Next Reality News

News: Unity 5.6 Just Released with New Features for Game Developers

Unity 5.6 was just released on March 31, and it will be the last entry in the Unity 5 cycle. With all of the new features, it looks like Unity 5 is going out with a bang.

News: Experience Holograms in Your Pocket with 4DViews' New AR & VR Mobile App

4DViews, the volumetric capture company that films actors and performers in augmented and virtual reality for things like movies, TV series, and applications, has just released the app 4DViews: Raise Virtual to Reality, to demonstrate its technology for smartphones.

News: Jeep's New AR Experience Lets You Interact with a Car That Isn't Actually There

Jeep has now jumped on the AR-retail trend with their introduction of the Jeep Compass Visualizer. Customers can now view and customize a Jeep Compass to their liking, all without a real Jeep even present.

News: B2B Software Company Kaon Bets Big on Google's Tango Phones & AR

At the moment, it would be safe to say that demand for devices running Tango, Google's augmented reality smartphone platform, is relatively low among consumers. Kaon Interactive, a B2B software company who has built more than 5,000 interactive applications for use at trade shows, remote sales demonstrations, and other customer engagements, is betting that there is a market for the devices in sales and marketing.

News: VRLA Expo Prepares to Host Mixed Reality Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Bunny is about to get his first experience with mixed reality. Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) will host its third annual expo in April, and this year's attendees will get to experience a fun Easter egg hunt sponsored by AfterNow and VRLA, in partnership with mixed reality king, the Microsoft HoloLens.

News: Augmented Reality Can Make Good-for-You Food Look More Attractive, Making It Easier to Eat Well

Augmented reality seems to be the talk of the town lately, with everything from glasses to furniture stores prepping to implement exciting, new AR technology. Well now, it looks like even our food is getting a makeover for the augmented reality future.

News: The Most Exciting Events Coming Up at Augmented World Expo 2017 in May

Coming up at the end of May is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to all things augmented and virtual reality, the Augmented World Expo, more commonly known just as AWE. And this year, a few of us from NextReality are going to be there.

News: ASUS Rumored to Turn AR & VR Departments into Independent Startup

ASUS is gearing up to move its augmented and virtual reality departments into an independent startup named Glamorfy, according to a recent report from tech news site Fudzilla.

News: Facebook Copies Snapchat Again by Putting Augmented Reality Camera Filters in the Main Facebook App

Facebook is aware that Snapchat is killing the social media game amongst the youths, which makes sense, because in 2017, video is king in social media currency. Facebook has continually shown that Mark Zuckerberg and crew seem to think the best strategy to keep up is to simply copy them.

News: 'Create Magic in Seconds' with Lightform's New Computer Made to Project Augmented Reality

Lightform might just be the thing to have at your next party. The San Francisco-based company just created the first computer ever able to connect to a projector and instantly scan 3D scenes to mix reality with projected light.

News: Shopping for a New Couch? Amazon Wants You to See It in Your Home (While You're Still in the Store)

Amazon has been toying with the idea of opening physical retail stores for some time now, even opening old-fashioned bookstores in select locations and teasing cashier-less convenience stores. But the online retailer has some new ideas in the works, including implementing virtual and augmented reality into retail home stores.

News: Bob Iger Says AR, Not VR, Is the Way of the Future for Disney Parks

Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has out and out rejected Virtual Reality (VR) as a component of any Disney Theme park. While Knott's Berry Farm, why-hasn't-this-chain-shut-down-yet Sea World (seriously, RIP Tillikum), and Six Flags have all invested in VR to help spice up their parks in this theme park depression period, Iger has "ordered his team not to even think about it." Iger instead is very much onboard the Augmented Reality (AR) train.

News: 360world's Windows Mixed Reality Tools Will Help Air Traffic Controllers See in New Ways

360world, a Hungary-based tech company involved in motion control and augmented reality, released information today about their latest products, the CLAIRITY HoloTower and CLAIRITY SmartBinocular. These tools are designed to bring augmented reality into the hands of air traffic controllers, via Windows Mixed Reality, to greatly improve their workflow over tools already in use.

