Brief Reality: Mobile AR Apps Help Save Rhinos (& Sell Stuff)
Mobile apps themselves are not always the end product or service for generating revenue. More often, they are deployed as tactics within a larger marketing or public relations strategy.
Virtual Infrastructure Search Results
Market Reality: Level Ex Closes $11 Million in Financing, While Gaze Coin Seeks $12 Million through ICO
According to Digi-Capital, investors poured $1.8 billion into augmented and virtual reality companies over the last 12 months, including $300 million in the third quarter. These investments are not made without a means to monetize products and services.
News: Google Continues AR Duel Versus Apple with AR Stickers for Pixel 2
Clearly, the next big battlefield for tech gamesmanship between Apple and Google will be augmented reality.
Brief Reality: View Your Home Before Building & Build Cities in Your Home with These ARKit Apps
To revise a line from the Blues Brothers, when it comes to ARKit apps, we've got both kinds — home utilities and games. As such, two more candidates for each category have made their way to the app store.
How To: Use a Virtual Burner Phone to Protect Your Identity & Security
Every time you make a call or send a text, you're giving the recipient your phone number. This can be quite the security vulnerability, opening yourself up to scammers, spammers, and the feds. In this how-to, we'll look at what a burner phone is, why you might want one, and how to get started using a free second phone number on your regular smartphone.
News: Vertebrae Standing Up AR Ad Platform for ARKit Arrival
When iOS releases in the next few weeks, consumers on both iOS and Android operating systems can expect to see more AR ads in the mobile web browsers thanks to Vertebrae, an advertising platform for immersive media.
Brief Reality: Halliburton, New York Jets, CyberLink Join the Augmented Reality Movement
A survey by ABI Research revealed that only 25 percent of businesses have implemented augmented reality technology in some form or fashion.
Market Reality: Immersv Closes Funding Round While Lampix Completes Coin Offering
This week, two companies looking to capitalize on the growing augmented reality industry, raised funding from starkly different sources.
Dev Report: The Revamped HoloToolkit, Now MixedRealityToolkit, Brings with It a Roadmap
Developers in the augmented reality space are sitting on the bleeding edge of a hot technology. With the intense interest, especially in the tech circles, there are a large number of people working on potential solutions and uses for the technology. There is also a lot of time, money and effort being put in the tools and infrastructure for the technology. For better of for worse this also means constant changes.
Market Reality: Vuzix Reports Sales Growth & Partners with Blackberry
As more companies begin adopting augmented reality in the workplace, providers like Vuzix reap the benefits.
News: Sit on the 'Magic Bench' & Discover an AR Experience Requiring No Electronics
When you think of AR experiences, you typically think of something that either involves a headset or a handset. Augmented reality without either of those things has seemed impossible in the past. But if anyone is going to try to find a way to have an augmented reality experience without electronics, it's Disney.
Brief Reality: Acura, L'Oréal Latest Brands to Buy into Augmented Reality
When it comes to differentiating from the competition, brands are continuing to leverage augmented reality to give consumers to the point that there are few "firsts" left to achieve in the marketplace. While L'Oreal jumps on the augmented reality bandwagon for cosmetics, Acura finds a new way to make augmented reality a spectacle in the automotive industry.
NR50: Next Reality's 50 People to Watch: Tony Parisi
Tony Parisi, the global head of VR/AR at Unity Technologies, has been passionately working with virtual and immersive spaces for a long time. And while the internet world we live in now is very different than when Parisi was co-authoring VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) — an early attempt at creating 3D environments that would work in a web browser — some of the questions that were assumed answered are being asked again.
Today's Top News: Volvo Goes All-Electric, Joins Full-Court Press Against Tesla
Google quickly learned over five years ago electric vehicles (EVs) were the powertrain of choice for its then fledging driverless car program and the industry has since followed its lead.
Today's Top News: The Point of No Return for Carmakers
The automotive industry is traditionally very conservative, so when a carmaker says it will launch a particular model or feature by a certain date, it means a lot.
News: Waymo Taps Avis to Manage Its Driverless Fleet
Today it was revealed that Avis Budget Group will now support and maintain Waymo's driverless car fleet in Phoenix, the company's first public trial of self-driving cars. This is an unprecedented partnership in the autonomous vehicle field and conveys the steps driverless companies are taking to make their vehicles more accessible to the public.
How To: Set Up a Practice Computer to Kill on a Raspberry Pi
The world is full of vulnerable computers. As you learn how to interact with them, it will be both tempting and necessary to test out these newfound skills on a real target. To help you get to that goal, we have a deliberately vulnerable Raspberry Pi image designed for practicing and taking your hacking skills to the next level.
News: Can't Sleep? This App by US Navy Veteran Can Help
Despite what you may have heard, sleep is NOT for the weak. It's essential, not to mention it makes us feel a hell of a lot better in general. But for some, getting to sleep is easier said than done. In fact, about 50 million to 70 million people in the US have a sleep or wakefulness disorder, according to the CDC.
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.
Brief Reality: Blippar Transforms into Shazam for Cars
Augmented reality is quickly becoming a popular tool for marketing use cases, as demonstrated by new projects serving the automotive, entertainment, and tourism industries this past week.
How To: Play 'The Sims Mobile' on Your iPhone or Android Right Now
The latest iteration of the gaming classic, The Sims, has arrived as a soft launch for both iOS and Android in Brazil. Aptly named The Sims Mobile, this free-to-play game seems to be very faithful to the PC-based version that won it so much acclaim. There are plenty of things to do in The Sims Mobile besides the usual home and character customization, and the game also lets you interact with real life friends to fully experience its virtual world together. Maintaining relationships, whether r...
