Another massive piece of the mysterious augmented reality puzzle known as Magic Leap fell into place on Wednesday as AT&T announced that it will be the exclusive launch carrier for the device. "AT&T is excited to pair our pioneering technologies, unmatched network, content pl ...more
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
If the end of every year is focused on new iPhones, then February, which coincides with Mobile World Congress, is often when we get new Android news, and this month is no different. On Monday, Amazon released a new video demonstrating how its AR View tool in the Amazon app wo ...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
We knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. Apple has just announced iOS 11.3, a new update for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, and it will include a brand-new set of Animoji for the iPhone X. The animated Animoji, powered by the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X, have ...more
Magic Leap loves to stoke mystery around its still unreleased product, the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition, and now we've found yet another piece of the puzzle in the form of an Easter egg on the company's website. When you hit one of Magic Leap's 404 error pages, you see a s ...more
Under the rocket's red glare and the bombs bursting in air, the Statue of Liberty is swaying in celebration this Fourth of July thanks to Snapchat. On Thursday, Snapchat launched a new augmented reality experience to commemorate Independence Day for those at or in the vicinit ...more
Google Assistant is a handy little feature at most of the time, but it's upping the ante in honor of April Fools' Day this year. One eagle-eyed Redditor called tenbre noted that the smartphone assistant had added a new command—"April Foolproof"—which was found under the What ...more
Microsoft has informed HoloLens users that the company will begin rolling out a mandatory update for HoloLens as part of its Windows 10 October 2018 release that brings a number of new features and quality-of-life improvements to the headset. The update's new features are hea ...more
Despite the recent gut punch of staff layoffs, Canada-based smartglasses startup North and its Focals are likely to be in the game for a while longer. On Sunday, a Canadian newspaper published a report that claims the company recently snagged $40 million in new investment cas ...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
This year, two new OEMs are trying to enter the crowded smartphone space. The first was Essential, and now Razer has entered the market with the Razer Phone. Utilizing the team they acquired from Nextbit in January, Razer has created a powerhouse of a device designed for gamer ...more
While the betting lines on iPhones with depth-sensing, rear-facing cameras in 2019 have already been established, a new report adds some certainty to the notion that the iPhone will get new AR superpowers later this year. Citing anonymous sources familiar with the company's p ...more
Google's new Pixel phones will ship with Android 7.1 Nougat pre-installed, but early reports stated that Nexus devices wouldn't be getting the new version until "end of year" 2016. For people that purchased a Nexus 5X or 6P under the assumption that Nexus devices get Android u ...more
Okay, I have a confession to make. I'm not a real New Yorker. I'm from the land of southern hospitality and steaks bigger than your newborn: Texas. I don't know how to hail a taxi yet, and I still smile at strangers on the street. I'm slowly learning how to fit in, but one thi ...more
The New York Times has made a habit of publishing augmented reality stories throughout 2018, and now the media giant's magazine is getting into the act, too. As a tie-in to its annual "Great Performers" issue, which recognizes the top thespians of the year in the eyes of Time ...more
With augmented reality comes an infinite realm of possibilities for storytelling. We have seen it through wineries telling their history with interactive AR experiences and through authors that use augmented reality to bring portions of their books to life. However, filmmaker ...more
After devoting a number of resources toward developing VR content to modernize the delivery of its news content in recent years, The New York Times is expanding its capabilities to include augmented reality as well, a mission outlined in a manifesto published on Thursday. Thr ...more
Apple no longer has an exclusive province to LiDAR for the purposes of augmented reality. This week, headset maker Varjo unveiled its new VR-3 and XR-3 headsets, the latter of which includes LiDAR sensors and stereo RGB cameras to enable depth sensing and inside-out tracking ...more
We're excited about iOS 13 and its many shiny new features. System-wide Dark Mode, new Messages options, and so much more awaits iPhone users. But if you don't have an iPhone or don't want to update to iOS 13, you can still get its new wallpapers on your device for some Apple- ...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
