Next Reality Features
Market Reality: Apple & Facebook Spill AR Details, Niantic's AR Transformers, Looking Glass Unboxed, & Snap's Viral Lens
The makers of arguably the two most important mobile AR apps, Niantic and Snap, both had good news this week, with the former preparing to replicate its success with Pokémon GO for another franchise and the latter notching another popular augmented reality Lens for Snapchat.
News: Xerox Augmented Reality Unit CareAR Raises $10 Million in Funding from ServiceNow
The enterprise-focused category of augmented reality doesn't often get the headlines due to its relatively sedate profile as a mostly factory floor and training-based tool.
Market Reality: Epic Games $1 Billion Raise, Apple AR Surprise, Deutsche Telekom Smartglasses & HoloLens Helps Intel
The Metaverse, or AR cloud, has been a sci-fi dream for decades, but only recently have companies begun to actually develop the technology to build it. With its latest funding round, Epic Games is suddenly a front-runner in this pursuit.
News: Magic Leap Adds Spotify Music to Growing Arsenal of Spatial Computing Apps
The spatial computing world of Magic Leap is no longer limited to the rarefied tones of Sigur Rós and Sennheiser's Ambeo Augmented Audio app. Now, the entire music universe will be at your augmented reality fingertips.
News: Why Facebook Co-Founder's Call for a Breakup Is Focused on the Wrong Target — AR Is Zuckerberg's Next Big Data Bonanza
Next to Apple, Snap is currently one of the most important companies on the planet in terms of delivering products that are moving augmented reality into the mainstream. That's why it's no surprise that Facebook, which is also focused on AR and tried to acquire the company for $3 billion several years ago, duplicates many of the smaller company's features.
News: This Is the Easiest Way to Try Out HTC's Vive Right Now
If you've been debating on whether or not HTC's new virtual reality headset, the Vive, is worth the $800 price tag, then you'll be able to find out for yourself soon enough.
Apple AR: New Furniture Arranging App Is Coming Soon, but Not from IKEA
Furniture arranging apps have been rolling out on different platforms for a while now thanks, in no small part, to augmented reality.
News: BlueJeans Video Conferencing Giant to Launch Native Google Glass App for Remote Assistance
If you're a normal, non-corporate video conferencing user, you may not have heard of BlueJeans, but in the corporate world, the software has long been a major staple when it comes to remote meetings.
News: Magic Leap's Acquisition of Computes Strengthens Mesh Computing Capabilities by Crowdsourcing Processing Power
The latest business move by Magic Leap could result in a significant boost to its spatial computing platform's performance and headset design.
News: Google Extends Support for Google Meet to Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2
Due to the apparent lackluster adoption of its Explorer Edition, it can be easy to forget that Google Glass still exists as an enterprise product.
News: Apple VR Platform for iPhones May Actually Be in the Works
Google and Samsung have been leaving Apple in the dust when it comes to virtual reality gear. However, as the market grows and becomes more impossible to ignore within the tech world, Apple may be forced to play catch up. This could account for the new Apple patent that was granted today.
News: AR Developers Emboldened by Facebook & Apple During Second Quarter
According The Venture Reality Fund, the introductions of Facebook's camera platform and Apple's ARKit catalyzed increased activity among companies developing consumer applications.
Market Reality: Facebook & Harry Potter AR, MLB AR App, Doritos AR Ads, NFT Holographic Future, & Google Meet AR Filters
Brands are increasingly adopting augmented reality to promote their products and services, and they have multiple paths for bringing AR experience to their audiences.
Market Reality: North Opens Smartglasses Retail Stores, Magic Leap & Microsoft Court Devs, & Another Exec Exits Snap
The North remembers...that smartglasses are the future! Game of Thrones jokes aside, the smartglasses startup opened its doors, and we visited its Brooklyn store to get our hands the consumer-focused Focals smartglasses.
Market Reality: Snap Spectacles Early Prototype, Volkswagen Drives into AR, Inside Lego Snapchat, & Instagram Updates AR
We're still basking in the afterglow of the HUGE Snap Partner Summit last week, where Snap made Snapchat a much stronger augmented reality platform while also unveiling the AR smartglasses version of Spectacles. This week, we got a peek at how Spectacles AR started and got our hands on Lenses from Lego and Disney featured during the keynote.
News: Magic Leap Hosting LEAP Developer Days at Magic Leap HQ in May
Despite the cancellation of Mobile World Congress and several high-profile companies pulling out of the upcoming Game Developers Conference, Magic Leap is pushing forward with hosting its own developer conference.
News: Registration Open for 2021 Facebook Connect AR & VR Conference, Speakers Include Mark Zuckerberg & John Carmack
It's about that time again: Facebook has announced the dates for its annual Facebook Connect (formerly known as Oculus Connect until last year).
News: Doctor Says Google Glass Saved His Patient's Life
There's been a lot of discussion lately about the practical uses of Google Glass. Sure, you can use them for translating text instantly or further engraining yourself in social media, but how about saving someone's life? That's precisely what Dr. Steven Horng of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has says happened with a recent patient of his. After launching a Google Glass pilot program late last year, the device was seen as a critical factor in saving the life of a patient in January.
HoloLens Feature: Voice Input
Like Gesture Input, Voice Input allows you to act on the focus of your Gaze. However, the commands you can use with Voice Input are only limited by your imagination.
Market Reality: Ubiquity6 Acquired, JigSpace Funded, Snapchat in the Viber App, & US Army HoloLens Testing
The close of the second quarter of 2021 brought about a flurry of merger and acquisition and financing activity in the augmented reality industry, headlined by the acquisition of Ubiquity6 and JigSpace's new multimillion-dollar funding round.
