News: Meta Sues Former Employee Over Trade Secrets
Meta Company filed suit today against a former employee and his startup DreamWorld USA, Inc. for the misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information.
Technology Dork Search Results
News: Uncomfortable with Getting Tested for STDs? 'Biem' Sexual Health Service App Can Help
People love sex. They don't love talking about the possible repercussions of sex. And with dating apps such as Tinder, Grindr, and Bumble paving new ways for strangers to talk and have casual hookups, people need to be able to more comfortably have a conversation about sexual health and protection. Luckily, now there's an app for that.
News: Partnership with nuTonomy Expands Lyft's Asian Footprint
Uber's struggles are expected help Lyft get ahead in driverless development as it confirms its third partnership with autonomous tech company nuTonomy today.
News: Apple Bursts onto Augmented Reality Scene with ARKit
During the opening keynote of their Worldwide Developers Conference today in San Jose, Apple introduced the ARKit for the new iOS 11 that will bring augmented reality apps to millions of compatible iPhones and iPads.
AWE 2017: Rounding Up All the News from the Augmented World Expo
The Augmented World Expo (AWE), the biggest event for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality companies, developers, customers, and connoisseurs, is happening right now. You know what that means for us here at Next Reality? Companies presenting and exhibiting at AWE are releasing news like crazy.
NR50: Next Reality's 50 People to Watch: Amitt Mahajan
From Farmville to selling a company to Google, Amitt Mahajan has been through the startup ringer. Now, as managing partner with Presence Capital, he's funding the future of augmented and mixed reality.
News: Uber in More Hot Water with Pittsburgh Officials as Driverless Deal Sours
Things aren't looking good for Uber after its driverless experiment in Pittsburgh soured relations with local authorities. Surprised? Me neither.
News: Overly Optimistic Report Says 92% of iPhone Users Will Ugrade to a New iPhone
Over 90% of ride-or-die iPhone users will upgrade to the latest Apple smartphone, according to a recent survey. Really, though? Well, Morgan Stanley certainly seems to think so.
News: New Tool Makes It Easy to Check if a Phone Was Lost or Stolen
Buying a smartphone used is an excellent way to save money, but those savings come with a risk that your seller isn't as forthcoming as they claim. You don't want to end up buying a stolen smartphone because it might not work correctly ... and, you know, it's wrong. Luckily, there's an easy way to check if the phone you're about to buy is legit.
News: Your Face Could Unlock the New iPhone 8
There have been a number of rumors about the iPhone 8 over the past couple of months, but the latest speculation about the device's dual FaceTime camera, that could take 3D selfies, has definitely grabbed our attention.
News: Magic Leap Opens Up Applications for Early-Access Beta Developers
Magic Leap has always been intensely secretive about its work on its augmented reality headset, so it's interesting that they're now publicly recruiting developers to build software for the device before its launch.
News: Silicon Valley Big Shots Courted by Ford & GM
The driverless competition is heating up as Detroit automakers attempt to woo tech talent away from some of Silicon Valley's biggest players.
News: Unity with Native Tango Support & Vuforia Integration Coming Later This Year
The keynote at this week's Vision Summit 2017, a two-day event put together by the Unity team in beautiful Hollywood, California, revealed a few new features coming to the Unity platform. They also previewed some of the beta features that are currently available for those less scared of the occasional hiccup.
News: Alex Kipman Just Said What All HoloLens Enthusiasts Are Thinking — 'The Phone Is Already Dead'
According to Alex Kipman, HoloLens inventor and futurist at Microsoft, the smartphone is already obsolete. In an interview with Bloomberg, Kipman boldly stated that the HoloLens will eventually replace the smartphone and drive society right into a new augmented normal.
News: NFL Audibles to Augmented Reality for Fan Experience
Beginning in November, National Football League (NFL) fans visiting New York's Times Square can come as close as any civilian can to stepping onto a professional football field. All for less than the price of a pair of cleats.
