Next Reality Features
News: Samsung Updates AR Emoji with Better Tracking & Facial Features
With Apple preparing to bring a slew of new features to its Animoji app this fall, Samsung has updated its AR Emoji imitator with the ability to create more realistic digital doppelgängers.
News: Sally Beauty's YouCam-Powered AR Try-on Kiosks Land in 500 US Stores
Another major retailer is putting all its chips in on the relentless rise of selfie culture. Sally Beauty is rolling out kiosks to try-on "some of its best" hair dyes in 500 of its stores throughout the US. The in-store augmented reality-powered kiosks invite you to view yourself on video, overlay a punky (or otherwise) hair color, and snap a selfie on the screen to share your #glowup with friends.
News: Google, Facebook & Huawei Seed AR & VR Talent Pool with Massive Donation to Univ. Of Washington Lab
Google, Facebook, and Huawei have made an investment in nurturing the future of augmented and virtual reality through $6 million in contributions to the opening of a new center at the University of Washington.
News: WaveOptics Sets Sights on Expansion of AR Optics Operations with $26 Million in New Funding
Augmented reality optics maker WaveOptics has just infused its operations with a fresh round of funding to facilitate its objective of bringing consumer-grade smartglasses at a $600 price point to market in 2019.
News: Social VR Startup vTime Lands $7.6M to Launch Augmented Reality Version Later This Year
One of the earliest players in the social virtual reality space, vTime, has just landed $7.6 million in new funding, which the company says is partially earmarked for developing and releasing an augmented reality version of its platform later this year.
News: Intel to Release Their 'Merged Reality' Project Alloy Headset by End of 2017
Intel, the company which is mostly known for creating computer processors, once again showed off their Project Alloy "merged reality" experience, this time during their CES 2017 press conference. Intel's Chief Executive Officer, Brian Krzanich, stated that they will be "productizing" this tech with their partners in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Dev Report: New ARKit Updates & Native Level Design Features Finally Come to Unity
Continuing to take the steps necessary to reign supreme among the top game engines of the world, with a steady stream of major updates, enhancements, and new features, the team at Unity are keeping the user base in a regular state of surprise. At this rate, it's almost like Christmas every few days.
News: FaceTime for iOS 13 Uses ARKit to Help Callers Pretend They Are Maintaining Eye Contact
You may soon add feigning eye contact to the list of ways that augmented reality is improving our lives.
News: Unreal Engine 4.21 Adds Support for Magic Leap's Lumin OS & Windows Mixed Reality Apps
Epic Games released Unreal Engine 4.21, bringing a number of new features, bug fixes, and improvements for augmented reality development, including deeper support for Magic Leap One and the addition of support for the Windows Mixed Reality platform and headsets.
News: Pinterest Adds AR Makeup Try-On Feature to Its Mobile Lens Tool
It's time to make some more room at the augmented reality cosmetics counter. This week, social media giant Pinterest unveiled "Try On," a virtual make-up visualization tool running on its Lens visual search tool.
Video: Automate a Camera's Path with the HoloLens and VroomCam
Every day the young world of mixed reality is creating new ways for people to work with with computers. We are looking for, and finding, new ways for these head-worn computers to understand what we tell them. Sometimes it is with our hands, sometimes it is where we turn our head, sometimes it is what we say. In the case highlighted below, it's where we walk.
News: Apple's Updated Clips App Lets You Put Yourself Inside the World of The Incredibles 2
One of Apple's most touted (but seldom seen on social media) apps, Clips, got an update on Wednesday.
News: AR Investor Says Apple ARKit Apps Face Same Challenges as Other Mobile Apps
In a recent series of tweets, investor and entrepreneur (and NR50 member) Amitt Mahajan summarized the challenges and opportunities for iOS developers looking to leverage Apple's ARKit for augmented reality experiences.
News: Snap CEO Memo Confirms Spectacles Are First Step Toward AR Smartglasses
In a leaked company memo, Snap CEO (and NR30 member) Evan Spiegel has made it clear that the future of the company lies not only augmented reality but also hardware that enables those AR experiences.
Have You Seen This?: This Battle Royale Is the Best Tech Demo for the HoloLens Yet, but Should Be More
On May 25th, 1977 a small movie with a $13,000,000 budget came out. At the time, the executives involved had no faith that this film would make any money. To the surprise of many in the industry, not only did that film set records, it led to a number of other movies, video games, books, toys, cartoons and so much more. This film we know as Star Wars became a long lasting hit that is still setting records 40 years later.
News: Microsoft HoloLens 2 Video Transports Us to Tokyo & into Mind of Developer Dreaming of Augmented Reality Companions
When you're trying to pioneer a brand new category of technology, sometimes it's not enough to just have great tech. You also need to be able to tell a great story. You need to be able to capture the imagination.
Apple AR: Watch Your Shows in 360° on Floating Orb Thanks to ARKit
Of all the ways I thought I'd be watching my favorite TV shows, on a floating orb was not one of them.
News: Unity Previews Immersive Art Experiences for Mobile AR, Magic Leap One, & HoloLens at Upcoming Sundance Festival
The Unity 3D engine is not only responsible for facilitating the creation of 60% of AR and VR content but it also plays a significant role in producing the immersive stories that increasingly push the boundaries of cinema.
News: Facebook and Ray-Ban Stories Smartglasses Unboxing
The competition to secure the top slot in the smartglasses space is now in full swing, with Facebook challenging Snap's Spectacles and Amazon's Echo Frames with its own collaboration with Ray-Ban called Stories.
News: This Is the Secret AR App Powering Amazon's New Entry into the Beauty Salon Business
The march of Amazon to insert itself into nearly every retail arena continues with the e-commerce giant's latest move to launch its own brick-and-mortar beauty salons.
