Global Courant
On Monday, Apple unveiled a new product that’s either revolutionary or a very expensive hype, depending on whether you’re the company description of the Vision Pro or media reviews of the reveal.
Launched at the company’s annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino, California, the Apple Vision Pro is a portable headset. The device can switch between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), projecting digital images while still allowing users to see objects in the real world.
It can be used for immersive experiences in everything from work meetings and FaceTime to photos, movies and apps.
“VR resurfaces as the big thing about every 10 years,” Alla Sheffer, a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia whose research areas include virtual and augmented reality, told CBC News. “And then it goes away.”
The question on many people’s mind: is this time different?
What is the difference between VR and AR?
To understand the implications of the technology, it helps to understand the technology itself. Traditional virtual reality is a computer generated environment. Typically, a user wears a head-mounted display or headset like ski goggles, Sheffer explains. But instead of looking through those glasses, users see a display.