Surprised by MotoMod

I think this article deserves attention from everyone who follows MicroVision. 

He likes a new phone. He likes storage. (This phone can be upgraded --to hold 1000 hours of video!) But he doesn't know why he would use a projector on a phone.

This is a tech reporter -- and he doesn't know why he'd use a projector on a phone! 

So, this reporter is surprised when he likes the MotoMod projector.

We know how much better PicoP is than the projection engine they have in the MotoMod -- four times the resolution 80,0000:1 resolution vs 400:1, Brighter, focus free....

This reaction is a hurdle to overcome, but think that this guy's reaction will be to the Qualper phone. (Chris, Check this out: MicroVision Intro)

WTHI TV MotoMod Review  (More at the source)

....Last but not least was the sleeper hit for me. The projector.

I popped this open and thought wow..I have no idea what I would use this for. I go to meetings…but don’t need a projector. So i needed a real world use.

The first example of real world uses involved my six-month-old son, Alex. He has this show he loves on Baby First TV…you know, bright colors and the such. One day, I took him into our bedroom and pointed this guy at the ceiling. He LOVED it. Laying on our backs in bed, we were able to look straight up at the ceiling and see his show. That’s when I realized I loved this thing.

We like to have fun in our newsroom…using this projector also led to a couple random singing and dancing sessions as I put a music video up on the wall. It was really fun.

Now, one thing I need to note…it needs to be as dark as you can make it for this to look good. If you have even a little light, it will greatly reduce the quality of the picture.

This one was by far the most fun. Now, like the speaker…it’s bulky. This one is also pretty expensive. It will set you back $300. If you have the money to spend, check this one out. You’ll have a lot of fun with it!

Apple approached McLaren About Acquisition

So, Apple approaches a car company about an acquisition. That's interesting. What's more interesting is Robert Scoble's reaction to it on Facebook. Where did THAT come from, and what does he know that we don't? (He's forgotten more about cutting edge tech than most of us will ever know... so why this reaction?) More to watch.

More at Source

Apple has approached McLaren Technology Group, the British supercar engineer and Formula One team owner, about a potential acquisition, in the clearest sign yet that the iPhone maker is seeking to transform the automotive industry.
The California technology group, which has been working on a self-driving electric vehicle for more than two years, is considering a full takeover of McLaren or a strategic investment, according to three people briefed on the negotiations who said talks started several months ago. 

The lossmaking automotive group was likely to be valued at between £1bn and £1.5bn, the people said, adding that it was not clear a deal would be done.

That would make it Apple’s biggest acquisition since the $3bn purchase of Beats Electronics, the audio group founded by Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, in 2014.

Robohon

RoBoHon -- conversation with RoBoHon

Thanks for the heads up Joe.

Robohon Website

End of Thin Phones -- India

Gionee has been on the radar for as long as Micromax. 

The India market for PicoP will be absolutely fantastic -- the Indian people love movies and lack movie and television screens. They make more movies than we do in the US. 

We know the Qualper phone is thicker than most other smart phones out there to fit a rather extraordinary feature inside.

Many smart phone companies have been obsessed with thinness. I have never heard a person excited about how thin their new phone is. I have never heard anyone say they bought one phone over another because one was thinner. The only comments I've heard about thinness in phones is amazement that they can cram so much into so little space.


Business Insider India  (More at Source)

Gionee’s India Head deconstructed the smartphone’s future and found that there won’t be any more slim phones

...slim handsets needed to combat were overheating and lack of space in the phone for slots. 

People these days want more memories, and the slim phones didn't have any external memory slot. Now, if someone is buying a phone with a 16GB memory capacity, they often realize that space is too low for apps and media. Now unlike other phones there is no way the memory can be expanded. The only way-out for the users then is to delete apps and games and keep the essentials only. 

Vohra feels that style is a major booster to shape up the buying psyche in any Indian consumer. According to him, Gionee sells half a million devices every month in the Indian market. There are three things that determine the buying behaviour - feature function, brand value and price. 

As the economy and per capita income of people grow the value of essentials increases. There are a few buzzwords of the phone makers that the customers fall for- Full HD and 4K resolution are some of them. However, no matter how technical these terms seem to be, customers are going to judge phones on those parameters. 

There hasn't been any major innovation in mobile technology in the last 6 months. But subtly, the phones have become more functional, batteries are lasting longer, data became faster and the camera is getting better. 

Gone are the days when we used to buy a phone just for the phone. Today's smartphone that costs something above Rs 10,000 competes on camera space, video space and PC space. 

