ColdFusion - Microsoft Hololens Explained! - The Future Of Computing.

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

The Microsoft Hololens has been causing a fair amount of buzz over the recent months. Is it all it's cracked up to be or is it all hype? This video takes a look at a collection of inside information and opinions and verdicts of many reviews, to give a rounded early full encompassing look at the Hololens. Previous Augmented reality video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jelW5phB2r4 // Soundtrack // Abhi & Dijon - work.pool.bed Nail - Eric Heyday (Sweet Innocence) (1994) KAASI - Caroline Street Different Sleep – Turbulence Atu - What You Like D' Sounds - Talkin' Talk (2000) Burn Water - Hide (Paradise) » Google + | http://www.google.com/+coldfustion » Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/ColdFusionTV » Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ColdFusion_TV » My music | http://burnwater.bandcamp.com or » http://www.soundcloud.com/burnwater » Collection of music used in videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOrJJKW31OA Editing website: www.cfnstudios.com ColdfusTion Android Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nqr.coldfustion.com&hl=en » Twitter | @Coldfusion_TV --- ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are watching Coldfustin TV. Hi, and welcome to another Cold fusion video. Degogo here. The Microsoft HoloLens has been causing a bit of a frenzy ever since its announcement. Some call it a revolution, and others call it the future of computing. Microsoft hopes that the holographic gadget becomes the next big computing platform, with applications ranging from video games to design, to education, and architecture. A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft released some more details about the technology

and allowed some press to get their hands on the device. This allows us to gain some extra insight. In this video, we'll break down exactly what the HoloLens is, where it came from, the reality of what it can actually do versus the hype, and the implications for the world. Let's get started. So the most fundamental thing to understand here, is that the Microsoft HoloLens is a headset that belongs to a technology called augmented reality.

In a video I made a few years ago, I covered augmented reality at length. The video is titled, Augmented Reality is the Future, so you can check that out if you want. It will be the first link in the description below. To summarize, augmented reality is a parallel altered reality facilitated by technology. In this reality, digital objects, menus, and other data can be added seamlessly into the user's field of view. This is different from virtual reality where the user's entire reality is substituted for a digital one. To make sure we're clear, if you put on a virtual reality device, ideally your brain will think you're in an alternate reality, somewhere else. But on the other hand, if you put on an augmented reality headset, you can still see the world around you, but it's enhanced and overlaid with digital extras.

So let's look at the HoloLens origins. Where did it actually come from? What many people don't realize is that the HoloLens has been in the world. works for seven years. It was actually the brainchild of Microsoft employee Alex Kittman. He's been working on a pair of holographic goggles for five years and before that he was working on the Connect, which was the grandfather of the HoloLens. So many of you have already seen Microsoft demo videos of people doing incredible things with the HoloLens but as expected, early reports are suggesting that it's not all that you would imagine from the videos but it is still very impressive. So, what can the HoloLens actually do? First off the bat, Microsoft still hasn't

released all the specific details, but here's what we do know. Obvious applications for the HoloLens include content consumption and communication. These can be things such as floating videos or a more immersive Skype session, but this isn't all. The HoloLens headset can actually scan environments in real time and do things such as aid in the guidance of robots, or create on-the-fly semi-accurate wire meshes of objects that exist in real life. Digital objects can also interact with their real environment. For example, if you threw a ball at the floor, it would bounce around just like you would expect. All of this is possible thanks to multiple cameras stationed inside the headset. Apparently, HoloLens also

handles sound incredibly well. This is done through the Unity Engine, where developers can pin audio to specific objects. Then, as people wearing the HoloLens walk through a specific area, the sound changes based on your proximity to the objects, just like it would in a real world. and reports say it's good enough to trick your brain. The audio is actually delivered through two small speakers in the headset, not headphones. This is so you can still hear the real environment around you. Further to this, there's full Windows 10 integration.

So when wearing a headset, you can drag items from a PC desktop and pull them off the screen into the air and still control them with your mouse. Voice inputs are also very well done. Voice commands, those seemingly are infinite. So the developers can register commands, I made my app respond to Hello Toledo and I like Pi. Do you hold a button to activate?

No, it's all ambient. They were really adamant about that. You don't have to do an address command like Alexa or Hey Siri or OK Google. You just talk to it and it picks it up. Did it feel like it was something being processed in the headset or it was over Wi-Fi? I would be shocked if it wasn't in the headset. It was very fast enough to be a headset. I mean the response time was Hello Toledo, boom.

