{"id":2666869,"date":"2023-05-19T01:23:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T05:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/plato-data\/emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity\/"},"modified":"2023-05-19T01:23:39","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T05:23:39","slug":"emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerging with $61M in Funding, This &#8220;AR laptop&#8221; Aims to Close the Loop on Virtual Desktop Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main \"> <\/aside>\n<p> <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.4.0--><\/p>\n<p>First it was the desktop. Then the laptop. And now, the\u2026 spacetop? That\u2019s the category that Sightful hopes to carve out with its new \u201caugmented reality laptop\u201d which combines a pair of augmented reality glasses with a keyboard, allowing you to put a huge virtual desktop in your backpack.<\/p>\n<p>Stealth startup <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sightful.com\/\">Sightful today revealed Spacetop<\/a>, an \u201caugmented reality laptop\u201d that turns a pair of AR goggles into a large virtual desktop computing environment. The company announced that it is soliciting interest for those who would like to be part of the product\u2019s early access launch, which will cost $2,000 for the complete Spacetop computer. Purportedly only 1,000 units will be available at the outset, with shipments beginning this July.<\/p>\n<p>[embedded content]<\/p>\n<p>Sightful, which was previously called&nbsp;Multinarity, says it has raised $61 million in funding to date, with its lead investors being Corner Ventures and Aleph Capital.<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019ve seen many other \u2018virtual desktop\u2019 applications in the PC VR and standalone space, Sightful is trying to close the loop on making virtual desktop productivity\u2026 well, actually <em>productive<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_112374\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/sightful-spacetop-ar-laptop-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-112374\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy Sightful<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The company is hoping its all-in-one product\u2014which essentially consists of the bottom half of a laptop, a pair of tethered AR goggles, and a custom software environment\u2014will make for a streamlined virtual desktop experience that\u2019s easy to use. Spacetop has a sort of&nbsp;dock in which to stow the glasses, and a \u2018lid\u2019, allowing the entire unit to be portable.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_112371\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/sightful-spacetop-ar-laptop-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-112371\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity-1.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy Sightful<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sightful says Spacetop uses a pair of customized Nreal Light AR goggles with 6DOF head-tracking, a 53\u00b0 field-of-view, and 1,920&nbsp;\u00d7 1,080 resolution per-eye.<\/p>\n<p>Inside the Spacetop base (which includes a full keyboard, trackpad, and USB &amp; DisplayPort ports) is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, along with enough battery for a claimed 5 hours of work. There\u2019s even a built-in webcam for video calls (though you might look a little strange wearing sunglasses with a cord coming out of them while you\u2019re on video).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_112370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/sightful-spacetop-ar-laptop-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-112370\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity-2.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy Sightful<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And yes, you read that right; with a Snapdragon processor this won\u2019t be running Windows but rather the company\u2019s own \u2018Spacetop OS\u2019, which we presume is built atop Android, though the company hasn\u2019t said anything about compatibility with Android applications; instead it seems the first version of Spacetop will run almost exclusively on web apps, providing an essentially unlimited virtual desktop upon which to place them.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever used a Chromebook, you\u2019ll know that you can actually get quite a bit done these days operating purely on web apps, but anyone hoping for serious desktop productivity and applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, or Blender, you won\u2019t see them on Spacetop any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>For what it\u2019s worth, the company isn\u2019t trying to hide that fact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSightful is encouraging people who love to be first and look into the future, who work on the go, who live largely in Web apps to come and purchase [\u2026] Spacetop,\u201d the company says in its announcement. \u201cPotential customers looking for a hard-core gaming rig or a video-editing monster machine would be better served to wait for a future generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_112373\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/sightful-spacetop-ar-laptop-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-112373\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/emerging-with-61m-in-funding-this-ar-laptop-aims-to-close-the-loop-on-virtual-desktop-productivity-3.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy Sightful<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The company also says at this point it isn\u2019t focused on leveraging the unique 3D or spatial capabilities that come with AR (no 3D models floating in the air in front of you), nor are they working on any novel inputs (no special gestures to move windows with your hands); all of which is a good idea in my book\u2014its good to walk before you run.<\/p>\n<p>While Spacetop\u2019s focused features and all-in-one design may have some benefits for virtual desktop productivity, the key challenges to unlocking this use-case are about more than just about creating a dedicated software environment and packaging everything together.