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If there's one augmented reality app idea that should have gone up in smoke, it's probably Tokédex, an app that brings cannabis to the world of AR. As you might guess, the app for iPhones and iPads utilizes ARKit to visualize vape and edible products right in front of you. (F ...more

On Monday, the social media giant Facebook suffered a massive outage that, as of this writing, is still in effect. The company's flagship services, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are all currently inaccessible. But one unexpected development is that this outage i ...more

It will likely take a few more years before smartglasses are ready for primetime as component makers achieve the innovations necessary for consumer-centric device designs. Nevertheless, two technology companies are making steps in that direction as Qualcomm is rumored to be wo ...more

With would-be unicorns Magic Leap and Niantic among its investments, Google is an active investor in augmented reality technology. This week, the search giant experienced both ends of the investment cycle, with an exit via Lyft's acquisition of Blue Vision Labs, and a funding ...more

If you thought the selfie would only ever be used to bombard your feed on Instagram, you were wrong. Dead wrong. JetBlue is looking to take those selfies and use them to check you in for your next flight. In an announcement on Wednesday, the airline said it was partnering wit ...more

Fresh off shipping an augmented reality game for Magic Leap, Resolution Games has farmed another $7.5 million in funding through a Series B round. The round was led by MizMaa Ventures, with new investors including venture capital firms GP Bullhound and Fly Forever, as well as ...more

This week, the recurring theme in augmented reality can be summed up fairly succinctly: content is king. For Magic Leap, content comes in the form of the delivery of the Madefire immersive comics app. In the case of Apple, content arrives via a virtual try-on tool from Warby ...more

News junkies who own the Magic Leap One received some good news on Thursday, as CNN has published an app for the headset to display the network's news coverage in augmented reality. Available immediately, the CNN app carries live news, on-demand programming, and digital exclu ...more

With numerous insider reports, patent awards, acquisitions, and hires over the past few years, augmented reality smartglasses from Apple appear to be an inevitability. The latest report, from Taiwan-based Digitimes Research analyst Luke Lin, reveals that Apple has tapped Taiw ...more

In a highly exciting but ultimately disappointing turn of events, Google released the ARCore Preview 2 today. While the new preview does bring with it new versions of the application programming interface (API) for the C language, pause and resume functionality, as well as inc ...more

Before Google Chrome entered the scene and subsequently dominated the market, Firefox trailed only Internet Explorer as the most popular web browser. Now, Mozilla has its sights set on a new opportunity to revive its browser for immersive experiences. In a blog post on Tuesda ...more

If you've blocked out your calendar to watch the NHL All-Star Game this weekend, then you might be excited to know that USA Today has given its readers the opportunity to meet Washington Capital's John Carlson in augmented reality. And if you didn't know that the NHL All-Star ...more

Longtime Next Reality readers may remember my Wish List for Microsoft early last year. It was a post in which I put my head together with a number of other community developers to create a list of features that would make Windows Mixed Reality and HoloLens better for developer ...more

The long and somewhat tumultuous journey of Leap Motion has come to an end, thanks to another startup. While most of the augmented reality industry was knee-deep in technical discussions about the future AR and new product reveals, Ultrahaptics quietly acquired Leap Motion on ...more

If you are an active player of Pokémon GO, you may soon be capturing more than just virtual pocket monsters. When it comes to mapping the world, Niantic does not have the fleet of mapping cars that its former parent company, Google, has at its disposal. But it does have a com ...more

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In just a few days, all the Galaxy S9 and S9+ leaks will come to an end, as Samsung will officially unveil its latest top-tier smartphone. But before that happens, we're all getting another leaked image of the handset thanks to a bit of snooping and the magic of augmented real ...more

While the long-awaited HoloLens 2 officially arrived this week, details leaked about another, arguably longer-awaited AR headset, the fabled wearable from Apple, and a previously undisclosed partner assisting the Cupertino-based company with the hardware. On the development f ...more

When Gboard was released on iOS in May of 2016, it gave iPhone users more control over their mobile keyboard experience. Unlike the stock Apple keyboard, Gboard lets you customize the look of your keyboard and search Google directly from the keyboard itself. Now, Google has ad ...more

Disney Plus shows WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier are both streaming hits, but the two series could not be more different in terms of giving fans a taste of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the two titles do have another thing in common: Marvel Studios de ...more

