Gadget Hacks Features
News: Snapchat Gives Users the Ultimate Selfie Filter with Time Machine Aging AR Lens
After achieving viral and financial success with its Gender Swap and Baby Face camera filters, Snapchat has returned with the augmented reality equivalent of Benjamin Button.
How To: Beat all 21 levels of the iPad game Bubble Ball
The first few levels are quite easy, but they get more challenging as the game progresses. This video is a complete walkthrough for all 21 levels of the new iPad/iPod game Bubble Ball. Direct your ball to the checkered flag in each level.
How To: Beat Angry Birds level 3-8 with three stars
This is a straight up green pig castle. Your Angry Birds must be well-paced to take this thing down. Fortunately, this video will show you just where to but your birds to beat level 3-8 of Angry Birds for an iPhone or Android phone.
News: NY Times Brings Readers Closer to Bowie's Freaky Costumes in Augmented Reality
Continuing with its new paradigm of using augmented reality to cover the news, The New York Times has published a feature story that takes a peek into the late David Bowie's eclectic wardrobe of on-stage outfits.
How To: Jailbreak and unlock the iPhone 2g and 3g
This video shows you how to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone 2G as well as jailbreaking the iPod 1st and 2nd generation with the 3.1.3 firmware.
News: McDonald's Is Making Happy Meal Boxes That Transform into VR Headsets
Another day, another company hopping on the virtual reality bandwagon. Today, it's fast food behemoth McDonald's, which is testing limited edition Happy Meal boxes that you can turn into a VR headset by punching out a couple holes and tearing along a few perforated seams. The resulting headset is a lot like Google Cardboard, with the lingering scent of fry grease.
News: New Apps Let You Sign into Bank of America, Chase, & State Farm with Your Fingerprint
Applications are finally beginning to make use of Android 6.0's fingerprint authentication, letting users access sensitive information without having to enter (or unsafely store) complicated passwords on their phones.
How To: Use the WeeMee Avatar Maker app on a Motorola Citrus cell phone
This brief, unofficial guide from the folks at Wireless Zone will teach you how to create a custom avatar using the WeeMee Avatar Maker app on your Motorola Citrus smartphone. For all of the details, and to learn how to make a custom avatar on your own Motorola Citrus Google Android smartphone, take a look.
News: Looking Glass Portrait — Unboxing the First Mainstream Holographic Display
Not all Kickstarters are created equal. Some take forever to get their products to supporters, and when the product does arrive (usually much later than promised) it's often very rough around the edges.
News: Mobile Developer Within Tells Interactive Halloween Tales via Wonderscope AR App
The Halloween season is the perfect time for telling scary stories, but augmented reality is here to bring the tradition of frightening children to the modern age.
News: Google Signals Smartglasses Ramp Up via Job Postings for Waveguides & Other AR Disciplines
For better or for worse, Google started the race towards smartglasses for everyday use with Google Glass before scrapping the Explorer Edition and pivoting towards enterprise customers.
News: Young Developers Are the Future of AR — This 11-Year-Old Has Already Created 2 AR Apps
While most kids his age are busy playing Fortnite, 11-year-old Yumo Soerianto is developing augmented reality games. Kids like Soerianto are the future of the augmented reality field — they'll likely be coming into their own as professional developers right as AR technologies become lightweight and powerful enough to be contained in a pair of sunglasses.
Have You Seen This?: The New & Improved Windows Mixed Reality Portal
For those of us on the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program — Microsoft's continual beta program for the Windows operating system — the constant updates can be a bit of a pain. But there is a trade-off. We get to try the new features long before they come out to the public. So if you like to see the new shinies before everyone else, and don't mind the sometimes two or three major updates in a week, then this is definitely the option for you.
News: Japan's Thomas Edison Sets Patent Guinness Record (Including Super Viagra)
Talk about yankee ingenuity... zany Japanese inventor, Dr. Nakamats, has lead a life propelled by curiosity and inventiveness. Nakamats boasts that he has Thomas Edison beat by a mile (compare Edison's measly 1,093 patents to Nakamats' 3,357).
News: Microsoft Mobile World Congress Invite Hints at HoloLens 2 Release
The mystery surrounding the release of the next version of the HoloLens has been swirling for months, but at least some of that mystery may removed in the coming weeks.
How To: Everyone Should Buy a Gaming Phone — Not Just Fortnite Junkies
Last year, Razer kicked off a new trend by building a smartphone from the ground up with mobile gamers in mind. At the time, many thought the Razer Phone solved a problem that no one really had — but a year later, we're starting to see that gaming phones are perfect for more than just Fortnite players.
How To: Make lily pad pool warmers that run on solar power
Start with just a few hula hoops, and then get some polyethylene film and a small soldering iron. Fit the film to your hoops, then gently mod your soldering iron and make a few spot welds. Be careful not to melt anything! Make a few vent bubbles, and you now have a pool warmer!
News: Qualcomm Unveils Reference Design for AR Wearables Running on Snapdragon XR2
Following its dominance as a provider of silicon for smartphones, Qualcomm is eager to replicate that ubiquity with not only processors for augmented reality headsets but also reference designs to give device makers a head start.
News: Win $430K for Your HoloLens Concept App in the US Dept. of Education's EdSim Challenge
The US Department of Education has put together a competition called the EdSim Challenge with a $680,000 purse to facilitate next-gen education. The event calls upon augmented and virtual reality, as well as video game developers, to bring immersive simulation concepts to prepare the workforce of the future.
How To: Log into Your Favorite Websites Using Your Phone's Camera
With all of the different websites we use in our day-to-day lives, keeping track of our numerous login credentials can start to become a hassle. This has created a market for password managers that aim to centralize these account credentials and generally streamline the process of logging into our favorite sites.
How To: Prepare to solder gold cups using lead-free solder
In this soldering tip video brought to you by BEST, Inc. Norman Mier demonstrates the preparation of lead-free gold cup soldering.
News: Blippar Adds Landmark Recognition to Its Bag of AR Tricks
Mobile augmented reality developer Blippar's mission is to construct a computer vision map the world, with visual recognition of thousands of notable buildings, bridges, castles, holy places. A major step toward that goal has been taken by the company this month with the announcement of its landmark recognition API.
News: Solid Details on the Samsung Galaxy S5 Emerge as Its Release Date Approaches
With the Samsung Galaxy S5 all but assured to be showcased in a just a few weeks, we've got our hands on some fresh details of the upcoming flagship device.
CES 2015: The Swiss Army Knife of Sports Bottles Plays Music & Holds Your Phone, Cash, Keys, & More
If you're going exercising, either at the gym or outside, you're going to need a backpack, gym bag, or pockets to hold your water bottle, wallet, keys, smartphone, and anything else you've got on you.
News: Warby Parker Makes It Easier to Try on Eyeglasses at Home with AR Update to Glasses App for iPhone X Series
If there's one company that is a fan of the TrueDepth camera on Apple's iPhone X devices, it's the popular eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker.
How To: Check your internet speed without software
In this video you will learn how to check your internet speed without using any software. In order to do that just follow these simple and quick steps and instructions: The first thing that you need to do is to double-click on your Local Area Connection icon. A window will appear and you will see what your speed is on the right of it. The speed of your internet will be in Mbps. If you follow these easy and quick steps you will now how to check your internet speed without using any software or...
News: Oculus Quest Is the Best Way to Experience VR on the Go
At Next Reality we mostly focus on augmented reality, but that doesn't mean we're not also absolutely obsessed with virtual reality, too. If the thing that's been keeping you from diving into the deep end of VR has been clunky tethered headsets or the expensive but necessary gaming PCs, then it's time for you to try the Oculus Quest, which is currently available to buy here for less than most gaming systems on the market.
