Next Reality

Market Reality: Meta Comes Clean on Crash, Microsoft Prepares HoloLens 2, & Niantic Captures Another Funding Round

Despite its status as a hot commodity amongst emerging technologies, the augmented reality industry is not immune to the ebbs and flows that occur in every industry.

News: Lyft Looks to Augmented Reality to Improve the Passenger Pickup Process with New Patent Application

An augmented reality system developed by Lyft might make it less awkward for drivers to figure out who they are supposed to pick up.

News: Former Google Augmented Reality Engineering Lead Takes Over Facebook's Portal Hardware Team

It looks like Facebook really likes Google's augmented reality leadership talent, as the social media giant has hired away another employee from the AR and VR team at Mountain View to lead its team for a product that brings Facebook's AR platform into homes.

News: AR Cloud Startup Ubiquity6 Turns Up Volume on Audio AR Through Acquisition of Wavy

Among a crowded field of AR cloud companies aiming to power the future of augmented reality by creating a world of persistent holographic content that lives in a cloud, accessible across devices and accounts, Ubiquity6 is hoping it has found a way to differentiate its platform.

News: Microsoft Mobile World Congress Invite Hints at HoloLens 2 Release

The mystery surrounding the release of the next version of the HoloLens has been swirling for months, but at least some of that mystery may removed in the coming weeks.

News: Pokémon GO Developer Niantic Scores $245 Million in Funding to Fast-Track Real World Platform

With Pokémon GO as its cash cow and the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Niantic Real World Platform promising future revenue streams, Niantic has convinced investors to bet on its flavor of augmented reality

News: Snap CFO Resigns After Just Seven Months on the Job

In the business world, it's sometimes said that "where there's smoke, there's fire." At Snapchat parent company Snap, Inc., it appears the equivalent of smoke is executive turnover.

News: Instagram Goes Retro with Augmented Reality Tribute to Classic Windows Desktop

Just because augmented reality is the technology of the future doesn't mean it can't reach into the past of computing.

News: New Intel RealSense Camera Adds Inside-Out Tracking to AR/VR Headsets, Robots, & Drones

Intel's RealSense family of depth tracking cameras has a new addition with a different set of sensory capabilities.

News: Blippar Reborn as One of Britain's 'Brothers Bling' Buys Up Augmented Reality Assets for Relaunch

Augmented reality and computer vision company Blippar has a new lease on life, as previous investor Candy Ventures has completed a successful bid to acquire the assets of the beleaguered company.

News: Atheer's Enterprise AR Platform Goes to Work on iPhones & iPads as Remote Support Tool

Not all enterprise augmented reality tools require a high-end headset and heavy computing power. Sometimes, a smartphone can do the job just as well. Along those lines, software maker Atheer is now bringing its workforce AR platform to iPhones and iPads via a native app.

News: ISS Astronauts Use Magic Leap One to Prepare for Next Mission

The tradition of using cutting edge technology to prepare for missions in space, in this case, augmented reality, continues with a new team of international astronauts slated to board the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.

News: The Rise & Fall of Meta — Founder of AR Pioneer Reveals Inside Story That Led to Its Sale to New Owners

The rise and fall of Meta, the Silicon Valley-based augmented reality startup that looked to challenge the likes of Microsoft's HoloLens, and others, took just six years.

News: Arvizio Cross-Platform AR Tool Lets HoloLens & Magic Leap One Users View 3D Models Together

We are in the midst of a mini-boom for communications tools designed for augmented reality headsets, with the introduction of Avatar Chat and Mimesys for Magic Leap One and Spatial for the HoloLens within the last few months.

Market Reality: Meta Claims Insolvency, ODG Ends in Fire Sale, New Smartglasses Flood CES 2019

The week of the annual Consumer Electronics Show is supposed to be filled with good news for the augmented reality industry as AR headset and smartglasses makers show off their new wares.

News: Judge in Meta Patent Lawsuit Sets Deadline for Default Judgment, Meta's Founder Moves to Save Startup

The saga of augmented reality startup Meta appeared to be at end, but there are new developments unfolding in real time that may either sink Meta deeper into trouble, or provide a tenuous lifeline for the beleaguered augmented reality company.

News: Layar Founders Hope to Buy Back Company in Blippar Asset Sale

After entering the UK's version of bankruptcy last month, Blippar's assets are up for sale, and bidding ended today.

News: ODG Patents Headed to Auction Block After Failed Magic Leap Acquisition Deal, Report Says

Despite the hype and potential of immersive computing, the augmented reality industry is showing that it is not invincible, as another AR hardware maker, this time Osterhout Design Group (ODG), is reportedly going out of business.

News: RealMax Returns to CES with Production Model of Qian AR Headset with Industry-Leading Field of View

Last year at CES, RealMax blew away the AR headset competition with a prototype AR headset surpassing 100 degrees field of view.

News: Mimesys Brings Its Version of Augmented Reality Video Calling to Magic Leap via Intel RealSense

The release of Avatar Chat for Magic Leap One and Spatial for HoloLens during the fourth quarter of 2018 appeared to revolutionize video calling via augmented reality.

News: AR Startup Meta Company Shuts Down Amid Asset Foreclosure Sale, Patent Fight, & Executive Departures

The last time we heard from Meta, the makers of the Meta 2 augmented reality headset, things looked pretty bleak. Now, as several new facts have come to light, we have confirmation regarding the beleaguered company's fate: Meta is done.

