Toronto Star Classroom Connection

Can the ‘Pro’ see future?

NAVNEET ALANG CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST NAVNEET ALANG IS A TORONTOBASED FREELANCE CONTRIBUTING TECHNOLOGY COLUMNIST FOR THE STAR. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER: @NAVALANG

Apple’s new Vision Pro headset shows augmented and virtual reality. Contributing columnist Navneet Alang is surprised to be feeling optimistic about the device and it’s future in refining remote work.

Virtual reality cuts you off from the world. For that reason alone, I have been deeply skeptical of the tech.

Why might we want to erect one more barrier between our senses and the rest of our lives?

Having seen the demos and read the reactions to Apple’s new Vision Pro headset, however, I am almost having a change of heart. It’s not that there isn’t cause for worry — rather, it’s that though Apple’s headset is clearly a first iteration of technology that will evolve over time, it also feels like it could well be the future of tech.

By extension, it also feels like the kind of augmented reality Apple is pitching is the future of remote work more broadly.

The device, which looks like a sleek pair of ski goggles, is mostly a virtual-reality headset (though Apple doesn’t call it that). You place it on your head and it subsumes your senses with screens in front of your eyes and headphones over your ears. Imagine seeing the home screen of a tablet and its row of icons, not on a 10-inch rectangle but appearing to float across a few feet in front of you.

It is also a staggering $3,500 (U.S.), meaning that for now, it is extremely niche. the “Pro” in the name is the giveaway — eventually, Apple wants to take this mainstream.

The Vision Pro includes a variety of features that differentiate it from related products from Meta or others. For one, you are supposed look “through” it rather than at it, meaning that the real world and other people are still present in your view (though, what you are seeing is an image produced by cameras on the front of the device, not reality itself ).

Even more strangely, there is a screen on the outside of the goggles that show video of your eyes to the people in front of you. It’s a feature called Eyesight, and Apple claims it is meant to act as a social cue.

Essentially, with Vision Pro, Apple is trying to create a new category — a device that, long down the road, becomes the default way to do intensive tasks like work or watching a movie. The aim, it seems, is to eventually replace your computer rather than your smartphone.

That’s an important distinction for work. Rather than attempting to supplant your phone and creating a world where we’re all wandering down the street with goggles on our faces, the Vision Pro is meant to be the thing you use at home or in an office.

The pitch for work was this: you place the headset on your face and the work you do with a laptop now expands to fill your field of vision. In front of you, seeming to be six feet wide, is an Excel spreadsheet, with a chat window to the left, and your email to the right. Mid-task, you get a call, which you can take as a video or audio.

I’d say that’s actually pretty compelling and also weirdly dystopian all at once. On the upside, the idea of being able to seamlessly move between apps as one is almost literally immersed in them seems like a boon for productivity. On the downside, the fact that the Vision Pro can also be used for content — watching movies, looking at photos, scrolling the web — feels sad if not a little alienating.

Perhaps the more important point is that work is a destination — sometimes literally, but increasingly, virtually. The most optimistic thing you can say about augmented reality is that a computer that you put on your face and then take off is less invasive than one that never leaves your hand.

For now, it’s early. Those who have used the Vision Pro say it may be tiring to wear for longer periods and may also get hot. It is also tethered to a battery pack which only lasts two hours and which you must carry (how we don’t yet know).

What is obvious is that, eventually, Apple wants to shrink this tech down so it’s neither as cumbersome or intrusive as it is now. That is likely years away, as are killer applications, as well as a more mainstream price.

I’m surprised to feel somewhat optimistic about the Vision Pro, or at least impressed. When you think of it as a device to use alone to do work and be more productive, it’s actually quite compelling, not least because it appears to expand the range of what is possible in computing.

But when you think of a work device literally strapped to your body, projecting information into your reality, and making you accessible when you wear it, the sheen wears off a bit.

After all, imagine walking into a room and seeing your spouse “at work,” headset on, immersed in something else and appearing to be only half present. It seems like the future all right. But I’m not altogether sure it’s the one we want.

With Vision Pro, Apple is trying to create a new category — a device that, long down the road, becomes the default way to do intensive tasks like work or watching a movie

‘‘ The more important point is that work is a destination — sometimes literally, but increasingly, virtually.

— Navneet Alang

BUSINESS

en-ca

2023-06-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://torontostarnie.pressreader.com/article/281840058070076

Toronto Star Newspapers Limited