Every year, fans of Irish culture, as well as those looking to celebrate their own culture, come together on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. Although beer isn't an official component of the day, many often raise a glass of brew to commemorate the occasion and this year that acti ...more
For the entirety of its existence, Snapchat has lived on mobile, but in its quest to lead the augmented reality industry, the company is now bringing those mobile AR experiences to desktops. On Friday, Snap introduced Snap Camera, an app for PC and Mac that gives users access ...more
As Android device partners ship new products, Google has been diligent in its efforts to ensure that users can enjoy ARCore apps once they boot up their new toys. On Monday, Google updated its ARCore Supported Devices page to include the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Tab S ...more
Among a treasure trove of new developer information on the Lumin OS that Magic Leap recently published on its Creator Portal appears to be the official confirmation of the Magic Leap Mobile Companion App. The app was alluded to in job postings previously reported by Next Real ...more
While devices as old as the iPhone 5s have been treated quite well by iOS 12, the same cannot be said for Fortnite. The smash hit has had a rocky run on the latest iOS betas, with a known crashing issue featured on each beta update's release notes. That changes with developer ...more
The old school staple of many US homes with children, the remote control race track, has been given new life in augmented reality thanks to the Room Racer app for iPhones and iPads. Using ARKit, the app places a miniature race track on a floor or tabletop. The game includes n ...more
Apple's on a roll with once-every-week releases for the iOS 11.4.1 beta. Exactly seven days after beta 3 came out, beta 4 has been pushed out to developers and public beta testers on Monday, June 25. Just like before, there are no new features or any known enhancements or bug ...more
Google's Pixel smartphone had a decent head start as one of the first devices to offer ARCore, but that early exclusivity has been frustrating for some Android device owners. Some of that frustration was relieved when Google added more Android devices to the ARCore list in Feb ...more
A very low-key update to the ARCore developer's site has expanded the universe of officially-supported devices for Google's augmented reality toolkit to include the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8+, and Note 8 handsets. The expansion itself isn't a surprise with regard to the S8+ and N ...more
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
Gboard is one of the best third-party keyboards available for iPhones, but you probably don't know everything you need to know about it to become a real Gboard pro and stop using Apple's stock keyboard for good. I've tried many third-party keyboards on my iPhone since they we ...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
While the Twitch app for iOS came out way back in 2011, livestreaming iPhone games was a rarity until Apple recently updated its ReplayKit in iOS 11. However, Twitch hasn't jumped on the bandwagon yet, but that doesn't mean you can't livestream your iPhone games to Twitch righ ...more
Harry Potter fans can set down their wands for a spell, as the highly-anticipated augmented reality game from Niantic based on the franchise won't arrive until after July at the earliest. In an interview with The Financial Times (subscription required), Niantic CEO John Hanke ...more
The augmented reality industry made great strides in 2017, but its apex is not even in sight. In terms of software, augmented reality is approaching meaningful mainstream awareness, thanks mostly to Apple and ARKit. Meanwhile, on the hardware side, AR is very much in its infa ...more
Apple has released the second beta for iOS version 11.2.5 for developers on Dec. 19. The update comes six days after the release of the first 11.2.5 beta which updated the Music app to include a persistent "play bar" at the bottom of the window, along with some bug fixes. Publ ...more
Not all remakes of video game classics turn out well, but a new augmented reality take on Super Mario is likely to draw in fans of the Nintendo hit. Created by Vancouver-based Stuart Langfield, the AR gaming experiment isn't an official release, but after seeing what's possib ...more
Last month, BMW rolled out its playful take on augmented reality with Snapchat, and now the automaker is bringing that same immersive computing whimsy to iOS directly. Using Apple's ARKit, the BMW i Visualizer app allows you to select and customize a life-sized version of the ...more
Apple is no stranger to lawsuits. They were in a decade-long battle with Samsung that finally came to an end last month, and they've been duking it out in the courtroom with Qualcomm since last year. The more recent case has seen both companies file suits and counter-suits, bu ...more
The past year brought about a number of trends in the smartphone space. More immersive displays, better processors, and portrait mode for cameras come to mind as big steps forward. One of the most polarizing trends that continued in 2017 is the removal of the 3.5 mm headphone ...more
If you or someone you know has younger kids and you're looking for an augmented reality toy, Pai Technology has just the educational option for you. For $199, the toy maker offers Augie, a spherical robot that uses augmented reality to teach children the basics of programming ...more
