In the past, to see a pre-constructed state of the house that you would one day live in, you had to be able to read blueprints or hire an artist to sketch it out. Later came the ability to have a 3D rendering of that house on a screen, but you'd still have to work hard to envi ...more
Now that Google has announced its new Pixel smartphones, folks who rushed to buy an iPhone 7 might be experiencing a bit of buyer's remorse. The new Pixel and Pixel XL are packed to the brim with cutting-edge features and top-notch hardware, and Google seems to be taking direc ...more
There are two types of bad USBs out there. One lets you trick the computer into thinking it's a keyboard or other USB device, and the other goes straight over malicious into computer killing territory. Last year, Russian security researcher Dark Purple designed a USB stick th ...more
The iPhone 6s models introduced Live Photos in iOS 9, a cool new camera feature that takes a GIF-esque moving image every time you snap a pic, but the cool factor pretty much stopped right there. You couldn't take them on older iOS devices, share them with non-iOS users, or ev ...more
New releases of iOS are always pretty exciting. I remember the anticipation buildup of iOS 7 before it was announced at WWDC 2013, as it was expected to be a complete game changer compared to previous versions—and it was. Now, with WWDC 2016 right around the corner—starting o ...more
It sounds like Samsung is impressed enough with Apple's 3D Touch feature on the iPhone 6S models that the company is planning on implementing a similar feature on its upcoming Galaxy S7 handsets. A source told The Wall Street Journal that the latest iteration of Samsung's flag ...more
Weeks before the music video for Nicki Minaj's Sir Mix-a-Lot-sampled single “Anaconda” dropped, an internet frenzy was sparked thanks to the help of an extremely racy cover image, several promo pictures with her "dancing" with label-mate Drake, and a teaser clip that showed Ni ...more
While graffiti may never be fully accepted by the masses, it has already become a very large medium for creative artists across the globe, who make mundane and austere cityscapes a little more interesting for the rest of us. Walking past this Banksy stencil on my way to class ...more
I have an interest in using recycled materials in sculptures, particularly circuit boards and other wasted electronic and mechanical components with which I put together sprawling cities lit with fairy lights. These cityscapes can conjure an image of a parallel society built f ...more
You can take some absolutely gorgeous photos using the natural reflection that appears in people's and animals' eyes. With the right angle and lighting, you can even see a detailed picture of what the subject was looking at when the photo was taken. Photo by Martin Cathrae Th ...more
OK, first thing's first: need to get this insane picture out of the way. I think this might classify as horror movie creepy. A little explanation is in order. Originally posted by BotJunkie, the gist of a Japanese robotics article displaying these striking images has been som ...more
Apple just released the third public beta for iOS 14 today, Thursday, July 23. This update comes one day after the company released iOS 14 developer beta 3, and two weeks after the release of iOS 14 public beta 2. Apple released this update at 10 a.m. PDT. While we expected t ...more
Apple just released iOS 14 developer beta 3 for iPhone today, Wednesday, July 22. The update comes 15 days after Apple released the second developer beta for iOS 14, and 13 days after the release of iOS 14 public beta 2. Apple released this update at 10 a.m. PDT, the company' ...more
While the airline, casino, cruise, and hotel industries are asking for government bailouts during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies around the US are giving away its apps and services for a limited time. So while you're stuck at home, keep your mind off of coronavirus with free ...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
Last year at CES, RealMax blew away the AR headset competition with a prototype AR headset surpassing 100 degrees field of view. This year, after announcing the launch of the new RealMax Qian headset in December, the company has returned to Las Vegas with a product that is re ...more
Give an 18-month-old a shoe, check back 10 minutes later, and it's a very big maybe he will have it on his foot. But give him your smartphone, and in a mere five minutes, he can take 100 pictures of the carpet, send weird messages, and delete essential apps. Imagine what your ...more
As part of its ARCore release announcement, Google also revealed a forthcoming app that's sure to excite those who celebrate '80s pop culture. That app is Ghostbusters World, which is coming later this year from Sony Pictures Entertainment Consumer Products, Ghost Corps (the ...more
Wise Snacks wants baseball fans to reach for potato chips instead of peanuts and Cracker Jacks, and it's calling augmented reality out of the bullpen to close the deal. The snack maker has partnered with two Major League Baseball teams, the Atlanta Braves and the New York Met ...more
A new leak by frequent tipster Roland Quandt appears to reveal the renders of Motorola's next budget smartphones, the Moto E4 and E4 Plus. The Moto E4 and E4 Plus are Motorola's follow-ups to last year's affordable Moto E3. While that phone only came in black and white, this ...more
Last week, the internet was ablaze with talk about the Galaxy S8's home button, because it subtly changes positions without the phone alerting you. This feature was included to stop burn-in issues with the screen, and the general consensus from tech sites was the screens would ...more
