Next Reality Features
News: Samsung's New App for Galaxy Smartphones Turns the World into Your AR Canvas
After integrating Snapchat into its latest Galaxy A Series smartphones, Samsung is trying out a new AR camera app for its army of mobile devices.
News: HoloLens & Augmented Reality Spiders Used in Univ. Study to Treat Arachnophobia
Halloween may be finished, but the augmented reality chills are not over yet for some people. Arachnophobes are bravely facing their fears by cozying up to augmented reality spiders for a university study.
News: Augmented Reality Simplifies Driving the New Double 3 Telepresence Robot
Until Star Wars-style 3D hologram projection technology becomes commonplace, the near future of certain kinds of remote work is in robotics. Now, a new dynamic is using augmented reality to give this kind of telepresence a kind of superpower.
News: Niantic Acquires Escher Reality to Add Multiplayer Capabilities to Its Apps
Soon, Pokémon GO allies attacking a raid boss at a gym will be able to do so together in augmented reality.
News: HTC Opens Up Augmented Reality Development for HTC Vive
HTC is entering the augmented reality market through the back door by giving developers access to the stereo front-facing cameras on the Vive and Vive Pro VR headsets.
News: Rovio's Mobile Gaming Classic Angry Birds Comes to Augmented Reality via Magic Leap One
Less than three weeks after Rovio Entertainment announced the game, the augmented reality adaptation of Angry Birds is now available for the Magic Leap One.
News: Vuforia Parent PTC Goes All-In on 3D Content Creation with $470 Million Acquisition of Onshape CAD Platform
There's a direct correlation between the proliferation of augmented reality apps and the demand for 3D content, and PTC just quantified that in dollars.
News: Magic Leap Pivots to Enterprise, Announces New Business-Focused Services, Slightly Modified Name
As we predicted this time last year, Magic Leap is finally moving from consumer entertainment hype to making a firm commitment to enterprise customers.
News: Within's Wonderscope App Offers a Portal to Educational AR via Clio's Cosmic Quest Game
Augmented objects in the classroom are closer than they appear. Within celebrated the close of summer with Wonderscope's unveiling of a fourth installment in its iOS app, titled Clio's Cosmic Quest.
AR Snapshots: These Snapchat AR Lenses Let You Use Your Entire Body to Create Visual Masterpieces
Snapchat's first foray into augmented reality started with the selfie camera and face-tracking technology, with the app's AR capabilities expanding from there.
News: Verizon, Pepsi & Cheetos Run AR Plays for Their Super Bowl LV Advertising Efforts
The Super Bowl isn't just the most important NFL game of the year, it's also the biggest night for brands to bring their most creative advertisements to a vast television audience.
News: Sketchfab Rescues Google Poly Creators with New Transfer Tool
Google Poly, a repository of 3D objects for use in AR and VR experiences, is the latest Google offering to fall victim to the company's habit of axing products and services, regardless of popularity.
Apple AR: 5th Wall Agency Creates Portal to Step into Sports Games
Things are getting more and more interdimensional thanks to Apple's ARKit. We've previously seen some portals work at play with Rainforest Garage and the Interdimensional Portal by Nedd. These demos have only made developers more curious as to what they can do with ARKit portals.
AR Snapshots: Celebrate May the Fourth Be with You Day with These Star Wars Snapchat AR Lenses
Thanks to the grandest of puns, May the 4th is Star Wars Day. And what better way to pay tribute to the space opera than with the augmented reality superpowers of Snapchat.
News: New York Times Adds AR to Its Coverage in Time for Winter Olympics
After devoting a number of resources toward developing VR content to modernize the delivery of its news content in recent years, The New York Times is expanding its capabilities to include augmented reality as well, a mission outlined in a manifesto published on Thursday.
News: Investors Bet $8M on Former Google & Facebook Engineers' Platform-Bridging AR Development Tool
Augmented reality software maker 8th Wall has closed a Series A funding round of $8 million in capital to feed the growth of its development platform.
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 Exec Confirms HoloLens 2 Set to Ship in September
Microsoft has unveiled practically every detail of the HoloLens 2 except for when eager developers and enterprise customers can expect to receive the device.
News: FramesDirect Finally Delivers Prescription Lens Inserts for Magic Leap One Users
In the last few weeks, the Magic Leap ecosystem has ramped up activity with a number of new releases debuting just before the close of the year.
News: Rovio Reinvents Angry Birds as Web-Based AR Tower Defense Game for Burger King Campaign
Angry Birds, one of the first franchises to find success in mobile gaming, continues to shoot its shot at new life in augmented reality gaming.
