A History of XR Cross Reality Part 6 of 6
Almost there! Only five years to go and then into the future, she writes and points like Doc Brown.
2014 - Future
2015 Google Cardboard
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| Source: Wikicommons |
Google (again? They were just in Part 5) sends out Google cardboard in the New York Times (and other media), expanding the new idea-- a cheap VR viewer where you use your smartphone and some special apps. Pluses: mass market availability, cheap, created buzz. Negatives: absolutely no hands. People want to do more than look, they want to touch.
2016 Emotiv
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| Source: Wikicommons |
OK - I will go on record and say I do not like this product. It records the user’s brain waves when a certain action is requested (like open email) and then translates future instances of those brain waves as commands to repeat the learned action. Why don’t I like this? I cannot find many instances of telekinesis that have worked so far for humanity. Maybe in a future I can’t see, but for now, nope. Just remember, there is no spoon.
2016 Mobile World Congress - Facebook gets into the VR action.
It is interesting to note that when very large corporations make steps into a certain technology, all of our heads should be turning.
Facebook’s
virtual world Horizon (once called Spaces) just opened in October 2019.
Horizon so far doesn't seem to be getting a warm reception. [Update: Horizons was set to shutdown and then quickly backtracked this decision in 2026.]
This
invention represents an inflection point in technology where
we double back on ourselves and create a conundrum. When asked if they
would utilize a virtual world to 'be' (embodiment) with their friends, I
see most regular users of Facebook shying away from the concept. These
are the same users that lived totally without Facebook...uh...before
Facebook. As such, they were synchronously and physically with
people before. Being with people should not, by itself, weird out this
population. So why the hesitation near this concept now? Are we
'friends' with people and do things within Facebook that we would not do
when in-person with them? #Research needed here.
2019 January - Apple patenting new gesture capture devices?
Maybe? As I’ve said though, no need for gloves or devices attached to people. Ditch that idea. New gestures to mean new things though?? [Edit: I've deleted and now downplayed Apple here, they did got for a high end "Pro" headset...that didn't do so well.]
2019 October - AWE conference in Munich #AWE2019
The headset detects hands. At the time, cool.
2019 - Magic Leap
I don’t love this product. Why? See my Future of XR Headsets article. Magic Leap can be redeemed in my opinion though. I will wait this out. [Update: Magic Leap died in 2024 and been resuscitated in 2025.]
2019 - Microsoft Hololens 2
Excellent product. Why? Because the person looking at the user can see their eyes. Besides what I wrote about in my Future of XR Headsets article, Microsoft has taken a page from their own (MS Office) playbook for this launch. They are going directly to the business market. As such, there will be back-pressure into education to prepare learners for the workplace. This product has many of the characteristics of future success.
2019 - example of room-based VR
The plus here? Accessibility. Also, you could get more people into the same experience. So this is VR for more than one person.
2019 - Microsoft demo of a hologram gives a partial keynote speech in Japanese, when the speaker does not speak Japanese at all.
Very much #thefutureistoday.
2019 - Disney’s The Void - example of location-based VR.
Negatives:
Must go to a location to experience this. Experience is not cheap.
Positives: Increase in quality content (Star Wars!) and you can
experience this in group (more than one at a time).
[Update: The Void died in the pandemic due to financial problems.]
So my predictions for the future of XR *based* on studying the past:
- Text will be a continuing necessity. Put it everywhere and in everything you can. Text has over a 2000 year history in human interfaces; it is a winner. We need 3D fonts that can work “floating” and over the top of a variety of light and dark backgrounds and we need them yesterday. #3DFonts
- User-customized ways of interacting with large amounts of information.
- Tech not touching you that still works.
- No need for gloves.
- First forms of what works will likely be two technologies squished together.
- Seeing your user as a human will be more important than the tech itself.
Interesting that phone and sound are almost non-existent in my XR research. I didn’t avoid it, but it also didn’t really show up as a necessary future player. I'll keep cogitating on that.
Keep an eye on science fiction. If you noticed, my sci fi sources dried up about 5 years ago and everything I shared was a technological innovation. What Sci Fi sources are predicting the near and far future? Battlestar Galactica? Handmaid’s Tale? The Marvel Universe? [Update: it was much more Handmaid's Tale that I care to think about.]
Amara's Law: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.
Going forward, I am very interested to trace the justice concept (remember Plato?) through this technology. It is significant that we can criticize much of the current XR environment as being made by young, white males in silicon valley. We need diversity and inclusion inside the workforce making XR.
What comes next? I can’t wait to find out.
Miss any of the prior history of XR and you are curious? Have at it!
Have any time points that you think I should include? Tell us as a comment!
#Reality #CrossReality #MixedReality #VirtualReality #AugmentedReality #VirtualWorlds #Design #Transmedia #XR #VR #AR #ARVRinEdu #EdTech #Innovation #GoogleCardboard #Emotiv #FacebookVR #FacebookVW #FacebookHorizon #AppleGestures #iLRN #AWE #MagicLeap #MicrosoftHolens2 #MicrosoftHologram #OmegaOphthalmics #DisneyTheVoid #Samsung2020 #GooglePixel4 #AppleAR #Spectacles #SmellOVision #FutureTrends #3DText #YourUserIsHuman
This article originally appeared on LinkedIn on December 2, 2019. Updated on March 31, 2026 with replaced images and I deleted some (now embarrassing) future predictions.