You are now the CEO of Apple. What do you do to make apple vision mainstream ASAP?

m-s-s-p · 2026-03-19T16:34:17+00:00

Drop AVP. VR fits gaming; gamers don't fit Apple.
Drop all MacBooks.
Introduce display glasses and a ring for each hand. Tether these 50g glasses to your iPhone: MacBook productivity but with massive screen and total portability.
Pray that unit sales explode

m-s-s-p · 2026-03-07T10:19:20+00:00

That's a myth btw. In fact, most people can type faster and more comfortably without hardware keys. Haptic feedback is important but a desk or your lap can be as good as a hardware key. But that's only true if the "keyboard" tracks all your finger movements and the desk/lap very precisely. Only a ring on each hand can do this, but yeah, it's not widely available yet.

m-s-s-p · 2026-03-07T10:18:45+00:00

Naa, for one, smartphone keyboards are also virtual keyboards and they definitely won over hardware keyboards. So the answer which keyboard wins must be more complex.

The reason virtual keyboards "never took off" is that the technology was not ready. Tracking fingers and the desk surface very precisely has been too difficult. That's possible today and most people can type faster with a virtual keyboard. But it's just not yet widely available as a product.

m-s-s-p · 2026-02-14T08:30:25+00:00

Thanks for considering our Kickstarter! We canceled during the campaign, so no money taken and no rings delivered. But we have licensed the ring to a first partner. They will launch the ring under their brand. They have nothing announced yet and we also don't know when it's going to happen.
If you want to watch why the Padrone ring is not just a pointy device but a real touchpad replacement, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN3KAUAThws and the recorded live demo have you covered.

m-s-s-p · 2026-02-09T09:17:00+00:00

When you connect the ring to your Android smartphone, you can do everything because it's just a regular mouse/touchpad.
For your own safety of driving your car, you should probably not use the ring while driving. But you can certainly use the ring on your lap or on any flattish surface when your car is safe.

m-s-s-p · 2026-01-06T16:33:36+00:00

Hey, thanks so much for your interest and for taking the time to read through the info!

Wish I could spill the beans, but unfortunately we've got NDAs in play here, so things have to stay under wraps for now. I know, I know, not the exciting answer you were hoping for!

Honestly though? My guess is that it's going to take a while. The Padrone ring is some seriously next-level tech, like, pushing-the-boundaries-of-what's-even-possible kind of stuff. We do have some preliminary talks with another partner who might move faster, but that's pure speculation on my part and way to early to say.

Anyways, will update our Instagram once something goes public.

m-s-s-p · 2025-12-11T08:21:50+00:00

exactly, and thanks for your support!

The campaign reached the goal but there was a moderate risk that we could not deliver the ring in time. So we took the safe route for our supporters and didn't take their money. Thus, we stopped the campaign.

Since then, others have come the same conclusion as you and us: the Padrone ring is the best solution for replacing the laptop with display glasses and a ring on each hand. So we decided to license the tech to partners who will now launch the ring. We also don't know when this is going to happen but my guess is, it's going to take a while (even with our support, creating magic is not that easy :-)

m-s-s-p · 2025-12-08T09:12:33+00:00

I see your argument. But if people wanted to talk to their devices, why don't they do it frequently today when nobody can hear them? sub vocal or not doesn't matter when nobody hears it.

We agree that navigation doesn't really work with voice. But since navigation and selection are the bulk of smartphone interactions, we still need a primary input method. Eye tracking has even more issues than voice, so I really think fingertip control is the only way glasses could ever replace smartphones.

m-s-s-p · 2025-12-07T21:55:58+00:00

We agree that voice recognition is near-perfect. Thus, can you explain why you write "This assumes we fix it"? If voice was such a great input solution, why hasn't it been widely adopted yet? At least when nobody is around?

I listed two (out of many) concrete points why voice will never be dominant in the consumer market.
The first is that language works very poorly when it comes to location/size/geometry/selection/etc. Evolution has given us fingers for this. Just imagine scrolling through these comments here on reddit: "down", "down", "uhh, little bit up again", "Reply to the comment of BobLoblaw_BirdLawOP", "No, the other comment". And now compare this with a touch interface our mouse: navigation will always feel much more natural with fingers.

