New Years Tradition

Udacity, the online education startup that set out to train a school of self-driving car engineers, is now spinning off into its own autonomous tech company called Voyage. Sebastian Thrun, who founded Udacity, will have a stake in the company as part of the spin-off deal led ...more

Google has done it again—they've pushed another broken OTA update for the Nexus 6. Except this time, it almost completely softbricks your Nexus 6 instead of just screwing up Android Pay and SafetyNet. Apps are force-stopping left and right, making the phone practically unusabl ...more

If you want to appreciate the value of microbes, look no further than a chunk of cheese. Because cheese roughly traces back to the Neolithic Era, we might say the earliest cheesemakers were the first humans to manipulate microbes—without even knowing it. Now, thanks to microbi ...more

The HoloLens is a natural medium for 3D data visualization, which offers a far more ideal approach over 2D screens to managing multiple resources simultaneously and grasping the bigger picture. We've already seen how management is using holograms to oversee cities, firefighter ...more

Well, we have some potentially good news for those wanting to experience Magic Leap. The ultra-secretive company seems to be planning a big year in 2017. Magic Leap's new CMO Brenda Freeman said in an interview with Recode that not only is Magic Leap on time, it is "racing to ...more

Samsung will be launching the next edition of its Galaxy Note series in less than a month, and we're starting to get some solid information about the upcoming phablet. As previously rumored, Samsung is skipping a number on this year's model, so the new model will be called the ...more

Samsung has been on a tear with its flagship devices since the release of the Galaxy S6; The S6 edge, the Note 5, and this year's Galaxy S7 models have all been met with universal acclaim, and even the staunchest of critics have almost nothing negative to say. Almost. Critics ...more

If Android is all about options, then iOS is all about new features. Every year without fail, Apple announces a cool software component that brings something new to the table, and this year was no different. The headlining feature to go along with the iPhone 6s is called "Liv ...more

Apple has once again improved functionality of Siri, their personal voice assistant for iPad and iPhone, in iOS 9—and this update is a big one. You can now use Siri to find photos based on location and date, set up contextual reminders, find your friends and family, and more. ...more

Smartphones don't generally play nice with tripods, so videos taken with our handheld devices make terrible source material for time-lapse photography. Back in August, Instagram countered this dilemma with an app called Hyperlapse that used an image stabilization algorithm to ...more

Auto manufacturers are slowly starting to debut models with Google's new Android Auto software baked into the dashboard console. Starting with the 2016 model year, we should see vehicles from Honda, Ford, Chevrolet, and many others sporting the new software. Now, many manufac ...more

Time is money, and if your job requires sending out hundreds of generic emails—think "Thank You" notes and sales pitches—you could save days of work by creating templates stored within your Gmail called "canned responses." For example, surviving as a freelancer requires const ...more

You may think your iPhone has all the features you could ever need or want, but that may change once you discover the features and services you're missing out on by residing in the United States. To sell iPhone models in other countries, Apple has to abide by each country's l ...more

Apple just made its most significant update ever to the iOS lock screen, with a lot of features to be excited about. The theme of this upgrade is customization, giving you complete control over the look and functionality of your iPhone's lock screen. The new lock screen capab ...more

With the holidays right around the corner, it's easy to miss a big software update on your iPhone, and by that, I mean iOS 15.2, which was pushed out Monday, Dec. 13. There's a surprising amount of new features and changes in the updated firmware, and there are a few big ones ...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

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

No doubt, you've heard a lot about 5G lately. This might have you looking at your current 4G phone and lamenting your inability to connect to the faster network. But is 5G worth buying a new phone over, and should you buy one right now? There are plenty of reasons why 5G is g ...more

The shift to remote working in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed Google's efforts to fulfill its annual Android update cycle, as the third developer preview of Android 11 dropped on Thursday. In addition to bug fixes and quality of life improvements for develop ...more

