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Magic Leap appoints Microsoft exec Peggy Johnson as its new CEO
Johnson has also held a number of leadership roles at Qualcomm.
A conference room full of holograms is the future of work
Sure, you can play immersive games and watch whales come out of the floor with Magic Leap, but another potential use case of AR is teleconferencing and work collaboration. That's mostly done via avatars these days, but at CES, a small startup called Mimesys is showing off a way to do so via live volumetric video capture. This means you can actually see your fellow collaborator face-to-face, albeit in the form of a holographic image. Mimesys set up two demo stations at the Intel booth here at CES to show off the tech. Each had a Magic Leap, as well as four separate cameras positioned on a wall in front of you. I put on the headset, and the first thing I saw was an array of what appear to be Lego bricks, that I can play around with just to get a feel of the controls. A Mimesys helper donned the other headset, and soon, he appeared in my view. He looked incredibly lifelike, and it did seem like the hologram version of him was sitting right across from me. Next, a drone appeared in front of us in a broken state, which we then worked together to re-assemble, simply by clicking and dragging on different components. All of it was done in real-time too, thanks in part to the Intel 5G network that it was hooked up to. Mimesys is hoping to sell the concept not just to the enterprise market, but also to be used in education settings, museums and even possibly for marketing and sales.
Magic Leap prescription lenses are available now for $249
Earlier this year, Magic Leap said that prescription inserts would soon be available for the Magic Leap One, and now you can get them through Frames Direct. The inserts cost $249 and Magic Leap says they're anti-reflective, compatible with the system's eye-tracking features and easy to install. You'll need a copy of your prescription from your eye doctor as well as your pupil distance measurement and you'll need to know which Magic Leap One size you have, but once you place your order, you should have your inserts in just a few days.
Insomniac's first Magic Leap game made me an alien plant gardener
Insomniac Games, a studio that's built up a reputation for action-packed games and bold VR experiences, wants you to take care of a plant. It's not just any plant, though. In Seedling, the company's first Magic Leap experience, you're tasked with taking care of alien vegetation. By doing so for a few minutes every day, you help to repopulate the galaxy after a mysterious event wiped out every trace of life outside of Earth. There aren't any blasters or space battles in Seedling -- just the joy of nurturing what's effectively an alien bonsai tree in augmented reality.
Magic Leap in the living room: Alone together
"I wish I could see it." He's standing in the hallway, graphite-colored goggles strapped to his face and a small, circular computer sticking out of his front pocket. He laughs as the distant sounds of explosions and screams echo around his head. "I wish you could see it, too," he says, before crouching down to get a better angle on an inconspicuous bare spot on the floor. He twists and pulls back the hand holding a motion controller, then lets the trigger go. The quiet crashing sounds resume and he stands up, smiling. "Got it."
Spatial's collaborative AR platform is basically FaceTime in 3D
One of the many potential use cases for augmented reality headsets like Magic Leap and Microsoft's HoloLens is collaboration in the workplace. Instead of using something like Skype or Slack to have your remote meetings, you could strap on a headset and chat with co-workers in a "face-to-face" setting. One company exploring this idea is Spatial, which created an office collaboration platform that not only lets you chat with colleagues but also manipulate virtual objects in 3D space.
Magic Leap’s inaugural conference shows it has a long way to go
If I had to summarize my reaction to LeapCon, Magic Leap's inaugural developer conference, it's one of surprise. Not because of the various software demos, though some of them were pretty exciting. I was surprised by the sheer enthusiasm I felt in the air, from what appeared to be over a thousand developers, for a product that isn't even widely available yet. Nearly everyone I spoke to was starry-eyed and brimming over with hope and idealism, almost overly so. It seemed, ironically, just a tad out of step with reality.
AT&T to bring DirecTV Now to Magic Leap headsets in 2019
A few months ago, Magic Leap announced that it will run exclusively on AT&T's network. Today, at LEAPCon in Los Angeles, the two companies have announced even more details about their collaboration. For one thing, AT&T plans to launch a DirecTV Now beta to Magic Leap One headsets in 2019, which basically lets you watch your favorite TV shows with Minority-Report-like floating screens. You can even position up to four different live streams in front of you so you can watch them at the same time.
Magic Leap’s first experiences are still highly experimental
There were porgs. Porgs all around me. They cooed, flapped their wings and stared at me, as if begging for a treat. My dreams of being surrounded by the adorable alien birds from Star Wars have come true.
Magic Leap details wider US availability for its mixed reality headset
When Magic Leap first debuted earlier this year, it was available only in select markets. Today, at the company's inaugural developer conference, it's announced that the augmented reality glasses will finally be rolling out nationwide, with delivery expanding to over 30 cities. What's more, if that $2,295 price tag is a little too rich for your blood, Magic Leap has also partnered with Affirm to provide 0 percent financing for 12 months or longer. And if you happen to use glasses, Magic Leap will also provide prescription inserts to go along with your pair. Oh, and if you want a carrying case, the company has made that too. On top of that, Magic Leap is aware that it needs more content. So it's also launching an independent creator program, complete with support for engineering, marketing and more, in order to encourage more creators for its platform. It's even introducing an awards program for the most innovative indie releases. There are plenty of software improvements coming down the line as well. Magic Leap owners and developers can look forward to Avatar chat (a multi-user chat room system), support for two controllers as well as 6DoF controller tracking, biometric login, plus a set of Javascript development tools called MagicScript in the coming months.
