How do we provide value in immersive experiences? & Spatial Computing News!

Crossposted from our Substack!

Welcome to the Digital Explorers Diary #59!

A curated collection of thought-provoking topics about interactive technologies, AI, web3, sense-making, entrepreneurship, and psychology.

Executive summary:

• How do we provide value in immersive experiences?
• Humane AI new device,
• Meta partners with Tencent,
• Samsung and Google device set for the end of 2024,
• And Snapchat integrates AI tools in its LensStudio!

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How do we provide value in immersive experiences?

Ultimately, for a potential user of an experience, the choice to do it or not boils down to one thing: does the perceived benefit outcome of the experience outweigh the friction of going through all the steps needed to complete it?

This general concept applies to almost everything humans do and is even more crucial when designing immersive experiences.

Friction can be present in many situations:

• In Augmented Reality, the users need to take out their smartphone, scan a QRCode, maybe download an app, wait for the experience to load, and quickly understand the experience’s mechanics. In the case of a geolocalized experience, they need to go somewhere if not there already. If there is the need to detect a face or an image, the user’s environment must be well-lit and have enough space.
• In Virtual Reality, users must have bought a headset and be willing to wear it for an extended time. They are hopefully not sensitive to motion sickness if the experience is poorly designed. Here, as well, the gameplay must be learned quickly, and all interfaces have a learning curve: even something as simple as a finger pinch requires a few tries and mistakes.
• What about Mixed Reality? Well, you can blend both. The Cherry on the cake is that the video passthrough is still imperfect, and the field of view is often limited in the case of transparent screens.

That’s a lot of friction to overcome! I’m hammering it a lot in this newsletter, but these are why putting a specific technology in a project just for the sake of this technology itself is doomed to fail.

There are many factors you can think about and put in place to maximize the usage of such experiences. In the end, it boils down, obviously, to the value you’ll provide.

• Content. Yes, content matters, especially when the goal of the experience itself is to enjoy good content. This includes art, culture, entertainment, or gaming.
• Social Incentive. As a result of the experience, the user gets a sharable image or video that fits its persona – generation, perceived status, brand preferences, etc…
• Financial Incentives. A coupon, loyalty points, an entry in a sweepstake, a free item…
• Solving a problem. Most likely, in an industrial context, if your solution improves a time-consuming or costly process, it’s very likely to stick. VR Training and AR assistance for complex tasks are the most common. It must provide efficiency compared to the current solution.
• Brand engagement for existing clients. Besides client acquisition, customer retention and loyalty can be achieved through immersive experiences. You will provide value by designing a concept that will engage existing customers in a brand they like.
• Learning. Adding an element of education or an essential piece of information lets the user get something out of the experience.
• Innovation. This is the exception. If the technology by itself is brand new and promising, users will queue up to try it. Be careful; it doesn’t last…

These are only the tip of the iceberg; each needs to be carefully thought about during the project design phase.

As a side note, sometimes, the experience is valuable even if nobody uses it, as it can serve as a showcase for the end client: innovation, brand advertisement, being a first player, etc.

As usual, if you want to brainstorm this process with me, reach out here or on LinkedIn!

This Weeks News:

• AI-assisted experience creation is a hot topic these days, and Snapchat joins the game with its latest release. This is a significant step in the democratization of AR experience creation!In partnership with OpenAI, the tool will allow creators to create face effects from prompts,And in partnership with Meshy, the ability to create textures and materials.

• Right when ByteDance is overhauling Pico, Meta announces their partnership with Tencent to distribute and add content on their next device, set to be released next year.In a country where Instagram and Facebook are banned, it’s interesting to see the comeback of Meta.This won’t be for the Quest 3 but for another, cheaper version. Meta will get most of the device sales, and Tencent will profit from content.As 2024 approaches, with the release of the Apple Vision Pro, Meta is moving its pieces carefully on the chess game of VR headsets… Let’s see how it plays out!

• Similarly, Samsung and Google took the time to assess their VR Hardware strategy after the Apple Vision Pro announcement, and they are now targeting the end of 2024 for their device. It’s far away; by then, Meta and Pico will also have released new headsets. 2024 will be wild!

• And lastly, Humane AI released their product, and it’s a new type of device:By wearing it on your chest, you can touch it, interact by voice, and take pictures, and it also projects information on your hand.AI-driven, it can write messages, search for information, compile notifications, and track your health; in short, it is a full AI assistant.The promises are incredible. I haven’t made up my mind on it yet, but it seems too good to be true… I'm looking forward to the reviews and maybe trying it!

From the Podcast

Every week, I’m teaming up with Guillaume Brincin and Sébastien Spas on the Lost In Immersion podcast. This week:

• I mentioned it last week: Luma AI released a very impressive text-to-3D generative AI, and we played with it during the podcast. Seb’s prompt was “Glowing Alien spaceship in the shape of a bat.“ You can check the result here and a screenshot below!

• Meta released a developer-only extension that enables the occlusions on the Quest 3. Seb tested it, and the results look pretty cool, promising a better integration of the virtual objects in the real scenes.

• Since almost the beginning, the VR industry has known that VR is very efficient in addressing some mental health and wellness issues on earth… And now in space! As part of a SpaceX shuttle launched a few days ago, a VR Headset bundled with the XRHealth application will be available to the ISS astronauts to treat various effects such as isolation, stress, and confinement.

• Over the past months, many new headsets dedicated to “replacing the screens” have been released. We spoke about XReal last week, and now the Nimo AR Glasses have been announced. Again, until the field of view is large enough and the 6dof tracking is reliable, these glasses will be suitable for watching movies only.

Watch the podcast below, and tune in at 10 am UTC on Tuesdays on Twitch, and listen to the podcasts on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon!

Did this newsletter spark some ideas? There are a lot of ways we can work together:

• A quick-fire, 30-minute brainstorm with me - book it here!
• We can ideate, prototype, and build your experiences - contact us here!