Random Chit Chat

[Trotter]

The custom computer that I won is FINALLY on its way to me. It is supposed to be delivered Monday the 12th.

 

[PP Mguire]

SCOs aren't really that complicated. It all boils down to troubleshooting. If you or your missus are interested, the DFW office is currently looking for a few techs. The pay probably wouldn't up to what you are used to, though.

Not gonna lie, I am super comfortable where I am pay to work wise because I'm at home 90% of the time. The misses needs a job but idk if she'd cut it. She's smart and picks things up quick but she lacks in the promptness. Gets distracted very easily.

 

[PP Mguire]

@kmanmx what are your thoughts on Apple's headset?

 

[kmanmx]

@kmanmx what are your thoughts on Apple's headset?

Glad you asked as I have been reading and watching everything I can on it. I've been wanting quality AR/VR for a decade now, owned every major headset... Rift, Vive, Vive Pro, Quest, Quest 2, PSVR2, Index etc. None were good enough, all had major problems.

I think the Apple headset still has major problems.

1) I am surprised how big it is, I thought they would prioritise light and slim design. Instead they filled it with every possible piece of tech, and as a result it looks to be a similar size to the new Quest 3 and weigh similar to current headsets. Which means it's pretty heavy and I doubt it's that comfortable.

2) The battery life is dogshit. They say its a great movie experience, but the battery life can't get you through most movies. Sure you can plug it into an AC outlet but I think feature length film battery life should be a minimum, i.e. 3 to 4 hours.

3) The screens seem like they will be really great, roughly 3400 x 3400 pixels per eye, 23 million pixels over both eyes compared to "just" 16m pixels if they were standard 4K resolution.

4) Apparently the eye tracking from everyone that has used it is very quick, very reliable, and very accurate. And they use it for dynamic foveated rendering to supersample the area of the screen you are looking at, making things look even better than the circa 4k screens would provide natively.

5) Seems like they got the gesture input down pretty well, almost everyone praised it. It's supposedly very robust, you can use the pinch gesture with your hands on your lap, down by your side, infront of your face etc. Pretty much everywhere except behind your head. The hand tracking is supposed to very precise, enough for you to draw and write (not that you'd actually want to)

6) Ray traced spatial audio that takes into account the geometry of your room, the items inside it and even the materials they are made of to accurately calculate the acoustics. Interested to try that, as I quite like even the basic spatial audio they currently have in AirPods.

7) It's both VERY EXPENSIVE and yet somehow not entirely unreasonable. They charge what, $1200 for an iPhone 14 Pro which contains one OLED screen, 3 cameras and an A16 SoC. So $3500 for two greater than 4K MicroOLEDs (which are way more expensive than normal OLED), two desktop class SOCs, and 17 cameras/sensors doesn't seem that bad to me. It's priced the same as HoloLens and Magic Leap, yet is a significantly better spec than both of them.

8) Apple invented their own 3D cameras and filmed a bunch of sporting events, music concerts and so on, just for the headset. Anecdotal reports said it looked very good, and was potentially compelling enough to make a purchase worthwhile. Depends how much content they deliver.

9) The eye passthru video with the 3D lenticular display is... I don't know. I can't decide. It's either terrible or great. I think I need to see it and try it in person to decide.

10) The hand occlusion looks really good, they seem to have done a great job at close to perfectly masking your hand into the virtual world better than i've seen on any other device. I guess that's what $3500 of hardware and sensors gets you. That said, i'm sure it still has fail states where part of your hand disappears or it pulls parts of the world between your fingers into the mask etc.

So yeah. Lots to digest. 95% of people should buy the Quest 3. With the caveat that it's 9 months from launch and noone has tried it for any reasonable amount of time, i'd say you should only buy the Apple headset if you have deep pockets, are a real tech/AR enthusiast and it's like your core life hobby and you are also already deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem.

Also at this point in time i'm not sure i've figured out a good usecase. It's not portable in the sense that I can put it in my pocket, which means I probably wont have it with me. So when i'm downstairs and want to check the internet or twitter, i'm probably still going to just get my iPhone out. Then when I am upstairs at my desk and my Apple headset is within reach, I doubt it's going to provide a better experience than my desktop PC and 48" OLED TV. So i'm like, where do I use this ? maybe it's good enough that watching a film on a 100" screen in the headset with the spatial audio is genuinely better than on my 48" OLED + soundbar ? I don't know. My current plan is to buy one and then return it within the 30 day window, or keep it on the off chance I find it genuinely useful.

 

[PP Mguire]

Yea idk, I'm pretty meh about it. It's like their phone/tablet in a headset. I just honestly don't see the point in it.
I was hoping you'd think of something I didn't but we're kinda in the same boat. The tether and battery kill it for me too.

 

[kmanmx]

Yea idk, I'm pretty meh about it. It's like their phone/tablet in a headset. I just honestly don't see the point in it.
I was hoping you'd think of something I didn't but we're kinda in the same boat. The tether and battery kill it for me too.

Yeah most people i've seen say the volumetric sports / music videos are about as the closest thing to a unique use case right now, pretty much everything else you can do on your phone, tablet or Mac. That said, they'll reveal more apps/features closer to launch, so we'll see early 2024. I think the hardware looks great so just need someone to figure out some sweet apps, then i'm all aboard.

 

[Trotter]

...And FedEx is a day late again.

 

[kmanmx]

One month away from finally paying off all my card debt and finance, and my car throws up the engine management light. I google the code... common fault on my car, $1300 to $1600 to repair. Damn it.

 

[Joe C]

...And FedEx is a day late again.

I've had experienced that too. Ordered a package and it goes to Metro Detroit, to Pontiac, back to Metro and then goes to Lansing...back to Metro again to finally my home town.
Although we get our dog food on line from Towanda, NY. and it always get here in two days and they have delivered on a Sunday Too! Could it be the producer and what they pay for ship?

 

[Joe C]

One month away from finally paying off all my card debt and finance, and my car throws up the engine management light. I google the code... common fault on my car, $1300 to $1600 to repair. Damn it.

They know that...it is by design!
MTBF-- mean time before failure. AI is watching your payment schedule