News: Facebook Adds Image Tracking Effects & Slider Controls to Spark AR for Instagram
After opening up its Spark AR platform on Instagram for all creators, Facebook is already expanding the platform's capabilities on its Snapchat killer.
Holiday Gift Search Results
How To: Get Quick Access to Your Favorite Apps with a Swipe-Up App Drawer
I go back and forth between two home screen apps: Nova Launcher and Action Launcher. While I prefer the aesthetics of Nova, I like Action's Quickpage feature since it puts some of my favorite apps just a swipe away. But now, I've found a way to replicate this feature on Nova (or any other launcher), and it works even better.
News: Snapchat Turns Jack in the Box Augmented Reality Experience into a Build-a-Burger Contest
Fast-food chain Jack in the Box has decided to put an augmented reality twist on the traditional sweepstakes promotion by employing the immersive powers of Snapchat.
News: 'David Bowie Is' App Delivers a Mesmerizing AR Tour of the Artist's Career with Gary Oldman as Guide
Although next week will mark the late David Bowie's 72nd birthday, his fans and admirers are the ones receiving a gift in the form of an augmented reality app that explores the artist's career
News: Lowe's Unleashes Its Magic Leap One App in Time for the Holiday Shopping Season
On Monday, with just days left before Christmas, Lowe's dropped a surprise augmented reality treat in everyone's lap: a brand new Magic Leap One app.
Gift Guide: The Best Android Accessories to Buy for the Techy Person in Your Life
Need a unique gift idea for the techy person in your life? Look no further than that phone they always have in their hand. There are plenty of great accessories, apps, subscriptions, and other smartphone-related goodies that will improve their quality of life, and thoughtful gifts like that are always the best-received.
News: Caltech Researchers Use HoloLens to Give Directions & Object Identification to the Visually Impaired
When computers have vision but people don't, why not have the former help the latter? That's the gist behind the Cognitive Augmented Reality Assistant (CARA), a new HoloLens app developed by the California Institute of Technology.
News: The Best Black Friday 2018 Deals on Headphones for Your Smartphone
The holiday season is upon us, and that means all the big-box stores are competing against each other to offer the best prices on electronics. What was once a 24-hour period of flash deals the day after Thanksgiving has now become a holiday in and of itself — Black Friday is an event you don't want to miss.
News: MagiMask Is Probably Not the AR Headset You're Looking for, but Offers a Cute Trick for Mobile AR
So far, consumer augmented reality headsets haven't found mainstream success. That's primarily because no manufacturer has managed to hit the sweet spot between slim form factor, performance, and affordability.
News: Young Developers Are the Future of AR — This 11-Year-Old Has Already Created 2 AR Apps
While most kids his age are busy playing Fortnite, 11-year-old Yumo Soerianto is developing augmented reality games. Kids like Soerianto are the future of the augmented reality field — they'll likely be coming into their own as professional developers right as AR technologies become lightweight and powerful enough to be contained in a pair of sunglasses.
News: Snapchat's Easter Egg Hunt Showcases Potential for Branded Augmented Reality Games
Alongside the usual collection of holiday-themed Lenses, Snapchatters received an extra-special treat from Snapchat over the weekend—a world-spanning Easter egg hunt.
Dev Report: 3D Live Tiles, Two-Handed Manipulation & More Are Finally Coming to the HoloLens
It is finally happening. After not having a major update since August of 2016, HoloLens owners everywhere will soon get a number of new features added to their devices. At least if they are members of the Windows Insider program.
Apple AR: This Is What Apple CEO Tim Cook Said When Cornered About Possible AR Smartglasses
Prior to Apple's earnings report on Thursday, the storm clouds were gathering as Wall Street prepared for bad news in the wake of reports of slower iPhone sales. But it turns out that those fears were mostly unwarranted. Apple managed to increase iPhone revenue during the December quarter, despite selling slightly fewer phones.
News: Vuzix Sharpens Focus on Consumers with Blade Debut at CES, Adds Amazon Alexa Functionality
If CES 2018 is the starting gate for this year's race to release smartglasses, then Vuzix is already racing down the augmented reality track with its Blade smartglasses.
News: Metaverse Lets Anyone Program Their Own AR Games
Thanks to Metaverse, it has never been this easy to create your own AR game.
News: The Best Black Friday 2017 Deals on iPhone Accessories
A new iPhone is only as good as its accessories. Whether it's a case, screen protector, or charger, your iPhone's ecosystem depends on accessories to keep it powered, protected, and personal. Prices on all of these extras are going to be at an all-time low this Black Friday weekend, so we've rounded up the best deals around to help you get the essentials you want and prices you can afford.
News: The Best Black Friday 2017 Deals on VR Headsets for Your Smartphone
Virtual reality headsets aren't new, but they may be something you or someone on your holiday shopping list hasn't experienced yet. If you're going to dive into the world of smartphone-based virtual reality, the best time to do it is during Black Friday when all the good sales are going on.
Apple AR: Amazon Harnesses the Power of Apple's ARKit for Black Friday Rush
As if Amazon didn't already make it easier to buy things from home than in a store, the company has now given shoppers yet another reason to avoid the holiday rush with an ARKit update to its iPhone app.
How To: Make a 'Thor - Ragnarok' Costume That Will Rock Halloween
You can bet Thor costumes will be prominent among the superheroes seen this Oct. 31. Since the summer, there has been no shortage of coverage for Thor: Ragnarok, and the timing of its November release couldn't be better as a tie-in with the cosplaying holiday known as Halloween. This year, the success of pulling off the Thor costume will rely on how well your new Thor helmet looks, which as it happens, you can DIY at home, using a few simple supplies and perhaps a trip or two to the craft and...
News: Lenovo's Star Wars AR Headset Now Available for Pre-Order
When Disney teased an augmented reality game called Star Wars: Jedi Challenges running on a headset from Lenovo, fans had more questions than Disney had answers. When? How much? Can I be a real Jedi?
Brief Reality: ARCore Announcement Shines New Light on Smartglasses, eSports, Digital Goods
The staff at Next Reality News is legitimately excited about the prospects that Google's ARCore could bring not only to smartphones and tablets running Android, but also to Android-based hardware such as smartglasses.
Dev Report: Unity Fixes Visual Studio Issues & View 3D Models in the World Around You Without a HoloLens
Here are a couple of quick bits, and also a little bit of a teaser. If you know of my old YouTube channel and are a developer, you may be aware of the "Scale and Rotation System" tutorial series I did. I then started working for Next Reality and never finished it.
News: A Really Cheap Augmented Reality Headset Is Coming Soon
Mira Reality unveiled the Mira Prism yesterday and people immediately got excited about it. The Mira Prism uses no electronics besides your iPhone and it works pretty simply. You have a semi-transparent screen in front of your face. Once you open the Mira app on your phone, you just slide it into the Prism and your screen will be reflected across your vision. The Prism seems to be fairly similar to the HoloLens and Google Glass.
News: New Unity Beta Brings with It Much Needed New Features
At the end of June, Unity 2017.1, the newest version of the popular 3D development engine, went live. And with that release, it brought out some very cool new features like Timeline and Cinemachine, to name a few. Now, for those of us that develop with Unity and follow the beta program closely, these features are not new at all. What is more likely the case is that we have spent a good deal of time using these features for a few months and even possibly helped iron out a few bugs.
News: Create a Fire Mixtape with Your Friends Using Spotify's Group Playlists
Music has always been able to connect us. Spotify is now offering an innovative new way to do just that. The company announced today that they have launched a new feature in collaboration with the Messenger app that allows you to share and make playlists with friends.
News: PornHub Knows if You Watch Elf-Themed Porn
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, PornHub has just exposed all of our porn habits. All. Of. Them. Before you panic, no individual information has been released. Instead, PornHub has exposed the adult video trends and preferences of a variety of demographics.
News: 'Environmentally Responsible' Apple Shreds Old iPhones & Macs
Apple seems to want the public to perceive it as an environmentally-conscious entity, as evidenced by the company's recently published Environmental Responsibility Report. But as it turns out, they may be hindering recyclers from salvaging old iPhones and Macs by ordering the devices to be shredded instead.
News: Good Luck Getting the iPhone 8—Limited Quantities for September
Apple's anxiously awaited iPhone 8 with a 5.8-inch OLED display is all set to launch this September, alongside the iPhone 7s variants. However, according to MacRumors, which cites information from a number of Barclays analysts, stock will be very limited, and most won't ship until late in the fourth quarter.
News: 'Turkish Crime Family' Demands $75,000 in Bitcoin from Apple in Exchange for Hacked iPhone Accounts
Rumor has it that a gang of hackers—or possibly, one lonesome individual—holds the power to remotely wipe millions of iPhones and iCloud accounts, unless Apple coughs up some ransom money by April 7.
News: UC Berkeley Team Commands Drone Fleet with HoloLens
User interfaces for computers have evolved over the years, from the introduction of the keyboard and mouse on the personal computer, to touchscreens on mobile devices, to natural voice recognition. However, the same cannot be said for robots or drones—until now.
News: Five Windows Holographic Mixed Reality Headsets Have Now Been Seen, but Most Have Not Been Touched
Some of the products I have been looking forward to seeing the most during CES 2017 has been the upcoming Windows Holographic virtual reality headsets. These are VR headset that will run a version of the Windows Holographic platform, which will allow users to have a similar experience as the HoloLens with a mixed reality environment. Of the six headsets that could have possibly made it to CES, five had shown up. Unfortunately, most of them are behind glass.
How To: 20 Google Home Easter Eggs & Fun Commands
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.
How To: Tell Starbucks to Suck It & Make Your Own Flavored Cold Brews
Starbucks last big hit was definitely their Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew, which became a permanent menu item—not just a summer fling—on May 31, 2016. It's the perfect blend of 20-hour cold brew and vanilla sweet cream; The result not only tastes great, but the cream makes is visually mesmerizing as it floats down through the brew.
How To: Get Seriously Flaky Pie Crusts with Epsom Salt
Imagine you have mastered the perfect cherry pie for your annual work picnic but, upon taking it out of its airtight pie carrier, your heart sinks as you realize the crust has turned to mush thanks to the moisture from the filling. Sound familiar?
How To: BLT + Sushi = Genius
We are huge BLT sandwich fans. We are also huge sushi fans. After a morning spent heatedly debating which of the two we would like for lunch, we ultimately decided that we wanted both.
News: This High-Tech Pot Lets You Charge Your Phone Using a Houseplant
If you're a tech geek who cares about the environment, you probably concerned with your personal carbon footprint. You may feel like your love for gadgets is slowly contributing to the degradation of our planet, but tech is your life. And in this scenario, small changes matter.
How To: Get Rid of Dry Skin with Fruit Facial
Today's pollution, hectic lifestyle, inadequate sleep and no time for pampering can leave your skin lackluster resulting in drying skin and making dry skin drier ultimately causing the early appearance of wrinkles and aging. A good fruit facial helps relax your skin from deep inside and the proper messaging gives it a rosy glow by increasing blood circulation imparting your face with a luminous glow. These are even better because they are natural and chemical free unlike the artificial facial...
How To: This Formula Creates Perfectly Pickled Fruits & Veggies Every Time
Pickling isn't rocket science. In fact, anyone can make their own speciality pickles using just about any fruit or vegetable. For example, I've pickled everything from lemons, watermelon rinds, and apples to red onions, carrots, radishes, and cucumbers.
Sorting (Part 3.0): Insertion Sort
Note: a bug was found in the Insertion Sort implementations. The bug was corrected in each language. Please refer to the pastebin links for the most up-to-date versions of the sample code. Any screenshots may be behind. More about the bug can be found here.
News: Save Money with These Awesome Freebies from Your Cellular Provider
Cellular carriers like to nickel-and-dime us out of every bit of money they can feasibly justify, so as consumers, we owe it to ourselves to make sure that we're getting our money's worth.