Technologies

The Apple Vision Pro Is a Dystopian Device for a Dystopian World

Commentary: It’s not for normal people.

Today Apple finally unveiled the Vision Pro, its brand new “spatial computer.” It’s pretty! It’s cutting edge! At $3,500 it’s also… overwhelmingly expensive!

But beyond the jokes and the memes, there was a moment in Apple’s new launch trailer for the Vision Pro headset that almost made my stomach lurch. A moment that felt borderline dystopian.

Welcome to the era of spatial computing with Apple Vision Pro. You’ve never seen anything like this before! pic.twitter.com/PEIxKNpXBs

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 5, 2023

It occurred roughly halfway through the above video. A dad stands awkwardly in the kitchen. He’s using the Vision Pro headset to check his email when his daughter – dressed to play soccer complete with goalie gloves – runs out. She rolls a ball to her Dad who, still wearing the headset, sort of distractedly kicks the ball back to her.

As a dad who’s spent a depressing amount of time trying to get rid of their kids, so I could spend more time glued to an Apple device, it was relatable. It also felt icky.

I don’t recommend play soccer while wearing a $3500 computer on your face.

Apple

But it wasn’t designed to feel icky. It was supposed to be heartwarming. Designed to dispel concerns about Vision Pro and virtual reality headsets in general. Look, it says, the dream is possible! You can still live life and interact with your family whilst wearing a gigantic, expensive headset on your face! You won’t become a hollowed out shell of a human! Vision Pro won’t suck you into a virtual reality hellscape devoid of human interaction!

And maybe it won’t! But that doesn’t matter. Regardless of how it works and if it works, for the past 10 years human beings have loudly and repeatedly told the big brains of Silicon Valley they don’t want to put computers on their face.

Audience reaction when Apple announced the $3500 price for the headset 😭 pic.twitter.com/GuGUFbN08A

— TTI (@TikTokInvestors) June 5, 2023

There was Google Glass, a spectacular failure device so misguided that those involved with its creation made Twitter threads explaining why it was misguided. A piece of tech so maligned that – collectively – we decided to actively bully those who wore it. We called them “glassholes”.

Then there’s VR – a technology so sci-fi its ascendancy felt inevitable, but that wasn’t the case. Tech limitations and a small install base rendered VR the domain of niche hobbyists who mostly use it to play Beat Saber two or three times a year. That’s pretty much it.

I should know. I was that guy. I am that guy. I backed the first Oculus Rift on Kickstarter. I’ll never forget the giddy joy I had unwrapping the development kit for the very first time. It felt like the future, but months later it was gathering dust. Just like every VR headset I’ve acquired in its wake, including – most recently – the PSVR2 headset that I got a few months ago. I’ve used it twice since its launch in February this year.

Again, even when people do want to put tech on their face, they inevitably get bored of putting tech on their face.

Over the last decade we’ve watched VR fail to become a thing. We’ve watched Facebook rebrand as Meta and spend billions of dollars investing in a “metaverse” no sane person wants a part of. Despite living through a pandemic that effectively locked us in our homes for years, we made it clear we don’t want to be sucked into some weird, half-baked virtual world. I’ll play Fortnite, sure, but that’s as metaverse as I wanna get. At this point I barely turn my camera on during Zoom meetings.

Apple’s marketing machine is swimming against a strong current. Bizarrely, Vision Pro’s price point could end up being its saving grace.

By charging $3,500 for a souped-up headset, Apple is telling us exactly what Vision Pro is. This isn’t a toy for normal people. It’s a dystopian device for a dystopian world. A world where poor people struggle through a recession and rich people find new and inventive ways to squander their wealth.

Hey Apple: Cool concept video, but you left out the fact that the workers who make the movies and TV you want us to watch on your $3,500 face-screen are on strike because you won’t give them a fair contract. Until you do, there won’t be much to see on Vision Pro! #BadApple pic.twitter.com/t1KkV0D9ie

— Adam Conover (@adamconover) June 6, 2023

Vision Pro isn’t an adequately priced smartphone. It isn’t an iPad Mini. In its press release Apple seemed determined to avoid the word “headset” instead referring to it constantly as a “spatial computer.” Either way, this isn’t a fun, disposable device, it’s a wildly expensive MacBook that costs 10s of thousands of dollars. Or a $17,000 gold Apple Watch like the one Kanye West used to wear.

