First Base

The beginning of autumn has delivered a number of new augmented reality developments, and we're on top of it. This week, NASA launched several major new initiatives that involve AR as an essential piece of the puzzle. Also, Magic Leap's history turned a major new corner, whil ...more

The year leading into fall is turning out to be packed with a flurry of augmented reality activity. Most notably, TikTok is adding another major weapon to its AR arsenal. Also on deck are the powers of Hollywood horror in the form of an innovative approach to AR marketing that ...more

The last few weeks were fairly busy in the realm of augmented reality and remote meetings developments. Most of that activity was generated by some mammoth announcements from Snap and its Spectacles AR smartglasses, and Google, with its Project Starline experimental holographi ...more

In the Facebook app for Android and iOS, the shortcut bar has a few necessary tabs to go home and view notifications and settings. But other tabs can make the interface feel cluttered if you don't use them often enough — or at all. Thankfully, there's a quick trick to get rid ...more

Sure, Microsoft has mostly marketed its HoloLens headsets towards enterprises and developers, but we learned this week that, like every other tech giant, the company is working on a consumer-grade AR wearable. Speaking of consumer smartglasses, Apple made another strategic inv ...more

Samsung and Google have done some amazing work together in the past, particularly with Android related projects. But after years of an inexplicable lack of interoperability, the primary smart home hardware divisions from both companies are finally on the same page — starting r ...more

There are a lot of cool shortcuts you could run on your iPhone, but in iOS 13 and iOS 14, you'll likely see a notification any time you try to run an automation. Shortcuts should feel seamless when their actions are performed, and getting a banner alert each time one initializ ...more

Samsung's stock Galaxy Themes system leaves much to be desired with its restrictive and expensive theme packs. Back in the day, the gold standard for Android theming was CyanogenMod Theme Engine. And while it no longer exists, a successor has emerged to fill the void. Hex Ins ...more

The Pi-hole project is a popular DNS-level ad blocker, but it can be much more than that. Its DNS-level filtering can also be used as a firewall of sorts to prevent malicious websites from resolving, as well as to keep privacy-killing trackers such as Google Analytics from eve ...more

Knowing just one or two programming languages is no longer sufficient if you want to make serious money in the lucrative world of web design and development. But the good news is that you don't need to spend an excessive amount of time or money on a traditional coding educatio ...more

Apple released iOS 13.4.1 to the public on April 7 but also pushed out the update for the new second-generation iPhone SE model on April 23, one day before the device's official release. The update fixes a FaceTime bug and Bluetooth quick action failure that appeared in iOS 13 ...more

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. Don't Miss: Hands-On with the Nreal Light, Sma ...more

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. And while some are wondering what the future holds for the EU-less UK, the country is kicking off ...more

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. That's the d ...more

Snapchat is probably used to Facebook copying its features by now, but Apple borrowing a page out of its playbook is likely a bit more surprising. But that's exactly what has happened, as Apple has added custom actions to its AR Quick Look protocol for web-based AR content th ...more

There might not be a better brand partnership for the speedy Sonic the Hedgehog character than a fast-food restaurant. For that matter, augmented reality is also the ideal technology for promoting a movie that features an animated talking rodent living life in the real world. ...more

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. Now the virus ...more

The international profile of augmented reality startup Nreal continues to quietly rise thanks to gradual updates and various strategic branding opportunities. Among the latest and most prominent is the appearance of none other than Hollywood legend Kevin Bacon using the Nreal ...more

As helpful as it is, Google Maps isn't the only mapping app with augmented reality walking navigation anymore. This week, Israel-based startup Moovit introduced a new AR navigation feature called Way Finder for its eponymous navigation app for public transit and ridesharing s ...more

The first headset running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset from an original equipment manufacturer is official. On Monday at the San Francisco Photonics West conference, startup Lynx unveiled the Lynx Mixed Reality Headset. The headset is a $1500 passthrough AR/VR weara ...more

With No Time to Die, the 25th installment in the James Bond saga, arriving in April and Black Widow, the first solo film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's own secret agent, following a month later, what better way to get in the espionage mood than some augmented reality spy ...more

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. Therefore, it only makes sense to give the company's latest art-as-marketing ...more

Using Apple Pay in stores to make purchases is as easy as holding your iPhone near the NFC reader and authenticating with Face ID or Touch ID. That method uses the primary payment card in Apple Wallet automatically, and your primary card may change from week to week based on y ...more