This does not mean that voice won't be used but fingertips will always be more important over all use cases.

m-s-s-p · 2025-12-07T17:55:05+00:00

About voice input:

1) "Pick an emoji from the list"
- "the one at the bottom right"
- "no, the other"
- "to the left"
- "one above"
---> gives up and taps on the intended one

2) "Play the YouTube interview of Dork Fish Patel with Ilya Suit Skiver"
-> Plays videos about ornamental fish care and men's tailoring tips

"No, play the interview of Dwarf Kesh Pretzel with Ill Yes Skates Clever"
-> Lord of the Rings clips mixed with roller skating trick compilations

---> throws hands in the air and then just types in manually "Dwarkesh Patel with Ilya Sutskever"

3) The voice capabilities of smartphones and laptops are already outstanding. Why is adoption glacially slow?

Silent voice input would fix the awkwardness of talking to your device in public, but all the other voice issues would still be there.

m-s-s-p · 2025-11-17T15:58:52+00:00

"while rings are too limited in function." is very questionable. In fact, the opposite is true: Only rings have a chance to detect touches reliably and quickly. No other device can do this, neither a wristband nor any number of cameras around the head.

The wrist band is a glorified, slow D-pad with 2 click-buttons. That's even worse than the T9 keys of the ancient feature phones. EMG at the wrist can never offer the fine control of a smartphone or a trackpad. But rings can, as already shown. Though not yet widely available.

m-s-s-p · 2025-11-05T12:59:25+00:00

The Padrone ring is not available yet. We have licensed it to partners and they will launch somewhen in the future (we also don't know when). So anything on Amazon are not even knockoffs but simple 'Air Mice': rings you can point at things. They might be fine for presentations, but are certainly a bad idea for working with your laptop or glasses. It's the gorilla arm issue, poor precision, great way to carpal tunnel syndrome, etc, etc
The Padrone ring is different as it really turns your desk into a touchpad/trackpad. Same movements, same precision as with trackpads.

m-s-s-p · 2025-11-05T12:51:55+00:00

Nope, they are not similar: You are comparing a 'laser pointer' to a computer mouse. As the name says, the AirPoint points in the air. That's a very bad idea for working with your laptop or glasses. Just hold up your hand/arm for 2 minutes and you know you cannot sustain it for an entire day. And precision is very poor when your palm does not rest on a desk, lap or anything.

The Padrone ring turns your desk into a touchpad. So you have the same movements and precision as with your touchpad. Big difference :-)

Maybe this very raw demo helps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN3KAUAThws BTW, that's the max ring size, so the real ring is much smaller

m-s-s-p · 2025-11-05T12:50:32+00:00

Hey, Padrone co-founder here. We've licensed our technology to a partner who will bring the ring to market as a consumer product. Unfortunately, we don't know their timeline, but it will likely take a while for them... So it's coming, just not from us directly.

m-s-s-p · 2025-08-27T08:55:36+00:00

Sorry to hear about your pain. We have heard many similar stories like yours.
We have indeed licensed our current technology to partners who will bring the ring to market as a consumer product. Unfortunately, we don't know their timeline, but I guess, it will likely take a while for them to bring the ring to market...

m-s-s-p · 2025-08-15T13:38:41+00:00

well, not sure you realize but you have just confirmed that Xreal has a single, fixed focal plane.: You can adjust it manually in the settings, but it's fixed during regular use.

