Magic Leap | Original Concept Video

Magic Leap0 HN recommenders · 2015–2021
4.3M views · demo · news · Uploaded 2015-03-19

Magic Leap's original 2015 concept video, made with Weta Workshop, showing what mixed reality could look like. It was posted to explain the company's goals to outsiders.

Mostly cited as an example of misleading tech marketing, since commenters say it was a rendered concept presented as if it were real product footage.

Watch on YouTube

11 comments from Hacker News

@cheald2015 · in “A demo that Magic Leap was going to show at TED”

From their official YouTube account: [VIDEO] "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now" is extremely provocative. Edit: ah, you removed your request for citation. Doh. :)

@frik2015 · in “A demo that Magic Leap was going to show at TED”

It's a concept video done by a special effects company well known for The Lord of the Rings and Avatar. The YT description "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now" is a bit provocative and without a real demonstration it's just PR. Video on YT: [VIDEO] Company: [LINK] , [LINK] It's called augmented reality and more basic implementations are already possible for some time: [LINK] @Downvoter: what's wrong?

@gavanwoolery2015 · in “Magic Leap raises $827M in Series C”

I have reliable sources who have tried the tech. It is real, but many years out from mainstream (5-10 seems like a probable range). However, their first teaser video* is almost definitely fake (if I were to place a bet). It looks like a prerendered video, not an interactive application, or even a static lightfield video. *source: [VIDEO]

CriticalView on HN
@bhouston2016 · in “Magic Leap’s technology may be years away from completion”

Here is the video in question: [VIDEO] It doesn't have any disclaimers that this was faked -- some earlier videos from Magic Leap did have disclaimers. It is obviously too high resolution and pixel perfect to be from a headset display though. So it didn't fool me, but I think the way it is presented could be quite misleading to folks without a 3D background. EDIT: Later when Magic Leap did post videos that didn't use post production to create the effects, they put in a disclaimer that it was real: [LINK] [LINK]

CriticalView on HN
@DonHopkins2017 · in “Magic Leap Settling Sex Discrimination Lawsuit with Former Employee”

In my mind, they're not as reputable after having given Rony Abovitz a platform to perform that "fudge". Just watch the video, if you can stomach it, all the way through. And read the comments, like this one: ---- Nick Steele 2 years ago (edited) This is a joke. Take it for what it is. They didn't want to say anything so they basically said "are you ready? READY? ... fuck you". After a completely ridiculous intro which includes nano machines humping blood cells and two crack monkeys worshiping a massive block of "demented space fudge" which takes up 75% of the talk until 4:30, right after 30 seconds of literal silence, a spaceman says "greetings" and introduces today's "keyword" which is "fudge", then a guy plays terrible music out of tune and sings half-way into the mic. Then the lights suddenly go out and the crack moneys and space man simply walk away. Keep in mind the audience thinks they are about to hear a billionaire explain his new "world changing" virtual/augmented reality technology, then they get this shit. The best part is the audiences reaction at the end. :) ---- And if that's not enough proof that Magic Leap is a fraud, then watch their completely fake demo, that they originally did not truthfully bill as a "concept video" but instead they falsely and deceptively titled it "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" and described it with the blatantly false claim that "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now". But since then, the title and

CriticalView on HN
@DonHopkins2017 · in “Magic Leap Settling Sex Discrimination Lawsuit with Former Employee”

The most infamous misleading video that currently claims to be a "concept video" was originally deceptively titled "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" and described as "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now". Only AFTER they got busted, did Magic Leap retroactively change the title and description so they were not so blatantly false and misleading. [VIDEO] Before they got busted and white-washed the lies, a skeptical Time magazine reporter didn't think it looked real, and asked Magic Leap about it directly. The official Magic Leap company spokesman mendaciously lied to him that "the video was authentic": [LINK] It's unclear whether the video shows an actual game overlaid onto a real-world office space or just an artistic rendering of what the game might look like in the future. The way the gun rests so realistically in the gamer's hand certainly raises suspicions. Still, a company spokesperson confirmed to Gizmodo that the video was authentic. "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now," Magic Leap wrote on its official YouTube account.

CriticalView on HN
@DonHopkins2017 · in “Magic Leap is experimenting with light-bending nanomaterials”

As a matter of well documented fact, they DID lie about their original video demo being unedited, and after they were caught red-handed, they edited the title and description of the video AFTER they were busted so it wasn't as absolutely intentionally deceptive as it originally was. The First Video of Magic Leap's Technology Looks Fake: [LINK] The bald faced lies were in the original title "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" and description "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now" of this fake video, which Magic Leap PR head Andy Fouché lied to a reporter about by falsely confirming that the fake video was authentic and the game shown was already being played around the office: [VIDEO] Dear Magic Leap: "Back in the day" before you whitewashed the lying title and description, when the original title of this video was "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" and the description claimed "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now", you found it easy to deceive everyone that this was NOT just a concept video, but an actual working game that you were playing around the office. When reporters rightfully suspected you were lying about that, they asked your official spokesperson about it, who officially and mendaciously lied that the video was authentic. Your company is deceptive and your product is a fraud. [LINK] It's unclear whether the video shows an actual game overlaid onto a real-world office space or just an artistic rendering

CriticalView on HN
@Animats2018 · in “A Peek Inside the Niantic Real World AR Platform”

Not too bad. They definitely have Pokemon Go, the Next Generation. How good is the phone location system? Staying locked to the real world is essential for AR. [1] [VIDEO]

@DonHopkins2019 · in “Dented Reality: Magic Leap Sees Slow Sales, Steep Losses”

But the fact that they absolutely will NOT permit developers or reviewers to post a video through the lenses, and they tried to pawn off totally fake "artist conceptions" as live demos of actual software they run daily at the office, does tell you a hell of a lot about what the actual experience and the company itself is like. Magic Leap originally lied about the concept video they posted to youtube, then retroactively white-washed it after they got caught by Time Magazine. The most infamous misleading video that currently claims to be a "concept video" was originally deceptively titled "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" and described as "This is a game we’re playing around the office right now". Only AFTER they got busted, did Magic Leap retroactively change the title and description so they were not so blatantly false and misleading. [VIDEO] Before they got busted and white-washed the lies, a skeptical Time magazine reporter didn't think it looked real, and asked Magic Leap about it directly. The official Magic Leap company spokesman mendaciously lied to him that "the video was authentic": [LINK] >It's unclear whether the video shows an actual game overlaid onto a real-world office space or just an artistic rendering of what the game might look like in the future. The way the gun rests so realistically in the gamer's hand certainly raises suspicions. Still, a company spokesperson confirmed to Gizmodo that the video was authentic. >"This is a game we’re playing a

CriticalView on HN
@DonHopkins2020 · in “Magic Leap trying to sell for $10B”

The incompetence, and the rampant sexism, and of course the blatant dishonesty and deception in their faked demos. Not to mention the way they ripped off other people's ideas in their patents and didn't give them credit. I posted this earlier: [LINK] There was some overlap, and both had lots of "Magic" hype, but there were some really great people working at General Magic, and not nearly as high a level of narcissistic bullshit and self aggrandization and utterly dishonest marketing as from Magic Leap. I mean, come on: [LINK] [LINK] The whole point of the lawsuit was all about how Magic Leap's company culture and product plans and demos and self image all revolved around adolescent male egos and sexist fantasies, and excluded women. Tannen Cambell, who filed the lawsuit, was actually hired for the express purpose of solving Magic Leap's recognized "pink/blue problem", but was rebuffed and ignored. They knew they had a problem, and even gave it a name, but they refused to solve it. Read the lawsuit: [LINK] >Campbell, one of whose responsibilities was to help Magic Leap with the “pink/blue problem,” had to endure hostile environment sex discrimination while proposing ways, not only to make Magic Leap’s product more woman friendly, but also to make the workplace more diverse and inclusive. Campbell was terminated after (and because) she, like the child in “The Emperor’s New Clothes” who blurted out that the Emperor was naked, challenged Magic Leap’s CEO, Rony Abovitz, to acknowl

CriticalView on HN
@DonHopkins2021 · in “My first year at Magic Leap and the opportunity ahead”

Or are you referring to the ridiculous 12/12/2012 TEDX "talk" that Rony Abovitz performed at the Ringling College of Art, and all the FAKE and DECEPTIVE videos they posted and lied about on youtube, that tarnished Magic Leap's reputation? [LINK] In my mind, they're not as reputable after having given Rony Abovitz a platform to perform that "fudge". Just watch the video, if you can stomach it, all the way through. And read the comments, like this one: >Nick Steele 2 years ago (edited) >This is a joke. Take it for what it is. They didn't want to say anything so they basically said "are you ready? READY? ... fuck you". >After a completely ridiculous intro which includes nano machines humping blood cells and two crack monkeys worshiping a massive block of "demented space fudge" which takes up 75% of the talk until 4:30, right after 30 seconds of literal silence, a spaceman says "greetings" and introduces today's "keyword" which is "fudge", then a guy plays terrible music out of tune and sings half-way into the mic. Then the lights suddenly go out and the crack moneys and space man simply walk away. >Keep in mind the audience thinks they are about to hear a billionaire explain his new "world changing" virtual/augmented reality technology, then they get this shit. >The best part is the audiences reaction at the end. :) Dented Reality: Magic Leap Sees Slow Sales, Steep Losses [LINK] >Magic Leap had high hopes for sales of its augmented reality headset. Instead, the richly valued sta

CriticalView on HN