| Cult of Mac

View a 100-inch virtual screen with ‘world’s first AR laptop’

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If you were really standing behind her, you wouldn't be able to see any of those tabs.
If you were really standing behind her, you wouldn't be able to see any of those tabs.
Photo: Sightful

With Apple apparently on the verge of releasing its first AR/VR headset at WWDC23, an Israeli startup called Sightful has unveiled Spacetop, which it calls “the world’s first augmented-reality laptop.”

Spacetop has no dedicated display. The user dons AR glasses to view tabs across a curved, 100-inch virtual space that no one else can see. You have to wonder if this practical step into AR is the right move at the right time — or too practical for its own good.

Zuckerberg says Apple and Meta are battling over the internet’s future

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Apple versus Meta
The CEO of Meta says his company and Apple are in a "competition of philosophies and ideas."
Photo: Cult of Mac

Both Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook) are both building AR/VR headsets, but they’re going about it in dramatically different ways. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told Meta employees the two companies are in “a competition of philosophies and ideas.”

It’s possible the metaverse is the future of the internet. And Zuckerberg describes Meta as being a leader in creating an open metaverse with multiple companies working together, while he says Apple is creating its own closed version.

But Zuckerberg’s comments ignore another major philosophical difference between the twin companies. Apple believes in protecting user privacy, but Meta makes its money by collecting and selling information about users.

Find your sole mate with Amazon AR shoe-shopping via iPhone

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Turns out you can try on shoes with your iPhone.
Turns out you can try on shoes with your iPhone.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon already had a try-before-you-buy program for Prime members, where you can send an article of clothing back after trying it at home. On Thursday it added Virtual Try-On, an augmented reality (AR) experience where you can try on shoes without ever touching them via iOS.

All you need it the Amazon app and an iPhone to see how a pair of kicks will look on your feet.

Apple spills ‘realityOS’ again as new AR/VR headset inches closer

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Apple realityOS leak
Apple continues to lay the groundwork for its first mixed reality device.
Image: Steve Troughton-Smith

Another reference to Apple’s unreleased “realityOS” operating system leaked Wednesday in new open source code. It suggests the company’s highly anticipated mixed-reality headset is inching closer to its public debut.

The headset could appear this year — perhaps at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference — as many reports previously suggested. However, thanks to technical difficulties Apple recently encountered, we might have to wait until 2023.

Apple VR headset won’t create a full metaverse

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Don’t expect the Apple VR headset to be the first step in re-creating Ready Player One by delivering a full metaverse.
Don’t expect the Apple VR headset to be the first step in re-creating Ready Player One.
Photo: Warner Bros. Entertainment

While Apple is creating a VR headset, it’s reportedly not developing a complete virtual world for users. It plans on virtual reality games, video and other experiences. But these supposedly won‘t be connected into a single VR metaverse.

That sets it apart from Meta (formerly Facebook), which does hope to create a virtual world it controls.

Apple readies processor to power future VR headset

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A Apple VR headset is an Open secret, as demonstrated by a recent patent filing.
An illustration from a recent Apple patent filing shows a possible VR headset.
Graphic: Apple

Apple is almost ready to send the chip that’ll be at the heart of its virtual reality headset to production, according to an unconfirmed report. That’s a big step in the product reaching customers’ hands.

Apple augmented reality devices could help shape all future computers

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The eventual culmination of Apple augmented reality efforts will be AR contact lenses
Apple will eventually release augmented reality contact lenses, according to a trusted analyst.
Photo: Skitterphoto/Pexels CC/Cult of Mac

A respected Apple analyst just made a startling prediction about mixed reality/augmented reality: “We believe that MR/AR products could replace all display-equipped electronics in the long term,” wrote Ming-Chi Kuo in a note sent to investors Sunday.

Kuo said he expects Apple to play a big part in taking these emerging technologies mainstream. And he sees Cupertino making augmented reality contact lenses eventually, and a variety of AR products before then.

One more year: Apple’s VR headset could debut in early 2022

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Apple could take on the likes of Oculus with a VR headset as early as 2022.
Apple could take on the likes of Oculus with its debut VR headset.
Photo: Minh Pham/Unsplash CC

Apple’s debut virtual reality headset could arrive in the first quarter of 2022, JPMorgan Chase Securities tech analyst Yang Weilun claims in a new note to investors.

The report says Apple’s VR headset will supposedly boast six lenses, lidar and a time-of-flight sensor. It will allegedly retail for upward of $500.

Apple’s first VR headset could be an expensive disappointment

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Apple VR headset could look like Oculus Quest
Apple's first headset could be around the same size as Oculus Quest.
Photo: Oculus

Don’t expect too much from Apple’s first virtual reality headset. A new report warns that Cupertino’s first stab at a wearable VR system, which could come in 2022, will be expensive with a limited set of capabilities.

The device is believed to be designed primarily as a “niche precursor” to more ambitious AR/VR glasses that Apple plans to launch later.