Technologies

I Tried an AR Laptop. It’s Way Ahead of Its Time

The Spacetop is like a Chromebook for AR headsets. With Apple’s hardware looming, it also feels like a reminder of how computers could change.

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.

A visualization of someone working on a keyboard while screens hover in the air around them. — 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.

Hands on a keyboard that doesn't have a screen. A screenless laptop. — 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.

A man working on a screenless laptop with AR glasses on — 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 Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Dec. 27

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 27.

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

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s pretty long for a Mini Crossword, and some of the clues are tricky. The answer to 10-Across is not an expression I use, for sure. Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Fashionable
Answer: HIP

4A clue: Product sold on «The Office»
Answer: PAPER

6A clue: One writing a performance review
Answer: MANAGER

8A clue: With 5-Down, redundant synonym of «outcome»
Answer: END

9A clue: Quiet ___ mouse
Answer: ASA

10A clue: Gives constant compliments, in slang
Answer: GASESUP

12A clue: Ski mountain bump
Answer: MOGUL

13A clue: Uneasy feeling
Answer: ANGST

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Personally involved
Answer: HANDSON

2D clue: Hoppy beer, for short
Answer: IPA

3D clue: Mythical horse whose name is an anagram of 10-Across
Answer: PEGASUS

4D clue: Last word in the palindromic sentence «A man, a plan, a canal …»
Answer: PANAMA

5D clue: See 8-Across
Answer: RESULT

6D clue: Ryan of «When Harry Met Sally …»
Answer: MEG

7D clue: Genre for Playboi Carti and Cardi B
Answer: RAP

11D clue: Something in an Easter basket
Answer: EGG

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 27, #460

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 27, No. 460.

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 is a real challenge. That purple category wants you to hunt out something related in four different words, and it’s a toughie. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle 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 appear in the NYT Games app, but it does 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: Something you save.

Green group hint: An Olympic sport.

Blue group hint: Toronto pitchers.

Purple group hint: Think about the alphabet and look for something hidden.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Memento.

Green group: Types of wrestling.

Blue group: Blue Jays to win Cy Young Award.

Purple group: Ends in a homophone for a letter of the alphabet.

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 memento. The four answers are collectible, keepsake, memorabilia and souvenir.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is types of wrestling. The four answers are arm, freestyle, Greco-Roman and sumo.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Blue Jays to win Cy Young Award. The four answers are Clemens, Halladay, Hentgen and Ray.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a homophone for a letter of the alphabet. The four answers are batter’s eye (I), blue jay (J), golf tee (T) and pool cue (Q).

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

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 27, #1,652

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 27, No. 1,652.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle came together pretty quickly for me this time. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.