i wouldn’t normally be concerned since any company releasing a VR product with this price tag is obviously going to fail… but it’s apple and somehow through exquisite branding and sleek design they have managed to create something that resonated with “tech reviewers” and rich folk who can afford it.

what’s really concerning is that it’s not marketed as a new VR headset, it’s marketed by apple and these “tech reviewers” as the new iphone, something you take with you everywhere and do your daily tasks in, consume content in etc…

and it’s dystopian. imagine you are watching youtube on this thing and when an ad shows up, you can’t look away, even if you try to they can track your eye movement and just move the window, you can’t mute it, you certainly cannot install adblock on it, you are forced to watch the ad until it satisfies apple or you just give up and take out the headset.

this is why i think all these tech giants (google meta apple etc) were/are interested in the “metaverse”. it holds both your vision and your hearing hostage, you cannot do anything else when using it but to just use the thing. a 100% efficiency attention machine, completely blocking you from the outside world.

i’m not concerned about this iteration as much as people are not hyped about this iteration. just like how people are hyped about the next apple vision, i’m more worried about the next iterations with somewhat lower price tag and better software availability. i hope it flops and i know it probably won’t achieve any sort of mainstream adoption even if it’s deemed a success because it probably can’t get less bulky and look less dorky, but the possibility is still worrying. what are your thoughts?

  • nicetriangle ( nicetriangle@kbin.social ) 
    48·
    3 years ago

    Some people call VR dystopian, but it’s got great potential too.

    During COVID while I was living alone and we were under lockdown…

    I used a Quest to watch movies in a virtual theater with a bunch of people from around the world. I remember being in a theater watching an absolutely ridiculous Nicolas Cage movie laughing my ass off with a bunch of dudes from Australia. Another time I watched a cricket game with some people who explained the rules to me and kinda gave me some play by play on what was happening.

    I’ve also attended a few support group meetings in VR for coping with loss that had quite a lot of attendants. The meeting was run by a licensed group therapist and we took turns sharing and then reflecting on each others stories. It was frankly amazing.

    I also played mini golf with friends of mine as well as had a couple meetings over a round of mini golf with the other guy on my design team during lockdown. Honestly the best virtual meetings I ever had.

    All of the above were very social and very positive experience. I didn’t feel far away from people, I felt connected to them.

    Same way a smartphone can be a useful tool that enhances your life or a screen you stare at for hours consuming bullshit TikTok videos. You’re in control of what you make of it. You can also stick to a dumb phone and not participate at all.

  • ferralcat ( ferralcat@monyet.cc ) 
    16·
    3 years ago

    because it probably can’t get less bulky and look less dorky,

    Airpods are probably one of the ugliest pieces of tech ove seen in the last decade and yet somehow it doesn’t seem to matter. Never overestimate apple’s customer base.

    • Seasoned_Greetings ( Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee ) 
      8·
      3 years ago

      They’re pretty much the only company on the planet that can push the “because your friends have one” aspect in their marketing and succeed. Apple users think they’re all part of this exclusive club and really don’t care that they’re straight up being robbed by the cost.

    • Luvon ( Luvon@beehaw.org ) 
      1·
      3 years ago

      I remember this being discussed when Apple first announced it because developers have to hand off graphics to the os so the os can do the divested rendering specifically because Apple didn’t want individual apps to be able to gather data about where users are looking.

  • PunkFlame ( PunkFlame@lemmy.ml ) 
    14·
    3 years ago

    I love spaceship games (think Elite: Dangerous and the like), and motorsport games. Anything where you’re set in a cockpit is a perfect candidate for VR. All I wanted was a headset that would act analagous to a dumb monitor - simply provide vision and audio and head tracking (with “simply” being a relative term - the challenges overcome and technology produced to date is, admittedly, amazing).

    But no. What we have are a bunch of privacy-invading face huggers. I shouldn’t need to sign in to anything to use a piece of hardware that should require zero internet access (which is why anything Razer is also on my do not buy list).

    So am I concerned about the Apple Vision Pro? Couldn’t give a shit to be honest. I’m not their customer.

    • max ( max@feddit.nl ) 
      5·
      3 years ago

      Doesn’t valve provide login-free setup and use of SteamVR for the index and the like? Granted, you’ll need a beefy PC for it, and probably some kind of storefront for most games. But at least no Facebook login strapped to your head.

  • li10 ( li10@lemmy.ml ) 
    12·
    3 years ago

    I mean, you can just take it off?