News: Back Away from the Burger! Microsoft Combats Overeating with AR Patent
Ben & Jerry's addicts rejoice: Microsoft just won a patent for AR glasses that could help to combat overeating. Physical restraint is still needed to keep me away from that ice-creamy goodness, but a little virtual voice saying 'DON'T DO IT' could definitely help when the cravings come.
Brief Reality: Industries Take a Peek at the Future of Augmented Reality
This week's Brief Reality is led by a pair of stories with an eye to the future of the augmented reality industry, first in terms of standards for the industry, then with regards to its future applications in the automotive realm. Finally, one company looks to boost its future sales with an executive hire.
News: Captain Blimey Seeks to Plunder the Pokémon GO Craze
A Seattle development team is putting the "ARRRR" in AR with the maiden voyage of Captain Blimey, an augmented reality game for iOS and Android devices that puts a pirate premise on Pokémon GO.
News: Show's Over, Shakespeare! Self-Driving Cars Will Be Tested in Stratford
Stratford may soon become Canada's answer to Silicon Valley as the driverless car industry arrives. Potentially changing the character of the Ontario town known for hosting the Stratford Festival, a celebration of all things Shakespearean and stage-related.
News: Robot Swarms Could Be Controlled by Your Smartphone, Thanks to AR
Have you ever wanted to control a swarm of robots? Well, now you can! Robotics researchers at New York University (NYU) have created an app which controls 'bots from your smartphone, using augmented reality. This AR app would certainly come in handy when you want to make a coffee from the comfort of your couch, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!
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: Russian-Made Adware 'Ewind' Can Give Hackers Control Over Your Android Device
Download a popular, legit app from the Google Play Store. Decompile it. Add malicious code. Repackage the app. Distribute the now trojan-ized app through third-party Android app sites. This is how advertising malware Ewind, what Palo Alto Networks calls "adware in applications' clothing," infects Android users.
News: iPhone 8 Rumored to Ship with iPad Pro-Like Smart Connector for AR & Wireless Charging
The rumors surrounding the next iPhone and Apple's ambitions toward augmented reality have been going on for months, and a fresh development brings back the idea of Apple's Smart Connector bringing the two together. The Verifier, an Israeli news site, claims the next suite of iPhones (iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and 7s Plus) will all sport Smart Connectors for both AR and wireless charging.
News: Researchers Discover Key Proteins Malaria Uses to Infect the Liver—A Key Step in Stopping the Parasite
When the mosquito that carries the malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) bites someone, the parasite must travel to the liver where it undergoes part of its lifecycle before infecting red blood cells and spreading to its next host. Until now, the first step of how the parasite gets to the liver hasn't been clear.
How To: While We Wait on LineageOS, You Can Still Install CyanogenMod—Here's How
Cyanogen, Inc., the for-profit company that spun off from its CyanogenMod roots several years ago, has announced that they're shutting down all of their services. The company's impending demise shouldn't directly impact many Android users, but the announcement does have one major repercussion: The servers that used to host the popular CyanogenMod custom ROM have now been shut down.
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: DataMesh's HoloDesign Makes Redesigning Spaces Easy with a HoloLens
What does our future hold when augmented and mixed reality finally enter the mainstream? As developers, we are always looking for the ultimate solutions to the problems our users see. Welcome the innovative minds of DataMesh Consulting and their impressive HoloLens interior design solution called HoloDesign (previously "Decoration").
Mac for Hackers: How to Install the Metasploit Framework
Metasploit is an extremely popular pentesting tool capable of enumeration, exploitation, and injecting shell code, and is a part of almost every hacking toolkit. So there's no way I could leave this out of our series on getting your Mac set up for hacking.
How To: Use Google Cardboard if Your Phone Doesn't Have a Gyroscope
Many midrange phones are being manufactured without a gyroscope sensor—the Moto X Play, third-generation Moto G, and several of Samsung's Galaxy Grand models, among others. It's not exactly an essential smartphone sensor, and leaving this out keeps the phone's price point down, so it's an understandable omission.
News: What We Know About Magic Leap's Amazing Tech So Far
Virtual reality headsets are all the rage these days, and among the menagerie of tech companies gunning for the top spot, there's one mysterious startup that is ahead of the game—Magic Leap—and you can tell just by watching their latest demo video of their product in action.
News: U.S. Justice Department Indicts Iranian Hackers
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department issued criminal indictments against seven Iranian hackers. These hackers, working for private companies in Iran, are accused of orchestrating DDoS attacks against U.S. financial institutions from 2011-2013 as well as intruding into the control panel of a small dam in Rye, New York. It is thought that these attacks were a response to the U.S. tightening financial restrictions on Iran during those years and the NSA-based Stuxnet attack on their uranium enr...
News: Ukraine Power Attacks; How, Who and Why?
Although there has been much speculation about how much damage could be done if hackers were to take control of a country's SCADA systems, there have been few examples - until a few months ago, with the power outage in Ukraine caused by hackers.
How To: Create a Hootsuite Mac App to Manage All Your Social Media Accounts from Your Desktop
As this generation continues to evolve, we become more involved with social media. For example, you may have a Facebook, Twitter, and a Google+ account, and be heavily involved in using all three, but the constant switching between sites, logins, and conversations can get very tedious.
How To: Add Extra Buttons to the Navigation Bar on Your Nexus 5
The debate between physical and virtual navigation buttons and their respective benefits has been going on for a few years now. It looks to finally be settled, with the Samsung Galaxy S5 being the only current-generation flagship Android phone that has yet make the switch to on-screen buttons.