AR Show with Jason McDowall

Alex Westner is the CEO and co-founder of Xander, a company at the forefront of using augmented reality (AR) technology to create innovative solutions for individuals with hearing loss. Xander's product, live captioning AR smart glasses, allows users to engage in conversations with real-time transcriptions displayed directly in their field of vision. This approach positions Xander to directly address the challenges faced by those with hearing impairments in everyday communication.Before embarking on his journey with Xander, Alex's career was deeply rooted in the audio industry, where he developed a keen interest in the intersection of sound and technology. His background includes a rich tapestry of experiences, from working on audio plugins and contributing to the development of cutting-edge audio technology to running a band, which he describes as a blend of music and business. These diverse experiences have equipped Alex with a unique perspective on the power of sound and the potential of technology to transform lives. At Xander, he leverages this expertise to drive innovation and deliver solutions that enhance communication accessibility for people affected by hearing loss.In this episode, Alex shares his journey from a background in audio to developing the captioning solution that Xander builds today. We explore the challenges of deploying AR glasses to real users, the balance of designing a new type of UI, and the profound impact these glasses are having on their users' lives. Alex also discusses the future of transcription and translation in AR, sharing insights into how this technology could evolve from speech-to-text transcription to speech-to-text translation. Join us as we uncover the potential of AR to change lives and the passion driving Xander to push the boundaries of what's possible in augmented reality communication.Links From The Episode- Company: Vuzix - https://www.vuzix.com/- App: Otter.ai - https://otter.ai/- Company: Sierra Entertainment - Space Quest, King's Quest , Leisure Suit Larry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment- Company: Orcam - https://www.orcam.com/- Product: Transcribe Glass - https://www.transcribeglass.com/- Company: XRAI Glass - https://xrai.glass/- Company: heARsight - https://hearsight.net/- Book: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin - https://amzn.to/3Puy9aJ- Product: Ray-Ban Meta Stories (smart glasses) - https://www.meta.com/smart-glasses/wayfarer-shiny- black-plano-g15-green/- Product: EssilorLuxottica Nuance (hearing smart glasses) - https://www.essilorluxottica.com/en/2023highlights/nuance-audio/- Book: Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday - https://amzn.to/4cpITRy- Podcast: Joel Osteen Podcast - https://www.joelosteen.com/how-to-watch/podcastsYou can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Zac Duff is the co-founder and CEO of JigSpace, a company focused on making it simple to create and share 3D instructions for anything, or, as their tag line suggests, making the hard to explain hard to forget.If you’ve watched the introduction of the Apple Vision Pro, or seen the demos or device itself, then you’ve had a glimpse of JigSpace when you saw the beautifully rendered Formula F1 car with the animation of the airflow around the wings and body.Zac’s story starts in Tasmania, where he developed an early passion for 3D and game design. He studied game design in Australia before working in the games industry and beginning to teach digital art and game design. It was in early efforts to use 3D to teach a concept that Zac found the first seeds of inspiration for what became JigSpace.In this conversation, we go onto discuss:- Zac’s path from game design to 3D to the discovery and pursuit of "embodied cognition", - the origin story for the company, - raising early funding, - highlights and lessons learned at Boost VC's accelerator, - explanation of a "jig" and the axioms for building a product and company around them, - example early customers and use cases, - the relationship with Apple and being part of the Apple Vision Pro launch, - the cultural shift in expectations around 3D and communication, and more.Links From The Episode- App: [Vermillion](https://vermillion-vr.com/) - VR painting app- Book: [Dune](https://amzn.to/4bL3ijT) by Frank Herbert. There are 6 books in this series.- Game: [Gorilla Tag](https://www.gorillatagvr.com/) - VR game- Game: [Frog Fractions](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1194840/Frog_Fractions_Game_of_the_Decade_Edition/) - Classic Flash game, now available on Steam.- Blog Post: [JigSpace is in the driver’s seat](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=mjvi0bc2) from the Apple Developer Blog.