Market Reality: Unity Receives Investment from Silver Lake
The leading platforms enabling augmented reality technology lead our headlines in Market Reality this week.
The leading platforms enabling augmented reality technology lead our headlines in Market Reality this week.
It just keeps getting harder to enjoy all of the benefits of root without sacrificing features. Thanks to SafetyNet, we've lost the ability to use Android Pay, Pokémon GO, and even Snapchat to an extent. But the most recent news on this front is perhaps worst of all: Netflix has already stopped showing up on the Play Store for rooted users, and soon, it may refuse to run even if you've sideloaded the app.
The OnePlus 3 and 3T are a pair of phones which allow you to do practically anything you want, because OnePlus is such a developer-friendly company. They almost always release kernel sources, and their phones sport an unlockable bootloader that doesn't void the warranty. But while their software is certainly solid (miles ahead of Samsung's TouchWiz), it still has room for improvement.
DSP Manager, Dolby Atmos, ViPER4Android — how are you supposed to pick just one from the wide variety of Android equalizers? Depending on your OEM, your phone may have come with a stock equalizer, but they're usually not enough. Combine them with a third-party equalizer, and then we're getting somewhere. However, installing multiple equalizers at the same time has always seemed to cause audio glitches — until now.
Every Friday, Next Reality reviews the latest headlines from the financial side of augmented and mixed reality. This Market Reality column covers funding announcements, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and the like. This week's column is led by two companies cashing in on visual inputs.
Facebook Messenger has now incorporated a live location sharing feature, one week after Google Maps revealed its own real-time location tool. On Monday, the social media giant announced the new feature, which will allow users to share their live whereabouts with friends at the press of a button.
Google Maps now allows users to share their location in real time and update their friends and family on their location and estimated time of arrival when making a trip.
The new Google phones, which are rumored to ditch the Nexus moniker for Pixel, will most likely come with an Android feature that 7.0 Nougat doesn't currently have—a new set of navigation keys.
A group ironically called the "Guardians of Peace" hacked into Sony Pictures' computer systems and released a mountain of internal information such as medical records, leaked scripts, work complaints, and even celebrity aliases.
Back in March, Samsung partnered with Slacker Radio to create a streaming service called Milk Music. For those of us who don't own a Galaxy device, this news was a non-starter, as it was exclusive to Samsung's flagship line of phones and tablets.
Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all provide built-in features that allow you to save your username and password for your favorite sites, making the process for entering your credentials a breeze when you revisit them.
As we near the one-year anniversary of its release (and the inevitable unveiling of its successor), the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 remains a device that packs quite a punch when it comes to hardware. It boasts a 2.3Ghz CPU and was the first mobile phone ever to house 3GBs of RAM. Suffice it to say, it can handle any software you throw at it with no discernible lag. Even Samsung's notoriously bloated TouchWiz ROM seems lightning fast.
Something pretty awesome happened over the last couple of days. George Hotz, better known as Geohot, the infamous hacker known for jailbreaking iOS and exploiting the Sony Playstation 3, has brought joy to owners of just about all Android smartphones and tablets, especially those on AT&T and Verizon.
As an added functionality to the S Pen, the Pen Window enables you to create floating application windows on your Samsung Galaxy Note 3—a tool that's extremely useful when it comes to multitasking.
On more than one occasion, I've wanted to check out the Google Play page for an app I was currently using, whether it was to get contact information or read recent reviews to see if others were experiencing issues that I was.
The Chromecast may be slowly weaving its way into the smartphone ecosystem, but the amount of supported Android apps that are available for the streaming media player are still severely limited.
Whether it's because you have nosy family and friends or you're just cautious about losing your device, having a passcode on your Android smartphone is essential for protection. However, you don't always need or want a passcode, especially when you're home alone or in your car on the way to work.
Snapchat users upload a whopping 150 million pictures a day—which are deleted as just quick as they're sent. However, none of these images are coming from Android tablet users. If you try downloading Snapchat from Google Play on your Nexus 7 or other Android tablet, you'll get the "Your device isn't compatible with this version" message. Even those with the new Nexus 7 tablets that have the front and rear cameras are out of luck. Unless you're a softModder.
