Big Tech are racing to create smart glasses that we wear everywhere and that may replace our phones.

Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Snap, Facebook Apple, Magic Leap and others are all working on some form of smart glasses or headset that will change how we view the world around us. Instead of pulling a phone out of our pockets to talk to people or interact with apps, we may do these things simply by speaking to, and looking through, a set of glasses.

There’s a race to be the first to make a set of glasses that everyone will wear, which means they have to be fashionable and sleek enough to wear all day and everywhere you go. Advocates of the technology hope that you’ll one day be able to replace every screen in your life with just one pair of smart glasses.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Tetra Pack

https://www.tahawultech.com/magazines/tetrapak-on-delivering-smart-factory/


We’re using new technologies for predictive maintenance and remote support through wearable technology, such as HoloLens – this takes away the necessity of being reliant on a specific skillset in each and every market. In turn producers have less downtime and save resources. We have set this up in 56 customers’ sites already. This is growing and depending on what service agreement we have with our customers, there’s more or less interaction between the local workforce and the global support system.

This is an interesting something I haven't seen anywhere else before. It might be the truth or a significant error. (they're not uncommon in tech press, so I don't give this a lot of weight, but it's something to look at.... certainly, Microsoft has manufacturing partners.)

HoloLens is simply wearable technology – field engineers can wear the glasses and connect to a remote specialist, who might be sitting in Germany, Italy or any of our main production centres. It allows remote interactive support between the two. While the technology is Microsoft’s, the actual hardware is provided by Siemens.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Minecraft Earth

Everything AR on your phone will be AR with Glasses....

Minecraft is Microsoft.

The Most popular Youtube Video on Hololens.... Minecraft.

I'm still slammed, and unable to pay as much attention as I'd like... things are getting interesting again.

Thanks Mike

C|net


When is Minecraft Earth coming out?

Starting this month, Microsoft plans to roll out to individual regions early access to game, until it's available worldwide by the end of the fall. Once it hits your area, you can start playing.
Sign up to be part of the Minecraft Earth early access program. Android users can also preregister for the game and get a notification when it's available. 

 





Sunday, September 15, 2019

Hololens "Astounds" workers at Toyota

I remain sure that demand will be higher than Microsoft originally anticipated.

Seeing this, and knowing that Toyota has clearly invested time and effort to study this... you have to ask yourself "are they going to us it more, or less?"


MS Hololens and the AR glasses that could see a boost in productivity. (I didn't make it through the pay wall.)

Microsoft

Inspection of paint thickness 

The eye-catching finish of a new car does not come easy. At Toyota, the coating film thickness of every vehicle goes through a strict inspection process to ensure it is uniform and evenly distributed. Until now, that had been a laborious task. Custom-made papers — with holes at regular intervals — had to be cut and carefully applied onto a car’s curved surface. The holes served as guides for workers with measuring equipment, who scan the whole vehicle.

The process was tedious. A single inspection would take two people an entire day to complete.
With HoloLens, the process of inspecting paint thickness of new cars has reduced from a day to two hours.
Now with HoloLens, one person can do in just two hours.

Kayano’s have designed an app that enables them to skip the cut and paste process. Using HoloLens, a digital array of dots is projected directly onto a real car. Workers with HoloLens headset scan and inspect a car’s painted surface quickly and easily. This increases their productivity and frees up their time to do more meaningful tasks.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

It's there, but not there.

To the largest part of the market(where the most money is moved,) the idea that Microsoft will make any headway with Hololens is speculative.

I expect we'd hear this if we asked them about it: "We've heard something about it, and saw something once, and... show me. Until then I have paying customers who want to get into UBER."

Microsoft hasn't really made any efforts to move it into the mass market yet.

If you go to their store and look up devices, it's not even listed. (VR and virtual reality are listed) but then you end up on the splash screen below... where Hololens will appear...second -- after Facebook's Oculus Rift. 

Hololens is there, but not really there. If you're going out of your way to find it, you can find it. If you just wait for it to jump in front of you... it's not going to happen. 