- Product Page: [JigSpace on the Apple Vision Pro](https://www.jig.space/apple-vision-pro)You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Nils Pihl returns as our guest for a second time on the podcast. He is the CEO and founder of Auki Labs, a company dedicated to revolutionizing augmented reality positioning. Auki’s technology uses peer-to-peer communication to establish a distributed spatial computing protocol. In this episode, we revisit some of the themes from the first episode, such as the concept of language as the oldest form of augmented reality and Auki's role in enhancing communication through augmented reality positioning. Nils background as a behavioral engineer specializing in Meme Theory and Memetic Engineering adds a unique depth to his approach in the AR space. A serial entrepreneur, Nils brings invaluable insights and experiences from his previous ventures to his current projects.During his first time on the podcast, Jason and Nils discussed the unique challenges of positioning for AR and looked at AR from the perspective of memetics.Today, we first dive into how growing up online influenced Nils’ work in memetic engineering and AR. We look at look at AR use cases like retail, gaming, people-finding etc. from the perspective of meme theory.Nils brings a unique perspective, viewing AR and meme theory as integral to evolving human communication, human ways of being, and our relationship with future AI. We also discuss neural interfaces, living and working in Asia, and more.Links From The Episode- Book Summary: [Ender's Game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game)- Book: [Software Agents (story of Nicholas Negreponte translator)](https://amzn.to/3weTwWF)by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw- Article: [The Egregore Passes You By](https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/the-planetary-egregore-passes-you) by Erik Hoel- Video: [If You're Not The Hero In Your Novel What Kind Of Novel Is It](https://youtu.be/puHHjl77uKM?si=Joe77oPxBmg0Y6xU&t=450) by Terence McKenna- Video: [The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVOF2PiHnc) by Jenny NicholsonYou can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com.

Michael Hoffman, or “Hoff” as most know him, is the co-founder and CEO at IQXR, a company solving the hardest problems facing global-scale, enterprise XR deployments, and doing so with an open source approach.Previously Michael spent nearly a decade working with the Microsoft Hololens team. He was a Principal Engineering Lead at Microsoft for a couple of years, left to be the founding partner of Object theTheory, where he and his team worked with enterprises to leverage AR and VR technologies, often in combination with IoT and AI/Machine Learning. And then he went back to Microsoft for a couple of years to lead the development of the Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK) project.Earlier in his career, Michael worked in software engineering roles at Google, Nike, and several startups.In this conversation, Hoff describes how 3D visualization, with AR and VR technologies, changes our comprehension of digital information, contributes to the value of having your hands free to interact with the world, and enables better efficiency and better insights.Within the enterprise setting, Hoff notes it’s relatively easy to get to a pilot and prove value, but it’s really difficult to deliver that value at scale.We go on to talk about making AR/VR solutions viable within an enterprise setting at scale, including challenges around visual and audio haptics, working both online and offline, and other key bits of plumbing, as well as the misconceptions that many enterprises have about the technology.We also discuss:- the rationale and corporate strategy for building open source solutions, - the role of AI in accelerating software and content development,- the art of the AI prompt, and- how Apple Vision Pro accelerates the market.Hoff wraps up by discussing neurodivergence and his own growing awareness and acceptance of the challenges and benefits of neurodivergence for both his children and himself.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.Links From The Episode- Press Release: [Microsoft Talent Joins The Mesmerise Group to Drive Growth of Immersive Technology Solutions for the Enterprise](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microsoft-talent-joins-the-mesmerise-group-to-drive-growth-of-immersive-technology-solutions-for-the-enterprise-301856247.html)- Article: [What is ikigai and how can it change my life?](https://www.betterup.com/blog/what-is-ikigai) by Elizabeth Perry for BetterUp- Book: [Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life](https://amzn.to/48pf15s) by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles - Book: [The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers](https://amzn.to/2ZpiQ8m) by Ben Horowitz- Book: [Ready Player One](https://amzn.to/2X9Eu2t) by Ernest Cline

