Last Week in AVP #64: Tim Cook Has Made the AR Glasses a "Top Priority" for Apple, Leaked Apple Vision 2/Air Battery Cable and Battery Pack, New Immersive Sports App, Demeo Game Updates and more!
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Apple CEO 'Hell Bent' on Launching True AR Glasses Before Meta (source)
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says that upcoming new versions of Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset are a "stepping stone" towards Cook's ultimate decade-long goal of making AR glasses – lightweight spectacles that users can wear all day and which overlay graphics on the real world.
Cook has apparently made the glasses a "top priority" for the company. "Tim cares about nothing else," Gurman quotes a person with knowledge of the matter as saying. "It's the only thing he's really spending his time on from a product development standpoint."
Meta is currently developing true AR glasses, and has already prototyped a version of the device it envisions bringing to mass market, dubbed Orion.
Tim Cook needs Vision Pro to succeed, and that couldn’t be better news (source)
Two new Vision Pro-like devices are reportedly in the works. One will be lighter and more affordable, while the other plugs into a Mac for ultra low-latency performance.
But these ultimately aren’t the main attraction for Apple.
Still, all of this is a stepping stone toward Cook’s grand vision, which hasn’t changed in a decade. He wants true augmented reality glasses — lightweight spectacles that a customer could wear all day. The AR element will overlay data and images onto real-world views.
Cook has made this idea a top priority for the company and is hell-bent on creating an industry-leading product before Meta can. “Tim cares about nothing else,” says someone with knowledge of the matter. “It’s the only thing he’s really spending his time on from a product development standpoint.”
Apple Vision Pro 2 Reportedly Cheaper & Lighter, Mac-Tethered Headset Coming Too (source)
In his new report, Gurman stands by this reporting and says that Apple now plans to deliver the same concept, a head-worn device you plug into your Mac, but with an opaque VR-style display system, similar to Vision Pro.
The headset would be focused on delivering an ultra-low-latency Mac Virtual Display, and it has the potential to be cheaper and significantly lighter than the standalone Vision Pro 2.
Leaked Next Apple Vision Headset's Battery Cable (source)
A leaker shared images of what they suggest is the battery cable for the next Apple Vision headset, which they claim is "graphite dark blue".
The leaker, who goes by the handle Kosutami, has previously shared apparent images of other Apple prototype cables.
Now, Kosutami has shared images that they cryptically suggest show the battery cable for the next Apple Vision headset.
Leaked photo of Apple Vision Air battery back (source)
Alleged Apple VisionPro Air battery shared by Sonny Dickson
For me, playing “Spatial Web Shooter” genuinely felt real — not just because its developer, Tango Chen, did an incredible job with the physics and details of the digital objects (just look at that washing machine!), but also because the technology is already convincing enough to trick my brain.
Apple wanted people to vibe code Vision Pro apps with Siri (source)
The thing that vibe coding reminded me of is a Wayne Ma report for The Information in January 2023. It ran under the headline “Apple Devising Software to Help Anyone Build AR Apps, to Drive Headset Sales.”
Based on the report, it sure sounds like the Apple Vision Pro team under new Siri boss Mike Rockwell saw where AI was headed before vibe coding arrived. From the report at the time:
With the software tools, Apple hopes that even people who don’t know computer code could tell the headset, via the Siri voice assistant, to build an AR app that could then be made available via Apple’s App Store for others to download. The tool, for example, could allow users to build an app with virtual animals moving around a room and over or around real-life objects without the need to design the animal from scratch, program its animations and calculate its movement in a 3D space with obstacles.
Apple added depth to some of the panels in visionOS (source)
Apple Vision Pro never ceases to amaze me. They recently added depth to some of the panels in visionOS, giving them this nice 3D effect. It’s little touches like that which really make it stand out.
Future of sports with new 'Be There' app in AVP (source)
The future of sports is here. Be There lets fans around the world attend live immersive matches and watch their team like never before. Launching soon on Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest. Join the waitlist for early access and a discounted season pass.
http://oneeightydegrees.co.uk
Demeo got a visual upgrade now uses eye-tracked foveated rendering on Apple Vision Pro (source)
Apple Vision Pro players should see the biggest change of all, though. The move to Unity 6 and the URP has enabled Demeo to leverage eye-tracked foveated rendering, significantly increasing the resolution in the area of the image you're currently looking at.
Briefly testing this out on Vision Pro, I saw an immediately noticeable difference in visual quality. Back when Demeo first arrived on Vision Pro it looked far less sharp than the visionOS immersive home environments, while now its sharpness is roughly on par.
This Severance 3D Experience on Apple Vision Pro Is Incredible
Apple won patents for a Conformable HMD Facial Interface, Vision Pro’s EyeSight (source)
In this granted patent Apple describes facial interfaces of HMDs (head-mountable devices) that can dynamically conform to provide increased comfort, flexure, and fitting.
In Apple’s patent FIG. 6 below we’re able to see a side perspective view of a frame #604, linkages #606, and facial interface #608. In some examples, the facial interface includes relief cutouts #660 which could take on various forms such as holes, slits, grooves, recesses, or other absences in the facial interface that allow for reliefs in the material and for changes to the arc length of the facial interface. In some examples, the reliefs are changes in material rather than absences in the material. The change in material can include changes in the thickness or dimensions of the material or changing the material to a different material.
Apple uses converted photos for most of Spatial Gallery app (source)
It’s a good sign that Apple just straight up uses converted photos for pretty much the whole Spatial Gallery app. Means they think conversions are convincing enough to delivery more immersion and sense of presence than 2D. And most of the time that’s true! AI conversion from 2D to 3D has crossed a threshold and it’s time everyone starts embracing it
Multiple Desktops on visionOS 3.0?! 👀 I recently prototyped an idea for how users could switch between different window setups on Vision Pro.
I imagine it working similarly to how you switch between lock screens on the iPhone. So what if, on visionOS, you could create multiple Home Views — all sharing the same apps and data — but each with a different arrangement of app windows?
I converted an earthquake simulation video, created by generative AI from a single photo, into a spatial video and played it back at that location while wearing the Apple Vision Pro. It felt like AR, and the realism was significantly enhanced.
Build an Apple Vision Pro App to Control Philips Hue Lights
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Amazing!! Thank you for great content!