The whimsical anecdote setup is supposed to emphasize how well the Magic Leap One tricked my mind into believing this impossible thing existed, which is what IвЂ™d hoped would happen last month when Magic Leap invited me to its headquarters. It exists only in the lenses of the Magic Leap One, a pair of goggles that Magic Leap hopes will replace phones, computers, and every other high-tech screen in our lives. I should clarify that the dinosaur also isnвЂ™t real. This dinosaur is made of fist-sized blocks that look like candy, and the office belongs to Magic Leap, a mysterious startup thatвЂ™s been working in near-total secrecy for seven years. So what if Magic Leap doesnвЂ™t live up to the hype? Someday soon, someone else will.When you write about augmented reality headsets, youвЂ™re supposed to start by describing something impossible - like a pastel dinosaur stomping its feet in a quiet office space in Florida. The nature of the tech world, however, means that people are constantly innovating and coming up with new ideas. Maybe Magic Leap will never be able to create a product that meets everyoneвЂ™s expectations, or even its own. Then again, thatвЂ™s the risk associated with any product that has the potential to revolutionize the way we live our lives. This is not meant to be an analysis of the technology itself, but merely a warning about the potential issues involved with investing in a highly complex, potentially ground-breaking product. Unlike the HoloLens, the helmet needs to be tethered to a computer using multiple wires, and those who used it reported that the images were вЂњ blurry and jittery вЂќ whenever they moved their heads. Instead, the AR headset given to reporters to test out is a large helmet version.

The most recent prototype is reported to be about the size of a pair of glasses however, very few people have had access to it. The problem that Magic Leap ran into was an inability to shrink the Beast down to a size suitable for wearables that would not compromising the fiber-scanning display. This is important because the secret sauce that made Magic Leap different from its competitor the HoloLens was its fiber-scanning display, which works by shining a laser through a rapidly-moving fiber optic cable to create images. Magic LeapвЂ™s decision to use special effects to mimic augmented reality instead of showcasing their product was meant to hide the fact that the technology used in their final product was unlikely to be the same as the technology used in their initial prototype: a device about the size of a refrigerator nicknamed the вЂњBeastвЂќ. Benedict Evans, an investor from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (which invested in Magic Leap) called Magic Leap вЂњone of only a handful of genuine вЂholy shit I canвЂ™t believe IвЂ™m seeing thisвЂ™ moments IвЂ™ve had as an adult.вЂќ

Potential investors made their decisions to bankroll the company based on actual product demonstrations, not the demo. Just an overreaction?ДЄt first sight, it may seem that all the hubbub about the video is overblown вЂ“ after all, the videoвЂ™s main purpose was to create hype, not mislead investors. The impact of the revelations on Magic LeapвЂ™s relationships with its investors remains to be seen, but it is not unlikely that they will be held to a greater level of accountability and oversight. This is not good news for a company valued at $4.5 billion, and whose major investors include Google and Alibaba. This promotional video caused an outpouring of negative publicity, since it was used not only to generate awareness of the company, but to recruit employees as well. In addition, it now appears that Magic LeapвЂ™s headset is currently вЂњnoticeably inferiorвЂќ to MicrosoftвЂ™s HoloLens, which is not helped by the fact that the HoloLens is already available to developers who wish to create apps.ДЄnd just in case there wasnвЂ™t enough drama surrounding the company, it also appears that one of its demo videos, billed as вЂњjust another day at the officeвЂќ, was in fact made using special effects by Weta Workshop. Last week, the tech world was startled by the news that the much-hyped startup Magic Leap is much further from releasing its augmented reality technology than previously thought.

Magic leap office demo