With the first pop-up showroom for North's Focals smartglasses opening its doors next week, customers are now able to purchase the smartglasses at a drastically lower price tag. On Thursday, the company set a new pricing structure for its smartglasses. Originally priced at $9 ...more

It doesn't matter how cool or groundbreaking a particular technology is, if it doesn't offer the promise of big returns on investments, you'll have trouble drawing interest from both Silicon Valley and Wall Street. That's why we're increasingly seeing existing augmented realit ...more

With plans to compete with Niantic and other augmented reality game developers, game developer WarDucks has closed a $3.8 million funding round. According to Venture Beat, EQT Ventures led the round, with Suir Valley Ventures and other investors also participating. The fundi ...more

The future of TikTok in the U.S. is all but certain. Microsoft, Walmart, or Oracle could save the day by buying the company, TikTok may win its lawsuit, or China's new restrictions could halt everything — but all could fail. Just like Vine before it, TikTok could be on its way ...more

While North has yet to add third-party app support to its Focals smartglasses, the company has been diligent as of late in its efforts to add more functionality to the bare-bones AR device. This week, North released the latest set of new functions designed to keep users enter ...more

As Magic Leap continues to spread its influence in the US with the help of wireless carrier AT&T, the augmented reality startup is also working its way into East Asia. This week, Magic Leap announced a partnership with SK Telecom that will make the South Korean telecom giant ...more

While it might be a little past its prime now, the running gag about Nokia phones never breaking was one of the internet's favorite jokes. "If you buy one," they would say, "you'll never need another phone again." I think if those users could see into the future, they'd change ...more

While it may seem to some like investors are just throwing their money at augmented reality companies simply because the tech is heavily hyped, these money managers do actually want to see a return on their investments. That's probably at least part of the reason Sketchfab ha ...more

Snapchat users are used to raising their eyebrows or opening their mouths to activate augmented reality face effects. Now, they get to use their voices as well. On Wednesday, the speech-activated Lenses will begin appearing in the carousel and will continue to show up occasio ...more

The story of Meta and its Meta 2 augmented reality headset isn't over, there's a new development that could impact its ultimate fate. During the waning days of January, the US District Court of Delaware finally weighed in with an update in the patent infringement case against ...more

Magic Leap has earned a reputation for overt secrecy, but as it nears the highly-anticipated launch of the Magic Leap One, the company is spilling some of the beans. This week, we get a heaping helping of information on the Lumin OS, as well as a couple of great demos. Meanwh ...more

The future of augmented reality isn't on your smartphone or face, it's in the everyday items all around us. At least that's the belief of Gordon Meyer, the vice president of marketing at New York-based startup Lampix. Meyer joined me recently in New York to talk about why he ...more

With all the recent activity around augmented reality, the possibilities involving immersive computing and commerce are quickly becoming obvious, and digital payments giant PayPal has no plans to sit on the sidelines The company has been granted an augmented reality patent, w ...more

February is the shortest month, but it's marked by the celebration of Black history and the celebration of romantic love. After marking Black History Month and Valentine's Day in AR, you can also try out another ground-breaking filter from Snapchat's creative team and embody ...more

Signaling a new direction forward for the company, Magic Leap shook up its executive suite by re-assigning to top leaders to new advisory roles. Meanwhile, a new startup backed by Hollywood executives, tech venture firms, and notable angel investors plans to bring new life to ...more

If online retail is war (and who says it isn't), then CGTrader is prepared to arm its allies with augmented reality ammunition. On Wednesday, at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara, California, the 3D content provider unveiled ARsenal, an e-commerce software tool th ...more

If you know your internet history, then you fondly remember the Star Wars Kid and his epic lightsaber display on YouTube. Now, many years later, everyone is following in the footsteps of the Star Wars Kid thanks to the Lenovo Mirage and the new Star Wars: Jedi Challenges app. ...more

A camera app demo that uses Apple's ARKit has been blowing up on Twitter recently and it very well might be the future of how we take pictures with our iOS devices. The demo was created by Twitter user Zach Lieberman, a self-described researcher, educator, and maker of art us ...more

While Apple may not be ready to divulge its roadmap for shipping its rumored augmented reality headset, the company's actions tell us a different story. The latest move, according to a report from Reuters, is the acquisition of Akonia Holographics, a company that makes full-c ...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

