Virtual Reality
VR has been with us since 1968 (some would say a form of it was invented in 1838). The flight simulation business was all over in in the early and mid 1970s. By the 1990s, companies like Nintendo were using the early versions of the technology for gaming. By 2012 we had Google Glass and Oculus Rift out there vying for consumers adoption, but the market was still very small. By 2019 there were many consumer options and even Forbes declared that “Virtual Reality is getting real”. Then in late 2023, the ubiquitous Apple product machine announced that they were finally ready to launch their own version of VR, called Apple Vision Pro, which they let loose on the world in February, 2024. First of all, the product is less about virtual reality than it is about mixed reality, which is ever so slightly different from augmented reality. Vision Pro actually overlays the virtual on top of the real and lets you see through it as needed to go about your business. This makes it a bit less immersive, but much more practical. Apple has gone so far as to declare Vision Pro the “future of computing”, which is a very big hype for a company with Apple’s chops.
My old work friend that recommended Kurzweil’s book on AI and the Singularity we are approaching is the one who sent me to the Apple Store to do a demo yesterday. In my day I took great pride in living at the bleeding edge of the technological revolution, I didn’t build a hobby kit ordered from Popular Mechanics, but I was the guy who bought the Commodore 64, the Apple 1 and 2, the Compaq 256k sewing machine computer, the Slate, the first PC and even the ill-fated PC Jr. I was the first guy to bring a computer to work to put on my desk and got all the fun-making directed at me when I said that one day every desk would have one. My earliest spreadsheets (VisiCalc) were capable of building spreadsheets of 64 rows by 64 columns…can you imagine? I jumped onto Lotus 1-2-3 very quickly and despite a brief foray into Lotus Symphony, the shift to Excel came very quickly and put down all other spreadsheets. I lived through the shrink-wrap software days where I concluded that between Word, Excel, and the early amateur versions of CAD (mostly to design home additions and renovations for me), I had all the software that I would ever need. While this was all going on with the desktop that gravitated to the laptop and made multiple visits to the lands of the fabled tablet, I was also messing in handheld technology first with the cellphone, then with the early PDAs like Palm Pilot, and then the early integration into Blackberry, all of which led us to the smartphone. There were sidesteps into iPods as well, but the smartphone beckoned. I started in Apple’s court with an iPhone, but also took one for ray into Android Googleland, only to go rushing back to a newer iPhone. I have now stuck with the iPhone consistently and as for computing, I, like everyone, have long since abandoned desktops in favor of laptops, only to se that largely get shelved by the ultimate tablet, the iPad. It’s been 17 years since the introduction of the iPhone and 14 years since the introduction of the iPad and can no longer imagine getting through the day without both. Even Apple Watch has been out there foe nine years and while I early adopted, I abandoned it until about a year ago and am now charging all three Apple products every night.
Given my commitment to Apple (though I bow to and recognize the dominance of the Microsoft Windows platform for work-related uses), it is less than startling that my adoption of VR should come only once Apple deployed in the space. So, before the in-store demo, I watched two YouTube videos that explained the full functionality of Vision Pro and I was more than ready for the demo, which took 45 minutes in the Apple Store at the local mall. I know myself well enough to know that unless the demo was a disaster or disappointment, I would be walking out with a Vision Pro. I am no longer an early adopter of technology and I have generally left the bleeding edge far behind, but on a strong recommendation, I will move forward swiftly, which is exactly what I did yesterday. I brought home a Vision Pro that fit my face and eye configuration. I had to decide on storage size ranging from 256 Gig to 1 Terabyte and could only determine that I would need the storage to supplement the usual streaming use only if I were to travel with the Vision Pro, something I felt I was unlikely to do. So, I bought the smallest one, something I would never do in a past life.
From everything I read, what I liked about Vision Pro is that rather than being a gimmick or gaming device, it is intended to be new way to use your computer or iPad. I use my iPad for several things: writing, spreadsheeting, emailing, web surfing and movie-watching. I can tell right way that this is a great alternative platform for movie watching. I have watched one movie, Gerard Butler’s Chasing Mavericks and I can tell that the experience is as good or better than watching it on my 85” Samsung. What I really like is the ability to do it from any seat in the house and at any angle of repose I choose. That alone justifies my expenditure. Working backward, I can also tell that I am unlikely to want to don the heavyish headset to write a story or build a spreadsheet. I might well try a spreadsheet before naysaying it since I can imagine that when I get more proficient with the hand motions, I can become Tom Cruises in Minority Report, swiping and moving things around with ease. I will test out the web browsing some time today and I suspect it will be an interesting experiment that could go either way. One last functionality that I didn’t list on my iPad to-dos is that the Vision Pro has some 3D photography capabilities that might prove very interesting. One of the amazing things from the demo was watching the 3D videos that come with the headset, which are supposed to be comparable to what you can create yourself. I put photography pretty low on my list of important features (at least in terms of the higher quality attributes thereof) for my devices, but one never knows where one’s interests may take them.
The one feature I am very dubious about, but which I will likely keep trying to use is the one that creates a realistic avatar for use in FaceTime videos and Zoom calls. I guess its use is all about those bad hair days or something. Otherwise, I suspect I will use my new Apple Vision Pro for watching movies in some spot other than in front of the big Samsung screen. As for virtual reality, I think I’ll wait a bit longer and hope it comes as a downloadable upgrade to my new Vision Pro set.