Vohra feels the future of smartphone lies on what you enable on your phone. There is a whole parallel ecosystem that is working. Be it shopping, browsing, social networking- there is a larger ecosystem working. 

Price Action

A stockholder e-mailed me this morning about why, if the Nomad is the best AR display solution out there, why isn't it getting attention.

I said "Non disclosure Agreements."

The reply said that it's not reflected in the stock price, so he's doubtful.


Well, Tobira Theraputics reminds us that sometimes, the market and the price action doesn't necessarily reflect reality.

To put this in perspective, just a week ago, TBRA was cut in half. Today it was up 720%

If we rise by as much we could be $10 in a single day.

Often, the all-knowing market -- doesn't really know.

Augmented Reality way better than Virtual Reality

Following this guy, this trend, and this tech. Microvision is well positioned here.

More at the source

"From the very beginning, our games were about encouraging people to go outside and see interesting places," Hanke said. "So [I have] mixed feelings about people looking at their screen while we’re trying to lead them out into the park where they can see the statue and trees and nature."

"Maybe at some point in the future there will be augmented reality glasses which overlay Pokémon and other things seamlessly into our environment," he added. "But those don’t exist yet, so we’re looking for those interim steps."

Buy A Vespa?

Augmented and Virtual reality in advertisement. This is the most interesting one I saw in the article. I believe that Augmented Reality development should happen faster than we expect (Businesses are already using it for training, advertising, and people are using it for games... the public is pulling on it, and gets it immediately)



SearchEngineJournal

Cool display for medical school....

Thanks Jason

New display tech will make us better at a lot of things. 

This is probably from a headset --- and Microvision will have a place there. Still the best display for AR headwear that I know of.  -- still a LOT of work to do with software, and interface -- but demand seems to be pulling this tech forward a lot faster than was expected.

The Practical Future of Augmented Reality

So far, the best display for AR is Microvision -- their Nomad headset had a distinct field of view advantage over anything else I tried. I think the company is well positioned in this technology.

This kind of report about a new technology is awesome. Industries are pulling to get this adopted... they want it, and even though the Hololens device is still a "development version" companies are out there creating solutions like this for it. I think this means that development will happen at a faster pace than we think.

That -- and the most wildly popular mobile game created would thrive with this hardware. It was the most popular ever in just a couple of weeks. And it brings people together--- doesn't separate them like virtual reality.

Expectations are super high for Augmented Reality -- and Microvision has a great place in it.



imeche

Microsoft Blog

Interview with Pokemon Go Chief

This is pretty interesting, and I think PicoP, once in a mass market product will experience growth on a similar trajectory. 

And I think PicoP is the perfect Pokemon Go accessory.


Venture beat

Hanke: If we could have seen the future we would have provisioned for 500 million downloads in two months. But if we had told anyone that was our plan, we would have sounded insane. I don’t know how you plan for something as strange as the way it took off virally. We just had to play catch up. I wish we’d had everything provisioned in advance, but I don’t know how any of us could have anticipated that.

**

We thought about Pokémon because the story of Pokémon, the notion of becoming a trainer and going out into the world, it’s really the perfect setting for an augmented reality game. At the same time, independent of all that, a guy on the Google Maps team was collaborating with the Pokémon Company to do this April Fool’s mashup for Maps. Some of you probably saw that, when Pokémon appeared all over Google Maps. Once we saw that we realized we had to do this.

We went to Tokyo and pitched the Pokémon Company. They were super excited. They’d been playing Ingress and the immediately got that this real-world gaming concept would fit perfectly with Pokémon. We started in, and it was in development for about two years before we launched.

**

Hanke: It’s not exclusive. Our mission as a company is to evangelize this whole concept of playing game outside, real world games, what we call augmented reality games. We want lots of people to create games like that. Our technology is a platform that can be used to make these experiences. We’re interested in moving that genre of games forward. A part of that is moving people away from looking at their phone all the time and enabling them to enjoy the people around them, to walk around and see the sights while you’re also playing the game. Apple Watch is a great vehicle for that.

***

Working with Apple on that was amazing. It was amazing to be part of an Apple event. Even after a decade at Google, to go through the preparation and everything Apple does for one of their big launch events was illuminating. It’s an interesting piece of hardware. The stand-alone functionality with the GPS, faster processor, waterproof, I like where they’re going with that.

We also have the Pokémon Go Plus, which is a low-cost $35 device that pairs with your smartphone and gives you the ability to play heads-up while you’re walking or running or biking. That’s an interesting part of the strategy. If other devices come on the market, like Android devices, or devices from other quadrants that are interesting for active, mobile gameplay, we’ll look into supporting those too.