Apple hasn't really changed notification sounds on the iPhone since iOS 7. So how come you hear strange pings, plunks, and doots coming from your iOS device? No, it's not an app you downloaded (although third-party apps can have their own notification sounds). Instead, what you're experiencing is likely the result of updating your iPhone to iOS 13.
At Next Reality we mostly focus on augmented reality, but that doesn't mean we're not also absolutely obsessed with virtual reality, too. If the thing that's been keeping you from diving into the deep end of VR has been clunky tethered headsets or the expensive but necessary gaming PCs, then it's time for you to try the Oculus Quest, which is currently available to buy here for less than most gaming systems on the market.
As excitement looms for Apple's annual parade of pomp and circumstance for its latest lineup of iPhones, some hidden hints in an internal build of iOS 13 has Apple enthusiasts salivating for what Cupertino is testing in the AR wearables realm.
In recent days we've covered the marriage of augmented reality and top-tier music artists. This time, though, the music stars are showing off the tech rather than integrating it into their act.
The streaming content vision from Magic Leap recently underwent a quiet but major update, courtesy of AT&T.
It's always great to see a company pull off a bit of augmented reality magic, but what we see is not always what it's cracked up to be.
The promotions around last week's release of Stranger Things 3 have been numerous, with Netflix at one point even taking over an entire baseball field via augmented reality.
Beyond spotlight-grabbing features like Dark Mode and computer mice support that iOS 13 contains, Apple has also made its mobile platform more user-friendly for people that exhibit sensitivity to on-screen animations. If you've always found the transitional effects between app pages jarring, your iPhone now has a setting to help with that, preventing possible motion sickness and anxiety.
Players who have stuck around with location-based game Jurassic World Alive just got a new treat that makes the augmented reality experience even more fun.
After more than a year of teasing and testing, Niantic and Warner Bros. are finally ready to release Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to muggles of the world.
With all the talk about returning to the moon via SpaceX, NASA, and international agencies, some have forgotten some of the magic surrounding the original Apollo 11 mission.
Snapchat isn't the only tech company transforming landmarks with augmented reality for Pride Month. About four miles southwest of New York's iconic Flatiron Building, which is getting its own Pride makeover via Snapchat's Landmarker AR, Stonewall National Monument is also receiving some augmented reality treatment by way of the Stonewall Forever mobile app published by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (better known as The Center) in partnership with Google.
The ability to shift between virtual reality and augmented reality seamlessly on one device is a dream of many AR fanatics, but the execution is usually fairly buggy or underwhelming.
Many tech insiders are waiting for augmented reality to go mainstream, but if you look around hard enough, you'll find that it's already gone as mainstream as possible, thanks to talk show host Ellen Degeneres.
The new film Brightburn, a horror take on the superhero genre produced by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, debuted in theaters on Friday, and it has some promotional backing from Snapchat to drive ticket sales.
Hollywood loves to use New York City's Times Square as a setting for major scenes in a blockbuster movie, so it's only right to use the area for a choice bit of virtual apocalypse in augmented reality.
The potential of augmented reality is often shown in science fiction movies, but a new exhibit marries the genre with very real-world AR technology, to great effect.
If you need some help expressing how you feel to your mom for Mother's Day, Snapchat and Facebook are here with some augmented reality help.
Developers in the augmented reality industry got a lot of love this week.
Over the past two years, the tech industry has formed a series of symbiotic relationships that are now converging in the augmented reality space. This week, we took a look at these interrelated technologies and how they are shaping the future of AR.
The marketing team for Marvel Studios is doing "whatever it takes" to make sure you see Avengers: Endgame when it hits theaters in a couple of weeks, including offering an updated set of augmented reality Playmoji for the Playground app on Google Pixel.
To borrow from the canon of Game of Thrones, what is dead may never die. And while the Meta Company that we knew this time last year is no more, the patent infringement lawsuit filed against the company lives on.
They say home is where the heart is. So, the opportunity to view the inner sanctum of Magic Leap is like gaining access to what makes the company tick, just as the fruits of its labor make it into select AT&T stores.
The recent pitfalls and media fallout hitting Facebook hasn't stopped the social media giant from looking to the future.
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.
Just because augmented reality is the technology of the future doesn't mean it can't reach into the past of computing.
All of the the tech industry giants, including Apple, Facebook, and Google, are working on new smartglasses and/or AR headsets, but this week, Google took a major step forward with gesture recognition technology that could make its way into AR wearables, posing a threat to Leap Motion and its hand-tracking controllers.
Epic Games released Unreal Engine 4.21, bringing a number of new features, bug fixes, and improvements for augmented reality development, including deeper support for Magic Leap One and the addition of support for the Windows Mixed Reality platform and headsets.
To give you a truly immersive experience on Infinity Display phones like the Galaxy Note 9, S9, and S8, Samsung added the option to hide the navigation bar when not in use, then easily reveal it with a swipe up gesture for quick access. If you've always found this process a little too cumbersome, Samsung has introduced a nifty feature in One UI that'll make it a lot more intuitive.
Thanks to Samsung's One UI, we can now experience firsthand what Android 9.0 Pie has to offer flagship Galaxy devices like the Note 9, S9, and S8. Perhaps one of the best features is something we've all been clamoring for: a system-wide dark theme that gives numerous apps and UI elements a custom look without having to resort to using a third-party theme.
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.
Players of Pokémon GO on Android now have a reason to turn on AR mode with the release of AR+ support via ARCore.
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 experiences existing in the wild were marker-based offerings from the likes of Blippar and Zappar or generic Pokémon GO knock-offs.
Despite the popularity of Pokémon GO, augmented reality gaming hasn't quite caught on yet. The makers of the popular World of Tanks game aren't taking a shot at Niantic's crown yet, but they are looking at giving spectators a new way to watch the game.
On Friday, the release date for her new album, Queen, Nicki Minaj is already grabbing headlines for the track "Barbie Dreams," where she disses Drake and a host of other rappers.
Now that the cat's out of the bag, Magic Leap has published videos of a pair of apps that will be available to Magic Leap One early adopters.
Cable TV network Nickelodeon is looking to break new ground with a new series that will be experienced in virtual and augmented reality.
Now even muggles can see how they'd look chasing the Golden Snitch on a Nimbus 2000. That's because Snapchat is gifting Harry Potter fans with a 3D Bitmoji Lens that adorns their digital doppelgängers in the robes of the houses of Hogwarts.
While augmented reality experiences can already appear to be magical, particularly to the uninitiated, one developer is doubling down on its mystical potential for the ever-popular Magic: The Gathering card game.
One of the more compelling human interest stories of the summer has been the plight of the Thai Wild Boars soccer team, who were trapped in a cave for weeks.