In spite of all of the glowing reviews - amazing results and demonstrations - and the huge Military contract for the device, the most popular video about it on YouTube is about.... Minecraft. (Has less than 5 million views... ) The amazing demonstrations of it in use improving productivity are way down the list. (They don't need YouTube to get the word out to people who will employ it that way.)

The idea that Microvision is in the Hololens is secondary speculation. Which in my view both painful and awesome.

We do not have definitive proof that MicroVision's tech is in the Hololens, but there's enough evidence that it could win the court case, and the appeals.

Meanwhile, there are 1.7 billion shares of UBER, trading at $33. It has a market cap of 57 Billion, and loses $3 per share. --- but it's popular, and people like to throw their money into it.

Given the behavior of Microsoft around Hololens.... when they do their media blitz they will get it a lot of attention... and the part of the market where the most money is moved will notice.




Friday, August 9, 2019

Microsoft - Samsung relationship deserves to be watched.




WindowsBlog

Smarthouse

Samsung and Microsoft will team up on a suite of new product integrations, combining their sizeable market powers against Google and Apple.

Microsoft Word recently became one of the rare Android apps not made by Google or Facebook to pass 1 billion downloads, thanks in part to the app often coming pre-installed on new phones.

Samsung plans to ship the Note 10 with Microsoft’s Your Phone app pre-installed too, which mirrors text messages and notifications onto Windows 10 PCs.

Microsoft head of mobile and cross-device experiences Shilpa Ranganathan announced this morning the app will also let users make and receive calls from their PC later this year, similar to a feature that allows Mac users to place calls from their computer through a connected iPhone.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Availability of Hololens 2?

Based on this (likely from a Press Release... still looking) and from Microsoft Store, I'll hazard a guess the release is soon.

They're releasing a 90 day trial version of their software with additional Hololens 2 features.

It also suggests there may be other versions of Hololens 2 available very soon. (Hololens OR Windows Mixed Reality Immersive Headset Required)

Further, it looks like it will be a wide release, with support over a wide area.



Dynamics 365 gets new Hololens 2 experience


Some changes have been brought for HoloLens 2 as well. To start off, Layout will automatically be downloaded and installed on HoloLens 2 during its start-up, with users being able to immediately access the app using their Azure Active Directory credentials. Furthermore, there is now improved localization support for Layout on the mixed reality headset, with support for the following locales becoming available:

  • US
  • Canada (English and French)
  • UK
  • Australia
  • Germany
  • France
  • China
  • Japan
  • Taiwan (no speech support)
  • Hong Kong (no speech support)
Microsoft recently announced new integrations for Dynamics 365 ahead of its ongoing Inspire 2019 partner's conference. If you do not currently own Layout, you can download it here from the Microsoft Store for a free 90-day trial.

Upon download, users will have access to Layout free of charge for 90 days. After the 90 day trial period, a paid Dynamics 365 Layout license is required. Important note: Microsoft HoloLens or Windows Mixed Reality immersive headset are required to use Layout for more information on how to purchase layout, contact a Microsoft representative 

Monday, July 8, 2019

Driveby at Oculus

I drove by again the facility that is Oculus in Redmond. (Traveling and had a little time to kill.) The facility is about 4 miles from Microvision's HQ

A couple of years ago when I drove by and took a picture my phone asked if I wanted to tag the picture I took at Oculus. 

The outside of the building is absolutely unmarked. Nothing that says Facebook anywhere.

This is a picture of the directory -- 9845 is Facebook.


New outside is the "intercampus shuttle" -- which tells me that they either already have an additional facility, or they are going to some other company's campus. (The Microsoft HQ they call a "campus") This sign is in front of Facebook's building, not Microsoft's. 


And I'm not an HVAC expert, (maybe someone here is, but this looks like a cooling system that is behind Facebook's building. Interesting the amount of security around it, and it sure sounded like things were running.

If anyone can add any color to what might be going on here, I'd be interested. (needing really cold temperatures for something?)




Sunday, June 30, 2019

Samsung a new kind of display

This patent references multiple ways of delivering data to a screen -- to projecting imagery -- which is the key part of the Microvision thesis.