It's not so difficult to stay at home during the coronavirus lockdown when there's so much free entertainment to take advantage of. That seems to be the M.O. for many studios and streaming services, as they've made so many shows and movies available to the public for free. Tha ...more

Is your Instagram feed a bit cluttered? Maybe you're seeing posts from people you don't even recognize. Perhaps the content isn't interesting. Whatever the case, it's common after years of having an account to follow too many users whose posts just aren't doing it anymore. Luc ...more

Compromised uTorrent clients can be abused to download a malicious torrent file. The malicious file is designed to embed a persistent backdoor and execute when Windows 10 reboots, granting the attacker remote access to the operating system at will. Torrent clients like uTorre ...more

Google Fit houses all of your essential fitness-related information in the cloud for safekeeping at all times. You can easily let your device detect your workout sessions for you automatically based on a variety of sensors. At the same time, the Fit app makes it easy to manual ...more

The end of year surprises keep on flowing from the Plantation, Florida offices of Magic Leap. This time, it's yet another game from the company's old partner Insomniac Games, and it's called Strangelets. Don't Miss: Magic Leap & Weta Workshop Launch Boosters Game from Dr. Gr ...more

After drawing attention from nostalgic Gen Xers for its Motorola Razr reboot with a foldable screen, Lenovo has a new augmented reality smartglasses concept that the company hopes will also turn some heads. At its Tech World 2019 conference in Beijing, Lenovo showed off its L ...more

Rumors are what Apple dreams are made, so most of the time it's best to ignore the juicy ones -- but some Apple rumors demand a least a little attention. Such is the case with the latest tantalizing breadcrumb that claims that the Cupertino, California-based company is workin ...more

The Files app was first introduced to the iPhone with the release of iOS 11. In the two years since its unveiling, we've enjoyed a more desktop-class experience since there's finally a decent file manager for mobile devices. That said, there was always one major issue with the ...more

Apple's update for iOS 13 is not without bugs and other issues, and if those problems become annoying or impede your ability to use your iPhone like usual, you may want to downgrade. Hundreds of new features may not matter if you can't use your iPhone like it's meant to be. T ...more

Prior to this year, Time primarily relied on image markers in the magazine to trigger its special augmented reality features In 2019, though, the venerable media entity has embraced the markerless tracking provided by ARKit and ARCore via the new Time Immersive app, and a new ...more

Starting Sept. 13, you can preorder the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, or 11 Pro Max from Apple, wireless carriers, and various e-commerce websites. However, unlike with Android smartphones, there is only one set of iOS phones that come out each year, so they're pretty hot items. That mea ...more

We know that Microsoft's HoloLens 2 is due to start shipping later this year, but despite the trickle of news about the device, we still don't know when. Now, a new set of documents on the Federal Communications Commission website confirms we probably won't have TOO much long ...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

Earlier than expected, Apple just released the first public beta for iOS 13 today, June 24, three weeks after Apple first seeded the beta to developers. The general testing pool now has access to iOS 13's expansive list of new features, including system-wide dark mode, robocal ...more

After building a tech empire on revenues from search advertising, Google is not about to sit back and let Snapchat, Facebook, 8th Wall, and others draw all the AR marketing attention to their platforms. This week, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (basi ...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

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

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

Like last year's beta release of Android Pie, Google has allowed the Android Q Developer Previews to support some non-Pixel devices. Announced at Google I/O 2019, there are 15 non-Pixel smartphones eligible for the Android 10 Beta, including 2017's Essential PH-1. With a few ...more

It may take practice to get to Carnegie Hall, but a new mobile app gives the average iPhone or iPad owner the experience of walking on stage with a live orchestra. Available now on the App Store, the Spatial Orchestra app brings music to life comes with augmented reality and ...more

We last saw China-based augmented and virtual reality headset maker Shadow Technologies at last year's Augmented World Expo, where they had the Action One, one of the wildest augmented reality headsets we've seen, on display. This week, the company re-emerged with Shadow Air, ...more

