When Magic Leap One owners unbox their new devices over the next few months (or, if they are lucky, days), they will have some familiar augmented reality news content to consume.
That's because the augmented reality coverage available via the NY Time app for iOS and Android will be available to Magic Leap users via the Helio browser.
The first news story available on the Magic Leap One (as well as iOS and Android) will be 3D imagery of wreckage left behind by the recent volcanic eruption in Guatemala.
"The New York Times is dedicated to helping people understand the world through unrivaled, on-the-ground, expert and deeply reported independent journalism," said Steve Duenes, assistant managing editor of The New York Times, in a statement. "As we continue to integrate new forms of storytelling, like mixed reality, into our news report, we are able to bring Times journalism to readers in a way that makes it more immediate than ever before."
According to a company spokesperson, other AR news coverage from the publisher is not yet available on the Magic Leap One, though some content will be viewable through the iOS and Android apps. For instance, the most recent story, a presentation of the damage left behind by fire tornadoes spawned from California's ongoing wildfires, is not available on ML1 as of yet.
Other past stories include up-close views of detonated chemical weapons in Syria, intimate views of David Bowie's historic stage costumes, and Winter Olympics athletes.
The spokesperson did not reveal whether past stories would be adapted for the Helios browser, nor did he elaborate on any technical limitations for displaying the content. According to Magic Leap's webpage, Prismatic, a library for 3D web experiences, enables webmasters to develop "spatial websites" via CSS and Javascript. So it would appear some extra coding may be necessary to get other AR experiences up-and-running.
The Times is claiming the title of the only publisher with an AR experience on the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition, but that title may not hold for long. Magic Leap has a deal in place to bring motion comics from Madefire to the platform as well.
In 2015, the Times began its immersive content production with VR, moving on to 360 video in 2016, and then AR coverage in 2018. Making its content available for Magic Leap is a natural extension of its immersive strategy.
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