I am Rony Abovitz, CEO of Magic Leap, AMA!

When will we, as the public, be able to see what the Magic Leap is? Demos etc.

Hi everyone - thank you for the great questions - I'm really excited to be here :-)

We are in product development - we have the capital, a great team in place, and we have a launch date target. At some point in the near future we will discuss commercial availability publicly.

Beyond commercial availability though, when will the public get it's first glimpse at it?

One of the reasons I'm on Reddit is that we are looking for ways to share (pre-launch) our unique digital light-field experience with the public - and to gauge interest - it appears that there is a lot of interest - stay tuned :-) (gold tickets coming)

How would you compare Magic Leap's product to what Microsoft announced with Hololens?

There are a class of devices (see-through and non-see-through) called stereoscopic 3D. We at Magic Leap believe these inputs into the eye-brain system are incorrect - and can cause a spectrum of temporary and/or permanent neurologic deficits.

At Magic Leap we created a digital light-field signal technology that respects the biology of the human eye-brain system in a profound and safe way - and the experience is awesome - and unlike anything you have ever seen before (except for the real world) :-)

What programming platforms and language skills would be best to learn in order to develop apps for your device? i.e. Unity 3d, Unreal Engine, Proprietary platform,, C++, Python, C#,Java etc.

We are working hard and testing to enable platforms like Unity and Unreal - we love both teams. Having great coding chops will help :-)

I would learn both (Unity and Unreal) - plus digging into C++ and C can only benefit you.

I will let Graeme Devine and his team communicate greater detail for the dev community (possibly here one day).

Many who tried Microsoft's Hololens commented on how small the FoV was. If you or any of your team at Magic Leap tried the Hololens, how would you compare your device's FoV?

FOV is an obsession of mine - it plays a key role in enabling an awesome user experience. FOV plus low latency perception are an interesting set of variables to understand deeply.

Rony, thanks for doing this AMA.

As someone really interested in the AR/VR fields and their implications for not just gaming, but ways we interact with technology in the future, I have a couple questions:

• What are some things that you think Magic Leap is posed to solve that others can't?
• How are you thinking about the product as a platform?
• What are the biggest challenges in getting the product to market?

Great question - we share a love for the field - as well as applications that go beyond gaming and entertainment.

We believe that people may want to use this new form of computing as much, if not more than their mobile device. To do so it must be safe, comfortable, and enable awesome experiences.

We are developing a product platform to enable developers of all kinds, as well as a global creative/maker community to build the coolest stuff ever on it.

Our biggest challenge: to do what we are doing, we can't beat physics - but we are wrestling it to the ground :-)

What is Neal Stephenson doing for you on a day-by-day basis?

Neal is awesome as our Chief Futurist - and Orcrist wielding superbadass :-)

But - he digs in with our tech team, on helping us creating creator/developer friendly experience sites, and building relationships with people and companies who are living the future we want to build.

I pinch myself everytime I sign off on a Neal Stephenson expense report - so mundane and sci-fi at the same moment :)

In a world with Magic Leap, is there a need for physical screens? Laptops, smartphones or even smartwatches?

no :-)

It seems that Magic Leap will be awesome for 3D content but what about 2D content and text? Will we be able to read effortless in it for long periods of time without eye strain?

We believe yes - a digital light-field signal is the most natural way for you to experience digital content (next to the real world, which is the ultimate gold standard)

With the first iteration of whatever you guys are making at Magic Leap, how easily will developers be able to access tools to develop for it?

We are working hard at creating early accessibility for developers. Due to the proprietary and unique nature of our hardware and software, we will have proxy systems and tools, as well as provide access to prototype and production pilot systems pre-launch (to qualified developers). This is a goal for this year.

One of my biggest gripes with Oculus is the lack of an emulator for development. Is this something you guys are looking into? I really like developing for hardware like this, but sometimes the costs and limited quantities make it tough.

I'm a big believer in emulators and ways for more of the world to access developing on our platform.

Will Magic Leap be able to provide convincing low latency anchoring and integrated occlusion without QR codes?

Great tech question - that is one of our product goals - and can be achieved. Our latency benchmarks take into account human neuro-physiology.

Are consumers ready to wear smartglasses and leave their smartphones behind? How long do you see this really becoming a reality?

There will be a transition period - some people will wait, others will adopt quickly, while some will use both for a while.

Do you think AR is better than VR, will magic leap be usable as a VR device (closing off all view of the real world)?

great question -

The current view of AR is that it is a monoscopic text overlay, or a stereo 3D, see-through system.

VR (as known today) is a stereoscopic 3d, world blocked out, cell-phone in front of your face in a Viewmaster type configuration.

Our vision for AR and VR is a true replication of visual reality. The ONLY safe way forward is to make a digital light field that is naturally tuned into your brain and physiology. And it’s amazing how when you give the mind and body what they want, how much it gives back.

Rony, fellow South Floridian here. Really surprised to see such an exciting tech company based down here and especially in Dania Beach. Read that the other day and was blown away as I would have figured you guys were based out of California or Washington. My question is: Is there a specific reason you guys setup shop here in Florida? Love the work you're doing and happy to have you here!

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio - but moved here to South Florida as a kid. I love it here: Disney, Nasa, alligators!

NASA brought the best and brightest here in the 60s to go to the moon - there is something about being here which gets you to think different and big

Can you say anything about what sort of (world-facing) vision sensors you plan to include on your glasses? Is power consumption going to limit you to basic RGB cameras, or can we expect something fancier like a depth sensor? Thanks

Great question - we are working internally, and with partners on proprietary tech and solutions here. I will say that we are entering a golden age (around the industry) of machine vision and perception/sensing intelligence. Great stuff is happening.

In terms of power consumption, we have team members who are diving very deep into all forms of optimization. We are aiming to approximate mobile use cases.

How is Magic Leap going to address non Hollywood applications? All we have seen so far is applications for games and entertainment other than the patent pictures.

Everyday computing will be amazing in our platform - and we are in talks with all kinds of app and experience developers, including social, mapping, productivity, creation, communication...

For those who don't know what Magic Leap is, how do you explain it to them? AR, VR, hardware, software, a platform, an app, magic??

Great question -

You can think of us as techno-biology - we believe it is the future of computing.

What is techno-biology?

It is the proper application of technology to our biology that leads to the experience of magic :-)

(I just had this discussion last night with the Dean of Engineering at my college - kudos to him)

I noticed that Alex Kipman, the HoloLens guy at Microsoft called out devs to develop on the Windows Holographic platform - and specifically called out Magic Leap. What are your plans to partner with that team to create content using the Holographic Platfom?

I have not yet met Alex - but by all accounts he is known as a great person. We have our own plans - but really dig the shout-out.

Hi Rony, thanks for doing this AMA.

I heard a rumor that both Facebook and Microsoft are interested in acquiring/purchasing Magic Leap. Is this true?

we don't kiss and tell ;)