Yi Xu is the director of XR Technology at OPPO, a leading Android smartphone company that's innovating in AR with their Air Glass product line.Prior to OPPO, Yi received a PhD in computer science, specializing in computer vision. He utilized these skills as computer scientist and engineer at GE Global Research and CapsoVision, working on a number of projects revolving around 3D computer vision. He then worked as a technical leader at JD. com, shaping the roadmap for their mobile augmented reality research.Yi then joined OPPO in 2019 as the lab manager of Mixed Reality Lab, and quickly rose to be the company wide director of XR Technology. In this role, Yi remains close to the product and technology as he leads the development of Oppo's AR and MR product lines. In this conversation, Yi describes his early interest in 3D and computer vision, and how this led to a passion for XR. Yi goes on to describe why OPPO, a major Android OEM, is so interested in developing smart glasses and similar technology as well as the use cases that he sees as killer apps for consumer smart glasses. Yi stresses OPPO’s focus on design, so we go in depth on comfort, aesthetics, and requirements for smart glasses that consumers will actually wear. We also take a tangent to discuss how generative AI, both textual and visual, might help form the future of AR interfaces. Yi also discusses the massive technical challenges in the way of achieving this vision, and how OPPO is tackling those challenges.Links From The Episode- Review: [The Oppo Air Glass 2 are the first AR glasses I could see myself using](https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/the-oppo-air-glass-2-are-the-first-ar-glasses-i-could-see-myself-using-4305360) by Lewis Painter for Trusted Reviews- Article: [The OPPO Air Glass 2 Is Easily the Most Fashionable Sleek AR Wearable on Display at MWC 2023](https://www.yankodesign.com/2023/02/28/the-oppo-air-glass-2-is-easily-the-most-fashionably-sleek-ar-wearable-on-display-at-mwc-2023/) by Sarang Sheth for Yanko Design- Article: [OPPO pursues tech-augmented reality via MR & Health Science](https://www.ungeek.ph/2023/12/oppos-pursues-tech-augmented-reality-via-mr-health-science/) by Colin Chan for UnGeek- Press Release: [OPPO Empowers Collaborative XR Innovation with the Launch of OPPO MR Glass Developer Edition for Snapdragon Spaces™ XR Developers Platform at AWE 2023](https://www.oppo.com/en/newsroom/press/oppo-mr-glass-developer-edition-launch-at-awe-2023/)- Blog Post: [Introducing Smart Glass | AIR GLASS 2](https://communityin.oppo.com/thread/1222179266759491585)- Press Release: [OPPO Introduces Air Glass, Featuring Creative Cicada Wing Design and Self-designed Spark Micro Projector](https://www.oppo.com/en/newsroom/press/oppo-air-glass/) - about the original Air GlassYou can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com.

Bobak Tavangar is the co-founder and CEO of Brilliant Labs, a company creating an open-source AR glasses hardware platform and pairing that with powerful generative AI models to help you engage with the real world.Bobak studied at George Washington and Georgetown universities before completing a graduate degree at Cambridge University.Bobak is a serial entrepreneur with a core theme running through his entrepreneurial experiences: how to create better ways for people to find and utilize information based on the context of where they are and what’s around them.Bobak also worked for a while as a program lead at Apple.In this conversation, Bobak covers a number of topics, including:- dating advice for physicists, - finding the essential essence of a product, - his rationale for developing open source AR hardware, - the powerful combination of generative AI and AR, - the lure of pursuing a broad set of use cases vs being laser focused, - recent fundraising success and advice, - where the company is going, - and more.Links From The Episode- Article: [This AR Monocle Device Is Designed To Be Hacked](https://vrscout.com/news/this-ar-monocle-device-is-designed-to-be-hacked/) by Kyle Melnick for VRScout- Article: [Singapore AI-Powered AR Wearable Startup Scores $3 Million From Oculus And Siri Cofounders](https://www.forbes.com/sites/zinnialee/2023/06/28/singapore-ai-powered-ar-wearable-startup-scores-3-million-from-oculus-and-siri-cofounders/?sh=47e427995d2a) by Zinnia Lee for Forbes- Article: [Brilliant Labs raises $3M for generative AI-based AR glasses](https://venturebeat.com/metaverse/brilliant-labs-raises-3m-for-generative-ai-based-ar-glasses/) by Dean Takahashi at VentureBeat- Article: [Brilliant Labs Monocle: The World's Smallest AR Glass Is Here!](​​https://blog.learnxr.io/extended-reality/brilliant-labs-monocle-review) by Dilmer Valecillos for Learn XR- Video: [Monocle: The Future of Open Source AR + Interview with the CEO!