If there's one thing I know, it's that people hate buying mobile games. I'm the same way — no matter how good a game looks, if I have to pay for it, I have to fight the urge to immediately walk away. That's why it's such a big deal when a great game goes on sale. Right now, th ...more

It's no secret that you can quickly toggle the flashlight and open Camera from your iPhone's Lock Screen using the bottom left and right buttons. But what you may not know is that you can customize those buttons to perform different actions on your iPhone. With the iOS 18 sof ...more

OnePlus has officially given us a date for when the OnePlus 5T will be announced. We've known about most of the specs for a while, and we just found out about the potential pricing, so a release date is the final piece of the puzzle. Consider this puzzle solved. Today, OnePlu ...more

With Pokémon GO as its cash cow and the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Niantic Real World Platform promising future revenue streams, Niantic has convinced investors to bet on its flavor of augmented reality After reports surfaced in December that the developer wa ...more

It seems like there's a cyber security scare every day. Consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the safety of their accounts, and they have reason to be. Hackers will maliciously attack you anywhere — and we mean anywhere — they can to get your private information. ...more

Music has always been able to connect us. Spotify is now offering an innovative new way to do just that. The company announced today that they have launched a new feature in collaboration with the Messenger app that allows you to share and make playlists with friends. The fea ...more

The team at Magic Leap just got a millennial-style boost with the announcement that financial news network Cheddar is coming to the Magic Leap One. Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg revealed the news in a surprise tweet early Tuesday morning. Don't Miss: Hands-On with Magic Leap's A ...more

Just when everything seemed settled over at Magic Leap, it turns out that the internal tumult is still in play. Now, just as newly minted CEO Peggy Johnson has managed to fully position herself publicly as the new leader of the struggling augmented reality startup, more execu ...more

When they first appeared, smartphones came with a promise to make our lives easier and make us more productive so we could have more free time and energy. But now, the average user spends almost 5 ½ hours daily on their smartphone. If that sounds like you, there are ways to us ...more

Adobe Premiere Clip is a great mobile app for users with little to no editing experience. Its automatic editor will sort your clips into a fun video in seconds, leaving you to just choose the music. But what if you're looking for more than automatic settings? What if you want ...more

The wildfires that spread across Northern California for two weeks in November were among the deadliest and most destructive in the state's history. Ultimately, the incident claimed 85 lives, and hundreds of people are still missing in the wake of the disaster, which impacted ...more

The long, long, loooong wait finally ended this week for the augmented reality community as the Magic Leap One was finally released. The Florida-based company has loomed over the industry for years promising something big, and now the AR cat is finally out of the bag. Now we g ...more

Facebook just ratcheted up its ongoing augmented reality war against the competition by stealing away Google's director of product for AR, Nikhil Chandhok. In his new role, the executive will serve as Facebook's director of product on the company's Camera/AR team. Over the pa ...more

On Wednesday, the tech world woke up to fairly shocking news with the announcement that AT&T would be the exclusive wireless carrier for the forthcoming Magic Leap One, as well as an investor in Magic Leap. The deal harkens back to the introduction of Apple's iPhone, the devi ...more

If you love to hear yourself talk, you can now enjoy seeing your words materialize in augmented reality with an ARKit-compatible iPhone or iPad. A new app called Word Vomit 3D uses the speech recognition API of iOS to take in what the user says and regurgitate it into the rea ...more

One of the most overlooked components of talking about augmented reality and virtual reality is getting people to actually use the hardware and software associated with these platforms. We're so early in the development of immersive computing that we're still dealing with a f ...more

With $100 million in grant funding already available to developers via its MegaGrants program, Epic Games is sweetening the pot with some gear for Magic Leap developers. At last week's Unreal Engine Build: Detroit '19 event, Epic Games announced that it would supply Magic Lea ...more

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. But Nreal wasn't the only company dealing with the virus, as some of ...more

The BBC's Taster VR app released July 5 is providing new experiences visible on both iOS and Android, and one of the releases is a VR version of Planet Earth II. It is viewable on YouTube and works properly when viewed with a mobile VR headset. (FYI though, the BBC site recom ...more

Who's ready to let future Facebook augmented reality smartglasses read their brain? Well, ready or not, the tech giant is making progress in the area of brain control interfaces (BCI) by funding research. This week, Facebook shared some of the progress its Facebook Reality La ...more