News: Form Adds Support for Heart Rate Tracking via Polar Sensors to AR Swim Goggles
Less than a month after launching its augmented reality Swim Goggles, wearables startup Form is preparing to add a major new feature for aquatic athletes.
Tech Giant Search Results
News: Snap Finally Enters AR Smartglasses Territory with Spectacles 3
After teasing what smartglasses powered by Snapchat might look like with two product cycles of camera glasses, Snap has now added augmented reality capabilities to its third take on Spectacles.
News: China's Huawei Reveals Its Vision of the 5G-Powered AR Cloud Called the Cyberverse
The augmented reality cloud will probably be one of the most important pieces of digital real estate in the next few years, and China has no intention of being left out of the virtual land grab.
News: Microsoft Discontinuing Major OS Updates for HoloLens 1
With HoloLens 2 (hopefully) just around the corner, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer be providing any major operating system updates to the original HoloLens.
News: Samsung Patent Documents Reveal Augmented Reality Smartglasses That Might Challenge Apple's Rumored Wearable
Historically, patents have never been a rock-solid source for uncovering the future of a company's product pipeline. However, sometimes, the images you find in the patent application search archives are so convincing you have to pay attention.
News: Snapchat Smile Rater Lens Helps You Work on the Perfect Selfie Smile
For Snapchat users wondering if that selfie is ready to send to their crush, independent Lens Studio creator Andrew Mendez created a handy tool called the Smile Rater.
News: Apple Opens App Accelerator in China, Move Could Sway AR Developers Focused on Android Smartglasses
With the latest version of ARKit and a new set augmented reality development tools set to arrive this Fall with iOS 13, Apple has taken an unprecedented step in recruiting Chinese developers to fill the App Store with mobile AR apps now, likely with an eye to the future.
News: Snapchat Turns Wrigley Field into the Upside Down for 'Stranger Things' Promotion
With the third season of Netflix's hit series Stranger Things set to debut July 4, it's time to crank up the hype machine, this time, in augmented reality.
News: Magic Leap Claims He Stole Augmented Reality Ideas as an Employee, but Who Is Chi Xu, the Founder of Nreal?
When I first found out about Nreal, back in the spring of 2018, the most interesting thing about the company's story was the founder's background. Chi Xu, the CEO and founder of Nreal, previously worked at Magic Leap as a software engineer.
News: Vuzix Blade Teams with Facial Recognition Company to Provide Law Enforcement Solution
Perhaps it's a coincidence that the Vuzix Blade smartglasses look like the sunglasses that a police officer would wear, but a new partnership with an AI software company makes the wearable a perfect fit for law enforcement.
News: Amazon Adding Virtual Try-On from L'Oréal's ModiFace to Its Beauty Products
Cosmetics augmented reality specialist ModiFace appears to be really benefiting from the brand power of L'Oréal, which acquired the company last year.
News: Mojo Vision Debuts Microscopic Display for Augmented Reality Wearables
After raising more $100 million in funding from some of the tech world's biggest names, Mojo Vision is finally ready to show the world the building block of its "invisible computing" platform.
News: Streem Upgrades Its Augmented Reality Platform via Acquisition of Computer Vision Startup Selerio
There's no shortage of augmented reality platforms for remote video assistance, but startup Streem is looking to give its offering a leg up with an infusion of new technology.
News: McGraw-Hill Jumps into Educational Augmented Reality via Partnership with Startup Alchemie
In the wake of Apple and Google pitching augmented reality to schools, McGraw-Hill is stepping up its own augmented reality efforts for education.
News: Google Releases Glass Enterprise Edition 2, Includes Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1Upgrade
As the tech world patiently waits for the advent of mainstream consumer smartglasses, Google is content to stick to the business world (for now).
News: Snapchat Summons Dragons from Westeros to New York for Game of Thrones AR Promo
Spring is here across the US, but, through the lens of Snapchat and augmented reality, winter is coming to New York.
News: US Military Shows Off Modified HoloLens 2 Augmented Reality System
New images reveal that Microsoft is already well underway in fulfilling its $480 million contract to provide augmented reality headsets to the US Army.
News: 7-Eleven Delivers Assist to BodyArmor Drink with Augmented Reality Promotion for NCAA Basketball Tournament
Now that the NCAA Basketball Tournament is underway, 7-Eleven has decided to launch an augmented reality experience to remind basketball fans where they can quench their thirst throughout March Madness.
News: Shazam Pours a Tall Glass of Augmented Reality Marketing for Shackleton Whisky
Apple's in-house music identification app Shazam has been quiet on the augmented reality front since officially joining Cupertino's finest last year, but a new promotion gives AR enthusiasts an occasion to raise a toast.
News: Leap Motion Update Improves Design of Project North Star Augmented Reality Headset
In the current state of the augmented reality space, Leap Motion is the only well known name in DIY AR headset kits with its Project North Star design, which gives makers the blueprints to build their own headsets.
News: New Intel RealSense Camera Adds Inside-Out Tracking to AR/VR Headsets, Robots, & Drones
Intel's RealSense family of depth tracking cameras has a new addition with a different set of sensory capabilities.
News: Lyft Looks to Augmented Reality to Improve the Passenger Pickup Process with New Patent Application
An augmented reality system developed by Lyft might make it less awkward for drivers to figure out who they are supposed to pick up.
