Next Reality Features
News: Google Just Made It Easier to Get Your Hands on Glass Enterprise Edition 2
Last December, Google unceremoniously killed off Google Glass Explorer Edition with a final software update, leaving the Glass Enterprise Edition 2 as the only remaining AR wearable from Google.
News: Google Adds Sports Athletes to AR Search, Includes Virtual Street Signs in Live View AR in Google Maps
Since bringing augmented reality features to Search and Maps, Google has made them arguably the most useful augmented reality products in its portfolio.
News: Facebook Upgrades Spark AR Platform for Instagram with Segmentation & Marker Tracking Capabilities
Ever since Snapchat rebuffed its acquisition attempts, Facebook has morphed Instagram with features from Snapchat, such as stories, chat, and, of course, augmented reality.
News: NexTech AR's Paul Duffy on How Mobile AR & Holographic Performances Are Changing How We Work & Play
As augmented reality space continues to move into the mainstream, the competition to offer immersive services is ramping up as well.
News: Kickstarter Game System Uses iOS & Android Devices to Merge Tabletop Gaming with Augmented Reality
The fortunes of ARKit and ARCore are still in the hands of developers, who have been increasing the number of mobile augmented reality apps on the market, but perhaps not as fast as companies like Apple might have expected. But one new product is looking to literally kickstart mobile AR gaming by introducing a few key components that harness the traditional board game model.
Brief Reality: Halliburton, New York Jets, CyberLink Join the Augmented Reality Movement
A survey by ABI Research revealed that only 25 percent of businesses have implemented augmented reality technology in some form or fashion.
News: Nokia's Snake Game Slithers into Augmented Reality via Facebook AR
If you're a part of Generation X or a Millennial, there's a good chance that the first mobile game you played was Snake on an old school Nokia phone. Now, you can relive that nostalgia of monochrome and push buttons in augmented reality with the Facebook Camera.
News: MLB Now Lets Fans Experience Home Run Derby in Augmented Reality via New App
The 2021 season of Major League Baseball (MLB) is in full swing, and now that vaccines are widespread in the US, major baseball stadiums are allowing fans back in at full capacity.
News: Magic Leap Will Bring Star Wars to Mixed Reality
The mysterious Magic Leap just partnered up with Lucasfilm's ILM xLAB to bring Star Wars to their mixed reality headsets. Based on the video demo making its way around the internet, it looks pretty impressive.
Market Reality: Microsoft & Lenovo See Differing Results from AR Headsets, WaveOptics Preps Next-Gen Smartglasses
The price tag for the Microsoft HoloLens might be out of range for the average consumer's budget, but for enterprises, like BAE Systems, adopting the AR headset is yielding a return on the investment. And for those with even slimmer wallets, Best Buy just made the Lenovo Mirage, part of the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges package, more affordable.
News: HoloLens Used to Improve Plastic Surgery
There is now another way for doctors to use augmented reality in operations. This time, it's for plastic surgery — Specifically facial surgery.
Exclusive: Meta Company Asks Court for More Time in Patent Infringement Lawsuit Case
The legal drama framing the closure of Meta Company continues even after the company's assets have been sold to a new owner.
CES 2015: ImmersiON-VRelia Can Turn Any Smartphone into a VR Headset
Samsung's Gear VR headset is a thing of beauty; unfortunately, it only works with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. That's where ImmersiON-VRelia's Head-Mounted Displays come in to play. With four different HMD models, we got a hands-on look at "The Go," which is not only affordable (at $125), but also compatible with the majority of Android and iOS devices.
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.
Market Reality: This Is How AR Is Changing Things at Amazon, Apple & Snapchat
During its third-quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "AR is going to change everything."
News: Epic Games Enters Settlement Talks with Nreal Over Trademark Naming Dispute
At least one hurdle to China-based augmented reality startup Nreal going mainstream in the United States may be about to be knocked down, thanks to behind the scenes legal movements Next Reality has uncovered.
Apple AR: Microsoft Developer Lets You Move a Monster Army with Your Phone
Controlling a tiny monster army is not something I'd ever thought I'd be able to do, but it looks like Apple's ARKit is going to make it possible.
News: HoloLens Demo Lets Airline Staff View Passenger Emotional State & Flight Details
The list of HoloLens applications continues to grow as more companies discover ways to enhance their operations using augmented reality. Air New Zealand is the latest to show interest in the technology, demonstrating their vision for AR in a new concept video.
News: Scope AR Snags $9.7 Million to Expand Its Enterprise Augmented Reality Platform
While the tech industries giants and eager startups chase the dream of widespread consumer augmented reality, enterprise AR is living the dream today.
News: Former Apple iPhone Engineer Explains Why He Thinks Augmented Reality Is the Future of Mobile
Any little bit of new light shed on Apple's rumored augmented reality plans is irresistible, and the latest comes from a fairly powerful source — a former Apple engineer who worked on the iPhone.
News: 10 Amazon Prime Deals for Augmented Reality Lovers Who Missed Amazon Prime Day
It wasn't Christmas, but for Amazon Prime members, it was darn close: Amazon Prime Day, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, came and went earlier this week. Unfortunately, there weren't many Prime Day-specific deals to be had for augmented reality fans, but that doesn't mean AR-loving Amazon Prime members were completely left out.
