“Is Atmoph Window too expensive?” AMA with Atmoph CEO

Kyoto-based startup, Atmoph’s CEO Kyohi Kang answers 30 frequently asked hard questions.

The transcripts for each question and answer can be found here.

Q1: What is Atmoph Window?

Atmoph Window is a virtual window that you can place on your desk or hang on your wall. This version, Atmoph Window Yo, is our third-generation model, which we have just released. So, what is it? You can see all over places like the views of cities, ancient times of Dinosaurs even Sci-Fi, or fantasy and the universe, too.

This will change the mood of your room you are now connected with the world like you have seen in Sci-Fi movies. Right now, you’re seeing videos we have filmed all over the world like more than 1,700 original views with sound with built-in speakers. You can change views. It’s showing the places “Waikiki Beach,” and “Oahu.” Oh, I like to visit right now. Jump and warp. And, let’s change to other one. Oh, it’s Japan Kagoshima in some places. Like this, you can change the view of your room.

Q2: Why not a TV?

Yes, I thought so, too. Twenty years ago when I came up with this idea I tried playing some Hawaiian beaches on a TV but it didn’t work. We use TV to watch dramas movies, and sports, and gaming, news… Yeah, but a window is a window.

Sometimes you don’t look out the windows you just feel the world out there. Fantastic! Nature is changing the time and the seasons the weather it’s all changing. Think of it. More like music, it changes your inner mood or motivation or energy or calming. You are connected to the world through this window.

But it’s not a watching a TV program thing. And also, we didn’t want any more black large screens on our walls. Yes, there’s something like Samsung’s “The Frame” art frame TV. Yeah, you can see art when you’re not watching TV programs, but that’s art. You don’t feel the openness or infinity of the world. That’s our foundation concept.

Q3: Why not YouTube?

I sometimes watch rainy forests or beaches on YouTube like 4K superb scenes. But, how do you play them? On your computer, laptop, tablet, or TV? Those have purposes. They are not you can leave most of the time to open your wall changing your feeling.

Also, you will find a big problem as a window view. They are filmed in different standards. But our views are filmed with unified standards like zooming angle of view, coloring to match this product display, and horizontal level so that your brain feels it’s natural. And sounds, too. All the quality is unified and improved.

Also lastly, you won’t find many views with fixed angle filming like the camera is always panning and zooming and tilting on YouTube or TV. But, ours is a fixed angle because it’s a window. It’s important. You would find such great views on YouTube perhaps hundreds, but not thousands or tens of thousands in the future compared to Atmoph.

Q4: Why not VR/XR? Vision Pro?

I have Meta Quest 3 and I enjoy it. And recently, I’ve tried Vision Pro. Yes, which is great. Apple, superb! But in the end, you won’t be able to place it on your head for hours or 10 hours. It’s so tough. So, in Sci-Fi movies, you will see those kinds of devices too. But also, there’s another future in Sci-Fi movies, like a window on your wall.

Gigantic or multiple windows we are aiming towards that future. And maybe possibly, the devices get smaller thinner like glasses contact lenses. Or, even the brain. Then, we might migrate into that Atmoph brain, someday.

Next is easy one for break.

Q5: What is the origin of ‘Atmoph’?

It’s named after “Atmosphere.” Atmoph, we wanted to change the mood, atmophphere of the room for the better. That’s why we took this name.

And also, “atmosphere” has another meaning. The “atmosphere” of the Earth, the space galaxy which I like. So, you know what we have filmed the Earth in space from ISS collaborating with JAXA, Japanese NASA. You will enjoy it.

Q6: I can make it by myself

Yes, I understand. Actually that’s how we incorporated Atmoph. Ten years ago, as a DIY hobbyist, I made a prototype by using Raspberry Pi things with Arduino and some LCD panels down from some LCD screen. And I made a rough prototype showing the videos. Yes, it worked. But it cost nearly $ 300 $400. It’s nearly the same price. And, the biggest issue was we didn’t find landscapes of the videos and sounds. You can film by yourself but 10 or if you tried hard, hundreds of them. But all over the world place, you won’t be able to.

