Augmented Reality News Features
News: How Face Tracking & Augmentation Technology Works
Thanks to Snapchat, we're all familiar with face swapping and augmentation thanks to some clever, fun technology. But that's just the beginning, because this kind of augmented reality can do so much more.
News: Nickelodeon Reels in AR Mode for Popular Mobile Game Sky Whale
One of the most popular mobile games out there for kids has added an augmented reality mode that brings the titular character into the real world.
News: 5 Magic Leap Apps You're Probably Missing, Including Star Wars, the Magicverse Matrix, AR Jenga, & More
Whenever the name Magic Leap comes up, the talk inevitably seems to turn to the company's big-name backers and "unicorn-level" amounts of cash poured into the venture. And if it's not that, observers tend to focus on the company's market strategy and overall prospects.
News: Toyota Rolls Out Web-Based AR Advertising Campaign via 8th Wall
While Toyota ranks as the leading automotive brand in the world, the company is a follower when it comes to augmented reality.
News: Concept Smartglasses Offer Glimpse of the Future of Luxury AR Wearables
In the years leading up to the release of the Apple Watch, we were frequently teased with concept designs of what Apple's smartwatch might look like. Of course, many of those outlandish designs were off the mark, but the attention to the idea itself hinted that the public was ready for a mainstream wearable from a high-end hardware maker like Apple. Now smartglasses are getting the same treatment.
News: ModiFace Applies Its Augmented Reality Tech to Nail Polish with Fingertip-Tracking Feature
French cosmetics giant L'Oréal isn't wasting any time putting its new subsidiary, ModiFace, to work. On Thursday, the company launched a new tool that enables a photo-realistic augmented reality simulation of nail polish shades and textures to be accurately displayed on a user's fingers in real time.
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: Young Readers Can Now Enter the World of Dr. Seuss via New AR App Created with Unity's Project MARS
Alongside Sesame Street, the Dr. Seuss universe has been a constant presence in the formative years of several generations of children in the US.
News: Watch Mountains & Rivers Come to Life with This Sand-Based Map
Most sandboxes wait for children on a playground or the occasional zen garden raking. This one combines light, sand, and depth cameras to create a completely malleable topographical map you can alter with a brush of your hand.
News: Google Opens ARCore Floodgates with AR Section on Play Store & Exclusive AR Apps from eBay, Lowe's & Jet.com
In the weeks following Google's AR toolkit launch last month, the availability of quality ARCore apps has been somewhat limited. That changed on Tuesday, as a flurry of new and updated apps arrived on the Play Store, including some AR experiences available exclusively on Android.
Have You Seen This?: Holo Space Invaders Hits the Windows Store for HoloLens
For those familiar with my old YouTube series, New in the Store, you will be excited to know that I am starting something very similar here on NextReality that's a bit more broad in scope. Have You Seen This? will take a look at HoloLens applications that are new in the Windows Store, as well as some that may not have gotten the attention they deserve.
News: AT&T to Launch DirectTV App for Magic Leap One in 2019, Sets Up 5G Test Area at Magic Leap Headquarters
Magic Leap and AT&T have lifted the lid on multiple parts of their mysterious relationship today. According to AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan, the company is planning to launch a beta version of DirectTV Now for the Magic Leap One in 2019.
News: Snapchat & Facebook AR Experiences Let You Unleash Your Inner Anti-Hero & Become Marvel's Venom
Venom, the latest in a long list of comic book characters to headline its own movie, is known by comic book fans by his catchphrase, "We are Venom."
How To: Use This Map to Find PokéStop Locations in Pokémon GO
If you want free Poké Balls and eggs when playing Pokémon GO, you can find them at PokéStops in variation locations around your city, which are marked with towering blue icons on your map. Once you're at Level 5, they'll also grant you Potions and Revives to help you in your battles against other trainers, so they're definitely something you should be visiting whenever you can.
HoloLens Dev 102: How to Create an ImageTarget with Vuforia & Set Up the Camera System
Now that we've set up Vuforia in Unity, we can work on the more exciting aspects of making physical objects come to life on the HoloLens. In this guide, we will choose an image (something that you physically have in your home), build our ImageTarget database, and then set up our Unity camera to be able to recognize the chosen image so that it can overlay the 3D holographic effect on top of it.
News: Shima Smartglasses Make Augmented Reality Fashionable
The world of augmented reality has seen a myriad of different products, from sensor-laden smartphones to robust holographic headsets, but Google Glass's failures nearly killed the middle ground.
News: Google Quietly Adds Samsung Galaxy S7, S8+ & Note 8 to ARCore Supported Devices
A very low-key update to the ARCore developer's site has expanded the universe of officially-supported devices for Google's augmented reality toolkit to include the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8+, and Note 8 handsets.
News: Snapchat Launches Trailer Reaction AR Lens for Tom Cruise Movie 'Top Gun: Maverick'
Usually, flying into unknown territory would mean riding into the "danger zone", but Paramount and Snapchat are taking the trip anyway with one of Summer 2020's most anticipated movie sequels.
News: Snapchat Drapes the Statue of Liberty in the American Flag for Fourth of July Augmented Reality Lens
Under the rocket's red glare and the bombs bursting in air, the Statue of Liberty is swaying in celebration this Fourth of July thanks to Snapchat.
News: Check Out These Awesome Mixed-Reality Movies Made with the HoloLens
Mixed reality filmmaking isn't a new concept. Disney managed to make it work in 1988 with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but not without an enormous amount of work. We haven't seen many mixed reality films of that scope since, and perhaps that's because it's still hard to accomplish. Filmmakers don't look through a viewfinder or monitor and see the fully rendered result on screen—but that can change with mixed reality headsets like the HoloLens.
