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After installing the new iOS 11 update on one of our iPads, we noticed something peculiar — AirDrop simply stopped working. The button was still there in the revamped Control Center, but it was almost imperceptibly grayed out. Tapping it did nothing, nor did long-pressing or 3 ...more

Now that iOS 11 is officially rolling out to millions of iPhones, many users are upset with the fact that Apple has removed the 3D Touch multitasking gesture that we enjoyed in older iOS versions. Though not as fluid as this gesture, there is still a hidden way to quickly get ...more

While ARKit and ARCore are poised to bring AR experiences to millions of mobile devices, one company is poised to anchor those experiences anywhere in the world with just a set of geographic coordinates. The geospatial augmented reality platform Aireal enables developers to p ...more

IKEA won't be alone among ARKit apps for visualizing home décor and improvements when iOS 11 arrives next week. Unlike IKEA or Lowe's Home Improvement, Cambria and Markilux are hardly household names (no pun intended). Yet, with tools like ARKit and Google's ARCore, AR apps a ...more

One of the best things about Android is the ability to customize your phone to your liking. From changing the layout of icons to finding the perfect wallpaper to reflect your current mood, there's a wide range of tools to make your phone yours. One of the easiest ways is to t ...more

Every time you make a call or send a text, you're giving the recipient your phone number. This can be quite the security vulnerability, opening yourself up to scammers, spammers, and the feds. In this how-to, we'll look at what a burner phone is, why you might want one, and ho ...more

A virus easily spread among trout and salmon could make it harder to keep your favorite fish on the menu. The image of dead and dying fish below is from a fish hatchery in the middle of an epidemic of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV). The easily transmitted viru ...more

During Google Developer Days, taking place now at the ICE Congress Center in Krakow, Poland, an introductory session on ARCore provides some insights on how the platform operates. The presentation by Googler Tom Slater includes an overview on the three pillars by which ARCore ...more

A recent initiative by the Cherokee Nation American Indian Tribe delivers a success story for knocking out a silent killer — Hepatitis C. Most people know that hepatitis is a disease that has something to do with the liver. The name "hepatitis" means inflammation of the liver ...more

Zenko Games makes no apologies for its influences. In fact, they cite them explicitly in their own promotional materials for Diamonst AR. The forthcoming mobile game is reminiscent of turn-based role playing games like Magic, Hearthstone, and Yu-Gi-Oh, with missions and quest ...more

The world is a massive place, especially when you consider the field of view of your smartglasses or mobile device. To fulfill the potential promise of augmented reality, we must find a way to fill that view with useful and contextual information. Of course, the job of creatin ...more

Another day brings another Apple ARKit demo, this time for a first-person role playing game that inserts villagers, vendors, and villains into real world locations. Finnish developer Lauri Rustanius shared a series of videos via Twitter for a game called Genereal World that i ...more

A top executive from Baidu's telematics division believes the company will become the word leader in driverless by 2020, according to a report in today's South China Morning Post. Citing Xu Yongming, the general manager of Baidu's telematics division as the source, Baidu exec ...more

Unfortunately, the very places we go to receive health care put us at risk for becoming infected with superbugs, bacteria exposed to so many antibiotics that they have become immune to their effects. Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is one such bacteria. It causes inflammation ...more

Love is the spice of life — it is also the microbes that couples share through sickness and in health, through the bathroom and in a hallway. The skin is our largest body organ. Your skin is the most significant protective barrier between squishy, vulnerable innards and a pat ...more

Augmented reality developer Blippar has created a new visual positioning service based on computer vision that is two times more accurate than GPS in urban locales. Positional accuracy has significant implications for location-based augmented reality experiences. With less ma ...more

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Niantic must be blushing constantly, as numerous copies of Pokémon GO have spawned over the past year or so, seeking to capture the same success, often adding the lure of tangible prizes from brand partnerships. Freeze Tag, ...more

BMW seeks to hire 2,000 engineers for its driverless program ahead of the launch of its iNext Level 3 model in 2021, a source close to the company told Driverless. According to the source, BMW hopes to boost the number of its driverless-related workforce, most of which will b ...more

Forget the rise of the machines. Tardigrades are set to outlive everything — even the bots. When the last echo of a whisper in a cell phone has long dissipated into space, the water bears will still be hanging out. In Hollywood, there is a never-ending march of movies set in ...more

Staphylococcus aureus is a widespread bacteria — about a third of us have it on our body right now — usually in our nose or on our skin. And it probably isn't causing an infection. But, about 1% of people who have Staphylococcus aureus present have a type that is resistant to ...more

