Next Reality

News: Alcohol Delivery Startup Drizly Teams with Wine Brands to Deliver Intoxicating AR Experiences via DrinkAR App

The landscape of augmented reality marketing is growing by leaps and bounds nearly every month, with Hollywood and the cosmetics industry leading the way.

News: Startup GWD's HiiDii Blink-Activated Wearable Offers Alternative Way to Control Your Devices

We have seen Kickstarter-launched wearables before, but this one is particularly unique and may even have you blinking a bit in wonder when you see how it functions.

News: Apple Augmented Reality Wearable & iPad Pro with Rear Depth Sensor Arriving First Half of 2020, Report Says

Augmented reality enthusiasts who expected an AR hardware unveiling at Apple's annual iPhone launch event might not have to wait much longer.

News: 8th Wall Escalates Race for Volumetric Video Content with Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Support

As demonstrated by holographic experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens and the Magic Leap One, volumetric video capture is a key component of enabling the more realistic augmented reality experiences of the future.

News: 'Stranger Things' Star Millie Bobby Brown Launches Makeup Brand Powered by Snapchat Augmented Reality

The 15-year-old star of the 1980s-inspired hit series Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown, may have (spoiler alert) lost all her powers as the character "Eleven," but in the real world, she still has augmented reality in her arsenal.

Market Reality: Verizon Buys Jaunt, Zuckerberg Faces Off with Musk for BCI Tech, & Magic Leap Assists with 5G Revolution

Augmented reality plays a key role in the evolution of adjacent technologies, such as 5G connectivity and brain-control interfaces (BCI), and the business news of the week serves up proof points for both examples.

News: Apple Acquires Motion Capture Firm iKinema, Adding Another Piece to Its Augmented Reality Toolbox

Apple remains shrouded in mystery while continuing to sweep up small companies ahead of a rumored augmented reality headset launch.

News: Harry Potter Fans Can Now Summon a Wizarding World Sorting Hat in Augmented Reality

If you need to know whether you are really a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor, then it's time to get yourself an augmented reality sorting hat.

News: Disney's 'Maleficent' Brings Its Magic to YouTube with Augmented Reality Make-Up Experience

Dark mode themes for mobile apps are all the rage these days, but YouTube is taking that a bit literally with its latest augmented reality experience.

Market Reality: Apple Prepares AR Hardware for 2020, Sony Delivers AR Ghosts, & 8th Wall Expands Web Capabilities

Smartglasses from Apple have become the holy grail of augmented reality, and 2020 has been the rumored time horizon for the product's arrival for the past two years. The latest analyst report sheds more light on its potential debut next year.

News: This Facebook AR Filter Lets You Become the 'Joker' Just in Time for Halloween

Whether you loved or hated the blockbuster hit Joker for its slapdash violence and unflattering portrayal of mental illness, if you have been online lately, you know you can't afford to miss it.

News: Spider-Man & Tony Stark's Smartglasses May Become Reality Thanks to DIY YouTuber

Sure, Tony Stark was able to build the original Iron Man suit in a cave with a box of scraps, but can the average do-it-yourselfer replicate the EDITH smartglasses from Spider-Man: Far From Home in a similar fashion?

News: Sony Is Launching a Location-Based Ghostbusters Training Experience in Augmented Reality

We've got almost a full year until the next installment of Ghostbusters arrives, but in the meantime, it turns out that Sony is about to launch an augmented reality experience that will let fans use immersive computing to combat the franchise's whimsical apparitions.

News: ThirdEye Gen X2 Smartglasses Take Aim at Military Applications with AR-Enhanced Weapons Sight

Following on the heels of the announcement that ThirdEye's Gen X2 MR glasses began shipping in September, ThirdEye has revealed it has developed an app that helps soldiers aim their weapons during battle situations.

News: Dimension NXG's New Headset Brings Rural Indian Schools into the Future of Augmented Reality

Indian startup Dimension NXG is launching augmented reality headsets into India's consumer market with a bold idea: focusing on immersive computing in education on the high-end. The plan is to give a new kind of AR headset to schoolchildren in remote Indian villages, starting from class 5 (age 10) until graduation.

News: Team Behind Popular Photo App FaceTune2 Jumps on the AR Bandwagon with Cosmetics Try-On Filters

Following in the steps of Snapchat, Instagram, and YouCam, another popular photo app has gotten into the virtual try-on augmented reality game.

News: Apple's ARKit 3 Casts Next-Level Illusions via Meisai AR App

Now that iOS 13 is in the wild, developers are starting to show off the magical augmented reality powers ARKit 3 can deliver.

News: Microsoft Unveils How-To Videos for Dynamics 365 Guides App Ahead of HoloLens 2 Arrival

With the imminent arrival of the HoloLens 2 expected any day now, Microsoft is preparing new users to take advantage of its software from day one.

News: Facebook Leak Reveals Zuckerberg's Plans for Brain-Controlled AR & VR in Wake of Elon Musk's Neuralink Development

The recent Oculus conference in California revealed just a bit more about Facebook's secretive plans to compete in the augmented reality space with its own wearable devices.

News: Sportscasters Can Bring the Game into the Studio with Vizrt's Viz Engine 4

Norway-based production tools company Vizrt is putting the real into augmented reality with its broadcast AR solution that's designed to keep sports fans (and other audiences) watching.

