This week, augmented reality spawns in the world of online role-playing games with a soft launch down under from an indie game developer. Meanwhile, in Asia, another startup wins a coveted award for its AR headset. Finally, an established player in the mobile AR touches up its feature set with an app update.
Savor this moment: we've got a confirmed number of sales for the Google smartphone. We say this because unlike most hardware manufacturers, Google refuses to share official sales numbers for their phone. Instead, during earning reports they simply bundle the product under Alphabet's "Other Revenues", leaving us in the dark about how successful the product is.
Delphi Automotive PLC has announced it is partnering with Transdev Group to develop on-demand driverless transportation systems, a deal that shows promise for autonomous development on a global scale.
New "radar road signature" technology from Bosch will be used to create maps for high-accuracy self driving. The new map is the first to use radar signals for a localization layer.
The common thread between this week's Brief Reality stories is that augmented reality is beginning to prove its worth as a technology that improves workflows and processes. From customer service to healthcare to manufacturing, augmented reality is helping companies improve productivity.
Microbial cells can improve the functionality of clothes in creative and useful ways, including cooling us down during a workout or making clothing glow for better visibility.
The Augmented World Expo (AWE) is upon us, and that means it's time to get excited about all the awesome next reality things to come.
Engineer Anthony Levandowski has officially been kicked off Uber's driverless program by a judge as the company's legal war with Waymo continues.
UPDATE 5/12: According to Bloomberg, it looks like the merger is on. Anonymous sources claim discussions have already begun about consolidation. Looks like there might be a new 5G powerhouse after all.
You know, I was actually starting to get comfortable with the idea of the iPhone 8 not showing up until next year. As an Apple fan, I made my peace with it. "There's a lot coming in this model," I told myself. "It does make sense that this many features could cause delays." I was fine. But then ...
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.
It looks like Samsung was thinking about slapping a little nub of a home button on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. This is according to a patent published by the European Trade Mark and Design Network, uncovered by Android Headlines. Despite having a nearly bezel-less display on their latest flagships, the South Korean manufacturer apparently considered modeling the design after last year's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
Last week, the internet was ablaze with talk about the Galaxy S8's home button, because it subtly changes positions without the phone alerting you. This feature was included to stop burn-in issues with the screen, and the general consensus from tech sites was the screens would not experience any burn-in at all.
Disney is gearing up fully autonomous vehicles that will shuttle you and your family from the parking lot to the amusement park, stress-free. Well, as stress-free as you can get while introducing grandma to the concept of a car with no driver. No, grandma, Satan is not "steering this contraption." At least, we don't think he is ...
When will the drama end? The lawsuit between Waymo and Uber is back in the news with no signs of stopping. Today the court denied yet another request from Uber to shield itself with the fifth amendemnent, securing a small victory for Waymo.
Those of us with modern smartphones know that 4G LTE networks have provided us with a phenomenal experience. One light years beyond what we had access to before. For some time, AT&T has been teasing its dive into the next iteration of network speeds, agonizingly doing so without any specific dates for when they would actually deliver. But today, AT&T confirmed what they call the "5G Evolution," and it's available now.
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.
There's nothing worse than driving up to your destination only to discover that there isn't a parking spot in sight — but thankfully, Google Maps will soon have you covered.
Every Friday, Next Reality reviews the latest headlines from the financial side of augmented and mixed reality. This weekly Market Reality column covers funding announcements, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and the like. This week's column starts with a stock price that's performing well for one company — one that HoloLens developers should know quite well.
NBA star Andre Iguodala, of the Golden State Warriors, got to try out a Magic Leap demo in Florida and started dishing out some pretty revealing details about the upcoming mixed reality headset to CNET's Brian Tong.
As with any new smartphone (but especially with Apple), the iPhone 8 is generating rumor after rumor. This newest rumor, however, rocks the boat a bit, as BGR reports that the iPhone 8 may release at Apple's standard time in the fall, but the 3D camera will be pushed to the 8s.
