Emma Roth
Apple’s “First Timer” Vision Pro ad highlights eye-tracking plus gesture and voice controls.
The Vision Pro is out today, and Apple’s latest ad for the device shows what it might be like to interact with the headset for the first time.
Virtual Reality
Emma Roth
Snarky weather forecasts — in mixed reality.
Carrot Weather has offered a first look at its Vision Pro app launching today, which features comical weather forecasts optimized for visionOS, along with a new 3D weather globe you can explore in your physical space. You can also play mini-games and interact with Carrot’s AI character via the “ornament” in the main app window.
1/5Image: Carrot Weather
Emma Roth
You can reserve a Vision Pro demo as soon as Monday, February 5th.
Apple is taking reservations now from its website. But if you can’t wait that long, Apple stores are offering demos of the Vision Pro on a first come, first served basis today and over the weekend.
Tim Cook already made an appearance at the Apple store on Fifth Ave in New York, where he greeted customers lined up to buy or try the headset.
Emma Roth
Here are all of the 3D Disney movies available on the Vision Pro.
A mix of 42 popular Disney flicks, including Finding Nemo, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are headed to the Vision Pro headset in 3D. Disney Plus subscribers will get access to the whole catalog, but non-subscribers can still rent or buy 3D movies from the Apple TV app.
Image: Disney
Jon Porter
Here’s Tim Cook wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset.
You know you wanted to see it, now we have it thanks to a new Vanity Fair interview with Apple’s CEO which prominently includes images of him wearing the headset, (which we didn’t see at its launch).
“I watched the third season of [Ted] Lasso on my ceiling and it was unbelievable!” said Cook.
$3,499, justified.
Emma Roth
Another perspective on the Apple Vision Pro.
Our friend Marques Brownlee posted an Apple Vision Pro unboxing yesterday, but now he’s back with an overview of what exactly the headset can do.
He gets into how to set up the (somewhat unsettling) personas for use in apps like FaceTime, which involves scanning your face and then adjusting lighting, skin tone, and brightness. You can even choose to add a pair of digital glasses. Brownlee doesn’t show what a persona might look like with eyewear, but judging by how the avatars are looking so far, I bet it would be pretty silly.
Richard Lawler
How long can one person wear an Apple Vision Pro?
Our review of Apple’s Vision Pro included an...interesting avatar call with Wall Street Journal tech reporter (and Verge alum) Joanna Stern, whose review you can watch and/or read right here.
Was it necessary for her to try to wear Apple’s spatial computing headset for 24 hours, even on the ski slope? Yes. Yes, it was.
David Pierce
Today on The Vergecast: the inside story of our Vision Pro review.
The Vision Pro is not an easy thing to review, or explain, or score. But Nilay had to do all those things. So about 24 hours before the whole thing went live, we sat Nilay down in the studio to hash this thing out once and for all. What is the Vision Pro good at? What’s it for? Why is it so expensive? What’s the deal with the eyes? And most importantly... is it good?
7
Verge Score
The Apple Vision Pro is the best headset anyone’s ever made — and that’s the problem.
Nilay Patel
Richard Lawler
Apple’s new Vision Pro ad is one you might’ve seen before.
With the Vision Pro set to ship starting on February 2nd, Apple uploaded a TV spot for the headset to its YouTube channel. Tim Cook presented this ad at the end of his WWDC 2023 keynote presentation, and it appears to be mostly the same, all these months later.
In June we dug through it to find out everywhere Apple imagines you’ll use its $3,499 headset, but you can watch it again right here,
Emma Roth
Here’s why Netflix is holding off on a Vision Pro app.
In an interview with Stratechery, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters says the company wants to “see where things go with the Vision Pro:”
We have to be careful about making sure that we’re not investing in places that are not really yielding a return... Certainly we’re always in discussions with Apple to try and figure that out but right now, the device is so subscale that it’s not really particularly relevant to most of our members.
Netflix’s iPad app won’t work with the Vision Pro, either, which means users will have to access it in a web browser.