While the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has an integrated LED for notifications, it only works for a few things, like charging and low battery, and it only flashes two main colors (red and blue) when the screen's off. As someone that usually has their phone on silent or vibrate, it's hard to tell when I receive important messages or notifications. Sure, I could set a specific vibration or ringtone for individual apps, but that can quickly get annoying and distracting, especially at work or school.
Facebook and HTC's First was a complete disaster. Soon after its release, carriers were literally giving them away with a two-year contract—or just trying to send them back. It was supposed to be the flagship device for Facebook Home, an Android launcher for Facebook fiends.
There's a lot going for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2—smart screen rotation, huge HD display, great rear camera—which makes it an awesome device for reading, watching videos, and taking pics. But all of those luxuries will end up hogging up your internal memory, which is one of the few things the Note 2 could use some help in. The device comes with 16 to 64 GB of internal storage, depending on your model, with the option of adding a microSD card for more space. Only problem is, everything automat...
If you've ever seen something called ThinkPoint Antivirus on your computer, you have gotten one ofhte most widespread and infectious fake antivirus malware programs out there. To get it off your PC, follow the instructions below, or watch this video for an alternate method if this one doesn't work.
So, a lot of people seem to be having trouble rooting their Motorola Droid X smartphone from Verizon Wireless using ADB (Android Debug Bridge). Well, there is an alternative for those having problems with the ADB version. You will need to have a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth widget handy for this hack. If you follow the instructions in the video, you'll have a completely rooted Motorola Droid X cell phone. Try it out.
The coronavirus continues to disrupt the tech industry, including the augmented reality segment, with Apple and the iPhone the latest to feel the impact.
Google pushed a new kind of augmented reality walking navigation to the mainstream last year, and now startup Phiar is hoping users will use its AR app in the same way for driving navigation.
This week, the beginning of an epic legal battle was set to begin between augmented reality players Magic Leap and Nreal, the small China-based startup accused by the former of stealing trade secrets.
Those going on crazy off-road adventures, taking their inspiration from various SUV commercials, are likely to encounter many unexpected, all-terrain dangers.
Augmented reality jigsaw puzzle game PuzzlAR: World Tour, formerly only available on mobile devices, has been given a major upgrade via a new version for the Magic Leap One.
Just months after we previewed the augmented reality, volumetric video conferencing powers of Mimesys, the company has undergone a major change — it's now a part of Magic Leap.
On Sunday, Microsoft did what everyone expected the company to do by unveiling the long awaited HoloLens 2.
The week of the annual Consumer Electronics Show is supposed to be filled with good news for the augmented reality industry as AR headset and smartglasses makers show off their new wares.
The last time we heard from Meta, the makers of the Meta 2 augmented reality headset, things looked pretty bleak. Now, as several new facts have come to light, we have confirmation regarding the beleaguered company's fate: Meta is done.
The company behind augmented reality's first real gaming hit, Pokémon GO, is quietly making moves toward supporting the rapidly growing smartglasses space that may one day move its content away from smartphones and tablets and onto AR lenses positioned on your face.
This week, Next Reality released the fifth and final set of profiles on the NR30 leaders in augmented reality, with this chapter focusing on the influencers in the industry.
A Series B round of funding, totaling $30 million, will enable Helsinki-based startup Varjo to launch its industrial-grade augmented and virtual reality headset capable of "human-eye resolution" before the end of the year.
As it prepares to ship its first product by the end of the summer, Magic Leap has managed to impress yet another high-profile investor in telecommunications giant AT&T.
Augmented reality is really picking up steam as a tool for marketing departments to pitch their products.
At present, consumer-facing augmented reality is a mobile world, and Snapchat is making money on it through advertising partnerships.
It will likely take a few more years before smartglasses are ready for primetime as component makers achieve the innovations necessary for consumer-centric device designs. Nevertheless, two technology companies are making steps in that direction as Qualcomm is rumored to be working on a chip dedicated to AR & VR headsets, while DigiLens has reduced the size of its waveguide displays for motorcycle helmets.
There are a number of options and hidden menus within Android that provide users more control over their device. With this control, you can better manage how your phone operates. We came up with a list of tips and shortcuts that, when used, will slowly put you on a path to becoming an Android power user.