We already know that Microsoft has something big planned for later this month, and now we have details on how to watch the company's big reveal. Microsoft has posted the live streaming video link for the event, which will be on February 24, a day when many expect the company ...more

If there was a version of the Doomsday Clock for counting down the release of Microsoft's HoloLens 2, then the caretakers of that imaginary clock would move the minute hand to "one minute to midnight." On Monday, Alex Kipman, Microsoft's technical fellow in charge of the Holo ...more

Although Apple's Animoji game is strong, as recently exampled by its Ariana Grande collaboration, Google isn't slacking either, unleashing a far more immersive music experience for smartphone users. Released on Friday, the new Childish Gambino augmented reality Playmoji chara ...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

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

The mystery surrounding the release of the next version of the HoloLens has been swirling for months, but at least some of that mystery may removed in the coming weeks. In an invite sent out on Wednesday, Microsoft is inviting members of the media to an event at this year's M ...more

Apple released the latest update for iPhones, iOS 12.1.1, on Wednesday, Dec. 5. It introduces a few new features to iOS 12 as a whole. The software has been in beta testing since Halloween of this year, spending just over one month in the hands of beta testers. Chief among th ...more

Famed singer-songwriter David Bowie will return to the real world as part of an augmented reality app launching on Jan. 8, 2019, which would have been his 72nd birthday. The app, which will be available on iOS and Android, serves as an augmented reality recreation of the "Dav ...more

While many are familiar with Samsung, I'm pretty sure most Americans couldn't name the second-largest smartphone OEM. It's actually Huawei, and they recently released a spec-sheet dream of a phone in the Mate 20 Pro. So naturally, we wanted to see how it compared to the larges ...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

Apple officially released iOS 12 to everyone on Sept. 17, and while the new iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max will come with the software by default, you have a choice on whether or not to update your current iPhone model from iOS 11. There are a lot of tempting features to want to up ...more

Apple's new iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max are sure to be hits this year. Of course, that means plenty of hungry customers are looking to sign up for a model once preorders begin on Friday, Sept. 14, for the XS models, and Oct. 19 for the XR. Luckily, there are preemptive actions y ...more

Despite the popularity of Pokémon GO, augmented reality gaming hasn't quite caught on yet. The makers of the popular World of Tanks game aren't taking a shot at Niantic's crown yet, but they are looking at giving spectators a new way to watch the game. The game's maker, Warga ...more

While numerous examples exist of hospitals deploying the HoloLens to assist doctors, surgeons, medical professionals, and students while treating patients, California's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford is actually using the augmented reality headset to improve the p ...more

Burning Man 2018 is underway, but Intel and the Smithsonian American Art Museum are giving those not in attendance the ability to view the art from the event through Snapchat. Snapchat users can step through a Portal Lens and preview the VR experience created by Intel and VR ...more

Crisis averted — Apple released iOS 12 public beta 6 — not public beta 7 — to software testers Wednesday, August 15. The update comes hours after the release of dev beta 8, which replaced the short-lived seventh developer beta. Apple released dev beta 7 Monday, August 13, but ...more

Now that the cat's out of the bag, Magic Leap has published videos of a pair of apps that will be available to Magic Leap One early adopters. Alongside the core apps, Magic Leap will make Create and Tónandi, developed in-house with early-access partners, available at launch. ...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

Now even muggles can see how they'd look chasing the Golden Snitch on a Nimbus 2000. That's because Snapchat is gifting Harry Potter fans with a 3D Bitmoji Lens that adorns their digital doppelgängers in the robes of the houses of Hogwarts. To cast this AR spell with your Sn ...more

With the launch of the Magic Leap One looming over summer's horizon, on Wednesday, Magic Leap released an essential component that will differentiate it from current augmented reality platforms. Available in Lumin SDK 0.16.0, the Lumin Runtime is the environment within the Lu ...more