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Magic Leap Lifts the Curtains (A Little) (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the shrouded-in-secrecy dept.

Magic Leap just announced a preview of its software development kit and "creator portal," which will offer resources for people who want to build for its yet-unreleased Magic Leap One headset. You can now download a preview build of the Unreal or Unity engines, designed for what Magic Leap dubs "spatial computing." This is one of Magic Leap's juiciest announcements, marking one of the secretive company's first steps toward establishing itself as an open platform. It also may be a sign that the company is finally close to releasing hardware. The Verge reports: The creator portal touts a set of tutorials, a community for technical support, and a "Magic Leap Simulator" that will presumably help people preview apps before they get a headset. The Magic Leap One was announced late last year, and it's supposed to be released this year, but we still don't know details about the exact date or pricing. The portal says that a marketplace called "Magic Leap World" will launch soon.

20 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Missed out by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    These guys totally missed out. VR was so 2016. We have moved on to Blockchain and AI. Sorry, but no IPO for you!

    1. Re:Missed out by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      It's not like its too late, plenty of companies are just tagging either onto their company for fun and profit.

      Heck it probably isn't that much of a stretch to use AI in some fashion for graphic rendering, or to make decisions about what to render. As for blockchain I'm clueless about that stuff but as a method of tracking transactions it could probably be used for all sorts of stuff. Heck just go for the low fruit and say your using your own type of bitcoins for your "Magic Leap World" marketplace, and the start another ICO and let the money pour in...

      Me? I'm investing in popcorn.

  2. How about instead saying OPENS ITS TRENCHCOAT!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because that is some ugly junk.

    Is Gen. Mattis on this board, too?

    1. Re:How about instead saying OPENS ITS TRENCHCOAT!! by slew · · Score: 4, Informative

      FYI: Magic Leap board members: Sundar Pichai (Google), Jack Ma (Alibaba), Paul Jacobs (Qualcomm)

      Of course you have to remember, Magic Leap is not really a traditional tech company, it is a marketing company (actually more of an independent record label / AR content company) that stumbled upon some piezoelectric fiberoptic scanning technology (via Prof Eric Seibel UW) and is now attempting make it work using some kind of custom silicon photonics device. Their goal is to apparently license the resulting technology for use by content developers (part of their marketing company roots).

    2. Re:How about instead saying OPENS ITS TRENCHCOAT!! by youngone · · Score: 1
      I assumed that Magic Leap was a vehicle for some Vulture Capitalists to extract a profit out of unsophisticated investors.
      We could both be right I suppose.

      My local media have all been breathlessly reporting how Weta Digital has signed some sort of agreement to provide some sort of content for the Magic Leap platform (or something, the details seemed kind of contradictory to me).

      Not a single one of them seems to have done even the most basic research into what a con-job Magic Leap really is.

    3. Re:How about instead saying OPENS ITS TRENCHCOAT!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Unsophisticated investors like Google, JP Morgan, and Alibaba?

      check out the full list.

      Your skill in anal diction is truly astounding.

    4. Re:How about instead saying OPENS ITS TRENCHCOAT!! by BBF_BBF · · Score: 1

      FYI: Magic Leap board members: Sundar Pichai (Google), Jack Ma (Alibaba), Paul Jacobs (Qualcomm)

      Of course you have to remember, Magic Leap is not really a traditional tech company, it is a marketing company (actually more of an independent record label / AR content company) that stumbled upon some piezoelectric fiberoptic scanning technology (via Prof Eric Seibel UW) and is now attempting make it work using some kind of custom silicon photonics device. Their goal is to apparently license the resulting technology for use by content developers (part of their marketing company roots).

      If "IRWIN" Jacobs instead of "Paul" were on the board, I'd be impressed.

  3. Re:Vaperware by x0ra · · Score: 1

    do you mean in... 2011 ?

  4. Re: You missed out. by sheramil · · Score: 1

    Anyone who can't see that Atomic powered Rocketships are going to have an enormous impact is A (fuqn) Retard.

    Fix'd, as best it can be.

  5. Re:You missed out. by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

    Either way, their SDK says it has "C" APIs. What is this, 1995? We all use Rust and Go now.

  6. Re:Vaperware by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Wow, vaperware, really? How is that different from vaporware?

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  7. We would have to... by Joviex · · Score: 1

    Learn what AR is, how different it is compared to VR and then get your head out of your ass.

    ....actually give a shit about either in the first place. Bad assumption on your part.

  8. BeauHD Friggin Twit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    How much did Magic Leap pay you to publish this?
    Magic Leap Sucks it Colleagues and staff dry.

    https://www.geekwire.com/2018/...

    http://www.businessinsider.com...

    https://variety.com/2016/digit...

    https://www.theverge.com/2017/...

    http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/1...

  9. Re:You missed out. by x0ra · · Score: 1

    In the Silicon Valley microcosm, most likely, in the real world, not so much.

  10. Glorified Playstation VR? by molarmass192 · · Score: 1

    I'm really not seeing this taking off the way they seem to think it's going to take off. AR? Phones evolved to handle that well enough during MLs 5+ year stealth period. VR? See PS VR and Oculus, oh, and you can buy those today. This is an ugly set of goggles (Google Glass are quite nice looking by comparison, which is a really hard thing to say) paired with a Sony Discman sized (look it up) belt PC and hand controller. The pipe dream of replacing mobile phones, TVs, and movie theaters? No, that's not gonna happen, not with that form factor, absolutely no way. I think they'll be lucky to sell a million of these at $500 a pop. This is in no way, shape, or form a mass market product.

    --

    Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
  11. Hololens already here by BenJeremy · · Score: 1

    Microsoft already has AR pinned down. If Magic Leap can do it cheaper, fine, but I can't see it happening. They need to get at LEAST hololens quality and deliver it under $1000 a unit to be viable.

    Having just tried a Hololens unit, I'm not even sure they are ready for enthusiasts anyways. I see some business uses, but the FOV is too limited for immersion.

  12. Re:Vaperware by White+Yeti · · Score: 1

    I'll be disappointed if there isn't a vape shop called "Vaperware".

  13. Always with the eyeware by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Yet no mention of the required backpack http://www.businessinsider.com...

  14. Why are they requesting birthdate to sign up? by Grokko · · Score: 1

    I'm stuck on signing up to see what it is. For some reason, they REQUIRE my birthdate, which made me lose interest. It seems like a Cambridge Analytics developer info gathering service. They may have a legitimate reason for requesting this info, but it wasn't stated anywhere readable. So they don't get my email or my developer attention.

  15. Re:You missed out. by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

    This isn't VR. This is AR.

    You mean like Google Glass? Man, that's so 2014.