[Clubber]

"Silicon Valley" touched on this last week:

“It’s a VR play,” Bachman says. “That’s the frothiest space in the Valley right now. Nobody understands it but everyone wants in. Any idiot could walk into a fucking room, utter the letters ‘v’ and ‘r’, and VC’s would hurl bricks of cash at them.

“By the time they find out it’s vaporware, it’s too late. I’ve got to get into this.”

[ryandamm]

The show is about a year, year and a half out of date. Anecdotally, the funding climate for VR was stupid in 2015, more restrained in 2016 and today. (I think AR might be frothier at this point.)

That said, I haven't seen the episode yet, but the show is usually pretty spot on.

[Clubber]

There was a lot of hype, but from what I understood watching the experience videos, the first experience is amazing, then boring because there isn't anything else to it. Like a boring game with great graphics.

I suspect once better games or software are written for it, it may improve. Perhaps training and whatnot, but I don't see what it offers over headphones and a big monitor setup, other than nausea, hot eye sockets and possibly a headache. Like I said, I haven't experienced it yet though. Maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety.

AR is also interesting. I'm not quite sure how much more helpful it would be over your regular ole' eyeballs. Maybe identifying wildlife or something. Currently a HUD for cars is the most useful thing out there and it's been around for years. It's not groundbreaking though, I can just look down a few more inches. Also, you can't do much more with a HUD as far as information goes without distracting the driver. I would definitely like to identify speed traps before I get there. The police have been trying to collect revenue around my neighborhood (for my safety of course) and I almost became a donor.

AR reminds me of the segment where Colbert made fun of the "tech" cup that was able to identify and confirm what you just poured into it.

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/9nzwjt/the-colbert-report-vess...

IMO, for something to really matter, it must be related to: communication, automation or transportation. (CAT) I just made that up, so if someone wants to put that in a textbook or something, I want credit. You can just use "Clubber."

Also, their cellular network idea was pretty good, but it would make much more sense to do something like that out of WIFI because there isn't a centralized provider to snoop and restrict bandwidth.

I don't want to spoil it, this season is pretty good.

[SirHound]

> Also, you can't do much more with a HUD as far as information goes without distracting the driver.

Overlaying your current route over the road itself rather than on an abstracted representation would be a good one.

[Clubber]

I was thinking about that and it would have to be perfect if it traced the actual road. Imagine if it traced slightly off the road or into another lane, the first person who would follow it into oncoming traffic would put an end to the whole project.

Maybe recognize and highlight exit signs that you need to turn off on. It's usually high on the windshield and therefore not as distracting.

Parking assist is another thing that isn't quite right. It alarms me when I'm still a foot or two away. When I turn it off, I park much more precisely. It probably made a hell of a lot of money though, selling to car manufacturers.

[justinclift]

Personally I suspect it could excel at visualisation/display/analysis of dense data.

But, the "what like exactly?" is eluding me atm. That's likely the key problem. :)

[BatFastard]

Like interpreting 3d geological data used in oil drilling. I hear your idea express a lot, but have yet to see many great examples.

However... with something like leap magic (or any touch control), and voice. Suddenly you can constrain the data with your voice and manipulate it with your hands.

[justinclift]

Yeah, that sounds like it could be effective.

[mbesto]

> more restrained in 2016

Huh? https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/ar-vr-startup-funding/

EDIT: Another report: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/vrar-breakdown-vcs-inves...

[zeusk]

"Disclosed" funding and deals often trail the real rounds by anywhere from 6 months to two years.

[mbesto]

When you say "real rounds", do you mean the time the investor commits to investing?

[zeusk]

Yep.

[Kurtz79]

It would be interesting/funny to have a list of the "tech fad of the year" in SV.

[rconti]

Came here for "octopus" jokes. Close enough.

[itsdevlin]

I traded space in the crisper for an app that's octopus recipes?