Voice-activated digital assistants from Amazon, Apple, and Google currently have the upper hand for home automation integrations, but a new augmented reality mobile app promises to give homeowners and renters visual control over their connected appliances.
Another entrant into the do-it-yourself AR content creation market has emerged, as Zappar has updated its ZapWorks Studio software to include features for development newbies.
One of the best features in the Apple News app is the ability to save stories for later. If you see an interesting or important article but don't have time to read it right away, there's a good chance you'll never find it again unless you save it. Ever since News' birth in iOS 9, accessing these bookmarked stories was as easy as going to the "Saved" tab, but that's no longer the case in iOS 12.
You've been able to install app updates automatically for some time now, but there was no way to install new system updates on your iPhone automatically. To get a new iOS version on your device, you'd go into the settings, then download the update. It would then either install right away or give you the option to install at nighttime. This whole process is easier in iOS 12.
Taking a cue from the smash hit Super Mario Maker, Bandai Namco has soft launched PAC-MAN Maker in Canada ahead of a worldwide release. This is welcome news for mobile gamers, as you won't need a console to enjoy this classic arcade game when it finally touches down stateside. But if you want to give PAC-MAN Maker a shot right now, we've got you covered.
At its F8 developers conference on Tuesday, Facebook announced new tools and features coming in a new version of AR Studio, including the integration of 3D content aggregator Sketchfab's Download API.
While some in the augmented reality space are tweeting about future amazing immersive experiences and others are showing off cool experiments, Microsoft continues to move forward with tangible business solutions right now that show how the HoloLens can improve business.
There has been significant debate over law enforcement's right to access our digital devices in recent years. New tools from Grayshift and Cellebrite are popping up faster than ever to help government agencies, as well as traditional hackers, break into iPhones. If you're concerned, you can take steps right now to beef up your passcode and prevent outsiders from gaining access to your device.
With PUBG and Fortnite dominating the gaming scene, other companies are making royale-themed games to get in on the trend. Futureplay is no different, as they've soft launched Battlelands Royale in Finland, Poland and Ukraine to iron out bugs before its worldwide debut. If you don't live in one of those countries, you can try this game right now with a quick workaround.
Snapchat is making it easier for developers and creators to build augmented reality effects in Lens Studio with a slew of new features, including seven face templates.
Department store chain Zara is temporarily ditching its mannequins and dressing up its stores with augmented reality experiences featuring virtual versions of real fashion models.
Taking photos that are actually printed and hung on a real wall, versus being shot and shared via a social wall, is a seemingly lost art, but PhotoBloom AR wants to change that with augmented reality.
Epic Games just released update v3.4 for Fortnite Battle Royale on all four platforms. This new version brings a number of UI changes, performance improvements, and bug fixes, but the addition that will get the most players excited is a new weapon: the Guided Missile.
Sketchfab, one of the leading 3D model aggregators, continues to defend its turf from encroachment by Google. This time, the company has deployed a new API that gives developers even easier access to Sketchfab's extensive library.
The legal travails of Magic Leap appear to have no end in sight, as a lawsuit filed by an ex-employee further threatens to dampen the startup's 2018 launch.
Franchises left and right are releasing Pokémon Go-style augmented reality games, and Google is making it even easier to churn out the apps.
Following in iOS 11's footsteps, Android 9.0 Pie will include a security feature that lets you immediately disable the fingerprint scanner as well as extended Smart Lock features. After initiating the feature, you will be required to insert your PIN, pattern, or password before any other unlock methods will work again.
Along with the awesome early-2018 addition of Giphy GIFs in Snapchat, you can now share other people's Snapchat handles and tag them in a way that lets others reach those people easily — something you couldn't do before in the app.
Google updates the Play Store periodically, but the changes are usually subtle. A recent server-side update, however, is shaking things up quite a bit.
