The Earth

This time last year, we got our first taste of what mobile app developers could do in augmented reality with Apple's ARKit. Most people had never heard of Animojis. Google's AR platform was still Tango. Snapchat introduced its World Lens AR experiences. Most mobile AR experien ...more

Not that long ago I wrote an article discussing what it would be like, realistically, if you were to accidentally travel back in time to the Victorian era. At the end of that article, I mentioned that the best thing you could bring with you on a time-traveling adventure is a K ...more

Less than 20 days after the launch of Magic Leap One, Mapbox has jumped at the chance to provide its map services to Magic Leap developers through its Maps SDK for Unity. Dubbed the Magic Maps SDK, the toolkit enables developers to pull 3D vector maps, satellite maps, and ele ...more

Whether it's a short road trip or an 18-hour flight, our phones are now essential travel companions. No longer do we need a GPS unit, maps, cameras, camcorders, or even boarding passes. However, not all phones are created equal in this regard. Some are more suited for travelin ...more

Unless you've been hiding under a (moon) rock for the past month, you already know that Saturday, July 20 is the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing. And while it has been 50 years since man first visited the moon, no human has set foot on its surface since 197 ...more

Want to know how to patent an idea, but you just don't know how to go about doing it? It doesn't take a lot of money to get a provisional patent. The real thing you want to know is the process of taking an idea that you have all the way up to getting it patent. I will take you ...more

If you missed out on Black Friday this year, you've got a second chance at saving some big bucks on apps, mobile devices, HDTVs, and other tech. See below for all of the hot Cyber Monday deals from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other online retailers. This list will be ...more

There's not much going on this week in the skies above, but there are a lot of conjunctions to take a peek at! And of course, there's the comet Garradd that's still showing its tail to us down here on Earth, so make sure to catch it before it's gone. The rest that's going on t ...more

Our universe has never been closer thanks to Apple's ARKit. YouTube user Jenil Kansara has been playing around with ARKit features and created a solar system in his room. The cool part about this is that the planets orbit the sun, it's not just a stagnant rendering. He seems ...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

ZERO WASTE. Yes, You read that right. This kitchen of the future aims to have zero waste. Ekokook the kitchen concept out of design company Faltazi gives us hope for a greener future. How is this possible you ask when in most homes 85 or 90 percent of a family's trash is gener ...more

Who other than Mother Earth? Below, a selection of 10 images from the USGS' Earth as Art, a collection of stunning photographs from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites. The bright color is a false effect produced by satellite sensors, but the texture, shapes, patterns, scal ...more

As Hurricane Sandy barrels towards the East Coast, 50 million people are expected to be affected in the nation's most populated corridor. The behemoth super storm is a cause for concern, evident by the massive evacuations. The picture above is an eerie snap of the mostly crowd ...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

Innovative or downright frightening? Popsci examines five of the world's scariest science experiments-in-progress. Suitcase Nukes "Scientists are trying to develop pure-fusion reactions—bursts that don’t require uranium or plutonium to ignite—for clean energy. But they could ...more

Tahini: it sounds like the name of a high-end fashion designer... or perhaps a variation on a two-piece swimsuit. But this "weird ingredient" is actually a delicious and nutritious paste made from toasted sesame seeds and oil. Tahini originated in the Middle East and Northern ...more

After his fall from Asgard into space, the Asgardian Loki meets the Other, the leader of a warmongering alien race known as the Chitauri. In exchange for retrieving the Tesseract,2 a powerful energy source of unknown potential, the Other promises Loki a Chitauri army with whic ...more

There are over 60-something Android apps cluttering my app drawer. While I'm constantly on the look out for new mods and apps to install, the default way of managing them is cumbersome and just feels unintuitive. I mean, who on Earth would wants to individually manage each app ...more

Help me, George Clooney. You're my only hope. If that mash-up of cultural references doesn't make sense, it will momentarily. To promote The Midnight Sky, the new film starring George Clooney and dropping via Netflix on December 23 (Happy Festivus), the streaming studio is la ...more

The first teaser for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom just hit computer screens on Sunday, but now plans for an augmented reality book for the film have also emerged. Based on a listing for the official augmented reality book on Amazon, the 32-page book by author Caroline Rowla ...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

Yes, you read that right—you can now get Google Maps back on your iPhone again. It may not be officially replacing Apple's notorious Maps app, but it sure is a sight for sore eyes. Video: . Following the release of iOS 6, it was hard to find a good word anywhere about Apple's ...more

Dean Potter, one of National Geographic's Ten Adventurers of the Year, set a world record for base jumping in 2009. Via NatGeo: "On a sunny afternoon in mid-August, Dean Potter stepped onto a tongue of rock just below the summit of Switzerland’s Eiger and jumped off... By th ...more

One of the more meme-able characters from the animated series Rick & Morty will be able to beckon iPhone owners to "show them me what you got" thanks to ARKit. A demo from Immersion VR simulates an invasion of the Cromulons (from episode five of the second season), or, to som ...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

NASA is going going to Saturn's moon Titan, and the space organization is using augmented reality help them do it. The team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has been working for years to get its robotic probe mission to Titan approved, and just ...more

Apple has Siri, Google has its Now service, and Microsoft has Cortana. All of these voice-activated services can bring you information quickly and easily without having to type anything into your smartphone. Speak and within seconds you're provided with either an answer or som ...more

Some of the oldest art on Earth was created 36,000 years ago on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in France. However, these days, physical access to the cave is restricted in order to preserve the site. Thanks to augmented reality, the cave is now virtually open to the public onc ...more

Amazing what you can get out of camcorder these days. "Discovering a whole tiny world in my father's small garden. There is a small pond with small falls, some stones, some plants, and plenty of life! Shot on Panasonic 500- Fujinon 17x7.6 HD lens." Video: Use the Panasonic HP ...more

There isn't much going on this week, but be sure to try viewing the Spica-moon conjunction. It will be hard to view with the full moon, but it will be spectacular if you can snag a peak. April 6: Spica-moon Conjunction, full moon April 7: Io transit; moon at perigee (358,313 ...more

No one can dispute the evolutionary success of bugs. The oldest insect fossils were found encased in crystallized mineral silica in Scotland in 1926, and they're between 396 and 407 million years old. Insects have seen dinosaurs come and go. They have survived disruptions to ...more

Artist Jim Denevan works on a massive scale. He's "painted" the northern beaches of California, and etched away at the Nevada desert. His most recent project, however, tops his past works in terms of enormity. The Siberia piece presents beautiful geometric aerial patterns, ca ...more

Bacon on burgers and sandwiches is truly a wonderful thing, though not when it slides out and lands on your plate. Or, even worse—the floor. There are ways to prevent bacon strips from slipping out, like holding your burger a certain way, preparing veggies correctly, or hollo ...more

With the ever-evolving technology that imbues photography, we are never short of fantastic awe-inspiring shots. Digital cameras can capture things that the naked eye only wishes it could see, like streaking lights, rapid movements, and faraway objects, and it's fairly easy to ...more

Within the gastronomic melting pot of America, pizza was first introduced in the late 19th century by Italian settlers in cities like New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The slice-by -slice phenomenon gained popularity when immigrant street peddlers walked the sidewalks with ...more