Technologies

An AR Laptop Is Not as Crazy an Idea as You Might Think

The Spacetop is like a Chromebook for AR headsets. With Apple’s hardware looming, it’s an idea ahead of its time.

A small keyboard and trackpad lies in my lap. But there’s no screen. Not that you can see, anyway. To me, I have a curved wraparound workspace with dozens of windows open. I’m seeing it on a pair of AR glasses (with prescription inserts) perched on my nose.

I first tried the Spacetop in Las Vegas back in January, but the company that developed it, Sightful, is finally announcing the early-access product experiment now. I’ve seen tons of AR and VR headsets, but very few unique peripherals designed to work together with these future goggles and glasses. Instead of gaming or social experiences, Spacetop’s main pitch is to turn laptops into AR-assisted devices with endless virtual displays.

If that sounds like a weird pitch, consider that I’ve already lived it. I’ve paired Meta’s Quest Pro to my laptop to extend its virtual monitors around my head, and plenty of solutions like this already exist using available apps. The interfaces can be clunky, and the hardware isn’t totally made to be mobile. Spacetop’s keyboard base, with its own Qualcomm processor inside, acts as a spatially tracked anchor that the AR glasses can follow and track the floating displays to. The tracking can work while in motion in a car or plane, and a button on the keyboard can make the floating displays vanish for an in-room conversation with someone, toggling the virtual screens on and off.

This visualization of working on Spacetop is actually very similar to the experience of using it, except the field of view at any time is smaller (imagine viewing through a narrower window).

Sightful

The Spacetop comes with a pair of NReal Light AR glasses as part of its package, which need to be physically tethered to the keyboard to work. Sightful’s founders are planning for wireless options eventually, but found the tethered option more reliable for consistent tracking right now. Also, the whole concept could eventually work with other AR and mixed-reality headset hardware down the road.

The Spacetop’s keyboard. No screen, just a base. There’s a cradle for the AR glasses.

Scott Stein/CNET

That would make sense, considering how many devices should be on their way: Apple’s, to start, and whatever Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are cooking up in the next year or so. NReal’s glasses are fine, but don’t work over my own glasses. Instead, I had to use prescription inserts, which Sightful will make for buyers of the hardware. The inserts I tried weren’t a perfect match, but were enough to appreciate that the display resolution was more than good enough for monitor readouts. The field of view, however, is narrower than most VR headsets: it can show something like a 40-inch TV screen as seen across a table, but I have to turn my head to see the other floating windows of other minimized browsers in the Spacetop’s Chrome-like software interface.

Sightful’s co-founder, Tomer Kahan, demoing Spacetop with me. I worked on it, too.

Scott Stein/CNET

Zooming into displays, or scrolling around, is all done through trackpad and keyboard work. The keyboard itself is the interface.

Sightful’s team has experience in AR: Founders Tamir Berliner and Tomer Kahan came from Magic Leap, and Berliner also founded Primesense, the depth-sensing technology that powered Microsoft Kinect and which Apple acquired as the foundation to its Face ID TrueDepth camera.

As Apple’s headset begins to imagine how mixed reality could work with other devices — perhaps iPads, or the Apple Watch — upcoming glasses and goggles will start to imagine working better with phones or laptops, and other tools to come. It makes sense that new peripherals would arrive as well — not just controllers, but tracking rings, wearable trackers and a new wave of keyboards designed specifically for mixed reality.

I think Spacetop is a bit ahead of the curve here, and while it’s designed as a primary computer with its own headset, the future may belong to smart accessories that evolve from this idea to work with more headsets to come. If VR and AR are ever going to be more than just places for games, better work tools need to arrive. Spacetop is a pretty fascinating first step to what I imagine will be a lot more on this front.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 23 #599

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 599.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be Halloween-themed, as the answers are all rather dangerous. Some of them are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Please don’t eat me!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Remember Mr. Yuk?

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

POND, NOON, NODE, BALE, SOCK, LOVE, LOCK, MOCK, LEER, REEL, GLOVE, DAIS, LEAN, LEAD, REEL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

AZALEA, HEMLOCK, FOXGLOVE, OLEANDER, BELLADONNA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is POISONOUS. To find it, look for the P that is the first letter on the far left of the top row, and wind down and across.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 23, #395

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 395.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has one of those crazy purple categories, where you wonder if anyone saw the connection, or if people just put that grouping together because only those four words were left. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Fan noise.

Green group hint: Strategies for hoops.

Blue group hint: Minor league.

Purple group hint: Look for a connection to hoops.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Sounds from the crowd.

Green group: Basketball offenses.

Blue group: Triple-A baseball teams.

Purple group: Ends with a basketball stat.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is sounds from the crowd. The four answers are boo, cheer, clap and whistle.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball offenses. The four answers are motion, pick and roll, Princeton and triangle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is triple-A baseball teams. The four answers are Aces, Jumbo Shrimp, Sounds and Storm Chasers.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends with a basketball stat. The four answers are afoul, bassist, counterpoint and sunblock.

Technologies

Amazon’s Delivery Drivers Will Soon Wear AI Smart Glasses to Work

The goal is to streamline the delivery process while keeping drivers safe.

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it is developing new AI-powered smart glasses to simplify the delivery experience for its drivers. CNET smart glasses expert Scott Stein mentioned this wearable rollout last month, and now the plan is in its final testing stages.

The goal is to simplify package delivery by reducing the need for drivers to look at their phones, the label on the package they’re delivering and their surroundings to find the correct address.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

A heads-up display will activate as soon as the driver parks, pointing out potential hazards and tasks that must be completed. From there, drivers can locate and scan packages, follow turn-by-turn directions and snap a photograph to prove delivery completion without needing to take out their phone.

The company is testing the glasses in select North American markets.

Watch: See our Instagram post with a video showing the glasses

A representative for Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

To fight battery drain, the glasses pair with a controller attached to the employee’s delivery vest, allowing them to replace depleted batteries and access operational controls. The glasses will support an employee’s eyeglass prescription. An emergency button will be within reach to ensure the driver’s safety.

Amazon is already planning future versions of the glasses, which will feature «real-time defect detection,» notifying the driver if a package was delivered to the incorrect address. They plan to add features to the glasses to detect if pets are in the yard and adjust to low light.