Market Reality: Meta Company & Leap Motion Find New Owners as AWE 2019 Wraps Up
The annual Augmented World Expo (AWE) typically packs the front page of Next Reality with new products and services from companies in the augmented reality industry.
T Achieve Search Results
News: Microsoft Turns Real World into Multiplayer Playground with Minecraft Earth Mobile AR Game
As promised with its teaser from Build 2019, Microsoft has unveiled the details for its augmented reality version of Minecraft for smartphones.
News: AT&T Begins Selling Magic Leap One Nationwide Online, Debuts Commercial Promoting DirecTV Now
The era of AT&T and Magic Leap has quietly entered a new phase that ramps up the mainstreaming of the cutting edge augmented reality device.
Exclusive: Inside Magic Leap's Secret Headquarters
The long guarded veil of mystery surrounding Magic Leap for years was finally lifted last year when the company revealed its Magic Leap One device.
News: Niantic Offering In-Game Rewards to Pokémon GO & Ingress Players Who Pitch in on Earth Day Cleanup Events
Location-based gaming company Niantic knows its business model is inextricably tied to the outdoors, so it is in its best interest to help preserve that environment to give players a place to play.
How To: Turn Your Galaxy S10's Camera Cutout into a Battery Indicator
The camera punch hole on the S10 has gotten our creative juices flowing more than any notch ever could. First, we saw wallpapers that served to camouflage the cutout or even accentuate it. Now, if you want to go the opposite direction and highlight your S10's camera hole, there's an app that turns it into a circular battery meter.
How To: Automatically Answer Calls Just by Putting Your iPhone Up to Your Ear
Tapping on your iPhone's display to pick up an incoming call can be annoying when your hands are wet or dirty. It might even fail to register and cause you to miss your call. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, however, you can get rid of this problem entirely, thanks to a free tweak that lets you instantly pick up calls without having to interact with your phone's screen.
Hands-On: Hands-On with Google Maps Walking AR Navigation Experiment, a Peek into Our Smartglasses Future
While Google isn't ready to commit to a wide release of the AR walking navigation mode for Google Maps, the company has begun testing the feature with members of its Local Guides crowdsourcing community.
How To: Change Instagram's Interface Colors for a More Personalized Experience on Your iPhone
Your Instagram feed is jam-packed with interesting and lively photos, videos, and stories that largely offset the iOS app's comparatively bland user interface. If the interface's dull colors have always bothered you, you can splash on some much-needed color to better reflect your personality and tastes.
News: Bluetooth 5.1 Adds Precision Location, Offers Beacons for Indoor Navigation & More Augmented Reality Experiences
The ability for apps and devices to determine the precise location of physical and virtual objects in space is a key component of augmented reality experiences, and the latest advancements in Bluetooth technology may have a hand in facilitating such location services in the near future.
News: Pokémon GO Developer Niantic Scores $245 Million in Funding to Fast-Track Real World Platform
With Pokémon GO as its cash cow and the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Niantic Real World Platform promising future revenue streams, Niantic has convinced investors to bet on its flavor of augmented reality
News: AR Optics Maker WaveOptics Strikes Alliance with China's Goertek to Produce Smartglasses for Consumers
WaveOptics, makers of diffractive waveguides, has inched closer toward getting products featuring its technology to market through a production partnership with a consumer electronics company whose clients include Google, Microsoft, and Sony.
News: AT&T Reveals Winners of First Magic Leap Hackathon
Now that its first developer conference is in the rearview mirror, Magic Leap continues to nurture its content development community, this time with an assist from strategic investor and retail partner AT&T.
News: Snap's Vice President of Content Is Ghost, as App Continues to Shed Users
In a move sure to stir up even more speculation about the future of Snap Inc., the company's vice president of content, Nick Bell, is leaving the company after five years.
News: Snap CEO Memo Confirms Spectacles Are First Step Toward AR Smartglasses
In a leaked company memo, Snap CEO (and NR30 member) Evan Spiegel has made it clear that the future of the company lies not only augmented reality but also hardware that enables those AR experiences.
News: Turn the Sky into a Shared Canvas with This Fun Augmented Reality App
While we've seen Snapchat apply sky segmentation to AR content, the makers of the Blue Sky Paint app have applied similar capabilities to create and share airborne art.
News: Microsoft Launches Its First Mixed Reality Capture Studio in Hollywood
Microsoft is adding another important piece to its growing immersive computing arsenal by putting its newest Mixed Reality Capture Studio in the center of the movie business: Hollywood.
News: Blippar Brings Its AR Navigation Capabilities Indoors
Computer vision company Blippar has already dabbled with outdoor AR navigation, but now it wants to make it easier for people to make their way through indoor spaces with augmented reality.
News: Facebook Brings Augmented Reality Ads to Its News Feed
Facebook is preparing to make augmented reality experiences for brands more visible in its mobile app with Tuesday's introduction of augmented reality ads in its News Feed.
News: Escape Room Experience Comes to Mobile via Futuristic 'The Lockdown' Augmented Reality Game
Escape rooms, those real world puzzle games that challenge teams to solve a mystery and gain their freedom from a locked room, are all the rage right now. But augmented reality games such as The Lockdown could make them obsolete.
News: Former Meta Exec Launches DreamGlass AR Headset, Shipping at End of June for $399
Just a year after facing trade secret theft allegations from his former employer, ex-Meta Company employee Kevin Zhong and his new company are ready to ship the product that triggered the lawsuit.