If giving truly is better than receiving, then The Box AR should be the best ARKit app available when iOS 11 releases next week. Dad jokes and hyperbole aside, developer 8ninths puts a creative spin on placing holograms on the user's view of the real world. Every 24 hours, A ...more
While The Walking Dead has brand recognition for its AR game, ARZombi has ARKit. Their forthcoming app, built on ARKit by an independent team of horror aficionados, is more reminiscent of zombie mode in recent installments of the Call of Duty franchise than AMC's location-bas ...more
The future is here with a new demo made with Apple's ARKit and LeapMotion. Typically, since ARKit works through your iPhone, in order to move augmented reality objects that are appearing on your screen, you have to drag them with your finger. However, developer Arthur Schille ...more
This demo made with Apple's ARKit is 13/10 and features a very good boy. Since the ARKit was announced, there have been rumors going around about what it could mean for pet lovers who want to see augmented reality dogs. The popular Twitter We Rate Dogs has created a Good Dogs ...more
Of all the ways I thought I'd be watching my favorite TV shows, on a floating orb was not one of them. Nevertheless, technology has managed to surprise me once again. A new demo has shown a 360° video being played on a floating orb in the middle of someone's room using Apple' ...more
If you're a Doctor Who fan, you've likely always hoped to see that iconic blue box appear on your doorstep with the Doctor asking you to come on an adventure. With the 13th Doctor just announced, this seems like the perfect time to tell you that thanks to Apple's ARKit, explor ...more
Sending fleets of ships into battle as an ancient Nordic god? Sign me up. Mixed reality development company Immersion VR announced in May of this year that they would be developing a game called "The Ancients" in both AR and VR with artist Jakub Rozalski. Since then, they hav ...more
According The Venture Reality Fund, the introductions of Facebook's camera platform and Apple's ARKit catalyzed increased activity among companies developing consumer applications. The firm's quarterly report on the augmented reality landscape concluded that the strongest act ...more
Furniture arranging apps have been rolling out on different platforms for a while now thanks, in no small part, to augmented reality. However, people have been waiting to see what the first room arranging app was going to be with Apple's ARKit. Most of the signs pointed to it ...more
Whether you're hard of hearing, watching a foreign movie, or just like reading along when you're watching a TV show or film on your smartphone, Netflix includes captions and subtitles that you can use. Best of all, if you don't like the way the default captions and subtitles l ...more
It's that time of year again — Apple will be hitting the stage in California to talk about new features coming to iOS and macOS devices in the near future. Of course, you're going to want to tune in and be up to date on all the changes coming to your Apple products. The offic ...more
Apple has been aggressively smashing bugs with its last few updates to iOS 10, so it seems like all of the major work is done. With the iPhone 7 release date approaching fast, it's a good sign that the only remaining hurdles are relatively minor and cosmetic tweaks (though the ...more
In the revamped Messages app in iOS 10, you can now send animated GIFs from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch without a third-party keyboard like Giphy or GIF Keyboard. Best of all, this is not just an iMessage-only feature. We tested it out and were able to send animated GIFs ...more
Music is definitely more immersive when it's accompanied by a bit of visual stimuli, which is why CyanogenMod and other custom ROMs have started integrating music visualizers into elements of the Android system UI. It's a great effect, but it's not necessarily something that's ...more
Google kicked off I/O 2016 by debuting Assistant, a next-level version of Google Now. While you could search the web by voice before, now you'll be able to have a conversational interaction with Google. In short, it's a smart chat bot. Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated an ...more
Google just made searching the web on your iPhone a whole lot easier with its new GBoard keyboard for iOS. It has a built-in Google icon so that you can search directly from whatever app you're in, making it a cinch to add images, GIFs, directions, videos, and more. Video: . T ...more
Celebrating Mother's Day just got more exploitative with Apple's Mother's Day ad. Their original Mother's Day ad shows photos and videos of mothers shot on an iPhone and uses the “Shot on iPhone” marketing line: Video: . In a perhaps misguided marketing campaign, you can inse ...more
With the DOJ attempting to rip Apple a new one and an Apple attorney firing back, the President offered his opinion on the recent encryption debacle between the FBI and Apple at SXSW, amidst some talk about the direction of today's tech industry. In Case You Missed It: The FB ...more
If you left your iPhone sitting unlocked, or have friends and family that like to play pranks, you may be stuck with an overly orange screen out of the blue. Or worse, your screen is normal most of the time, but seems to randomly change its tint in certain parts of the day. I ...more