Hands-On: Magic Leap's Screens App Is the Closest Thing to a Killer App for the Magic Leap One, For Now
By now, you already know that the Magic Leap One ships with an array of apps to immediately get you accustomed to operating in your new spatial computing reality. The first one we're going to focus on is Screens, an app we told you about previously, but only now have managed to try for ourselves.
Hands-On: Magic Leap's Helio App Is the Best Window into the Web Available in Augmented Reality
Yesterday, I talked about what I think is the most immediately mainstream-friendly app on the Magic Leap One is (Screens), and now we'll touch upon the runner-up: Helio.
News: Occipital's Bridge Headset—The iPhone's Answer to HoloLens—Is Available Now
A new contender has entered the mixed reality ring. San Fransisco-based Occipital has just released an "Explorer Edition" of Bridge—an iPhone-based mixed and virtual reality headset that uses their popular Structure Sensor. At a fraction of the cost of a HoloLens developers kit, this could be a place many curious people use to find their NextReality.
News: We May Finally Know How Many HoloLens Devices Microsoft Sold, & It's a Revealing Peek at the Future of AR
Last week, we told you about Microsoft's Alex Kipman and his nomination for the annual European Inventor Award, presented by the European Patent Office (EPO). And while that's big news in and of itself, it turns out we overlooked a very important detail buried in the EPO's video presentation. What was it? Only one of the most sought-after data points related to the HoloLens since its launch: how many have been sold.
Hands-On: Hands-On with Magic Leap's Avatar Chat, Remote Virtual Meetings in AR Have Arrived
Unlike the realm of virtual reality, augmented reality is less about losing yourself in some fantasy environment, and more about getting things done in the real world. So while we've seen some great games that capture the imagination on devices like the Magic Leap One and the HoloLens, when it comes to real-world usage, the biggest developments coming for AR apps that are the more practical ones.
How To: Android + Drive Assist = Augmented Reality Goodness for Your Car
While texting and driving may get you a ticket, there are still a ton of uses for your phone in your car, music and navigation just to name a couple. Every Android device comes with access to GPS and traffic updates, but none of those apps really have your back in real-time.
Apple AR: The Universe Is in Your Floor with New ARKit Portal Demo
You'd better start watching where you're stepping because there are portals opening up everywhere thanks to Apple's ARKit.
News: This App Lets You Control Your Smarthome Lights via Augmented Reality
Voice-activated digital assistants from Amazon, Apple, and Google currently have the upper hand for home automation integrations, but a new augmented reality mobile app promises to give homeowners and renters visual control over their connected appliances.
News: This Children's Hospital Uses HoloLens & Augmented Reality to Calm Young Patients During Medical Procedures
While numerous examples exist of hospitals deploying the HoloLens to assist doctors, surgeons, medical professionals, and students while treating patients, California's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford is actually using the augmented reality headset to improve the patient's experience.
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: Magic Leap Adds New Multi-User & Sharing Features, Improves Hand Tracking in Latest Lumin OS Update
After showing off a prototype of the Grordbattle multiplayer first-person shooter at the Game Developer Conference, Magic Leap has added a new Shared World feature in version 0.95.0 of the Lumin OS update released this week.
News: Magic Leap Highlights Award-Winning Augmented Reality Apps Revealed at Reality Virtually Hackathon
With Magic Leap One approaching six months since launch, Magic Leap is fully focused on building a content ecosystem and developer community.
News: Magic Leap Adds Mobile Carrying Case to Its Arsenal of Augmented Reality Gear
It took a while, but one of the most anticipated Magic Leap One accessories is finally here. Magic Leap has quietly added the official Magic Leap One carrying case, which we previewed last year, to its website.
News: Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat Pass Out Halloween-Themed AR Filters Like Soooo Much Candy
If social media apps were houses in a neighborhood and augmented reality photo effects were candy, then Facebook went to Costco and brought home a full pallet of treats.
News: Volvo Takes Showrooming to the Next Level with a HoloLens
While the early stages of any new technology always seems amazing because of the utilitarian, almost altruistic software concepts it inspires, mixed and augmented reality will still see its fair share of corporate apps. That might be a good thing, however, as Volvo's plan goes past general information and advertising to make a truly helpful tool for prospective car buyers.
News: Magic Leap App SeeSignal Uses AR to Help You Find & Touch the Strongest Cellular, Wi-Fi, & Bluetooth Signals
While Magic Leap World gets its share of fun apps for playing with Porgs, watching TV, and exploring the ocean's depths, developers are making a strong business case for the Magic Leap One as well.
News: Google Helps Tell the Story of Stonewall in Augmented Reality
Snapchat isn't the only tech company transforming landmarks with augmented reality for Pride Month. About four miles southwest of New York's iconic Flatiron Building, which is getting its own Pride makeover via Snapchat's Landmarker AR, Stonewall National Monument is also receiving some augmented reality treatment by way of the Stonewall Forever mobile app published by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (better known as The Center) in partnership with Google.
News: Here's Your First Look at the Star Wars AR Experience Being Shown Off at Nissan Showrooms
Earlier this week, we told you about the new Star Wars augmented reality collaboration with Nissan that will bring the famed science-fiction franchise to auto showrooms, and now we can show you what it looks like.
News: Yahoo! Japan's Maps App Unveils AR Mode with an Unbearably Cute Mascot to Guide the Way
Whenever Japan does something new in tech, the cute factor is almost always taken into account. The same holds true for augmented reality, as Yahoo! Japan has just revealed its take on AR map navigation with a new AR Mode.
News: Magic Leap Expands Multiplayer Support & Adds Hand Mesh Tracking in Latest Lumin OS Update
While Magic Leap has remained mostly silent regarding its plans for its Magic Leap One successor, the software team continues to makes strides with improvements to the device's Lumin OS and SDK.