Mike's List 245

Apple's mixed reality headset has 8k screens; Zoom cheats; fake verified badges; useless websites and more!

13 things you need to know about Apple's mixed reality headset

Alex Heath published a big scoop in The Information today revealing new and surprising details about what's likely to be Apple's first mixed reality headset. 

Here are the 13 things you need to know: 

1. Apple could ship its first mixed reality headset next year.

2. It's expected to cost $3,000.

3. The first product will be a very high-end virtual reality headset that will also enable augmented reality and 360-degree video. 

4. Apple's second product category in this space should be augmented reality glasses you can wear all day, every day and even use them with lenses that have your eyeglasses prescription. These won't come until 2025 at the earliest. 

5. The scoop in The Information said that the $3,000 headset shipping next year would have an 8k screen for each eye.

Read the rest by clicking here or becoming a subscriber to Mike’s List!

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Mike’s List of Brilliantly Bad Ideas

1. An app that freezes your screen in Zoom

A plugin called FreezingCam lets you slink out of meetings you don’t want to be in. It basically lies for you, making others on the call believe that you’re experiencing a technical failure rather than a moral one.

2. A Twitter “verified” badge on your house

“Blue Check Homes,” which claims to offer the service of coming to your home and placing a blue Twitter “verified” badge on the outside (but only for verified Twitters users) is a hoax. San Francisco artist Danielle Baskin set up the fake service. But that didn’t stop nearly 500 people for signing up. That’s right, people actually wanted to show their Twitter verified status on their homes and were willing to pay $3,000 each to do it, just in the Bay Area alone. (Prediction: Now that Baskin proved there’s enough deep-pocket narcissists out there willing to pay for the service, someone will actually launch a company that does this.)

3. Websites that give you something to play with

I love websites that are basically useless but fascinating. They great sites to fiddle with while you’re on a call or something. Like the Gentle Brain website that lets you nudge a brain out of a skull casing, only to be replaced by a fresh brain; the Robotics page that features weird dancing robots you can control — sort of — with your mouse; the TypeLit site where you can practice typing by copying classic works of fiction in their entirety; the Keep Calm and Poke Me page where you can manipulate a noisy blob; the Web Mandelbrot page where you can zoom in (by clicking) infinitely and it will always fully resolve; the VentScape page where you can complain about anything you like, and also see a real time wall of other people’s complaints; or the “Moments of Happiness” site, which give you weird interactions with a series of blocky animals.

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Mike’s List of Shameless Self Promotions

1. Catch me on Leo Laporte’s This Week in Tech podcast on Sunday, January 7, at 2:15pm Pacific, 5:15pm Eastern on the TWiT LIVE feed.

2. Read my new article entitled What You Need to Know About Scam Text Messages in 2021 on the SecurityIntelligence website.

3. Check out my piece called QR Code Security: What You Need to Know Today, also on SecurityIntelligence.

4. Read my thoughts on Why AR and VR will revolutionize business on the Verizon site.

5. And check out my session at the Future of Work Summit at 12:05 Pacific, 3:05pm Eastern on Thursday, February 18, where I’ll talk about the totally surprising future of remote work.