News: Apple Reveals Upcoming iPhone Shortage in Wake of Coronavirus Issues
If you thought the news coming from China about the coronavirus might not affect your daily life in Europe and in the Americas, think again.
Investors Search Results
News: Mobile AR App Octi Evolves into Social Network via Facial Recognition Tech
In a world full of augmented reality camera effects apps, one app is going in a more social direction.
News: Hong Kong Startup's Am Glass Wearable Offers Powerful Augmented Reality Smartglasses Alternative to Nreal Light
We've been predicting the rush of augmented reality wearable makers from China for a couple of years, and now it looks like it's in full swing, with one of the most promising entrants coming from startup Pacific Future.
Market Reality: North Secures More Funding, Google Unveils New Glass, & McGraw-Hill Takes AR to School
After a rough run of news, smartglasses maker North still has the confidence of investors, as evidenced by its latest round of funding.
Market Reality: Mimesys Joins Magic Leap, Samsung Funds DigiLens & Lenovo Moves in on Microsoft's AR Territory
Magic Leap and Samsung are putting their money where their augmented reality plans are, with the former acquiring an AR collaboration technology and the latter funding a waveguide display maker.
News: Google Backs Mojo Vision's 'Invisible Computing' Augmented Reality Platform in $58 Million Funding Round
Four months have passed since Mojo Vision emerged from stealth, and we are no closer to seeing exactly what its "invisible computing" technology looks like.
News: Medical Software Maker Medivis Closes $2.3 Million in Funding to Bring HoloLens to Surgical Platform
The HoloLens has made enough of an impact on the healthcare industry for Microsoft technology partner Medivis to convince investors to pledge $2.3 million in funding for its surgical platform.
Market Reality: North Plans Smartglasses Pop-Up Stores, Adobe Buys Allegorithmic, & Candy Ventures Snags Blippar Assets
The era of smartglasses designed for consumers has officially begun, as shipments of North Focals began arriving at its stores this week. And the company now has plans to expand its retail footprint.
News: AR Cloud Startup Ubiquity6 Turns Up Volume on Audio AR Through Acquisition of Wavy
Among a crowded field of AR cloud companies aiming to power the future of augmented reality by creating a world of persistent holographic content that lives in a cloud, accessible across devices and accounts, Ubiquity6 is hoping it has found a way to differentiate its platform.
News: Niantic Offers $1 Million in Rewards for Games Built on Its Real World Platform
Location-based gaming pioneer Niantic has been preparing its flavor of AR cloud, the Niantic Real World Platform, to bring more realistic and interactive augmented reality experiences to mobile apps. And now the company is looking for a few good developers to help execute its vision on the platform.
News: Blippar's Mobile AR Business Collapses After Funding Falls Through
Mobile augmented reality pioneer Blippar has now completed its fall from hopeful AR startup to the immersive computing history books.
Hands-On: Cheddar's Magic Leap One App Is Now Available Online, This Is How It Works
When the announcement of the Cheddar app for Magic Leap first went out on Tuesday morning, the app was not available on my updated Magic Leap One (located in New York City). However, after checking throughout the day, I can confirm that the app is now live.
News: Pokémon GO Maker Niantic Looks to Smartglasses Future with Investment in AR Display Maker DigiLens
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.
News: Augmented Reality Startup Phiar Paves Path to $3 Million in Seed Funding for AI-Powered Navigation Solution
Another contestant has emerged in the race to deliver a mainstream augmented reality car navigation system, with Silicon Valley-based Phiar picking up $3 million in seed funding to launch its own artificial intelligence-based mobile app by mid-2019.
News: Mojo Vision Raises $50M to Replace Smartphones & Devices with 'Invisible Computing' AR
On Thursday, Mojo Vision, a startup comprised of former engineers from Apple, Amazon, Google, and other Silicon Valley mainstays, emerged from stealth backed by $50 million in funding for a hands-free augmented reality platform that runs without smartphones, tablets, or other devices.
News: Jaunt Hit with Layoffs as Startup Abandons VR Business to Focus on Augmented Reality
After building its business on virtual reality, Jaunt is leaving the technology behind to focus on building tools for creating augmented reality content.
News: Thalmic's North Wearable Teases a Cooler Direction for AR Smartglasses
A major obstacle to the mainstream acceptance of smartglasses is the current inability able to smoosh processors, sensors, and batteries into a pair of frames that look cool. Wearables maker Thalmic is hinting that it may have figured it all out.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Steps on Apple's Big ARKit Moment, DreamGlass Starts Selling Its Meta 2 Competitor
Last week's Augmented World Expo felt like a distant memory by this Monday, as Apple unveiled ARKit 2.0 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Certainly, this news would overshadow anything augmented reality this week as it nearly eclipsed AWE when early reports leaked of the toolkit's new superpowers.
Market Reality: Vuzix Defends Blade, Magic Leap Shows Off ML1 & Snapchat Reintroduces Consumers to Its AR Camera
The augmented reality business was all about audiences this week. Vuzix looked for an audience with the Supreme Court of New York regarding a defamation lawsuit against an investor. Magic Leap held an audience with royalty, showing off the Magic Leap One in a rare public appearance. And Snapchat wanted to remind its consumer audience of all the things its camera can do.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Gets New Cash & NBA Deal, AR Supplier's Apple Rumor, & HoloLens Gets into Rental Business
While the company is adamant that the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition will ship this year, currently, it seems its CEO is more interested in striking deals with content partners than releasing details about the headset.
News: Apple CEO Tim Cook Says AR 'Is Going to Change Everything'
Just one day before the retail release of the iPhone X, Apple CEO Tim Cook trumpeted the company's continued success during an earnings call with reporters conducted via telephone. And while he rolled out the expected glowing praise for the new iPhone, what stood out most was his effusive language describing Apple's new focus on augmented reality.
