Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's AI Smart Glasses Likely to Support Hand Gesture Controls
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's already like that now, minus the hands.
It will debut with none of this lol, it's Apple we're talking about here. Still waiting on the AI they promised us years ago.
If it was modeled like the Meta Display but with a tiny Airplay window for that waveguide display, day one purchase. Easiest purchase in the world.
But just being camera/mic/speaker glasses that describe the world in AI slop? Yeah, I'll pass on that, thanks.
But just being camera/mic/speaker glasses that describe the world in AI slop? Yeah, I'll pass on that, thanks.
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
It also seems that wearables have been the future for a while. Smartwatches took a little while to gain traction, but now it seems that almost everyone has one.
I think glasses will be similar. I think they will potentially have a lot of health/exercise uses. Things like calorie tracking are taking strides, where AI can look at a picture of your food and calculate calories. If your glasses could do this for you, that would be great. The temple is also a great place to take temperature. I know Apple is hoping to add health features to airpods.
It bothers me how many in threads like this don't make any effort to envision what a product might be or what direction it might take. We just get post after post that says "I don't see the use in this right now, so it's dumb." Yawn.
These glasses are going to be far more powerful and far more useful than articles and discussion like this can grasp. I don't know if it'll be v1.0 of the glasses that gets people to understand this, but it'll be along soon enough.
Consider how the iPhone was received by certain parties upon the 2007 release:
1. "500 dollars? Fully subsidized? With a plan? I said that is the most expensive phone in the world. And it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard. Which makes it not a very good email machine."
2. Ok, you can browse the web and respond to emails and texts. So? Other phones can do that. And they're cheaper."
3. "Damn this is expensive"
In 2009 the iPhone 3G launched, and with it came the app store. The walled garden was opened up for some new residents, many of whom became overnight millionaires. In those two years Apple forced every phone company to reassess how the phone business should go. Google was set to release their branded phone in 2007 and had to throw out the entire OS and interface, pivoting to their own poisoned version of Linux we know as Android.
I'd like you guys who are against the Apple Glasses project to reconsider them in a different light. Rather than think of them as a pair of glasses, start looking at them as part of a new interface.
If you have any gaming experience then think of the callouts that appear over objects whether they be friend, foe, useful items, or supplies. Imagine being able to set your Glasses to filter non-relevant things and only show your friends, for instance, or points of interest. You can plot them on a map, but then you have to look at a map or listen to an aggravating disembodied voice give you directions. With the Glasses those map coordinates can be translated to a carat having over your target, and the bland voice can also be a pointer that hangs over your turns.
As far as controlling this thing with gestures, you're not going to be waving your hands around in front of your face like a magic user adding somatic components to a spell in Advanced D&D. Your Watch and also Apple Rings (go look them up) will be part of it. You could have your hand down at your side and just do a preset gesture (similar to desktop/trackpad gestures in MacOS) to bring up the somatic interface. Wherever your hand is in reality, thats where your controls will be. You could have your hand out in front of you, or your arms crossed, or your hand in your pocket, and you could still work the interface. (Though manipulating a pointer with hand-in-pocket is sure to bring some seriously funny memes into existence.)
This will look like magic. In fact, it is Project Magic, what I've been hinting at here for well over 10 years. This began with Steve's "I cracked it, I finally cracked it" comment about TV. He wasn't talking about an Apple-branded TV, he was talking about a new way to use your existing TV. A gesture-based interface instead of sitting there clicking away at a remote (no matter how well it was designed). Magic will be a serious change to the desktop metaphor, and eventually replace it. It won't end there, either. Integration with HomeKit will happen very quickly, and instead of people talking to their devices, they'll have somatic signals that turn music and video on/off, dim and raise the lights, activate and deactivate alarms, and everything else that a home and business AV system integrator would like to do.
Now, are they going to stick the landing on this leap of faith? After over 15 years of research, I hope so. With a hardware guy about to take the reins, maybe there's a good chance of it. After all why would they take this particular time, when the Glasses are about to land, to change leaders?
Exciting times, to be sure.
Consider how the iPhone was received by certain parties upon the 2007 release:
1. "500 dollars? Fully subsidized? With a plan? I said that is the most expensive phone in the world. And it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard. Which makes it not a very good email machine."