    Also, regarding the adoption of the headset, I think it’s absolutely crazy to say that it probably won’t get less bulky. Tech is constantly getting smaller and that will be the number one priority with the headset.

    If they can make the price and comfort level right, then I do think it becomes a mainstream product. Not saying people wear it 24/7, but that most households would have one, and it would become somewhat important for WFH and remote meetings.

    I’m not a fanboy for Apple, but personally I just think it is the tech of the (relatively) near future.

    • daniyeg ( daniyeg@lemmy.ml ) OPEnglish
      2·
      3 years ago

      it won’t get less bulky compared to phones. the headset will still need lenses, a display which itself needs to be a certain distance away from your eyes, a board for processing, a separate battery pack, audio, wifi, straps, space for some airflow so it doesn’t overheat and damage the display etc etc. small form factors have come a long way and it can probably get thinner, but i don’t think apple vision pro is that far off from the physical limit of how much smaller it can get.

      • li10 ( li10@lemmy.ml ) 
        11·
        3 years ago

        Hmm, we’ll have to agree to disagree there. They can 100% decrease the size of the processing bits and reduce weight.

        I just think it’s very shortsighted to look at such an early version of the product and say “it won’t change much”. Especially when however many years ago you could have said that what we’ve got right now isn’t possible.

  • jayrhacker ( jayrhacker@kbin.social ) 
    7·
    3 years ago

    imagine you are watching youtube on this thing and when an ad shows up, you can’t look away, even if you try to they can track your eye movement and just move the window, you can’t mute it, you certainly cannot install adblock on it, you are forced to watch the ad until it satisfies apple

    WUT? Apple is very focused on privacy and the idea that a user can’t mute or install Adblock is… weird. Safari has good ad-blocking options as well as built-in anti-tracking features to protect users, applications can’t usually prevent the system from muting content and Apple doesn’t really sell ads outside of the App Store.

    If you want to worry about that stuff I’d suggest focusing on the Meta VR goggles or god forbid Google starts making goggles, both of those companies survive on ad revenue and have an incentive to enshitify their experience in ways that the Apple we know today would never do. Of course companies can change over time, but the ethic at Apple is to only make products they feel comfortable with their families using.

    • BurningRiver ( BurningRiver@beehaw.org ) 
      2·
      3 years ago

      Had to scroll down pretty far to find this. I don’t see any ads on my Apple devices, because it’s not their thing. And when people try and serve ads, I don’t see them anyways. Because I VPN through my home network with a dns blocker.

      No, I don’t want to root my phone and load a new OS on it. And I certainly don’t want a phone with the Facebook app preinstalled. I feel like people having nightmares about VR ads are having a tough time.

      With all that said, I wouldn’t pay close to $3500 for this thing.

  • KingWizard ( KingWizard@kbin.social ) 
    6·
    3 years ago

    This is anecdotal, but I see all of these VR rooms or stores at malls or on outlet areas where you can play with VR heat and have fun. They are almost always empty. I VERY rarely ever see people in them.

    There another entertainment venue near me that has bowing and games and stuff. They also have a VR area that I have never seen open. Don’t know if it’s just constantly broken or if nobody is actually interested in it.

    • P1r4nha ( P1r4nha@feddit.de ) 
      1·
      3 years ago

      Went to one of these with my co-workers. We were the only ones and nobody was there before we arrived and when we left there wasn’t anybody else coming in either.

      They probably have to constantly update the HW to actually get customers and then it has to be expensive enough that the few that come, make them a profit.

      • raptir ( raptir@lemdro.id ) English
        2·
        3 years ago

        Eh, you’re talking what, $1500 for a headset and rig? Even if you have 4 setups at one of those kiosks the cost to have someone running it is going to quickly outpace the cost of the hardware.

        • shaggy ( shaggy@beehaw.org ) 
          3·
          3 years ago

          I know a guy who used to run one of these businesses. He pivoted to something else because of the expenses, and hardware wasn’t the biggest. The monthly license fees for games are outrageous when you want to provide them to the public. Which means you have to constantly bet on which game’s demand will outweigh its cost on a monthly basis.

          Before COVID, his place was very busy. I went many times and it was a lot of fun. His business was profitable, but because of the cost of games still not super successful.

          I agree that the expense of paying someone to run the spot would quickly outpace the cost of hardware, but in his case he was running the whole thing himself. Even with nobody to pay for their time, his margins were never great.

          Then COVID came along. That really killed it. No one wants to wear a VR headset that was just worn by a sweaty stranger minutes earlier during a pandemic.