![\"HoloLens](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/HoloLens-2.png\")
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Microsoft Corp. is introducing an improved version of its HoloLens augmented-reality goggles and lowering the price, as it tries to develop\u00a0a bigger\u00a0business selling the devices to corporate customers.<\/p>\n
At $3,500, the HoloLens 2 with a wider field of view and easier controls than the original is still an expensive\u00a0piece of gear, but it\u2019s less than the $5,000 cost to\u00a0commercial users for the first version. The company is also selling the device, which lets users\u00a0view, move, speak to and interact with 3-D\u00a0holograms,\u00a0via\u00a0a monthly subscription along with a related software app.<\/p>\n
Microsoft is pitching the goggles\u00a0as a tool for workers rather than consumers, envisioning it for tasks such as visually guiding factory workers as they learn\u00a0new jobs or helping architects design buildings. Education company Pearson Plc and Koninklijke Philips NV, a health technology provider,\u00a0are testing the new devices, and the U.S. Army in November awarded Microsoft a $480 million contract to supply HoloLens prototypes.<\/p>\n
About 50 Microsoft employees on Friday demanded the company abandon the\u00a0Army contract, saying in\u00a0a letter to company executives that they \u201cdid not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philips has been working with Microsoft to coordinate HoloLens with\u00a0the health company\u2019s Azurion\u00a0system for guiding surgeons during minimally invasive procedures. Philips makes machines that help surgeons move\u00a0tools through the body as\u00a0they\u00a0make tiny incisions to remove tumors, for example.<\/p>\n
HoloLens might be used to do things like provide a three-dimensional view of blood vessels, give each member of the surgical team a\u00a0personalized data screen in their field of view and control\u00a0the Azurion machine with voice commands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re driving a car, you want to\u00a0keep both hands on the steering wheel and your eyes on the road. When I am working on a patient I want to keep my hands on my instruments and my eyes on the patient,\u201d said\u00a0Atul Gupta, chief medical officer for image guided therapy at Philips.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology like HoloLens 2 has finally caught up with our vision of what we wanted to do with mixed reality or augmented\u00a0reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Microsoft is unveiling the new device Sunday at\u00a0Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Customers can pre-order it Sunday as well.<\/p>\n
Unlike virtual-reality goggles, which block out a user\u2019s surroundings, the augmented-reality HoloLens overlays holograms on a user\u2019s existing environment, letting them see things like digital instructions on complex equipment.<\/p>\n
Facebook Inc., Magic Leap Inc. and Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google have products for virtual or augmented reality, but it remains to be seen whether anyone\u00a0can turn the area, which Microsoft refers to as mixed reality, into a big money maker.<\/p>\n
Microsoft is\u00a0focusing on corporate customers with HoloLens, and is trying to make the devices more useful right out of the box with prepared\u00a0applications, rather than require months to write customized programs, said spokesman Greg Sullivan.\u00a0The company has also added Azure cloud software that can be used to better run augmented-reality features in devices like iPhones and Android phones.<\/p>\n
That\u00a0could let Microsoft garner revenue from other companies\u2019 devices and from the consumer market.\u00a0For example, the company plans to promote the cloud services to video-game creators at the Game Developers Conference in March in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
HoloLens 2 more than doubles\u00a0the field of view from the previous version, which many reviews said felt too narrow, causing holograms to disappear partly or completely when users moved their heads.\u00a0Microsoft\u2019s engineers had to drop LED technology because it cost too much to expand the field of view, Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
Instead, they invented a new system based on dual quantum well\u00a0lasers and an oscillating mirror.\u201cPeople said you couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d Sullivan said about the visual technology.\u00a0\u201cAnd the team said \u2018hold my beer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
There are now more ways to control the holograms via gesture instead of one, somewhat unnatural, exaggerated finger tap that controlled the previous version. The new model\u00a0tracks a user\u2019s gaze and lets them trigger actions by looking at a hologram.<\/p>\n
Users can also grab, rotate and resize the holograms with their hands\u00a0as the device is\u00a0powered by a new processor that includes an artificial intelligence chip Microsoft developed.\u00a0That chip also gives the goggles a better idea of what\u2019s going on in a user\u2019s surroundings, differentiating\u00a0a\u00a0sofa\u00a0from a floor, for example,\u00a0and glass walls from brick, key information that developers writing apps can employ for better controls and more immersive experiences, Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
The company also rebalanced the weight of the headset because some users complained the previous version was heavier at the back of the device, a problem given that Microsoft is selling it for factory workers or surgeons who\u2019d wear it for hours at a time.<\/p>\n
View the Microsoft HoloLens 2 below.<\/p>\n