News: Vuzix Launches Program Allowing Consumers to Order Blade AR Smartglasses Along with Business & Developer Customers
After Vuzix's scorching hot week at CES, the future of AR is so bright, we have to wear (smart) shades. Luckily, Vuzix is making it easier for consumers to grab a pair.
News: iPhone 8 Rumored to Ship with iPad Pro-Like Smart Connector for AR & Wireless Charging
The rumors surrounding the next iPhone and Apple's ambitions toward augmented reality have been going on for months, and a fresh development brings back the idea of Apple's Smart Connector bringing the two together. The Verifier, an Israeli news site, claims the next suite of iPhones (iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and 7s Plus) will all sport Smart Connectors for both AR and wireless charging.
News: Magic Leap Commits to 725 New Jobs with the Announcement of Its New Facility
Magic Leap, the mysterious Florida-based mixed reality start-up, announced on Wednesday that it would be opening a 260,000 square-foot expansion in Florida, and bringing along with it 725 new jobs over a five-year period. To make this happen, they will be making an $150 million capital investment, with government incentives, of course.
News: NBA Star Steve Nash & Classic Galaga Game Come to AR to Show Off ARKit 2.0 as Apple Unveils New iPhone Lineup
On Wednesday, as expected, Apple unveiled the next generation of iPhones, namely the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max along with the more affordable iPhone XR, each equipped with a TrueDepth sensor.
News: 'Atlanta' Actor Lakeith Stanfield Walks an Augmented Reality Tightrope for New York Times Magazine
The New York Times has made a habit of publishing augmented reality stories throughout 2018, and now the media giant's magazine is getting into the act, too.
Apple AR: Cambria & Markilux Match IKEA with ARKit Apps for Home Makeovers
IKEA won't be alone among ARKit apps for visualizing home décor and improvements when iOS 11 arrives next week.
News: Augmented Reality Startup AstroReality Expands Its Product Universe with NASA AR Series
After getting its start with models of augmented reality planets that serve as targets for augmented reality experiences, AstroReality is diversifying its portfolio by paying tribute to one of the space agencies that made its products possible.
News: Nreal Pauses Smartglasses Production as Coronavirus Issues Impact China, Amazon, Facebook, Intel, & Nvidia Exit MWC
The deadly Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has not only has claimed lives in China but also has caused disruption around the globe, particularly in the tech industry. To date, the virus has claimed more than 1,000 lives in China, according to the country's officials.
NR50: Next Reality's 50 People to Watch: Aileen McGraw
Microsoft has always been pretty good with customer service, especially from the developer's end point. In recent years, since Satya Nadella took over as acting CEO, the level of customer and developer care has become something much more. This software giant has gone out of their way to learn about what works and what doesn't and to adjust.
News: Now You Can Track the Bitcoin Mania Bubble in Augmented Reality
You love augmented reality (that's why you're here!), but some of you also love cryptocurrencies, most popularly known in one of its forms as Bitcoin. So you might be wondering why you can't you find two of your favorite emerging technologies together in one app. Take heart, early adopter — now you can.
News: Transit Navigation App Moovit Adds Augmented Reality Way Finder Feature to Challenge Google Maps Live View
As helpful as it is, Google Maps isn't the only mapping app with augmented reality walking navigation anymore.
News: Google Extends AR Search Lead Over Apple with Landmark Recognition for Google Lens
This week, Apple unveiled its own version of Google Lens in the form of Live Text. In response, Google just hit back with a new feature for its visual search tool called Places, a new search category that can recognize landmarks and return information on them within the camera view, which Apple touted as a capability of Live Text during its WWDC keynote.
News: Google Makes Case for ARCore Apps to Educators & Marketers
When it comes to mass adoption, augmented reality is still primarily a mobile world, so Google is pitching its own ARCore flavor of mobile AR to the education and marketing segments.
News: Arvizio Brings AR Collaboration to Zoom Meetings with Immerse 3D App for Smartphones, HoloLens & Magic Leap
As businesses flocked to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other video conferencing platforms to bridge the gap, we wondered aloud -- why aren't more companies leaning even more heavily on augmented reality?
News: Dell Becomes First PC Maker to Partner with Meta to Offer Augmented Reality Headsets
Using the CES tech conference in Las Vegas as the launch pad, Dell has announced that it's partnering with Meta Company to offer its augmented reality headsets to business customers.
News: Arcona Could Cover the World with AR Objects
A Russian augmented reality startup wants the next frontier in real estate to be augmented reality estate.
News: Microsoft Launches Closed Beta Sign-Ups for Minecraft Earth Mobile Augmented Reality Game
The long tease that is the release of Minecraft Earth continues, this time with an opportunity to start playing what might be one of the hottest augmented reality games ever, before the general public.
Dev Report: Urho3d Could Be a Development Bridge Between HoloLens & ARKit
Developers looking to create shared experiences that support both HoloLens as well as ARKit may be able to get it working in Unity since that the engine supports both platforms — though, the amount of effort it might take to get that working could be a bit much. Up to this point, Unity has been the only real approach to attempt this combination — at least, until now.
Market Reality: More Magic Leap One Details Unearthed, Apple Adds to Its AR Team, & Snapchat Learns New Tricks
The arrival of Magic Leap One is tantalizingly close and, although the company has been saving the last details for launch day, a few of the more important details were found this week hiding deep in the code on Magic Leap's website.
News: Now Noobs Can Create AR Apps for Ubimax's Enterprise Platform
Augmented reality software provider Ubimax unveiled their graphical authoring and publishing tool for their Frontline enterprise platform to attendees at Augmented World Expo Europe today.