Welcome back, my hacking friends. We use our smartphones every day, for business, socialization, and leisure. The number of iPhone users is increasing in dozens of millions every year, with a whopping 63.2 million users in 2014 alone. That's a lot of users. Here's the scary p ...more
Ever drive a friend's car? Maybe a rental? Then you've probably found yourself in a very frustrating situation when you realize you need some gas. Heck, it probably even happens to you in your own car sometimes. What side is the gas tank on?!? Before pulling into the station ...more
There's a lot that goes into making a nice crystal radio set, so this is going to have to be broken down into two parts. The first part is the actual making of a functional radio, and the second part is making the whole arrangement look nice. In this part, I'm actually going t ...more
There has been drag-and-drop functionality for iPhone since at least iOS 11, but iOS 15 adds a new ability that makes essential emails even easier to find when you need them. I'm not a big fan of flagging emails in Mail because assigning colors is as organized as it gets. You ...more
Apple just released the fourth public beta for iOS 14 today, Thursday, Aug. 6. This update comes two days after the company released iOS 14 developer beta 4, 15 days after Apple seeded developers the third dev beta, and two weeks after the release of public beta 3. Apple rele ...more
Apple just released the fourth developer beta for iOS 14 today, Tuesday, Aug. 4. This update comes 13 days after Apple seeded developers the third dev beta, and 12 days after public testers got their hands on public beta 3. Apple released this update at 10 a.m. PDT, the stand ...more
Apple just released public beta 2 for iOS 14 today, Thursday, July 9. The good news comes two days after Apple released the second iOS 14 developer beta, and 17 days after the release of the first developer beta. While this is the first public beta for iOS 14, it's called "pub ...more
Apple just released the second developer beta for iOS 14 today, Tuesday, July 7. The update comes 15 days after Apple seeded developers the first iOS 14 beta, which introduced home screen widgets, picture-in-picture, and 4K YouTube support, among more than 200 other features. ...more
So far, iOS 13's major point updates have all been pretty exciting for iPhone. We've seen iOS 13.1, 13.2, and 13.3 come and go, offering more than 60 new features and changes combined to that very first version of iOS 13. While iOS 13.3.1 was a minor update, its successor, iOS ...more
There's no doubt iOS 13 has dominated the talk around the Apple community this month. Since the announcement and release of the first developer beta, we iPhone users have had a treasure trove of new features and changes to explore and discuss. Now the fun continues with iOS 13 ...more
Motorola is a shell of its former self. In 2010, it had just released the Motorola Droid, a phone so popular it led to all Android phones being called "Droids" by non-techies. But there have been some rough years between then and now, and Motorola's latest "flagship" doesn't l ...more
For many, phones are starting to replace televisions as the primary device for watching videos. Thanks to their portability and easy to use apps, it's often simpler to watch Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, or Prime Instant Video on the smaller screen. But not every phone is suited to ...more
Apple's next big developer event happened on June 4, and it was the first glimpse of iOS 12 that anyone's seen. While there were lots of rumored features to be unveiled at WWDC 2018, Apple concentrated mostly on squashing bugs and making iOS work as seamless as it did years ag ...more
TouchWiz might not be the Android skin of choice for hardcore aficionados, but the Galaxy's OS still has a ton of great features up its sleeve that help provide one of the most enjoyable smartphone experiences out there. Many of these are relatively hidden and overlooked featu ...more
Apple's Dynamic Island is an animated, interactive isle surrounding the front-facing camera on the iPhone 14 Pro series. It's a small capsule when nothing is going on but fluidly stretches across the screen for notifications, alerts, and ongoing activities like music, timers, ...more
Safari saw many new features and improvements with Apple's latest iOS update, including webpage translations, privacy reports, and picture-in-picture. While the updates were well-received, Apple's mobile browser is still lacking some very basic features. Thankfully, there are ...more
While Snapchat is no stranger to location-based AR scavenger hunts, the app's new world-facing game adds some environmental understanding to the mix. This week, Snapchat launched a new Snappables game dubbed Scavenger Hunt. However, while most Snappables games use the front-f ...more
Thanks to a new update to Amazon Sumerian, developers will now be able to not only create more realistic 3D content, but also build AR experiences more easily. This week, Amazon revealed that its AR and VR development platform now supports physically-based rendering (PBR), a ...more
Fans of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man have yet another way to experience the web-slinger in augmented reality. To promote the pending release of Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 4, Sony Pictures has published a mobile app for iOS and Android that brings Spider-Man int ...more
