hckrnws

It still seems like there are no killer apps (besides games) for AR, doesn't it. So what good is better hardware if we don't know what to run on it?

Gaming isn’t really a good fit for AR glasses. The field of view isn’t great and you have to deal with additive light mixing in.

The killer app for AR glasses will be a smartwatch on your face with a camera.

Notifications that don’t have you looking away from your current task, the ability to ask a virtual assistant about something or even what’s in front of you.

Imho, one of the best things about my smart watch has been how much less I pull out my phone and get distracted by stuff. It’s a quick glance down to see if I should care.

But that’s still me breaking from my current task, perhaps mid conversation which can be rude, but also I’ma manager so I have to keep on top of many things.

Being able to have that quick update but not break from my task is going to be the killer feature I think for the vast majority of people. It can potentially solve the conflict of wanting to be connected to everything at once vs being connected to the moment.

I don't think that having push notifications constantly in field of view sounds ideal for focused work.

The alternative is that you have them on a device you need to take out or look away for.

You’d still be able to silence notifications of course. People always imagine a barrage of notifications, but we’ve had years of leading up to this with notification groups, summaries, focus modes etc

You're forced to deal with it. If you've set an alarm, it's going to interrupt your work, or don't set the alarm. If every social media message is going to your watch, laptop, or phone you either learn to ignore them (making real alarms useless) or you have a focus mode that only passes on the ones you want (from close family?).

If you mean having a big current time, calendar, etc home screen, then I agree AR would be different, and more transparent unless you're actively using it. It's going to have to be, because power consumption for a display bright enough you can see it outside is going to be a big weight/runtime issue.

I experienced one literally minutes ago after doing a guided tour at Pompeii.

I want an AR tour guide. It should know where I am and give me the relevant commentary to the ruins I am at. Following me, not vice versa.

Ideally if there are several in my group then I want the commentaries synced.

When I walk to an intersection, I want to see what's on offer, with preview, if I turn left vs right.

I want to look at the frescos and crumbling walls and see virtual reconstructions. Extra points for knowledgeable citizens from the past walking up and interacting.

Obviously all in the user's own language.

The killer app for me is unchaining myself from a desk. I just can’t work effectively on a laptop screen, so while I’d love to go work while sitting at the beach or in a park or whatever, I just can’t do that right now.

Build it and they will come.

It didn't really stop other developments did it?

The computer came since the 80s though the real killer app was the internet which came much later. Smartphones were around way before we figured out what they were great for.

The one thing I don't get though is the expectation that AR/VR must be for everything and everyone. I don't think that will be the case at least until the tech can mature at least a decade. Doesn't mean it can't add value in specific usecases though.

The PC was already ginormous in its own right way before the internet came along though. Not to say the internet didn't propel it again an order of magnitude but it didn't need the internet to become huge.

We ran future scenarios planning for the Canadian NSF > 20 years ago about this.

One that I really liked was having the instruction manuals for objects available directly from looking at the object (or it's bar code).

AR/VR is a solution in search of a problem

I was in the grocery store the other day. I was looking at some items and I wanted to compare the unit price per ounce with without digging out my calculator. This is a good simple everyday task that could be performed by AR.

interestingly where I live, unit price is on all price tags for food. but tasks like that would be perfect, combined with AI so you wouldn't have to pull up a calculator app etc, instead just say "what's the unit price for this?" or "see any better deals for k-cups?"

Do it everyday and you will be able to compute it in your head faster

This comes across as "ableist". Not everyone can do that. Shouldn't this ability be available to everyone?