UPDATED 14:31 EDT / OCTOBER 06 2015

NEWS

Microsoft HoloLens is on tour: How to get your own personal demo

The future of augmented reality (AR) is almost here now that Microsoft has announced the 2016 Q1 release for the developer kit for the company’s HoloLens technology. When it was initially revealed in January of this year, the HoloLens showed huge promise, and with each new stage demonstration it has continued to live up to a lot of its hype–now everyday people can get their own personal demo.

In order to give everyday users a chance to experience what HoloLens can do for them, Microsoft is taking the headset on tour across the United States and briefly into Canada. Sign ups are already available–you’ll just need a Microsoft Live account.

Microsoft is taking Hololens on tour. Just sign up for your chance to experience this upcoming technology yourself.

Microsoft is taking HoloLens on tour. Just sign up for your chance to experience this upcoming technology yourself.

Starting October 13 in Seattle, Washington, Microsoft will hold demos every week until November.

The schedule follows from Seattle, WA during October 13-16; Toronto, Canada during October 19-22; Salt Lake City, UT during October 20-22; Chicago, IL during October 26-29; San Francisco, CA during October 26-30; Los Angeles, CA during November 2-5; New York City, NY during November 2-5; Minneapolis, MN during November 9-11; Phoenix, AZ during November 10-12; Atlanta, GA during November 17-19; and finally Austin, TX during November 17-20.

If you manage to get onto one of these sessions you’ll be luckier than the occupants of the International Space Station, who were slated to receive a pair of HoloLens headsets–as unfortunately, they exploded en route. The next resupply will be December 3 this year, after the last of the North American tour dates.

Or, if you happen to be an academic, you can get a HoloLens of your very own from Microsoft in a program offering five $100,000 grants to learning institutions along with two development kit headsets.

With the upcoming release of the development kit early in 2016, Microsoft has been slowly working up its marketing of the HoloLens aimed at enticing consumers interest–with an extremely well done demonstration of Minecraft on HoloLens–but has also been priming multiple markets to start thinking of how the device could be used for entertainment, education, and industry. The two above examples include NASA and universities; but the release of the developer kit will most likely capture the attention of entertainment and gaming industry studios.

Microsoft already has designs on how mixed-reality gaming would work with HoloLens (not just Minecraft) with the reveal of Project XRay, a game that has players fight robots as they crawl on walls and objects nearby.

Visit the hololensevents.com webiste today to get signed up if you want the HoloLens experience.

Featured image credit: Microsoft Corporation, HoloLens

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