Because of this, Vision Pro almost certainly hasn’t been designed to change the world the way the iPhone was. At this price it simply can’t. It’ll be a device for well-paid creatives at best, a status symbol for the mega-rich at worst.

Expectations – our expectations – are part of the problem. We’re on our screens, possibly ignoring our children like morons waiting for the next big thing. What piece of consumer tech will transform our lives like the smartphone did? There’s a large part of us that expects Apple to do this, since the iPhone was the catalyst that helped define how we currently interact with the world. But it’s fairly clear virtual reality or augmented reality will not be that thing. Vision Pro most certainly will not be that thing.

No, unfortunately Vision Pro is just another device that some people will buy and others won’t. And in a weird way, that’s okay. As long as you don’t linger on it for too long.

Which I won’t.

Technologies

Verum Exchange Launches a $10 Bonus for Online Mining of Verum Coin and Bitcoin

Verum Exchange is expanding its online mining capabilities, allowing users to earn a $10 bonus while continuing to mine cryptocurrency directly from their smartphones. The feature is available not only in the currency converter app but also within Verum Messenger.

Online mining has long been part of the Verum ecosystem. Now, the company has added a new incentive to the existing feature — a bonus for participating in online mining.

The concept of online mining is changing the traditional perception of cryptocurrency mining. Users do not need to set up specialized mining equipment at home or deal with complex technical configurations. The feature can be accessed directly through the Verum digital ecosystem.

Verum Exchange: https://exchange.verum.im
Verum Messenger: https://ios.verum.im

Technologies

Supreme Court permits certain Trump mail-in voting restrictions before midterm elections

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that prevented the Trump administration from implementing new restrictions on mail-in voting, allowing the administration to proceed with its plan to impose new requirements on states ahead of the midterm elections.

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with President Donald Trump for now in his effort to impose sweeping new restrictions on distributing mail ballots, putting on hold a lower-court ruling that had blocked key parts of the plan ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The justices, over three dissents, paused a ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that prevented the Trump administration from carrying out portions of a March executive order involving the U.S. Postal Service and voter eligibility lists. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

But the decision does not immediately allow the Postal Service to put its new mail-ballot system into effect.

A separate nationwide injunction issued Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston still blocks USPS from implementing the new procedures for the Nov. 3 elections. The administration would have to overcome that order as well.

The distinction was central to the Supreme Court’s decision.

The majority said Trump’s executive order itself does not require states to change how they conduct elections. Instead, it directs federal agencies to develop policies that could later impose requirements on states. Because those policies had not yet been implemented when 23 states and Washington, D.C., challenged the order, the court said the challenge was premature.

The justices stressed they were not deciding whether Trump’s order or the policies developed under it are ultimately legal.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the majority wrote. “On that score, time will tell.”

The Postal Service last week finalized rules intended to carry out part of Trump’s order, including new requirements involving ballot envelopes, barcodes and information states must provide USPS. Those rules remain blocked by Talwani’s separate injunction.

The case now returns to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the underlying legal fight continues. Some states have already started preparing to send ballots to military and overseas voters in early September.

Technologies

Trump targets Iran’s trade lifelines — here are the countries most exposed

Washington’s threat of “economic D-Day” collides with a small group of governments that account for most of what remains of Iran’s foreign trade.

The U.S. announced an “economic D-Day” campaign Monday to isolate Iran from the global economy, threatening penalties against “enablers” that continue doing business with Tehran.

The move is part of Washington’s bid to sever the trade lifeline that has sustained Tehran’s economy through nearly six months of war.

While enforcement details are sketchy, the threat could still put the U.S. on a collision course with some of Tehran’s major trade partners.

