According to a report by Yahoo! Finance technology editor Daniel Howley, Microsoft showed off new technologies at Build Developers Conference in Seattle that they’re integrating into the HoloLens 2, including augmented reality (AR), virtual assistants, and the merging of the two fields to build the office of the future.
According to Howley’s report, Microsoft is working closely with Spatial, an AR virtual workspace that we initially reported on last year, to bring futuristic telecommunications to HoloLens 2. Spatial is building in Microsoft’s Teams chat into their platform, further intertwining the two companies together. Howley tested Spatial on HoloLens 2, reporting that he was able to examine files and images that other users were working on at the same time. He said that the experience “takes bringing your work home with you to a whole other level.”
Additionally, Microsoft’s acquisition of Semantic Machines is to bring a human-like virtual assistant to HoloLens that outmatches other assistants such as Siri or Alexa. The video demonstration provided by Microsoft showed a woman using her company’s virtual assistant to check her calendar, search the web, and more just using natural speech – no activation phrase needed. Though no one was able to go hands-on with Semantic’s tech, Howley reports that if the virtual assistant is “anything like what Microsoft is presenting, it could change voice assistants as we think of them.”
The promises that Microsoft is making with HoloLens 2 are definitely impressive – but like all ambitious claims, the true implementations of these technologies remains to be seen.
