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We've already seen how VR can have some therapeutic benefits, but not the dramatized version. A play called Ugly Lies the Bone emotionally examines how war veterans can heal (or at least treat) their PTSD using virtual reality. Here's the official description of the stage pla ...more

Investors are ready to throw their money at augmented and virtual use cases that demonstrate a business purpose and a return on investment. The two latest examples come in the form of mobile apps for selling cosmetics and a software solution for medical professionals to view ...more

Uber resumed its pilot program for driverless cars after one of its autonomous vehicles crashed in Tempe, Arizona last weekend. The program was grounded in Arizona, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco after the incident on Friday, when a Volvo self-driving SUV collided with another ...more

Verizon has long been king in the wireless provider market, but recently it has had to step up its game in the data department. A limited data plan — with supposedly superior service — was no longer cutting it for customers. Many of whom left to take up the sweet, sweet offers ...more

Verizon will be exclusively selling the ASUS ZenFone AR, which supports Tango (Google's mobile AR platform) and Daydream VR. The news was confirmed in an ASUS press release after being announced at Google's I/O developer conference on Thursday. The smartphone is expected to h ...more

Snapchat's popular AR lenses just got a lot more useful for businesses, as the company has now opened its Context Cards platform to sponsored content. Launched last month, Context Cards give Snapchat users relevant information about the snaps that they view. For example, snap ...more

With the whirlwind of noise surrounding the COVID-19 virus sweeping the nation, it's not hard to default to panic mode. One of the best ways to avoid panicking, however, is to follow trusted sources of information and avoid all of the opinions and trolls that don't reflect rea ...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 company that brought us a BB-8 droid controlled with the Force — okay, just a high-tech wristband — is releasing its take on Spider-Man. Toymaker Sphero collaborated with Marvel to release an app-enabled Spider-Man toy equipped with numerous features, as well as games for ...more

Magic Leap's business strategy for bringing augmented reality to the mainstream has become even clearer via its latest funding round. On Friday, the company announced that it has secured $280 million in funding from NTT Docomo, the largest wireless provider in Japan. Video: ...more

Google's personal messaging service Allo could reveal your search history and other private information to friends if the Google Assistant bot is called upon in chats, according to a story from Re/code. Allo uses Google's AI Assistant to bring smart information into your chat ...more

Starting today, you'll have the opportunity to save all your live Instagram videos to your phone at the end of each broadcast session. The latest update to the Instagram app now allows you to rewatch already-played broadcasts and gives you the ability to share them later on. ...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

The Essential Phone was undoubtedly one of the most underrated phones of 2018. It launched with buggy software and camera problems, but the company worked diligently to push out updates. Many Android enthusiasts were anxiously waiting for the Essential 2 release later this sum ...more

The Easter Bunny is about to get his first experience with mixed reality. Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) will host its third annual expo in April, and this year's attendees will get to experience a fun Easter egg hunt sponsored by AfterNow and VRLA, in partnership with mix ...more

Now, when the weather outside is frightful, Pokémon GO players can expect it to be just as unpleasant in augmented reality. A new update to the popular location-based AR game brings a dynamic weather system to the game. In the new update, weather effects on the game's map wil ...more

Whoop, there it is. McDonald's makes its food even faster by partnering with UberEats to bring orders to your doorstep in over 1,000 locations around the country. So watch out Los Angeles, Chicago, Columbus, and Phoenix, because now you have the option to never get up from yo ...more

Following San Francisco-based Occipital's successful Structure Sensor Kickstarter campaign, the release of its Bridge AR/VR headset, as well as a string of technology and company acquisitions, the company has built a rather strong name for itself in the AR community. And now, ...more

A 5-year-old girl was injured after the battery in another Samsung phone exploded in China. The Samsung Note 4 was reportedly charging next to the sleeping girl when it blew up in her Guizhou-based home. The Guizhou Metropolitan Daily reports that the child's hands, face, and ...more

Today in Los Angeles, Unity will be at the Loews Hollywood Hotel to host Unite '16, its annual developer conference. Unite is Unity's platform for showing the development community its upcoming direction and roadmap for augmented and virtual reality, game development, 3D techn ...more

If you subscribe to notifications for Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz's Twitter feed, you'd think everyone in the world already has a Magic Leap One. Alas, that is not the case, but those not within the geographic areas of Magic Leap's LiftOff service now have a loophole through w ...more