2. Ok, you can browse the web and respond to emails and texts. So? Other phones can do that. And they're cheaper."
3. "Damn this is expensive"
In 2009 the iPhone 3G launched, and with it came the app store. The walled garden was opened up for some new residents, many of whom became overnight millionaires. In those two years Apple forced every phone company to reassess how the phone business should go. Google was set to release their branded phone in 2007 and had to throw out the entire OS and interface, pivoting to their own poisoned version of Linux we know as Android.
I'd like you guys who are against the Apple Glasses project to reconsider them in a different light. Rather than think of them as a pair of glasses, start looking at them as part of a new interface.
If you have any gaming experience then think of the callouts that appear over objects whether they be friend, foe, useful items, or supplies. Imagine being able to set your Glasses to filter non-relevant things and only show your friends, for instance, or points of interest. You can plot them on a map, but then you have to look at a map or listen to an aggravating disembodied voice give you directions. With the Glasses those map coordinates can be translated to a carat having over your target, and the bland voice can also be a pointer that hangs over your turns.
As far as controlling this thing with gestures, you're not going to be waving your hands around in front of your face like a magic user adding somatic components to a spell in Advanced D&D. Your Watch and also Apple Rings (go look them up) will be part of it. You could have your hand down at your side and just do a preset gesture (similar to desktop/trackpad gestures in MacOS) to bring up the somatic interface. Wherever your hand is in reality, thats where your controls will be. You could have your hand out in front of you, or your arms crossed, or your hand in your pocket, and you could still work the interface. (Though manipulating a pointer with hand-in-pocket is sure to bring some seriously funny memes into existence.)
This will look like magic. In fact, it is Project Magic, what I've been hinting at here for well over 10 years. This began with Steve's "I cracked it, I finally cracked it" comment about TV. He wasn't talking about an Apple-branded TV, he was talking about a new way to use your existing TV. A gesture-based interface instead of sitting there clicking away at a remote (no matter how well it was designed). Magic will be a serious change to the desktop metaphor, and eventually replace it. It won't end there, either. Integration with HomeKit will happen very quickly, and instead of people talking to their devices, they'll have somatic signals that turn music and video on/off, dim and raise the lights, activate and deactivate alarms, and everything else that a home and business AV system integrator would like to do.
Now, are they going to stick the landing on this leap of faith? After over 15 years of research, I hope so. With a hardware guy about to take the reins, maybe there's a good chance of it. After all why would they take this particular time, when the Glasses are about to land, to change leaders?
Exciting times, to be sure.
Mr_Ed
macrumors 65816
Ok. Why don’t you tell us what the product might be or what direction it might take?
I think the fact that a lot of people might not see the point or use is significant because it means that as presented, most have little to no reason to buy the product. Most people don’t spend their hard earned money on things they don’t see a purpose for. We shouldn’t have to solve the puzzle of “what is this good for.” If a product relies on potential customers waxing poetic about the future and “the possibilities” in order to justify it, I’d say the vendor is doing it wrong.
Not sure who their partner is gonna be, but I'm hoping it'd be Oakley. This is my favorite brand when it comes to sunglasses.
My vote is for Maui Jim. But then I start thinking about the "Burn Notice" Victory shades from Oliver Peoples. Michael Weston would definitely be a candidate for Apple Glasses.
code-m
macrumors 601
transpo1
macrumors 68000
I guess we’ll find out! I can see many content creators on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc, being interested in this.
No. Bet you Apple will have a tally light, sound alert, or some other indication that the glasses are recording. This will be necessary, especially in Korea and other countries where devices are required to make a noise when they take photo/video.
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
Well, that's not my job, but I did post a couple things above if you feel like reading them.
But this product hasn't been launched yet. It hasn't even been announced yet. The rumors are just vague hints at what the product might be. I don't see any value in firm, negative, even frustrated declarations that a product is dumb, useless, unneeded, etc when we don't even really know what it is or does yet.
And as for consumers not spending money on it, I'm not in the market for an ipad, but I don't spend my days opening every ipad thread just to say they are dumb because I don't need or want one.