News: Hulu's Live TV Service Provides New Way to Stream on Smartphones
Who pays for live TV anymore? Better question, who watches live TV anymore? With a ton of streaming services available, there's no room in our lives for things like schedules, commercials, or going weeks between episodes. (What is this, 2010?)
News: Sports Illustrated Brings Its Latest Issue to Life Using AR/VR
UPDATED 5/4/17: SI has stated that they won't be augmenting its Swimsuit Edition. Although, this could be a sign that the company may do so in the future. If they already have all the tech set up for the latest feature, then they are already half way ready to augment other SI editions. So get ready SI fans and download the designated Life VR app, because you are going to need it to point it at these specially marked SI pages.
News: Help Choose the Winner of the First Windows Developer Award for 'Reality Mixer of the Year'
Microsoft Build 2017, the first of Microsoft's big developer conferences for the year, is just a few weeks away. This very popular conference, which has been going on since 2011, is known to sell out fast. In 2015, it sold out in under an hour, and in 2016, in less than 5 minutes. This year was no different, according to VentureBeat; While not quite as fast as last year with so many rumors of HoloLens on the horizon at the time, this year's Build was sold out in 8 hours. And for this year's B...
News: 'After Ice' Shows What Climate Change Is About to Do to Our World
In honor of Earth Day tomorrow (woo!), visual artist Justin Brice Guariglia has released a new augmented reality app that lets you experience climate change from wherever you're standing.
News: Uber's Driverless Car Program Executive Quits as Court Case Rages On
Uber's driverless car program lead has quit after just one year working for the ride-hailing company.
News: HoloBooth Presents Exhibition Booth Through HoloLens
Asobo Studios, one of the first companies to partner with Microsoft on HoloLens development, is applying their expertise towards building applications for various business verticals through their internal HoloForge Interactive team.
News: Uber Engineer Accused of Data Theft Is Pleading the Fifth as Judge Demands Explanation
A federal judge wants answers after an Uber engineer accused of data theft pleaded the Fifth in the ongoing Waymo versus Uber battle. This privilege would protect the accused, Anthony Levandowski, of self-incrimination and handing over specific documents demanded in a previous subpoena and forthcoming deposition.
News: Anchor Brings Quality Call Recording to the Masses with New 'Interview' Feature
As someone who grew up adamantly complaining every time my parents dared to turn on talk radio in the car, I can admit it's a bit weird that I have a love affair with podcasts. I can't help it! Even though podcasts are essentially the modern-day customizable talk radio, I choose to defend my all-out obsession with pointing out how popular they are (I mean, SNL even picked up on the trend).
How To: Get Pinterest's New Home Screen Shortcuts on Your Android Phone
Pinterest, a worldwide catalog of ideas shared by over 175 million users every month, is dominated by Android users, who are now the app's fastest growing group. Pinterest has since taken notice, and has started to incorporate handy home screen shortcuts for users with Android 7.1 or higher.
News: Udacity—The School for Robo-Cars—Just Spun-Off Its First Driverless Startup
Udacity, the online education startup that set out to train a school of self-driving car engineers, is now spinning off into its own autonomous tech company called Voyage.
News: Meitu's BeautyPlus Selfie-Perfecting App Just Got Some Fun AR Filters
The popular beauty app company Meitu is incorporating augmented reality (AR) video and image filters and effects in its selfie-editing app BeautyPlus for iOS and Android.
News: Galaxy S8+ Battery Life Is Very Good, but Not Better Than iPhone 7 Plus
The Samsung Galaxy S8+ isn't yet available for consumers to buy, but that isn't stopping tech reviewers from discovering what the phone is capable of. Turns out, the S8+ has a good battery—just not as good as the iPhone 7 Plus.
News: New Shots of Model 3 Shows Tesla Is Doubling Down on Cameras
While it may seem like the Cold War 2.0 is happening, at least some US spies are getting the content Americans need. That's right, Electrek has gotten some new pictures of the Tesla Model 3.