News: Verizon Acquires Jaunt After Startup Moves from VR Services to Augmented Reality Focus

It looks like Jaunt's pivot from VR to volumetric captures services for augmented reality experiences has paid off.

News: Magic Leap App SeeSignal Uses AR to Help You Find & Touch the Strongest Cellular, Wi-Fi, & Bluetooth Signals

While Magic Leap World gets its share of fun apps for playing with Porgs, watching TV, and exploring the ocean's depths, developers are making a strong business case for the Magic Leap One as well.

News: Snapchat Is Helping the Music Industry Reinvent Music Videos via Lens Studio

There have been enough music artists releasing Snapchat AR experiences over the past week to fill a small festival. Count them with me: Bruno Mars. Gucci Mane. Kodak Black. Missy Elliot. Imagine Dragons. Panic! At the Disco.

Market Reality: Facebook Confirms Smartglasses & AR Cloud Platform as Unity Expands Its AR Capabilities

Facebook had a pretty big week in terms of augmented reality, with much of its news coming from the Oculus 6 keynote presentation. But Mark Zuckerberg's social media company found other areas of impact outside of Oculus 6 as well.

News: Oculus Confirms Reports of Coming AR Glasses & Cloud — but Will You Really Trust Facebook to Map Inside Your House?

Facebook and its Oculus subsidiary have been open about their intentions to bring AR wearables into the mainstream for some time now.

News: Unity Previews Mobile App for MARS, Extends AR Foundation to HoloLens & Magic Leap, & Introduces XR Interaction Toolkit

With its 3D engine being responsible for approximately 60% of augmented and virtual reality experiences, Unity is continuing to place a premium on tools that not only keep developers working in its development environment but also make their workflows easier.

News: Terrifying Swarms of Mosquitoes Help David Beckham Fight Malaria with Facebook AR Effect & Billboards

Former soccer star and current celebrity David Beckham has the augmented reality abilities of Facebook and Instagram as allies in the effort to eradicate malaria from the world.

Market Reality: iPhone's TrueDepth Camera Gets Used for Mobile AR & Magic Leap Adds an App Category

Apple might not be ready to unveil its rumored-yet-unconfirmed smartglasses. But the iPhone's current depth-sensing hardware is proving to be useful for both smartglasses makers and mobile AR apps.

News: Augmented Reality Obstacle Courses May Soon Help Train Drone Pilots

Drone mishaps, such as the collision that scratched a military helicopter in New York, are becoming something of an everyday hazard.

News: Independent Developers Can Now Get Feedback on Their Work by Sharing Their Creations in Magic Leap World

Magic Leap is making it easier for developers to share their spatial computing experiments with other Magic Leap One users.

News: Get Fitted For North's Focals With Just Your iPhone's FaceID Camera

Wearables startup North has made a smart move to get its Focals smartglasses into the hands of more consumers.

News: TeamViewer Brings Remote Assistant To Vuzix, Epson, & RealView Smartglasses

Businesses that have adopted enterprise-grade wearables for their workforces now have a new option among the multitude of AR productivity apps that can help their team members communicate in AR.

News: Snapchat's 3D Camera Effects Are Coming to Your iPhone's TrueDepth Camera

After adding dual cameras to its camera glasses, Snap is finally taking full advantage of the depth-sensing abilities of newer iPhones as well, extending the use of its new 3D Camera Mode.

News: Two More AR Billboards Land In LA

It looks like Snap's foray into augmented reality billboards last year was successful, as the company has returned with two more outdoor advertisements for its Snap Originals series.

Market Reality: Snap CEO Tops NR30, Apple Sneaks Spatial Awareness into New iPhone, Daqri Runs Out of Runway

This time last year, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and his company were faced with an erosion of its user base that cratered its stock price. This year, on the strength of Snapchat's AR camera effects, the company has reversed course. And that's why Spiegel tops the NR30, our annual list of the leaders in the AR industry.

News: Augmented Reality Headset Maker Daqri Shuts Down Office, Pursues Sale of Assets, Report Says

While the tech industry is hot in pursuit of mainstream smartglasses for consumers, another early maker of enterprise-focused AR hardware has apparently met its end.

News: Time Magazine Takes Readers on an Augmented Reality Tour of Amazon Rainforest

Prior to this year, Time primarily relied on image markers in the magazine to trigger its special augmented reality features

NR30: 2019's Up & Coming AR Founders You Need to Know

The landscape of the augmented reality space is broad, diverse, and constantly shifting, perhaps more so than any other vertical in technology. At the same time, major players are attempting to standardize various hardware designs and delivery methods, while still others are rushing to claim their piece of virtual property through AR clouds and application stores.

NR30: Next Reality's 30 People to Watch in Augmented Reality for 2019

If we were to assign a theme for the 2019 edition of the Next Reality 30 (NR30), it might be something along the lines of, "What have you done for me lately?"

News: Google Brings Persistent Content Support to Cloud Anchors, Expands Augmented Faces to iOS

With Android 10 hitting the streets (at least for those mobile devices that get quick updates) and the public release of iOS 13 dropping on Sept. 19, Google is releasing an update on Thursday to ARCore that adds some fantastic new benefits to its cross-platform capabilities.