Using the Vision Pro for Productivity

check it out@divisionforlearning.com if you haven't already. about unboxing and what it's like my first impressions, that was all on my first day, and then I edited that video completely using the Apple with the Apple Vision Pro on. That was pretty powerful to experience that and see what it's like, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I felt like it did a great job and I was impressed with what I was able to accomplish while wearing the headset. What's really fascinating is how

it has already changed some of my. Approaches to work. The first thing that I wanna talk about is something that I mentioned in that video is this idea of locking in. And so putting this device on and saying I'm going into work mode can be a really powerful thing. And something that I have already noticed has been powerful for me personally. So what does that look like? it looks I put the Apple Vision Pro on, and then I go into work mode.

And I don't know if you're like me, but I've always struggled with being distracted and being able to stay focused and not letting all these things distract me. And this is something that, this actually helps with. having this thing attached to my face helps me stay focused and locked in. We all do little things to help us

stay focused. Some people set timers, some people, use a thing like a ular thing that I use to help keep track of what I'm doing. And that can all be really powerful. And this is an example of how the Apple Vision Pro has helped me of locking in and saying, I'm putting this on. For work and I can be focused. Now, if you do work that is solitary and isn't involving a lot of other people, then that can be beneficial. So the locking in piece has been really great. Number two, the comfort.

I've seen some people post on videos and stuff that the solo loop band that it comes with, and that is in all the marketing materials, is not very comfortable, and that the Double Loop band does make it more comfortable. Personally, I am the opposite. I find that the solo loop band is actually quite comfortable, and if I do it around the top of my skull back there, that is more comfortable to me. So that, that one works pretty well.

The other one just feels like the band is too small and it digs in. So I don't particularly love that personally. So the next piece. That it is so easy to get used

to having all of these windows floating around me. And I just love that because that, that contributes to the locked in feeling that I've got all this stuff around me and I, and it's all focused on work, and so I can have. read wise window open. I can have my photos open over here. I can have my notes document over here. I can have all these things all around me and be able to get to them really easily, which is really cool.

I've liked having multiple monitors in the past, and right now I just have one monitor. and having these different windows that fade into the background when I'm not using them is really cool because, on the Mac,

when you have these other windows, they don't fade into the background. And Apple introduced a thing called Stage Manager, which kind of moved all the other stuff out of the way, but I just haven't really been able to get into. That process myself. But with this, what I'm finding is that right now I'm in Mount Hood and I see all this beautiful scenery around me, and I can even hear the, the sounds that are there. All around me is this beautiful outdoor nature scene that I enjoy.

But then I have windows and I can see through some of the windows to the nature scene and others are not as transparent. and so it's just this cool different thing and I really enjoy that. In fact, when I came down to my computer, I. earlier I looked over to the side where I thought another window was going to be, and the window wasn't there because I didn't have my vision pro on, and I was bummed because I thought, Hey, this is pretty nice to have.

Here's the other piece, switching back and forth between the Mac and the. Vision Pro for typing or writing or editing documents and things like that, I can actually use the keyboard that I use from my Mac in the Notes app or other apps on the Vision Pro very easily. I just start typing and it goes automatically. I don't even know how to change that setting so that it doesn't happen. But you can use your voice on the Vision Pro.

You can have a heads up display keyboard, is what I'm calling that comes up in front of you. That is close enough for you to quote unquote touch, and it actually feels like you are touching it.

It's not a great keyboard, but the fact that you can touch this thing that is out in front of you that is not real, but you feel like you're touching it is really remarkable. and then you can also use the keyboard that's attached to your Mac. the productivity aspect is true, you really can use this for productivity. And like right now I am recording this through my Mac, but wearing the Vision Pro and the Mac display is right there in front of me, which is very cool.

oh, lemme say this about controlling my Mac. This is incredible. I did not think that this would be as cool as it was. I've used, screen sharing software before many times. I have a headless Mac mini at home that I am always going into, via virtual, desktop types of things, and. This is just a different experience because it really is, it's like I'm really using it, but it's not a second class system.

everything works how it should, I'm still using my keyboard and mouse like I normally would, and it just is a bigger screen that, has other windows around it as well through the Vision Pro. So that is amazing. I do believe in the future that there is going to be a multiple screen support for your Mac computer, in this situation on the Vision Pro. And at some point that is going to happen. I really do think that's cool.

The other part that's cool is being able to adjust the volume of the surrounding sounds is really neat. Also, so like when I'm on Mount Hood like I am today, I can turn my ambient noise down and not have that be quite as loud, which is also nice. Let's talk about the iPad apps for a moment. The iPad apps, if they are not designed for the Vision Pro, then they're just considered compatible apps.