News: Lowe's New Tango-Based App Helps Shoppers Find Products They Need

Lowe's Home Improvement laid another brick in their augmented reality foundation with today's announcement of a new app for Tango-enabled smartphones.

News: DottyAR Lets You View 3D Models on Smartphones & Coming Soon to ODG Smartglasses

While augmented reality is mostly in the minds of consumers in the form of Pokémon GO, AR has been popular behind the scenes, with AR companies marketing it as a tool to help business operations become more efficient. This business-to-business market is the target of the new app DOTTYAR, which "provides 3D visualization tools for augmented reality viewers."

News: New Training Simulation Concept Enables Safe Crane Operation Through HoloLens

A proof of concept for an overhead crane training simulator is in the works. Using Microsoft HoloLens and an industrial-style controller, trainees can pick up holographic loads and transport them throughout a warehouse setting.

News: Archer AR App Deputizes Viewers as Detectives

The producers of FX's animated series Archer have devised a plan to introduce augmented reality hijinks into its eighth and penultimate season with a new app for iOS and Android devices.

News: Detailed 3D Mining Maps & Future Reclamation Views Highlighted in Proof-of-Concept HoloLens App

LOOOK, a Seattle-based mixed reality and development studio, can now peer into the future with their new geotechnical engineering visualization application for Microsoft HoloLens.

News: Adobe Integrates with HoloLens for Personalized Marketing

At Adobe Summit 2017 this week, Adobe announced they are looking to occupy a new space in the market by combining their analytic capabilities with augmented reality. Teaming up with Microsoft, the company has combined Adobe Sensei software with the HoloLens, reports GeekWire. Together, the tech and software create a new tool for retailers to track their consumers' habits.

News: This One Chart Lays Out All the AR Companies You NEED to Know About

Super Ventures has published "The AR Landscape," a chart encompassing the major players and startups that are shaping augmented reality. Launched in February as the first incubator and fund focused on augmented reality, Super Ventures outlines companies working augmented reality applications, tools, devices, input/output methods, and components. The AR Landscape lists 312 companies, representing $12.1 billion in funding and $69.6 billion valuation. It runs the gamut from startups and innovato...

News: UC Berkeley Team Commands Drone Fleet with HoloLens

User interfaces for computers have evolved over the years, from the introduction of the keyboard and mouse on the personal computer, to touchscreens on mobile devices, to natural voice recognition. However, the same cannot be said for robots or drones—until now.

News: French Art Exhibit 'Mirages & Miracles' Combines Sculptures, Drawings & AR

The conversation around augmented reality has largely been focused on apps and gaming, and how AR can be used as a marketing tool. However, a new exhibit at France's Scène Nationale Albi is using AR for more artistic expression.

News: Design Your Dream Room with Pottery Barn's New Augmented Reality App

Pottery Barn has teamed up with Google to create 3D Room View, a new mobile app to allow all wannabe interior designers (like me) to pick out the perfect couch, table, or whatever, and then overlay it onto a spot in his or her house.

News: Apple Built Its Augmented Reality Group with Outsiders from Oculus & Microsoft

Apple is combining internal and external talent in an effort to give them in edge in the augmented reality market, though we still don't know what form their foray into alternative realities will actually take.

News: Apple Granted Patent to Make Augmented Reality Maps—Hinting at a Cool, Futuristic Version of Our Well-Worn Maps App

Apple recently scored a patent (number 9,488,488) to create augmented reality maps, hinting at possible AR integration into the iOS Maps application for iPhone. Does this mean we'll be seeing super visionary projections of places in the app in the near future? Maybe.