Not Hello Toledo, tick, tick, tick, boom. Okay, so that's a bit about what HoloLens can do. How does it work? Well, as described earlier, a lot of what HoloLens is capable of is made possible by an array of cameras and sensors. These include more than five cameras, accelerometers, and gyroscopes to sense where your head is and how it's positioned at all times. In addition to the HoloLens mapping out your real world environment,

I would imagine combining these data inputs would create a pretty compelling experience. So that's pretty cool, but let's get a bit deeper. into the guts. According to its creator, Alex Kippman, the sensors flood the device with terabytes of data every second. So that's a lot, right? So how is this actually going to be managed on a device? A lot of people out there would be like, well, it's going to be connected to a PC obviously to process all that. But no, as I've been saying in my videos, in the past few years, silicon technology in mobile devices has come up by orders of magnitude. So now, for the first time, it's possible to process all of this in a mobile form factor. Now I feel very

fortunate to be in this moment in time. All the different pieces are starting to fall into place. As we enter this decade, the amount of processing power you can get into a small form factor for a reasonable price point is just staggering. Even in the last few years, as we developed HoloLens, the innovation in optics, sensors and silicon has allowed us to move forward a few orders of magnitude. So the HoloLens has a CPU. GPU and the first of its kind in the world and HPU and this fascinatingly enough is a holographic processing unit so here's an explanation of how it works with direct quotes from its creator this is Kittman speaking realistic holograms work by tricking your brain into

seeing light as matter ultimately you perceive the world because of light if I could magically turn on the debugger we would see photons bouncing throughout the world eventually they hit the back of your eyes and through that you read the out what the world is. You essentially hallucinate the world. Or you see what your mind wants you to see. To create project HoloLens images, light particles bounce around millions of times in a light engine within the device. These photons enter the goggles to lenses where they are ricocheted between layers of blue, green and red glass before they reach the back of your eye. And when you get the light at the exact angle, that is where the magic comes in. So translating what Kippmann said, unlike most screen technologies before,

it's not pixels, but actual photons that are being generated, making the digital elements extremely lifelike. The resolution was really, really good. You were able to read text. One of the objects in the world was a crumpled up paper ball, it looked like newspaper. You could read the newspaper two layers down. The text was clear even from, say, five feet from the virtual object. So let's put this in perspective.

I was able to read it from the distance that I would normally read a piece of paper. paper. But you'll recognize that there's text there. Oh, absolutely. If I was holding it out here, I was able to read it. If I was holding it right here, I was able to read it. Okay, so this so far sounds pretty amazing and a great round of applause to Microsoft here and Alex Kittman.

But we have to take the good with the bad. What are the limitations here? Okay, so according to reports, here are some of the limitations. Currently, you can only really control HoloLens with your gaze and by hovering your finger in the air to tap on a cursor. It works fine, is extremely intuitive, and everyone could get it the first time. time, but HoloLens needs more sophisticated gestures that mimic real-life movement. The biggest limitation is the small viewing area.

So really, all the holograms and the digital environments are only visible through a small square area. So if you get close to digital objects, you can't actually see the entirety of it. It cuts them off. This was one of the most common complaints among reviewers. And I personally think that Microsoft did this to reduce the tax on the HPU and lower the latency so people don't feel sick. But in future generations as mobile silicon doubles again, I think we should get over these problems.

Okay, so let's move on to the conclusions. CNet sums it up nicely. According to them, they state, even in its infancy, HoloLens gives me an augmented reality experience that I never knew I wanted, and now I want it again and again. I want to conduct all my future meetings through HoloLens. So, how should we think of HoloLens? In a way, much like the arrival of Oculus signaled that the infancy of modern VR, HoloLens does what Google Glass tried to do,

kickstart the infancy of modern AR. With a player as trusted and as well respected as Microsoft, the stage is set and we can be sure to expect some exciting technology in the coming years. But moreover, I think Microsoft is truly back in action now. Anyway, I hope you did get something out of this, and if you do have a friend or someone who's wondering about the HoloLens and what it all means and just wants a breakdown in detail of what it actually can do, like, please share this video, I'm sure they'll get something out of it.

If you want to see more videos of stuff explained or about companies or about future technology or about alternative technology news, please subscribe. Anyway, thanks for watching. This has been DeGogo. You've been watching Coalfusion. Give it a thumbs up if you liked it and I'll catch you again soon for the next video. Cheers, guys. Have a good one.