Numerous examples exist of doctors and surgeons using HoloLens to plan surgeries. The device has even been used to view reference images during a procedure and stream it to a remote audience. Until recently, it has not been used to augment the surgeon's view of the patient dur ...more

For younger children, a day at the playground is not complete without some sandbox time. Long a favorite of children and parents, sandboxes could also be sheltering dangerous pathogens. In a study in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health, scientists looked for potentially-de ...more

For those of us on the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program — Microsoft's continual beta program for the Windows operating system — the constant updates can be a bit of a pain. But there is a trade-off. We get to try the new features long before they come out to the public ...more

As my fellow cheapskates know, Groupon is an oasis. From discounted vacations to reduced-price massages, it has — nearly — anything and everything. It's great for discounts on dining and travel, but I've never thought of it as a place to shop for smartphones ... until now. Gr ...more

Hutch Interiors, Inc., makers of an eponymous augmented reality home design app for iOS and Android, has closed a series A round of funding, led by online real estate company Zillow Group, totaling $10 million. Hutch shares the approach of similar augmented reality apps from ...more

"Valar morghulis." Don't know what that means? You should probably download Duolingo for Android or iPhone. Duolingo is a free app that lets you learn other languages using fun mini-games and writing tests while also allowing you to collaborate with and compete against other ...more

Forget Waymo, Uber, Tesla, and other other heavily mediatized driverless contenders — German premium carmaker Audi AG has become the first OEM to introduce a Level 3 car sold in retail channels. With the debut of Audi's next-generation A8 flagship at a media event held today ...more

Free beer and AR? What could be better? Amstel, a Dutch beer brand, has launched an innovative sampling campaign using an AR app called "Snatch." Snatch is a treasure hunt gaming app, and if you win the game, your prize is 10,000 free pints of Amstel beer, redeemable at Mitch ...more

A new study casts real suspicion on the possibility of life on Mars. Why? It seems the surface of the planet may be downright uninhabitable for microbial life as we know it. Over the years, and with research into life on other worlds, visions of extra-terrestrials and "little ...more

Everything from disposed of drugs to hormones and disease-causing bacteria — anything that is rinsed or flushed down the drain — can contaminate wastewater. A group of researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada was the first to measure the effects of waste-contamin ...more

A new cross-licensing patent deal signed by Nokia and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi will bring increased collaboration between the two companies. One area of focus in which both Nokia and Xiaomi have already agreed to work together is augmented reality. Don't Miss: Augmente ...more

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on April 20, 2010, was the largest maritime oil spill in history. Killing 11 people and discharging 4.1 million barrels of oil and natural gas into the Gulf of Mexico, the event was an unparalleled personal, environmental, and busines ...more

Add breathing in your house as another possible danger to your health. If your home is sick, it's possible you could get sick too. The term "sick building syndrome" hit the airwaves years ago as a one size fits all reference to homes and buildings that are just too efficient ...more

A patent from Universal was filed today looking to improve the visual experience at Universal Studios Parks. Universal Studios is famous for attractions based around major pop culture hallmarks like Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and Despicable Me. It was originally only 'Unive ...more

There was big news today from Google, Apple, Volvo, and Nvidia regarding their self-driving efforts. Avis Will Service Waymo's Driveless Fleet Google parent Alphabet's Waymo has selected Avis to service its growing fleet of driverless cars. It now seems Waymo has all of the ...more

I currently am and have always been what one might call a PC/Android guy. Many that know me well would likely even go so far as to say I am anti-Apple. About an hour after seeing the ARKit demo during the day-one keynote at WWDC, I became the owner of a brand new Mac. Pair th ...more

A spokesperson from the Nissan and Renault Alliance told Driverless the group is testing self-driving electric "robo-vehicles" for future mobility services and is "not ruling out anything" for future services the group might offer, as the alliance widens its driverless busines ...more

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is still investigating the circumstances of a fatal Tesla crash last year to determine if the car or Tesla's Autopilot driverless system was at fault, but revealed more details about the circumstances of the crash. The m ...more

Uber has lost market share to Lyft, its main competitor. Uber's US market share dropped from 84% to 77% between January and the end of May this year, and the ride-sharing company has continued to run into legal, public-image, and internal trouble. Lyft, on the other hand, has ...more

Furniture shopping is about to get a whole lot easier thanks to Apple's AR Kit and Ikea. In an exclusive with Bloomberg Businessweek, Tim Cook, Apple CEO said: We've talked to Ikea and they have 3D images of their furniture line. You're talking about changing the whole exper ...more

