Next Reality Features
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: Easily Make Your Own Pokémon GO with Motive.io
Throughout the summer and fall of 2016, in the sudden whirlwind that was Pokémon GO, it was hard to go anywhere in public without seeing someone attempting to catch Pokémon. Now, thanks to an upcoming platform called Motive.io, from the Vancouver company of the same name, location-driven application development will soon be accessible to everyone.
News: This AR Headset Surpasses the Field of View of HoloLens, but You Still Won't Wear It in Public
Digital imaging company OmniVision Technologies and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) entered the CES fray this week with a new reference design for an augmented reality headset capable of 60 degrees field of view (FoV).
AR Snapshots: Anime Makeovers, Mandalorian Helmets, Twerking Muppets & More on Snapchat
In the three years since Snapchat launched Lens Studio, developers and artists have created more than 1.5 million AR camera effects with the desktop tool.
News: Startup 1RIC Serves Up AR Volumetric Videos of Vic Mensa, Poppy, & More via Jadu iPhone App
While holographic Whitney Houston is hitting the road, a new mobile app is bringing volumetric captures of up and coming performers directly to the iPhones and iPads of fans.
News: HoloLens Update for Remote AR App Offers a Peek at the Future of Remote Collaboration in AR
On Wednesday, Scope AR, makers of Remote AR, the augmented reality video conference calling and remote assistance solution, announced that the app is finally available for HoloLens. Next Reality had a chance to talk with the founder and CEO/CTO of Scope AR, Scott Montgomerie, inside this new version of Remote AR.
News: Aireal Places AR Content Anywhere in the World with Geographic Coordinates
While ARKit and ARCore are poised to bring AR experiences to millions of mobile devices, one company is poised to anchor those experiences anywhere in the world with just a set of geographic coordinates.
News: Samsung Demos AR Smartglasses, Virtual Workout Partner at CES
The world of CES, the annual technology conference in Las Vegas, usually brings a few surprises, but few expected Samsung to fire off its first real augmented reality salvo at the event.
News: Magic Leap Jumps into the Star Wars Universe with Release of Project Porg App
After some social media teasing, the Star Wars universe's Magic Leap debut has finally arrived. On Tuesday, Magic Leap announced the release of Star Wars: Project Prog, which is available for free via Magic Leap World.
News: Universal Studios Augmented Reality App Lets You Recreate a Scene from 'Welcome to Marwen' Film
In a world where augmented reality is becoming the hero of the movie marketing, Universal Studios has decided to use the technology to reinvent the traditional movie trailer, a time-tested tactic of film promotion, in support of the forthcoming Robert Zemeckis film, Welcome to Marwen.
News: Microsoft Sets Developers Up for Success with the Windows Mixed Reality Academy Deep Dive
At Build 2017, the annual developer's conference, Microsoft featured a Windows Mixed Reality Academy. This class was designed to get a developer started creating Mixed Reality experiences quickly. For those of us already developing for the Microsoft HoloLens, while the class — which is now available on the Microsoft website — did offer our first real chance to work with the new Acer HMD, there was not much depth.
Apple AR: Virtual Drone Is All the Fun of a Real Drone Without the Expense
Drones are a fairly new craze to hit the nation. While they are accessible to the general population, good drones still typically cost a ton of money and despite all the fun they are, it's sometimes not worth it to actually buy one. If you're one of those people who would love to play around with drones — but don't want to have to buy one — Arcane Reality is developing the app for you thanks to Apple's ARKit.
News: Google Arts & Culture App Lets You Turn Your Home into an AR Museum Featuring the Works of Vermeer
There is not a single museum that houses all of the 36 paintings of Johannes Vermeer, so Google decided to come up with a solution to give art aficionados a venue to see the artist's work all in one place — your home.
News: Vrvana's Prototype HMD Blends VR & AR to Create the First True Mixed Virtual Reality Headset
Augmented, mixed, and virtual reality are all a little bit different, but as many expect—including Metavision—the continuum of our next realities will converge and give us one head-mounted display (HMD) platform that can do it all. If Vrvana, a Canadian company building AR and VR headsets, succeeds, that convergence could begin as early as next year.
News: Startup Light Field Lab Lands $28 Million in Funding from Samsung, Verizon, & Comcast for Holographic Displays
The venture arms of Samsung and Verizon Ventures, along with Comcast, are among the strategic investors backing startup Light Field Lab and its glasses-free holographic displays in a $28 million Series A funding round
News: Snapchat Bulks Up Lens Studio with Face Templates, Giphy Integration & More
Snapchat is making it easier for developers and creators to build augmented reality effects in Lens Studio with a slew of new features, including seven face templates.
Market Reality: Insiders on Apple's Smartglasses Plans, NASA Bets on HoloLens, RealWear Banks $80 Million in Funding
The future of smartglasses for consumers seems ever dependent on Apple's entry into the market. Coincidentally, the exit of Apple's long-time design chief Jony Ive has shed some light on that eventual entrance.
News: Mobile AR App Octi Evolves into Social Network via Facial Recognition Tech
In a world full of augmented reality camera effects apps, one app is going in a more social direction.
Have You Seen This?: HoloChess Is a Great Example of How to Make a HoloLens App Without the Hardware
I am often asked about getting started with HoloLens development and most of the time my answer, in short, is: Install Unity, install Visual Studio, install the HoloLens emulator, and make something.
News: Amid Motorola Razr Hype, Lenovo Unveils AR Glasses Concept for Private Computing
After drawing attention from nostalgic Gen Xers for its Motorola Razr reboot with a foldable screen, Lenovo has a new augmented reality smartglasses concept that the company hopes will also turn some heads.
