Next Reality Features

News: This Guy Playing IRL Super Mario in Central Park Is One of the Coolest & Most Fun Demos of What MR Can Do

There's a general belief that augmented and mixed reality is going tied to enterprise solutions for the foreseeable future, and most developers in the field are focused on business use-cases. Without a dramatic breakthrough in the next couple of years that will likely be the case, making that decision the sensible one.

News: Sit on the 'Magic Bench' & Discover an AR Experience Requiring No Electronics

When you think of AR experiences, you typically think of something that either involves a headset or a handset. Augmented reality without either of those things has seemed impossible in the past. But if anyone is going to try to find a way to have an augmented reality experience without electronics, it's Disney.

Apple AR: Warby Parker Uses Face ID in iPhone X to Measure Your Face for Glasses

Online glasses retailer Warby Parker built its reputation by selling fashionable yet affordable eyeglasses, so it perhaps a surprise that it's one of the first developers to take advantage of the technology in the least affordable iPhone yet.

News: Magic Leap Updates Lumin OS with Enhancements for Helio Browser, Avatar Chat, & More

Nearly a year to the day after the unveiling Magic Leap One, Magic Leap has dropped another update to the Lumin OS that runs the device.

News: Drone Prix Finishes as First AR Game for DJI Drones

Augmented reality software developer Edgybees has launched Drone Prix. The new mobile app immerses DJI drones and their pilots in more than 30 augmented reality obstacle courses.

News: Niantic & Warner Bros. Bringing Every Harry Potter Fan's Dream to Life with AR Game Based on Franchise

Ever since the planet went crazy trying to find augmented reality creatures in Pokémon GO, we've been waiting for the next virtual object game capable of delivering a similar hit. And now, we might finally have one coming, direct from the magical world of Harry Potter.

Market Reality: Ericsson Ventures Invests in Matterport

Influenced by the growth of augmented and virtual reality technology as well as 3D computer vision, Ericcson Ventures invested in Matterport, whose hardware and software help companies create AR/VR experiences.

AR Snapshots: Snapchat Lens Shows Us What Our Fav Live-Action Movies Would Look Like from Pixar Animation

For its latest augmented reality trick, Snapchat has brought the world an AR Lens that has become a bit of a viral hit on Twitter as users turn themselves and their favorite movie stars into characters out of a Pixar movie.

News: New Patent Application Adds Fuel to Rumors About Augmented Reality Glasses for Apple

Apple has sprung a massive AR following since the announcement of their ARKit, with users waiting to see what exactly the tech giant will do next.

Video: Two Women Wearing HoloLenses Duke It Out Anime-Style in the Middle of a Restaurant

Joyce Kuo of Nijie Technology released a video showing a group fighting it out Dragon Ball Z-style in a restaurant, but instead of Goku, Piccolo or Vegeta, we have two horse-headed young ladies shooting fire and other elements at each other.

News: DAQRI Founder's Passionate TED Talk on Potential Impact of Augmented Reality Gets Personal

The narratives around virtual reality consistently revolve around human empathy and emotion, while the story around augmented reality has been decidedly more dispassionate and business-focused — until now.

News: New York Times Leads Readers on an AR Journey Through the Cave That Trapped the Thai Soccer Team

One of the more compelling human interest stories of the summer has been the plight of the Thai Wild Boars soccer team, who were trapped in a cave for weeks.

News: Watch This Woman Freak the Hell Out in Horror VR

Virtual reality and horror were meant for each other. You'll get all the positive aspects of experiencing a terrifying situation such as excitement and an adrenaline rush, without any of the real-life consequences, like being ripped to shreds by a herd of flesh-eating monsters.

News: Personal Computing Is Dead, Long Live Collaborative Computing

Those of us who are actively developing for the HoloLens, and for the other augmented and mixed reality devices and platforms that currently exist, are constantly looking for the next bit of news or press conference about the space. Our one hope is to find any information about the road ahead, to know that the hours we spend slaving away above our keyboards, with the weight of a head-mounted display on our neck, will lead to something as amazing as we picture it.

News: This Is How Japanese Wireless Giant Docomo Is Using the HoloLens 2 to Add AR to the Olympics

On Friday, the Tokyo Olympics finally kicked off after massive delays and complications due to the pandemic.

News: Come Build an Awesome Virtual or Mixed Reality Experience with Us!

We're on the verge of an amazing evolution of technology where we can work and play in virtual worlds that merge with our own—or let us escape into our imaginations entirely. But creating virtual, mixed, and augmented reality experiences requires resources and hardware that not everyone has access to. If you want to build something awesome with the Microsoft HoloLens (or one of the other awesome platforms), we want to help you do just that.

Market Reality: Microsoft Debuts HoloLens 2 AR Clones, Samsung Posts Smartglasses Patent, & Intel Depth Cams Get Cheaper

The longer it takes Apple, Snapchat, Facebook, and other tech giants to build their own version of augmented reality headsets and smartglasses, the longer runway of practical experience Microsoft gains with the HoloLens and its sequel. The latest example: AR cloning.

Brief Reality: Industries Are Flocking to Augmented Reality

While the technology continues to mature, businesses from various industries continue to adopt augmented reality to improve the efficiency of business processes. In this edition of Brief Reality, as conference season continues, we see examples of augmented reality applied to logistics processes and marketing of industrial supplies, as well as the topic of discussion at another trade show.

