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At this point, with the boom in AI, I would settle for very simple AR glasses. Not trying to make 3D objects meld with the the real world view, but just superimposed graphics, kinda like Google Glass, but better. Imagine if it could automatically subtitle foreign languages, or translate Japanese street signs and advertising in real-time. Join that with a conversational AI so you could point your eyes at something and just say “What is that?” and then get whatever level of detail response you want, from a subtitle, to a voice description, to a full dive into the historical details. This is the market space for a fashionable device, but it needs to be a real view of reality, not video pass-through. Imagine renting one (if they’re expensive) when traveling to a foreign country, or at a museum. The cool think about AI integration is that you wouldn’t have to create the content like an audio-guide does. In a museum, you could learn about the artist, the time period, critical analysis, the school of art, etc. dynamically and organically. As a tourist, you could look at an attraction across the street, read (or hear) reviews, check hours and prices, book tickets, etc. Would also be great for directions.


Everything you said I can do with my iPhone, and all of those are rare things. Meanwhile my iPhone does things I want to do everyday all day, is unobtrusive, makes it clear when I’m interacting with it vs the world around me, allows me to touch things which feels good as an embodied human, and isn’t vaporware.


At this point the game changer momentum is in AI, not new hardware. And it's something Apple doesn't seem to have much of an interest in.

Other than that - I agree. Combining AI and AR successfully with cool and minimal hardware would make the iPhone revolution seem like a footnote.

Unfortunately no one seems to be working in that space. Or if they are, their efforts are comically terrible (like Meta.)


I don't like that you took the augmentation out of AR but "Translator glasses" are a great idea. Also a huge quality of life improvement for deaf people.




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