Jseeker
macrumors newbie
Being in a space with someone wearing "smart" glasses is not ok with me and likely never will be. I am not comfortable having my image captured without my express permission. Wasn't this the main issue with the 1st "smart" glasses (were they by Google?)? I see someone with meta glasses and a walk away. This hasn't happened yet, but if it does occur, I walk away, leave the space. Public gatherings like concerts, shows, etc pose an entirely next level problem.
timmodugdale
macrumors regular
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
This just isn't the issue you think it is, at least not in the way that you're presenting it.
You have no reasonable expectation of privacy when you're in public. You are already in countless photos and videos that other people have taken without you knowing about it.
Concerts and shows already have tons of people taking videos and photos. The camera being in a pair of glasses rather than a phone doesn't change that.
Basic75
macrumors 68030
Exactly, about time for a cultural and societal shift in the other direction.
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
Mr_Ed
macrumors 65816
100% agree. Neither is it anyone else’s job here, but you seemed to complain that this isn’t happening.
Again, correct, which is why I referred to the products “as presented”.
As you pointed out, these are rumors. Posted on a website that includes a discussion forum where people will opine about whatever the site posted. Putting aside the “spend my days” hyperbole, do you really expect only positive or favorable opinions would be shared?
How many years until we get all this stuff but in contact lens form? Corrects your vision too.
I have more confidence in Apple than thinking they'd release a product with no compelling use case whatsoever. Pure recording devices make sense for companies like Google and Meta, whose business models depend on sucking up information. and even they couldn't manage to make them successful. maybe they're headphones too? Like AirPods...with cameras...?
The only reason to convince people to wear unnecessary glasses is to put a screen on them, period. Or probably a tiny percentage of people wear them to flesh out a hipster look or some other fashion reason. Glasses are so inconvenient and annoying that there are two use cases for which a significant number people use them today: one, because they're functionally blind without them and they're necessary to live a normal life, and two, because the sun can be blinding enough to make navigation dangerous, and cause long term eye damage. Third, to protect their eyes from sparks, chemicals, flying debris, or other hazards (I doubt apple is pursuing this one meaningfully).
Of those 3, people ignore 2 and 3 regularly, and while some people do spend a lot of money on #2 and #3, high quality and effective options exist in the $20 price range. And #1 is typically covered by insurance rather than out of pocket.
Anyway, I think it's clear that either we will never see it released, or Apple will have some functionality that we're not picking up on, because right now it sounds super useless.
The only reason to convince people to wear unnecessary glasses is to put a screen on them, period. Or probably a tiny percentage of people wear them to flesh out a hipster look or some other fashion reason. Glasses are so inconvenient and annoying that there are two use cases for which a significant number people use them today: one, because they're functionally blind without them and they're necessary to live a normal life, and two, because the sun can be blinding enough to make navigation dangerous, and cause long term eye damage. Third, to protect their eyes from sparks, chemicals, flying debris, or other hazards (I doubt apple is pursuing this one meaningfully).
Of those 3, people ignore 2 and 3 regularly, and while some people do spend a lot of money on #2 and #3, high quality and effective options exist in the $20 price range. And #1 is typically covered by insurance rather than out of pocket.
Anyway, I think it's clear that either we will never see it released, or Apple will have some functionality that we're not picking up on, because right now it sounds super useless.
huge_apple_fangirl
macrumors 6502a
Apple shouldn't release this product until it has a display at least, and frankly not till it actually has a good one. This is a good product category for them (unlike Vision Pro) but it won't be actually good until years from now. Apple should not release something half-baked just to compete with Zuck and Meta.
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
I'm complaining that there is a majority negative, critical responses for a product that is pretty early in the rumor process. Many that are complaining don't even understand the similar products that are currently on the market. And more generally, for a mac-centered forum, there is a tremendous amount of apple bashing with nearly every bit of news that comes out. This board is just way too negative. Just because you don't see use cases for a product doesn't meant that they don't exist.
I mean, I guess this gives you a smidge of credit above most of the other critical posters, but clearly "as presented" is not a final product that you have any idea what use cases it might serve.
Again, I just take issue with the overwhelming negativity on this board in general and specifically in threads like this. Almost any rumor is met with 'dumb, pointless, not needed' responses, typically for products that we don't really know much about. I've been reading similar takes for 20 years. In that time, Apples stock went from a couple dollars a share to nearly $300. I'd love to see a bit more grace offered to them every once in a while.