China

China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil and serves as a crucial link to the global economy for Tehran, accounting for about 90% of its oil exports, according to the U.S. government.

China reported $9.96 billion in bilateral trade with Iran in 2025, excluding the roughly $31.2 billion in unreported Iranian crude oil exports to China that year, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Independent Chinese refiners take in the bulk of it, often rebranded as Malaysian or Indonesian crude and settled through intermediaries outside the dollar system, according to Kpler. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned several of those refineries this year for Iranian oil purchases, while sparing Chinese financial institutions.

Beijing has openly opposed U.S. sanctions against Iran, arguing that economic pressure will not resolve the disputes. In May, China ordered domestic firms to disregard U.S. sanctions on five refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade.

While Beijing is unlikely to push back directly on Washington’s sanctions push, it will “quietly step up compliance” among state banks and oil companies to avoid getting caught in the net, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group, pointing to “a dichotomy between the official statement and the private practice.”

“Chinese authorities care more about dollar access in financing and market entry to the U.S.,” she said.

United Arab Emirates

The Emirates, located just 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has long been a major trading hub for Iran.

The bilateral trade amounted to around $28 billion in 2024, when the Emirates was its largest source of imports, contributing over 30%, according to the World Trade Organization data. The UAE was also Iran’s third-largest export destination, making up 12% of its shipments, totaling more than $7 billion.

That relationship hit a snag last week as the UAE moved to suspend all trade and financial transactions with Iran, following two ballistic missiles fired toward Emirati territory, one of which targeted UAE-owned tankers.

Iran has relied on UAE banks and its financial system to access the world economy through illicit, often murky transactions, and cutting off Iran would require more forceful actions from Emirati authorities to crack down on opaque financial and trading activity, according to U.S.-based think tank The Washington Institute.

“The majority of Iran’s transshipment, smuggling, and shadow banking activity takes place in Dubai, so Washington must do what it can to help the UAE’s national leaders in Abu Dhabi convince and cajole Dubai’s leaders to play ball,” Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official, wrote in a note on Monday.

Turkey

Turkey maintains significant commercial ties with Tehran, importing Iranian natural gas and exporting manufactured goods south.

The Turkey-Iran bilateral trade reached $5.7 billion in 2024, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Ankara exporting mostly machinery and parts, chemical and agricultural products, while importing energy products from Tehran.

Meanwhile, under a 25-year gas supply contract between the two countries that expired at the end of July, Turkey’s imports of Iranian gas spiked this year while Iran’s share of Turkey’s total natural gas imports rose to 18.6%, according to local media.

While Ankara has sought to diversify toward other suppliers, expanding pipeline imports from Azerbaijan and Russia, it has, so far, not signaled that it intends to cut Iran off.

Iraq

Iraq, dependent on Iranian electricity and gas, has historically traded billions with Tehran.

Iran renewed a five-year contract in March 2024 to supply Iraq with up to nearly 660 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, and electricity imports from Iran accounted for more than 30% of its electricity generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Iraq-Iran trade reached more than $10 billion in 2025, according to Reuters, with Tehran exporting food, consumer goods and other products to the Iraqi market. The trade has dwindled this year amid increased security risks in the region and intermittent disruptions along border crossings since the war started in late February.

Iraq reportedly pays Iran around $4 billion to $5 billion a year for natural gas for electricity generation. The fresh U.S. sanctions could curtail Baghdad’s payments for Iranian energy.

India

India, among Iran’s top five trading partners, has seen its bilateral trade with Iran fall in recent years to around $1.6 billion in the year ending March 2026, according to India’s Department of Commerce, down from $2.3 billion in the year through to March 2023.

New Delhi primarily exports rice, tea, sugar and pharmaceuticals to Iran, and imports dry and fresh fruits from Iran.

In April, India resumed importing crude oil from Iran following a seven-year halt, after the U.S. temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian crude exports.

But those trades now will be tested if Washington makes good on its threat to sanction any entity, including Indian refiners, that have procured Iranian energy.