News: Unity Unite Conference Session Videos Give Devs Inside Tips on Magic Leap, ARKit, & ARCore Development
Augmented reality developers who have exhausted their treasure trove of video tutorials and panels from the recent Magic Leap developer conference can now shift their continuing education attention to Unity.
Market Reality: Upskill Fields Funding, Leap Motion Faces Lawsuit & Intel Confronts Challenges of AR Adoption
Augmented reality business followers, we've got good news and bad news. First, the good news: Upskill closed another round of funding, this time led by strategic investors Cisco and Accenture. (Well, this is probably bad news if you're competing with them on the enterprise AR front.)
News: Crypto Startup WAX Offers Blockchain-Based Collectables That Can Displayed in AR via Terra Virtua App
Increasingly, cutting-edge platforms like blockchain technology and augmented reality are overlapping, forging new digital frontiers that promise to change the way we interact with the virtual and the real world.
Market Reality: Magic Leap One Tested as Office Companion, Nreal Releases SDK, & Apple Files for AR Navigation Patent
Now that we've had our hands on the Magic Leap One for almost a year and early adopter developers have had the opportunity to publish apps for the AR headset, it's time to see how it stands up against the rigors of a day at the office. We did just that, and we wrote about it!
Market Reality: Mimesys Joins Magic Leap, Samsung Funds DigiLens & Lenovo Moves in on Microsoft's AR Territory
Magic Leap and Samsung are putting their money where their augmented reality plans are, with the former acquiring an AR collaboration technology and the latter funding a waveguide display maker.
Market Reality: L'Oreal's Rochet Leads NR30's AR Influencers & Magic Leap Demonstrates Its Own Influence at L.E.A.P. Con
This week, Next Reality released the fifth and final set of profiles on the NR30 leaders in augmented reality, with this chapter focusing on the influencers in the industry.
Market Reality: Rony Abovitz Perches Atop NR30 AR Hardware Leaders as Angry Birds & Thyng Jump on Magic Leap Bandwagon
This week, Next Reality published profiles on the leaders in augmented reality hardware industry, with Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz topping the list. So, it should be no surprise that two app makers want to align themselves with Magic Leap's flagship product.
News: Functional Guidelines for Manufacturers Will Shape the Future of AR Technology
The first augmented reality hardware and software functional requirements guidelines have been released today by UI LABS and the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA).
News: Jaunt Hit with Layoffs as Startup Abandons VR Business to Focus on Augmented Reality
After building its business on virtual reality, Jaunt is leaving the technology behind to focus on building tools for creating augmented reality content.
News: Vuzix & CyberTimez Give Gift of Sight to High School Student via AR Smartglasses
Augmented reality hardware maker Vuzix came to the rescue of a vision-impaired student in Pennsylvania today by delivering a pair of Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses to enhance her eyesight.
News: Facebook Notches Win Over Snapchat with AR Gaming for Messenger Video
Less than four months after Snapchat introduced its Snappables platform, Facebook has met the challenge with its own AR gaming feature that surpasses the originator.
News: Facebook's Smartwatch Will Eventually Include CTRL-Labs Tech for Smartglasses Control, Report Says
If you were to summarize the path Snap has taken towards augmented reality smartglasses with a meme template, how it started would be the first-generation Spectacles camera glasses and how it's going would be the next-generation Spectacles with AR capabilities.
News: Independent Developers Can Now Get Feedback on Their Work by Sharing Their Creations in Magic Leap World
Magic Leap is making it easier for developers to share their spatial computing experiments with other Magic Leap One users.
News: Old Meets New as Mobile Classic Snake Slithers into AR
If you bought your first mobile phone in the early-to-mid-2000s, there's a good chance that it was a Nokia and it had the game Snake preinstalled.
Brief Reality: AR Goes Green in Hackathon
NextReality will be giving readers a rundown of the augmented and mixed reality news briefs from the preceding week that we didn't cover already. This way, you'll never miss anything of importance in the NextReality landscape, and will always know what's going on with new augmented and mixed reality tech and applications. The first one starts right now, and you can enjoy future ones every Tuesday going forward, so stay tuned.
Join the Party: Now Anyone Can Become a Glass Explorer
Update: April 24, 2014 Looks the the one day availability was a precursor to a wider launch, as now anyone can buy a pair of the Glass Explorer Edition without needing an invite. Check out Google's Glass Shop for some easy ordering, still with the $1500 price tag.
News: Apple Continues Assembling AR Arsenal with Acquisition of Spektral's Background Removal Tech, Report Says
Adding another arrow to its quiver of augmented reality acquisitions, Apple has reportedly acquired Spektral, a computer vision company with technology for real-time compositing (otherwise know as the "green screen" technique in broadcast TV and film).
Market Reality: Analysts Continue to Paint Rosy Picture for Augmented Reality Industry
While the numbers may not always seem to agree, the message remains the same: augmented reality is a growth segment. This week's edition of Market Reality starts with two new reports outlining the expected good fortunes for the industry and concludes with an example of a company capitalizing on their own growth.
News: Xperiel's Vision of a Real World Web Is a Better, AR Version of the Internet
Mixed reality can give you the feeling that you've uncovered a hidden world layered into the physical one you already know. This can happen in so many ways, from a trading card that births a hologram or a first-person shooter with robots blasting through your walls. Xperiel—a California-based augmented and mixed reality company—wants to create a platform to make that a whole lot easier for developers.
News: The Government Is Coming for Your HMDs!
Beware: After a new caucus — the Congressional Caucus on Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Technologies for the 115th Congress — formed in the US House of Representatives, the government has decided to go after all mixed reality head-mounted displays. The HoloLens, Magic Leap — nothing is safe anymore.