Google's former driverless car boss Chris Urmson raised considerable funds to get his new startup company Aurora Innovation up and running. Axios initially reported that Urmson raised over $3 million to fund his brainchild in the wake of his Alphabet exit, according to an SEC filing.
Android lovers out there might be sad to hear that a high-end version of the Samsung Galaxy S8+ with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage won't be released in the US, but rather, in China.
It's been an exciting week for Tesla. First, Elon Musk offered a preview of the nearly complete Model 3, then China tech giant Tencent invested $1.78 billion in the company. Now, Tesla has officially updated its Autopilot software today for Tesla owners with Autopilot 2.0 hardware.
Amazon has been toying with the idea of opening physical retail stores for some time now, even opening old-fashioned bookstores in select locations and teasing cashier-less convenience stores. But the online retailer has some new ideas in the works, including implementing virtual and augmented reality into retail home stores.
Earlier last week, there were a number of fake five-star WhatsApp reviews to be found on the Google Play Store. Now, Gmail, Chrome, Messenger, and Firefox are all the latest victims to be saturated in five-star spam that wrongly refers to the word "game" in reference to non-game apps.
T-Mobile just unveiled two new services—Scam ID and Scam Block—which specifically target those pestering robo-calls that reach out to 2.4 million Americans every month.
360world, a Hungary-based tech company involved in motion control and augmented reality, released information today about their latest products, the CLAIRITY HoloTower and CLAIRITY SmartBinocular. These tools are designed to bring augmented reality into the hands of air traffic controllers, via Windows Mixed Reality, to greatly improve their workflow over tools already in use.
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.
Apple is combining internal and external talent in an effort to give them in edge in the augmented reality market, though we still don't know what form their foray into alternative realities will actually take.
Google Assistant has introduced tappable shortcuts on the Google app for Android, iOS, and Google.com this week.
Customer service just got a lot more interesting. Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar just announced official availability of what they're calling the CAT LIVESHARE solution to customer support, which builds augmented reality capabilities into the platform.
We live in a marvelous age, a time where technology is driving us forward as a species at a rapid pace, and tech-driven miracles are becoming more and more commonplace. While the human race may not be focused on building the largest wonders of the world, as it once was in history, the current order of wonders are much smaller in scale—even internal.
Crayon, a free 3D drawing application by the mysteriously named arkalian, showed up in the Windows Store recently, so I gave it a try like I do all new apps for Windows Holographic. Truthfully, I loaded it up not expecting much, but wow, was I wrong. It's a simple idea, but it's executed well enough to make it a truly great experience on the HoloLens.
Mimesys, whose core focus has always been about creating holographic representations of humans for virtual and augmented reality, has released a video showing off their holographic communication platform in action. This new communication tool uses a combination of virtual reality, with the HTC Vive and a Kinect, and mixed reality, with the HoloLens, to allow the users to have virtual meetings from anywhere in the world as though they are in the same room.
With the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Fransisco just a few weeks away, Microsoft Senior Program Manager Vlad Kolesnikov has announced via Channel9 (Microsoft's developer news outlet) that not only will new low-cost virtual reality headsets be coming in March to developers, but that they will be at GDC, too.
Leave it to some lazy college kids to attempt to figure out a way to brew a pot of coffee without leaving the couch.
Once mixed reality technology is more widely available and realistically priced for consumers, using the tech to create the illusion of a larger space, will likely be a favorite use for mixed reality in places where real-estate is expensive, people tend to live in smaller homes and work in tighter offices.
Today, December 7, it was officially announced that Magic Leap has found their replacement for the recently departed Brian Wallace. Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz has tapped Brenda Freeman, former EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of National Geographic Channel, as their new Chief Marketing Officer.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the smartest of them all? Since Max Braun's Medium post went viral back in January of 2016, smart mirrors have been appearing on tech blogs in all shapes and sizes. Some are technically sound, some incredibly easy, but all are visually compelling. However, we've never seen one with a fully functional operating system and gesture support—until now.
