Everything Else
Market Reality: HoloLens 2 Goes to Battle, Talespin Gets Funding for AR Training, & Nreal Light Adds Gesture Interface
The results of Microsoft's $480 million contract with the US Army are on display and users continue to test the suped-up version of the HoloLens 2.
News: Nreal Light Adds Hand Tracking via Partnership with Clay AIR
The powers of the Nreal Light continue to increase incrementally with each passing week. Now, the latest feature added to the device is possibly the most requested feature for anyone who has tried the Nreal Light: hand tracking.
News: UK Wireless Giant Three Promos 5G for AR, VR, & Smartphones with Wild Sci-Fi Video That's Better Than Some Movies
The entire wireless industry is working overtime to convince the world that 5G, and the higher prices associated with the faster speeds it affords, will not only be worth it but will deliver never-before-seen wonders. But few companies have produced such a stunningly well-done sales job as Three, one of the leading wireless giants in the UK.
News: Talespin Raises $15 Million from HTC & Cornerstone to Build AR & VR Training Solutions
While the rest of the world is scrambling to figure out how to adopt augmented reality and VR tools for remote meetings, one company is building its war chest to serve the growing space of corporate clients who need this kind of immersive computing training.
News: Apple Files Patent Application for Automatic AR Lens Adjustment via Proximity Sensors
One of the worst-kept secrets in the tech world is Apple's plans for consumer-grade AR smartglasses, still unconfirmed publicly and only recently corroborated through a leaked account of an internal employee meeting.
Market Reality: Facebook Cancels F8, Magic Leap Invites Developers to Headquarters, & Snapchat Promotes New UK Currency
Amid the coronavirus chaos, two companies at the forefront of augmented reality technology took starkly different approaches to their upcoming developers conferences, as Facebook has canceled its annual F8 conference and Magic Leap plans to invite a limited number of attendees to its Florida headquarters for LEAP Developer Days.
News: Apple & Tim Cook Back Civil Rights Augmented Reality Experience & Tech Education in Alabama
As a native of Alabama, Apple CEO Tim Cook has a special place in his heart for the state. He also empathizes with the struggles that African-Americans have historically faced in the state, particularly during the 1950s and '60s civil rights era.
News: Facebook Cancels Annual F8 Developer Conference Due to Coronavirus Concerns
Facebook has announced the cancelation of its annual F8 developer conference, citing concerns around the developing coronavirus health crisis.
News: Qualcomm Unveils Reference Design for AR Wearables Running on Snapdragon XR2
Following its dominance as a provider of silicon for smartphones, Qualcomm is eager to replicate that ubiquity with not only processors for augmented reality headsets but also reference designs to give device makers a head start.
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.
Market Reality: HTC Vive Concept Smartglasses, Coronavirus Hits Apple, Holographic Celebs, & Snapchat Ground Effects
The coronavirus continues to disrupt the tech industry, including the augmented reality segment, with Apple and the iPhone the latest to feel the impact.
News: Bank of England Teams with Snapchat to Embed AR Animation in New 20-Pound Banknotes
The UK has officially exited the European Union, completing the long and tumultuous Brexit story and putting the storied nation once again on its own on the international stage.
News: How Whitney Houston's New Hologram Tour Is Proof That Virtual Beings & Volumetric Performances Are Going Mainstream
We've been so worried about volumetric scans possibly robbing celebrities and performers of their agency and right to control their image that, somewhere along the way, we forgot that scans may not always be necessary to produce passable holographic performances.
News: Apple Reveals Upcoming iPhone Shortage in Wake of Coronavirus Issues
If you thought the news coming from China about the coronavirus might not affect your daily life in Europe and in the Americas, think again.
Market Reality: Nreal Light Goes Hollywood, Coronavirus Disrupts AR Industry, & Apple Takes on Snapchat
Smartglasses startup Nreal enjoyed some highs and endured some lows this week, as the company landed a product placement with Kevin Bacon but then faced production issues related to the coronavirus outbreak.
News: Google Prepares to Ship Web-Based AR Support in Chrome 81
Web-based mobile augmented reality technology continues to gain momentum as Google is set to expand the standard for immersive web content to AR.
News: Nreal Pauses Smartglasses Production as Coronavirus Issues Impact China, Amazon, Facebook, Intel, & Nvidia Exit MWC
The deadly Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has not only has claimed lives in China but also has caused disruption around the globe, particularly in the tech industry. To date, the virus has claimed more than 1,000 lives in China, according to the country's officials.
News: Nreal Light Lands Kevin Bacon Hollywood Boost for 5G Smartglasses, CEO Cozies Up with HoloLens Chief
The international profile of augmented reality startup Nreal continues to quietly rise thanks to gradual updates and various strategic branding opportunities.
Market Reality: Apple Adds AR Gaming to Arcade, Google Expands Availability of Glass, & Daqri Patents Hit Auction Block
While Apple's AR wearables development continues clandestinely, its mobile ecosystem is laying the foundation for the software side of its smartglasses, with Apple Arcade serving as the latest example.