More prescriptions for antibiotics are written for ear infections than any other type of infection. A new study comparing the incidence and causes of ear infections in children between the ages of six months and three years found that the incidence of ear infections over the l ...more
Update (Fall 2020): Samsung's version of Android 11 is already in its testing phases! One UI 3.0 is expected to hit recent flagship Galaxy devices towards the end of this year, so check out the new list of features: New Version: All the New Features & Changes in Samsung's One ...more
We recently set out to find the best phones for people whose primary usage revolves around social media apps like Facebook and Instagram. Samsung, Apple, and Google were the three brands that made our top five, and while the latter only had one finalist, the two bigger OEMs ha ...more
Thanks to a couple of photoshopped images that made rounds across Twitter last year, iPhone users were duped into thinking that iOS 8 included a security feature that would lock individual apps. Of course, none of it ended up being true, but we covered other features and apps ...more
Apple is giving iPhone owners even more options to express themselves via Animojis with a wide range of customization options for their personal Memojis. During the opening keynote of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, Apple revealed all of the updates c ...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
Just over two months ago, smartglasses startup North opened the doors at its two brick-and-mortar retail locations in Toronto and New York and began accepting orders for Focals. On Thursday, the company announced that those initial customers can get ready to pick up their wear ...more
Leaks are seemingly inevitable for smartphone makers these days. The OnePlus 5T, the successor to the OnePlus 5, is no exception to this rule. Last week, we witnessed leaked photos showing off the 5T's rumored "edge-to-edge" display. Today, leaks on OppoMart's 5T preorder page ...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
The new HTC One M8 is barely two months old, and we've already got a leak on its predecessor. Dubbed as the M8 Prime, or more likely the One Max (Two?), the larger, faster device should debut sometime in the fall (September is most likely), not too far away from the M8 Mini th ...more
Eventually, even the most private company has to file its patents and unveil its tightly-held secrets, and Magic Leap is no exception. The US Patent and Trademark Office recently published a treasure trove of Magic Leap patent applications that appear to provide more details ...more
Lost among the latest laptops, smart assistants, VR headsets, and Motorola-branded gadgets that it brought to CES 2018, Lenovo has also introduced a new pair of augmented reality smartglasses. While Lenovo could be credited with the first true consumer AR headset by way of th ...more
Over the past two years, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) has become a showcase for new ARKit capabilities. This year, it could offer more information related to Apple's long rumored augmented reality wearable. According to sources close to the matter speaking t ...more
Augmented reality headset and software maker Meta Company announced today board member Joe Mikhail will serve as the company's chief revenue officer. A member of the company's board of directors since 2015, Mikhail joins Meta from Lenovo, where he was director of worldwide op ...more
If you have yet to receive your invitation to next weekend's royal wedding in the UK, then you can still experience part of the pomp and circumstance in augmented reality courtesy of ABC News. A new update to the ABC News iOS app brings a blue-blooded augmented reality experi ...more
The legal drama framing the closure of Meta Company continues even after the company's assets have been sold to a new owner. In the latest legal filing, representatives for Meta Company have asked the court to vacate the default judgment against the company Next Reality repor ...more
When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show. But Facebook also had an interesting feature that mostly flew under the ...more
The infamous iPhone 8, or iPhone Edition, may take longer than the anticipated September release date due to manufacturing complications of the 3D Touch modules equipped with AMOLED panels. According to Digitimes, TPK Holding, the Taiwanese touch panel makers, will only start ...more
After more than a year of teasing and testing, Niantic and Warner Bros. are finally ready to release Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to muggles of the world. Niantic has announced that the game will launch on Friday, June 21 starting with players in the US and UK, with other regi ...more
Department store chain Target is the latest retailer to offer an augmented reality cosmetics app for customers to virtually try on lipstick. For its Beauty Studio web app, Target uses the YouCam platform offered by Perfect Corp. Available through Target.com via any desktop we ...more
Huawei recently announced the Honor 7X, a mid-tier smartphone aimed at budget-conscious consumers. Spearheaded by the Kirin 659 SoC, it offers great performance at a price point where speed is normally an afterthought. Today, Huawei is making this $199 phone even more attracti ...more