And also, you won’t find great persistent unified standard views on YouTube as told. So, if you really want to make a magical window so that you can jump into any place all over the world like we’re aiming, it costs a lot of money. Investment, bank loans to make this achievement. So, yeah you can make a simple one, but a very limited view. And, without this product design and all the modules and softwares and anything. And also, I haven’t shown you, but this is also a smart display so it shows weather clocks and Google Calendar syncing, and information about the places so that someday you actually visit them.

It’s a Coast of Big Sur, West Coast where I study robotics to come up with this idea, back in 20 years ago. You’re seeing Maps.

Q7: Really nice idea, but it‘s too small

Yeah, so you can connect up to five windows to make a gigantic window panoramic view. You can enjoy any combination of up to five like a 2×2 large window or three, or two, or five, four, and one. In the future, with this Atmoph Window Yo, we’re aiming to connect up to 10 large windows. Instead of having a pricey expensive large window, we wanted to have a system like a Lego so that you can enjoy any combination depending on your room or how big of your house is. But also in the future, yes we might introduce bigger screen.

Q8: You’re filming in 6K, but the LCD panel is FHD. I want 4K.

You can make a group of windows by connecting up to five and five windows with panoramic views. It’s almost 6K resolution. To achieve this, we switched from 4K to 6K filming 4 years ago. We have accumulated many hundreds of them and now reaching to 2,000 or more in 6K. Because our product windows system is you can connect multiple windows.

Say if our panel had 4K and if you connect up to five panoramic views, that would be 10K resolution. It’s still very difficult to find 12K or 10K nice camera so that a one videographer climb up that mountain and film with that camera. It’s very difficult. You won’t be able to find it. And if the product had 4K, the price would be doubled about $1,000. We wanted to have Atmoph Window as affordable as possible so we are having full HD. But in the future, we may introduce 4K version. But to do so, first, we need to switch our camera to 16k or 20K to achieve five connections or 10 connected groups of windows.

Q9: It’s expensive. Product and content too.

I get it. But we are setting this price of Atmoph Window Yo about $500 or less. Is the lowest we can go. And actually, we’re not getting that much profit by selling this hardware. Because our aim is to spread the concept of a window as a product genre to the world.

We are setting the price as lowest as possible. You see it has LCD and computer with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. And all the beautiful design, Module systems, and cables. And also, it’s eight times powerful than the previous generation of Atmoph Window 2. CPU GPU memory and storage.

So basically, it’s a computer like iMac or bigger tablet or smartphone. Think of the price of Apple or Samsung or maybe Google. If you scale those products to this size, they will charge you double or more. So, and they’re big companies, but we’re not. So, we are super trying our best. Besides the price of the product, our views are not for free. You can subscribe to our Limitless plan to see an unlimited view of over 1,700 views all over the world. We are filming every month to under the sea or mountaintop or the desert. Or, you can purchase a view for $5.99. Or, you can upload your own videos too. You can choose. But, let me say. We appreciate your payment for making our filming sustainable.

Q10: Can I show my show my content?

Yes, you can. You can upload your video up to 4K, if it’s more than 5 minutes. And, not a photo. We don’t have HDMI, so it’s not a monitor. Like a computer for iMac or a laptop, you won’t be able to use it as a display, it’s the same way. And if you upload your video to our system, our website, it’s connected to the system and the video will be shown up.

And also, let me show you we are starting to select some videographers to be featured on our Views. It’s fun to see your own memory of travel or home, but also it’s very interesting and exciting to see some others filming.

Sudden view Quiz. For every 10 questions, I’ll show you a view and you answer the place. So, do you know where it is? 5 4 3 2 1…

Let’s see. Dolomites, Italy. Did you know that? If you answered all three correct, please leave a comment. I’d just like to see how many.