Sennheiser's Ambeo AR One are the first Magic Leap-certified headphones
Sennheiser has released the first pair of earphones that's certified for Magic Leap's mixed reality headset. The Ambeo AR One looks just like any other pair of in-ear headphones, but the company says it has the features developers need to be able to create spatial computing experiences that can expertly blend real-world with virtual sounds. It's the first device (possibly out of many) to come out of Magic Leap's partnership with the audio giant first announced in September. At that time, the startup said the partnership would help it expand its "spatial audio accessory solutions."
Sennheiser is making spatial audio accessories for Magic Leap
Magic Leap has teamed up with audio giant Sennheiser to help it "explore and enhance [its] spatial audio accessory solutions." The secretive mixed reality-maker's first headset, the One Creator Edition, is equipped with onboard speakers for audio. However, it can also accommodate headphones through its 3.5 mm jack. Sennheiser will be creating accessories specifically for Magic Leap devices, and you might be able to plug some of them into that port. We've said it before and we'll say it again: for virtual and mixed realities to be truly immersive, they need convincing sound to match.
'Angry Birds' makes its Magic Leap debut
Magic Leap's long-awaited augmented reality headset finally debuted over a month ago, even if its $2,300 price tag makes it much too extravagant for most of us. Still, it's a pretty big step forward for consumer-grade AR, and the company is betting big on developers to create the content library it needs. One such developer is Rovio, which announced it's bringing its most popular game franchise -- Angry Birds -- to the platform.
Oculus founder calls Magic Leap headset a 'tragic heap'
Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, apparently isn't a fan of the Magic Leap mixed reality headset. The Oculus Rift designer posted a scathing review of the headset to his blog today; the post was called "Magic Leap is a tragic heap." The CEO of Magic Leap, Rony Abovitz, then subtweeted the review, calling its author "bitter," "angry" and "banished.
Magic Leap wants to create art, not just technology
Everyone has an opinion about Magic Leap. It's either a revolutionary augmented reality company that could change the face of entertainment, or it's emblematic of everything wrong with the technology industry -- an over-hyped, multi-billion dollar pipe dream. Last week, we saw the first impressions of the company's long-awaited headset, which splashed a bit of reality on the company's hype cycle. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Now that we have a better sense of what Magic Leap's $2,295 hardware is capable of, we can take a step back and consider what the company is actually trying to accomplish.
Magic Leap teardown reveals the complexities of mixed reality
After years of waiting, Magic Leap released its mixed reality headset earlier this month. The Magic Leap One Creator Edition isn't quite a consumer-facing device -- instead, it comes bundled with several 'preview experiences' meant to inspire folks who want to make their own apps for the device's mixed reality OS. Now that the community's had a bit of time with the headset, Ifixit has torn one apart, giving us an inside look at the device that's been a big mystery.
Magic Leap's first developer conference is coming to LA in October
Now that Magic Leap's AR headset is actually shipping, and the company is finally opening up to the world, it's ready to start recruiting more software help. And that means it's time for a developer conference. The company is planning to host the event in Los Angeles on October 9th and 10th, chief content officer Rio Caraeff said in an interview with Engadget. You can expect to see a live-streamed keynote, more partnership announcements and plenty of demos on stage.
Magic Leap's $2,295 mixed reality headset is available now
It didn't take long for Magic Leap to confirm the rumors of an imminent launch for its mixed reality headset. The startup has announced that its Magic Leap One Creator Edition headset is available as of today. If you're an American developer (or very, very early adopter), you can shell out $2,295 for all the necessary hardware. You currently to live in a major burg to get one, though -- Magic Leap only has "limited quantities" available, and it's offering free in-person delivery and setup in six urban areas (Chicago, LA, Miami, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle). If you're not in a qualifying area, you'll have to make a reservation.
Magic Leap's mixed reality headset might launch today
Magic Leap might finally launch its headset -- or announce when it will launch the device -- today. The secretive company's founder, Rony Abovitz, has tweeted hints that seem to point at an event for August 8th. Two of his tweets are illustrations of a flying Magic Leaper (which went out at 8:08PM) and a rocket ready for takeoff, while the third is a link to a Wikipedia article that leads to Roland TR-808. His Twitter banner is also trippy illustration of a Magic Leaper surrounded by flying whales with the numbers 8, 8 and 18 hidden in the background. If you go to the company's website, you'll see a rocket starting to take off, as well.
Magic Leap offers a sneak peek at its mixed reality OS
Magic Leap has been peeling away one layer of secrecy after another now that it's close to shipping its mixed reality headset. Just recently, it released an AR demo and revealed that it's working with comics industry veteran Grant Morrison. Now, the company has given us a glimpse of what its operating system an interface will look like through new documents added to its revamped developer guide. TechCrunch has collected a few images and videos circulating on Twitter and Reddit, including a photo of the device's homescreen and the stock apps that'll ship with it. Yes, they're mock-ups, but they can at least give us an idea of what to expect.
