3D Touch is only available on the 6s and 7 series iPhones right now, and likely future models, so those with older devices are missing out on all the cool "Quick Actions" available for app and settings icons. But the new iOS 11 is finally bringing some of those helpful shortcuts to iPhones without 3D Touch built in.
Apple announced upcoming changes today to prevent third-party tracking of users and prevent autoplay, on Safari. Safari will prevent the recording (by anyone other than Apple) of users' browsing behavior, and by doing so prevent advertisers from targeting ads based on individuals' history.
Instagram Direct is fast becoming the end-all-be-all messaging app, and it just added some incredibly convenient features that should make it a bit more practical. These new additions have a clear purpose: To help Instagram Direct grow its base and take on more feature-rich messengers like Snapchat or WhatsApp.
We just keep discovering hidden features and settings scattered throughout the Galaxy S8's system like little digital Easter eggs that were largely left unadvertised. One such setting is an option that lets you change the placement of your S8's display brightness slider.
Prison Architect, the BAFTA winner for the Best Persistent Game in 2016, has finally soft launched on iOS. Originally a PC game, Prison Architect lets you build and maintain a maximum security prison. Comparable to running a small city, the game has you manage an ever-expanding correctional facility and contend not only with violent offenders and ever-present prospect of a chaotic riot, but also more mundane affairs like balancing the prison's budget and employee payroll. In addition to the s...
In a video released Tuesday, Microsoft arguably began to position the HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality as the future of education. A smart tactic meant to coincide with their other education-related announcements made on the same day.
Verizon has long been king in the wireless provider market, but recently it has had to step up its game in the data department. A limited data plan — with supposedly superior service — was no longer cutting it for customers. Many of whom left to take up the sweet, sweet offers of competitors like Sprint and T-Mobile. This past fiscal year, Verizon had a net loss of customers in the first quarter. Something that has never happened to them before.
Fans of fighting game series such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are in for a treat! Skullgirls has entered the crowded field of the mobile fighting genre and has touched down in the form of a soft launch for iOS devices, which is now available for download in Canada and the Philippines. But don't let this limited release stop you from trying Skullgirls out, as it's still possible to acquire this little gem with a little finagling.
Netmarble's ChronoBlade, a mobile role-playing game, has made its way to iOS and Android by way of a soft launch that will make it exclusive to users in Canada and Singapore for a couple of months. Its console-quality graphics and extra features will surely make it a hit when it's released worldwide, but if you've got a little gumption, you can skip the wait and install it today.
Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has out and out rejected Virtual Reality (VR) as a component of any Disney Theme park. While Knott's Berry Farm, why-hasn't-this-chain-shut-down-yet Sea World (seriously, RIP Tillikum), and Six Flags have all invested in VR to help spice up their parks in this theme park depression period, Iger has "ordered his team not to even think about it." Iger instead is very much onboard the Augmented Reality (AR) train.
The conversation around augmented reality has largely been focused on apps and gaming, and how AR can be used as a marketing tool. However, a new exhibit at France's Scène Nationale Albi is using AR for more artistic expression.
Princess Cruises' Coral Princess voyage disembarked in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, March 18, after a 10-day cruise in which 182 people were sickened with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea. According to federal health officials, a norovirus is suspected for the outbreak.
The Google Play Store is known for some pretty random promotions and offers, most of the time it's a free book or a discounted movie. But this time, an entire season for Game of Thrones is up for grabs. Yes, that's right, all of Season 5 of Game of Thrones is free to download, watch, or just stash in your library for later.
Norovirus outbreaks occur all year long, but peak in the winter months, which means we are in the middle of norovirus season. But there's still time to protect yourself from the highly infectious bug.
Well, we have some potentially good news for those wanting to experience Magic Leap. The ultra-secretive company seems to be planning a big year in 2017.
Matteo Pisani, CTO and co-founder of Remoria VR, has managed to do something the folks over at Google said couldn't be done for at least a couple of years. With a little bit of tinkering, Pisani was able get his Google Daydream VR headset and remote to work on an iOS device.
A new repository appeared in Microsoft's GitHub account a few months ago for a project called HoloJS. For those JavaScript developers out there that have been wanting to make HoloLens apps, this one's for you.
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear, right? Wrong.
For those familiar with my old YouTube series, New in the Store, you will be excited to know that I am starting something very similar here on NextReality that's a bit more broad in scope. Have You Seen This? will take a look at HoloLens applications that are new in the Windows Store, as well as some that may not have gotten the attention they deserve.
It took nearly six months, but Google has finally made its wildly popular iOS keyboard available to Android users. Technically, it's just an update to the existing Google Keyboard app for Android, but it renames the app to "Gboard" and includes all of the features from iOS, so Android users can stop feeling like Google's neglected stepchildren.
It's now common knowledge that the blue light emitted by phone screens makes it harder to get a good night's sleep. Apple's Night Shift in iOS and its steamrolled predecessor, f.lux (still available for desktop computers), are attempts to combat these harmful effects by limiting the amount of blue light from the screen at certain times of day (nighttime, say). For Android users who installed the Developer Preview build of Android 7.0 Nougat, the included "Night Mode" feature was all set to do...