News: Apple Kicks Off September Event with Augmented Reality Welcome Mat
We always know roughly when Apple events are coming, but when their new product events pop up, they're always a pleasant tech refresher from the Cupertino tech giant.
News: YouVisit Teleports You Around the World with an Expansive, Elegant Library of 360-Degree Video Content
Virtual reality holds the promise of electronically visiting distant places we'd otherwise struggle to reach, but that teleportation-esque ability isn't possible without the right content. YouVisit created a platform that makes it easy for almost anyone to create immersive 360-degree experiences so we can map our lives and see the world through the eyes of our fellow humans.
News: Apple Staffing Up for Augmented Reality Software & Product Development
Between acquisitions, hirings, patent applications, and insider reports, all signs point to Apple building a smartglasses product that could ship as soon as 2020, but the company has not officially confirmed such plans.
News: Your First Look at the HoloLens Development Edition
We received our HoloLens Development Edition from Microsoft, and well, we're pretty giddy. But before we set everything up, we wanted to give you all a look at just what you get for $3,000. Let's get the plastic off and pull this baby out. And what do we have here? A fabric-laden orb of sorts. Alright, alright, enough of the box. Unzip the casing you get to the real deal. There's a hole, let's see what's under it. Waiting for us was the instruction manual, a cleaning cloth, charging cable and...
News: Netflix Launches Oculus Quest Immersive Game for Animated Streaming Series 'Eden'
We usually focus on augmented reality here, but when something important in VR happens, we highlight it as part of the overall immersive computing story.
News: Younique Joins Growing AR Makeup Try-On Market by Launching Web-Based App
Now that some of the best-known beauty brands are leveraging augmented reality to market and sell products, the rest of the market is beginning to catch up — fast. The latest competitor to add AR to its arsenal is direct sales makeup company Younique.
Apple AR: This Is What Apple CEO Tim Cook Said When Cornered About Possible AR Smartglasses
Prior to Apple's earnings report on Thursday, the storm clouds were gathering as Wall Street prepared for bad news in the wake of reports of slower iPhone sales. But it turns out that those fears were mostly unwarranted. Apple managed to increase iPhone revenue during the December quarter, despite selling slightly fewer phones.
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 Goes Long for Mixed Reality
The theme running throughout most of this year's WinHEC keynote in Shenzhen, China was mixed reality. Microsoft's Alex Kipman continues to be a great spokesperson and evangelist for the new medium, and it is apparent that Microsoft is going in deep, if not all in, on this version of the future. I, for one, as a mixed reality or bust developer, am very glad to see it.
News: Weta Brings Its 'Lord of the Rings'-Style Character Effects to the World of Augmented Reality via ARCore
Most of the animated characters and animals we've seen in augmented reality are still fairly basic in terms of visual fidelity. And because many are still impressed by simply seeing 3D figures properly scaled and tracked alongside real-world objects, this approach has worked ... so far.
Apple AR: ARKit Bestows iOS Apps Thyng & Holo with Ability to Stick Digital Things Anywhere
One of the byproducts of the success of Pokémon Go was the viral images that made the rounds on social media of people putting Pikachus, Charmanders, and their brethren in compromising positions. Snapchat has a similar claim to fame, most recently with the inexplicable popularity of the dancing hotdog.
Market Reality: Upskill Acquires Pristine
This week's Market Reality covers a variety of business news from acquisitions and partnerships to competitive and technology assessments to quarterly financial results.
News: Rokid's New Smartglasses Mirror Content from Smartphones, Desktops, & Consoles to Virtual Screens
After receiving $100 million in funding in 2018, smartglasses maker Rokid is going the crowdfunding route to finance its latest product.
Hands-On: Sotheby's Curate App for Magic Leap Lets You Reimagine Your Home & Office in the Most Realistic Fashion via AR
It might sound odd to call interior decorating exciting, especially if you're not a professional within that industry. But that's exactly what it is when combined with augmented reality.
News: Time Magazine Takes Readers on an Augmented Reality Tour of Amazon Rainforest
Prior to this year, Time primarily relied on image markers in the magazine to trigger its special augmented reality features
News: NBC's Today Show Uses Snapchat to Let You Dress for the Royal Wedding in Augmented Reality
Royal wedding fever has officially taken over the media, and that obsession with the UK's latest marriage event has now extended to Snapchat, thanks to a new Lens from the Today Show.
News: Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai, & Snap's Evan Spiegel Deliver Strategic Insights into AR in 2020 & Beyond
The words of three of tech's most important executives in the last 48 hours are providing some valuable insight into the near term future of augmented reality and the cloud infrastructures that support it.
News: Google's Project Starline Promises 3D Video Conferencing Like We've Never Seen Before
During the Tuesday launch of Google I/O, the company's CEO, Sundar Pichai, pulled off a Steve Jobsian "one more thing" move near the end of his keynote address that was simply stunning.
News: Apple to Start Augmented Reality Smartglasses Production Later This Year, Report Says
The Apple rumor mill is getting its first real workout of 2019, and this time the whispers are more exciting than usual.