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US Army shows how it will use HoloLens in the field
When Microsoft employees balked at the company's $479 million HoloLens contract with the US Army, it raised a question: just what would this system look like? You now have a better idea. The Army has given CNBC an early demo of its Integrated Visual Augmentation System, which uses a modified HoloLens 2 to provide both combat assistance and training. It reportedly feels like a "real-life game of Call of Duty" -- you can see your squad's positions on a map, a compass, and even your weapon's reticle. Thermal imaging would help you see in the dark without as much of a telltale glow as existing night vision headsets.
Previously: U.S. Army Awards Microsoft a $480 Million HoloLens Contract
Microsoft Announces $3,500 HoloLens 2 With Wider Field of View and Other Improvements
Microsoft Misrepresented HoloLens 2 Field of View, Faces Backlash for Military Contract
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @09:14PM (7 children)
I don't think this tech will be showing up on the heads of a platoon of grunts any time soon.
The field logistics of all the telemetry and ECM you'd have to deploy on the ground makes my head spin.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snow on Monday April 08 2019, @09:16PM
What if an enemy takes a helmet? Is it like maphack mode where you can see all the enemy?
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @09:33PM (1 child)
Don't worry about the telemetry... that's Microsoft's area of expertise.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 08 2019, @11:24PM
I'd feel safer with a telemetry provided by Google, tho.
It's even easier and more pervasive, just make every helmet use Google's fonts or some tracking pixels and you are gold.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 08 2019, @10:02PM
Don't worry they'll be integrated in time for our Space Force to face down the first onslaught of bug attacks.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Funny) by SomeGuy on Monday April 08 2019, @10:10PM
Forget about the telemetry, how will they manage Windows updates in the middle of a combat situation?
The enemy has learned the perfect time to attack is on Tuesday nights. :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:19AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday April 10 2019, @03:07PM
Everyone needs a pair of boots/something to wear. Not everyone would need a VR Headset, at least not right away. As of right now, there's no need for anything, except a small run of prototypes. When/if they can make something useful, it will cost quite a lot. Still, $1.2 Billion dollars for an army equipped with HUDs, would be a steal. Once you have that first step, you can then advance to, face detection, gun detection, threat detection, and so many other interesting things. I mean face detection as in, making a soldier aware, that random dude down the block is hiding, but you can still see his face. Then, when he lifts his gun up to fire, your HUD could warn you, before he even takes a shot. That kind of thing would be very useful for even just a single squad to have. Make sure your entire army has that and you have a distinct advantage, beyond human levels of training for each body in the field. Also, trusting that kind of thing to a robot/AI would be crazy.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @09:30PM (1 child)
This game sucks.
- Dead Grunt
(Score: 3, Funny) by Freeman on Monday April 08 2019, @09:53PM
Always have to be more careful in Hardcore mode.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday April 08 2019, @10:29PM (4 children)
But even the author has to admit it's more like that display that's useful........ but still isn't useful yet. (Like 99% of VR). And that's entirely aside from Engadget's horrible reporting which is making lots of assumptions in reinterpreting a press packet for us instead of... reporting - you know, that thing that we used to get that sometimes gave dry facts instead of 100% Entertainment
No, it raised the question of why is the Government throwing away $479 million of my tax money at a half-baked system without a defined objective yet.
Oh, Microsoft needed some money. OK.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Monday April 08 2019, @11:08PM (2 children)
The more important question is "what will it actually do when deployed?"
I think too many people in senior positions have watched the Predator movies and thought they were seeing "real" alien technology.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @11:29PM
It is!
The best that H1Bs can provide.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 08 2019, @11:30PM
Go down in flames?
Throw some flares on the battlefield and the scape won't look&feel anymore like the simulated absence of the 'telltale glow' of the night vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday April 10 2019, @03:30PM
First of all I bought into VR, yes somewhat lacking in content, but Fallout 4 really extended the $/hour of use. I put in over 100 hours on Fallout 4 VR and have all of the achievements, except the stupid grindy ones. There are definite limitations, and if you have to have a 4K resolution screen on a 32" TV to be satisfied with your entertainment. VR is not for you in it's current state. Now, if you have always dreamed of VR. Hoped that some day you could feel like you're in the game. VR is definitely for you. Portal 2 has a free VR DLC. It's stupendously awesome, if you like Portal. It works slightly differently, but it fits the universe. "In Your Face TD" is a Tower Defense / FPS hybrid, same vein as Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die, and Sanctum. It is a really fun, free, somewhat short game (4 or 5 levels, instead of the massive number of levels of the other 3 mentioned.), but it is tons of fun. You destroy an onslaught of robots with towers and weapons that you upgrade a various stations using batteries you've earned. It's some of the most fun I've had in VR. Then, there's the VR Roller Coaster that my kiddo loves to death. I can't afford to go and / or take the time off to go to a theme park all that often. Epic Rollercoaster does that in the comfort of my own home. Sure, I get a bit bored with it after the first few runs, but my kid loves the Dinosaur one to death. It's also an easy VR game/sim to introduce people to VR with.
Personally, I think the biggest downside to VR is after you go from Fallout 4 VR to "3D" Fallout 4/3/NV, it's just not the same. No matter how good of a "look and feel" you have on the obviously flat screen TV, it can't compare to the immersion that VR gives you. Admittedly, you have some glitches in Fallout 4 VR that don't happen with the normal version. Such as being able to reach through a door to unlock it from the other side, but arguably I should be able to do that when I'm in a set of Power Armor anyway. Unfortunately, the Power Armor never really gives you the feeling of being in a MechWarrior like Mecha, but the first time definitely made me think of that.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:41AM (2 children)
How long until this shit is showing up on the streets of US cities? Hmmm - let me answer my own question: About a year after it's in use in London. London leads the fall into 24/7 police state surveillance. We watch them, and we know what is coming our way.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:43PM (1 child)
London may lead in civilian surveillance, but the US leads in pushing military equipment to civilian users. Expect these the be in the hands of domestic police as soon as Microsoft decides
they need more moneythese are outdated and ready to replace with version2.0360.(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @10:03PM
They were violently attacked for a few months/year until google backed off selling the product to the public.
Yet somehow within a year everybody was using their cellphone just as offensively as glassholes 'could have' been using their cameras (since there were uses for the display without the camera on, and the camera usage significantly depleted the battery while in use.)
So will Hololens 2 Civilian Edition be a Glasshole, or a post-Glasshole Cellphone moment?