Windows 10 HoloLens experience. Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s Windows 10 launch event saw the launch of
Windows HoloLens and the HoloLens headset, which are some of the most
intriguing products the company has unveiled in the recent past.
The Windows HoloLens is similar to an augmented
reality experience (the kind many apps on smartphones aim to give) except that
this is much more advanced, because users can wear a headset, like Virtual
Reality goggles, to experience holograms in real life.
According to the company, HoloLens brings
high-definition holograms in your world, where they integrate with your
physical places, spaces, and things. Microsoft says these holograms will
transform your digital content (a say a picture or a graph or a game you’ve
been playing) into real, physical objects in the room which you can
physically interact with. For instance, you would be able to actually play
Minecraft as though the game existed in the real world and not just the
digital world.
In fact, Microsoft has also found the first adopters
for the HoloLens: Scientists at NASA, who the company says will use HoloLens to
explore Mars using images captured by the Mars Curiosity Rover.
According to the company, “they will work as if they can walk on the surface of
Mars, an experience previously impossible.”
The
Microsoft HoloLens headset. AFP
To enable the experience, Microsoft also showcased its
first hardware around this, which is the HoloLens headset.
So what are the specs and features of the HoloLens
headset like? Well Microsoft isn’t revealing much.
According to this report on The Verge, this
is a prototype device for now and the press weren’t allowed to take video or
cameras when interacting with the headset at the event.
Microsoft described the HoloLens headset as “the most
advanced holographic computer the world has ever seen.” This is basically “a
self-contained computer, including a CPU, a GPU, and a dedicated holographic
processor”, notes the report. According to Microsoft’s official page on the
HoloLens, the headset doesn’t require cords, wires or phones or
tethers, has a transparent lens and advanced sensors, has built in spatial
sounds, and is powered by Windows 10.
There is a see-through visor to let you see what’s in
front of you, there’s spatial sound to hear holograms behind you and a bunch of
other sensors which will work in tandem.
As this Engadget piece
notes, based on the images of the device one can see “at least four cameras or
sensors on the front of the HoloLens prototype.” Microsoft has not given away
too many details on what they can do or what exactly they are capable of.
As for the “holographic processing unit” ,
Microsoft explained during the presentation that it was needed because the set
was processing terabytes of data in real time to understand gestures, voice and
map the environment.
Microsoft has also invited other companies such as
Oculus and Motion Leap to come work with them on Windows Holographics to
develop interesting products and create their own holograms.
There was no official date announced for the release
of the HoloLens headset, but it was said that it would come out within the
Windows 10 timeframe. CEO Satya Nadella, who arrived towards the end of
the event, also stressed on the fact that there would be both consumer as well
as enterprise versions of the HoloLens headset.
Irrespective of when this comes out, the HoloLens, is
definitely one of the most exciting product to come out of Microsoft in recent
times.
Source : http://tech.firstpost.com/
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