According to the American Osteopathic Association, "1 in 5 teens has some form of hearing loss," and some experts believe it's because of an increase in headphones use. While I understand that music, movies, and video games help keep children preoccupied, there's no reason why ...more
Since Live Photos are nothing more than a glorified, built-in GIF generator on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to get this "exclusive" feature on an older iPhone. While taking a Live Photo does eat up a lot of processing power, which the ...more
For minor adjustments and color-correction, the Photos app is extremely useful, but its capabilities are limited to just the basics. Now, with Mac OS X El Capitan, Apple is opening the door for third-party extensions, meaning we can utilize additional, unique tools when editin ...more
As many of you may have heard, Apple's new iOS 9 is "rootless", which supposedly would make jailbreaking much more difficult. However, it has been shown to be possible. ih8sn0w posted a youtube video of his jailbroken iphone running iOS 9 and even gave some hints about it in t ...more
If you've noticed moments when there's a drop in quality when listening to a song on Apple Music, it's not just you. When on a cellular connection, the streaming quality drops when compared to that of a Wi-Fi connection. Thankfully, there's an easy fix to get high-quality str ...more
Out of all the new features in iOS 9, the two most important ones specific to iPads are split screen multitasking and floating video windows. The latter is truly great, since you can watch movies or use FaceTime while you use different apps. The feature is called Picture in Pi ...more
With the first wave of Apple Watches being received today, you're probably busy setting yours up and playing with all its features. Regardless of whether you purchased the Apple Watch Sport or the Apple Watch, you're probably fine with not having spent the extra 10,000-17,000 ...more
If you don't like watching YouTube videos on your computer with your hand glued to your mouse, the next best thing is using keyboard shortcuts. They may not seem any easier than clicking, but once you get them down it's a whole other story. Plus, there are some features you mi ...more
Apple's iOS 8 ushered in a new way of typing with the addition of third-party keyboard compatibility. We've seen everything from keyboards with swipe gestures, customizable themes, different sizes, and even embedded GIFs. Now we've got one for all of you music lovers called Au ...more
A highly useful, yet unrecognized and under-appreciated feature in Apple's iOS 8 is the ability to seamlessly convert incoming texts regarding future dates into calendar events. Messages like "Let's chill tomorrow" can be tapped on and quickly added to the calendar. It's conve ...more
Third-party keyboard support, introduced earlier this year by Apple with iOS 8, was initially pretty awesome. I loved playing around with all of the different options available in the iOS App Store, including SwiftKey, TouchPal, GIF Keyboard, and Swype. Regardless of all the ...more
Apple Pay is ready for use at over 220,000 outlets across the United States. By using your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, all you have to do is point your device at any NFC-enabled point-of-sale system compatible with Apple Pay, press your fingerprint on the home button, and voilà—you've ...more
The little black status bar at the top of your screen is great for at-a-glance info, but let's face it—it's pretty ugly. If you want to hide it completely, only showing it when you need it, check out our guide on using Immersive Mode in KitKat. However, if you want to keep the ...more
There are a lot of cool new features in iOS 8 that weren't available in previous iOS versions, but it's still lacking overall in terms of customization. I'm not asking for Apple to reinvent the wheel, just to give me preferences on the type of wheel I want. Things like the ab ...more
As obtrusive as they come, the translucent volume control window that appears in iOS 7 takes up a lot of screen real estate. It's extremely annoying when watching videos, appearing directly in the middle of the movie you're viewing for several seconds any time you adjust the a ...more
Recently, Mike over on Samsung Galaxy S4 softModder showed how to scroll from the bottom to the top of a page with a single tap, a feature that Apple is well known for, and something I missed very much on my Galaxy Note 3. However, there's always room for improvement. While t ...more
While there were many highlights during Apple's keynote address at WWDC this year, the new advancements to the sassy personal assistant Siri in iOS 7 were amongst the most talked about—and something I was eager to test drive myself. Currently, there are ways to improve Siri in ...more
Free stuff is awesome. Zombies are awesome. And plants...well, plants are okay, but two out of three isn't bad. So, for this week only, PopCap is offering one of its all-time best sellers, Plants vs. Zombies, for FREE for being the Game Center's App of the Week in the iTunes A ...more
One of the biggest downsides to the iPhone is that it isn't as easy to customize as other smartphones. It's true that this makes Apple products more secure in some ways, but it also means that you have to jailbreak your phone and void your warranty if you want to change certai ...more
How do you make a 1950 Studebaker even cooler? By installing an iPod Nano in the dashboard, of course! The folks over at MAYA Design hacked their way to a touch-controlled sound system with this project they've dubbed the "Nano-Baker" (or "Stude-iPod") using a pair of Apple ea ...more