There is nearly endless demand to deliver imagery to consumers. They are all hungry for data, information to be delivered to them electronically. 

People also want those devices delivering data to them to be small and portable.

Microvision's tech uses lasers --- the most efficient way to produce light --- to deliver imagery to consumers. It can be small, portable, and if you want to hang it on a wall, or conceal it in plain site, it's the ticket.

Some larger devices that can be plugged in, hardwired and focused at a fixed distance may use other technology -- that's fine, there's a lot of room in the space.

When you want it tiny, portable and energy efficiency is key... MicroVision's tech rules.

Confidence is pretty high with me that at least one Major Player will use Microvision's Interactive Display. (Amazon) and also quite high that the contract that exists to produce the display only projection is Sharp/Foxconn (the world's #1 electronics maker)


Patently Mobile

Thanks Ron


Early last month the US Patent & Trademark Office published a granted patent from Samsung relating to a new kind of portable projector that could sit on a table, like our cover graphic illustrates, or be easily attached to a wall to show slides, pictures, videos or simply watch live TV. The projection system could be controlled by a smartphone or any other kind of computer such as a tablet, laptop, desktop, wearable device like a smartwatch or even a set-top-box.

(DMD / LCOS / DLP)

Furthermore, the laser scheme may include a light source that consists of a red light emitting device, a green light emitting device, and a blue light emitting device, an optical tunnel to which laser light emitted from the light source is incident, and a display device configured to project an image onto a screen using the laser light incident through the optical tunnel. The laser scheme may also include, as a projection module, a structure including a synthesis module for performing synthesis by transmitting or reflecting some colors of the laser light emitted from the light source and a speckle remover for removing speckles by irregularly changing a phase of the laser light synthesized through the synthesis module.


The sensor module may be an array of sensors that measure a physical quantity or sense an operation state of the electronic device and may convert the measured or sensed information into an electric signal. The sensor module may include, for example, a gesture sensor; a gyro sensor; an acceleration sensor;  an ultrasonic sensor; an infrared sensor; a Hall effect sensor; a proximity sensor; 140G; and an illumination sensor.

Chasing Holograms

Thanks Ron!

Friday, June 14, 2019

Universities Using Hololens....

Thanks Joe for sending this. Great stuff.

You just have to ask yourself if you think MVIS is in this or not? I think it is.



zdnet

"Imagine an EMT at an emergency scene, wearing a HoloLens and communicating with a clinician in a hospital. It allows more in-depth care. The EMT can act as the eyes and the hands of the clinician. They can use the HoloLens to see the patient, put virtual marks on patient that the EMT can act on, all the while talking to the EMT on the scene."

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab created Mathland, an app inspired by Seymour Papert's vision for a "math land" where people would learn mathematics as naturally as they would learn a language in a foreign land. 


I'm glad someone is on to my favorite idea of the way I'd like to use Hololens... 

Another app,
Wordsense, helps users learn a second language by detecting objects in the user's environment and labeling them in the target language, as well as by providing a word's definition, sounding it out, and using it in a sentence.

an app called HoloArt allows users to paint with Holograms in mixed reality. That project would likely appeal to a University of Michigan researcher, who's developing curricula centered on augmented and virtual reality. The classes are actually being offered at UM, and evidently there's a waiting list.


Microsoft is counting it a win.

Friday, May 31, 2019

Verizon 5G, Hololens and Treating Cancer

Thanks Fuzzie

I think this illustrates what kind of resolution we might be dealing with -- and applications.

If you aren't REALLY excited about this tech you have no imagination.

This also adds another Tier 1 company to the radar... Interesting how much Hololens gets play with a 5G commercial from a mobile carrier..... there are a few dots that haven't been connected here.

The video is very oddly locked, and I haven't been able to find it to embed it from YouTube. (It might a kind of pre-release of the video, considering it's in Adweek - or that the NBA has something to do with it.)




Adweek

Monday, May 27, 2019

A story that can now be told

I attended a presentation during the last half of 2018, which resulted in a very interesting exchange. I haven't shared the story of it with more than a few people and then over the phone or in person. 