And I've downloaded quite a few of them apps that I use regularly, so I know how they work and it's been really interesting to see them, for example. interacting with popups in the apps can be quite challenging. So

one of the apps I use a lot is called Read Wise. I do almost all of my reading in the app reader by read Wise. And this app, works pretty well. All things considered the fact that it's not even designed for the Apple Vision Pro. it works the text reading. Aspect of it is just

incredible. It is so much better than reading on my iPad or my phone, even though those are great. Just the reading ingesting is awesome. I just love it. The text, I can make it the perfect size for me, which is wonderful. the challenge is when I want to go take notes, which is an important part of what I do, when I'm reading and.

The way that you do that is you tap to tap and hold with your fingers to select something, and then you look at one of the buttons or the dots that pops up, and then you tap and drag it to highlight the whole thing, the whole paragraph, for example. Now that's not terrible, but it's also not great because the challenge is that when you want to go leave a comment, the thing that you look at.

Typically on the Apple Vision Pro, the thing you look at is highlighted and you can tell what you're looking at. In the iPad apps that are not designed for Apple Vision Pro, that is not the case. And that makes it challenging because you don't know exactly what you're looking at. You don't get the feedback that you want in that situation. So that can be challenging.

The other thing is that as you are doing different things on those apps where it's not designed for it, the things don't always work. Just how you want them to. On that note, tapping with your fingers is incredibly intuitive and makes total sense before you even. Do anything with it. Now, in my other podcasts, I've talked a lot about my oldest daughter who has Down syndrome.

She was able to understand and utilize the system right away, and I just gotta say, when I see my daughter understand how to use something right away with very little instruction, it is incredible. that just means so much to me because. Her using a computer is very challenging. She doesn't know what's going on. She doesn't know how things work, and she can do it,

and she's figured out a lot of things. But her using a touchscreen device or her using this device, she figured it out very quickly. And I'll talk more about that in my episode that I released, later this week talking about how we can use this in school. Because I do think there are some really interesting use cases Very quickly, I'll just say this.

My daughter was using the headset and she went from, from doing something to doing something else with very little support from me, with very little interaction. For her to be able to manage and walk through this by herself was just really cool. and I just loved it. so anyway, productivity, yes, you can be productive. one of the other aspects of that is that you can. Basically pin your windows around in different places in your environment.

So if I'm downstairs in my office and I have these windows up and I go upstairs, my windows are still downstairs in the office and I can look through the ground and see them downstairs. Here's the other thing that's crazy, this just blows my mind. I was doing a FaceTime call, left someone downstairs in my office and walked upstairs. And I could still see them through my FaceTime call, but their voice was muffled and they sounded further away because

they were further away. And as you turn your head when you're talking with people in FaceTime or Zoom or whatever it is, you hear them differently based on where they're placed at. In your field of view and where you are at in relation to them. So if I, if they're on my right side, I hear 'em outta my right ear. If they're on my left side, I hear 'em in my left ear. That is, is really amazing. And the other thing that I'll say about that is that this is designed to share content.

So any window that is open when you are doing a FaceTime call, has a little bar above it that says not shared, and then you just. Two finger or finger tap on that bar and it will give you the option to share it with the person that you're FaceTiming with. So from the very beginning, there are a lot of things that are built into this to be collaborative and shareable, and I think that is a really cool thing that Apple has done and I greatly appreciate that.

So you pin these things up all around your environment, wherever you're at, and then they'll stay there. So you go away and you come back, you open

that up again and it's there. So for example, I posted this video on Twitter of using. A whiteboard in my office where I pinned it right on the wall, and then I literally wrote with my finger, touching the wall. And while doing that, it was writing on this whiteboard, in the app notability. Again, this is a iPad app that is not even updated to work with the Vision Pro, and it totally worked as a whiteboard on my wall. that's incredible.

the fact that so many of these apps work right outta the box is really impressive. Again, not perfect. If you have hidden tools in, your app that you're using, then it's hard to find them if there's not the touch the screen to bring up the tools type of interface. so that, that is a challenge as well. But anyway, the fact that these work right outta the box is really incredible. So go check out that link in the show notes. Add Avision for learning.

you can see that whiteboard, thing from Twitter, or X, excuse me. Alright, that wraps it up for this episode. I hope you've enjoyed this brief look into what it's like to use the Apple Vision Pro for productivity. I am. I'm very impressed by the productivity aspect of it, and really seeing different ways that I can use it, that I hadn't anticipated before I actually used it. So if you've got questions, comments, thoughts, I'm at Jethro, Jones on all the social medias.

Feel free to reach out, or, Or leave a comment anywhere where you find this content. And I appreciate you listening to a vision for learning. One of the things that will really help is if you will share this with someone or, leave a rating or a view in. Apple podcasts. That really helps you get noticed and helps people see it. Appreciate

you being here. Thanks so much. Next time on this podcast. We are gonna talk about using this in a school setting because I think it's possible that you could, there are a couple caveats, but there's some pretty powerful stuff. So thanks for listening to a Vision for Learning. We'll see you later.