Market Reality: Meta Company & Leap Motion Find New Owners as AWE 2019 Wraps Up
The annual Augmented World Expo (AWE) typically packs the front page of Next Reality with new products and services from companies in the augmented reality industry.
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News: Meta Rises from the Ashes Under New Ownership, Along with a New CEO
Almost half a year after we broke the story about the demise of Meta Company, there's good news for fans of the augmented reality startup — a rebirth is at hand.
News: Amazon Will Pay You to Help Develop Its Augmented Reality System, No Skills Required
Many of us know that you can make a few bucks from Amazon by helping the company sell its wide array of products, but now there's a very different way to make a buck with the company, and it involves 3D technology.
News: Smartglasses Startup North Secures $40 Million in New Funding, Report Says
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.
News: SK Telecom Rolls Out Magic Leap In-Stores in South Korea, Announces Harry Potter & League of Legends AR Partnerships
The partnership between Magic Leap and leading South Korean wireless carrier SK Telecom took on an added importance earlier this week as the company unveiled the world's first nationwide 5G network.
Exclusive: Inside Magic Leap's Secret Headquarters
The long guarded veil of mystery surrounding Magic Leap for years was finally lifted last year when the company revealed its Magic Leap One device.
Market Reality: HoloLens 2 Secrets Revealed, Nreal CEO on AR Future, Meta Lawsuit Update, & Verizon Teams with Vuzix
As Microsoft continues to bask in the glow of its HoloLens 2 unveiling and begins ramping up the hype to launch, Nreal and Vuzix are carving out their own niches in the AR hardware landscape.
News: Matterport Lands $48 Million Investment for 3D Content Capture Technology
The augmented reality industry has an insatiable lust for 3D content, which makes an investment of $48 million into Matterport a no-brainer for investors.
News: Apple Appoints Marketing Leader Behind iPhone Launch to Push Augmented Reality Products
While Apple augmented reality smartglasses are not yet official, the tech giant is ramping up its resources by appointing company veteran Frank Casanova to promote its augmented reality offerings.
News: Facebook Acquires Visual Search Startup GrokStyle
The recent pitfalls and media fallout hitting Facebook hasn't stopped the social media giant from looking to the future.
News: Warby Parker Makes It Easier to Try on Eyeglasses at Home with AR Update to Glasses App for iPhone X Series
If there's one company that is a fan of the TrueDepth camera on Apple's iPhone X devices, it's the popular eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker.
News: Blippar Reborn as One of Britain's 'Brothers Bling' Buys Up Augmented Reality Assets for Relaunch
Augmented reality and computer vision company Blippar has a new lease on life, as previous investor Candy Ventures has completed a successful bid to acquire the assets of the beleaguered company.
News: Snap CFO Resigns After Just Seven Months on the Job
In the business world, it's sometimes said that "where there's smoke, there's fire." At Snapchat parent company Snap, Inc., it appears the equivalent of smoke is executive turnover.
Exclusive: Layar Founders Hope to Buy Back Company in Blippar Asset Sale
After entering the UK's version of bankruptcy last month, Blippar's assets are up for sale, and bidding ended today.
News: ODG Patents Headed to Auction Block After Failed Magic Leap Acquisition Deal, Report Says
Despite the hype and potential of immersive computing, the augmented reality industry is showing that it is not invincible, as another AR hardware maker, this time Osterhout Design Group (ODG), is reportedly going out of business.
News: Magic Leap Shakes Up C-Suite, Shuffles Two Top Executives to Advisory Roles
In the aftermath of the launch of the Magic Leap One, Magic Leap has ejected two more executives from their leadership roles.
Exclusive: Hands-On with North's New Focals Smartglasses & Flagship Store in New York City
On Tuesday, the smartglasses startup known as North finally took the wraps off its Focals product, but in a very unique way: The team simply opened a couple of stores and invited the public in.
News: Here's What's New with Samsung's Messages App in One UI
Samsung's version of Android Pie has landed on Galaxy handsets like the Note 9, S9, and S8, though we've known what to expect thanks to leaked beta versions of the software a few months back. The newly dubbed One UI has plenty of new features and improvements, but some of the first you might notice are the visual improvements to the default messaging app.
News: Investors Back Another AR Display Maker as LetinAR Closes $3.6 Million in Funding
Smartglasses and AR headset makers like Microsoft, Magic Leap, and Google (and aspiring AR wearables makers like Apple and Snapchat) need display components for their products, and LetinAR is among the companies ready to supply those components.
News: 'Hyper Reality' Visionary Keiichi Matsuda Parts Ways with Leap Motion
After a little more than a year at motion tracking technology maker Leap Motion, Keiichi Matsuda has resigned his position as vice president of design and global creative director, the company announced on Wednesday.
News: Magic Leap Teams with Sennheiser to Deliver High-End Spatial Audio for Augmented Reality
One of the best aspects of the Magic Leap One is the spatial audio, a feature that enhances the overall sense of immersion when interacting with virtual objects and content through the device. Now the company is aiming to boost the quality of that component by partnering with one of the leading names in high-quality audio.
