
Is Palmer Luckey right about Magic Leap being a tragic heap? - HBlix
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/magic-leap-one-palmer-luckey
======
ipsum2
99% of this article is quoting or rehashing what Palmer said in his blog post
here: [http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-
heap/](http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/) and 1% of
explaining that the claimed "fiber-scanning display" was not EL-wire, but some
lasers to a DLP.

Just read the original blog post, its more organized and clearer than this
rehashed news article.

~~~
dang
It was discussed here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17848887](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17848887)

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Ajedi32
When considering whether or not Magic Leap will succeed, I think it's helpful
to set aside all the hype and speculation and just look at the Magic Leap One
for what it is.

As far as I'm aware, the Magic Leap One is the best AR headset on the market
today, at least in terms of the hardware. Compared to its stiffest
competition, the Hololens, it's lighter on your head, has a wider field of
view, is $700 cheaper, and features eye tracking, a 6-DOF controller, and a
dual-focal display.

But is that enough? Even with all those improvements, it's still a $2,295
headset with a fairly small FOV and several significant technical constraints.
Clearly it's not ready yet for mass adoption with general consumers, so the
question is; what's next? Is Magic Leap planning to release an updated version
in a couple years that's less than half the price and technically superior to
their existing headset? Can they last that long without any major revenue
source? Or do they have other means of becoming profitable (perhaps commercial
applications of the tech)? Still lots of unanswered questions here.

------
threeseed
Magic Leap has applied for hundreds of patents and dozens have already been
approved:

[https://patents.justia.com/assignee/magic-leap-
inc](https://patents.justia.com/assignee/magic-leap-inc)

Even if the product fails the process might end up being quite lucrative.

I actually suspect this is the reason VCs are comfortable to hand over the
ridiculous amounts of money.

~~~
AstralStorm
For what purpose, cross licensing instead of being bashed as derivative of
Microsoft patents?

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alexc05
Palmer Luckey is a MAGA troll who donated at least $10k to pay people to
"shitpost" during the 2016 election.

[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/oculus-
ri...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/oculus-rift-vr-
palmer-luckey-trump-shitposts)

Why would anyone take his opinion trashing a competitor to the product
seriously?

~~~
Scuds
That's nothing compared to what he's doing now.
[https://www.wired.com/story/palmer-luckey-anduril-border-
wal...](https://www.wired.com/story/palmer-luckey-anduril-border-wall/)