News: ARKit 2.0 Brings Persistent, Shared Experiences & 3D Object Detection to Apple Mobile Apps in iOS 12
As expected, Apple revealed today at the WWDC keynote that ARKit 2.0 will support multiplayer gaming support and persistent content, which will arrive this fall with iOS 12.
News: Hand Tracking for Augmented Reality Apps Comes to Smartphones via uSens
This time last year, computer vision company uSens introduced a stereo camera module capable of hand tracking. Now, uSens can achieve the same thing with just a smartphone's camera.
Market Reality: Qualcomm & DigiLens Prepare Components for AR Wearables & Retailers Get an AR Reality Check
It will likely take a few more years before smartglasses are ready for primetime as component makers achieve the innovations necessary for consumer-centric device designs. Nevertheless, two technology companies are making steps in that direction as Qualcomm is rumored to be working on a chip dedicated to AR & VR headsets, while DigiLens has reduced the size of its waveguide displays for motorcycle helmets.
News: ANTVR Goes Modular to Shrink the Size & Expand the Field of View of Its AR Headset
China-based virtual reality headset maker ANTVR has decided to enter the augmented reality space, and to do so it's launching its headset on Kickstarter. The company claims that its new Mix AR device has a field of view that surpasses the Meta 2, the HoloLens, and others within a smaller form factor and at a fraction of the price. But there's a catch.
Cheap Mods: Turn Your Phone into a Boombox with a Few Household Items
Even though smartphone audio quality has improved in recent years, the tiny built-in speakers aren't always loud enough. But if you want to turn the volume up to 11, all you need is a few household items to make a rig that will amplify your phone's speakers throughout the whole house.
News: Intel Reveals Vaunt Smartglasses, Normal Looking Glasses That Work with iOS & Android Smartphones
Just a week after news leaked out about Intel's 2018 plans for smartglasses, the company revealed what the device looks like and how it works in a new video (bottom of this page) released on Monday.
News: How the RED Hydrogen One's 4V 'Holographic' Display Works
RED has apparrantly been blowing minds with the revolutionary technology inside its upcoming Hydrogen One. Like the Razer Phone in late 2017, most of the cool tech lives inside its screen — which, also like the Razer Phone, is unlike any other on the market today. RED, too, is poised to make some major waves in the coming months, as its phone should be arriving in stores this summer.
How To: Still Missing Live Photos on Your Android? Try These 3 Apps
Apple didn't invent the concept of photos with videos embedded (that credit goes to HTC and their Zoe feature), but they sure did popularize this functionality when they came out with Live Photos. If you're jealous of iPhone users, you certainly don't need to be — there are several great ways to recreate Live Photos on Android.
News: The Differences Between the Galaxy S8 & Galaxy Note 8 Oreo Updates
Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 have Oreo beta software available in the wild at this point. We devoted a number of articles to covering what's new in Oreo and went into detail about the bugs and hiccups on both the S8 and the Note 8. Still, many people are left wondering — what's the difference between the Oreo builds on these two phones?
Gmail 101: How to Use Priority Inbox to Automatically Filter Out Clutter
For many of us, getting to inbox zero is the highlight of our day. But if you used your email address to sign up for various sites and services, your inbox is probably cluttered with all sorts of spam, news letters, and unimportant emails. Thankfully, Gmail has a feature that can solve this by using machine learning.
News: Google Glass Resurfaces as a Tool to Help People with Autism Improve Their Social Skills via AR
Considered by many (perhaps unfairly) to be a very public failure, Google Glass can add another plot point to its comeback story, this time as a tool to teach social skills to children and adults with autism.
Apple AR: Blippar Charts New Territory with Launch of First AR Navigation App for iPhones & iPads
Mobile AR developer Blippar has achieved a breakthrough by releasing what appears to be the first commercially-available AR navigation app.
News: Razer's New Gaming Phone Leaked in Promo Video Ahead of Announcement
Razer, the company known for PC peripherals and laptops, is joining the smartphone industry with a new device. Rumors have been swirling since they announced an event on November 1 at 4 PM EDT, but now, we have our best look yet with a leaked promotional video before the actual announcement.
News: Doctors Team Up to Use HoloLens & VR App to Perform Live Surgery from UK, India & US
The HoloLens has become a frequent sight in medical facilities around the world, but a new demonstration shows just how seamlessly it can be integrated into traditional medical procedures to improve the experience for physicians and patients alike.
News: Your Banking App Could Soon Help You Locate the Nearest ATM in AR
A potentially groundbreaking new app targeting retail financial services hopes to bring augmented reality to your local bank and credit union.
Today's Top News: Waiting for Tesla's Reaction to Former Uber Engineer's 'Faketesla' Claims
Former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski's scathing accusations challenging the physics behind Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk's claims about Autopilot should force Musk to make his case that self-drive cars don't need LiDAR in the next few months.
Today's Top News: Lyft Is Going to Keep the Dude in the Car
Ride-sharing firm Lyft says it will continue to rely on drivers in the near and long term even as it replaces them with driverless cars, Taggart Matthiesen, Lyft's director of product, said during a Podcast with Recode.
News: College Student Creates 'Scroll,' a Ring That Lets You Control Your AR Experience
Forget what you know about controlling augmented reality experiences. "Scroll" lets you interact with augmented reality using a much more subtle approach: A ring.
Snapseed 101: Use the 'Healing' Tool to Remove Unwanted Elements from a Photo
Snapseed is an app that you should definitely be using not only if you're really serious about photography, but also if you want to ensure that your online work sets the standard for social media. It's a great companion app to Instagram and VSCO, and it will save your day many times over when you find yourself on your phone, on-the-go, needing to edit an image beyond the typical everyday filters.