Patent holder Genedics, LLC has filed a legal complaint alleging that hand-tracking startup Leap Motion is infringing on its intellectual property. In documents (registration and payment required) filed on Feb. 15 in the US District Court of Delaware, Genedics claims that Lea ...more
Already one of the leaders in augmented reality for cosmetics, L'Oréal is extending the reach of its ModiFace virtual try-on platform through a partnership with Facebook. The cosmetics company will be integrating the augmented reality experiences built with Modiface into Face ...more
The Galaxy S8, with all its new features, is shining in the news right now as one of the best phones of the year. However, users in the US may be at a disadvantage to those overseas, as it seems that the Snapdragon 835-powered S8 models underperform variants with Exynos proces ...more
Google I/O is like Christmas for smartphone fans. At their annual developer's conference, the Mountain View search giant gave us a glimpse of what they've been working on over the past year—and they've been quite busy, to say the least. Don't Miss: Meet Allo, Google's New AI ...more
On Thursday, waveguide maker WaveOptics announced that semiconductor and microelectromechanical systems supplier EV Group (EVG) will provide the manufacturing infrastructure for the production of its waveguide displays designed to support lower-cost, third-party augmented real ...more
Apple released the sixth beta for iOS 11.3 on Friday, March 16. It comes as a surprise, considering the company released the fifth beta only four days ago — an unexpectedly short time between updates. This new beta, much like beta 5, appears to bring minor patches and bug fixe ...more
For years, users have been clamoring for a "dark mode" theme in Android, but it has always seemed like Google is so committed to the white motif from their web services that such an option would never become a reality. But in a stunning turn of events, Google is finally embrac ...more
The Unicode Consortium just unveiled 72 new emojis that will be included in the upcoming Unicode 9.0 release, but we're not here to talk about the winners. Instead, let's take a look at the five poor emojis that will have to wait until at least next year to join the Unicode ro ...more
You just sat down, coffee in hand, and the day is ready to start. Now that you have taken a few sips, let me pose a question: What is living in that coffeemaker of yours? The answer might make you dump that coffee down the drain pronto. Extremophiles are rugged microbial indi ...more
Apple's lead marketing tool for the iPhone X, 3D Animoji that you control with your facial and head movements, are once again in the spotlight in a new commercial the company posted on its Korean YouTube account this week. In conjunction with the release of a new single from ...more
Gaming with augmented reality just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Nitrome is no amateur at games. The company has hundreds of mobile and browser games. A few years back, the company came up with the idea that they referred to as "project surface." Essentially, the idea was ...more
Mobile augmented reality for iOS typically comes through apps via ARKit, but Apple is borrowing a few pages from Google's playbook and bringing AR directly to iOS 15. During the keynote presentation at the WWDC 2021, Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineer ...more
The Pixel 3 XL versus Galaxy Note 9. Stock Android versus Samsung Experience. When I began this comparison, I thought the Pixel 3 XL would be unfairly outmatched. But after looking at the specs side-by-side, you'll see a different picture. This year, Google delivered a worthy ...more
After getting its start with models of augmented reality planets that serve as targets for augmented reality experiences, AstroReality is diversifying its portfolio by paying tribute to one of the space agencies that made its products possible. To commemorate the 60th anniver ...more
As Facebook, Apple, Samsung, and others offer augmented reality selfie effects and content that challenge its platform, Snapchat has continued to innovate with its augmented reality capabilities. The latest example, released to the app's Carousel on Monday, is a Lens that rea ...more
As we all know, and certainly have marked on our calendars, it's World Emoji Day! Considering that over five billion emojis are sent daily on Facebook Messenger alone, emojis deserve to be celebrated, and Apple's doing just that. On this monumentous day, the tech giant is gift ...more
Now that 3D display maker Looking Glass Factory is closing in on $2.2 million raised in its crowdfunding campaign for the consumer-grade Looking Glass Portrait device, the company now has a 3D content generator to go with it. On Wednesday, Looking Glass Factory unveiled a new ...more
The augmented reality team at USA Today closed out a prolific year of immersive storytelling with a hard-hitting companion piece exploring the controversial conflict in Afghanistan. This week, the publication ran an investigative story by reporter Brett Murphy that uncovered ...more