At some point during the last half of 2018, I attended a presentation hosted by an employee of a Seattle Tier One company. 
The presentation was about creating applications for a family of devices, and given primarily to independent developers.
At the end of the presentation there was a call for questions: a number of interesting questions were asked, and several were asking for details about upcoming features. Each of the questions about new features received the same response: "I'm sorry, I can't comment on any upcoming features." 

The same answer, each time, even if the potential feature would be relatively mundane and not particularly exciting.

After the third such response, I kept my hand down, knowing that my question would NOT be answered.

When all of the official presentation was complete, I realized that I did have a question that could be answered.

I approached the presenter, listened to the other people with additional questions, and when I had my chance I said, "I had a question that I know you can't answer, so I won't ask, but I have another one." 

As I took a breath to ask the good question, I heard: "That's okay, try me." 

"Okay" I said, "So when is this device getting the interactive laser display?"

The physical response to this was significant: shock, perhaps a little fear -- a definite recognition.

"You're right, I can't confirm or deny any such thing."

It appeared I'd struck a nerve, and I gave some reassurance afterwards that I wouldn't try to lay any verbal traps or tricks, and I wouldn't push for an answer. 

I never told the story here because I thought it could possibly jeopardize this person's position and future.

Recently, I contacted this person and asked if it was okay if I told the story now. A memory refresher was required, but the event was definitely remembered. "Ah, but I never confirmed or denied anything." -- and... "as long as you don't mention my name!"

So, I interpreted a reaction, which I think often speak pretty loudly. 


This person was adamant -- nothing was confirmed or denied, and DON'T USE MY NAME.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Visit to Taqtile -- Everyone is an Expert

I had an opportunity to meet Dirck Schou at Taqtile in Seattle this week.

Taqtile offers a suite of VR, mixed reality and mobile apps. The technology lets users view holographic maps and models of cities, build trade skills through VR learning and collaborate using 3D holographic visualization.
They are on the front lines of making 3D computing useful.  They are known for Holomaps. (Which have been demonstrated by Microsoft)

The enthusiasm for this tech is huge, and they are able to easily share one person's expertise with any number of other people. The results are extremely promising, with error reduction, time and cost savings.

I'll admit I was rather hung up on using it to train people, but there are often things that need to be done -- but only rarely.... with these tools, it's possible to simply record a procedure --- and the next person, using Hololens, could be walked through the entire procedure and do it exactly, without having to learn it.

In their meeting room I walked through a pre-flight of a Cessna 172 -- as though the airplane were in the room with us. It was fantastic.

---- the bottom line is that the benefits of this go straight to the bottom line. There is an immediate and measurable benefit to using this tech.

It's difficult to find investing opportunities where this is true and it's still unknown.  (people still think this is science fiction, but it's real.)




I see Manifest like the Adobe Creative Suite for Hololens. Their tagline is "Everyone is an expert." Their software can help people easily take an augmented reality device (they work with Magic Leap, Hololens & iPad... other devices were mentioned.)

AUTHOR
Subject matter experts (Authors) can intuitively create stored step-by-step procedures with minimal training. Manifest does not require specialized knowledge of 3D, CAD publishing tools, or coding to create guided content.


ANNOTATE
Overlay markers and position indicators to identify key components and locations upon real-world equipment. Text instructions, 3D ink annotations, and attached document bookmarks can be created with ease.


CAPTURE
In situ recording of multimedia content like videos, pictures, and audio using a HoloLens, Magic Leap, or iPad.


COMPOSE
Utilize the Manifest web portal to easily add content such as static or animated 3D models, existing videos & pictures, as well as document & diagram attachments.



" Anyone can create content on real world equipment. Use Manifest software on a device or the Manifest web portal to quickly author stored procedures."




"With Manifest, Flow can offer demos of their featured waterjet cutting equipment like never before. Manifest allows for marketing content to be displayed over real equipment in a trade show or showroom environment, or over a digital replica so potential customers can see how it will fit in their space. Embedded video content enables prospective clients to see how the real model functions."




Holomaps by Taqtile