Smartphones News
News: Artemis Smart Mirror Shows Off AR Vanity for Coty's Wella Professionals Salons
If you salivate at the idea of waking up to the Jarvis-powered smart window from the opening minutes of Marvel's Iron Man, then connected home appliance maker CareOS is here to make your playboy billionaire philanthropist dreams come true.
News: Nreal Banks $15 Million in Funding to Produce Fashionable Smartglasses with Plane Detection & Object Recognition
The emerging narrative as CES begins is that consumer-grade smartglasses require a heavy compromise in functionality in order to arrive at a form factor and price point that appeal to mainstream customers.
News: ThirdEye Shrinks Its Smartglasses Package with Next-Generation X2 Model
Augmented reality wearables maker ThirdEye Gen, Inc. has officially released what it claims are the "smallest mixed reality glasses" in the X2, which will be available for hands-on demonstrations at the company's CES 2019 booth this week.
News: DigiLens Vision of Cheaper Smartglasses Becomes Clearer with Crystal Reference Design
If waveguide display maker DigiLens has its way, enterprise businesses and consumers will soon be able to purchase smartglasses for less than $500 — as long as they can supply their own computing and battery power.
News: Rokid Glass Gets Major Hardware Update, Unveils Project Aurora Prototype, & Reveals Launch Schedule
Returning to the spotlight after its debut at last year's CES, augmented reality smartglasses maker Rokid is back with a new update.
News: Nissan Augmented Reality Concept Assists Drivers in Detecting Unseen Obstacles
While the technology companies continue to drive forward with autonomous vehicles, Nissan's vision of the future of self-driving automobiles lies in a cooperative experience between human and machine, facilitated by augmented reality.
Market Reality: Google Takes on Leap Motion, Snap Spectacles Invade NYC, & Vuzix Starts Selling Mainstream Smartglasses
All of the the tech industry giants, including Apple, Facebook, and Google, are working on new smartglasses and/or AR headsets, but this week, Google took a major step forward with gesture recognition technology that could make its way into AR wearables, posing a threat to Leap Motion and its hand-tracking controllers.
News: DigiLens Previews Smartglasses with Its Waveguide Displays in New Video on Design & Manufacturing Approach
Designing and manufacturing waveguides for smartglasses is a complex process, but DigiLens wants us to know that they have a software solution that partially solves that problem.
News: Keanu Reeves Does AR Kung Fu in New Sci-Fi Film That Uses HoloLens-Style Device to Make Humans Immortal
Occasionally, a not-so-great movie also does something so right that you have to forgive some of its sins and give it a little love. Such is the case with the latest film from Keanu Reeves, Replicas, which takes a HoloLens-style device and gives us a look at how future research labs might use that kind of augmented reality device, sort of.
News: 'David Bowie Is' App Delivers a Mesmerizing AR Tour of the Artist's Career with Gary Oldman as Guide
Although next week will mark the late David Bowie's 72nd birthday, his fans and admirers are the ones receiving a gift in the form of an augmented reality app that explores the artist's career
News: DIY Portable Computer Makes Leap Motion Project North Star Headset Somewhat Mobile
While Leap Motion has given makers a DIY solution for building their own augmented reality headset with Project North Star, a self-described "AR wonk" has taken the blueprints one step further by creating an untethered version.
Hands-On: Snap's Non-Creepy, Fashionable Spectacles Wearable Camera Proves We're Ready for Mainstream AR Smartglasses
The year 2018 was a rough one for Snap, the company behind the Snapchat app and the Spectacles wearable camera device. From executive departures to reports of slowed user growth, the company that once spurned Facebook's multibillion-dollar advances is now facing a moment of truth as it stares down its uncertain future.
News: Google Challenges Leap Motion with FCC Approval of Gesture Recognition Alternative
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has cleared a path for Google to move forward with hand-tracking technology that could pose a major threat to Leap Motion.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Dominated Investment & Innovation in 2018, While New York Times Maintains Its AR Media Lead
The augmented reality industry has a bright future built on innovation and growth, but that doesn't mean we can't look back at the close of the year to see what the industry has accomplished from a business perspective.
News: The 10 Biggest AR Investments of 2018
Last year's augmented reality investments roundup was impressive. And in 2018, the dollars flowing toward AR haven't decreased, as venture capitalists and strategic investors continue to aggressively fund AR startups at a rapid pace.
News: University of Washington Researchers Demo Ability to Generate 3D Augmented Reality Content from 2D Images
After joining Google and Huawei in underwriting the UW Reality Lab at the University of Washington in January, it appears Facebook is already seeing a return on its donation.
News: Vuzix Blade Smartglasses Will Tell if Weather Outside Is Frightful with AccuWeather App
A year after making a splash at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Amazon Alexa integration, smartglasses maker Vuzix is bringing a notable weather app to its Blade smartglasses for the 2019 edition of the conference.
News: Meta's Optical Expert Delivers AR Reality Check via TED Talk, & Takes a Few Veiled Swipes at Magic Leap
Publicly, things have been pretty quiet over at Meta, the augmented reality headset and software startup based in Silicon Valley. But that doesn't mean that the company doesn't have a few strong opinions about the state of AR in 2018.
News: Snapchat's New Augmented Reality Trick Is Literally for the Dogs, Lets You Turn Your Pet into a Nerd or Reindeer
First, there was SnapCat. Now, we have DogChat! Or SnapBark? In October, Snapchat took social media by storm with its Lenses for cats. But the latest addition to the camera app has given dog lovers an augmented reality Christmas gift they won't want to return.
News: New York Times App Lets You See a Higgs Particle Reaction from the Large Hadron Collider in Augmented Reality
Although it's impossible (at least for now) to travel back in time to see the Big Bang, The New York Times has provided its readers the closest simulation of the experience via its latest augmented reality feature.
News: Magic Leap & AT&T Team Up to Bring Fans 'Fantastic Beasts' AR Movie Experience in Chicago
Despite less than glowing reviews from critics, the latest installment from the Harry Potter spinoff movie series, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, is winning at the box office.
Market Reality: Magic Leap Prescription Lenses Arrive, Niantic Challenges Devs with Real World, & Blippar Goes Under
Mixed reviews of Magic Leap One aside, it would be hard to deny that Magic Leap has had a big year. And the AR unicorn isn't coasting to the finish line, with a number of new apps dropping and prescription frames finally arriving to bring relief to those who wear eyeglasses.
News: The 5 Most Innovative Augmented Reality Products of 2018
In 2018, augmented reality went from the vague promise of interesting things in the near future to tangible developments in software and hardware, proving that immersive computing is indeed the future.
News: Snapchat Virtually Restores London's Big Ben with Holiday-Themed, Location-Based AR Lens
The city of London is getting a holiday gift this season, but it's not the kind you unwrap, since it's completely delivered in augmented reality.
News: Niantic Offers $1 Million in Rewards for Games Built on Its Real World Platform
Location-based gaming pioneer Niantic has been preparing its flavor of AR cloud, the Niantic Real World Platform, to bring more realistic and interactive augmented reality experiences to mobile apps. And now the company is looking for a few good developers to help execute its vision on the platform.
News: Snapchat Lens Brings Bumblebee Transformer into Your Home & Baidu's Facemoji Keyboard Lets You Become the Robot
Fan favorite Transformer Bumblebee returns to theaters on Friday in a spin-off of the film franchise, so Paramount Pictures is bringing the car-robot back into the homes of fans via augmented reality.
News: Leap Motion's New Experimental Tools Give Developers Access to Camera Data & Unlock Multiple Device Support
After weathering an executive departure and reports of a failed sale to Apple, Leap Motion is getting back to the business of pushing the envelope for augmented reality development and interaction.
News: One of the Best Android File Managers Is Finally on the Play Store
When we reviewed the best file managers on Android, MiXplorer easily topped our list with its abundance of features, including tabbed browsing, support for up to 19 different cloud services, file and folder encryption, and much more. The only major complaint we had was the fact it couldn't be installed from the Play Store, but now, that is no longer the case.
News: Magic Leap Updates Lumin OS with Enhancements for Helio Browser, Avatar Chat, & More
Nearly a year to the day after the unveiling Magic Leap One, Magic Leap has dropped another update to the Lumin OS that runs the device.
News: Meta's New Enterprise User Video Shows Signs of Life at Cash-Strapped Augmented Reality Headset Maker
Despite funding difficulties that forced Meta to place employees on temporary leave in September, the augmented reality headset maker is reminding enterprise companies that it remains a viable option for visualizing and working with 3D design models.
News: FramesDirect Finally Delivers Prescription Lens Inserts for Magic Leap One Users
In the last few weeks, the Magic Leap ecosystem has ramped up activity with a number of new releases debuting just before the close of the year.
News: Funomena's Interactive 'Luna' Sequel Sprouts in Augmented Reality for Magic Leap One
Magic Leap continues to launch new AR apps on its fledging app store before the door closes on 2018, and this time the app is a sequel from a veteran VR developer and early Magic Leap development partner.
News: Blippar's Mobile AR Business Collapses After Funding Falls Through
Mobile augmented reality pioneer Blippar has now completed its fall from hopeful AR startup to the immersive computing history books.
News: Epson & DJI Drones Give California Firefighters a Smartglasses Assist During Deadly California Wildfires
The wildfires that spread across Northern California for two weeks in November were among the deadliest and most destructive in the state's history. Ultimately, the incident claimed 85 lives, and hundreds of people are still missing in the wake of the disaster, which impacted over 154,000 acres of land.
News: Lowe's Unleashes Its Magic Leap One App in Time for the Holiday Shopping Season
On Monday, with just days left before Christmas, Lowe's dropped a surprise augmented reality treat in everyone's lap: a brand new Magic Leap One app.
News: Smartglasses Maker North Picks Up Intel's Vaunt Patents
When wearables startup North officially unveiled its Focals smartglasses in October, the stylish frames strongly resembled, in form and function, Intel's canceled Vaunt smartglasses.
Market Reality: Niantic & WaveOptics Locate More Funding for AR, Cheddar Spreads to Magic Leap, & Tesla Files AR Patent
Investors continue to bet on augmented reality, both for short-term returns and long-term plays. This week, Niantic reportedly picked up another round of funding from Samsung and others, based on the success of PokémonGO and the prospects for future revenue. Likewise, investors see value in WaveOptics, whose waveguide displays could make consumer smaller AR smartglasses possible within the next year.
News: Pokémon GO Maker Niantic Catches $200 Million in Funding from Samsung & Others, Report Says
Although Niantic is already an augmented reality startup unicorn thanks to the success of Pokémon GO, the company has reportedly captured yet another round of funding.
News: Latest Version of Unity Lays Foundation for Project MARS Augmented Reality Development Tool in 2019
While Unity is already the leading 3D engine for augmented reality content in terms of volume, the announcement of Project MARS, a new augmented reality authoring tool, at Unite Berlin in June promised to expand AR development to a whole new audience of designers and other non-coders this fall.
News: Niantic Picks an AR Fight with Pokémon GO Players via Trainer Battles Rollout
Augmented reality gaming company Niantic Labs is now instigating conflicts between Pokémon GO players, but it's not as bad as it sounds.