People are already replacing their desktop computers with smartglasses
You can set up your workspace to be the same every day when you put on the headset.
Pamplin told me that his personal virtual workspace has a YouTube video playing Katy Perry, several photos of his girlfriend, and a virtual fire underneath his desk.
Meta's leadership believes that the workspace will one day be several people collaborating on the same "hologram," like this city-scape.
One issue that I had is that I consistently reached too far deep into the virtual object. Pamplin said that was the most common problem with Meta Workspace but most people get used to it. I also found my hand movements were sometimes just a little too fast for the system.
But Workspace isn't just for productivity. There are fun toys on the shelf, too, like this musical instrument of sorts. You touch it and it makes sounds.
You can resize or rotate a screen by grabbing two corners and stretching.
The app you'll probably use most often is the browser window. You can set up as many of them as you like — so if you like having two monitors, you can simulate it in AR, too. You can also display a Mac or Windows window in a virtual machine.
Unofficially, Meta calls grabbing a virtual object an "Iron Man" feature.
You can move the entire shelf around by reaching into it and closing your fist, like you've grabbed it.
To boot an app, you reach into the shelf for the one you're interested in. When you see a circle icon in your hand, you make a fist to grab it. Then you can place the app anywhere in your space.
This is close to what I saw during my demo. This is Meta's workspace software. Each "object" on that shelf is a different app or feature you can play with.
And this is what it looks like on my head. During the demo, the Meta 2 headset was plugged into a gaming PC. Meta's big selling point is that it has a 90-degree "field of view," which basically means that the virtual objects are able to occupy a larger percentage of the display than competitors like Microsoft HoloLens. The sensors include a front-facing color camera, two monochrome sensors, and a six-axis gyroscope.
This is the Meta 2 headset. You can order a development kit for $949 now, although it might be a while before it's delivered — the company is aiming for "the end of the summer."
Order one from Meta here.
Get your weekly dose of essential news delivered right to you, plus explore a world of insights with our diverse newsletter subscription options.
- Weekly newsletter
- Uncover the latest in Tech, Finance, Business, and more
- Handpicked web stories, in-depth articles, and expert analyses
Advertisement