What's next? Don a headset and let's go exploring
...the Apple Vision Pro is a wow
Monday potluckers, we are in for a treat. Mike Draper, founder of Raygun t-shirts will be our guest from noon to 1 p.m. central time. Watch your email Monday morning for the link to the Zoom meeting. Join us live, or listen to the podcast later. This should be fun. Raygun has retail outlets in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Cedar Falls, Davenport, Ames, Kansas City, Chicago, Omaha, and Lincoln.
Apple Vision Pro
Yesterday, when the view outside my window was a white-out of snow, I was looking at the turquoise waters of Bali and listening to the gentle lapping of waves. A few minutes later, I was transported to a sight I’ve only experienced in the middle of the night in a small boat on the ocean - a sky full of stars without the nuisance of light pollution dimming the pinpoints of light against the midnight black sky.
I was immersed in these visions, transported by the Apple Vision Pro, another product that will change how stories are told.
If I ran a business or organization today, I would ask for a volunteer in each department to use an Apple Vision Pro for two weeks, then rotate usage among anyone else who wanted to try it. At the end of their two weeks, I’d ask them to make a list of ways it could enhance our customer’s and employee’s experience.
I would then gather those employees together off-site and brainstorm how our organization could better serve our customers and employees through this technology.
We could then harness AI technology to analyze the return on investment for any of the ideas put forth, and then make a plan.
I assume this is happening now in some circles.
Although I did a demo of the Pro shortly after the product was introduced last year, as a solo entrepreneur with a minuscule budget, I couldn’t justify the price tag. But when I wrote about AI last week and realized over half of the readers polled had not used it yet, I concluded I can play a small role in introducing Potluck readers to new ideas, and it’s a useful domain to play in here.
After all, I called this column a ‘potluck’ for a reason.
This is my way of saying I figured out a way to justify the price tag, and one of my commitments to attendees of the the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat is to provide workshops - especially in the film track - to demonstrate immersive video, and how in our life time it will become the common way we watch television and movies.
What is the Apple Vision Pro?
A miracle.
Yes, it is in its infancy as a product, and naysayers complain there isn’t enough content, but that is what they said about the iPad, and here we are.
It is a headset designed to fit snuggly, and block external light. I can only imagine the engineering feat it took to get the various parts manufactured to make the hardware user-friendly. Still, we can adjust the setting to either darken the room they are in or make it possible to see people and objects around them.
Next, the user controls the experience in large part through their eyes. In setting up the Vision Pro the user has their vision measured digitally along with their hands. The downside to this is you can’t just hand the expensive headset to someone else to use without going through the guest customization steps.
Once fitted, and the user explores how the machine knows where the user wants to go based on what they are looking at, and a simple two-finger pinch in the air takes them there, the entry into this whole new world begins.
I say ‘whole new world’ knowing full well other headsets have been out there awhile.
I held a retreat five years ago in Chicago with a group and we spent an evening exploring various games using headsets. It was fun, and informative, but per usual, Apple makes a better product. And even though it’s more expensive now, the better product will have a winning niche in time. Fortunately, Apple has deep pockets to wait for the rest of us to catch up.
Every day usage
It’s fun to go on beach walks, or be with a group of rhinos in Africa and have one walk right up to you at eye level, or watch a sporting event and have a ball come whizzing by your ear. The novelty and the possibilities for this immersive technolgy is fun to contemplate, but I’m discovering all kinds of ways the day to day user experience will be beneficial.
Reading newspapers, for one. Rather than the awkward slip-sliding of holding an iPad or other screen, I can stretch the entire front page of the New York Times, Des Moines Register, or Wall Street Journal across the Vision Pro screen and turn the pages with a two-finger pinch.
I can even play Solitaire with my eyesight and two fingers in the air.
Watching television is a whole new experience. Even if it’s not an immersive production, you can watch a show on the biggest screen ever simply by filling your field of vision with what you are watching. The Vision Pro boasts unprecedented resolution—more than a 4K display for each eye.
Whether watching a movie or playing a game, the image is about as good as it gets.
I don’t know if we will see the day when black rimmed boxes affixed to walls are out of style, but I recommend checking out the Vision Pro before investing in a mounted flat screen TV set.
What’s the big deal about immersive video?
When you watch something in immersive video, you come much closer to the experience of what you see. Your entire field of vision is the show, thus giving you the largest ‘screen’ imaginable.
On one of the demonstration videos there is a woman walking on a tightrope stretched out high above a canyon. I can’t watch it, and have to close my eyes. I can tell my brain it’s just a video, but it still feels much more real in this 3-D world than it does on a typical screen.
Odds are, you’ll be saying wow-wow-wow when you first turn your head from side to side, and up and down in this new virtual world.
The Cons
I called a friend who, as I suspected, bought the Vision Pro when it first came to market. But he was disappointed with the experience and returned it. I urged him to try again, because more content has become available in the past 10 months. Just the other day there was a software update allowing personal photography to take advantage of the technology, and an update in the beginning of December makes it easier to change the virtual display to wide and ultra wide viewing angles.
Battery life could be an issue on a long flight, if you can’t plug in the charger.
The biggest con is the expense. Not many can justify paying $3500 for a gadget, and another $100 for a case, and then, you’ll want Apple Care, for sure. You can buy it in monthly installments for a year with 0% interest.
The Future
Just off the top of my head, I can think of hundreds of ways this technology can be used to tell better stories, from evoking compassion for a cause by taking the viewer into, say, a homeless camp, or teaching geography by transporting students via spatial and augmented reality around the world.
It might even help the newspaper industry! Instead of squinting at a tiny phone, users can view full newspaper pages on a large virtual screen, where ads feel integrated rather than intrusive.
It’s already being used to show what environmentalists are doing around the globe to restore endangered species.
Songwriters and performers can bring concert goers on stage with them, and fans can almost reach out and touch them as they sing. Imagine going to a bar virtually and watch a series of musicians play their hearts out, and you don’t have to drive to be there, let alone drive home after sipping a few.
Realtors can use it to simulate the experience of walking through a property. Imagine taking someone who has never been to Iowa on a virtual bike ride across Iowa, pumping up hills and whooshing down an incline. Oh my, the Iowa State Fair - now there’s a candidate for immersive video for ya.
Those colleges and universities that offer state-of-the-art facilities for developing and meeting the growing consumer demands will have a competitive edge. Employers who are embracing these progressive technologies will be attractive to new talent. And on and on.
Just go get a demo. Then you’ll know what’s possible.
Watch this vide: https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/
I’m just curious to see what your level of exposure is to this technology so far. Do you mind taking this anonymous poll?
Speaking of storytelling, let’s do a little old fashioned pen to paper stuff. Sign up for the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat by January 15 and save $200.
Learn more, then enroll:
https://okobojiwritersretreat.com
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Did you see last week’s roundup of columns by members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative?
One of my first thoughts for Apple Vision Pro use would be for senior citizens (that means anyone older than me, haha) who may be confined in long-term care living situations - allowing them to explore the world in ways they no longer can physically (or perhaps mentally?). On your poll, I would have selected "No, but I am interested in learning more about this technology for possible later trial and adoption."
Fascinated by the Apple Vision Pro but have yet to try it. Can't wait to hear more about it from you and others.