The hype around augmented reality has risen to a fever pitch over the past two years, and if this week's selection of business news stories are any indication, the din is about to get down right deafening.
The last six months have been filled with ups and downs for international music superstar Ariana Grande, but she's starting 2019 on a new, virtual foot, powered by Apple's iPhone TrueDepth camera.
Apple first added the "Do Not Track" option to Safari in iOS 7, which sent a request to site owners and advertisers to not track your browsing activity. By tracking your activity, those third-parties could tailor content to you that you're more likely to interact with. While the feature was always opt-in, it's no longer a feature at all in iOS 12.2 on your iPhone.
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.
Apple released iOS 12.1.3 beta 4 to software developers on Thursday, Jan. 10, just three days after beta 3 came out. Public beta testers also received the update. In general, iOS 12.1.3 fixes a VoiceOver issue with ECG and Irregular Heart Rate notifications, as well as a fix in audio quality on the latest iPad Pro models.
Apple released the iOS 12.1.3 developer beta on Monday, Jan. 7, and the iOS 12.1.3 public beta followed shortly behind. Apple has been pretty on point with its public beta releases for iPhone, always releasing the same day as the dev version unless it's the very start of a beta build (i.e., iOS 12.1.3 beta 1), in which case they come out a day later.
Attention all iOS software developers — Apple just released iOS 12.1.3 beta 3 today, Monday, Jan. 7. This is the first update in quite some time for beta testers, as Apple released 12.1.3 beta 2 nearly three weeks ago. While we don't expect beta 3 to offer users a monumental upgrade to iOS, it's still an important update nonetheless.
Removing unwanted apps from your iPhone is a straightforward affair — long-press an app's icon, then hit the delete button once it appears. Unfortunately, the same can't be said when it comes to uninstalling tweaks from a jailbroken iPhone.
Designing and manufacturing waveguides for smartglasses is a complex process, but DigiLens wants us to know that they have a software solution that partially solves that problem.
Mixed reviews of Magic Leap One aside, it would be hard to deny that Magic Leap has had a big year. And the AR unicorn isn't coasting to the finish line, with a number of new apps dropping and prescription frames finally arriving to bring relief to those who wear eyeglasses.
Apple pushed out iOS 12.1.3 developer beta 2 to all developers on Wednesday, Dec. 19. It's an interesting and mysterious update, as it follows the sudden release of iOS 12.1.2. That software only had one beta version before its stable release, which would explain why the iOS 12.1.3 dev beta skipped version 1 and went straight to version 2 since it's basically a continuation of the first iOS 12.1.2 beta.
Without a second beta like most other beta versions, Apple released iOS 12.1.2 to all iPhone users on Monday, Dec. 17. The update comes just one week after the iOS 12.1.2 beta went live, so why did it have such a quick turnaround? The answer likely revolves around eSIM issues on newer iPhone models, as well as legal issues with Qualcomm.
Christmas has arrived early for ARCore app developers, as Google just unwrapped a few iterative improvements to the augmented reality toolkit in version 1.6.
Apple just released the first version of the iOS 12.1.2 beta to developers on Monday, Dec. 10. The update arrives mere days after the Cupertino-based company seeded the official version of iOS 12.1.1 to the public, itself of which had been in beta development since Halloween.
Public testers, Apple just released the first public beta for iOS 12.1.2 on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The company had already released the developer beta on Monday, Dec. 10, and just like clockwork, the public beta version was right on its heels.
After poor sales of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, Google needs to reinvigorate its Pixel lineup, devices it's been pushing heavily over the last couple years. On May 7, Google had the eyes and ears of the technology industry at its Google I/O keynote, making it the perfect time to announce new devices that would attract a different crowd of users. Meet the Pixel 3a and 3a XL.
On Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook (the number one person on our NR30 list) made a rare television appearance to talk about and show off his current obsession: augmented reality.
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.
With would-be unicorns Magic Leap and Niantic among its investments, Google is an active investor in augmented reality technology. This week, the search giant experienced both ends of the investment cycle, with an exit via Lyft's acquisition of Blue Vision Labs, and a funding round for Resolution Games.