News: AT&T Expands Partnership with Magic Leap to Focus on Enterprise AR, Promises Nationwide 5G by 2020

With CES in full swing, it seemed like Magic Leap would have little to announce at the major tech event, but it turns out that one of its partners has weighed in with a rather substantial update regarding the company.

News: Artemis Smart Mirror Shows Off AR Vanity for Coty's Wella Professionals Salons

If you salivate at the idea of waking up to the Jarvis-powered smart window from the opening minutes of Marvel's Iron Man, then connected home appliance maker CareOS is here to make your playboy billionaire philanthropist dreams come true.

News: Nreal Banks $15 Million in Funding to Produce Fashionable Smartglasses with Plane Detection & Object Recognition

The emerging narrative as CES begins is that consumer-grade smartglasses require a heavy compromise in functionality in order to arrive at a form factor and price point that appeal to mainstream customers.

News: ThirdEye Shrinks Its Smartglasses Package with Next-Generation X2 Model

Augmented reality wearables maker ThirdEye Gen, Inc. has officially released what it claims are the "smallest mixed reality glasses" in the X2, which will be available for hands-on demonstrations at the company's CES 2019 booth this week.

News: DigiLens Vision of Cheaper Smartglasses Becomes Clearer with Crystal Reference Design

If waveguide display maker DigiLens has its way, enterprise businesses and consumers will soon be able to purchase smartglasses for less than $500 — as long as they can supply their own computing and battery power.

News: Rokid Glass Gets Major Hardware Update, Unveils Project Aurora Prototype, & Reveals Launch Schedule

Returning to the spotlight after its debut at last year's CES, augmented reality smartglasses maker Rokid is back with a new update.

News: Nissan Augmented Reality Concept Assists Drivers in Detecting Unseen Obstacles

While the technology companies continue to drive forward with autonomous vehicles, Nissan's vision of the future of self-driving automobiles lies in a cooperative experience between human and machine, facilitated by augmented reality.

Market Reality: Google Takes on Leap Motion, Snap Spectacles Invade NYC, & Vuzix Starts Selling Mainstream Smartglasses

All of the the tech industry giants, including Apple, Facebook, and Google, are working on new smartglasses and/or AR headsets, but this week, Google took a major step forward with gesture recognition technology that could make its way into AR wearables, posing a threat to Leap Motion and its hand-tracking controllers.

News: DigiLens Previews Smartglasses with Its Waveguide Displays in New Video on Design & Manufacturing Approach

Designing and manufacturing waveguides for smartglasses is a complex process, but DigiLens wants us to know that they have a software solution that partially solves that problem.

News: Keanu Reeves Does AR Kung Fu in New Sci-Fi Film That Uses HoloLens-Style Device to Make Humans Immortal

Occasionally, a not-so-great movie also does something so right that you have to forgive some of its sins and give it a little love. Such is the case with the latest film from Keanu Reeves, Replicas, which takes a HoloLens-style device and gives us a look at how future research labs might use that kind of augmented reality device, sort of.

News: 'David Bowie Is' App Delivers a Mesmerizing AR Tour of the Artist's Career with Gary Oldman as Guide

Although next week will mark the late David Bowie's 72nd birthday, his fans and admirers are the ones receiving a gift in the form of an augmented reality app that explores the artist's career

News: DIY Portable Computer Makes Leap Motion Project North Star Headset Somewhat Mobile

While Leap Motion has given makers a DIY solution for building their own augmented reality headset with Project North Star, a self-described "AR wonk" has taken the blueprints one step further by creating an untethered version.

News: This Is How Snap's Non-Creepy, Fashionable Spectacles Wearable Camera Proves We're Ready for Mainstream AR Smartglasses

The year 2018 was a rough one for Snap, the company behind the Snapchat app and the Spectacles wearable camera device. From executive departures to reports of slowed user growth, the company that once spurned Facebook's multibillion-dollar advances is now facing a moment of truth as it stares down its uncertain future.

News: Google Challenges Leap Motion with FCC Approval of Gesture Recognition Alternative

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has cleared a path for Google to move forward with hand-tracking technology that could pose a major threat to Leap Motion.

Market Reality: Magic Leap Dominated Investment & Innovation in 2018, While New York Times Maintains Its AR Media Lead

The augmented reality industry has a bright future built on innovation and growth, but that doesn't mean we can't look back at the close of the year to see what the industry has accomplished from a business perspective.

News: The 10 Biggest AR Investments of 2018

Last year's augmented reality investments roundup was impressive. And in 2018, the dollars flowing toward AR haven't decreased, as venture capitalists and strategic investors continue to aggressively fund AR startups at a rapid pace.

News: University of Washington Researchers Demo Ability to Generate 3D Augmented Reality Content from 2D Images

After joining Google and Huawei in underwriting the UW Reality Lab at the University of Washington in January, it appears Facebook is already seeing a return on its donation.

News: Vuzix Blade Smartglasses Will Tell if Weather Outside Is Frightful with AccuWeather App

A year after making a splash at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Amazon Alexa integration, smartglasses maker Vuzix is bringing a notable weather app to its Blade smartglasses for the 2019 edition of the conference.

News: Meta's Optical Expert Delivers AR Reality Check via TED Talk, & Takes a Few Veiled Swipes at Magic Leap

Publicly, things have been pretty quiet over at Meta, the augmented reality headset and software startup based in Silicon Valley. But that doesn't mean that the company doesn't have a few strong opinions about the state of AR in 2018.