“Apple has confirmed the acquisition of Akonia Holographics in a move which has prompted discussion of the firm’s potential plans to launch its own augmented reality headset,” Charlie Osborne writes for ZDNet. “Founded in 2012 by holography scientists, Colorado-based Akonia calls itself the ‘world leader in systems and materials for holography.'”
“The company has developed a form of technology called the HoloMirror which overlays a level of augmented reality (AR) on to physical environments. Akonia claims that HoloMirror’s display performance ‘exceeds that of any other commercial technology,'” Osborne writes. “In particular, the firm has developed ‘thin, transparent smart glass lenses that display vibrant, full-color, wide field-of-view images.’ Akonia also holds a portfolio containing media manufacturing and prototyping equipment, alongside over 200 patents relating to holographic systems and materials.”
“Reports surfaced in April which suggested Apple is currently working on a cordless headset for VR which spots two 8K displays and may be available by 2020,” Osborne writes. “Codenamed under T288, the rumored headset is being built by a team of Apple engineers who are also developing a custom OS, “reality operating system” (rOS), to power the device. Apple’s rumored device will potentially be powered by a five-nanometer processor and would be used as a reference design for future Mac systems.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Akonia acquistion is actually the biggest Apple news of the day so far.
Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we’ll look back at holding up slabs of metal and glass to access AR as unbelievably quaint. — MacDailyNews, July 28, 2017
The impact of augmented reality cannot be overstated. It will be a paradigm shift larger than the iPhone and the half-assed clones it begat. — MacDailyNews, August 4, 2017
Augmented Reality is going to change everything. — MacDailyNews, July 21, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Apple buys Akonia Holographics, a startup focused on lenses for AR glasses – August 30, 2018
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple Glasses coming in 2020 – August 15, 2018
Gene Munster: Apple will release Apple Glasses late in 2021 – May 17, 2018
Apple patent application reveals work on eye-tracking technology for VR and AR headsets – April 27, 2018
Apple prepping Micro-LED displays for Apple Watch and Smartglasses for 2019, sources say – April 3, 2018
Apple CEO Cook on the future of fashion, shopping, and AR smartglasses – October 11, 2017
Apple’s AR smartglasses – understanding the issues – August 29, 2017
Bernstein: Apple’s ‘smartglasses’ opportunity ‘could be enormous’ – August 25, 2017
Apple working on several prototypes of AR glasses – August 4, 2017
Apple’s next big move: Augmented reality – August 3, 2017
Apple’s rumored new glasses will be an even bigger deal than the iPhone – July 28, 2017
Apple smart glasses are inevitable – July 28, 2017
Maybe we’ll get a wearable 8k monitor soon? =:-)
Unless they can incorporate this into a pair of Maui Jim’s, I’m not interested.
Well, well. A projector in a lens frame projects the image onto any surface obviating the need for a computer screen of any kind. The T288 will have auto focus and auto levels. The auto level will adjust the brightness of that part of the image that projects onto an uneven, contrasty surface controlled by a distance detector.
Get over the glasses already. Google tried it. FAIL. If you don’t think they will FAIL with Apple, I’ve got a baseball bat for you. 🤓🔨
In my opinion, the core problem with Google Glass was that it looked geeky, artless, and intrusive (because Google spies on people on purpose). Might as well have called them “NSA Glasses.”
I am nearly sure — and of course hope — that whatever Apple creates will not have these offenses.
I wonder if Apple would be able to develop a method to use these glasses to also replace refractive, prescription lenses? Instead of having to wear the AR glasses over prescription lenses, or having the AR functionality as an option when buying prescription lenses (I would think very expensive to replace every 2 years), could Apple use a camera that would place a perfect image of what the wearer is looking at on the lenses, and somehow adjust to the wearer’s ability to focus. Probably a pipe-dream. Just daydreaming… Eventually, I am sure we will have artificial replacements for the human eye’s lens that will have the ability to focus near/far. I also wonder how Apple will deal with “style” – will all users have the same glasses for AR (we saw how well Google glasses went over), or will Apple work with a frame-maker to have many styles that fit the same size and shape lens?