Virgin Wireless, perhaps best known for Sir Richard Branson and all of his antics, is an affordable cellular option here in the US. Virgin customers can enjoy — if that's the right word for it — Sprint's cellular service, at a discounted rate, however, there are usually some c ...more

It looks like Samsung's Bixby finally got one up on Apple's Siri — when it comes to which virtual assistant can spit better rhymes, that is. Mhm, that's right. It's a rap battle between one AI and another, and Siri just can't spit. But Bixby, well ... Bixby's got some super d ...more

What companies do you think have a unique and compelling take on social media? Wendy's is certainly confident, to say the least. But Lufthansa Airlines is taking a different approach than most — and it seems to be working — as they give passengers a look behind the scenes thro ...more

I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter was recalled on March 4 after being linked to 16 Escherichia coli cases in nine states. Montessori of Alameda preschool in Portland is the latest victim in a multi-state E. coli outbreak caused by the nut-free butter. According to th ...more

Snapchat hit back at its arch-rival Facebook this week with a number of new Group features, including custom stories. Facebook and Instagram both rolled out clone Story options this year, but Snapchat is obviously trying to up the ante in this arena. Snapchat's latest feature ...more

Images of BlackBerry's two upcoming Android phones have surfaced. Reportedly named "Hamburg" and "Rome," keeping with the company's tradition of using cities as code names for its devices, the images come from BlackBerry Central founder Dylan Habkirk (via Times News UK/GSMAren ...more

Furniture arranging apps have been rolling out on different platforms for a while now thanks, in no small part, to augmented reality. However, people have been waiting to see what the first room arranging app was going to be with Apple's ARKit. Most of the signs pointed to it ...more

If you've ever wanted to see a selfie stick in centuries old works of art, now's your chance. The Art Gallery of Ontario is launching an exhibit called "ReBlink." The exhibit uses augmented reality to give modern updates to their paintings which visitors can see through their ...more

Google Home now helps users to discover new music with an added "Listen" tab in the app. The feature offers suggestions based on the Cast-enabled apps on a phone, while offering other apps to download if you'd like to broaden your musical horizons. The playlists are curated to ...more

Newly appointed Ford Motor CEO Jim Hackett admitted yesterday that demand for driverless transportation could take many different forms and that Ford was rethinking how it would tailor its cars and mobility services for self-drive modes of transportation in the future. Speaki ...more

Instagram Direct is fast becoming the end-all-be-all messaging app, and it just added some incredibly convenient features that should make it a bit more practical. These new additions have a clear purpose: To help Instagram Direct grow its base and take on more feature-rich me ...more

The latest business move by Magic Leap could result in a significant boost to its spatial computing platform's performance and headset design. On Friday, Magic Leap announced the acquisition of Computes, Inc., makers of a decentralized and distributed mesh computing platform. ...more

Google and Samsung have been leaving Apple in the dust when it comes to virtual reality gear. However, as the market grows and becomes more impossible to ignore within the tech world, Apple may be forced to play catch up. This could account for the new Apple patent that was gr ...more

Nope, it's not 2016 again. Samsung is giving it another go at beating its competitor by attempting to unveil their new Galaxy Note 8 before the new iPhone. Because it worked out so well the last time. Still, we probably shouldn't be too worried. Reports about the unveiling ca ...more

Google and eight top Android partners have just signed the Android Networked Cross-License, nicknamed PAX. On the surface, this looks to be a peace treaty of sorts that could end several patent wars. The deal will allow creators of preinstalled Android apps to build off of a ...more

According The Venture Reality Fund, the introductions of Facebook's camera platform and Apple's ARKit catalyzed increased activity among companies developing consumer applications. The firm's quarterly report on the augmented reality landscape concluded that the strongest act ...more

Google's MVNO carrier, Project Fi, can save you a ton of money in the right circumstances, but it's always had a limited selection of supported phones. Because the service uses Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular towers as its backbone, you could only use Project Fi with a Pixel ...more

Today, Facebook Messenger is rolling out Discover, a feature that helps you chat with companies and locate nearby businesses of interest to you. First discussed in April at Facebook's developer conference F8, Discover is finally available for public use. During a speech at F8 ...more

