[ed. See also: This CNET Review]
I just had a 40-minute in-person demonstration of HoloLens, Microsoft's new computer headset, and I'm convinced that personal computing is on the verge of a major change.
In 10 years or so, people will be using head-mounted displays that project 3D images that you can interact with in actual space.
It's going to be a huge leap over the flat-screen computing that we've all become used to over the past 30 years. It's so much obviously better that once people try it, there will be no going back.
I just had a 40-minute in-person demonstration of HoloLens, Microsoft's new computer headset, and I'm convinced that personal computing is on the verge of a major change.
In 10 years or so, people will be using head-mounted displays that project 3D images that you can interact with in actual space.It's going to be a huge leap over the flat-screen computing that we've all become used to over the past 30 years. It's so much obviously better that once people try it, there will be no going back.
Augmented Versus Virtual
This was the second time in two months that I felt as if I were glancing into the future. The first was when I tried on the latest version of the Oculus Rift, Facebook's virtual-reality headset. It reminded me of that "wow" feeling I had the first time I tried an iPhone back in 2007.
HoloLens and Oculus are similar but distinct. Oculus Rift is virtual reality, which means the image seems to surround you entirely, and you don't see any part of the real world.
HoloLens is augmented reality, which means it projects images on top of the real world. (It doesn't really project holograms everybody can see — to see the images, you need to be wearing the headset or looking at a computer display of what the viewer is seeing.) The goggles, or glasses, are translucent. It's a little like Google Glass but with actual glass and much more immersive. (...)
Microsoft showed us a couple of key things, such as how to move the cursor around the virtual world (that's easy — you just move your head), and how to select using a particular finger gesture — you basically stick your finger straight up in the air as with one of those foam hands fans show at football games, then move the finger down and back up again.
Then we were ready to go. I tried three applications and got a demo of another person using a fourth one.
This was the second time in two months that I felt as if I were glancing into the future. The first was when I tried on the latest version of the Oculus Rift, Facebook's virtual-reality headset. It reminded me of that "wow" feeling I had the first time I tried an iPhone back in 2007.
HoloLens and Oculus are similar but distinct. Oculus Rift is virtual reality, which means the image seems to surround you entirely, and you don't see any part of the real world.
HoloLens is augmented reality, which means it projects images on top of the real world. (It doesn't really project holograms everybody can see — to see the images, you need to be wearing the headset or looking at a computer display of what the viewer is seeing.) The goggles, or glasses, are translucent. It's a little like Google Glass but with actual glass and much more immersive. (...)
Microsoft showed us a couple of key things, such as how to move the cursor around the virtual world (that's easy — you just move your head), and how to select using a particular finger gesture — you basically stick your finger straight up in the air as with one of those foam hands fans show at football games, then move the finger down and back up again.
Then we were ready to go. I tried three applications and got a demo of another person using a fourth one.
Skype
This was the most obviously useful and the easiest to understand, as it was an extension of a familiar application, Skype video calling.
For the demo, I was told I would be installing a light switch. (I've never done this.) I would use the Skype app on HoloLens to call our handy friend, Lloyd, who would walk me through how to do it.
Lloyd appeared in a little window. He could see everything I was looking at. (My field of vision would appear on the Surface app he was using back at his house.) He told me to look at the set of tools, then told me to pick up the voltage meter, the screwdriver, and so on. When he needed to, he could "draw" on the world in front of me — so, for instance, he drew a little diagram to show me which way to hold the light switch when I was attaching it to a couple of wires. If I wanted to have a clear field of vision, I could "pin" the little window with him in it, so it would stop following my field of vision around. (...)
In this way, he walked me through the installation in about five minutes. I succeeded! I wish I'd had this product last weekend, when I struggled to install some curtain rods into plaster in my house. (It took a couple of tries.)
This will apparently be a real app, and it will be available when HoloLens ships.
This was the most obviously useful and the easiest to understand, as it was an extension of a familiar application, Skype video calling.
For the demo, I was told I would be installing a light switch. (I've never done this.) I would use the Skype app on HoloLens to call our handy friend, Lloyd, who would walk me through how to do it.
Lloyd appeared in a little window. He could see everything I was looking at. (My field of vision would appear on the Surface app he was using back at his house.) He told me to look at the set of tools, then told me to pick up the voltage meter, the screwdriver, and so on. When he needed to, he could "draw" on the world in front of me — so, for instance, he drew a little diagram to show me which way to hold the light switch when I was attaching it to a couple of wires. If I wanted to have a clear field of vision, I could "pin" the little window with him in it, so it would stop following my field of vision around. (...)
In this way, he walked me through the installation in about five minutes. I succeeded! I wish I'd had this product last weekend, when I struggled to install some curtain rods into plaster in my house. (It took a couple of tries.)
This will apparently be a real app, and it will be available when HoloLens ships.
by Matt Rosoff, Business Insider | Read more:
