These days, it's easy to cut the cord. Thanks to a new crop of streaming TV apps, you can get the same service offered by a traditional cable subscription at a fraction of the price. After some extensive testing, we believe we've found the absolute best apps for cord cutting. ...more
Unlike the realm of virtual reality, augmented reality is less about losing yourself in some fantasy environment, and more about getting things done in the real world. So while we've seen some great games that capture the imagination on devices like the Magic Leap One and the ...more
On Thursday, Mojo Vision, a startup comprised of former engineers from Apple, Amazon, Google, and other Silicon Valley mainstays, emerged from stealth backed by $50 million in funding for a hands-free augmented reality platform that runs without smartphones, tablets, or other ...more
You can mod every aspect of your phone's software with root, but if you want to make changes at the hardware level, you'll need a custom kernel. If you've looked into custom kernels before, one name undoubtedly kept coming up: ElementalX. It's easily the best custom kernel out ...more
Fresh off shipping an augmented reality game for Magic Leap, Resolution Games has farmed another $7.5 million in funding through a Series B round. The round was led by MizMaa Ventures, with new investors including venture capital firms GP Bullhound and Fly Forever, as well as ...more
So far, consumer augmented reality headsets haven't found mainstream success. That's primarily because no manufacturer has managed to hit the sweet spot between slim form factor, performance, and affordability. So when you hear that a Norwegian company called Ludenso is offer ...more
Rumors are swirling today that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) may have shown us the first public glimpse of the next-generation HoloLens. Are they real? Or just a prototype? We've been digging in all day to find the answers. The "Leaked" HoloLens In a video published ...more
The game wizards at Insomniac take pride in diving deep when it comes to world-building, and the same is true for the studio's latest title for Magic Leap One called Seedling. Revealed on Wednesday at the L.E.A.P. conference in Los Angeles, the Magic Leap One-based title is l ...more
If you own a Google Pixel, you'll soon have augmented reality versions of Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Childish Gambino on your camera. During its now-annual consumer hardware launch event, Google unveiled its rebrand of ARCore showcase AR Stickers, now known as Playgro ...more
Automotive augmented reality company WayRay has set its destination for a $1 billion valuation with an estimated time of arrival of 2019, and it has just passed a major milestone towards that goal. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has closed an $80 million Series C r ...more
The iPhone XR has touched down alongside the XS and XS Max, and it utilizes tried and tested materials found on the iPhone 8, while being molded in the same vein as the iPhone X. The budget-friendlier flagship comes with its own set of design elements to set it apart from its ...more
While we've seen Snapchat apply sky segmentation to AR content, the makers of the Blue Sky Paint app have applied similar capabilities to create and share airborne art. Published by AR developer Kevaid and available now on the App Store, Blue Sky Paint is similar to Similar t ...more
While they don't do augmented reality just yet, the latest styles of Snapchat's Spectacles 2 camera glasses serve as a peek into the future of how mainstream AR wearables may look. On Wednesday, the company unveiled two new styles, Nico and Veronica, that expand its Spectacle ...more
Apple's dedication to iPhone security is one of the company's biggest selling points. It's no surprise then that iOS 12 offers users a simple yet powerful way to make, save, and auto-fill strong passwords to your iCloud Keychain when creating accounts in both Safari and in app ...more
Luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz has joined the growing list of automakers adopting augmented reality to provide an assist to its manufacturing operations, in this case, via the Microsoft HoloLens. The company employs more than 100 HoloLens devices in its Mercedes-Benz Global T ...more
Recently, a user on Reddit complained that their Snapchat account had been temporarily banned because Snapchat noticed the user's account was going through a third-party service. In reality, the account in question was running on a jailbroken iPhone, and it was far from the fi ...more
On Tuesday, at the Unite Berlin developers conference, Unity unveiled new tools designed specifically for augmented reality that could literally raise the technology to the next level. Coming this fall, a new extension for Unity called Project MARS (short for Mixed and Augmen ...more
At present, consumer-facing augmented reality is a mobile world, and Snapchat is making money on it through advertising partnerships. The future, however, is in wearables, and that future is getting closer. While Magic Leap is lining up content for the launch of Magic Leap On ...more
Last week's Augmented World Expo felt like a distant memory by this Monday, as Apple unveiled ARKit 2.0 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Certainly, this news would overshadow anything augmented reality this week as it nearly eclipsed AWE when early reports leaked ...more
On Wednesday, June 6, the people at Magic Leap finally (FINALLY) decided to give the public a dedicated, slow, feature-by-feature walkthrough of the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition. How was it? About as good as it gets without actually getting to see what images look like thro ...more