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years I\u2019ve tried countless variations of XR headsets and virtual desktop software, including using them with a dedicated keyboard, mouse, and even a full Mac and Windows environments. Despite having all of the actual computing power and features I need for my daily workflow, core issues relating to the displays remain; notably: field-of-view, resolution, sweet spot, and comfort.<\/p>\n<p>While the Nreal goggles aren\u2019t terribly heavy, their relatively tiny field-of-view is in direct conflict with the idea of having a massive virtual desktop ready whenever you go. Instead of rotating your head and eyes just a bit to see one monitor or the other with real side-by-side monitors, you\u2019ll need to move your head way more to bring a comparatively sized virtual window \u2018into frame\u2019, which can become uncomfortable quickly.<\/p>\n<p>This issue is often amplified by a small sweet spot on many headsets which means that as you rotate your eyes the display becomes blurrier at the edges, meaning you need to nearly center your entire head on any window you want to see at maximum fidelity.<\/p>\n<p>And considering the Nreal goggles use transparent displays, this makes resolution and legibility a challenge because the windows floating in front of you will always have some level of transparency.<\/p>\n<p>As someone who has tried many similar solutions over the years, the pros have yet to outweigh the cons. I don\u2019t personally see Spacetop (or for that matter, any virtual desktop application) catching on in a big way until it\u2019s capable of essentially a perfect replication of a basic 1080p laptop display as it would look in real life right in front of you, let alone an unlimited virtual desktop with a plethora of application windows floating around you.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"plato-post-bottom-links\">\n<li class=\"plato-post-bottom-link-amplifi\">SEO Powered Content &amp; PR Distribution. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amplifipr.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Get Amplified Today.<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"plato-post-bottom-link-platoaistream\">PlatoAiStream. Web3 Data Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Access Here.<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"plato-post-bottom-link-mintingthefuture\">Minting the Future w Adryenn Ashley. <a href=\"https:\/\/mintingthefuture.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Access Here.<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"plato-post-bottom-link-preipo\">Buy and Sell Shares in PRE-IPO Companies with PREIPO\u00ae. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.preipo.com\/?utm_source=plato&amp;utm_medium=plato&amp;utm_campaign=plato\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Access Here.<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"plato-post-bottom-link-source\"><span>Source:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roadtovr.com\/sightful-spacetop-announcement-investment-funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.roadtovr.com\/sightful-spacetop-announcement-investment-funding\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2666870,"template":"Default","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"start":0,"end":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[],"sources":[]},"genre":[10309],"station_tag":[21246,38012,3758,21579,69597,5062,13775,9160,3880,70604,40086,15932,33608,3761,21917,3819,40814,68862,68956,12467,48801,68950,18340,4721,4722,3820,68867,11468,69926,4047,3681,4291,4811,48551,3718,48552,48553,9222,4812,18331,9837,40024,40025,7232,48554,13212,10620,40088,12619,9000,9224,8952,14383,16785,4591,34330,24385,13083,40004,10228,69017,48555,18337,48563,9772,11999,3887,10957,20308,4146,9086,44673,40162,21457,40410,11364,23176,4375,3830,10528,40602,11831,13680,12206,5256,6996,5257,10276,40107,6978,10315,17718,19997,4152,11006,3833,47137,13650,36184,14274,9831,3726,12105,9833,11046,8665,11017,29140,69340,22089,3692,69378,12360,9259,9240,40054,24740,4250,40311,11930,452,39858,39955,9606,13341,8066,26960,70370,4382,5702,3772,40486,9420,48556,12649,4178,4637,3950,4615,10844,40035,43540,19651,4491,40061,17904,48557,9418,3952,34654,48290,5994,12139,5956,22372,3650,3651,48567,3906,44419,19265,11736,3953,70063,40062,3652,68944,3700,9980,3701,3653,48564,48558,4195,69019,3805,13648,5025,3806,29565,3734,4255,3654,10877,15462,4659,48580,9875,13273,13214,9169,4876,6984,10223,13777,11042,3737,39875,10720,9246,34144,40547,26118,10001,12349,12343,3741,9413,11106,13084,10997,3706,70539,39997,39917,4660,20482,69361,40648,39918,68945,16685,48559,69346,48560,17454,68953,3963,68946,3663,69348,68865,11453,28054,70621,12344,5031,17121,3966,11615,40825,43790,24508,7457,8453,9642,12954,11181,43832,3918,39866,8693,4107,10220,10949,6991,40930,37029,15903,26833,10098,28064,7004,48421,15551,16559,15116,11198,4546,40017,12460,40768,28075,8580,5032,70535,3921,4674,9421,47754,69188,40178,69193,11607,4026,9232,4548,26734,4282,4223,11458,9173,44211,3977,14396,11562,3748,10751,4584,4901,11270,5231,68954,48561,13215,43573,39845,48569,69447,48566,69021,68948,69022,28884,3671,19267,9409,9084,3754,10035,69386,70054,8955,21542,13806,13344,40737,70057,69451,5498,10367,68866,69023,4601,12835,3874,3933,29991,4551,4837,69349,68958,23339,68959,4590,10848,48571,9178,69409,36520,11454,3941,27168,5037,48562,3935,43538,9608,3784,11461,14481,19519,3937,70615,69355,68949,13217,468,14555],"artist":[10455],"mood":[],"activity":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/2666869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2666870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2666869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=2666869"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=2666869"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=2666869"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=2666869"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=2666869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}