An Interview with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters About Strategy and Execution
[Stratechery by Ben Thompson]
Jess Weatherbed
A new game is bringing D&D to VR.
Dice? Check. Character sheet? Check. VR headset....well. Details are slim surrounding this “future release” besides it being a collaboration between Hasbro and Resolution Games — the studio that released it’s own VR tabletop roleplaying title Demeo back in 2021.
I’d be suprised if Hasbro isn’t cooking up other D&D-related projects too given the love Baldur’s Gate 3 and Honor Among Thieves recieved last year.
Wes Davis
What’s going on with the Vision Pro’s availability?
9to5Mac reported this morning that despite Apple Vision Pro preorders still being set for March shipping, the Apple Store website showed a February 3rd pickup date.
When I checked, I saw a February 3rd in-store pickup and March 3rd ship date. On a second try, there were no pickups available, with estimated shipping between February 20th – 27th.
Wes Davis
Apple will swap ill-fitting Vision Pro head straps for online orders.
Part of the online ordering process involves a Face ID-like head scan using your iPhone to size the Vision Pro head strap, but as some complained in a MacRumors thread, multiple scans can produce multiple results.
Not to fear, though. Apple retail employees were told they can swap straps for online customers who get the wrong size, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Amrita Khalid
You can AirPlay what’s on your Vision Pro to an iPhone.
Or iPad, Mac, or any AirPlay-enabled device, including smart TVs. According to Apple’s website, the Vision Pro will support 720p AirPlay mirroring, however earlier on Friday, it said it would support 1080p AirPlay.
Correction, Friday, January 19th, 2023, 8:11PM ET: The description on Apple’s website changed after this post was originally published, and it has been updated to note the new resolution listed.
Victoria Song
In case you were wondering what Vision Pro demos are like...
Apple’s uploaded a full guided tour of the Vision Pro onto YouTube. I had an in-person demo earlier this week, and this video is sort of like a speed-run of many of the things that I saw. (I also got to see the butterfly land on my finger.) Granted, this is an even more controlled setting but you get a sense of the interface and some of the things you can do.
That said, it doesn’t really convey what screens or spatial photos truly look like — nor does it address the physicality of the headset itself.
Victoria Song
Jay Peters
Apple employees get a nice Vision Pro discount.
They’re eligible for 25 percent off the $3,499 headset, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, meaning the cost for Apple staffers is around $2,600 (though Gurman says that’s before “taxes and options.”)
Jay Peters
Here’s Fruit Ninja on the Vision Pro.
In Super Fruit Ninja, you’ll use your hands to chop up fruit, according to a writeup on Apple’s website. I can see how it might be fun, but I don’t know if it will be $3,499 fun — especially when I can still just play Fruit Ninja on my phone.
1/3Image: Halfbrick Studios
Jess Weatherbed
Magic Leap’s CEO isn’t worried about competing with the Apple Vision Pro.
In an interview with Venturebeat, Ross Rosenberg claims that Apple can’t match the level of precision that Magic Leap’s tech can provide:
“What Apple has shown, as I’m sure you’ve seen, is much more about watching a streaming movie or a Facetime call, where you don’t need nearly as much accuracy. That’s a very different space.”
The augmented reality company was recently granted $590 million in additional debt relief funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as Apple readies its Vision Pro headset for launch on February 2nd.
I know what I saw, but I’m still trying to figure out where this headset fits in real life.
Victoria Song
Jay Peters
The Apple Vision Pro has passed through the FCC.
You can look through the FCC filings here. (It’s lots of tests and reports, so it may not be the most interesting reading.)
Pre-orders open on Friday ahead of the device’s launch on February 2nd.
Apple Vision Pro
[fccid.io]
Jess Weatherbed
Meta’s new mixed reality app lets you digitally deconstruct the Quest 3.
Caddy is a free visualizer tool that utilizes hand-tracking to interact with 3D CAD models — allowing users to “grab” individual components, and measure both real and digital objects like you’re operating Tony Stark’s sci-fi workbench.
Every Meta Quest VR headset released to date is currently supported and it even has a collaborative mode for working on projects as a group.