Hands-On: Our Detailed Look at Osterhout Design Group's R-8 & R-9 Smartglasses

I had the opportunity to speak with the COO of Osterhout Design Group, Pete Jameson, shortly before the announcement of the company's R-8 and R-9 smartglasses models at CES in January. And while I sadly could not make it to CES to test the smart specs out right away, ODG invited me to do just that while I was in San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference.

News: The Washington Post to Start Using Augmented Reality to Tell Better Stories

The Washington Post believes augmented reality adds an extra layer to stories, and they're doubling down on that belief by adding in new AR features into their already popular "rainbow" news (iOS and Android) and Classic (iOS and Android) news apps.

News: Watch a Demo of Leap Motion's Mobile Hand Tracking in New Video

Leap Motion, an augmented and virtual reality control system, has proven to be a force of nature when it comes to pushing hand-tracking tech forward. Now they've released a video showcasing their "Blocks" demo, which is already integrated into the reference headset kit designed by Qualcomm for VR companies "to take and sell their own branded devices with."

News: DAQRI Hires Xbox Creator to Accelerate AR Development

Augmented reality upstart DAQRI announced today that it has strengthened their in-house talent by recruiting renowned physicist Seamus Blackley and acquiring a team of 15 engineers and scientists from Heat Engine, LLC.

News: Coachella Partnered with Camera IQ to Alter Your Festival Experience with Hidden AR Easter Egg Hunts & More

Any stoked Coachella-goers out there? Well, get even more excited, because the celebrated music festival has partnered with virtual reality company vantage.tv and software platform Camera IQ this year to take the Coachella VR/AR app to augmented reality paradise.

News: Shazam Sets Sights on AR Advertising with iPhone & Android App Updates

The company that pioneered music scanning for mobile devices is moving into the augmented reality advertising arena. Included in an update of their iOS and Android apps last week, Shazam can now scan special codes to immerse users in 3D animations, 360-degree videos, mini-games, and other AR content.

News: Sephora's ModiFace-Powered AR App Gives Users Even More Makeup Combinations & Hands-on Tutorials

Listen up ladies, there's no need to go to Sephora and model a hundred different shades of lipstick anymore. Now with Virtual Artist, Sephora's award-winning app, for iOS and Android, you can virtually test thousands of shades of single and palette eyeshadows, lip colors, and even false eyelash styles from their new augmented reality-based feature.

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: Interactive Surface Developer Lampix AR/VR Winner of SXSW Accelerator Event

Judges at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Accelerator Pitch Event named Lampix the winner in the Augmented and Virtual Reality category, conference organizers announced today. The ninth annual competition, which took place over the weekend in Austin, Texas, pitted 50 startup finalists against each other in 10 technology categories.

Video: Cortana Can Help in Windows Insider Preview Build 15055's Mixed Reality Portal

A new Windows Insider Preview, version 15055, was released on Friday, March 10. Along with the normal collection of bug fixes and new features came a secret addition to the Mixed Reality Portal in the update. Windows Mixed Reality, along with Cortana, can now teach you how to use the platform, and, hopefully, usher in with it some understanding of what mixed reality is.

News: Microsoft's HoloLens Partnership Program Grows Internationally

In an early morning blog post, Microsoft announced the expansion of the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program. This announcement comes on the tail of an expanded HoloLens release over the last few months to many countries outside the initial US and Canada.

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: Augmented Reality Empowers Indonesian Women to Operate Online Stores

While its direct-selling model echoes brands like Avon and Tupperware, Indonesia's MindStores gives the approach a modern twist—with augmented reality.

News: Bosch Wants to Speed Up AR Adoption in the Auto Industry

While there are many uses for augmented reality in the automotive industry, adoption has been slow. With the plethora of makes and models on the road today and rolling off assembly lines tomorrow, developing and deploying knowledge bases that utilize augmented reality to dealerships and garages can be costly and difficult to scale.

News: Chairish App Now Lets You Try Before You Buy (With Augmented Reality)

Chairish, Inc. is the latest furniture retailer to bring augmented reality into its mobile stores, adding features for users to visualize products in their homes.