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N3TPATaFyo) by Sumit Basra- Book: [The Creative Act: A Way of Being](https://amzn.to/3Rb0suO) by Rick Rubin- [Episode Transcript](https://otter.ai/u/IFvUlHLeMMXLtkDvGlKTe2ORnLY)You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Kirin Sinha is the co-founder and CEO of Illumix, a company building the digital infrastructure for real world venues. You may be familiar with Illumix if you’re a fan of the horror franchise, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and the mobile game, Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery. While the game found a tremendous amount of success, the company has shifted its focus to enterprise customers and raised $18M in Series A financing in early 2023.Prior to founding Illumix, Kirin was the founder and Executive Director of Shine for Girls, whose mission is to transform the lives of middle school girls by cultivating a passion for mathematics through a program that incorporates both math and dance. Kirin has a BS in Theoretical Math and Computer Science from MIT as well as three Masters degrees spanning mathematics, machine learning, and business from Cambridge, The London School of Economics, and Stanford.Kirin and her team have been on this journey for over six years now. Kirin originally joined the podcast back in early 2021. In our most recent conversation, she shares how the company’s focus has evolved to working with major venues and brands, such as theme parks or sports stadiums, to provide the digital infrastructure for guest experiences.We go on to talk about:- the evolution of the company as they went through the Disney Accelerator in 2021,- how they are working with major venues and expanding consumer experiences,- the underlying cultural and technology shifts that are helping to drive success,- the fundraising journey,- confidence - how to build it and how to lose it, and- setting the right mindset to thrive during the fundraising process.Links From The Episode- Article: [Kirin Sinha’s Illumix AR Tech Could Be A Fashion Game Changer With New Round Of Investment](https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccasuhrawardi/2023/03/20/kirin-sinhas-illumix-ar-tech-could-be-a-fashion-game-changer-with-new-round-of-investment/?sh=3a2f30fd1aea) by Rebecca Suhrawardi for Forbes- Article: [Kirin Sinha Is Leading the AR Charge With Illumix](https://foundr.com/articles/building-a-business/kirin-sinha) by Luke Ferris for Foundr- Article: [Mark Cuban just broke one of his own investment rules]() by Eleanor Pringle for Fortune- Video: [Mixing the Digital and Real Worlds at Disney’s Parks](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2021-12-16/mixing-the-digital-and-real-worlds-at-disney-s-parks-video) by Bloomberg Technology- Article: [Disney Accelerator Showcases Eight Companies at 2021 Demo Day](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-accelerator-showcases-eight-companies-at-2021-demo-day/)- Book: [Mythos – Book 1 of 3: Stephen Fry's Greek Myths](https://amzn.to/47rvxkX) by Stephen Fry. The hardcover is excellent. Also highly recommended as an audiobook.- Book: [The Alchemist](https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0062315005/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2Q2FE3UVMGHXA&keywords=the+alchemist+by+paulo+coelho&qid=1700519903&s=books&sprefix=the+alchemist+by+paulo+coelho%2Cstripbooks%2C163&sr=1-1) by Paulo Coelho- Other handles: [Kirin](https://www.instagram.com/kirinsinha/) and [Illumix](https://www.instagram.com/illumixofficial/) on Instagram- [Episode Transcript](https://otter.ai/u/n6nwMYUeDVj14fvVzARjz-acOnI)You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Evan Rose is the founder and president of Rose Digital, a company specializing in using augmented reality to help brands engage and delight their customers. Beyond that, Rose Digital serves as an innovation partner for its clients. On the side, Evan is the founder of AR Post, one of the leading news sources for AR and VR. He’s also the co-founder and board president of The Steve Fund, which is the nation’s first organization focused on supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of college students of color. Prior to Rose Digital, Evan worked in finance at hedge funds and investment banks before pursuing his desire to create, and learning how to code. Evan showed his entrepreneurial drive early in life and then went on to attend Harvard to study anthropology.In this conversation, Evan describes his desire and early efforts to create and add value to the world. He goes on to describe: - how Rose Digital got started, - examples of how they are operating at the cutting edge of AR/VR and machine learning, - being the "Woz" to the client's Jobs-like vision, - whether clients/users know what they want, - potential implications and impact of the Apple Vision Pro device, - advice for startup founders borne from the experience of working with major brands, and- the challenges of being one of the fastest growing companies (as recognized by INC for the last four years).Links From The Episode- Site: AR Post – source for the latest news, reviews and opinions on augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality technologies.