Brief Reality: Plattar, NativeScript & Gadget Flow Offer Tools for ARKit Apps
The release of iOS 11 and ARKit is probably the biggest event for mobile developers since the advent of the App Store.
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Apple AR: Pixie Enlists ARKit to Help You Find Your Keys
When it comes to finding lost things, the joke goes that it's always in the last place you look. With an assist from ARKit, Pixie can make your iPhone the first and last place you look for that missing item.
News: Google Developer Days Sheds Some Light on ARCore
During Google Developer Days, taking place now at the ICE Congress Center in Krakow, Poland, an introductory session on ARCore provides some insights on how the platform operates.
News: KabaQ Transitions the Traditional Restaurant Menu to Augmented Reality
If you've ever browsed a restaurant menu and wondered what a particular dish looks like, then the augmented reality mobile app from Kabaq was made for you.
News: Mobileye Calling the Shots from Israel After Intel Acquisition
Intel's driverless division will be managed by Israel-based Mobileye, as the chip giant emerges from relative obscurity in the driverless space to become a major supplier after completing its $15.3-billion purchase of Mobileye this week.
Have You Seen This?: This Battle Royale Is the Best Tech Demo for the HoloLens Yet, but Should Be More
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.
News: uSens Introduces Markerless Tracking for Mobile Apps
With mobile developers near and far primed to implement augmented reality into their iOS apps with Apple's ARKit, uSens offers them a new tool for markerless location tracking.
News: Save Money on Hulu by Picking the Plan That's Right for You
Hulu used to be simple — just a site with all the latest clips and episodes from your favorite shows. Watch some ads, watch some free TV. Easy, right? Not so much anymore. Hulu is no longer free, and on top of that, offers different pricing plans and add-ons.
News: If the Rumors Are True, Amazon Could Be Developing a Messaging App
Is there anything Amazon doesn't do? Whether it's video streaming, creating a brick-and-mortar bookstore, or even purchasing Whole Foods, you name it, and Amazon's probably doing it — well.
Today's Top News: China Is Cracking Down on US & Euro Driverless Mapping with New Restrictions
The Chinese government's tight restrictions on gathering data by foreign firms for 3D mapping, the lifeblood of machine-taught driverless systems, could at least slow down access to the market by Waymo, Tesla, General Motors (GM), Ford, and other players hoping to make inroads there.
Waymo Was Right: Why Every Car Maker Should Skip Level 3
Most carmakers now agree with Waymo that piloting driverless cars is best left to the machine — with no meddling from the human.
News: It's Not Quite Free, but You Should Get 'Reigns' While It's Discounted
If there's one thing I know, it's that people hate buying mobile games. I'm the same way — no matter how good a game looks, if I have to pay for it, I have to fight the urge to immediately walk away. That's why it's such a big deal when a great game goes on sale. Right now, that game is 'Reigns.'
News: Want to Try on Lipstick Without Leaving Your Home? Meitu Has a Way
Finding the perfect lip color can be a difficult task, to say the least. Thankfully, we're living in a world with augmented reality, where it's possible to try on lipstick from different brands at home.
News: Read Classic Ebooks for Free — With Formatting You Would Actually Pay For
Volunteer project Standard Ebooks strives to enhance some of the work available from Project Gutenberg and other public domain text sources, making them easier on the eyes.
How To: Save $20 a Year on Apple Music
Apple Music offers a cheaper subscription option to those of you who look for it — only $99 for a year. If you are already an Apple Music user, you can access the option right now. Otherwise, you have to sign up for a normal monthly plan first, then switch to this plan to get a better deal after.
Limited Time Only: Verizon Opens Enrollment to Insurance Platform for Your Current Phone
Ok, I have to admit, I drop my phone around 2–4 times a week. I'm horrible at protecting it and I've gone through my fair share of cracked phones. Most of the time, once the phone is cracked it's just easier to get an entirely new phone, rather than have to fight your phone provider for a fix.
News: Google Allo's Latest Update Adds Chat Backups & Group Incognito Mode
Google's Allo is still a work in progress, but the innovations to the chat and messaging app just keep on coming. The latest update rolling out now includes chat backups and a group incognito feature that we're very excited about.
News: Snapdragon 835 Will Power Three Pixel 2 Variants
Three variants of the Pixel 2 have appeared in Google's Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code, confirming various suspicions about which processor will power the Pixel 2.
News: Lenovo's Mixed Reality Headset Reportedly Arriving in August for $399
In the nascent AR/VR race, any release news is big news. For augmented reality, those invested in the new technology eagerly await the release of Microsoft's Hololens and any inkling of information that comes with it. If you're one of those folks, you're in luck, as new information has just been disclosed about one of Microsoft's partners on the project, Lenovo, and their Hololens; including its release date and price.
News: Porsche Is the One to Watch in the Driverless Race Says Industry Expert
An expert in the driverless market has earmarked Porsche as the company to watch in the automated car race.
News: Microsoft's HoloLens Reaches the Classroom with Lifeliqe's Mixed Reality Apps for Kids
Microsoft's augmented reality headset, the HoloLens, is getting a taste of the classroom with Lifeliqe's new mixed reality apps for kids.
News: DottyAR Lets You View 3D Models on Smartphones & Coming Soon to ODG Smartglasses
While augmented reality is mostly in the minds of consumers in the form of Pokémon GO, AR has been popular behind the scenes, with AR companies marketing it as a tool to help business operations become more efficient. This business-to-business market is the target of the new app DOTTYAR, which "provides 3D visualization tools for augmented reality viewers."