Augmented reality already seemed like the ideal technology to advertise for a movie based on the premise of being sucked into a video game world the first time around. For the sequel, how about two times the immersion? After previously working together to create a web-based a ...more

Usually, flying into unknown territory would mean riding into the "danger zone", but Paramount and Snapchat are taking the trip anyway with one of Summer 2020's most anticipated movie sequels. On Monday, Snapchat published a trailer reaction Lens, the first of its kind for th ...more

After stealing the show at the HoloLens 2 launch and starring in Qualcomm's unveiling the Snapdragon XR2, holographic video conferencing app Spatial has landed a leading role in Magic Leap's second act with the enterprise segment. This week, Spatial announced that its 3D remo ...more

A little over a year after emerging from stealth, augmented reality gaming startup Illumix has launched its first title using a familiar formula, but with a new twist. On Monday, the company, working in partnership with Scott Games, launched Five Nights at Freddy's AR Special ...more

After three years and change, no one seems to be able to knock Pokémon GO off its augmented reality throne. Zombies, dinosaurs, and ghosts have all met defeat at the hands of the pocket monsters. Heck, not even the world's most popular wizard and Pokémon GO's developer can rep ...more

After leveraging the well-known intellectual property of Rovio's Angry Birds for its first game for the Magic Leap One, Resolution Games is singing a new song with a familiar refrain for its next game for the augmented reality headset. On Thursday, the game developer unveiled ...more

Halloween is barely in the rearview mirror, but Coca-Cola is ready to bypass Thanksgiving altogether to accelerate the arrival of Christmas, and the brand has enlisted augmented reality as an accomplice. On Tuesday, the company introduced its holiday packaging for its Coca-Co ...more

After talking up the Magicverse for the past year and adding new capabilities to Lumin OS to accommodate it, Magic Leap appears to be inching ever closer to actually launching its cross-platform flavor of the AR cloud while introducing a new tool for its development community. ...more

Just as Apple, Snapchat, and other tech giants are working on augmented reality wearables in the race to replace smartphones for the future of mobile computing, so is Samsung. However, Samsung is actually betting on a few different horses in this race. One of those recent be ...more

Higher-fidelity 3D content and next-generation AR experiences take more computing power than most modern AR headsets and mobile devices can handle. But Nvidia is introducing a new cloud-based solution to address that need that will stream AR content to modern devices. During ...more

Samsung launched One UI in 2018 to replace the now infamous TouchWiz. Since then, things have been looking pretty bright for Galaxy users. Now, the much-anticipated arrival of Android 10 is ushering in the One UI 2.0 era, including a new set of gesture-based controls. Since y ...more

Big-box retailer Target has been on a bit of an augmented reality advertising shopping spree via Snapchat lately. The latest example, revealed on Tuesday, comes via a pair of Halloween-themed experiences, available in the camera carousel in Snapchat. Don't Miss: Snapchat Is ...more

Sure, Tony Stark was able to build the original Iron Man suit in a cave with a box of scraps, but can the average do-it-yourselfer replicate the EDITH smartglasses from Spider-Man: Far From Home in a similar fashion? Evidently, the answer is yes, as YouTuber Jake Laser, whose ...more

We've got almost a full year until the next installment of Ghostbusters arrives, but in the meantime, it turns out that Sony is about to launch an augmented reality experience that will let fans use immersive computing to combat the franchise's whimsical apparitions. Starting ...more

It looks like Jaunt's pivot from VR to volumetric captures services for augmented reality experiences has paid off. That's because Verizon has now acquired the company for an undisclosed amount, per a brief announcement issued by Jaunt on Monday. Don't Miss: The Future of Au ...more

Apple's iOS 13 is nearly here. After four months of beta testing, the latest iPhone software update promises over 200 brand new features, like system-wide dark mode and an overhauled Reminders app. That said, it'll be shortlived, as Apple plans to release iOS 13.1 as a supplem ...more

Apple has pulled quite the headscratcher in anticipation of its big iPhone unveiling next week. Its latest iPhone update, iOS 13.0, is just on the horizon, going through eight beta versions so far. And yet, before that software's official release, the company has started beta ...more

Augmented reality can be more than simply a way to enhance navigation, or superimpose virtual sunglasses onto your face. It can also be a platform for shining a light on important social issues. A new film called These Sleepless Nights, which debuted at the 76th Venice Intern ...more