Texas has become the 18th state to pass a bill into law regarding autonomous vehicles, the third this month to do so. The bill, signed by Governor Greg Abbott, is meant to explicitly allow autonomous vehicles to operate on Texas roads, without a human driver. There was never ...more

Google might be taking the lead on artificial intelligence in smartphones with their latest announcement, MobileNets. MobileNets is a series of TensorFlow vision models built for mobile devices, described by Google as "mobile-first." The company hopes that MobileNets will max ...more

With the hype surrounding the iPhone 8, Apple's announcement that it's developing driverless software, and the new iOS 11 beta out, it seems like the tech giant is constantly in the news. Today, Apple's continuing this streak with updates for its iWork app suite on iOS and mac ...more

Zika is a threat to unborn babies — the virus can cause neurological damage if it infects a mother during pregnancy. But as with many things, our solutions to the problem aren't always all that much better than the problem itself. In the case of Zika, a new study has found th ...more

Update: Twitter user Benjamin Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1), known for his iPhone renders, tweeted on Monday alleging that the leaks are fake: This is glass made by Shenzhen manufacturers of protective glass. Fake. Not real iPhone parts. (But look is close to reality) — @VenyaGesk ...more

While many analysts predict that the market for augmented and virtual reality will continue to grow over the next five years, now is the time for investors to get in on the ground floor. Rothenberg Ventures Leads AR/VR Investors According to CB Insights, Rothenberg Ventures ...more

With iOS 11, Apple is working hard towards breaking down language barriers to bring people closer together than ever before, as evidenced by Siri's newfound ability to directly translate words and phrases in different languages. In the near future, it's easy to imagine Siri as ...more

According to a source at TechCrunch, a new version of Snap's 'Spectacles' could include augmented reality. A while back, we reported that Snapchat might have been quietly developing augmented reality glasses, as seen on the CEO while out and about. However, these glasses turn ...more

Anticipation is building for the release of the Essential Phone. Andy Rubin's newest creation is expected to be loaded with features like a rear fingerprint reader, attachable 360-degree camera, and an edge-to-edge display. However, a news release from Sprint has just revealed ...more

The $25 million development alliance Jaguar Land Rover's mobility unit InMotion has formed with US-based ride-share firm Lyft reflects how the British luxury carmaker is leaning towards a fleet service business model for its driverless offerings. The agreement marks the iconi ...more

My message to Russian hackers is this: LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! Russian hacking collective Turla has been targeting governments and military operations in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East for the past decade. Now, it appears that the group is targeting everyda ...more

From Instagram bot farms in China all the way to vending machines in Moscow that promise to sell you fake followers — the Facebook-owned empire is attracting the attention of the world around. When it comes to Russia especially, the country seems to be developing a little crus ...more

You were the chosen one, Snapchat! The new download numbers for the social media app show just how hard it will be to bring them back to the light after the rise of the Instagram empire. Last month we reported that Snapchat's Download numbers had fallen 16%, bringing the num ...more

Stakeholders in the driverless industry are anxiously awaiting changes the US Department of Transportation (DOT) is making to self-driving vehicle guidelines. Under the existing guidelines drafted by the DOT during the President Obama era, a 15-point "safety assessment" detai ...more

You may not have woken up like this, but you're still #flawless thanks to Microsoft's new Face Swap app for Android. The free app — currently available on Google Play — lets you take a picture of your face and transfer it onto any face in any picture. Unlike the popular face ...more

Meta CEO and founder — and Next Reality 50 member —Meron Gribetz unveiled a new operating environment for augmented reality called Meta Workspace for the audience at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara, California, today. Gribetz demonstrated several features of the ...more

Today in Santa Clara, California, at the Augmented World Expo, Scope AR revealed a major new update that will add markerless tracking for their remote assistance application, Remote AR, on standard devices. This update, powered by real-time image tracking solution Wikitude, p ...more

Beijing- and Seattle-based DataMesh have announced the release of a new enterprise geared mixed reality middleware — MeshExpert. This solution for collaborative interaction with dynamic data is made up of two primary components: MeshExpert Live!, a 4K mixed reality capture sys ...more

After SquareTrade tested out the Samsung Galaxy S8 and found it to be the first phone to shatter on all sides after only one drop, it's nice to know we may have a solution for this $500 problem. If you drop your Samsung Galaxy S8 and you don't have a case, be prepared to pay ...more

Drug-resistant bacteria have made curing some infections challenging, if not nearly impossible. By 2050, it's estimated that 10 million people will be dying annually from infections with antibiotic-resistant organisms. Scientists have responded to the challenge with novel str ...more