- Article: [ROSE Partners With Premier League for AR Experience Celebrating Summer Series](https://arpost.co/2023/07/12/rose-premier-league-ar-experience/) by Jon Jaehnig for AR Post- Case Study: [Bloomingdale's celebrates 150 Years with AR Catalog](https://www.8thwall.com/customer-work/bloomingdales)- Article: [Mastercard Launch Priceless Platform with Partners ROSE](https://www.xrtoday.com/augmented-reality/mastercard-launch-priceless-platform-with-partners-rose/) by XR Today- Article: [ROSE and Mastercard Augment the Miami Design District in a New Immersive Experience](https://arpost.co/2023/01/11/rose-mastercard-miami-immersive-experience/) by Jon Jaehnig for AR Post- Article: [FT ranking: The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies 2022](https://www.ft.com/content/6ee8f978-a2e0-4644-b7c7-0718a334adb7) and [INC profile](https://www.inc.com/profile/rose-digital)- Book: [Daemon](https://amzn.to/3FHr7Ko) by Daniel Suarez- Book: [Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears](https://amzn.to/3QIiHsQ) by William Hertling- [Episode Transcript](https://otter.ai/u/sV_2KIrnG9Z8SASF4eTMMgA53zw)You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Ross Finman is the CEO of Augmodo, a company utilizing AI and AR to revolutionize grocery store experiences and economics starting with the personal shoppers who fulfill online grocery purchases.Previously Ross spent 4 ½ years at Niantic. There he founded the AR mapping and Visual Positioning System (VPS) effort before becoming the AR Strategy Lead and then the general manager for the AR Headset group.He joined Niantic through the acquisition of his first startup, Escher Reality, which became the foundation for Niantic’s AR Platform, now called Lightship.He started Escher Reality as he was finishing his Ph.D. in Robotics from MIT, after previously completing his undergrad in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon.In this conversation, the second of two parts, Ross digs into his current startup, Augmodo.We discuss:- the problem they are solving,- the importance and approach to customer discovery,- how AR and AI work together to form a solution,- why now is the right timing and this the right opportunity, and- some recent progress and announcements.Ross goes on to share additional lessons learned and advice for deep tech startup founders.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.Links From The Episode- Article: [Innovating Category Management – Groceryshop 2023](https://retailwire.com/blog/innovating-category-management-groceryshop-2023/) by Georges Mirza for RetailWire- Article: [Pokémon GO creator Niantic buys Escher Reality AR startup](https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/niantic-buy-escher-reality-ar-startup/) by Lucas Matney for TechCrunch…and related [Niantic blog post](https://nianticlabs.com/news/escherreality).- Article: [BMW introduces Smartglasses for Motorcycling](https://mixed-news.com/en/bmw-connectedride-smartglasses-announced/) Benjamin Danneberg for Mixed News- Video: [Star Wars: Jedi Challenges Review - Lenovo Mirage AR Mobile Headset](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-hsJ0xeaT4) by TWiT Tech Podcast Network- Patent: [Augmented Reality Hat](https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2022219603A1/en) by Ross Finman, Michael Miller, and Maryam Sabour- YouTube Channel: [Perun](https://www.youtube.com/@PerunAU)—an Australian covering the military industrial complex and national military investment strategy.