The virtual and augmented reality markets are starting to heat up. Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, and HTC are all in various stages of putting together consumer products that could change the way we interact with computers. Another company, however, named Magic Leap, might end up besting them all. The company has so far been tight-lipped on the technology it’s been working on for over a year, but yesterday (Oct. 20) showed off a new demo at a Wall Street Journal conference.
The short demo, which indicates it was shot using Magic Leap’s technology, shows a nervous robot and map of the solar system overlaid onto real life. A woman sits at a desk, working on a computer, seemingly unaware of the cosmic dance unfolding around her. Magic Leap has publicly referred to this technology neither as virtual or augmented reality, but rather ”mixed reality.”
Magic Leap’s CEO Rony Abovitz and head of content Rio Caraeff gave a few more details at the WSJD conference about what the company’s system will entail, Engadget reported.”It’ll be self-contained, a complete computer,” Abovitz said, suggesting that it won’t be as awkward to wear in public as something like Google Glass proved to be. “We believe the future of computing should be natural,” he added. Apparently the computer will be so revolutionary that no existing operating system would do it justice, and so Magic Leap assembled its own. “You can’t just use a stock OS,” Abovitz said. “We have to build it.”
The company, which has raised over $500 million from firms including Google, recently moved into a former Motorola facility in south Florida, ostensibly to build out its consumer product. But it remains to be seen exactly what that is. ”We’re gearing up to ship millions of these things,” Abovitz said yesterday. “We’re not announcing when we’re shipping. But we’re not far.”