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News: Lego Transforms Statues into AR Creatures at Legoland Windsor Theme Park via Mobile App

Few brands have been more enthusiastic about augmented reality than Lego, which has now expanded its AR experiences from toys to theme parks.

AR Snapshots: Celebrate Pride Month with These Snapchat Augmented Reality Lenses

June is Pride Month, an annual celebration of LGBTQ+ communities in commemoration of the Stonewall uprising of 1969.

Market Reality: Snap Spectacles Early Prototype, Volkswagen Drives into AR, Inside Lego Snapchat, & Instagram Updates AR

We're still basking in the afterglow of the HUGE Snap Partner Summit last week, where Snap made Snapchat a much stronger augmented reality platform while also unveiling the AR smartglasses version of Spectacles. This week, we got a peek at how Spectacles AR started and got our hands on Lenses from Lego and Disney featured during the keynote.

News: Facebook Upgrades Spark AR Platform for Instagram with Segmentation & Marker Tracking Capabilities

Ever since Snapchat rebuffed its acquisition attempts, Facebook has morphed Instagram with features from Snapchat, such as stories, chat, and, of course, augmented reality.

News: Hands-On with the Lego Snapchat Augmented Reality Experience That Lets You Build With Friends Remotely

The world of Lego is timeless primarily because everyone, regardless of age or background, can build a wide variety of amazing things with the simple component blocks from the classic toymaker.

News: Volkswagen Offshoot Cupra Born Electric Vehicle Debuts with Impressive AR Features

The electric vehicle space is where a lot of the most cutting-edge technology is used to push vehicles forward (the best example being Tesla).

News: Snap Team Member Reveals Early Prototype of AR Spectacles, Plus Here's Another Way to Get Your Own Pair

When Snap CEO Evan Spiegel pulled off the surprise debut of the augmented reality version of Spectacles last week, it was one of the biggest moments in the company's history.

News: This Is How You Can Access Disney World's Limited-Time Mickey & Minnie Mouse AR Selfie Lens on Snapchat

Last week, Snap powered through a mountain of important software and (shock!) hardware updates, as well as a few very big business partnerships.

Market Reality: Google Goes Holographic, Snap AR Smartglasses Launch, Facebook Exec Departs, Epic Games vs. Nreal Pt. 2

Google and Snap held their annual conferences this week, and both companies managed to upstage their new AR software features with fantastic new AR hardware.

News: How to Get a Pair of Snap's New Spectacles AR Smartglasses

The tech world was taken by surprise this week with the unexpected unveiling of Snap's augmented reality Spectacles smartglasses.

News: Snap Acquires Wave Guide Maker WaveOptics for $500 Million

The big day for Snap that resulted in the debut of brand new augmented reality Spectacles smartglasses is turning into a big week.

News: Snap Spectacles Finally Evolve into Full AR Smartglasses with Standalone Immersive Superpowers

The biggest win in the race for consumer augmented reality smartglasses to date belongs not to Apple, Facebook, or Google, but Snapchat's parent company, Snap.

News: Snap Now Lets You Build Lego in AR Remotely with Others, Reveals AR Tie-Up with Disney, Plus AR Business Tools

The surging activity in augmented reality in both the business and consumer sectors is being matched with a wealth of updates and partnerships from Snap Inc.

News: Snap Releases Lens Studio 4.0 with 3D Body Mesh & More, Upgrades Scan as Fashion Assistant

Throughout Thursday's virtual Snap Partner Summit, Snapchat's parent company made a profound statement: If you use Snapchat, you're a creator.

News: Google Adds Raw Depth API to Improve Spatial Awareness & Depth Data for Android AR Apps

For most mainstream users, LiDAR sensors for precision depth sensing remain the exclusive domain of Apple iPhones and iPads, but Google is helping Android device makers close the depth gap on the software side via its ARCore toolkit.

AR Snapshots: These Snapchat AR Lenses Let You Use Your Entire Body to Create Visual Masterpieces

Snapchat's first foray into augmented reality started with the selfie camera and face-tracking technology, with the app's AR capabilities expanding from there.

News: Google's Project Starline Promises 3D Video Conferencing Like We've Never Seen Before

During the Tuesday launch of Google I/O, the company's CEO, Sundar Pichai, pulled off a Steve Jobsian "one more thing" move near the end of his keynote address that was simply stunning.

News: Google Adds Sports Athletes to AR Search, Includes Virtual Street Signs in Live View AR in Google Maps

Since bringing augmented reality features to Search and Maps, Google has made them arguably the most useful augmented reality products in its portfolio.