News: Shazam Sets Sights on AR Advertising with iPhone & Android App Updates
The company that pioneered music scanning for mobile devices is moving into the augmented reality advertising arena. Included in an update of their iOS and Android apps last week, Shazam can now scan special codes to immerse users in 3D animations, 360-degree videos, mini-games, and other AR content.
News: LineageOS Adding New Advanced Battery Saver Menu with Performance Profiles
LineageOS, the successor to the wildly popular CyanogenMod custom ROM, is adding an interesting new feature that could potentially save lots of juice when your battery is running low. When enabling "Extreme power saver" mode, which can be set to kick in automatically at 15%, you'll soon have the option of changing your kernel's performance profile as well.
News: Samsung's 'Monitorless' Remote Desktop Smartglasses Blur the Line Between Virtual & Augmented Reality
There are already a few ways to use your home computer on the go, but none of them feel very natural when you're out and about, and are clunky options at best. Samsung wants to change that with Monitorless, their upcoming augmented reality smartglasses, which offer remote desktop viewing capabilities as well as the ability to switch between augmented and virtual reality modes using electrochromic glass.
The Gun Guitar: A Fully Functional Three-String Shotgun You Play & Shoot
If you really want to end your next big guitar solo with a bang, consider giving this shotgun guitar a try.
News: Holographic Remoting—What It Is & Why It Makes the HoloLens So Much Better
The HoloLens is the world's first untethered holographic head-mounted computer, which Microsoft has been rather proud of—and they have every reason to be. Of course, as soon as we developers get adjusted to the idea of keeping the scope of our projects inside the bounds of the HoloLens' processing power, Microsoft hits us with the Holographic Remoting Player.
News: The Slatted, Morphing 'Wave' Cabinet Opens Up Like a Paper Fan
If you're looking to mix up your home décor with something a little bit outside the traditional cabinet box set, check out the amazing Wave cabinet from NYC-based, Chilean designer Sebastian Errazuriz. This revolutionary design will change the way you think about interior decoration and furniture functionality.
News: Why Is Most HoloLens Development Happening in Unity?
Autodesk offers some of the most popular software for computer-aided design (CAD) projects, which involve all sorts of 3D rendering. Their tools are clearly suited for use with the Microsoft HoloLens, but so far very little supports HoloLens development outside of Unity. Why is that?
News: Apple May Finally Be Making an AR Headset, According to Their New Patent
Microsoft has the HoloLens and Google has their money on Magic Leap (as well as their own Tango and Cardboard, among others), but we've heard next to nothing about how Apple plans to enter the virtual/augmented/mixed reality space. A new patent offers some clues.
News: Mixed Reality Advertisements Sound Hellish—But Magic Leap Has a Plan
Graeme Devine, Chief Creative Officer at Magic Leap, spoke at the Games for Change festival about how mixed reality will change the world for the better. While we might need to take our own magic leap to believe in his utopian future, he hinted at a solution to the impending problem most of us fear: a cluttered, endless nightmare of ads.
How To: Surf the Web Without Restrictions for Free Using Opera's Hidden VPN
The desktop browser market has some stiff competition going on, but Opera has always been able to maintain its market share by offering innovative features such as a data saver option. With over 350 million users, it's safe to say folks are appreciative of the efforts being made by the web browser's development team.
News: These Mouthwatering Sushi Burgers Are a Gift from the Lunch Gods
This delicious new trend is the lovechild of everyone's two favorite foods: hamburgers and sushi. Yeah, that's right... meet the sushi burger.
News: Google Wants to Take Over Your iPhone's Keyboard
Google is reportedly working on an iOS keyboard that brings key features to the iPhone, including Google's image and text search functions. (GIFs, yay!) According to The Verge, the keyboard has been in development and testing for months, and will act much like the Android version.
News: Apple Worries They're Being Bugged; Now They're Doing Something About It
Without explicit cooperation between Apple and the US government, authorities could still be monitoring Apple users. According to The Information, Apple is worried the servers it has been using might be bugged. We already know the NSA intercepts equipment to install backdoors, so this is a legitimate concern.
How To: Save Battery by Navigating Your Walk Without GPS
Modern smartphones are packed to the brim with low-power sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes, which means they're capable of precisely measuring almost any type of movement. So why is it that when you just want to get walking directions somewhere, your device still uses its battery-sucking GPS connection to track your progress?
White Hat Hacking: Hack the Pentagon?
The Null Byte community is all about learning white hat hacking skills. In part, this is because I believe that hacking skills will become the most valuable and important skill set of the 21st century.
News: Drop That Kindle—Amazon Removes Encryption Support for Fire Tablets (Update: It's Coming Back)
If you have personal information stored on a Kindle Fire tablet, be warned that Amazon has removed encryption support for Fire OS 5. So if you have stuff on these devices...maybe a risque book, or private notes, or pictures you'd rather not let out to the world, now would be the time to remove them. And unless Amazon changes its mind and re-enables encryption, don't use your device for anything personal, as anyone who gets a hold of it will be able to gain access to everything on it.
How To: Chrome's Download Bar Is Useless—This Extension Is the Fix You Need
Chrome's download bar has looked pretty much exactly the same for years now—a simple horizontal menu that spans the entire bottom of the browser and displays buttons for each of your recent downloads. It's not exactly pretty, and when it comes to functionality, the space it occupies could certainly be put to better use.
News: Ford Is Adding Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, & More with New Sync System
You've probably heard the old joke about how Ford is an acronym for "Found on Road Dead." Well, the Detroit automaker on Monday announced a new and much better way to help you find your parked vehicle, as well as a whole host of other features—just use your smartphone.