Any parent with a rambunctious child who may have at one point racked up a hefty bill on their Kindle or Android device can now breathe a sigh of relief. One, Jack Black has had it happen to him too, and two, Amazon will be refunding up to $70 million of in-app purchases made ...more

Google switched things up this year by releasing a developer version of Android N far ahead of I/O, but that's not the only convention they've done away with this year. For the first time, Google will accept name suggestions from the public. Video: . You can visit android.com/ ...more

While not quite a true self-driving car, Mercedes is gearing to release a vehicle with a plethora of assistive-driving features, some that might have you excited about what autonomous vehicles can do in the future. Mercedes-Benz's updated S-Class vehicles, to be revealed at t ...more

Shapr is a new networking app that aims to help professionals connect more efficiently, and draws much of its format from dating-focused social networking apps. Shapr could be especially useful for those who have recently moved into their industry or location, and for those se ...more

It looks like Apple is coming straight for Facebook with their new Business Chat functionality, built into iMessage. "Business Chat is a powerful new way for businesses to connect with customers directly from within Messages," Apple says. "Using Business Chat, your customers ...more

The first augmented reality hardware and software functional requirements guidelines have been released today by UI LABS and the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA). Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, and Procter & Gamble were credited with shaping the future of AR te ...more

Apple's anxiously awaited iPhone 8 with a 5.8-inch OLED display is all set to launch this September, alongside the iPhone 7s variants. However, according to MacRumors, which cites information from a number of Barclays analysts, stock will be very limited, and most won't ship u ...more

Less than four months after Snapchat introduced its Snappables platform, Facebook has met the challenge with its own AR gaming feature that surpasses the originator. Rolling out to users on the Messenger app for iOS and Android starting Wednesday, multiplayer video chat AR ga ...more

It's hard to believe iOS 11 was announced three months ago. In that time, we have downloaded multiple betas, experienced the Golden Master, and seen the new software in action on the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus. After all this waiting, however, the official release o ...more

Lyft officially laid its stake in the ground to develop driverless fleets following its Friday announcement, but how fast it is catching up to ride-hailing competitor Uber's driverless initiative remains to be seen. Following Uber's ex-CEO and founder Travis Kalanick's recent ...more

Honestly, this deal is pretty sweet. As of today, Amazon has added five new devices to their "Prime Exclusive Phones" program. The program allows Prime users to buy midrange handsets unlocked at a discount that goes up to $80. Of course, there's a little catch. Users who buy ...more

Magic Leap is making it easier for developers to share their spatial computing experiments with other Magic Leap One users. On Thursday, Magic Leap has opened up Magic Leap World for developers to publish concepts, which as defined by Magic Leap, are "free apps with limited f ...more

Australia is looking to the future and finding driverless cars and other autonomous vehicles to be a top priority. Spacial Source reports that the state government has put AU$10 million into their Future Mobility Land Fund "to drive local development of autonomous vehicle tech ...more

If you bought your first mobile phone in the early-to-mid-2000s, there's a good chance that it was a Nokia and it had the game Snake preinstalled. While mobile gaming has moved on to bigger things, those who still yearn for simple games with a dose of the future can now play ...more

Google has produced millions of low-end Cardboard VR headsets, but now it's upping its game with virtual reality phone packaging. Yep, you heard that right. A patent application published in February would suggest that the tech giant has developed phone packaging that doubles ...more

OnePlus unveiled its latest device — the OnePlus 7 Pro — Tuesday, May 14. Usually, the company touts a device with impressive specs, build quality, and price, all without sacrificing too much. This time around, however, OnePlus decided to include a Pro device without compromis ...more

Adding another arrow to its quiver of augmented reality acquisitions, Apple has reportedly acquired Spektral, a computer vision company with technology for real-time compositing (otherwise know as the "green screen" technique in broadcast TV and film). According to Danish new ...more

An expert in the driverless market has earmarked Porsche as the company to watch in the automated car race. Grayson Brulte, the co-founder of Autonomous Tomorrow, told Driverless that the luxury car company were the underdogs in a highly competitive and specialized field. On ...more

While the numbers may not always seem to agree, the message remains the same: augmented reality is a growth segment. This week's edition of Market Reality starts with two new reports outlining the expected good fortunes for the industry and concludes with an example of a compa ...more