hololens
Latest
Microsoft shows off Windows Holographic running Windows 10 apps
When Microsoft debuted its Windows Holographic software and HoloLens headset a few months back, Windows 10 apps were mentioned as a possibility. Well, at Build 2015 today, the folks in Redmond offered a look at Windows 10 Universal apps in holographic action. During the onstage demo, apps could be placed on walls or set to float in space, and resized based on the user's needs -- something we'd only seen in videos up to this point. Of course, this means that users in different locations can collaborate on 3D models without having to be in the same room. Any Windows 10 app can be used as a hologram with the headset, so getting work done at a place other than your desk will soon be a possibility.
Xbox games are coming to Microsoft's augmented reality headset
If you watched Microsoft's announcement of its Hololens augmented reality headset and wondered if you'd play Xbox games with it, well, wonder no longer. Today at its Game Developers Conference presentation, Redmond announced that games would be en route to the device and that the SDK should be available come its Build conference late April. Don't miss out on all the latest from GDC 2015! Follow along at our events page right here.
This is how Microsoft will unite your Windows 10 devices
Microsoft's big promise with Windows 10 is its ability to run apps across the entire platform. The framework for these universal apps hasn't been described in much detail, but a post on the Windows Blog gives a bit more insight under the hood. Redmond's calling these "mobile experiences," meaning apps you can use across a variety of different devices; the software is mobile, not the gizmo you're using it on. Cortana moving from smartphone to desktop and the Xbox One's Game DVR tool being available on your gaming PC are but a few examples. The idea is to offer a set of standards across the Windows 10 platform so everything remains familiar regardless of what piece of hardware you're accessing the application from. That means everything should have, in Microsoft's words, an adaptive user experience with natural inputs; calls for cloud-based services including Cortana integration and the action center and one design language across the board.
Daily Roundup: Microsoft leaks, lens cameras and more!
In today's Daily Roundup, we look at a Microsoft document leaked in 2012 that foreshadowed the Xbox One and HoloLens, take a look at a new lens camera for smartphones from Olympus and discuss the US Navy's new firefighting robot. All that and more can be found past the break.
Apple's missing spark, HoloLens, Skymall and other stories you might've missed this week
Microsoft dives head-first into augmented reality, President Obama addresses the State of the Union -- and the internet-- and (say it ain't so!) Skymall files for bankruptcy. Get caught up on these stories and more in this latest edition of Weekends with Engadget.
Daily Roundup: The future of HoloLens, VR at Sundance and more!
Can Microsoft deliver on its ambitious HoloLens project? Meanwhile, filmmaker Shari Frilot brings virtual reality to Sundance and Google starts disclosing unpatched security issues in OS X. Get caught up on today's technology news in the Daily Roundup.
Can Microsoft make HoloLens more than a mirage?
When we think of groundbreaking technology announcements -- the sort of things that make you sit back and reflect on just how far we've come as a species of innovators -- it's easy to jump to the likes of Apple, Google and Tesla before you even consider Microsoft. After all, the possibilities of something like self-driving cars, or a modular cellphone are inherently more interesting than yet another version of Windows. But with this week's surprising announcement of Project HoloLens, futuristic shades that paint your world with realistic holograms, and its accompanying Windows Holographic platform, Microsoft proved that it too can leave us dumbfounded with a new gadget that puts all of our science fiction fantasies just within reach. The only problem? Microsoft now needs to focus hard on not screwing it up. And given its history, there's no guarantee it won't.
HoloLens is and isn't Xbox One's answer to PlayStation 4's virtual reality headset
Finally, we can stop asking Microsoft's Xbox lead Phil Spencer about virtual reality headsets. "For us, I think this is the area," Spencer told a group of interviewers at yesterday's Windows 10 event. He was responding to whether or not there's also a virtual reality headset in the works at Microsoft, just an hour after the company unveiled HoloLens: a "mixed reality" headset that enables the wearer to see holograms in real life. For Spencer, HoloLens is both Microsoft's alternate answer to the recent virtual reality explosion and a potential answer to Sony's Project Morpheus headset -- a VR peripheral that works with the PlayStation 4, where HoloLens could work with the Xbox One. "It's very cool. To me there's not a successful consumer electronics device on the planet where gaming is not a primary form of app category on the thing," Spencer said. There's even a "Minecraft-inspired" demo -- which answers that question -- for HoloLens that shows the implications of gaming with holograms. But no demo showed the headset working with the Xbox One in any capacity. Spencer instead talked around that possibility: "I think gaming will be important. Specific scenarios with the Xbox, we're thinking hard about. People could ask about streaming solutions. Could I use it as a display for my Xbox? We don't have answers to any of those things, but know it's all part of the same organization."
Microsoft isn't saying much about what's inside HoloLens
Without a doubt, the biggest surprise from today's Windows 10 keynote at Microsoft's Redmond campus was the outfit unveiling its HoloLens headset. Dubbed as the "first fully untethered, holographic computer" the device and its capabilities looked pretty neat -- if a little fantastical -- onstage when Alex Kipman showed it off. But for all his talk about breaking down the walls between technology and people, there are a surprising amount of them around exactly what the device is packing under the hood. We asked every person at the event that we could (developers, public relations folks, engineers) about the specs of the dev kit we tried, and were shot down at every turn. No one would give a single, concrete detail. So let's break down what was said during the stage demo (embedded below) and what Microsoft has released via the HoloLens website instead, shall we?