News: ODG Patents Headed to Auction Block After Failed Magic Leap Acquisition Deal, Report Says
Despite the hype and potential of immersive computing, the augmented reality industry is showing that it is not invincible, as another AR hardware maker, this time Osterhout Design Group (ODG), is reportedly going out of business.
News: WayRay Gives Developers the Wheel in Effort to Create AR Apps of the Future with True AR SDK
Automotive augmented reality display maker WayRay is making a move to help developers get all those slick, futuristic AR functions we see in concept videos into the real cars of today.
News: Tesla Files Patent for AR Manufacturing Tool, Elon Musk Talks Factory Innovation, Weed, & SEC Fine on '60 Minutes'
New documents reveal that electric car company Tesla has filed a surprising new patent that has nothing to do with batteries or autonomous driving and everything to do with augmented reality.
News: Apple Continues Assembling AR Arsenal with Acquisition of Spektral's Background Removal Tech, Report Says
Adding another arrow to its quiver of augmented reality acquisitions, Apple has reportedly acquired Spektral, a computer vision company with technology for real-time compositing (otherwise know as the "green screen" technique in broadcast TV and film).
Market Reality: Unity Leads the NR30 AR Software Segment, Magic Leap & Microsoft Pursue Military Partners
Continuing our NR30 series this week, we focused on the leaders of the software development industry that make augmented reality experiences possible. In other news, two of the current leaders in making AR headsets, Microsoft and Magic Leap, are pursuing multiple verticals with their products, as both now appear to be interested in making AR headsets for the military.
NR30: The AR Hardware Leaders of 2018
It is almost indisputable that smartglasses and head-worn displays are the future of augmented reality. However, at this precise moment, they are still a very niche market.
News: VR Veteran Jaunt Develops Portable 3D Capture Service for Volumetric Augmented Reality Content
Better known among consumers for its virtual reality apps, Jaunt is now pivoting toward solutions for augmented reality developers.
News: Venus Williams Joins Her Sister in AR via American Express Installation at the US Open
Fans attending the US Open Tennis Championships in Queens, New York, which kicks off on Monday, will have the opportunity to meet tennis star Venus Williams in an augmented reality game sponsored by American Express.
News: Apple Augmented Reality Smartglasses Coming in 2020, New Report Says
As we predicted earlier this week, the focus has already begun to move from Magic Leap back onto Apple's rumored augmented reality smartglasses. The latest credible whispers come from none other than longtime Apple-focused analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
News: Want to Jailbreak? If You're Running iOS 11.4, Do Not Upgrade to 11.4.1
In the tech world, upgrades are normally a good thing. On iOS, it means bug fixes and security patches that protect your iPhone and keep it up with the times. In the jailbreak world, however, upgrades can mean certain death, as we are reminded today when Apple stopped signing iOS 11.4. That means if you upgrade to 11.4.1, you will no longer be able to jailbreak your iPhone.
News: Tale of the Tape — How Does Apple's Measure App Measure Up Against Google's Version?
Earlier this month, when Apple announced at WWDC that iOS 12 would include an augmented reality tape measure called Measure, iPhone watchers seemed impressed by the new addition to the company's AR arsenal. Well, just a couple of weeks later, on June 19, it appears that Google remembered it had its own Measure app as well.
News: New DigiLens Waveguide Displays for Motorcycle Helmets Are Thinner, Lighter & Cheaper
Less than a week after securing a $25 million Series C funding round for automotive HUDs, DigiLens has introduced a new waveguide display for motorcycle helmets that's thinner, lighter, brighter, and manufactured at a lower cost.
News: Looney Tunes Antics Jump from Screen to Real World with Augmented Reality Experiment
Even in augmented reality, Wile E. Coyote still can't catch the Road Runner. The latest AR experiment from developer Abhishek Singh brings the classic Looney Tunes duo into the real world.
News: Tech Toothbrush from Samsung Incubator Graduate Uses AR to Help Kids Improve Brushing Habits
Kitten Planet, a spin-off company that grew up in Samsung's C-Lab incubator, has developed a connected toothbrush that teaches and motivates children to brush their teeth better via augmented reality while tracking their performance.
News: Facebook's F8 Badge Shows Developers It's Serious About Augmented Reality
Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges! That is, unless they have augmented reality content embedded in them and give us full access to Facebook's annual F8 developers conference — in that case, yes, we'll take all the badges.
News: Snapchat Unveils Updated Spectacles with Improved Audio, New Colors & Faster Data Transfer
Despite the fact that Snap Inc.'s Spectacles weren't the hit some were expecting, the company is nevertheless taking another swing at it by releasing an updated version.
News: The Weather Channel Forecasts More Augmented Reality for Its Live Broadcasts with Unreal Engine
Just weeks after being acquired by comedian turned producer Byron Allen for $300 million, The Weather Channel has tapped augmented reality studio The Future Group to integrate immersive augmented reality experiences into its broadcast content.
News: Vuzix Seeks $80 Million in Defamation Lawsuit Over Unflattering Blade Smartglasses Report
Augmented reality device maker Vuzix has filed a defamation lawsuit asking for $80 million in punitive damages, money damages, and interest against a short seller who has publicly claimed that the Amazon Alexa functionality of the company's Blade smartglasses is fraudulent.