News: Wonder How Wristwatches Look No Longer with AR App from Formex

Thanks to augmented reality, fashion companies can let customers try on cosmetics, clothes, more cosmetics, and sunglasses from the comfort of their homes and through the non-judgmental eyes of their smartphone camera.

News: See & Feel a Supercar in Augmented Reality with Ultrahaptics on the Meta 2

With today's augmented reality experiences, we can see and hear virtual content, but Ultrahaptics wants you to be able to feel those experiences, too.

News: Google & Childish Gambino Follow Up Pixel Playground Hit with Pharos AR App

Google is going all in with Childish Gambino as its musical champion for augmented reality, as the duo has now dropped its second AR collaboration of the year.

News: Magic Leap Previews New Way to Experience Music with Sigur Rós App

Last week, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz teased his Twitter followers with some "fun and cool stuff" to share in the coming days. On Monday, he made good on that promise, sort of.

Apple AR: PGA Tour AR App Lets You Follow Golfers Live on Your Coffee Table

If you're a golf fan who can't attend the Arnold Palmer Invitational in person, you can still follow the next stop on the apparent Tiger Woods comeback tour in augmented reality with an iPhone or iPad.

Brief Reality: Fictional Heroes, Historic Warriors & Infamous Rogues Featured in AR Experiences

This fall, DC Comics fans will be treated to an augmented reality experience promoting the Justice League movie. Likewise, history buffs will be able to enjoy their own augmented reality content by way of the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an in-store promotion featuring famous convicts from 19 Crimes wines.

News: Travelocity Transports Roaming Gnome into Augmented Reality with Its Mobile App

In the latest example of non-tech companies taking on augmented reality marketing, online travel site Travelocity has added an AR version of its Roaming Gnome mascot to its mobile app.

News: Facebook's Plans for AR Smart Glasses Previewed in Patent Filing

A patent application for waveguide-based smart glasses submitted by way of their subsidiary Oculus sheds light on Facebook's plans to escalate their augmented reality efforts.

News: AR Cloud Startup 6D.Ai Video Gives a Peek at Next-Level Mobile AR from Devs Using Company's SDK

A sizzle reel just released by augmented reality cloud company 6D.ai shows off what kind of hyper-realistic AR experiences developers can build with its SDK.

News: Apple Reveals New Animoji Karaoke Video Ahead of WWDC

Apple's lead marketing tool for the iPhone X, 3D Animoji that you control with your facial and head movements, are once again in the spotlight in a new commercial the company posted on its Korean YouTube account this week.

News: Niantic Promises More AR in Pokémon GO on the iPhone with ARKit

Pokémon GO's augmented reality journey is continuing with Apple's newly announced ARKit. It's no surprise considering Pokémon GO is the largest mainstream augmented reality game, with 500 million downloads.

News: World of Tanks App Lets You Relive Military Battles in Augmented Reality

Despite the popularity of Pokémon GO, augmented reality gaming hasn't quite caught on yet. The makers of the popular World of Tanks game aren't taking a shot at Niantic's crown yet, but they are looking at giving spectators a new way to watch the game.

Market Reality: Microsoft Intros HoloLens 2 Variant, Canon Sets High Price for AR Headset & Apple AR Rumors Re-Emerge

If there is one constant in currently available AR headsets, it's that, for a quality experience, they'll carry a high price tag. Price is one of the reasons these devices are mostly marketed towards enterprise customers for now.

News: Snapchat Preparing to Upgrade Camera with Visual Search for Amazon, Report Says

A peek inside the code of the Snapchat app has revealed that the company is expanding the search capabilities of its augmented reality camera to include visual search that may link to items within Amazon's massive online store.

Brief Reality: Plattar, NativeScript & Gadget Flow Offer Tools for ARKit Apps

The release of iOS 11 and ARKit is probably the biggest event for mobile developers since the advent of the App Store.

News: Bosch Designs Easy to Deploy Optical System for Smartglasses Makers

With big-name tech companies like Apple and Facebook gearing up to push out their own smartglasses in the coming years, engineering conglomerate Bosch has been working on the optical components that could help the competition catch up.

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: Leap Motion's Interaction Engine Brings Natural Gestures into Virtual Worlds

Leap Motion created gesture control for all sorts of things, including virtual reality, long ago, but developers must build in support for their tracking peripheral to use its full potential. As a result, they've created an "Interaction Engine" for Unity, the primary platform for developing virtual and mixed reality experiences, to try and take gesture interaction to the next level.

News: Designing Software for Mixed Reality Requires a Massive Shift in Thinking

We started with a static page and evolved to dynamic screens, and making that 2D surface interactive was a relatively straightforward transition in design. But when you can put holographic objects literally anywhere in the room, the way you design apps, games, and experiences requires a different mode of thought entirely.

News: Unreal Engine 4 Now Available for Microsoft HoloLens 2

A major software tool first promised during the reveal of the HoloLens 2 earlier this year is finally available.

Apple AR: Play a Classic Arcade Claw Game with Augmented Reality

One of the defining parts of my childhood was getting extremely frustrated with claw machines at arcades. Usually, that was because as fun as they were, they were probably rigged and wouldn't actually grab anything. Which is why a new claw machine demo made with Apple's ARKit is all the fun of the game, without the rigged frustration.

News: Apple Attacks Snapchat's Shoppable AR with Apple Pay Button & Other Custom Actions for AR Quick Look Content

Snapchat is probably used to Facebook copying its features by now, but Apple borrowing a page out of its playbook is likely a bit more surprising.