A week after the L.E.A.P. Conference, our cup of Magic Leap news continues to floweth over, with the company's content chief giving us some insight into the company's strategy, and Twilio sharing what its virtual chat app looks like.
Google subsidiary Owlchemy Labs has cooked up an experimental ARCore mobile app that enables smartphone users to follow along with their VR friends as they play games in a head-mounted display.
In an ongoing effort to improve its services and become more accessible to users from all regions, Facebook has released a streamlined version of its social media app. Though the leaner Facebook Lite is only officially available in Turkey for now, there's a simple workaround you can use to get the app in any country.
Apple's latest mobile operating system for iPhones, iOS 12, was released to everyone Monday, Sept. 17, and it's the same exact build that developers and public beta testers received as the "golden master" on Sept. 12, the day of Apple's 2018 special event. Install it to start taking advantage of the 100+ features iOS 12 has to offer right now.
In the latest update to its augmented reality platform, Wikitude has introduced new plane detection capabilities that can anchor virtual content to surfaces at any orientation.
Not content to let NFL's official pizza sponsor corner the market for feeding football fans, 7-Eleven has taken a page out of Pizza Hut's playbook with a promotional augmented reality game.
For the augmented reality hardware industry to progress towards the consumer segment, display technology needs to get better. Investors recognize that, and they are showing AR display makers the money.
Last week, iOS 12 developer beta 7 was quickly pulled upon release, due to complaints of poor performance and instability issues. While Apple tackled these bugs with the release of developer beta 8 two days later, testers are seeing beta 7 again in their Software Update settings. Why is beta 7 back, and, more importantly, is it safe to download?
Well, that was unexpected. Apple released the fifth iteration of the iOS 12 public beta on Monday, August 6, just hours after iOS 12 developer beta 6. The company sometimes releases developer and public betas on the same date, sometimes even at the same time, but has not done so during iOS 12's beta period until now.
While Vuzix is beefing up the processing power of its next-generation smartglasses with the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1, the company will also give its devices an upgraded display engine.
While Huawei smartphones haven't always been the best choice when it comes to custom ROMs, one thing that has always been accessible is the ability to unlock the bootloader. An unlocked bootloader is the first step into the magical world of rooting, but after May 24, Huawei will stop offering this service.
Kitten Planet, a spin-off company that grew up in Samsung's C-Lab incubator, has developed a connected toothbrush that teaches and motivates children to brush their teeth better via augmented reality while tracking their performance.
Microsoft's Monday keynote introduced the fourth generation of the company's Kinect sensor during Build 2018 in Seattle.
Last month, we told you about U2's new augmented reality-powered music tour. But if you don't have the means to travel to the show, the group recently revealed an inside look at what it will be like and what inspired the band to dive into immersive technology.
The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is one of those events that everyone talks about, so an augmented reality experience in the festival's mobile app and from one of its headlining acts, Eminem, basically means the technology is officially cool.
Epic Games just released update v3.4 for Fortnite Battle Royale on all four platforms. This new version brings a number of UI changes, performance improvements, and bug fixes, but the addition that will get the most players excited is a new weapon: the Guided Missile.
If you're a golf fan who can't attend the Arnold Palmer Invitational in person, you can still follow the next stop on the apparent Tiger Woods comeback tour in augmented reality with an iPhone or iPad.
Enterprise augmented reality software provider Upskill has raised $17.2 million in its latest round of funding, led by new investors Cisco and Accenture.
In many ways, the Galaxy S9 is a holdout from the golden days of Android. It's one of the last major flagships to sport a headphone jack, it has an impressive array of internal sensors, and perhaps more importantly, it's got a micro SD card slot.
What many thought was inevitable, based on recent hints, has been revealed to be in the planning stages: Snapchat is working on smartglasses. The surprising information came out on March 2 in a report that also claims Snap Inc. is planning to release version two of its Spectacles product in the third quarter of 2018.
In hopes of strengthening its growing augmented reality team, Apple has reportedly hired Michael Abbott, an engineering and investment veteran with past ties to Twitter, Microsoft, Palm, and others.