Q11: Since there are Widget features that keeps showing info, I wish Yo had touch feature.

Widgets are like this. You turn it on, you can see the time of the day, the weather, and your Google Calendar if you sync.

Yes, it might be great if we have a touch feature. You just control your MENU or screens by touching them. But, it’s a window. I didn’t want to leave my fingerprint like a real window glass. And most of the cases, these windows are hung on the wall or placed on the desk, a little too far to reach by touching. And you can form a window up to five, 2×2, or three or two windows. And the main window you’re controlling is one, so it’s rather tedious to stand up from your chair or couch or from the bed to reach the far window.

So, we have multiple interfaces. A remote controller, or mobile apps, and most importantly, there’s “Auto” feature so that you won’t need to touch or change control. With ‘Auto” mode, the view changes automatically depending on the time of the day and your preference. And naturally, if this size big has a tach feature, the price would be very expensive. So, we don’t want that.

Q12: Why named “Yo”?

We came up with almost 1,000 candidates because we didn’t want Atmoph Window 3. This new product is more into entertainment and gaming and is different from the previous version. So, we wanted to have a special name. But towards 1,000 candidates, we became crazy and something like mad, Atmoph Window Mad was our one candidate. And somehow, we landed YOLO, Atmoph window YOLO.

Yes, it was controversy among our team, but hey, its entertainment, gaming, it’s different. So, we preferred YOLO our founders, three founders picked at YOLO. But soon, we found that YOLO related products there are tons of such product out there in the world, so there’s no chance we can take trademark. So, we thought YOLO then Yo, maybe Atmoph Window Yo. There used to be some kind of app called ‘YO,’ but Atmoph Window Yo might be it. It’s simple and casual, ‘Yo’. Yeah, why not, why not try. It’s like that product concept.

Q13: How did you come up with Scope? Is it fun?

This is Atmoph Scope. A telescopic remote controller with a hole you can see through. For previous Atmoph Window 2, we had an infrared remote control the usual one. But for this new product, with more on entertainment, we wanted to have something special. So it’s a mockup, but with Atmoph Scope, you can point and see through and zoom the view of a specific area. And you can play games exclusive on Atmoph Window Yo soon. And, it has a gaming controller buttons, too. So, look forward to it.

But, why we came up with this telescopic form? Because at first, we wanted to have something very easy to control interface. Other than normal infrared control or mobile apps or hand gestures we used to achieve with our Camera Module. And naturally, we came up with an idea like VR devices or game consoles they used to have. It’s pointing, it’s natural like touching.

But, we wanted to go further. Not just a pointing controller, it’s a window. Are we able to find something that aren’t seen yet in the world or history.

Something that is so unique to Atmoph. And, one of our designers came up with the idea of a telescope. It’s in good relation with the view and the window. You will enjoy by finding some specific or zooming the places you want to see. Sometimes as a user, I wanted to zoom in the places, or people, or features, or flowers, or textures on the buildings.

Yeah, why not telescope? Then, became an Atmoph Scope. Long story short.

Q14: So, what’s different from Atmoph Window 2?

Everything is different. The design is very beautiful and simple. For Atmoph Window 2, we had multiple colors and wooden frames you can add on as an option. But, we tried to find something that’s perfect and one minimal simple solution for every house and room.

And with the design firm, we came up with this design. And also, very unique point is this Atmoph Scope controller.

This is compatible with Atmoph Window Yo only. And inside this, the computer power is eight-time, about eight-times powerful. GPU is almost 15 times. So, first in the history of Atmoph, it can render 3D in real-time. So, gaming starts.

Q15: Would you make a virtual window for VR/XR?

That would be interesting. Actually, we have once made a virtual Atmoph Window 2 | Star Wars model in VR 360 on YouTube. Check here. You can enjoy it.

Q16: Do you plan for Disney and Star Wars model and views? Can I make a mixed group of Yo and AW2?

