(Journal: June 5, 2023): Apple greatly enriches me, somewhat frustrates me- unlike Katie’s Randy Cat

Stephen Black
4 min readJun 5, 2023

--

This is part of a 6 part series.

To understand the following, you should be aware of:

The success of 19 Crimes Wine

Gaelic

Open Augmented Reality Cloud

So… it is now almost 5AM EST, June 5th. Apple will announce a device today that is proof that they are entering the world of AR.

I will be sleeping during this… June 5 3:46 PM… The video above was a live feed of the Apple event. Here is a review of the new product, which is called the Vision Pro and costs $3500. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23738968/apple-vision-pro-ar-headset-features-specs-price-release-date-wwdc-2023 AR, AR, AR!

Many journalists (not just those invited to wine and dine at the opening event), have been thinking about how to convey their excitement. Apple fan boys and the general public will be thrilled about this “new era”.

Well, at the time of this writing, the new device is expected to be a headset costing about $3000 and will probably only be used by AUGMENTED REALITY CONTENT DEVELOPERS.

Which is a wonderful thing for me, an ARTIST/PRODUCER OF AUGMENTED REALITY CONTENT.

Thank you Apple!

But this impact of this device on the general public will be very small, except for free advertising by journalists and paid ads by Apple. This is somewhat frustrating, as very few journalists will even mention the historic importance of ARKit and ARCore, to give two of many examples of AR’s history. Apple is building upon the hard won successes of small companies or, in the case of the OARC, volunteers. It is a classic case of “standing on the shoulders of giants”. Apple would be the first to admit this, but they have almost nothing to gain by sharing the spotlight. It’s likely that some people will think Apple invented AR.

Content needs to be made and Apple viewing devices will need to be manufactured. Almost certainly though, Apple-produced AR content will be able to be experienced on iPhones and Apple tablets.

Hopefully Apple will support the open and ethical guideines of the OARC, as well as those of the Metaverse Standards Forum.

Yes, Apple (unlike a magical company that shall leapingly be not be named), will almost certainly will give the world countless examples of how great Augmented Reality can be.

Thank you Apple. I cannot say it enough.

Your event today will greatly reduce conversations like I had this afternoon, at J-Cups Pizza.

Chatting with Tony while waiting for my Detroit-style pizza (mushrooms, extra cheese.)

“AI! I’m scared of that stuff!” Tony says.

“AR, Augmented Reality… not AI, that’s artificial intelligence. With AR you can do stuff like see digital content in the real world,” I say.

“Oh yeah. You put those things on your head, right?”

“Um, no... that is VR, virtual reality… A R .” I make an A in the air, then shake my head as I make a V with my fingers.

“A R … oh. Got it”

Apple another thanks, this time for not creating yet another two letter acronym, like XR or MR. https://www.viget.com/articles/xr-vr-ar-mr-whats-the-difference/

HEY LOOK THERE’S A SQUIRREL!

Today I upgraded my MacBook, my Phocus photo editing software, and had my first work-related AI experience:

This is a screenshot. I have not yet figured out why, but I was unable to save this as a small JPEG file. Probably because all of my new updates have yet to speak to each other smoothly. Or maybe it is just a byproduct of using AI? I used AI to reduce the grain and it did an amazing job, but the pants of Jaxx are over processed, as are some parts of Lucius’s forehead. I will continue to improve this image. The photo was taken at Red’s Blues Lounge in Clarksdale, Mississippi, with the support of www.visitclarksdale . Lucius Spiller is seated, accompanied by Jaxx Nasser.

Location: Old West End Festival, the lawn of a “music guy” who, it eventually turns out, is not the music guy I thought he was.

Opening soundtracks:

Big Audio Dynamite: Rush!

Selena!

Tina and Cher!

Taylor Swift!

So the conversation flowed and the Toledo weather was perfect. The music guy was not the guy from Dischord Records (who lives nearby), but the accordionist from Katie’s Randy Cat.

Long storyshort: Earnestery Brewery workers be making a very vetr atsr STOUT clld Randy Katie Catty………>>>>>.like Dropkck Murhy Let’s call Ed!

Oi! Mar sin bhí an chuma ar an scéal go raibh mé imithe as mo stuaim ag cumadh mo smaointe… Anyhoo… nuair a éiríonn le Katie’s Randy Cat stout mar 19 Crimes, tá a fhios agat cár chuala tú é ar dtús!

Cheers to Apple. Thanks for making AR great again.

Steve

re: Stephen Black

Created with Novaby, Stephen Black’s latest project will open at the Strong National Museum of Play later this month.

Golden Weeks, a photograpic art installation by SB will be installed in Fredrikstad, Norway later this summer. Golden Weeks features images created during a week tour of Japan in April of 2023.

SB will be doing a presentation at VRTO in July.

SB specializes in GeoPose AR, which can be used indoors or outdoors, and is accurate to within one centimeter. An independent producer/artist,SB has received technical support from Augmented.City, Novaby, XR Masters, Area 505, Flamingo Filters, and Scandy.

He has spoken at MIT (2x), Hong Kong PolyU, TechCrunch Shenzhen, Columbia, and has organized AR-themed panels for Altimetrik Collider in Detroit.

His GeoPose AR artworks have been installed in New Orleans, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Tokyo, Denver, Toledo, Rochester NY, Chicago and Detroit.

2022 event

In you are in Manhattan in September, stop by BagelFest. It will be our 3rd collaboration!

2022 Bagelfest, in Brooklyn

--

--

Stephen Black
Stephen Black

No responses yet