News: Arcona Could Cover the World with AR Objects
A Russian augmented reality startup wants the next frontier in real estate to be augmented reality estate.
News: Magic Leap Will Display Mixed Reality Comics at Launch (Whenever That Happens)
We may not know what Magic Leap's product looks like. And we haven't received even a "save the date" for its launch. But we know that it will display mixed reality comics from Madefire when whatever it is arrives.
Market Reality: Vuzix Reports Sales Growth & Partners with Blackberry
As more companies begin adopting augmented reality in the workplace, providers like Vuzix reap the benefits.
Market Reality: Aira Raises Funding for Visual Interpreter Service
Over the past week, we are seeing more companies capitalizing on services leveraging augmented reality. One company secured funding to expand their service, while two other companies grow its own services through acquisition.
News: Industrial AR Developer Upskill Secures Funding to Improve Workforce Efficiency
Upskill, an enterprise software developer for industrial augmented reality applications, recently received an influx of funding and a major vote of confidence from two of their top customers.
News: 'Create Magic in Seconds' with Lightform's New Computer Made to Project Augmented Reality
Lightform might just be the thing to have at your next party. The San Francisco-based company just created the first computer ever able to connect to a projector and instantly scan 3D scenes to mix reality with projected light.
News: Baidu's AI & Driverless Expert Resigns
Baidu's self-driving car unit has had a tough week. Today, the company's leading artificial intelligence (AI) expert, Andrew Ng, announced in an optimistic blog post that he would be leaving the Chinese search engine company to pursue AI research on his own.
News: Elon Musk Says Tesla's Model 3 'Release Candidate' Prototypes Will Be Ready to Drive in 2 Weeks
According to Electrek, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in a covert conference call with a select few investors, commented in detail about his plan to have Tesla's Model 3 driving on the road earlier than we all expected.
News: Phantom AR Platform Seeks to Make Augmented Reality More Accessible
A development team in Silicon Valley is nearing early access release of a new hardware-independent augmented reality platform called Phantom AR.
News: Waveguide Developer Wins Big in New Round of Funding for Augmented Reality Displays
DigiLens, a company specializing in optical waveguide technology, recently announced that they had closed a $22 million round of strategic investment, also known as Series B funding. This round brought in Sony, Foxconn, Continental, and Panasonic, as well as more traditional venture investors such as Alsop Louie Partners, Bold Capital, Nautilus Venture Partners, and Dolby Family Ventures.
News: Ex-Magic Leapers Confirm the Demo Video We All Thought Was Faked... Was Faked
When the "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" video was released last year, it was called a mind-blowing, stunning, and breathtaking take on mixed reality gaming. It was a great presentation of what the technology could be, but not for a second did I think it was anything other than a concept video, and I'm not the only one who thought that. This was a goal to reach for mixed reality, not the reality.
News: Why the Next iPhone Will Actually Have Wireless Charging This Time
Before the iPhone 7 models were released, there were many rumors pointing to the inclusion of wireless charging, which obviously didn't happen. Now the rumor mill is back at it again for Apple's next smartphone, most likely being called the iPhone 8, and the possibility of wireless charging is more certain this time.
News: Meta Delays Shipments of Developer Kits Until the End of the Year—& That's a Good Thing
The future for the Meta 2 augmented reality headset will have to wait. While shipments were supposedly on their way out back in June, Meta revealed today that they need a bit more time to provide the best possible experience—and that's really for the best.
Market Reality: Apple Sets Stage for AR Smartglasses, Spatial Adds Funding, & Pinterest Enters AR Makeup Game
We may or may not see Apple's long-awaited take on AR smartglasses this year, but the company is more than getting its practice swings in with its current wearables business, which hit record revenue in 2019 according to financial results released this week.
Market Reality: Magic Leap One Tested as Office Companion, Nreal Releases SDK, & Apple Files for AR Navigation Patent
Now that we've had our hands on the Magic Leap One for almost a year and early adopter developers have had the opportunity to publish apps for the AR headset, it's time to see how it stands up against the rigors of a day at the office. We did just that, and we wrote about it!
Market Reality: Apple Cultivates Chinese AR Devs, Minecraft Earth Beta Arrives, & a Brief History of AR in Marvel Movies
This week, while Apple was the subject of thinly sourced reports that it had canceled development of its oft-rumored smartglasses, the Cupertino was actually laying the foundation for its AR hardware future with a new initiative focused on mentoring Chinese developers in mobile AR development.
News: Nreal Banks $15 Million in Funding to Produce Fashionable Smartglasses with Plane Detection & Object Recognition
The emerging narrative as CES begins is that consumer-grade smartglasses require a heavy compromise in functionality in order to arrive at a form factor and price point that appeal to mainstream customers.
Market Reality: Google Takes on Leap Motion, Snap Spectacles Invade NYC, & Vuzix Starts Selling Mainstream Smartglasses
All of the the tech industry giants, including Apple, Facebook, and Google, are working on new smartglasses and/or AR headsets, but this week, Google took a major step forward with gesture recognition technology that could make its way into AR wearables, posing a threat to Leap Motion and its hand-tracking controllers.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Demotes Execs, Artie Makes AR Smarter, & Walmart Adds AR to Its Shopping Cart
Signaling a new direction forward for the company, Magic Leap shook up its executive suite by re-assigning to top leaders to new advisory roles. Meanwhile, a new startup backed by Hollywood executives, tech venture firms, and notable angel investors plans to bring new life to AR for marketing entertainment properties.