Apple's AR/VR Headset Could Be Less Than a Year Away

[Tagbert]

That was a hunch based on what my optometrist told me about spending too much time focusing on close objects. They told me, "Every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds." (to lessen myopia). However I haven't looked it up in the academic literature. So thanks! Here are some I found from a quick search. From my understanding scientists don't actually know if close work actually causes myopia, but they agree that time spent outdoors significantly reduces the development of myopia.

Some researchers think it's light from the sun, which causes the release of dopamine and prevents the eye from elongating. Other researchers are skeptical and think farther distanced objects outside reduces myopia. I don't know if the light from a VR headset would cause the release of dopamine in the same way as sunlight. In any case, it's probably best to limit VR headset use and spend more time outdoors.

The myopia boom - Nature

Short-sightedness is reaching epidemic proportions. Some scientists think they have found a reason why.

www.nature.com

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aos.13964

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0161642017334644

Preventing Myopia

Nearsightedness (myopia) has become more common around the world recently, mainly because of changes in visual, educational, and recreational behavior. The question arises how the risk of myopia and its progression can be reduced. This would lessen the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I’m pretty sure that the images in a headset like this are generated to appear with a more distant focal length. You are not focusing a couple of inches from your eyes.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I hope you are right, but, knowing Apple ...

Anecdotally nobody expected the first-gen iPad to be $499, and this exact phrase was often stated leading up to the launch.

 

[Flood4]

That was a hunch based on what my optometrist told me about spending too much time focusing on close objects. They told me, "Every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds." (to lessen myopia). However I haven't looked it up in the academic literature. So thanks! Here are some I found from a quick search. From my understanding scientists don't actually know if close work actually causes myopia, but they agree that time spent outdoors significantly reduces the development of myopia.

Some researchers think it's light from the sun, which causes the release of dopamine and prevents the eye from elongating. Other researchers are skeptical and think farther distanced objects outside reduces myopia. I don't know if the light from a VR headset would cause the release of dopamine in the same way as sunlight. In any case, it's probably best to limit VR headset use and spend more time outdoors.

The myopia boom - Nature

Short-sightedness is reaching epidemic proportions. Some scientists think they have found a reason why.

www.nature.com

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aos.13964

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0161642017334644

Preventing Myopia

Nearsightedness (myopia) has become more common around the world recently, mainly because of changes in visual, educational, and recreational behavior. The question arises how the risk of myopia and its progression can be reduced. This would lessen the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

But of thing to note, with vr, you are not focusing at close distance, even if your eyes are pretty close from the lens.

 

[MuchRockness]

Can someone point me to a good use case of VR for the general public that is not a gimmick? Even pornography and gaming seem to be novelties in VR that will get you to use the headset once before it collects dust.

I could list tons of uses the general public will use VR for, but if you can't even acknowledge the ones it's already popular for, talking to you is just a waste of time.

 

[MuchRockness]

The point of VR is to be immersive. So any actually practical use case would have to be something that benefits from full immersion. Why would you want to browse the web in an artificial 3D space? How would web-browsing benefit from this?
Or how would you edit video in VR? With gestures? How is that better than mouse + keyboard or a dedicated editing controller? How would you work ergonomically? I'm not a professional video editor so I really wouldn't know - I'm genuinely curious.

There's a lot of potential in VR for many things but I don't think that an artificial three-dimensional workspace, possibly without tactile feedback, would be that great. But that's pretty much what people said about on-screen keyboards when the first iPhone launched, so who knows.

Even Meta Quest supports Apple keyboards/mice for using your Mac remotely on a virtual monitor. I really doubt Apple would omit such a basic functionality.