Jason McDowall: Investor | Advocate | Entrepreneur
100 episodes
9 months ago
Driving from the flats of Beverly Hills up into the hills themselves feels like I’m entering into a different world. Here the picturesque, tree-line streets filled with beautiful homes give way to narrow, winding roads that snake their way to the tops of hillsides. In these hills, each home looks like an architectural marvel, delicately perched at the very edge of a steep slope, with expansive views of Los Angeles.
It was in one of these homes where I met with key members of the Snap marketing team to preview Snap's latest efforts to build AR glasses, the 5th generation Spectacles.
In this episode, I share my impressions of the device and my perspective on its place in the larger narrative of AR Glasses.
To help set the stage, I had a chance to catch up with Sophia Dominguez, the Director of the AR Platform, at Snap.
Prior to her four and a half years at Snap, Sophia started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and she successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.
Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.
You may remember Sophia from my interview with her published in the summer of 2023. Check out that two-part episode for her wonderful backstory and broader perspective on the market.
Here we keep things very focused on the 5th generation Snap Spectacles.
Callout: Developers in the U.S. can join the Spectacles Developer Program for $99 per month with a one year commitment by visiting www.spectacles.com/lens-studio.
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Driving from the flats of Beverly Hills up into the hills themselves feels like I’m entering into a different world. Here the picturesque, tree-line streets filled with beautiful homes give way to narrow, winding roads that snake their way to the tops of hillsides. In these hills, each home looks like an architectural marvel, delicately perched at the very edge of a steep slope, with expansive views of Los Angeles.
It was in one of these homes where I met with key members of the Snap marketing team to preview Snap's latest efforts to build AR glasses, the 5th generation Spectacles.
In this episode, I share my impressions of the device and my perspective on its place in the larger narrative of AR Glasses.
To help set the stage, I had a chance to catch up with Sophia Dominguez, the Director of the AR Platform, at Snap.
Prior to her four and a half years at Snap, Sophia started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and she successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.
Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.
You may remember Sophia from my interview with her published in the summer of 2023. Check out that two-part episode for her wonderful backstory and broader perspective on the market.
Here we keep things very focused on the 5th generation Snap Spectacles.
Callout: Developers in the U.S. can join the Spectacles Developer Program for $99 per month with a one year commitment by visiting www.spectacles.com/lens-studio.
Nils Pihl (Auki Labs) on Augmented Reality as Spatially Enhanced Communication
AR Show with Jason McDowall
1 hour 41 minutes 13 seconds
1 year ago
Nils Pihl (Auki Labs) on Augmented Reality as Spatially Enhanced Communication
Nils Pihl returns as our guest for a second time on the podcast. He is the CEO and founder of Auki Labs, a company dedicated to revolutionizing augmented reality positioning.
Auki’s technology uses peer-to-peer communication to establish a distributed spatial computing protocol. In this episode, we revisit some of the themes from the first episode, such as the concept of language as the oldest form of augmented reality and Auki's role in enhancing communication through augmented reality positioning.
Nils background as a behavioral engineer specializing in Meme Theory and Memetic Engineering adds a unique depth to his approach in the AR space. A serial entrepreneur, Nils brings invaluable insights and experiences from his previous ventures to his current projects.
During his first time on the podcast, Jason and Nils discussed the unique challenges of positioning for AR and looked at AR from the perspective of memetics.
Today, we first dive into how growing up online influenced Nils' work in memetic engineering and AR. We look at look at AR use cases like retail, gaming, people-finding etc. from the perspective of meme theory.
Nils brings a unique perspective, viewing AR and meme theory as integral to evolving human communication, human ways of being, and our relationship with future AI. We also discuss neural interfaces, living and working in Asia, and more.
Links From The Episode
- Book Summary: [Ender's Game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game)
- Book: [Software Agents (story of Nicholas Negreponte translator)](https://amzn.to/3weTwWF)by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
- Article: [The Egregore Passes You By](https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/the-planetary-egregore-passes-you) by Erik Hoel
- Video: [If You're Not The Hero In Your Novel What Kind Of Novel Is It](https://youtu.be/puHHjl77uKM?si=Joe77oPxBmg0Y6xU&t=450) by Terence McKenna
- Video: [The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVOF2PiHnc) by Jenny Nicholson
You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com.
AR Show with Jason McDowall
Driving from the flats of Beverly Hills up into the hills themselves feels like I’m entering into a different world. Here the picturesque, tree-line streets filled with beautiful homes give way to narrow, winding roads that snake their way to the tops of hillsides. In these hills, each home looks like an architectural marvel, delicately perched at the very edge of a steep slope, with expansive views of Los Angeles.
It was in one of these homes where I met with key members of the Snap marketing team to preview Snap's latest efforts to build AR glasses, the 5th generation Spectacles.
In this episode, I share my impressions of the device and my perspective on its place in the larger narrative of AR Glasses.
To help set the stage, I had a chance to catch up with Sophia Dominguez, the Director of the AR Platform, at Snap.
Prior to her four and a half years at Snap, Sophia started the widely followed “All Things VR” newsletter and joined Rothenberg Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence before co-founding her first company, SVRF. There she created the first API and SDKs for searching and rendering 3D face filters. They powered over 280M AR experiences, and she successfully sold the company to Poplar before joining Snap.
Sophia began her career by attending NYU with a focus on how technology impacts human interaction. She then organized one of the world’s first wearable technology conferences, before working in product and operations for a startup focused on visual messaging.
You may remember Sophia from my interview with her published in the summer of 2023. Check out that two-part episode for her wonderful backstory and broader perspective on the market.
Here we keep things very focused on the 5th generation Snap Spectacles.
Callout: Developers in the U.S. can join the Spectacles Developer Program for $99 per month with a one year commitment by visiting www.spectacles.com/lens-studio.