News: DigiLens Forges Reference Design for Smartglasses with 50 Degree Field of View

In the great smartglasses race, component makers, such as those that supply the crucial waveguide displays that make visualization of virtual content possible, have a vested interest in pushing the industry forward in order to ship units.

News: Facebook Reality Labs VP Hugo Barra Abruptly Heads for the Exit

Facebook Reality Labs just experienced its first major executive exit since the pandemic began. Hugo Barra has announced that he's stepping down from his position as vice president of VR at Facebook.

News: Google Offers Virtual Photo Booth Web App Ahead of Socially Distanced I/O Conference

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing signs of winding down, nevertheless, Google will still hold its annual I/O developer conference as a virtual affair, with keynotes and sessions available as live streams and on-demand videos starting Tuesday, May 18 and concluding on Thursday, May 20.

News: Epic Games Restarts Lawsuit vs. Nreal as Settlement Talks Collapse

One fight for augmented reality branding that we thought had been settled has suddenly turned into a full-fledged legal battle—again.

Market Reality: Microsoft's Consumer Smartglasses, Apple Invests in Corning & Niantic Launches Lightship Beta

Sure, Microsoft has mostly marketed its HoloLens headsets towards enterprises and developers, but we learned this week that, like every other tech giant, the company is working on a consumer-grade AR wearable. Speaking of consumer smartglasses, Apple made another strategic investment this week that has implications for Apple's AR future.

News: Microsoft Brings Chromium-Based Edge Browser, Swipe to Type & More to HoloLens via Windows Holographic Update

Since its launch two years ago, the HoloLens 2 has been the best AR headset available, and nothing has come close to touching it since.

News: Microsoft's Alex Kipman Confirms HoloLens Consumer AR Smartglasses Being Developed & Describes How It Can Happen

The story of the HoloLens has been a mix of work and play. But while many developers have devoted time to creating gaming and entertainment apps for the HoloLens 1, with the HoloLens 2, Microsoft has been encouraging everyone to focus more on the enterprise side of things.

News: Microsoft Mixed Reality Developer Shows Off the Full Power of Hand Tracking & Occlusion via the HoloLens 2

The experience of actually using the HoloLens 2 can be difficult to describe to anyone who hasn't had a chance to directly interact with the device in person and be blown away by its immersive capabilities.

News: NBCUniversal Teases Augmented Reality-Powered Shopping via TV

Consumers who haven't already delved into the interactive wonders of augmented reality are about to be pushed into the immersive waters by market forces.

News: The History of Europe Gets Immersive via HoloLens 2 Experience at St. Peter's Church in Belgium

In recent years, the tech innovation space has been dominated by the US and Asia, with Europe weighing in, but still being mostly lauded for its art history and architecture.

News: Niantic Opens Private Beta for AR Cloud Platform Now Called Lightship

Niantic first unveiled its AR cloud back in 2018, using it to enhance the immersive capabilities of its gaming portfolio.

News: Rovio Reinvents Angry Birds as Web-Based AR Tower Defense Game for Burger King Campaign

Angry Birds, one of the first franchises to find success in mobile gaming, continues to shoot its shot at new life in augmented reality gaming.

News: Apple $45 Million Corning Investment Shores Up iPhone Display Supply, Opens Up Investment AR Innovation

After awarding $410 million to the company that supplies it with VCSELs and LiDAR sensors, Apple has made another strategic investment into a company that may contribute to future augmented reality hardware innovations.

Market Reality: Apple Funds AR, Campfire Headset Plans Revealed, Marvel Adds AR to NBA, & Star Wars Day Snapchat Lenses

Apple has a sterling reputation when it comes to managing its supply chain; it's where CEO Tim Cook proved his mettle to succeed Steve Jobs. Now, the company has made a strategic investment with a supplier that will be crucial to its future plans for AR wearables.

News: Campfire CEO Jay Wright on How He Plans to Use AR to Transform How We Work & Collaborate

The mission to rise above the fray to become a leading player in the augmented reality business is a moving target that depends on innovation, resources, and timing.

News: Transform Your Friend into an AR Musical Synthesizer via This HoloLens 2 NFT App

One of the oldest electronic musical instruments is the theremin, a synthesizer that generates sound based on hand gestures, as featured in the classic "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys.

News: Japan-Based Developer Unleashes Giant AR Gundam Robot on the Public via HoloLens 2

The future of the HoloLens 2, according to Microsoft, is all about enterprise use cases. But that doesn't mean some of the more creative-minded HoloLens developers won't bend the top-tier augmented reality device to their own designs. The latest example of this trend comes from Japan.