How To: Circuit bend a plastic toy
In this how-to video, you will learn how to perform basic circuit bending. You will need a screw driver, alligator clips, solder, a soldering iron, wires, a wire stripper, a button or switch, and a drill. Open up the device you want to circuit bend. Once the side of the board with the solder points is exposed, take your alligator clips and find two solder points that make an interesting noise. Be careful of areas where the battery is connected, as you might shock your self or destroy the devi...
News: AR Cloud Company 6D.Ai Seeks Developers for Closed Beta of SDK
Augmented reality startup 6D.ai is now accepting applicants for the closed beta of its 6D SDK. While operating in the background on a smartphone, the computer vision platform captures a dense 3D mesh in real time using just the device's camera (such a feat typically requires a depth sensor).
How To: Use the Google Mobile App for the iPhone to search better
Google has it fingers in just about every digital pie there is, including the App Store of their leading smartphone OS competitor, Apple. This video will show you how to use the Google Mobile App for the iPhone, a great app that allows you to do Google voice searches and all sorts of other handy search tasks. Apple is pretty sweet, but Apple and Google together is a huge mobile phone combo.
How To: Construct a "rumble mouse"
This video demonstrates a project taken from "Make" magazine. Viewers will learn how to modify an ordinary computer mouse with a vibration unit for use with PC games, similar to the rumble controllers sold for video-game consoles, to make gaming more fun.
How To: Take cool street photography using your iPhone camera
In this tutorial, learn all about how to make the most of your iPhone camera when on the street. Sometimes on vacations or trips, it is difficult (and dangerous depending where you are) to carry around a big, heavy camera all day. Did you know that you can take great photos with a pocket-sized iPhone? In this clip, Lisa will show you where to aim and how to set up your shots with an iPhone to get the best pictures possible. The best part about mobile picture taking? You can upload your images...
News: Apple Releases First iOS 12.1 Beta to Software Developers, Brings Back Group FaceTime
Apple released the first beta for iOS 12.1 on Tuesday, Sept. 18. The update comes just one day after the official release of iOS 12. For developers, it's the first beta release since the "gold master" version on Sept. 12.
News: Snapchat Has Made This App Explode
Bitmoji has experienced explosive success this year thanks to Snapchat. The app allows users to create their own personal emoji and send responses to other friends, and even though it's only two and a half years old, this customizable emoji app is growing at an impressive pace.
How To: Upload media to Facebook Fan Pages via mobile devices
There's always a faster and more efficient way of doing things when it comes to Facebook. And if you have a Facebook Fan Page (Like Page) for your website, it's easily done right from your mobile device. Learn this super quick tip to post updates, videos, and pictures right to your Fan Page via your mobile device. Super easy you can do it in seconds.
News: To Win This Obscure Star Trek Game on the HoloLens, Players Need to Control Their Stress Levels
When playing word association with Star Trek, the first thing to come to mind with regards to augmented reality is likely Holodeck, not The Game, an obscure episode from season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
News: Samsung & Microsoft Join Forces to Take on Apple with Combo AR & VR Headset
Mere weeks after rumors surfaced that Apple may be working on a headset capable of VR and augmented reality, it appears that Samsung is taking the same approach, but with an assist from Microsoft.
How To: Change Your Banner - YouTube One Channel Layout, 2013
A very easy video showing you how to change your banner!
News: Google Researchers Have Developed an Augmented Reality Microscope for Detecting Cancer
Augmented reality might not be able to cure cancer (yet), but when combined with a machine learning algorithm, it can help doctors diagnose the disease.
How To: Get Early Access to the Official OnePlus One Custom ROM
OnePlus changed the way we think about high-end phones. Their "Never Settle" motto led me to ditch my high-cost smartphone for their flagship One, which not only packs some pretty impressive hardware, but won't break the bank. Now that OnePlus has made a name for themselves with the One, they're trying their hands at ROMs, too.