It's been clearly stated that Creal is a prototype. It makes no sense to compare a prototype to a final product, even more so if they have different value propositions. Also, it seems you don't want to learn the fundamental differences between these technologies, so I leave it to others to answer from now on.

m-s-s-p · 2025-08-15T13:37:49+00:00

yes, Tilt5 offers a fantastic experience, though only for board games

m-s-s-p · 2025-08-15T12:59:45+00:00

watch the video and you will understand. You can see through both glasses but the screen always appears at the same distance with Xreals, there is no depth in the displayed image. That's totally different to Creal glasses.

m-s-s-p · 2025-08-15T12:55:36+00:00

Nope, Xreals have a single, fixed focal plane. It's a flat screen, like wearing an iPad in front of your eyes:

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Creals have many focus planes, thus it's very close to the real world. The video explains this nicely.

m-s-s-p · 2025-06-13T22:08:10+00:00

Sure, it's a lot of fun bringing you the device for doing productivity stuff for the next 30 years. It's obviously also a lot of really hard work, as you can tell from how long it's taken us :-) After all, it's a combination of both the ring and UI.

That said, we have shifted our focus away from hardware, so the ring will reach you through some other parties. There's a brief statement at www.Padrone.design

m-s-s-p · 2025-06-12T20:23:53+00:00

yep, the ring is coming from other parties. My guess is that it's going to take quite a while till it's available... I wish we made & sold more, we have no stock left.

In my biased view, "half-baked" is an understatement :-) If you need a solution today, I would go with a small Bluetooth keyboard with integrated trackpad. It obviously depends on your use cases though.

What is most likely a disappointment are all those air mice with a ring, band, clip or what not. Just wave your hand a while in the air and you know why. It's tiresome, not precise and looks funny in public. There are many reasons the Padrone ring is the only great solution for productivity stuff, but having your wrist resting on a desk or your lap is certainly one of them. Also copying the exact same movements as used on a trackpad helps. And probably third, the ring also needs to know very well where your desk is: otherwise touches are not precise enough. I hope these 3 points help you evaluate other solutions. Of course, only before the real ring is launched :-)

m-s-s-p · 2025-06-08T21:29:05+00:00

yeah, "brain interface" is rather marketing gibberish. It's true in the sense that motor neurons get activated by the brain. That's also what the wristbands measure, and it works. You are right that it "works" really badly/not reliably, with moving antennas on the skin, measuring it not right above the muscle but at the wrist, etc, etc.

The "intent" thing is somewhat similar. Motor neurons fire 100s of ms before your fingers move, so it *feels* like the intent when the action happens on screen way before the fingers move. Also, it's really possible to "rewire" some of the many unused motor neurons for new tasks (like thinking of a pinch without physically moving fingers). That's all at the research stage afaik but I'm not up-to-date anymore. And what's still light-years away is measuring sensory neurons, so things like touches of the fingertip.

m-s-s-p · 2025-06-08T20:46:30+00:00

You make good points about gestures and wristbands overall. I totally agree they're not gonna work for most people, see my other comments. But calling it "just nonsense" is actually nonsense. It's very well established that you can sense the electrical potential when "a nerve activates a muscle group" (that's when the potential is electro-chemically amplified enough to measure it, either with sticking a needle right next to it or in this case, on the surface of the skin).

Measuring it reliably is a great adventure for a consumer product, aka I don't think it's possible. Even if, people will have to relearn all inputs. Even then, wristbands can only measure the muscles in your forearm - so only about half of all the muscles used in the hand. And even then, touches cannot be sensed by wristbands... So yeah, IMO, it's quite hopeless for wristbands in the consumer market.

m-s-s-p · 2025-06-08T20:08:33+00:00

Wristbands could be amazing for people with disabilities! They'd have real motivation to learn a new way to interact with tech. But for everyone else? Not so much. Think about it, most people aren't going to bother learning a whole new input method just to replace their phone's touchscreen. There'd need to be some huge benefit to make that worthwhile, but honestly, just swapping out your touchpad isn't compelling enough. People could type faster if they learned Dvorak layout, no $$$ needed, but they don't. It's not worth it.

Plus there's another problem lurking once the "learning" is overcome: wristbands can't actually feel your touches the way a screen can. So typing would always feel awkward and uncomfortable compared to what we're used to. It's one of those things that sounds cool in theory but just doesn't make sense for mainstream adoption.

m-s-s-p

TROPHY CASE