First, yes you can make a group of a windows with combining Yo and Atmoph Window 2. But to see the full Star Wars and Disney views, you will need Atmoph Window 2 all Disney or Star Wars models.

Q17: Can I make panorama combination by combining Yo and AW2?

Yes. you can.

Q18: Will you continue the development of AW2 software?

Yes, we will. Because the foundation of Atmoph Window 2 and Yo is kind of same, we will continue to update both platforms. So, rest assured.

Q19: Is the size of Yo the same with AW2?

Yes, nearly. And, the distance between the mounting holes on the back of 2 and Yo is the same, so you can swap easily.

Q20: Will the download be faster and smoother than AW2?

Yes. Absolutely. Amazingly. Because the new computer, SoC, computer chip has four times CPU and 15 times GPU power. It’s very fast and smooth.

View Quiz. where is this location? 5 4 3 3 2 1…

This is Portugal, the city of Porto.

Q21: Can you eliminate the cable?

Unfortunately, no. At least we have fabric beautiful cable instead to match your interior.

In order to charge wirelessly with current technology, you would need a large coil behind your wall. So, right now it’s impossible, but in the future, yes we like to.

Q22: Do you plan to release wooden frame like AW2?

No. It has one color, Misty Gray. We have designed so beautifully to match your interior. So, please enjoy.

Q23: Do you plan to connect with Google Home or Alexa?

Yes, via ‘Matter,’ the provisioning platform standard. Unlike IFTTT, we used to use, we like this unified platform, but it’s still a baby face so we would need a little bit more time.

Q24: How many watts USB-C? Adapter included?

Yes, an Adapter is included. For normal usage, you will consume from 20 to 30W depending on the brightness of your LCD you can change. And if you put all the modules, LED Sunlight Bar, and Speaker, and Charging Sill, that could consume up to 60W. So the USB-C Adapter we include is nearly 60W or bigger.

Q25: Can multiple Scope be used at the same time?

Yes, we are planning to make a multiplayer game with your family and friends. So, look forward to it.

Q26: Is it better to have more than one window?

It depends on your space and budget. For a desk, one would be enough, but for a living and dining room, 2×2 or three or five windows you will enjoy an immersive experience.

But remember, with one window you are connected to the world. So, enjoy it.

Q27: What kind of games are you planning?

There are two types.

One is unique for a window game, and the other one is casual ones. For the window light game, you just point to your Atmoph Scope. And, look through zoom, find animals, or creatures, and you will learn about them. And also, we’re planning to make a 3D CG real-time rendered open world where you can place or get or throw or make. For casual games, things like ping-pong, block puzzle games, and shooting, and such casual games.

Q28: Do I need to buy multiple Speaker Modules?

For maximum powerful sound, yes. This is a mockup of Wood Speaker Box. You can place it on top or at the bottom. It has high-quality speakers and two passive woofers. So, you can enjoy the great sound of nature or music.

And remember, there’s a built-in speaker, but it’s a simple one. I would recommend buying this speaker module. But, it depends. So, if you could, or you can later add on.

Q29: Does the Charging Sill charge a smartphone too?

Yes. By placing your smartphone on here, with 10W. It will be charged. And also, you can place your earbuds, too.

Q30: What is your favorite views? (= View Quiz 3)

This one. Can you tell?

It’s Santa Monica, Los Angeles. My favorite place is Los Angeles.

I spent 2 and 1/2 years studying robotics to become a PhD and to become a roboticist. But somehow, at the end I gave up. But in return, 20 years ago I obtained a seed idea of this window. Because from an apartment I was living there was a window, but all I could see was the next building. So, I wanted to see the world out there when I was studying. And I tried viewing Hawaiian beaches on TV, or on my Mac, or projector, or VR, and everything. But, none did work. I needed some special products and devices on my wall. So, that was the history of Atmoph Window.

And that was the questions and history tours of Atmoph Window Yo.Thank you for listening. And please look forward to our for delivery. And enjoy the discovery experience. Bye.

Would you like to introduce Atmoph Window Yo?