- [Episode Transcript - Part 1](https://otter.ai/u/5KVmmaOHVjMliriCJLzbsA1Tj8E)- [Episode Transcript - Part 2](https://otter.ai/u/m50rbDodqw1gwz1NHJgMytTr9vw)Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Ross Finman is the CEO of Augmodo, a company utilizing AI and AR to revolutionize grocery store experiences and economics starting with the personal shoppers who fulfill online grocery purchases.Previously Ross spent 4 ½ years at Niantic. There he founded the AR mapping and Visual Positioning System (VPS) effort before becoming the AR Strategy Lead and then the general manager for the AR Headset group.He joined Niantic through the acquisition of his first startup, Escher Reality, which became the foundation for Niantic’s AR Platform, now called Lightship.He started Escher Reality as he was finishing his Ph.D. in Robotics from MIT, after previously completing his undergrad in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon.In this conversation, the first of two parts, Ross describes his perspective on the AR market opportunity. Specifically, we get into his journey at Escher Reality: how it started, a couple of key moments during the company’s early days, the sale process to Niantic, and some lesson learned along the way.He discusses some reflections on his time at Niantic, including the open mindset they had about developing new hardware. And he shares his current perspective on where AR has the most immediate potential.We come back in part 2 with a discussion about his current startup, Augmodo.Links From The Episode- Article: [Innovating Category Management – Groceryshop 2023](https://retailwire.com/blog/innovating-category-management-groceryshop-2023/) by Georges Mirza for RetailWire- Article: [Pokémon GO creator Niantic buys Escher Reality AR startup](https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/niantic-buy-escher-reality-ar-startup/) by Lucas Matney for TechCrunch…and related [Niantic blog post](https://nianticlabs.com/news/escherreality).- Article: [BMW introduces Smartglasses for Motorcycling](https://mixed-news.com/en/bmw-connectedride-smartglasses-announced/) Benjamin Danneberg for Mixed News- Video: [Star Wars: Jedi Challenges Review - Lenovo Mirage AR Mobile Headset](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-hsJ0xeaT4) by TWiT Tech Podcast Network- Patent: [Augmented Reality Hat](https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2022219603A1/en) by Ross Finman, Michael Miller, and Maryam Sabour- YouTube Channel: [Perun](https://www.youtube.com/@PerunAU)—an Australian covering the military industrial complex and national military investment strategy.- [Episode Transcript](https://otter.ai/u/5KVmmaOHVjMliriCJLzbsA1Tj8E)Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Replay of an interview originally published in April 2023:Maryam Sabour is the General Manager and Head of Business for the AR Headsets group at Niantic, where the goal is to enable everyday adventures and real-life social interaction through location-based augmented reality.Maryam studied law and business at university, going on to earn a Juris Doctorate at McGill University. Early in her career, she was drawn to entrepreneurship, having founded an e-commerce company and a legal clinic for startups.Maryam was drawn into the world of VR, where she spent several years working as a founder or consultant across several projects, before taking on the role of the business development lead for Niantic’s then nascent Lightship AR platform about 5 years ago.In this conversation, Maryam shares her path from law to entrepreneurship to Niantic, and explains why Niantic became a hardware innovator.Maryam goes on to discuss: - the tradeoffs and challenges in making a device suitable for outdoor gaming, - some lessons learned from early explorations, - how the hardware fits into the broader Niantic strategy, - and how the company thinks about privacy.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Replay of an interview originally published in September 2022:Today’s conversation is a continuation of my discussion with Matt Miesnieks about LivingCities. Joining us for part 2 are co-founders John Gaeta and Dennis Crowley.John won an Oscar for his visual effects work on The Matrix movies, and after many additional creative and visual effects projects, including Speed Racer, he went on to co-found ILMxLAB as part of Lucusfilm. He then served as the SVP of Creative Strategy at Magic Leap before returning to work on the latest installment of The Matrix franchise.Dennis Crowley was the co-founder and CEO of location intelligence apps, Dodgeball and Foursquare. Both companies focused on using mobile phones to connect people to each other in the real world. Dodgeball was sold to Google in 2005 and Foursquare is still thriving today as a location intelligence provider.John and Dennis have joined Matt at LivingCities to explore new ways of blending the virtual and real worlds. But as Matt explains, they are not making a game; the bigger opportunity is in social engagement and communication.They go on to discuss the hard problems they are excited to solve and provide some hints at new forms of social expression in a 3D spatial environment. They discuss the tradeoffs of different technology choices as well as their ambitions, and what they want to do differently or better compared to their previous entrepreneurial experiences.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com, and become a patron at patreon.com/theARshow.