News: Exec Shuffle — Snapchat Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan Resigns, Lampix Marketing VP Gordon Meyer Exits
In an SEC filing published on Monday, Snap, the company behind Snapchat, disclosed that Imran Khan, its chief strategy officer and a member of the NR30, is leaving the company to "pursue other opportunities."
News: Magic Leap Announces L.E.A.P. Conference Dates in Los Angeles for First Developer & Partner Event
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.
How To: Start Calls & FaceTimes from iOS 12's Messages App on Your iPhone
Front and center for iOS 12 this year is Group FaceTime, which allows users to chat with up to 31 additional people at once. While that ambitious feature is sadly delayed, don't cast away FaceTime just yet — you can always pick up your iPhone and start a call with any single contact directly from the Messages app.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Steps on Apple's Big ARKit Moment, DreamGlass Starts Selling Its Meta 2 Competitor
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 of the toolkit's new superpowers.
News: iOS 11.4 Released to Everyone, Includes AirPlay 2, Messages in iCloud, New Wallpaper & More
After six betas, iOS 11.4 was officially released to everyone with a compatible iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Some features are ones that Apple promised over eight months ago when iOS 11 was first pushed out. This update makes sense since iOS 12 will be announced at WWDC on June 4, and you can't announce a new version like that without first delivering on promises made for the one before it.
News: Magic Leap's First Twitch Video Show Had Toys, Philosophy, but No New Peeks at the Headset
We watched the first piece of public-facing content Magic Leap has released so you don't have to, and, well, you didn't miss much.
News: Leap Motion Reveals Open-Source AR Headset Called Project North Star
If it had come out just a week earlier, around April 1, no one would have believed it. But it's true, Leap Motion has developed its own prototype augmented reality headset, and it looks pretty wild.
News: Magic Leap Resolves Legal Conflict with Former Security Director
Flying under the radar during Magic Leap's big week at the Game Developers Conference, the company settled a potentially ugly lawsuit with a former employee.
News: AR Startup Avegant Shuffles Leadership, Cuts Staff, Report Says
Augmented reality hardware maker Avegant has reportedly laid off between 20 and 30 employees, with founder Edward Tang returning to the CEO role at the company.
News: Magic Leap Takes Legal Action Against Employee Who Alleges HoloLens Trade Secret Violations
Accused of violating whistleblower and age discrimination laws by its security director, Magic Leap has taken an internal situation to the US District Court to clear its name of the allegations.
News: Meta Caters to Design Professionals with 3D CAD Support for Solidworks
In another move that pushes Meta 2 toward becoming a legitimate workplace tool, Meta Company has partnered with Dassault Systèmes to bring augmented reality support to the latter's Solidworks 3D CAD software.
Venmo 101: How to Send Money Using the Messages App on Your iPhone
Venmo makes it incredibly convenient to send money to friends and family, and it all happens instantly from the comfort of your smartphone. Even better, if you have an iPhone, Venmo lets you conduct transactions straight from the default Messages app, giving you more flexibility and convenience over Android users.
How To: 4 Apps to Help Improve Security on Your iPhone or iPad
As the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, Apple devices are a constant target for hackers everywhere. While iOS has seen fewer common vulnerabilities and exploits (CVEs) in recent years, iPhones still aren't hack-proof. Fortunately, you can strengthen your security with the help of a few apps.
Market Reality: While Apple & Vuzix Bet on AR, Game Developers Are Less Enthusiastic
This week, saw two companies leaning on AR to prop up their financial futures. On one hand, Apple made quite a bit of AR-related news ahead of its quarterly earnings report next week. On the other hand, Vuzix launched a pre-order program for its Blade smartglasses and closed the largest financing deal in the company's history to fuel its ongoing headset production.
News: Vuzix Launches Program Allowing Consumers to Order Blade AR Smartglasses Along with Business & Developer Customers
After Vuzix's scorching hot week at CES, the future of AR is so bright, we have to wear (smart) shades. Luckily, Vuzix is making it easier for consumers to grab a pair.
News: New Messages Bug Lets a Single Link Freeze & Restart Your iPhone
It has not been a good year for Apple, as far as software scandals are concerned. From autocorrect nuisances to secret slowdowns of aging iPhones, Apple has had a lot to answer for. iOS users now have another issue to worry about — it's being called "chaiOS," and it's wrecking havoc on iPhones with just a simple URL.
News: Realmax Claims Crown of Widest Field of View for an AR Headset at CES
Shanghai-based Realmax is introducing the crowds at CES to the Realmax Qian, an augmented reality headset capable of a field of view (FoV) that topples anything available on the market today.
News: Rokid Glass Offers a Fashionable Entry into AR Smartglasses Space
This year's CES seems particularly obesessed with VR, but augmented reality is offering a few surprises as well. One of those surprises arrived on Monday in the form of China's Rokid Glass.
Market Reality: Apple Funds Its AR Device Production Future, the Snapchat vs. Facebook War Heats Up & Airbnb Goes AR
With an eye toward future iPhone X-focused augmented reality functions, Apple's new investment in one of its components vendors will increase production capacity for the technology behind its TrueDepth camera, but could also apply to its future AR ambitions.