Comment Re:But wait... there's more! (Score 1) 107
No. You also need to mod the body to a reptilian pattern. Some of the dinosaurs would make a good model. How about a flame wielding pterosaur?
No. You also need to mod the body to a reptilian pattern. Some of the dinosaurs would make a good model. How about a flame wielding pterosaur?
Useless is the word. You can see the difference in approach from Apple vs Meta in their product announcements. Apple: spent 45min on the hardware and 10min showing things which are better done on a screen, and 5minutes showing new and novel ideas (albeit with a lack of content). Meta: spent 5 minutes on the hardware and 55minutes on a gaming showcase.
Content matters. No one puts on a VR headset because they want to feel the warmth of a screen close to their eyes.
That's because almost nobody has released games for this thing yet. I mean, apart from subscription-only Apple Arcade games, I really didn't find very many out there that are worth playing.
Does anybody have any killer app ideas?
For me, the killer app would be a virtualization environment running macOS Sonoma, combined with high-quality vision analysis that can let you type on a virtual keyboard floating in front of you.
Actually, I think violet, or a least indigo, eyes are more plausible. All that requires is an additional pigment.
(The "extra screen while on the move" is very limited in practice due to resolution limitation of VR).
Not to mention that screens tend not to move with you on the Vision Pro, and neither do physical keyboards and trackpads. Their text input story, other than with a keyboard (where you might as well use a real computer) is basically nonexistent, and a "spatial computer" that can only be used for media consumption device and gaming doesn't make much sense (because you might as well buy a Quest for a fraction of the price).
I bought a Quest 2 a few years ago, because I'm interested in the technology. It actually has a lot of cool tech packed in a small package. But it's been collecting dust for a while now. I haven't used it in almost a year... the last time I pulled it out was when I got Covid and was self isolating. It's surprisingly comfortable to watch Netflix on a virtual big screen while laying in bed, but you really have to struggle with the software to get it to let you. It really doesn't like it when you're lying down.
Other than that, there's a real paucity of content, and the games on there are unequivocally novelty toys. There are lots of ways it can improve... Better resolution, refresh rate, more lightweight... but I don't think any of those would really get me to buy another one. It's clear the product hasn't found its legs. VR remains a solution in search of a problem.
What does your litany of problems with the Quest 2 have to do with the AVP? For example, the AVP works fine for laying in bed and watching movies; in fact, Tim Cook said that's one of his favorite ways to use it.
AVP has serious problems when lying down, though. Yes, if you can get a virtual screen positioned correctly before you lie down, it works, but try repositioning it while lying flat, and it jumps in random directions and is completely as unusable as the Quest 2.
AVP also lacks any obvious way for the user to mark a screen as "floating". One way I'd like to use it is as a media consumption device while out for a walk. Have a picture-in-picture with the screen floating in front of me. But I haven't been able to figure out a good way to do that. I'm pretty sure the Quest actually does have a way to do that, at least in some apps, though I don't remember how off the top of my head. So for at least one consumption mode, Apple's offering is actually inferior in some ways (though I'll grant you that its image quality is much better).
(No controllable way to "project black", meaning you need some blocking/filtering;
Passive LEDs have blocked light for decades. That's solvable. So in theory, if you combined a projection-style setup like Google Glass used with a 1-bit LCD panel, you might be able to do a passable job. But I've obviously never tried it, so I could be wrong.
The idea of using it as a mobile workstation with a MacBook was nerfed by Apple. You can only mirror your MacBook screen, not use the AVP as a second screen. It's larger, but also you need to have a heavy and hot brick strapped to your face to use it.
It doesn't mirror the MacBook screen. It blacks it out and replaces it entirely, making it the ultimate privacy screen.
But you have to either use the computer's keyboard/trackpad or an external Bluetooth keyboard and mouse/trackpad/trackball, so you can't usefully use it as the only display unless you're sitting right at the computer, so it is basically useless unless you are working on an airplane, on a bus, in a coffee shop, or in an open office and you don't want other people seeing what you're doing.
One human pyromaniac with a bic lighter can probably do more damage.
I'm planning on replacing one of my cars with one.
I'm picturing a robot powered dog sled.
Ukraine is not free
Give me a list of Ukrainian prime ministers since 2000, and compare it to a list of Russian presidents since 2000 . Thanks in advance.
Even before the conflict it was the poorest and most corrupt country in Europe
This is not even remotely true. Ukraine's Rule of Law Index in 2022 was 0,50; contrast with NATO members Turkey at 0,42 and Hungary at 0,52. And its scores were dragged down by the consequences of the war in Donbas.
with a military second in size in Europe only to Russia (hence the poverty)
Ukraine's percentage of GDP spent before the current invasion was 3,2%, and that was *with* the ongoing Donbas conflict . By contrast, the US, at peace, spends 3,45% of its GDP on the military. For some European contrasts:
Azerbaijan: 4,5%
Armenia: 4,3%
Russia: 4%
Greece: 3,7%
Before the 2014 Russian invasion, Ukraine's percentage of GDP spent on the military was 1,6%.
ED: Just saw your second paragraph. But the things you speculate on are not exactly common on Titan, if they even exist on the surface at all (it's an icy crust
And no, there doesn't seem to be meaningful amounts of nitrates in the atmosphere at least. You can see a list here. Nitrogen compounds are cyanide and nitrile compounds.
Metabolized with what oxidizer?
It's just the opposite - methane on Titan is like nitrogen on Earth; it's things like acetylene and free hydrogen that are the potential energy sources, and to a lesser extent the more common (but less reactive) higher mass alkanes, etc.
The main problem is that LAWKI isn't even remotely compatible with existing in the cryogenic environment of Titan. There are a lot of interesting alternative chemistries, but they require basically redesigning life from scratch. We're simply not up to this task with our current technology.
Sadly it's being launched to near the equator, not the poles
Freedom is great and neglectable, until you very suddenly don't have it.
History has not ended. The world order that makes life nice and comfy for you is not a given into the future.
"Ninety percent of baseball is half mental." -- Yogi Berra
