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.

However, with 75 percent of companies expressing interest in augmented reality tools, the bandwagon could start to get crowded soon. This week, Halliburton, New York Jets, and CyberLink hop aboard.

Halliburton Partners with Microsoft to Bring AR to Oil & Gas Industry

Exploration and production services firm Halliburton has aligned with Microsoft to offer digital transformation services for companies in the oil and gas industry.

Among the services the alliance will offer prospective clients is an augmented reality solution. Using HoloLens and Surface devices, the alliance will offer augmented and virtual reality, voice and image recognition, and video processing to provide digital models of physical assets for oil and gas companies.

"Halliburton is at the forefront of the digital transformation occurring in the E&P industry. We believe open architecture and community-based innovation are necessary to drive this fundamental change and we're proud to work closely with an industry leader like Microsoft to deliver tailored E&P digital business solutions to our customers across the globe," said Nagaraj Srinivasan, senior vice president of Landmark and Halliburton Digital Solutions in a news release.

New York Jets Huddle with Xperiel to Create AR Experience for Home Games

If preseason prognostications are accurate, the New York Jets won't be first in many categories in the National Football League this season. They will, however, be first among their peers in offering an augmented reality experience at their home field, MetLife Stadium.

The team has drafted Xperiel to integrate augmented reality experiences into their mobile app for iOS and Android.

Fans attending games at MetLife Stadium as well as those rooting along at home will be able to join in the action through augmented reality games and digital recreations of in-stadium activities. For example, "I Called It!" challenges fans to predict the next play. Participating fans accrue points and compete for prizes.

"A New York Jets home game is a great blend of time-honored stadium traditions and cutting edge technologies like real-time play-along gaming and augmented reality. This year we are taking a big step forward in digitizing the way our fans interact with the game, so that everyone, whether at MetLife Stadium or not, can get in on the fun and excitement of gameday through their mobile devices," said Seth Rabinowitz, senior vice president of marketing & fan engagement for the New York Jets, in a news release.

PerfectCam Offers Augmented Reality Makeup Tools for Video Conferencing

With the launch of PerfectCam, software provider CyberLink Corp. has joined augmented reality makeup space occupied by the likes of ModiFace and Perfect Corp.

Instead of using augmented reality to sell makeup, though, PerfectCam targets business professionals, particularly those who work remotely and need to look presentable for video conference calls. PerfectCam integrates augmented reality makeup tools for use in video conferencing, with support for Skype, Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, and their own U service. The service is available for a quarterly subscription of $9.99, but a 30-day free version is available.

"With online meetings becoming the norm as more businesses are virtual and more professionals work remotely, it's common to find yourself dealing with early morning and late evening video calls that cross time zones. PerfectCam is an innovative plugin for popular video conferencing apps that ensures no matter what time of day or night, you look professional and prepared," said Dr. Jau Huang, CEO of CyberLink in a news release.

Every Tuesday, Next Reality gives 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 Next Reality landscape, and will always know what's going on with new augmented and mixed reality tech and applications. You can browse previous Brief Reality reports, too, if you'd like.

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