While the big names in augmented reality demonstrated the breadth of opportunities in the industry's landscape this week, one new startup showed off what is possible further in the future.
When filtered through the prism of the top stories of the year, the business of augmented reality 2019 was defined as much by epic failures of AR startups as it was by the promising developments that propelled the industry forward into 2020.
As the year comes to a close, we've invited some of the leaders of the AR industry to take the time to look back at the progress the AR industry has made while looking forward to what's ahead in 2020. A report on the top apps of 2019 — and the decade — also offers some insights on the progress and direction of mobile AR.
The HoloLens 2 hasn't even reached most of the market, but it's already a big-time TV star. Microsoft's augmented reality device made its primetime debut on FOX TV last night on an episode of the hospital drama The Resident.
After achieving viral and financial success with its Gender Swap and Baby Face camera filters, Snapchat has returned with the augmented reality equivalent of Benjamin Button.
The week in AR business news started out with a bang with two bombshell reports that cast a shadow on the AR industry as a whole.
Following in the steps of Snapchat, Instagram, and YouCam, another popular photo app has gotten into the virtual try-on augmented reality game.
Already among the first game makers to add augmented reality content to an existing game upon the launch of ARKit, Zynga is breaking new ground with mobile AR once again.
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.
Augmented reality has taken the advertising industry by storm, but the technology has a steep learning curve. Luckily for advertisers, Unity is here to flatten the curve a bit.
Perhaps it's a coincidence that the Vuzix Blade smartglasses look like the sunglasses that a police officer would wear, but a new partnership with an AI software company makes the wearable a perfect fit for law enforcement.
It's no secret that the enterprise sector is hot for augmented reality, but the move into the enterprise AR software market by one of the biggest names in industrial engineering announces the technology's arrival loud and clear.
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.
It may sound like deja vu, but neural interface startup CTRL-labs has closed a $28 million funding round led by GV, Google's funding arm, for technology that reads user's nerve signals to interpret hand gestures.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that augmented reality (or, AR for short) will "change everything." But what, exactly, is augmented reality?
The augmented reality industry has a bright future built on innovation and growth, but that doesn't mean we can't look back at the close of the year to see what the industry has accomplished from a business perspective.
This week, we continued our NR30 series highlighting the leaders of augmented reality space by profiling the venture capitalists and strategic corporate investors that sustain the industry.
People say that money makes the world go 'round. And it's no different in the world of augmented reality.
A new app for iPhones and iPads gives developers a sandbox for testing their AR experiences and sharing them with the world.
In the latest installment in its burgeoning augmented reality journalism practice, The New York Times is bringing its readers closer to Mars and NASA's latest spacecraft set to travel to the red planet.
Just weeks after being acquired by comedian turned producer Byron Allen for $300 million, The Weather Channel has tapped augmented reality studio The Future Group to integrate immersive augmented reality experiences into its broadcast content.
Following up on a preview of the deal we reported during last week's CES, Dell has officially announced the details around its role as the first company to resell the Meta 2 augmented reality headset.
While AR apps by Modiface and Perfect Corp. have made it easier for people to shop for makeup without setting foot in a store, MAC Cosmetics wants to give its brick-and-mortar customers the same experience.
When a firm like Techstars believes that augmented reality is an attractive industry to invest in, there's a high probability that it's right.
Snapchat is mostly credited as the first AR social network, and, like most social media companies, its revenue model is nested largely within advertising. As such, the company now has a new avenue for branded content.
On May 25th, 1977 a small movie with a $13,000,000 budget came out. At the time, the executives involved had no faith that this film would make any money. To the surprise of many in the industry, not only did that film set records, it led to a number of other movies, video games, books, toys, cartoons and so much more. This film we know as Star Wars became a long lasting hit that is still setting records 40 years later.
Augmented reality developer Blippar has created a new visual positioning service based on computer vision that is two times more accurate than GPS in urban locales.
Nvidia's decades-long development of graphics processor units (GPU) for PCs has given it a major leg up in the driverless space.
The auto industry continues to shift into high gear to lay the groundwork for driverless cars with an electric vehicle (EV) emphasis.
Seeing that wonderful blue verified badge on Twitter really adds something to your public persona, doesn't it? That's why, when I found out that the average person could get verified on Twitter with the right tools, I jumped on the chance to add that little blue check to my own personal account.
A Norwegian shipping company says it will launch an unmanned container ship within four years, as the shipping industry begins to apply driverless technology to commercial sea transportation.
Stakeholders in the driverless industry are anxiously awaiting changes the US Department of Transportation (DOT) is making to self-driving vehicle guidelines.
New York City may not be the friendliest city, but with the apps Via and Curb now letting users ride-share in the city's yellow taxis, New Yorkers can expect to snuggle up close in the back of a cab next to complete strangers. That's right, get ready to feel the love.
After Ford's CEO Mark Fields' three-year tenure failed to keep up with the driverless industry and resulted in a 40% drop in shares since Field's took over in 2014, Ford is going in a new direction. Jim Hackett, who was previously chairman of Ford's self-driving division, has succeeded Fields as the company's new CEO.
Beware: After a new caucus — the Congressional Caucus on Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Technologies for the 115th Congress — formed in the US House of Representatives, the government has decided to go after all mixed reality head-mounted displays. The HoloLens, Magic Leap — nothing is safe anymore.
One thing you don't see often in the driverless industry are partnerships. When automakers are in the news together, it usually means drama. However, an important partnership between Nissan and Mobileye was announced today. One that has the potential to make driverless cars on the road better and safer.
The Broadway musical War Paint is teaming with augmented reality cosmetics app YouCam Makeup to promote the show on iOS and Android devices. The musical, which centers on the famous rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, two cosmetics industry pioneers, has been the talk of Broadway since its premiere in March 2017.
Welcome to the maiden voyage of our new Market Reality column. Each Friday, NextReality will give you a roundup of news briefs from the financial end of the augmented and mixed reality industry. We'll cover funding news, market analysis, and more.
Baidu Inc, the "Chinese Google" search engine and technology company, which has been actively pursuing self-driving cars, reported that a gang of hackers recently attempted to steal its driverless car technology.