News: Microsoft's New Light Capture Tool Adds More Realistic Lighting to HoloLens & Mobile AR Apps
We're still weeks away from a probably HoloLens 2 release, but Microsoft's immersive computing team is still hard at work on other aspects of its "mixed reality" ecosystem.
News: Retailers Benefit from Augmented Reality in Operations & Online Sales Over In-Store Experiences, Research Says
Although retailers like Mac Cosmetics and Zara have been celebrated for deploying innovative in-store augmented reality experiences in their brick-and-mortar locations, a new report throws cold water on the practice.
News: TNT's 'Inside the NBA' Takes Viewers for a Dip into Broadcast AR for the NBA Playoffs
One of the most popular sports shows on television, Inside the NBA on TNT, gave viewers a tech-powered treat on Tuesday night by dropping them into a broadcast version of augmented reality.
News: Magic Leap Teaser for Dr. Grordbort's Invaders Previews Forthcoming Release During L.E.A.P. Conference
Magic Leap One owners with itchy trigger fingers may have their itch scratched next week, as Magic Leap has shared a brief teaser on Twitter for the long-awaited Dr. Grordbort's Invaders game from Weta Workshop.
News: European Inventor Award Profiles Microsoft's Alex Kipman as Finalist for HoloLens
Usually, when the public gets to see and hear Microsoft's Alex Kipman expound on the future of immersive computing, it's because the company has a new product to show off. But on Tuesday, April 24, Kipman was in the spotlight for an entirely different reason: an award nomination.
News: Google Helps Tell the Story of Stonewall in Augmented Reality
Snapchat isn't the only tech company transforming landmarks with augmented reality for Pride Month. About four miles southwest of New York's iconic Flatiron Building, which is getting its own Pride makeover via Snapchat's Landmarker AR, Stonewall National Monument is also receiving some augmented reality treatment by way of the Stonewall Forever mobile app published by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (better known as The Center) in partnership with Google.
News: I Entered THE VOID & Its Incredibly Immersive Approach to VR Blew Me Away
What happens when a entrepeneur/theme park creator and special effects artist/magician team up? You get a team crazy enough to create the first true virtual reality theme park (sorry, Six Flags). They only have a single experience so far, but it's already taken a giant leap beyond the wonders we've seen in today's consumer virtual reality headsets.
News: PlayFusion Secures Funding to Develop Interactive AR Gaming Platform
Independent game developer PlayFusion announced today a partnership with NEXON Korea Corporation, resulting in a Series A preferred share round to fund development of their entertainment platform. PlayFusion's platform applies augmented reality, Internet of Things (IoT), and audio recognition to Lightseekers, an original property that combines mobile gaming with smart action figures, trading card games, and other media.
Market Reality: Bareburger & Zara Use AR for Marketing, While vTime Gets a Cash Infusion to Move from VR to AR
Modern "mad men" are buying into augmented reality for marketing, with the two latest examples being trendy burger maker Bareburger and department store chain Zara.
News: These Apollo 11 Augmented Reality Experiences from Google, USA Today, Time, & Smithsonian Will Fly You to the Moon
Unless you've been hiding under a (moon) rock for the past month, you already know that Saturday, July 20 is the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing.
Market Reality: PTC Stock Rising on Augmented Reality
Every Friday, Next Reality reviews the latest headlines from the financial side of augmented and mixed reality. This weekly Market Reality column covers funding announcements, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and the like. This week's column starts with a stock price that's performing well for one company — one that HoloLens developers should know quite well.
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: Snapchat Evolves the Foundation of Its AR Capabilities with Ground Transformation Lenses
The sky is the limit when it comes to augmented reality, but Snapchat's latest innovation is keeping its AR platform grounded.
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: Full-Body Motion Controller HoloSuit Coming Soon to Kickstarter
A few days before Christmas last year, we saw the first glimpse of HoloSuit, a new motion controller by startup Kaaya Tech. This full-body motion controller is designed as a tracksuit with sensors that can be used to control devices such as a computer or Microsoft HoloLens, and now it's getting ready to start production, with an upcoming Kickstarter campaign planned to go live soon.
News: Lionsgate & Pepsi Launch Snapchat Augmented Reality Experiences to Promote NBA Star-Packed 'Uncle Drew'
Snapchat is enjoying a high field goal percentage when it comes to securing movie studio business with its sponsored augmented reality experiences, the latest coming through the basketball movie Uncle Drew.
News: My First Hackathon—What It Took to Win HoloHack Atlanta
Beginners luck is a phrase I have always hated. But really, beginners luck comes down to not letting your experience in something get in the way of the idea.
NR30: The Augmented Reality Influencers of 2018
Influencers of augmented reality demonstrate expertise in their fields and outline a strong vision for the future that they evangelize to others. They help define the direction of the industry and identify others who foster and create innovation in the field.
News: Mark Ronson Releases AR Filled, Interactive Music Video on Instagram Featuring King Princess
Music producer Mark Ronson, fresh off his Oscar win for Best Original Song as a co-writer of "Shallow," the song by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper for the movie A Star Is Born, has now added augmented reality to his varied repertoire.
News: Watch Lenovo Mirage AR Headsets Turn Star Wars Fans into Jedi on Christmas Morning
The Force was awakened in many a household on Christmas morning this year, as evidenced by numerous recipients of newly unwrapped Star Wars: Jedi Challenges systems sharing their first lightsaber battles in augmented reality on social media.