Replay of an interview originally published in September 2022:Matt Miesnieks is currently the CEO and co-founder of LivingCities, a company reimagining social engagement in the era of the Metaverse. Many of you know Matt as a serial entrepreneur and former investor focused on Augmented Reality. Matt was previously the CEO and co-founder of 6D.ai, a company that built tools to help mobile phones understand the real world and enable compelling AR experiences. Niantic acquired 6D in 2020.Matt started his career in a number of engineering and business roles, before shifting his focus to Augmented Reality more than 12 years ago. Matt was head of customer development at Layar - an early consumer AR company. He founded Dekko, the first mobile mixed reality platform for iOS. Matt worked at Samsung as a director of product development in AR & VR. And he was a founding partner at Super Ventures—an early stage investor in AR & VR—before founding 6D.ai.In this, the first of a two-part conversation, Matt shares the evolution of his perspective on AR and creating successful startups after 6d.ai’s sale to Niantic. He talks about the foundational observations and ingredients for creating something special with LivingCities. Part of that is finding a unique approach to tying the real world to the virtual.Matt goes on to describe key technology trends, his thoughts on market timing for LivingCities, and gives some hints on what social engagement might look like in the future of blended reality.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com, and become a patron at patreon.com/theARshow.

acine Achiakh is the co-founder and CEO of Wisear, a company creating neural interface devices for AR glasses and other wearables. They are packing their technology into normal-looking earphones and working to deliver the capabilities of the mouse and keyboard, hands free.Earlier in his career, Yacine studied mathematics and business before joining Criteo, a fast-growing tech unicorn in France. There he led AI-driven products focused on advertising technology. It was also there he met his co-founder, Alain Sirois, who has a background in neurotechnology.You will find Yacine on stage at AWE EU in Vienna in October 2023.

David Fattal is the founder and CTO of Leia, a company dedicated to revolutionizing visual experiences through light field display technologies. Lightfield displays are able to create 3D images without glasses. You might remember Leia for its work on the LumePad tablets and the Hydrogen One Smartphone from Red.David is a quantum physicist who got his Ph.D. from Stanford with a focus on Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications. His research experience led him to HP Labs, which was at the forefront of Quantum Information Processing. He co-authored numerous scientific papers at both institutions.A moment of serendipity while at HP Labs led to the creation of Leia. David spun the company out of HP in 2014 and has been the chief innovator since. In this conversation, David makes the case for why every screen should be capable of 3D. He goes on to discuss: - the basics of quantum computing, - how his pursuits in quantum computing led to new type of display technology, - what are light fields, why consumer should care and early use cases, - the challenges of bringing light fields to mobile devices and lessons learned from working with Red cameras in building a mobile phone, - and their go-to-market strategy.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Sophia Dominguez is the Director of AR Platform Partnerships and Ecosystem at Snap, where she’s been the last three years.Previously, she started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and Sophia successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.In this, the second of our two-part conversation, Sophia talks more about utility and the role technology should overtly play in our lives.We go on to talk about about:- Snap’s wearables strategy as well as the hopes and recognized gaps, - expected benefits of being laser focused on AR rather than also working on VR or MR, - Snap’s perspective on privacy, and- how recent advancements in AI fit into AR.As an added bonus in this episode, we hear from two Snap partners:- Yusuf Omar, co-founder of SEEN, and - Michael Nicoll, founder and Creative Director at BLNK Digital I had a chance to briefly chat with them both at the recent Snap Partner Summit, and we’ll start the episode there.