Meet the Inventor Behind Tech’s Weirdest New Product
Meet the Inventor Behind Tech’s Weirdest New Product
3 minute read
Alex Kipman, technical fellow, operating system group at Microsoft, speaks on stage during the 2015 Microsoft Build Conference on April 29, 2015 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.Stephen Lam—Getty Images
Alex Kipman, Microsoft’s chief evangelist for the HoloLens, once again stole the show at Microsoft’s Build conference on Wednesday, urging developers to “move beyond devices, to move beyond screens and pixels and to move beyond today’s digital borders.” In a word: move to holograms already.
Hardly 100 days have passed since Kipman first emerged from a windowless lab beneath Microsoft’s Visitor Center and unveiled a new virtual reality headset to a stunned press corps. The HoloLens effectively projects 3-D holograms directly in front of the user in a seamless blend of fantasy and reality.
“We’ve worked on this program for years,” Kipman said at the time, “hiding in plain sight in the Microsoft visitor’s center.” In an instant, Kipman was vaulted from relative obscurity to one of Microsoft’s single most interesting employees.
The Brazilian-born software engineer joined Microsoft shortly after graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2001. He bounced from division to division before landing a career-defining role as “director of incubation” for the company’s Xbox department. There, he oversaw the development of Xbox Kinect, a motion-sensing device that turns the gamer’s body into a controller. It was an instant success, selling 1 million units in the first 10 days of its release in 2010. Kipman, barely past the age of 30, earned an honored place in TIME’s “Top 25 Nerds of the Year.”
Top 10 Tech Product Designs of 2014
Nest
Acquired by Google in Jan. 2014, Nest Labs wants to turn your home into a smart device. The home automation system includes Internet-connected smoke detectors and thermostats, which have screens and chic, round designs — a huge design boost for devices that haven't really changed in recent decades. Aya Brackett—NestDJI Inspire 1
The latest DJI quadcopter retains the simple style that's made their drones so popular, but adds 4K video capability — and the ability to transmit the HD video wirelessly to an on-the-ground devices. A new ground-facing camera also allows Inspire 1 to fly steadily to keep the video footage clean.DJIiPhone 6 and 6 Plus
Bigger is better, or so the critics cried, calling for Apple to make a supersized phone. That was before Apple quieted them with the release of the iPhone 6 Plus in September, the company’s largest iPhone ever. With an alluring 5.5-inch display that makes it feel something like a portable iPad, the phone is is a challenge to Samsung’s larger models. Along with a powerful 8-megapixel camera and longer battery life, the phone is more a statement than an answer.AppleOsmo Tangram
Tired of seeing your kids staring at screens like zombies? This iPad game brings virtual play to life. A reflector equipped with artificial intelligence snaps over your iPad's camera and can sense when objects are moving (or being drawn) on a pad in front of it. Osmo comes with three games, all of which promote creativity and—because it’s best played in groups—social intelligence. The best way to understand how Osmo works is by watching the video of kids who have never played with the device before testing it out for the first time.OsmoTesla 2014 Model S
Tesla 2014 Model S has been praised both for its luxury feel and high-tech interior. The electric car offers instantaneous acceleration from a stop, a function very few other cars on the market provide. TeslaJawbone's UP3 Wristband
Depending on your view, Jawbone is on the road to making us all super fit athletes or brutally efficient cyborgs who operate by data alone. How many minutes of REM sleep did I get last night? What’s the difference between my heart rate while resting and during a workout? How hydrated am I? How many calories did I burn on my last run? Jawbone UP3 answers all those questions better than any other Jawbone did before. The $179 wearable fits on your wrist and comes in black and silver.JawboneSquare Stand
The iPad holder and credit card reader launched last year with the goal of transforming an iPad into a point-of-sale. The sleek, white stand also offers an enhanced credit card reader, and can be adapted to include a cash register.Square Nerf Rebelle Rapid Red Blaster
Last year, Nerf decided to even the battlefield and create a new line of guns, arrows and crossbows specifically for girls. The resulting Nerf Rebelle line takes a cue from the success of The Hunger Games: The box is covered with tweens styled like that series' hero, Katniss Everdeen.HasbroOculus Rift Crescent Bay
The latest Oculus Rift prototype, Crescent Bay, marks one step further before the commercial release of the virtual reality handset. Crescent Bay features upgrades like 360-degree head tracking, a lighter weight, and high-quality audio. Lucky participants in the demos recalled the mind-boggling immersion in the scenes they were watching. The consumer version, Oculus Rift, is expected to launch as early as April 2015.Oculus VRQualcomm WiPower
Sick of tangled phone charging cables? Qualcomm WiPower allows you to power up your phone without plugging it in — a function that, to most people, is basically magic. The wireless charging pad eliminates the fuss of power chords, while also allowing you to turn everyday furniture like tables and chairs into charging surfaces.Qualcomm
Kinect cemented Kipman’s reputation as one of Microsoft’s resident fantasists, perpetually dissatisfied with the current state of computing. “Alex has a certain naiveté about what’s not possible,” said long-time colleague Peter Loforte in an interview on Microsoft’s official blog.
With his shoulder-length hair and penchant for graphic t-shirts, Kipman bears a passing resemblance to a new age guru. He calls programmers “dreamers” and draws inspiration from the Burning Man festival, “as cleansing creatively as you can get,” he toldFast Company. But in that same interview, he revealed an unrelenting work day, beginning at 7:00 am, bookended by several hours of “create” time and finishing anywhere between “10:00 pm to done.”
Kipman has railed against the way users interact with screens. “They have started to disappear into their devices,” he said in 2012, “real life is passing them by and they don’t even know it!” At that moment he was also overseeing a secret program at Microsoft to develop a holographic headset, codenamed “Project Baraboo.”
It was five years in the making, Kipman toldWired, and he summed up the effort as a very elaborate trick of the eye. “You essentially hallucinate the world,” he said to Wired, “or you see what your mind wants you to see.”
For more on Microsoft’s HoloLens, watch the video below:
