Is the augmented reality magic fading down in Plantation, Florida? That's the first question some may be asking following a casual revelation over the weekend that Magic Leap, the maker of the Magic Leap One, has assigned much of its patent portfolio over to JP Morgan Chase as collateral.
Just as Apple, Snapchat, and other tech giants are working on augmented reality wearables in the race to replace smartphones for the future of mobile computing, so is Samsung.
Following in the steps of Snapchat, Instagram, and YouCam, another popular photo app has gotten into the virtual try-on augmented reality game.
If you just got a new iPhone, chances are you picked up the iPhone 11, successor to the iPhone XR, the most popular device in Apple's 2018 series. Since the XR did so well, it was predicted that the iPhone 11 would too, and so far, it has lived up to that prediction, beating the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max in sales in 2019.
Out of the more than 200 new features Apple included with iOS 13, perhaps none is more anticipated than system-wide dark mode. Finally, we no longer need to blind ourselves when responding to an iMessage late at night or checking Reminders to see the following day's tasks. But this benefit also applies to third-party apps, so long as they are updated accordingly.
This time last year, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and his company were faced with an erosion of its user base that cratered its stock price. This year, on the strength of Snapchat's AR camera effects, the company has reversed course. And that's why Spiegel tops the NR30, our annual list of the leaders in the AR industry.
The landscape of the augmented reality space is broad, diverse, and constantly shifting, perhaps more so than any other vertical in technology. At the same time, major players are attempting to standardize various hardware designs and delivery methods, while still others are rushing to claim their piece of virtual property through AR clouds and application stores.
Dark mode is finally rolling out for Gmail on Android. But this is a Google product, so you already know it'll be a while before the server-side update hits most devices. Sideloading the newest APK doesn't work, neither does switching accounts. But if you're rooted, you can enable dark mode by modifying a simple XML.
Scanning pictures and uploading them to Google Photos is a great way to digitize your collection. With unlimited high-quality storage and text recognition capabilities, it's hard to pass up. And for your older family pictures, Google Photos will soon even colorize black and white images.
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.
While Magic Leap doesn't yet have a consumer edition of the Magic Leap One, that hasn't stopped AT&T from building apps for mainstream audiences for the headset.
The company that supplied some of the technology behind the Star Wars Jedi Challenges AR playset now has its own headset to offer.
QR codes are everywhere, from product packaging to airline boarding passes, making the scanners that read them a juicy target for hackers. Thanks to flaws in many of these proprietary scanning devices, it's possible to exploit common vulnerabilities using exploits packed into custom QR codes.
As Microsoft works toward fulfilling its $480 million contract to supply modified HoloLens 2 headsets to the US Army, Airbus is preparing to supply advanced augmented reality apps for the device.
With Snapchat making the leap into the smartglasses realm, Facebook had to find a way to try and steal its competitor's augmented reality thunder.
After teasing what smartglasses powered by Snapchat might look like with two product cycles of camera glasses, Snap has now added augmented reality capabilities to its third take on Spectacles.
When it comes to the business of augmented reality, companies that aren't already introducing new products or apps are focused on producing the AR technology of the future. But in the realm of real products and apps, Magic Leap continues to show off what its headset can do, this time via a new app that transports users to the ocean's depths.
When it comes to platform games on mobile, endless runners are some of the hardest to play since they can go on seemingly forever. There's always room for improvement since your goal is to beat your previous score (or someone else's high score). But which endless running games are worth your time?
It's been almost two years since Apple added the TrueDepth depth-sensing camera of the iPhone X for Face ID and Animojis, but now Google is ready to upgrade the front-facing camera on its Pixel series.
Next to map data overlays, one of the most often discussed concepts for apps that could propel augmented reality smartglasses into the mainstream is a real-time language translation app.
For developers and makers getting started with augmented reality, Intel is lowering the barrier to entry for its RealSense line of sensors.
Historically, patents have never been a rock-solid source for uncovering the future of a company's product pipeline. However, sometimes, the images you find in the patent application search archives are so convincing you have to pay attention.
While a viable version of consumer-grade smartglasses has yet to find mainstream success, two more contenders emerged this week, as Vuzix confirmed that a leak of a fashion-forward design is legitmate and Vivo introduced tethered smartglasses designed to pair with its new 5G smartphone.
After one of Britain's "Brothers Bling" bought Blippar out of bankruptcy, the mobile augmented reality company is getting back to business with the addition of web-based AR capabilities to its platform.
Smartglasses maker Vuzix rushed out of the gate to be the first company to announce hardware powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 for augmented reality wearables, but now the company is buying time until the product is ready to ship.
In the wake of Apple and Google pitching augmented reality to schools, McGraw-Hill is stepping up its own augmented reality efforts for education.
As the tech world patiently waits for the advent of mainstream consumer smartglasses, Google is content to stick to the business world (for now).
Smartglasses are the future of augmented reality, and Samsung is betting on waveguide maker DigiLens to emerge as a leader in the growing AR wearable industry.
As the Augmented World Expo (AWE) prepares to open its doors to AR developers and enthusiasts, we sat down with founder Ori Inbar to talk about AR's growth over the past decade, and what the future may hold.
Google Lens can perform many different tasks with your smartphone's camera thanks to advanced machine learning, such as foreign text translations, landmark identification, and business cards to contacts conversion, to name a few. With this year's Google I/O conference, we have another cool Lens feature to look forward to — receipt calculations.
Alongside its official unveiling of the lower-cost Pixel 3a smartphone at Google I/O, Google took the opportunity to extend its early preview of AR walking navigation in Google Maps to all Pixel devices.
It looks like Microsoft will finally make good on its promise to bring Minecraft to augmented reality, as foreshadowed via a HoloLens demo in 2015.
While North has yet to add third-party app support to its Focals smartglasses, the company has been diligent as of late in its efforts to add more functionality to the bare-bones AR device.
The Avengers aren't the only shiny new toys available to Pixel handset owners, as the animated stars of the upcoming Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie have arrived in the Google Playground app.
Augmented reality platform maker Zappar and its marker-based augmented reality technology have been around well before Apple and Google brought markerless AR to mobile apps.
When shooting video on your phone, you have two cameras at your disposal, the rear camera and the selfie camera, and you can switch freely between the two. As for microphones, you may have more than one but, unlike with the cameras, it's not easy to switch between them. Filmic Pro solves this problem by isolating the mics so you can choose the best option for the audio track.
As one of the leading 3D engines for augmented reality development, a new release of Unity is a significant event that carries the potential to facilitate huge leaps forward in AR content creation.
New images reveal that Microsoft is already well underway in fulfilling its $480 million contract to provide augmented reality headsets to the US Army.
Apple just released iOS 12.3 dev beta 2 today, Monday, April 8, which follows the first iOS 12.3 beta by twelve days. This update introduces new Japanese Date & Time features as well as updates to Wallet transactions. As a whole, iOS 12.3 introduces Apple's previously announced Apple TV Channels, premium monthly subscriptions with content you can watch right in the TV app across Apple products.
Already a dominant force at the box office, Marvel Studios appears intent on establishing itself as the ruler of augmented reality media as well.