News: Magic Leap, Intel Bring Augmented Reality Cinema to SXSW
In the late nineteenth century, the advent of the motion picture wowed audiences with a new storytelling medium. Nearly a century and a half later, augmented reality is establishing a new frontier in film.
News: Daqri's Patent Portfolio & Trademarks Put Up for Sale
After closing its office last year, enterprise AR company Daqri has moved on to the final stage of its lifecycle with the liquidation of its assets.
News: The Lynx Mixed Reality Headset Will Be the First Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Device — Arriving This Summer
The first headset running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset from an original equipment manufacturer is official.
Market Reality: Apple Sets Stage for AR Smartglasses, Spatial Adds Funding, & Pinterest Enters AR Makeup Game
We may or may not see Apple's long-awaited take on AR smartglasses this year, but the company is more than getting its practice swings in with its current wearables business, which hit record revenue in 2019 according to financial results released this week.
News: Squarepusher Music Video Layers Tokyo, Japan with Augmented Reality Through the Lenses of Concept Smartglasses
Legendary drum-and-bass artist Squarepusher, the Warp records labelmate of fellow electronic music legend Aphex Twin, is back with his fifteenth album called Be Up a Hello, which is set to drop on Feb. 1.
News: Spatial Raises $14 Million to Improve Augmented Reality Telepresence Platform for HoloLens & Magic Leap
Having emerged as one of the leading augmented reality video conferencing apps, Spatial is ready to improve upon the experience.
News: What Apple's Record Wearables Earnings Could Mean for Its AR Smartglasses Future
This week's Apple earnings offered a report of solid performance and guarded optimism about future iPhone sales, which may be impacted later this year by issues around the current coronavirus epidemic in China.
Market Reality: Apple, Snap, & Google Execs Talk AR, Form Takes AR to the Pool, & Octi Pivots to AR Social Networking
Some of the leading big tech companies are still working in the lab on actual products, but at least some of their leadership did have some thoughts to share on the future direction of the technology this week.
News: Apple Recruitment Video Features Augmented Reality Clues at the Center of Call for New Team Members
Whenever a new Apple event invite arrives, the entire tech industry begins tearing the invite's graphics apart in a bid to decipher what the company may be planning on releasing in the coming weeks.
Hands-On: Form Smart Swim Goggles Hit the Mark for Aquatics Athletes
Despite some of the biggest players in tech still lagging in terms of offering smartglasses options, there are nevertheless a number of smartglasses makers, including North and Vuzix, with consumer-grade smartglasses on the market right now.
News: Qualcomm & Accenture Upgrade Event Planning with AR App for Nreal Light & Mobile
One of the hallmarks of augmented reality's coming of age is that the technology is starting to find a home in business categories that are less obvious compared to typical AR enterprise use cases.
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.
Market Reality: Apple & Snap Boost AR Features, Magic Leap & Nreal Work on Truce, & Mojo Vision Unveils Smart Contacts
While the big names in augmented reality demonstrated the breadth of opportunities in the industry's landscape this week, one new startup showed off what is possible further in the future.
News: This Is Why All Augmented Reality Startups Suck
People fundamentally distrust magicians. And they should. The illusions they proffer are just that, illusions meant to astound rather than tangible interactions and results that have weight and meaning in our real world. Our lizard brains know this, and, no matter what the outstanding feat of "magic" presented, we nevertheless hold fast to our survival-based grip on the truth: we just saw simply "can't be real."
News: Startup Mojo Vision Seeking FDA Approval for First Augmented Reality Smart Contact Lens
After more than two years of teasing, augmented reality startup Mojo Vision has confirmed that "invisible computing" means what we've suspected all along.
News: Startup Ubiquity6 Expands 3D Object Social Network into AR Cloud Creation with Display.land Studio
After dipping its toes into the AR cloud arena last year, Ubiquity6 is now jumping in with both feet this year.
News: Apple Launches Reality Converter to Prepare 3D Objects for Reality Composer
After introducing and launching Reality Composer alongside iOS 13 and ARKit 3 last year, Apple is making it easier for developers to create apps with it.
News: Artists Transform Brooklyn Light Installation into Instagram AR Filter That Doubles as Dimensional Portal
What if you went to an art installation at one of the coolest venues in New York that you could then take with you anywhere in the world?
Market Reality: Samsung Prototype, Mastercard App, Plus Vuzix, 0Glasses, & Pacific Future AR Wearables Shown Off at CES
In years past, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) mostly dabbled in the future as far as the long-term vision for augmented reality was concerned. This year, however, objects in the future are much closer than they appear.
News: Hong Kong Startup's Am Glass Wearable Offers Powerful Augmented Reality Smartglasses Alternative to Nreal Light
We've been predicting the rush of augmented reality wearable makers from China for a couple of years, and now it looks like it's in full swing, with one of the most promising entrants coming from startup Pacific Future.
News: BMW Augmented Reality Windshield Concept Adds Gaze Detection for Natural Interaction
While the automotive industry is moving towards adopting AR displays in future models, BMW is already shifting into the next gear with its vision of the technology.