Apple Vision: Pros Vs. Cons

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Apple's Vision Pro is officially under the microscope — with early reviews offering a blend of awe and caution.

With reportedly over 200,000 preorders, the hype is there. But can the reality match high expectations and a lofty price tag? Let’s dive deeper…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Early Vision Pro reviews mixed amid pre-sale hype

• Researchers harness power from sound waves

• 9 new products

• PayPal cuts thousands of jobs in ‘right-sizing’

• Swiss startup reinventing nuclear energy

• NYT assembling GenAI division

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

APPLE

🥽 Early Vision Pro reviews mixed amid pre-sale hype

The Rundown: Early reviews are beginning to roll in for Apple’s buzzy new Vision Pro, with tech outlets breaking down the pros and cons of the headset — which has reportedly already seen over 200,000 preorders in the first 10 days.

The details:

• The 4K OLED displays and spatial 3D video blew reviewers away, making videos and movies incredibly immersive.

• Eye and hand-tracking was mostly seamless, enabling an intuitive control system — but tracking was reportedly inconsistent at times.

• The bad: Some reviewers had to take regular breaks due to the headset's heaviness, while the battery life was just 2-3 hours.

• Some also said the software felt unfinished, with few ‘true AR’ apps that blend virtual and real — while the App Store lacked key offerings like YouTube or Netflix.

• At $3,500 plus more for accessories, reviewers questioned if the experience was significantly better than non-wearable setups.

Why it matters: The Vision Pro looks to advance the state of AR/VR with its impressive visuals and control, but compromises like weight, battery life, and isolated experience show the product still has maturing to do. At $3,500+, it may be a tough sell to anyone outside of early adopters right now.

TOGETHER WITH INCOGNI

Your info is on the dark web

Every day, data brokers profit from your sensitive info—phone number, DOB, SSN—selling it to the highest bidder. And who’s buying it? Best case: companies target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves.

It's time you check out Incogni. It scrubs your personal data from the web, confronting the world’s data brokers on your behalf. And unlike other services, Incogni helps remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.

Help protect yourself from identity theft, spam calls, ID theft and health insurers raising your rates. Plus, just for our readers: Get 55% off Incogni using code PRIVACY.

BATERY TECH

🔋 Researchers harness power from sound waves

The Rundown: Researchers at ETH Zurich just developed a battery-free sensor that harnesses energy from sound waves to power electronic devices, with the potential to help reduce electronic waste and enable new medical applications.

The details:

• The sensor works by converting vibrations from specific sound frequencies into small electrical pulses.

• It can distinguish between certain spoken words like "three" and "four”, with only certain words triggering the device.

• Potential applications include powering medical implants like hearing aids, eliminating the need for replacement batteries.

Why it matters: This innovation shows the promise of energy sources like sound to enable battery-free electronics. If commercialized, millions of single-use batteries could be eliminated yearly — while also unlocking new medical possibilities as implants shift away from finite power sources.

NEW PRODUCTS

🤖 Huudle AI Project Assistant- Streamline meetings, manage tasks, and enhance team alignment (link)

🏷️ Blozum- Triple your sales with our AI-powered WhatsApp assistant (link)

👨‍💻 AI Figma to Code by Anima- Transform your Figma designs into code effortlessly with AI assistance (link)

🎨 Shakker.Ai- Instantly create images from your imagination (link)

🎙️ Podnotes- Turn podcasts into transcribed, summarized, and repurposable content (link)

👨‍✈️ Omnipilot- Seamless autocomplete and AI-powered contextual generation for all macOS applications (link)

📱 Synthesia- Create professional videos without mics, cameras, or actors using an AI-generated character (link)

🧠 AI-suggests- Generate tons of ready-to-use content and new ideas for your business instantly (link)

🎥 Munch- Extract the most engaging and impactful clips from your long-form videos (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

SNIPPETS

The New York Times is assembling a team to innovate with generative AI and machine learning while maintaining a commitment to human-driven journalism.

Boeing workers are believed to have omitted reinstalling bolts on a 737 Max 9 aircraft, leading to a midair incident and subsequent grounding of planes.

AT&T and TransUnion are collaborating to offer a service where businesses can make branded calls to customers with visible names and logos to combat robocall proliferation.

Apple is deeply concerned about U.K. legislative proposals that might empower the government to secretly control global software updates and weaken user privacy and security.

Xbox President Sarah Bond criticizes Apple for implementing a Core Technology Fee for app installations that surpass one million downloads.

Transmutex, a Swiss startup, is reinventing nuclear energy with thorium and a particle accelerator to create safer, more sustainable reactors incapable of sustaining a chain reaction.

PayPal is laying off thousands of employees in an effort ‘right-size’ the business, coming on the heels of changes across the company’s leadership team.

SPONSOR US

⚡️ Get your product in front of over 75k+ tech enthusiasts

Our newsletter is read by thousands of tech professionals, investors, engineers, managers, and business owners around the world. Get in touch today.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundowntech