Pioneering

The legal drama surrounding Chinese startup Nreal and Magic Leap continues, and now we finally have an update. For months, Magic Leap's legal team attempted to contact Nreal and its founder, Chi Xu, with little success. But that all changed a few weeks ago. Don't Miss: Magic ...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

Text adventure games, such as the well-known Zork series, were some of the first computer games ever made, second only to the likes of Spacewar! and the better-known Pong. So let's travel back in time for a moment, to a time that never was. Charles Babbage successfully built ...more

Franchises left and right are releasing Pokémon Go-style augmented reality games, and Google is making it even easier to churn out the apps. Announced today via a company blog post, the Google Maps API now enables developers to build their own location-based games using Maps ...more

Futureplay has soft-launched Battle Bombers Arena, giving mobile gamers a refreshing twist on MOBA by infusing it with simple but addicting gameplay based on the console classic Bomberman. Though only available in select European countries, this game can be played on your iPho ...more

With T-Day on the horizon and approaching rapidly, you are probably in one of two camps. The one that is eagerly awaiting the holiday feast with barely-contained drool. Or the one that involves breathing heavily into a paper bag while worrying about your lack of oven and stove ...more

Japan is in the process of curbing its aging population and mature workforce. According to The Diplomat, the country's population has been declining at a steady rate. To meet future productivity demands in commercial and industrial sectors, local officials are turning to self- ...more

Despite their sometimes fluffy reputations and occasionally ethically compromised viewpoints, tech evangelists are important, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The right passionate voice behind the right technology platform or piece of hardware can sometimes spell the diffe ...more

To some people, Thanksgiving is merely quality time with family and friends that they can't get throughout the rest of the year. To others, it's that one time when it's okay to be a greedy hog and get hammered all weekend long. In that spirit of eat-and-drink-until-you-drop, ...more

It is almost indisputable that smartglasses and head-worn displays are the future of augmented reality. However, at this precise moment, they are still a very niche market. Those who have been in the presence of a HoloLens, Meta 2, or Magic Leap One have witnessed how powerfu ...more

The very basic building block of street art is the tag. Although most people find them ugly, i just think that every artist needs to start somewhere, for street artists, its the tag. Firstly the tag is basicly writing your name, or whatever name you use for your art on a wall ...more

After watching Samsung's exploding phone fiasco this past year, I took comfort knowing that the likelihood my iPhone would suddenly combust was slim. However, after hearing about a recent incident in Wisconsin, iPhone owners may have reason to worry. According to a man named ...more

It appears that the new AR app from LEGO is inching closer to release. LEGO had the unique distinction of being featured on-stage by both Apple and Google to show-off the capabilities ARKit and ARCore, respectively. While the latter is still in a preview and available to only ...more

One could argue that, at least for the moment, software development is more important to the augmented reality experience than hardware. Since a viable augmented reality headset has yet to emerge for the broader, mainstream consumer market, currently, the same devices that mak ...more

Greg Gillis is Girl Talk. Girl Talk is pioneer of the popularization of mashups and digital sampling. To some, Girl Talk may be old news in today's over saturation of remixes and mashups. To others, Gillis is master. The video below is inspiring on two levels: First, Gillis ...more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that augmented reality (or, AR for short) will "change everything." But what, exactly, is augmented reality? Generally, augmented reality refers to the process of presenting virtual objects and imagery — usually through a wearable lens or external ...more

I noticed the neon yellow sign at the new location of Pho Bar in Chinatown right away. The sweeping cursive yellow letters spell out "Crazy Rich Broth"; the same phrase printed on the back of servers' shirts. It's the kind of minimalist but colorful design feature that is espe ...more

Augmented reality startup Nreal was a hit at this month's CES event, with some even calling the device a worthy challenger to the Magic Leap One. However, the company's path to success in the US may not be as smooth as it first seemed, as gaming giant Epic Games has lodged a ...more

What better band than Pink Floyd, the pioneers of psychedelic and progressive rock, to show the music industry how to reinvent album art for the augmented reality age? All rhetorical questions aside, Sony Records saw the opportunity to promote The Later Years, an 18-disc boxe ...more

Smartglasses are the future of augmented reality, and Samsung is betting on waveguide maker DigiLens to emerge as a leader in the growing AR wearable industry. On Tuesday, the company closed a $50 million Series C funding round that counts Samsung's venture arm and Pokémon GO ...more

One of the primary marketing tactics used by Magic Leap in promoting the Magic Leap One was selling early adopters on the "magic" contained within the device. On Thursday, some of that magic was uncovered as the Magic Leap One was completely disassembled by repair engineers, r ...more

While ARKit and ARCore are poised to bring AR experiences to millions of mobile devices, one company is poised to anchor those experiences anywhere in the world with just a set of geographic coordinates. The geospatial augmented reality platform Aireal enables developers to p ...more

Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) is making it easier for its passengers to travel by employing an incredibly practical new augmented reality feature included an update to its iOS app. Now, iPhone and iPad users can place a translucent virtual suitcase over their own real world lugg ...more

Black Friday is upon us. Whether you prefer to duke it out in stores or calmly shop online, there's no doubt you'll find great deals on the items you're looking for this holiday season. It's the perfect time of year to buy something expensive, like a good pair of AirPods, Beat ...more

Apple is combining internal and external talent in an effort to give them in edge in the augmented reality market, though we still don't know what form their foray into alternative realities will actually take. Rumors have been spreading for years about Apple's interest in au ...more

Google just bought a huge chunk of HTC for $1.1 billion. They're bringing in around 2,000 employees, mostly from the hardware division, and these folks will presumably work under hardware chief Rick Osterloh. There's a massive patent portfolio involved, too, so stop me if you' ...more

Augmented reality gaming pioneer and Pokémon GO mastermind Niantic is putting the pieces on the gameboard to prepare developers and gamers for the launch of its AR cloud platform. Announced in June 2018, the Niantic Real World Platform would enable multiplayer experiences, pe ...more

Integrated rather secretively into iOS 7.1, CarPlay gives a better hands-on experience when driving, working with the car's built-in display to help you find directions, send and receive calls and text messages, control music, and more—without having to fumble around with your ...more

Finland-based Rovio, one of the pioneers of mobile gaming, is now ready to break new ground in augmented reality with its Angry Birds franchise. Along with its AR development partner, Sweden-based Resolution Games, the publisher is following up Angry Birds FPS: First Person S ...more

Ever since Facebook announced its partnership with Luxxotica brand Ray-Ban to produce smartglasses, the augmented reality space has been on high alert awaiting more details. Unfortunately, those details have been scarce, until now. During a session at the Paris Viva Technolog ...more

The Association for Computing Machinery's annual Siggraph conference, taking place next week in Los Angeles, will bring researchers from around the to show off their latest innovations in imaging and display technology. This year, the conference has a new headlining act, as M ...more

It was a long time coming, but we finally have a meaningful conclusion to the legal case against augmented reality startup Meta Company. On Tuesday, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware granted a permanent injunction against Meta Company and its found ...more

We've already told you how the Japanese pioneered growing specially shaped watermelons (including square, heart, and Godzilla egg). Now it turns out an organic farmer just north of Los Angeles is doing them one better. Tony Dighera has figured out a way to grow "Pumpkinsteins ...more

If you think that "pawpaw" is just an affectionate name for your grandfather or a cute way of talking about your cat's feet, you're missing out on one of the most interesting fruits out there. The pawpaw is that rare tropical fruit that is actually indigenous to the United St ...more

I must admit, upon learning that the NFL was broadcasting the contest between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears on CBS, Amazon Prime Video, and Nickelodeon, the latter was the only option I wanted, purely for the novelty of the experience. Fans with a similar mindset, ...more

After years of testing and modifications, the US Army is moving forward with its customized version of HoloLens 2 from Microsoft. In separate announcements published on Wednesday, the US Army authorized moving from rapid prototyping to production and rapid field testing. Don ...more

If you're a regular reader of Next Reality, you're more likely to spread the joy of augmented reality than most others. But it can be difficult to introduce newbies into the AR fold if you don't give them exactly the right starting point in terms ease-of-use and affordability. ...more

Following the launch of the Magic Leap One earlier this month, the device and the company took a few hits from early reviewers. But it turns out those were just love taps compared to the absolute scorched earth acidic screed penned this weekend by someone well credentialed to ...more

Location-based gaming pioneer Niantic has been preparing its flavor of AR cloud, the Niantic Real World Platform, to bring more realistic and interactive augmented reality experiences to mobile apps. And now the company is looking for a few good developers to help execute its ...more

Bettie Page is one of the reasons I can wear bikinis, short skirts and freely discuss my female orgasm. Bettie Page (she died Thursday) was a pioneer of America's sexual revolution. In the 50's, Bettie subverted many sexual taboos. She brought what had been 'fringe' to the ma ...more

Less than a week after debuting its AR Cloud platform in public with a multi-user installation of more than 100 participants, Ubiquity6 announced on Tuesday that it has closed a Series B round of funding totaling $27 million. Led by Benchmark and Index Ventures, the latest ro ...more

The Broadway musical War Paint is teaming with augmented reality cosmetics app YouCam Makeup to promote the show on iOS and Android devices. The musical, which centers on the famous rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, two cosmetics industry pioneers, has bee ...more

Magic Leap has been promising to launch a developer conference for years, and now the company is finally making good on that promise. On Wednesday, Magic Leap sent out the official announcement for its first L.E.A.P. conference, which will be held in Los Angeles in October. I ...more

Well-regarded men from the history of the United States tend to grace the country's currency, but what if equally deserving women were honored in the same fashion? That's the question that Google's Notable Women project endeavors to explore with augmented reality. Using imag ...more

Despite the abundance of sci-fi titles in the iOS App Store, very few of these mobile games ever have the staying power keep us glued for more than a few hours. Enter Space Pioneer, an awesome space exploration game that soft-launched in Canada ahead of a worldwide debut. With ...more

Lenovo has partnered with Wikitude to develop a cloud-based platform for delivering industrial-focused augmented reality content, the companies announced at the Augmented World Expo today in Santa Clara, California. The Augmented Human Cloud will combine Wikitude's image reco ...more

Facebook's annual earnings call on Wednesday didn't come with any big surprises, that is, if you took everything at face value. However, if you read between the lines, and paid close attention to the very specific and intentional language the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, u ...more

Last week, Twilio showed off how avatar-based chat communications will work on the Magic Leap One, and now a new startup has unveiled yet another way that augmented reality telepresence and remote collaboration can take place on the device. Emerging from stealth on Wednesday, ...more

In just a few weeks, on May 29, the annual AWE (Augmented World Expo) conference will take place once again in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara, California, to be exact). And while everyone will be on the lookout for the next big thing in augmented reality coming from major player ...more

How would you feel if the stethoscope used by your doctor to listen to your heart and lungs was teeming with potentially unfriendly bacteria? You know the drill. A stethoscope is one of the first medical devices anyone encounters, at any age during a doctor's appointment. The ...more

While the world is only recently becoming aware of its existence, augmented reality has been around in some form or another since the '90s. In the last decade, with the advancement and miniaturization of computer technology — specifically smartphones and tablets — AR has becom ...more