Here's the biggest news from Microsoft's Windows 10 event
Microsoft hinted that its January Windows 10 event would have a lot to offer, and boy was it right. The Redmond crew unveiled not just a ton of software features for desktops and mobile devices, but also new hardware that pushes the limits of what you thought computers could do. Overwhelmed? Don't be -- we've rounded up the biggest news from the event in the gallery below, so you'll know just what to expect when the new Windows is ready for prime time.
I experienced 'mixed reality' with Microsoft's holographic computer headset, 'HoloLens'
Unlike virtual reality, it's much easier to describe what it's like using Microsoft's "mixed reality" holographic headset, HoloLens. Imagine you're wearing sunglasses with completely transparent lenses, and overlaid on the world in front of you is a rectangular box. That rectangular box is your window into Microsoft's "mixed" version of reality, meant to convey a mix of standard reality with augmented reality (overlaid images) and virtual reality (immersion). Does it work? Yes, it works. Is it any good? That's a much harder question to answer. In its current state, HoloLens is a series of demos with varying levels of polish, meant to demonstrate the possibility of the device. More clearly: In its current state, HoloLens is far from ready for public consumption. It's an impressive demo in need of long-term investment, which Microsoft says is happening. All that baggage aside, what's it like using HoloLens?
What's new in Windows 10 for PCs? A lot.
Coming into today's Windows 10 event, we already knew a lot about Microsoft's latest and greatest. The company explained the thinking behind its new OS back in September, and the Technical Preview has been available for months. The core change comes in the form of a revitalized desktop experience -- one that puts the best of Windows 7 and 8 into a single package. Windows will also now better match the convertible devices Microsoft is pushing, with a consistent UI across all platforms, but there's a whole lot more to explore here, including some features detailed today for the first time. Let's take a closer look.
The design of Windows 10: a consistent look across all devices
We knew that Microsoft was planning to tuck that Modern UI inside the resurrected Start Menu for Windows 10, and today, the company provided more details on the next installment's aesthetics. When the update arrives, there will be a version that's designed specifically for devices that are smaller than eight inches in size. This means that the look and feel of the desktop and larger tablets will carry over, and universal apps will allow for seamless transitions from mobile to office sessions. Apps like PowerPoint and Word carry a similar look in mobile versions, and features, like a list of recently opened files, sync across phones, slates and desktop machines. The goal here is an easy-to-use cross-device experience that's accessible anywhere, and consistent aesthetics will certainly help.
Hologram headset from Microsoft with Hololens [Update: Site is live]
Hololens is a holographic headset from Microsoft, due out "in the Windows 10 timeframe." Windows 10 is due out this year, first on Windows Phones after the Super Bowl in February. Hololens is not presented as a straight-up virtual reality headset – "We're dreaming about holograms mixed in your world," Microsoft said during a conference today. "Welcome to a new era of Windows. Welcome to Windows Holographic." Microsoft has been working on Hololens "for years," it said, and to do so it invented the Hologram Processing Unit. Hololens features see-through lenses and allows users to navigate Windows apps and to create 3D objects, projected into the real world in front of the lenses, with gestures. Alongside the hardware, Microsoft announced HoloStudio, software that allows users to create holograms and then 3D print them. Update: The Hololens website is live, right here. Regarding gaming, the page reads, "Microsoft HoloLens intelligently maps the room you're in, blending holograms with the environment around you. Pin holograms to physical locations you choose so that your room becomes the canvas for your holographic projects and games. With Microsoft HoloLens, you can interact with holograms and everyday objects together." [Image: Microsoft]
Microsoft's HoloLens headset is a holographic display for Windows 10
Microsoft is building support for holographic displays into Windows 10, so it only makes sense that the company would make one of those displays, wouldn't it? Meet HoloLens, an official headset with see-through lenses that merges digital content with the physical. It includes spatial sound so that you can hear things happening behind you in the virtual world, and it even has a dedicated Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) to make sure everything works smoothly. The company is shy about just when it'll start selling HoloLens, but it should be available "in the Windows 10 time frame."
HoloLens is Microsoft's take on augmented reality
Microsoft's "dreaming beyond virtual worlds." Meaning, it's looking into holograms for, well, Windows Holographic. It looks an awful lot like an extension of the RoomAlive tech we've seen previously, but it isn't limited to gaming. According to Redmond's Alex Kipman, Holographic applications are Windows 10 universal apps so developers will be able to release them across a wide range of devices. The platform works in concert with the newly unveiled HoloLens headset that allows interaction between the physical and digital worlds. The outfit showed this all off with a live demo of an app dubbed HoloStudio wherein an employee built a quadrocopter onstage by pointing her finger and issuing voice commands like "mirror" and "copy." It all seemed pretty natural, actually. Kipman likened it to "print preview for 3D printing" and then pulled a 3D-printed version of the UFO-like quadrocopter seemingly out of his back pocket to show that it's more than just a concept -- it's a reality.