Parkinson's disease, a condition that can impair movement and coordination, affects over 10 million people worldwide. And with around 60,000 Americans being diagnosed every year, we're on track to see almost one million Parkinson's afflicted Americans by 2020. Thankfully, the ...more

Beta testing certainly has its perks. While you do need to deal with bugs, you're introduced to new features before the general community. And if we're talking iPhones, there are over 200 new features in iOS 13 beta. If you're already on board with iOS 13 public beta 6 for iPh ...more

When you think about it, isn't life just one big open-world RPG just begging to be conquered? We all have a set number of specific tasks or chores we must complete every single day like clockwork. Sometimes, these items on our to-do list can become tedious and cause us to lose ...more

The augmented reality cloud will probably be one of the most important pieces of digital real estate in the next few years, and China has no intention of being left out of the virtual land grab. During Huawei's Developer Conference this weekend, the company took the wraps off ...more

We already know that major players like Magic Leap have been planting the seeds of augmented reality for mainstream consumers through wireless partnerships with AT&T, NTT Docomo, SK Telecom. But now, one of India's leading telecom companies has joined forces with a much lesse ...more

Apple Card has generated quite the buzz since its March 2019 announcement. The iPhone maker's new credit card pairs with Apple Wallet on your device, is simple to sign up for, includes enhanced security over other cards, has zero fees, and provides daily rewards right to your ...more

Already among the first game makers to add augmented reality content to an existing game upon the launch of ARKit, Zynga is breaking new ground with mobile AR once again. On Wednesday, the game maker's Custom Street Racer 2 (CSR2) racing game, a free download for iOS and Andr ...more

The art of emoji — the next level beyond the simple text-based emoticons we used once upon a time in the not so distant past. We rely upon emojis so much in our always-connected world of today simply because they help portray emotion into our typed out words. They've not been ...more

Apple Card, Apple's foray into credit cards, is to be released this summer. There's no exact date set yet for when you can apply for one or when iOS will support it, but it's getting close. Apple just released iOS 12.4 developer and public beta 7, meaning we're almost there si ...more

With the latest version of ARKit and a new set augmented reality development tools set to arrive this Fall with iOS 13, Apple has taken an unprecedented step in recruiting Chinese developers to fill the App Store with mobile AR apps now, likely with an eye to the future. On W ...more

Apple's upcoming iOS 12.4 isn't the company's most exciting release on its surface, given iOS 13's impending fall unveiling. However, anyone interested in Apple's in-the-works credit card, Apple Card, will need iOS 12.4 on their iPhone to use the card, and that day seems to be ...more

Contrary to popular belief, it takes more than just one artist to create the sound, lyrics, and vocals of a song. With most music being enjoyed digitally nowadays, it's harder to know all of a track's collaborators, as this info used to be in the CD booklet. Well with Tidal, y ...more

In the Tom Holland era, it appears to be impossible to promote a new Spider-Man movie without an augmented reality experience, a trend that continues with Spider-Man: Far From Home. Starting on Thursday, Papa John's customers who order a Superhero XL two-topping pizza can sca ...more

With the third season of Netflix's hit series Stranger Things set to debut July 4, it's time to crank up the hype machine, this time, in augmented reality. For its latest promotion, Netflix has summoned the AR powers of Snapchat to bring "the upside down," the alternate dimen ...more

Even three years after its initial release, Niantic's Pokémon GO is still going strong. If you're an Android user still on the hunt for your city's latest Pokémon haul, however, you'll want to listen up — Niantic is cutting support for aging Android devices, meaning soon your ...more

In a legal brief entered on Monday, Florida-based startup Magic Leap has filed suit against the founder of Nreal, a former employee of Magic Leap, claiming that the company's Nreal Light smartglasses were built using Magic Leap's intellectual property. The documents, which we ...more

After one of Britain's "Brothers Bling" bought Blippar out of bankruptcy, the mobile augmented reality company is getting back to business with the addition of web-based AR capabilities to its platform. On Thursday, Blippar revealed that an update of its Blippbuilder AR platf ...more

Perhaps it's a coincidence that the Vuzix Blade smartglasses look like the sunglasses that a police officer would wear, but a new partnership with an AI software company makes the wearable a perfect fit for law enforcement. The iFalcon Face Control Mobile system pairs facial ...more

The natural marriage between fashion and augmented reality is charging onward, but not just from the major brands we already know about. A new Los Angeles-based startup called Kollectin has decided to harness the power of AR to power its entry into the fashion accessories mar ...more