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Sophia Dominguez is the Director of AR Platform Partnerships and Ecosystem at Snap, where she’s been the last three years.Previously, she started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and Sophia successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.In this, the first of a two-part conversation, Sophia shares a number of insights, including:- her unique and early perspective on head-worn AR, - the pivot she took at her VR platform startup,- how Snap sees the evolution of AR in wearables,- some of the numbers around AR usage at Snap, - the evolution of the partner program, and- the core pillars of Snap's AR platform focus including the recent addition of shopping and commerce. Sophia describes how Snap has set a path to become the comprehensive developer platform of choice in AR.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Jeri Ellsworth is the co-founder and CEO of Tilt Five, a company that has created AR glasses that bring tabletop, multiplayer games to life.Prior to Tilt Five, Jeri was the founder of CastAR, which was also making an augmented reality hardware and software platform, and one that had raised $15 million in venture funding before shutting down in 2017.Previously Jeri was a race car driver, computer shop owner, and toy industry veteran. She was also recruited to Valve to lead the hardware R&D team with a mandate to research novel user interactions and bring the entire family together in the living room. She contributed to the early development for Valve VR (which became the HTC VIVE), the Steam Box, and the Steam Controller. It’s also where the story of Tilt Five originates.In this conversation, the second of two parts, Jeri shares her fundraising journey and offers some practical advice. She offers an honest look at early product feedback and discusses what users really care about. <quote>Jeri goes on to share a deep reflection on mentorship, including important mentors in her life and how best to find and utilize your own. We also touch on AI for creators and game players, and given this was recorded before Apple’s announcement about the Vision Pro headset, she shares her expectations for the device and its impact on Tilt Five.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Jeri Ellsworth is the co-founder and CEO of Tilt Five, a company that has created AR glasses that bring tabletop, multiplayer games to life.Prior to Tilt Five, Jeri was the founder of CastAR, which was also making an augmented reality hardware and software platform, and one that had raised $15 million in venture funding before shutting down in 2017.Previously Jeri was a race car driver, computer shop owner, and toy industry veteran. She was also recruited to Valve to lead the hardware R&D team with a mandate to research novel user interactions and bring the entire family together in the living room. She contributed to the early development for Valve VR (which became the HTC VIVE), the Steam Box, and the Steam Controller. It’s also where the story of Tilt Five originates.I last chatted with Jeri as she was wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign for Tilt Five, just prior to COVID.In this conversation, the first of two parts, we rewind the story back to its origins at Valve and the early decisions about what to do with their technical innovations. We continue the story through the trials and tribulations of an underfunded hardware company fighting to survive, and Jeri brings us to the present day, sharing many insights along the way.Jeri describes how she and her team have found a solution to a difficult set of problems for AR glasses, and now Tilt Five is generally available and establishing a niche that combines the best of board games and video games.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.

Karl Guttag, is an industry analyst, speaker and the author of KGOnTech, a technology blog at kguttag.com.Karl has 40 years of experience in Graphics and Image Processors, Digital Signal Processing, and memory architecture, as well as micro displays, for use in Heads Up Displays and AR glasses. He’s received 150 patents related to these technologies and many billions of dollars of revenue attributed to those inventions. Karl spent nearly 20 years at Texas Instruments, and was named a TI Fellow—the youngest in the company’s history. In the 25 years since, he’s been a CTO at three micro display system startups, in two of which he was also a co-founder.He was also recently the Chief Science Officer at Ravn, a company developing a hardware and software platform to deliver mission-critical intelligence to military and first responders.In the second part of my conversation with Karl, we talk about:- the current state of µLED tech, - challenges with AR displays and optics, - diffractive vs reflective waveguides, - the unique opportunity for Lumus, - history/comparable of DLP and LCOS to today's pursuit of µLED and AR glasses, - importance of "hands free" and implications on device input, - if or when AR glasses will replace a smartphone, - which technologies will win in the mid and long term.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com. Please consider contributing to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theARshow.