Apple's scheduled to show off the first look of iOS 13 at WWDC 2019 on June 3, but what will the new operating system hold for iPhone? Rumors suggest that many features initially planned for iOS 12 will show up in iOS 13, codenamed "Yukon," and dark mode will be the big ticket ...more
On Monday, the world watched in horror as the historic Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames in Paris. Just days later, on Wednesday, the augmented reality team at USA Today managed to add a related interactive 3D experience to its app (iOS and Android), displaying the famou ...more
When it comes to web-based augmented reality, 8th Wall has emerged as one of the leading platform providers, and the company just cranked up its capabilities another notch for AR marketers. Release 11 of 8th Wall Web brings Image Targets, the company's take on image recogniti ...more
We've seen a variety of AR experiences related to athletic footwear over the years, but Puma is betting sneakerheads will buy into a version of interactive design where sneakers are the augmented reality experience The shoemaker launched the LQD Cell (pronounced "liquid cell" ...more
Snapchat made augmented reality selfie effects famous, with Facebook copying the feature across its mobile apps. Of course, others have followed, but their face tracking apps often pale in comparison to the original. Now, Google is giving Android developers the keys to adding ...more
French cosmetics giant L'Oréal isn't wasting any time putting its new subsidiary, ModiFace, to work. On Thursday, the company launched a new tool that enables a photo-realistic augmented reality simulation of nail polish shades and textures to be accurately displayed on a user ...more
Online shopping giant Shopify literally cannot wait for ARKit 2.0 to arrive via iOS 12 this fall to implement its latest augmented reality feature. This week, the company began giving users the opportunity to test out Apple's AR Quick Look tool, which displays 3D content in a ...more
To quote MKBHD, cheap phones are getting good. Each year we are seeing manufacturers start to offer more for much less. This not only translates to cheaper flagship phones, but better budget phones. The latest example of this is the Alcatel 3V, which is redefining what you can ...more
For all of its advantages, Facebook Messenger isn't the best for people who like their privacy. The popular app lets all your Facebook friends know when you're online by default, as well as how long you've been idle, making it impossible to check up with one person without lea ...more
A recent update to Facebook's News Feed could significantly broaden its reach when it comes to delivering augmented reality content. In a post on its developer's blog on Tuesday, the company announced that it has adopted the industry-standard gITF 2.0 format for 3D posts on i ...more
Last year, Motorola released their Moto G5 Plus, a fantastic mid-tier machine that earned praise from both reviewers and consumers. Starting at $229, it was well-built and inexpensive considering everything Motorola managed to jam into it. This year, Motorola is looking to rep ...more
On Thursday, Snapchat opened up its walled garden of World Lenses to the masses of creators with the launch of Lens Studio. Available as a free application for PCs and Macs, Lens Studio is billed as powerful enough for experienced developers to import their own 3D animations, ...more
Thanks to Metaverse, it has never been this easy to create your own AR game. The platform gives users a web-based tool for building interactive AR experiences, with no coding knowledge necessary. Via a link or QR code, users can then share their project with others, who can v ...more
Exotic sports cars are the province of the ridiculously wealthy but, thanks to augmented reality, you can now get closer than ever to a Bugatti Chiron. Social and mobile gaming powerhouse Zynga has updated the iOS version of its popular racing game meets Fast & Furious simula ...more
The iPhone X was released in November 2017, and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus dropped right before it, but the hottest news right now revolves around the 2018 iPhone releases. The rumor mill regarding the iPhone X's successor started churning out speculations on names, cameras, disp ...more
Lowe's Home Improvement has been an early adopter of augmented and virtual reality in their business practices, so it was a bit of surprise that their name was absent from the ranks of companies launching ARKit apps last week. The retailer has returned order to the universe w ...more
3D modeling can be a long drawn out process. If you are a developer or programmer without 3D modeling experience, this process can be daunting, to say the least. This often leaves developers hunting sites like TurboSquid or the Unity Asset Store for free temporary models at th ...more
Though the Golden State Warriors won the crown as the NBA's best team again this season, the Sacramento Kings continue their rule as the sport's technology leader, debuting their new uniforms from Nike through augmented reality today. With an assist from Zappar's augmented re ...more
Finding the perfect lip color can be a difficult task, to say the least. Thankfully, we're living in a world with augmented reality, where it's possible to try on lipstick from different brands at home. How? It's possible now thanks to Meitu, a company that originally launche ...more
At the 2017 Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara today, smartglasses maker Epson introduced two new augmented reality headsets from its Moverio line of products. The Epson Moverio BT-350 augmented reality smartglasses are aimed to be shared among multiple users. It can p ...more