
Everything we know about Apple's smart glasses - DamnInteresting
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a33022469/apple-augmented-reality-smart-glasses/
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colinthompson
In general, I find Karl Guttag’s analysis far superior:

[https://www.kguttag.com/2020/05/20/analyzing-front-page-
tech...](https://www.kguttag.com/2020/05/20/analyzing-front-page-techs-apple-
glass-leak-and-asking-the-right-questions/)

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twoodfin
That is a great analysis. But I'd put money down that he's wrong about the
camera. It will have a "sensor package" which may actually include optics, but
just like Face ID today, the raw data will be inaccessible to the user or
applications.

I can't imagine privacy-focused Apple has any interest in selling a device
that could be used to discreetly capture images. That caused no end of bad PR
for Google Glass, and for the Apple of today it would be in service of a a
marginally marketable feature at best.

I can certainly imagine Tim or Phil at the keynote: "When you want to take a
picture, you have the best mobile camera in the world already in your pocket."

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oflannabhra
Which makes me sad. I would easily pay a lot of money for this feature alone:

My kid does something adorable. I click a button and the last x seconds are
saved from my perspective.

Snap got close, even Google Clips tried. None of them nailed it.

I understand all the privacy implications, and all the dystopian hand-
wringing, but to be honest, that one thing would be pretty awesome, and I can
only imagine what it would be like to look back 30 years from now.

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m463
I think cameras will be the new guns, and some people will be ok with them and
some will not.

The thing is, people with the cameras will wield power over their subject, and
many will not like it.

I don't know if the answer will be laws, or polite norms, or further
civilization of what people accept.

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ceejayoz
> The short version: nobody knows yet.

This is also the long version. The entire article is tantamount to Apple
fanfic.

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olliej
Better than slashfic? :)

But yeah this is bizarre “let’s invent things that we want” level stories

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napier
For now, I just want some reading glasses. Somewhat-smart-glasses wired to my
phone that allow me to read books and textual internet on the go. Basic text
editor would be nice to have too. Doesn't even have to be full colour. I can
wait for all singing and dancing immersive AR. Is there anything like this
available or near to market?

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nexuist
Same here. Just the ability to overlay text in the corner of your vision would
be life changing. Combined with a Bluetooth keyboard and an ssh app, this
could easily become the most mobile development device ever made.

Google Glass made strides towards the “text in the corner of your vision,” but
they focused too much on developing a brand instead of roping in 3rd party
devs. They released (limited) SDKs eventually, but by that point it was too
late.

I think they would have had far greater success if they had set up a dev
relations team before shipping.

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napier
Exactly this. Give me a simple but high res screen in each eye of my glasses
and a split, flexible Bluetooth keyboard I can set down or strap to either leg
(perhaps). I'm tired of being tethered to my laptop and would pay for the
privilege of freedom to roam while remaining productive.

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jb775
Hopefully the make them look indistinguishable from normal glasses. I'm not
gonna walk around in public looking like I have a video camera strapped to my
forehead.

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totalforge
Track down an old show called Denno Coil. Every character wears AR glasses,
and there's practically a startup idea in every episode of the first season.
It is so very Japanese that they used AR on a show from over 10 years ago.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennō_Coil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennō_Coil)

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ksec
Am I the only who is _not_ looking forward to any smart glasses.

I have been looking for Smartphone before iPhone launch. It was something
obvious and would make big difference. I am not so sure about Glasses. I for
one dont want to wear glasses any more having gone through laser surgery.

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wil421
In 2014 I was not interested in any type of Google Glasses. Partly because I
didn’t need glasses at the time. Now that I do it’s interesting enough for me
to try. Sunglasses would be cool. Luckily for me I only have slight
astigmatism and don’t qualify for contacts/surgery or glasses full time.

Apple products are abundant in my household but looking back the watch is
easily my least favorite purchase. The glasses would need to be compelling.

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mrfusion
So how would the vision correction work? I’m not seeing that.

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hbosch
Probably a bad communication. You have to assume that they will just be able
to fabricate and install normal prescription lenses, like any other glasses.

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mrfusion
It did mention a patent though.

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hbosch
Aside from the fact that companies often patent things they can't/won't/don't
produce, it looks like even in the patent we have a system that allows for the
insertion of a prescription lens into the glasses, creating a multi-lens or
multi-surface display substrate.

I see an allusion to some other voltage-controlled liquid crystal technology
that may be able to correct for vision issues as well, but in my opinion what
we're probably seeing here is:

A) inside the HMD, there exists some form of micro-adjustment mechanism that
can focus the content _that is being displayed_. For e.g. I may have good
enough vision that I don't need glasses, but my IPD is such that the display
is out of focus for me specifically. That's what I imagine is happening with
the main glass. Remember, with something like "everyday glasses" there doesn't
exist an IPD adjustment like you'd see in AR/VR headsets, and this setting can
greatly affect the crispness of the display.

And then...

B) for customers that require more substantial vision correction, allow them
to _also_ introduce their prescription lenses in front of that main display.

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mrfusion
Thanks for following up on that! So nothing too magical.

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ben174
47 pixels per inch resolution? Surely that’s a typo?

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stanlarroque
It's 47 pixels per degree.

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Someone
For comparison, the angular resolution of the fovea is about half an arc
minute, or about three times as good.

It drops of fast with eccentricity, though.

So, you might be able to see individual pixels that size, but only in the
center of your vision (might because I didn’t bother thinking about the
difference between angular resolution, acuity, and effect of line length,
color, intensity, contrast, flicker, adaptation, etc)

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bfieidhbrjr
Tl:Dr we don't know anything

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bsenftner
If these actually eliminate the need for prescription ground lenses, that's
it: killer app that will eliminate the prescription eye glasses industry as we
know it, immediately placing Apple at the revenue and control peak. With
everything taking place in manufacturing, I'm surprised dynamic precision
shaped lenses are not already here.

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ceejayoz
I've seen enough fascinating but impractical patents to be pretty skeptical of
"big corp filed a patent, so their next product will definitely include it!"

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lnanek2
Definitely. If dynamic prescription support adds $10 to the bill of materials
vs. fixed, order ahead of time prescription support - then it ain't shipping.
Patent is exciting, but making a popular consumer product isn't about cramming
every patent into it.