Apple's doubling down on AR features in iOS 12 and iOS 13. The iPhone's augmented reality framework got a major overhaul with ARKit 2 and ARKit 3, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. While the updated API tools will help developers make better interactive apps, there's ano ...more
As expected, Apple revealed today at the WWDC keynote that ARKit 2.0 will support multiplayer gaming support and persistent content, which will arrive this fall with iOS 12. In addition to persistent and shared experiences, ARKit 2.0 will bring improved face tracking, more re ...more
Google's ARCore has expanded its support to include the Galaxy S9 and S9+, which means you get access to all the cool new apps that can sense the world around them. But one of ARCore's coolest uses so far is still Pixel-exclusive: AR stickers built right into the Google Camera ...more
A burner number isn't just for criminals and cheating spouses. In this digital world, with many of our interactions being conducted online, a throwaway phone number acts as a buffer — it lets you enjoy the web without having to give out your personal information, such as real ...more
China-based virtual reality headset maker ANTVR has decided to enter the augmented reality space, and to do so it's launching its headset on Kickstarter. The company claims that its new Mix AR device has a field of view that surpasses the Meta 2, the HoloLens, and others withi ...more
During Tuesday's keynote at the I/O developer conference, Google unveiled new capabilities for its Lens visual search engine and expanded the availability of the platform in smartphone camera apps. Introduced at last year's edition of the conference, Google Lens launched as a ...more
Cosmetics maker Coty is hanging an augmented reality Magic Mirror on the wall of its Bourjois boutique in Paris that will tell customers which shade of makeup will make them the fairest of them all. And while the concept of AR-powered cosmetics marketing isn't new, Coty's ver ...more
In an effort to help its advertising partners close sales with its sponsored augmented reality camera effects, Snapchat has launched a set of e-commerce tools designed to encourage users to buy products directly in the app. Shoppable AR is an enhanced Lens that offers adverti ...more
Just days after Bose did its best to frame a pair of glasses frames with spatial audio as "augmented reality," a patent application from Magic Leap, surfaced on Thursday, March 15, offers a similar idea, but with real AR included. The patent application refers to the Magic Le ...more
Augmented reality startup 6D.ai is now accepting applicants for the closed beta of its 6D SDK. While operating in the background on a smartphone, the computer vision platform captures a dense 3D mesh in real time using just the device's camera (such a feat typically requires ...more
In the previous article, we learned how to set up our VPS, configure our PHP server, and developed an in-depth understanding of how the payload works. With all that taken care of, we can get into disguising our payload to appear as an image and crafting the note in the greetin ...more
HBO's Westworld has touched down on iOS as a mobile game, giving players the chance to manage their very own futuristic theme park set in the wild west. Unfortunately, the game is currently only available in select countries as a soft launch until its fully developed. But if y ...more
A new smartglasses powerhouse is rising in Europe, led by two of the region's leading brands, optical systems company Zeiss (also known as Carl Zeiss) and telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. Together, the two companies will each own 50% of a new company called Tooz Tec ...more
A new survey of game developers paints a somewhat less than rosy future for augmented reality gaming, but there's still some hope for its long-term prospects. The Game Developers Conference, which is holding its annual event in March in San Francisco, recently surveyed about ...more
Among consumer brands, cosmetics companies rival furniture retailers as the quickest to adopt augmented reality as a means to help customers visualize how products will look before they buy them. One cosmetics brand called Benefit has moved beyond lipstick and rouge to let cu ...more
While self-driving cars appear to be as inevitable as augmented reality headsets, the auto industry and its technology partners likely have years of testing to complete and regulatory loopholes to jump through before self-driving cars hit most highways. Until then, the same c ...more
Coinbase is the primary go-to for many users when it comes to investing in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and more, due to its user-friendly interface. But before you join them, know that the ease of use comes with a price. Coinbase charges fees f ...more
Christmas came early for Apple, as the company was awarded more than 40 patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, including one covering a system for compositing an augmented reality construct based on image recognition. The patent (US 9,824,495) covers a syst ...more
So, your grandmother finally wants to ditch her flip phone for a shiny new smartphone? Congratulations. But helping her get used to her new device, even when it's an iPhone, is no small task. Grandma mastered checking her email in late-2012 and just recently learned there's a ...more
Since the very first moment I saw the iPhone X track a human face and display the results in real-time on an Animoji character, I've been waiting for the first great hack of this new iPhone feature. Not only do we now have that first great demonstration, it's so impressive it ...more
