Welcome to Lowpass! This week: Etsy’s founding CEO is back with a new AR/VR gadget, and new data on sports FAST programming.

The scoop on Loop, Robert Kalin’s new mystery XR device

Are you interested in immersive media, but don’t like wearing VR headsets? Then you might be a candidate for a new mystery device Etsy co-founder and former CEO Robert Kalin has been building: Kalin’s new startup Dopple Works has developed a handheld XR device dubbed “Loop” that looks a bit like a magnifying glass – but instead of just making objects appear larger than they actually are, it superimpose virtual objects over a view of the real world.

Kalin declined to comment when contacted for this story.

Dopple Works was first incorporated in 2021, and has been operating in stealth ever since, complete with a password-protected website. However, I have been able to piece together a number of clues to figure out how Loop works and what it may look like. We might be able to learn additional details soon: An application for the device just passed through the FCC, suggesting that a launch is not far off.

Doople’s team includes several former Mozilla engineers, who used to work on the browser maker’s since-discontinued Hubs metaverse project. Some of them also worked on Altspace, another defunct metaverse platform, before joining Mozilla, according to Dopple’s barebones LinkedIn page. Dopple’s CTO Geoff Chatterton used to be Paypal’s head of hardware. Chatterton’s work history also includes stints at Apple, Dell and Wimm Labs, a smartwatch startup that was acquired by Google to kickstart the development of Android Wear.

What is Loop? The FCC application for the device is heavily redacted, and only discloses that Loop is a portable, battery-powered device that has Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as NFC functionality. Loop is rated IP65, meaning it can withstand dust and some light water exposure. Pictures of the device, its user manual and other more revealing documents are all being withheld from the public for the time being.

However, Dopple Works also filed a patent application for a “dedicated hand-held spatial computing device” that is a lot more revealing. Included in that application are detailed renderings or possibly even photos of a device that looks a lot like a magnifying glass (pictured above), complete with a handle that stores its portable battery. On one side of the device is a screen to view XR content, while the other includes a camera for passthrough video capture, something that is described as a “tracking sensor” as well as a speaker and what appears to be a microphone.

The application describes the device as an alternative to both smart phones and headsets, arguing that phones “decouple the user from a physical environment” and that they are designed for “passive and/or discontinuous data consumption in which data is selected using algorithmic targeting and is consumed without user interaction.”

In essence, phones are slop machines, separating us from the real world. Headsets do offer more interactivity, but still separate us from our surroundings. “The headset approach isolates the user from the physical environment, occludes eyes of the user, and is often cumbersome and expensive,” the patent application states.

Dopple’s solution: “A handheld device that includes a display to show the XR environment to the user [...] without the user being isolated from the physical environment.” That device is being described as “shaped similar to a magnifying glass (e.g., with a handle and a display in place of the glass).”

Sticking with that magnifying glass metaphor, the device is being described as capable of displaying 6DOF content, meaning that virtual objects may become larger in size as you move closer to them. The patent application also mentions the possibility of including face / eye tracking, which would allow it to respond to the distance between the user and the screen, as well as a gyroscope and other sensors to keep track of its orientation.

One caveat: It’s entirely possible that the final device looks different from the renders included in the patent application. Then again, the branding kind of matches the design depicted in the application, doesn’t it?

What kind of content will Loop offer? The patent application is vague on details when it comes to the software running on the device. Will there be apps? Will this be open to third-party developers? We don’t know.

“The handheld device may be used for educational purposes, entertainment purposes, or both,” the application states. “The XR environment may include a book (e.g., a virtual object) that assists the user to learn reading skills or to simply read the book. As another example, the XR environment may include boxes (e.g., virtual objects) that can be opened by the user to complete challenges and/or receive accomplishments. As yet another example, the XR environment may include a virtual character (e.g., a virtual object) that guides the user through the XR environment or presents information in a manner that assists the user to learn about a topic.”

The focus on learning and edutainment appears to be no accident. A trademark application for Loop describes it as an “electronic learning toy,” while a recent bio for Dopple’s CTO states that the company was “applying AI and other technologies to help children connect with people, places, and purposes.” 

The quest for XR beyond the headset. Kalin’s startup isn’t the only company that is trying to make headset-free XR work. There are some good reasons for that. Headsets are isolating, some people do experience motion sickness or other forms of discomfort, and the impact extended headset use has on younger users in particular is still unknown. That’s why a number of other companies, including Amazon, have explored the use of projectors and projection mapping for headset-free XR.

However, providing the same level of immersion as a headset is challenging. One issue: Loop and similar devices are essentially 2D screens, which makes XR a lot less immersive. Ultimately, the company also has to demonstrate how using a Loop device is significantly different from using a phone for mobile augmented reality.

Sports is growing on FAST, but live games are still an exception

In its early days, free linear streaming channels (also known as FAST channels among industry insiders) often featured little more than long-in-the-tooth movies and 80s TV show reruns. These days, programming has gotten a lot better, and more diverse.

That increasingly includes sports, according to new data from Gracenote. The Nielsen subsidiary found that a little over 13 percent of FAST channels, or 221 of the 1653 channels monitored by the company, are now exclusively dedicated to sports.

However, live games – the programming sports fans arguably seek out the most – are still a rarity on FAST. In March, only 4.6 percent of all sports programming on FAST channels were live games or competitions, according to Gracenote’s new contextual advertising report.

What else

Samsung has laid off its display UX team. The team, which worked on TV Plus, the company’s TV Gaming Hub and related projects, is looking for new jobs.

XR theme part startup Dream Park raises $1.1 million. The company wants to use the cash infusion to build games for “millions or billions of people.” Check out my story about Dreampark here.

Meta reportedly cancelled the Quest 4. The company has nixed plants to release two new Quest VR headsets, and is prioritizing a lightweight mixed reality headset with a compute puck, according to Upload.

Meta is buying content for that new lightweight headset. The company has reportedly approached Disney, A24 and others about making content for its next headset.

Major labels in licensing talks with Udio, Suno. The two AI music startups have been sued by the music industry over alleged copyright infringement, but it sounds like there may be talks to settle those lawsuits and strike licensing deals.

YouTube is adding Google Lens to Shorts. With the integration, viewers will be able to search for things they spot in Shorts.

Survey says: Young people churn more. Surprise: Being young and broke leads people to cancel their video subscriptions more often.

AMC Networks has struck a deal with Runway. The media company will use Runway’s AI video generator to create marketing material, among other things. (So when will Fox announce its partnership?)

That’s it

Have you ever heard of steganography? It’s the practice of concealing information in a picture. It’s something first invented in ancient Greece, and perfected by spooks and other enterprising minds ever since.

Now, there’s a twist on the whole thing: Someone recently figured out how to turn videos into databases, and store millions of lines of text in a single MP4 file. Of course, the whole thing is somehow powered by AI, and supposedly 10 times as efficient as a traditional database. Which does sound weird and interesting, but I keep wondering: How does such a database video look like when you watch it? Perhaps it’s something like this?

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!

And many thanks to Kochava for sponsoring this issue of Lowpass.