Next Reality » Augmented & Mixed Reality News, Rumors & Dev Guides

News: Cleanbox CEO Amy Hedrick Is Saving the AR & VR World One Headset at a Time Through Virus-Fighting Tech

The process of trying out new augmented reality and virtual reality hardware is as personal as it gets. Bottom line, if you can't directly try these immersive devices on, it's difficult to really understand the benefits they can bring to your life and work.

News: Google Adding Stereo Depth Support for Dual Cameras to ARCore Starting with Pixel 4 & 4XL

In response to Apple's implementation of LiDAR sensors in iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro models, Google is looking to leverage the dual-camera setups in recent flagship devices as depth-sensing components.

News: Microsoft Unveils Mesh Platform for Collaborative HoloLens Apps, Previews Pokemon GO Proof of Concept

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for virtual and remote collaboration, and Microsoft has a solution that may serve as the catalyst for more such apps for augmented and virtual reality in the near future.

News: Epson Boosts Display Specs, Adds Optional Android Controller in Moverio BT-40 Series Smartglasses

The average business person likely recognizes Epson for its printers or even its projectors, not the futuristic AR wearables.

News: Visit WandaVision's Reality-Bending Living Room with This Facebook Messenger AR Portal

The new WandaVision series is perhaps the hottest TV show on the Disney Plus streaming service since...well, its own The Mandalorian wrapped up its second season late last year.

Market Reality: Snap Attracts AR Storytellers, Samsung AR Dreams Revealed & Qualcomm + Nreal Unveil New AR Hardware

The Lens Studio creators have published more than 1.5 million AR effects to Snapchat. One of them is Audrey Spencer, who shared her story with us and provided her insights into Lens Studio as a storytelling device. Meanwhile, Snap has added new capabilities to the platform to stoke more creativity from its creators.

AR Spotlight: How Snapchat Lens Creator Audrey Spencer Is Bending Reality on Your Smartphone

The rapid advance of Lens Studio as a platform for easily developing augmented reality experiences is just one indicator that immersive computing is becoming the norm.

News: Snap's Lens Studio 3.4 Update Improves Hand & Body Tracking for Snapchat AR Effects & Adds Asset Library

The Lens Studio app has become a cornerstone of Snap and its augmented reality technology portfolio by giving developers, creatives, and novices the ability to create augmented reality camera effects for Snapchat.

Market Reality: 'WandaVision' in AR, Cleanbox CEO Fights Pandemic for AR/VR, & Behind Seek's AR Patent Power Move

The year is still off to a roaring start, with augmented reality at the center of nearly everything, from enterprise solutions, to entertainment, to safety.

News: Seek's CEO Reveals How Its New AR Patent Could Change the Entire 3D Space & Looks into the Future of Smartglasses

Among the various components of the emerging augmented reality space, the most lucrative is the advertising market. The prospect of turning every object, every location, ever signpost in the real world into a discount code or virtual transaction interface is why AR will ultimately be more profitable than VR.

News: Scope AR Streamlines Its WorkLink AR Content Creation Platform into Browser-Based Tool

San Francisco-based augmented reality company Scope AR has made building AR instructional content for mobile devices and AR wearables as easy as throwing together a PowerPoint deck, primarily via its WorkLink platform.

News: Prehistoric Creatures Return to Life via New iPhone AR App from Celebrity Historian David Attenborough

Apparently, we learned nothing from Jurassic Park, as scientists are still working on bringing extinct species back to life. Until that day comes, you can interact with long-lost animals through augmented reality...if you have a newer model iPhone.

AR Snapshots: Become a Cat for Video Calls, Rock Out as an Elephant, Then Have Fun with Poems & Emojis in AR

Outside of plastic surgery disasters or costumes, augmented reality is the closest we can get to morphing our likenesses into those of animals.

News: Qualcomm Unleashes Its Own Snapdragon XR1 AR Smart Viewer Reference Design to Support AR Smartglasses Makers

The augmented reality smartglasses race is getting a major new entrant that could significantly change the entire landscape.

News: Nreal Announces Move to Expand AR Smartglasses Sales to US, Europe & Launch Enterprise Edition in 2021

After piloting the Nreal Light in South Korea and Japan via carrier partnerships and securing another round of funding, Nreal is now ready to begin selling the consumer edition of the smartglasses to the western world as well as introduce a version for enterprise customers.

News: FinchRing Controller Handles Gesture Control & Hand-Tracking for Nreal Light & Other AR Headsets

High-end augmented reality devices like the HoloLens and the Magic Leap 1, as well as the Ultraleap motion tracking modules, have demonstrated robust hand-tracking capabilities. However, many AR wearables (including Magic Leap) still rely on handheld controllers for interactions in AR space.

How To: Film Your Own AR Music Videos with Vidiyo, Lego's TikTok Competitor

For its latest take on augmented reality-infused playsets, Lego is giving the young, and the simply young at heart, its twist on the viral lipsync format made popular by TikTok with Lego Vidiyo.

News: Samsung Reveals Its Vision for Smartglasses & Wearable Computing in Leaked Videos

Roughly a year ago, Samsung demoed its AR smartglasses prototype on stage at CES 2020. Now, videos showing off a new smartglasses model along with the company's imaginings of future AR experiences have surfaced through unofficial yet reliable channels.

Market Reality: Magic Leap & Epson Cater to Enterprise Customers, Lego & Smithsonian Launch New AR Apps

When it comes to augmented reality wearables, it's currently an enterprise world. As such, Magic Leap's latest Lumin updates are centered on features that appeal to enterprise customers. And Epson and Spinar are joining forces with a solution for distributed workforces.

News: Magic Leap's Latest Lumin OS & SDK Releases Focus on Features for Enterprise Customers

A year and change into its shift towards enterprise customers, Magic Leap has updated Lumin OS and the corresponding Lumin SDK with some key prerequisites for the business sector.

News: You Can Land & Drive NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover in AR with the Smithsonian Channel's New App

Two years ago, the 50th anniversary of the moon landing gave flight to a handful of Apollo 11 augmented reality apps and experiences, including one from the Smithsonian Channel.

News: Epson & Spinar Bundle Smartglasses & Remote AR Assistance via Zoom for Enterprise Customers

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses into remote work models, whether they were ready or not, making Zoom a household (or home office) name for its video conferencing service.

News: Lego Takes on TikTok with Vidiyo Music Video Playsets & AR App

Toymaker Lego has been on board with building AR into its playsets and mobile apps since the launch of ARKit.

Market Reality: Apple Launches AR App, Brands Blitz Super Bowl with AR Ads & AR Content Arrives for Zoom via Arvizio

After weeks of reports about their first augmented reality device, Apple actually shipped a real AR product this week in the form of a TV tie-in AR app.

News: Google Launches TensorFlow 3D Using LiDAR & Depth Sensors for Advanced AR Experiences

After the mobile augmented reality platforms of ARKit and ARCore moved Google's previously groundbreaking Project Tango (the AR platform that gave us the first smartphones with depth sensors) into obsolescence in 2018, we've seen a bit of a resurgence of what was then a niche component for flagship devices.