Avi Bar-Zeev (RealityPrime) on Prototyping the Future at Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Beyond (Part 1)
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The Guest
Avi Bar-Zeev has been a pioneer, architect and advisor in spatial computing for nearly 30 years, both behind the scenes at the world’s largest tech companies, and in the industry at large.
In early 2010, he helped found and invent the HoloLens at Microsoft, developing the first prototypes, demos, patents, plans and UX concepts. At Bing, he built the first prototypes for developer-facing aspects of AR, which we now call the "AR cloud." At Amazon, he helped launch PrimeAir and worked on the Echo Frame glasses.
More recently he helped Apple advance its own “undisclosed” projects.
The Conversation
In this, the first of two parts of our conversation, Avi shares stories from his early career, including the work he did in the 1990s for Disney on "Aladdin's Magic Carpet" VR Ride.
We talk about the origins of the Hololens, his work at Amazon, and a bit about what he did at Apple. He notes across all of the big companies and small startups he advises, he helps them peer deeply into the future. He does this by prototyping the experiences that convince people of what the right path is by conveying the correct emotional reaction and deciding whether we'll love it or hate it.
He goes on to share his perspective on the major players, and talks about some of the risks he sees for the technology.
Links From The Episode
- Article: End of an Era: Disney’s First VR Attraction Set to Close by Road to VR - 2015
- Article: Magic Carpet Ride by Kevin Kelly at Wired - 1994
- Article: The Eyes Are the Prize: Eye-Tracking Technology Is Advertising's Holy Grail By Avi Bar-Zeev at Vice
- Repository: Avi Bar-Zeev on Medium
- Video: Hyper Reality by Keiichi Matsuda
- Book: Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
- Book: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
- Book: True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier by Vernor Vinge
- Book: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
- Book: The Postman: A Novel by David Brin
- Book: Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler
- Book: The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories by Connie Willis
- Episode Transcript - Part 1