Why AT&T launched a DirecTV streaming app on Magic Leap’s mixed-reality headset
AT&T is building an experimental DirecTV Now app for Magic Leap. A beta version of the DirecTV Now app lets users watch up to four live streams simultaneously. The Virtual displays are resizable and can hover in the air in front of you or be fixed on a flat surface.
The potential applications of AR in this space are undeniable and AT&T's investment has once again focused industry eyes on the technology.
Magic Leap One’s first big game is another Angry Birds; here’s what it’s like
After years of secrecy surrounding the Magic Leap One, we're finally starting to see what it's actually capable of. Many have been underwhelmed by the release of the goggles. But perhaps it's a good omen that its first big release is from the Angry Birds franchise. A game that garnered incredible success as smart phones arrived to the market, all those years ago.
Magic Leap's patent application in pictures
For a company that has been backed by hundreds of millions of dollars, the elusive team at Magic Leap has remained very quiet. Ben Gilbert looks into the technology behind the mysterious cinematic reality headset, sharing the company’s patent application, which is rife with ridiculous, but amazing illustrations of what the magic headset might look like, including a hat/helmet with an attached display and our favourite - The Robert Scoble shower model!
Star Wars content revealed for the Magic Leap
Star Wars holograms are officially here! This video shows R2D2 and C3PO hanging out at a dining room table, and it looks incredibly real. Still no new information on what exactly the Magic Leap looks like, but it's hard not to get excited by it!
Magic Leap CEO: We're dead serious about the 'Magicverse'
Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Rerun team in sunny Dublin! ☘️🌈
Today's Top Pick hints that a virtual world, like The Oasis, or The Matrix, may be upon us sooner than we think. Inspired by Walt Disney’s Community of Tomorrow, The Magicverse is Magic Leap's vision for a positive, virtual future. Of which their goggles are just one tiny piece.
Last week The Information published an exclusive, very unflattering report on Magic Leap's technology after seeing a product demo there. They claimed it was nothing like what's been promised and that Microsoft's Hololens is much further along.
The company has also had trouble miniaturizing its AR technology from a bulky helmet-sized device into a pair of everyday glasses, as Abovitz has repeatedly claimed the finished product will accomplish.
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz took to Twitter to defend the technology, claiming that The Information only had access to an earlier prototype. He also announced on the Magic Leap website that the promised small, sleek device is currently in supply chain testing.
Either way it looks like we'll finally be getting a glimpse at the first product from the world's most secretive startup in 2017.
Happy Friday!!
This week, we have not one, but two new headset announcements.
HTC has launched the Vive Flow, a lightweight VR device that seems to be more about watching video, and meditating in VR, and less about gaming. The second announcement is from Magic Leap, which has raised another $500M 🤯, and proposes to launch its second AR headset Magic Leap 2 early next year. This device will be targeted at enterprises, rather than at consumers.
Also this week, Instagram has taken a leaf out of the TV playbook and added some scheduling features to help its creators be more successful in building an audience for their live streams. The new functionality lets creators advertise live streams to followers up to 90 days in advance of going live. This is a smart move, as audience building is a difficult skill in a noisy platform like Instagram. We're looking forward to seeing how this evolves.
Our Top Pick this week is a story from The Hollywood Reporter, on the uncertain future of TV advertising. The TV ad market is still very lucrative, with live events and hit shows drawing the biggest audiences. With eyeballs moving to OTT, this audience is being split across lots of different platforms, and measurement companies like Nielsen are just not keeping up with the pace.
At Rerun, we think that TV networks looking to future proof themselves from an uncertain TV advertising market should look towards QVC and livestream shopping for inspiration. TV networks have already solved the difficult problem of building an audience, and they know how to produce entertaining television. Layering on a video commerce capability could turn an existing audience into shoppers, while keeping them within the TV network’s own ecosystem. We think this makes a lot of sense, and could go some way towards defending against the uncertain future of TV advertising.
Until next week!