Facebook released a new app in November 2016 that aimed to compete directly with Snapchat, but it was only officially available in Brazil—and still is. The app, called "Flash," is so much like Snapchat that it's not even the slightest bit of a stretch to call it a clone.
With the holidays over, a lot of people with shiny new Google Homes are getting their first chance to explore the new Google Assistant. Before the Google Home's release, the Assistant was only available for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, or in a text-based form with Google Allo—but now it's gone mainstream.
This morning, Google opened a pop-up showroom where anybody can visit to get a hands-on look at the new Made by Google hardware lineup. At 10 am the line at 96 Spring st, in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, was growing but still manageable. As we waited to be ushered in, Google representatives came by to offer us coffee drinks prepared by a pair of baristas in the Peddler Coffee cart parked on the curb. "Now that's latte art," said the guy in line next to me when he saw that the foam-t...
Each year we inevitably fall into the pumpkin spice game. From the usual (like lattes and muffins) to the slightly more absurd (like Pringles and beef jerky)—if the leaves are turning colors and food ain't pumpkin spiced, it ain't worthy of consumption.
Google's new Pixel phones will ship with Android 7.1 Nougat pre-installed, but early reports stated that Nexus devices wouldn't be getting the new version until "end of year" 2016. For people that purchased a Nexus 5X or 6P under the assumption that Nexus devices get Android updates first, the fact that the Pixels could be getting 7.1 a full two months ahead of them felt like a slap in the face.
We've already seen plenty of shopping potential for mixed reality headsets, from holographic car showrooms to trying on clothes and picking out furniture. Very few of those ideas have been put into actual practice, but we're getting closer, and consulting firm Valorem is making headway. They created HoloTire for the Microsoft HoloLens to demonstrate the advantage of experiencing a product in mixed reality. I'm hard-pressed to think of a more boring product to put on a holographic pedestal tha...
Starting with Marshmallow, Android added a built-in theme engine called "Runtime Resource Overlay," or RRO. This theme engine was intended to be used only by smartphone manufacturers, not end-users, so unlike Cyanogen's CM Theme Engine, owners can't use it to change the look and feel of their phones.
Google's Tilt Brush has proven to be one of the most compelling VR experiences for the HTC Vive, letting you paint with crazy materials like electricity and duct tape. It is clearly an experiment in bringing the joy of imagination to life—or creating some form of virtual LSD—and the app's latest update brings a variety of features that only continue to support that theme. There are few to no rules in virtual reality app development, and that can both be freeing or absolutely paralyzing when t...
Jurassic Park makes a great (and sometimes mediocre) action movie, but hopefully isn't the sort of thing we're dumb enough to actually make. Fortunately, on the HoloLens, you can now walk with the dinosaurs with no risk to your life and limbs.
If you've seen, heard, or even tried the latest virtual reality headsets, you've probably heard about something called "room scale." It's why the HTC Vive suddenly usurped the reign of the Oculus Rift while no one was looking, and it's exactly where Oculus hopes to catch up. Here's what it is and why it matters.
It feels like forever, but the wait is almost over. In less than a week, everyone will be able to try out all the cool new features in Apple's new iOS 10. This new update will be available on September 13 to most iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users via the "Software Update" section in Settings.
Want proof that user experiences matter? Look no further than the HTC Vive and Omnipudding's particle generator, GPU Cubes VR, which lets you interact with thousands of colorful, cubic particles in a black void. If this was a simulator for your computer only, controlled with a mouse or keyboard, you'd be bored in seconds—but it's just simple, instant fun on the Vive.
Leap Motion created gesture control for all sorts of things, including virtual reality, long ago, but developers must build in support for their tracking peripheral to use its full potential. As a result, they've created an "Interaction Engine" for Unity, the primary platform for developing virtual and mixed reality experiences, to try and take gesture interaction to the next level.
As people experiment with mixed reality software, we're seeing applications that cover the entire spectrum of human interest. Anything that can exist in the physical world has a place in the holographic one. And just as we enjoy building various contraptions with real parts, a new app called ARails knew we'd feel the same about digital ones.
Data visualization has many applications in virtual and mixed reality, since a third dimension literally adds important depth to the represented information. A new app called HoloFlight is a good example of this, combining flight-tracking data and the Microsoft HoloLens to surround you with a look at every plane in the sky.
The words "leftover champagne" cause us to shudder slightly because, frankly, we are loathe to leave bubbly in the bottle. But in the event that we do have some left over, we put it to use in two egg-cellent ways: baked eggs and scrambled eggs.
When figuring out how to arrange your furniture in a new room, you traditionally have to measure everything and use your imagination. HoloPlanner has a better idea: just place holographic furniture in the room so the Microsoft HoloLens can imagine it for you.
If you want to quickly understand EtherWars, imagine a game like StarCraft where you build out your base on your living room floor instead of on a computer screen. Before we had computer games to help us imagine what space wars might feel like, we played with toy ships and used our imaginations. EtherWars combines those two elements by replacing toys with holograms that actually react to your choices.
Ah, the sensation of that first bite of sorbet in the heat of summertime: icy, refreshing, decadent in flavor and texture. We love sorbet almost as much as we love ice cream, and making it at home is actually pretty simple. Most recipes call for just water, sugar, and a base fruit of some sort (like strawberries or watermelon).