With technology giants like Apple and Google finally entering the fray, the move toward mass adoption of augmented reality is ramping up. Apple's ARKit and Google's ARCore will allow entirely new categories of apps to be made. Unfortunately, in a world of heavy competition, ge ...more
The HoloLens has become a frequent sight in medical facilities around the world, but a new demonstration shows just how seamlessly it can be integrated into traditional medical procedures to improve the experience for physicians and patients alike. Professor Shafi Ahmed, a co ...more
While VR promises to take gamers to another world, AR has the potential to bring the game elements into your own neighborhood or home. Just in time for Halloween, ARZombi places your living room into the epicenter of a zombie outbreak, with your ARKit-compatible iPhone or iPa ...more
To revise a line from the Blues Brothers, when it comes to ARKit apps, we've got both kinds — home utilities and games. As such, two more candidates for each category have made their way to the app store. In addition, one by one, NFL teams are taking a pass at augmented reali ...more
The launch of the latest line of iPhones came and went without major revelations for advanced AR hardware other than the next iteration of processors and cameras. The reaction to the new iPhones from AR investors and influencers of the NR50 was, in a word, tepid. Inbar & Emr ...more
It has been an interesting few days in developer news. The Microsoft blog has been busy with information relative to the augmented reality space. Meta 2 has also announced an interesting development this week. Here is a collection of various tidbits that have been collecting u ...more
The staff at Next Reality News is legitimately excited about the prospects that Google's ARCore could bring not only to smartphones and tablets running Android, but also to Android-based hardware such as smartglasses. We can't help but imagine how Epson's award-winning, Andro ...more
This morning Google announced ARCore, an SDK for Android devices that will allow augmented reality developers to add new functionality to Android 7.0 and up, all without any special hardware other than the camera of a phone. While Apple released ARKit into beta at WDCC a few ...more
One of the most popular usages of modern-day smartphones is listening to music. It doesn't matter if you download or stream your tunes, you are part of a massive group of users who do exactly the same. While statistics are a bit foggy on how many smartphones users download mus ...more
While Meta Company has agreed to a settlement in its lawsuit against a former employee and his company, they find the tables have now turned on them in the form of patent infringement allegations from another entity. Recent court filings show that Meta Company has reached a s ...more
This week, two companies looking to capitalize on the growing augmented reality industry, raised funding from starkly different sources. Meanwhile, several companies supplying components and technology for augmented reality experiences reported positive results from the first ...more
Ride-sharing firm Lyft says it will continue to rely on drivers in the near and long term even as it replaces them with driverless cars, Taggart Matthiesen, Lyft's director of product, said during a Podcast with Recode. In other words, Matthiesen says Lyft plans to offer oppo ...more
On July 20, 1969, humans set foot on the moon for the first time. But some say our microbes beat us there. With the Space Age came new questions about microscopic invaders from outer space and concern about where we are leaving our microbial footprints. The questions are even ...more
Some drivers give Tesla's Autopilot update released this week rave reviews, after version 8.1 has taken longer than expected to live up to Elon Musk's "smooth as silk" Tweet from earlier this year. With this update, drivers report noticeable improvements in Tesla models' driv ...more
Growing evidence suggests that neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's may develop in part due to environmental factors, including infections that can cause inflammation in the nervous system. New research from investigators from Jude Children's Research Hospital and Thoma ...more
SoundCloud is a really interesting alternative to Spotify and Pandora in that it will never really give you the exact mainstream song that you want. If you're looking for new up-and-coming artists that are making some wonderful alternative remixes to mainstream music, then Sou ...more
Tesla says the new version of Autopilot is now as good as the previous one, after having completed over-the-air updates of the driverless software during the past few days. Model S and Model X Tesla models the electric car firm began to make October 16 last year lacked certai ...more
Waymo claims in court documents filed yesterday in its lawsuit against Uber that ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick knew that former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski was in the possession of stolen documents while employed at the troubled ride-sharing firm. The federal court yest ...more
Aspiring engineers, your challenge, should you choose to accept it, has been issued by Jaguar Land Rover. Prove yourself and you can be the next in line for greatness. — Jaguar That is the challenge posed by Jaguar as they attempt to find the next generation of the best and ...more
A report by PwC highlights that immersive experiences in augmented and virtual reality represent the fastest growing segment of the entertainment and media industry over the next six years. News from two companies working in the industry, Fox and NetDragon, underscore the grow ...more