Everything we know about Magic Leap, the most intriguing tech we've never tried

3D worlds that open before your eyes when you put goggles on: that's what virtual reality offers, and we've already seen plenty of devices offering that this year and early next. But when those goggles open up and allow you to overlay unreal, virtual 3D objects into your actual field of vision? That's a whole other ballgame, and Magic Leap is promising exactly that.

Magic Leap is a tech startup in "stealth mode." Based in South Florida, it's attracted investments from Google and others, and visionary talent including Richard Taylor, founder of "Avatar" and "Lord of the Rings" special-effects company Weta Workshop, and visionary futurist/novelist Neal Stephenson. All the while, Magic Leap's signature technology has been kept largely under wraps, except for a handful who have been granted access to it without signing a lengthy non-disclosure agreement.

Slowly but surely, however, Magic Leap has been cracking open the door. The latest reveal came earlier this week, during a conversation with Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz at the WSJ.D Live conference.

To be clear: we at CNET have yet to try this technology firsthand, and what little the world knows about Magic Leap's product comes from a handful of early media stories, screenshots and videos that ultimately originate with the company itself. But if Magic Leap can deliver on even a fraction of the potential that it's hinting at, it could be one of those once-a-decade sea change moments in the technology world.

With those caveats in place, here's what we know -- or think we know -- so far.

Mixed reality: 'Holographic' experiences in your real world

You're probably familiar with virtual reality (VR), which projects a completely immersive environment into a head-mounted display. Unlike a passive movie or TV show, a VR environment -- be it a live broadcast of a political debate, a harrowing walk through a Syrian refugee camp or a completely artificial computer-generated shoot-'em-up -- lets you examine the world unhindered, offering you 360-degree freedom of movement.

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