Samsung's Galaxy S9 has the best smartphone display among any in its class, beating out the likes of the Google Pixel 2 XL and iPhone X. However, Samsung doesn't unlock the true power of its screen out of the box. To do that, you'll need to rummage through a few settings on your way to maxing out the resolution of your Galaxy S9 or S9+.
Remember that scene in Tim Burton's Batman where the Joker and his goons defaced dozens of priceless works of art? A collective of digital artists have found a less criminal, more geeky way to do the same thing.
Augmented reality software maker 8th Wall has closed a Series A funding round of $8 million in capital to feed the growth of its development platform.
After Vuzix's scorching hot week at CES, the future of AR is so bright, we have to wear (smart) shades. Luckily, Vuzix is making it easier for consumers to grab a pair.
When Apple unboxes the next major update to its mobile operating system this spring, iPhones and iPads will gain some significant new features for augmented reality experiences: verticality.
Although it sounds like a foodie's take on Facebook, what Calabasas, California-based FaceCake actually offers is more about augmented reality fashion marketing rather than food selfies.
While Google has a water-resistant phone in the Pixel 2, its CES booth was anything but. According to Tech Crunch, Google had to shut down its two-level outdoor booth once it began to rain at the Las Vegas trade show. Even though Las Vegas is the driest city in the country, Mother Nature always has her idea of fun.
In its continued pursuit to elevate retail technology, Amazon has been awarded a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office for a digital mirror that lets customers virtually try on clothes with different backgrounds.
The Oreo beta updates for the S8 and Note 8 have been avilable for some time now. If you're interested in running Oreo on your Galaxy Note 8, you can check out our guide on how to do so. As we dig deeper into the updates, one question on the minds of Galaxy fans is whether or not the Oreo update will support Project Treble. Today, it appears we have an answer.
Just as the modern travel experience has improved thanks to the internet, Airbnb wants to make your stay in a stranger's home easier by way of augmented and virtual reality.
Highways are among the most efficient routes of driving from one place to another. Unfortunately, however, they're also the most used route taken by everyone else resulting in migraine-inducing congestion, especially during rush hour. Thankfully, Apple Maps has a feature that will direct you along lesser known routes that could be faster and/or safer.
With the advent of ARKit, apps that can place virtual furniture in a real room have become nearly a universal practice for furniture retailers, with Pottery Barn being the latest to join the fray.
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 it comes to augmented reality smartglasses, for now, it's still a mostly enterprise world, since the form and function of most are more acceptable on a job site versus your local cafe, and the still high price tags are far more palatable to major companies rather than individuals.
This week, Samsung officially kicked off the Oreo Beta Program for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in North America and several other markets. The full list of changes is quite substantial, so we'll be running through them in a series of posts detailing what's new. First up, the Galaxy phones inherit notification channels from Android 8.0.
Google just unveiled it's biggest search product in recent memory, except this time the search giant is looking to take over the world of virtual objects.
If you need a little inspiration for tonight's Halloween festivities, this augmented reality magazine cover featuring the Dark Knight himself, Batman, may do the trick.
The Pixel 2 has a number of new unique features. One of the most interesting is the Now Playing option to identify songs you hear on a daily basis. Now Playing displays the artist and title of songs playing in the background of your day and shows this information on the lock screen. While this functionality is incredibly useful, the song history is not saved anywhere on your phone.
Since its debut, retro thriller Stranger Things and its characters have become ingrained in our popular culture — especially the telekinetic Eleven. For cosplayers, it didn't take long before they grabbed their boxes of frozen Eggo waffles, blonde wigs (or bald caps), and pink smocked dresses to transform into El herself.
The advent of ARKit and ARCore has strengthened the demand for development tools to build augmented reality experiences for compatible iPhones, iPads, and Android devices.
Now that iOS 11 is officially rolling out to millions of iPhones, many users are upset with the fact that Apple has removed the 3D Touch multitasking gesture that we enjoyed in older iOS versions. Though not as fluid as this gesture, there is still a hidden way to quickly get into the app switcher without having to double-click the home button.