News: NASA Launches First Woman to Moon via AR App, & Delivers Interactive Visit to New Space Telescope
The team at NASA is in full mission preparation mode as they prepare to send a new team to the moon for the first time in decades via the Artemis program in 2024.
News: AR Puzzle Game PuzzlAR Makes Jump from Smartphone to Magic Leap One
Augmented reality jigsaw puzzle game PuzzlAR: World Tour, formerly only available on mobile devices, has been given a major upgrade via a new version for the Magic Leap One.
News: Camera IQ Gives Cosmetics Brands the Power to Push Virtual Try-on Effects to Snapchat, Facebook, & Instagram
Cosmetics brands have a long love affair with augmented reality, embracing virtual try-on effects as a means to help sell eyeliner, hair color, lipstick, and the like.
News: Adidas & Tooz Reveal More About AR Smartglasses Partnership
The progress Tooz has been making in the smartglasses space has been mostly kept under wraps, but the company is slowly giving us a deeper look at what it has in store for smartglasses wearers.
News: Google & Red Bull TV Premier 'The Last Ascent' with Synced AR Experience That Puts Nature in Your Home
In recent weeks, Google managed to capitalize on the hype surrounding the Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian with an AR app that was not only exclusive to Android but also available only for 5G-equipped devices.
News: Snapchat Tilts Its AR Lenses Toward Casual Gaming with Snappables
As if its users weren't already having enough fun with dancing hot dogs and face effects, Snapchat is upping the ante with a new kind of shared augmented reality content.
Opinion: Why the Nightmare Scenario of Facebook's Quest VR Advertisements Is Actually a Win, & Will Ultimately Boost AR
The recent announcement that Facebook will begin inserting advertisements into its VR experience on its Oculus Quest headset has set the VR and augmented reality industry into a frenzy.
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.
News: North Hits the Road Again with New Focals Smartglasses Pop-Up Stores Across North America
After testing the waters with a few pop-up stores along the West Coast earlier this year, North is bringing its smartglasses to more cities across the US and Canada.
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.
How To: Hack Skateboard for Virtual Reality
An accelerometer/gyro goes onto an Arduino board and transmits the angular motion of the skateboard via Bluetooth to a virtual reality game I made for Android phones and Google Cardboard.
AR Snapshots: Live Out Your Sci-Fi Dreams with Iron Man Suits & Lightsabers in Snapchat
Snap introduced some fantastic new augmented reality abilities in version 3.4 of Lens Studio, the company's tool that allows anyone to create AR lenses for the Snapchat app. The newest features include improved hand tracking and full-body segmentation.
News: Snap Spectacles Get a New App for Hands-Free Drawing in AR
If you thought Snap's Spectacles were limited to a couple of demos, you haven't been paying attention.
Market Reality: Apple's AR Spaces, Facebook's AR Future, Snap's 3D Acquisition & Campfire AR Headset Launch
There's already some fierce competition between Snap and Facebook in the AR space, but it's about to heat up even more, with Snap snatching up a 3D mapping startup that could add some new AR capabilities to its arsenal.
News: Zombie Math App for Magic Leap One Mixes Halloween Horror with AR Learning
What if you could combine the fun of Halloween with the process of learning? Well, if you were wise enough to have already snagged a Magic Leap One device, we have good news: the app you're looking for is here, and it's called Zombie Math.
News: Nintendo Crafts AR Content for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
The Animal Crossing series has been a big hit for Nintendo, so in a bid to enhance the experience even more for users, the game is getting the augmented reality treatment.
News: USA Today Showcases New Summer Olympics Sports with Augmented Reality
After a postponement of the Summer Olympics for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo is set to host the games this summer, despite a surge in cases in the city.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Sues Nreal, Airbus Sells HoloLens Apps, & Harry Potter Takes on AR Gaming
The enterprise sector is where the money is for augmented reality at the moment, and remote assistance apps are the go-to app for many enterprise customers. We took a look at the leading apps and platforms from this category, from the top contenders to the underdogs with unique features.
News: New AR Exhibit in London Wants to Bring Awareness to Wildlife Preservation
Technology and nature, typically thought of as opposites, are coming together in a new London exhibit.
Market Reality: Snapchat Does E-Commerce, Renault Drives into Star Wars AR & Christie's Taps Wealthy Art Buyers via AR
It doesn't matter how cool or groundbreaking a particular technology is, if it doesn't offer the promise of big returns on investments, you'll have trouble drawing interest from both Silicon Valley and Wall Street. That's why we're increasingly seeing existing augmented reality players doing everything they can to focus in on revenue generation, which was the message coming from Snap Inc. this week.