I still use my headset a few times a week, and I’ve had it for two years. Though it’s not a great computer monitor replacement, nor are the native graphic of the games state of the art. It’s just okay for browsing the web.

However, it is an excellent video watching device. Including home made 3D videos. 360 immersive videos in full resolution are pretty impressive. You can also stream multiple sports games on different large virtual screens at the same time while having conversations with other people online. Not as good as the bar, but better than watching a game alone after the kids go to bed and the wife wants to do something else. On an airplane and coupled with noise cancelling headphones it game changing on an airplane.

it’s also pretty good for virtual locations while using my rowing machine or exercise bike.

There are several things vr headsets are just okay at, but you wouldn’t write an essay on smartphone either. But also like a smartphone, there are somethings where standalone VR really excels at as well. It all depends what you are using it for. Maybe at some point the processors will be good enough the games look real too.

The Batman game for Quest was pretty killer. It was included with the Quest 3. So was Asgard's Wrath 2. My main beef with the quest for gaming is that it is basically PS4 level graphics. Which is fine for things that are intended to look cartoonish. But it can’t touch the graphical realism of even the PS5, let alone a desktop computer.

However, as a video device it’s pretty on point. With one main caveat. There are now 3d movies you can rent or buy nativity. There are work arounds, mostly involving pirated content and uploading things yourself. But it’s a huge missed opportunity. The Disney app alone has a huge library of 3d movies they could make available if META would work with them on the codex.

Regardles movies and show coupled with noise cancelling headphone on a plane is a complete game changer.

Does it use the same 3d rendering a Quest, aka no 3d movies from the likes of Disney? Or does it use a standard that plays nice?

Very well put. I have a much better camera than my smartphone, but the camera on the smartphone is pretty good under the right conditions and as you said "Is the one I have one me". I only take out my nice micro 4/3rds camera with multiple lens out maybe a once or twice a year and for a very specific and planned out reasons. And that has been the case for most of the last decade.

Doesn't fit in your pocket as well as a smaller phone. Doesn't have as big of a screen as even the smallest iPad. Underpowered and hard to type on with a limited OS compared to a laptop. I am not sure which niche this fills. But forecasters are predicting there will be about 12 million people who will try to find out.

I mean I resisted getting a laptop in favor of a desktop, tablet, and smartphone. When my desktop finally could no longer be upgraded effectively after 13 years, I went with a high end laptop that I dock to affective become a multi screen desktop for the majority of its time. I find that having laptop means that I can work nearly anywhere. especially paired with my table for a second screen and my phone for internet access. It means that not nearly tied to my desk as I used to be and still be available to get work done if something comes up. Which I actually really like. I know others discovered that a long time ago. But the laptops of 15 years ago could not do what my desktop could do (including running multiple displays) and certainly would not have been able to upgraded over the years so that it was relevant system for almost a decade and half.

My point? I can't see myself ever buying one of this, but asking me again in 13 years. In the meantime I still hoping for a watch, ring; I would even settle for a smartphone at this point; I can take off and then used as a standalone computing platform. Including a projected screen and keyboard. I mean being able to plug it into a dock like the laptop and it running a full OS would be pretty slick too. The top end smartphones of today are totally capable of running a full OS if the companies would let them.

Isn't it illegal to record audio without consent in some states? Seems like a class action might clear this matter up.

Exactly, the population growth of the developing world more than makes us for the low birth rates in the developed world. At some point they will just fill in the spaces we leave behind. That is if AI and machines don’t do so first.

This is a boon for Boise. I haven't been there in almost a decade, I can only image how much it has changed since then. If that place had a respectable airport with direct flights to most of the country, I think it would have surpassed the SLC metro area some time ago. Better laws. The city itself has outgrown SLC proper. But it has no pro major sports teams, a tiny airport, and no real mass transit. A beautiful area over all though. Especially north and northwest of there. Micron has been good for that town.

I mean, technologically it doesn't even really have to have a stationary staging area. The drones could take off and then catch back up with the drone carrier on its route as it makes it way back to the warehouse. It just depends what the FAA and the public decide to allow.

I imagine sooner or later instead of vans, in some areas there will be actual land yachts ---er aircraft carri----er drone carriers that are preloaded at the warehouse and then driven to a staging area where the drones will go forth like robotic flying monkeys to do Amazon's bidding.

Because everyone who disagrees with you must be in this country illegally? Were the cops beaten to at the US capitol on January 6th illegal immigrants too?

A digital ID is the backup. It is like tap payments when they first came out. There were a few times I forgot my wallet that I knew I could stop by the 7-11 on the way home if I needed something. They were basically the only place near me that accepted apple payments when they first came out.

Now, most place accept Apple Pay. Most conveniently, public transportation. Just tap my watch and I am through. Yet, you do still need your wallet because lots of place don't accept tapping to pay. And in that wallet you should probably also still carry cash. Because there are also places that don't accept digital payment of any form. And even the ones that do, sometimes the internet or power goes out. The Digital ID is likely to be niche for the foreseeable future. So unless you know the place you are going accepts it and you are not one to ever change plans or be spontanious; it is wise to have your wallet when you go out.

The only time I purposely leave home without my wallet is when I am going for a run. But I do have my phone and smartwatch on me.

I assume it was likely deliberate you chose two languages as different as English and Japanese. However, English to German and back, would very likely give you much better results.

There is no AI in the traditional sense, it is just marketing speak. The boosters have moved the goal post for what they think the world should call AI. What has historically thought of AI has been renamed as AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). What they are now calling AI are complicated logic based if/then scripts that work on defined sets of probability based outcomes. That isn't to say it isn't useful when used in specific ways. Those language models can turn someone who is good at something into a master. But actual Intelligence a la a singularity of sorts with some form of sentience and a will of its own, no it is not. That is what AI means to most people over the age of around 35.

This technique is far from new. It’s been around for well over a decade. If there is any innovation, it’s in the algorithms that identify individuals with a better accuracy.