News: Google & Top Android Partners Sign Groundbreaking Patent Peace Deal
Google and eight top Android partners have just signed the Android Networked Cross-License, nicknamed PAX. On the surface, this looks to be a peace treaty of sorts that could end several patent wars.
News: Huawei's Latest Effort to Crack the US Market—Getting into AT&T Stores
Huawei is making a fresh attempt at launching into the US market to challenge Apple and Samsung's monopoly on premium smartphones. In its latest attempt to break into America, Huawei is trying to get its Chinese mobile chipset accredited by AT&T.
News: McDonald's Tests Mobile Ordering Using Geofencing to Ensure Your Order Is Hot & Fresh When You Get It
It's 2017 and finally ordering "fries with that" at McDonald's is an even easier prospect for all you lovers out there ball and chained to the fast food game. The great big golden arches are moving one step closer to making your order as golden as it ought to be through a mobile ordering app using geofencing technology to track your location.
News: Sephora's ModiFace-Powered AR App Gives Users Even More Makeup Combinations & Hands-on Tutorials
Listen up ladies, there's no need to go to Sephora and model a hundred different shades of lipstick anymore. Now with Virtual Artist, Sephora's award-winning app, for iOS and Android, you can virtually test thousands of shades of single and palette eyeshadows, lip colors, and even false eyelash styles from their new augmented reality-based feature.
News: Sony Unveils the Xperia XZ Premium with 4K HDR Display, 19 MP Camera & Snapdragon 835
Sony hit MWC 2017 in full gallop, announcing four different additions to its Xperia lineup on Monday, February 27, 2017: the XZ Premium, XZs, XA1, and XA1 Ultra.
News: These Special Sewage Bacteria Can Turn Dirty Water into Energy
Some bacteria can already do it—generate electric current, that is—and those microbes are called "electrogenic." Now, thanks to the work of a research group from the University of California, Santa Barbara, we know how to easily turn non-electrogenic bacteria into electricity producers.
Video Analysis: New GM Cruise Self-Driving Video Shows More Mastery of SF Roads... This Time with PiP Proof
A couple weeks ago, GM's Cruise Automation released a remarkable self-driving video from the streets of San Fransisco that Driverless analyzed in detail. And now they've just released a new one giving more insight into their growing mastery of the complex roads in San Francisco, specifically, the Potrero Hill and Mission Dolores neighborhoods.
How To: Add a Smart App Drawer to Any Launcher & Get Automatic Sorting Features
One of the biggest things that differentiates Android from iOS is the app drawer. Instead of the operating system just tossing all of your app icons into a cluttered heap on your home screen, most can be tucked away neatly in the app drawer, which, in essence, is very similar to the Windows Start menu.
Proof of Concept: Music Everywhere Uses HoloLens to Help Piano Students Learn Improvisation
Students from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center have been working on an augmented reality system to help teach music in a project called Music Everywhere.
News: Five Windows Holographic Mixed Reality Headsets Have Now Been Seen, but Most Have Not Been Touched
Some of the products I have been looking forward to seeing the most during CES 2017 has been the upcoming Windows Holographic virtual reality headsets. These are VR headset that will run a version of the Windows Holographic platform, which will allow users to have a similar experience as the HoloLens with a mixed reality environment. Of the six headsets that could have possibly made it to CES, five had shown up. Unfortunately, most of them are behind glass.
News: Okularion—Untethered Augmented Reality at Under $300
Last week, a new Kickstarter campaign arrived for a completely untethered, augmented reality headset for under $300 called Okularion. While at first glance, this unit looks very much like a Samsung Gear VR, one thing that sets it apart (aside from being untethered from a nearby computer) is that it does not require a smartphone. Well, that and it's an augmented reality headset as well.
News: Boeing Is Fighting Wildfires with the Microsoft HoloLens & Large Drones
Fighting fires has always been a dangerous and noble venture, even with the proliferation of aerial firefighting. But things are looking to get a lot safer for firefighters with the help of the Boeing and mixed reality.