Gadget Hacks News — Page 3 of 129

News: DigiLens Looks to Plastic Waveguides as Alternative to Glass for AR Smartglasses Displays

When it comes to the future of AR smartglasses, DigiLens has one word for you. Just one word. Are you listening? Plastics.

News: Asics Brings Its Sneaker Magic to the 3D World via NFT Auction

Some tried to call it a brief cryptocurrency-fueled fad, but it looks like NFTs are here to stay. Now, one of the biggest sneaker companies on the planet, Japan's Asics, is getting into the game with its own set of NFTs, and there's a virtual object component included.

News: Create Your Own Holograms at Home with the Volu iPhone App

With the release of Object Capture this fall, Apple is giving everyone with a Mac and a camera the means to create their own 3D objects.

News: Apple Seeds iOS 14.7 RC with Support for MagSafe Battery Pack

Apple released the iOS 14.7 RC (release candidate) today, Tuesday, July 13. The new update — and likely official 14.7 release — includes support for Apple's new MagSafe Battery Pack, adds two Apple Card Family options to combine credit limits and share one co-owned account, among other new features and changes.

News: Rokid's New Smartglasses Mirror Content from Smartphones, Desktops, & Consoles to Virtual Screens

After receiving $100 million in funding in 2018, smartglasses maker Rokid is going the crowdfunding route to finance its latest product.

News: Camera IQ Gives Cosmetics Brands the Power to Push Virtual Try-on Effects to Snapchat, Facebook, & Instagram

Cosmetics brands have a long love affair with augmented reality, embracing virtual try-on effects as a means to help sell eyeliner, hair color, lipstick, and the like.

News: Virgin Galactic App Uses Augmented Reality to Let You Sample Space Tourism with Richard Branson

Billionaire Richard Branson did his part to advance space tourism this weekend by beating Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) to become the first among them to travel into space.

Market Reality: Facebook & Harry Potter AR, MLB AR App, Doritos AR Ads, NFT Holographic Future, & Google Meet AR Filters

Brands are increasingly adopting augmented reality to promote their products and services, and they have multiple paths for bringing AR experience to their audiences.

News: How to Watch Japan's Viral 3D Cat Live, and How It All Started in China & South Korea

The most viral internet cat of the moment is a virtual kitty trapped in a billboard in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, Japan.

News: MLB Now Lets Fans Experience Home Run Derby in Augmented Reality via New App

The 2021 season of Major League Baseball (MLB) is in full swing, and now that vaccines are widespread in the US, major baseball stadiums are allowing fans back in at full capacity.

News: Apple Releases iOS 14.7 Beta 5 to Developers & Public Testers

Apple released the fifth iOS 14.7 betas to developers and public testers today, Thursday, July 8. The update appears to be minor, adding new splash screens when opening Reminders and Podcasts for the first time.

News: Google Launches Augmented Reality Filters on Meet App for Mobile

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google has packed new functionality into Google Meet to compete with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other video conferencing platforms.

News: Beeple's NFT Startup Wenew Could Pave Way for Holographic Displays as Archival Asset

Digital artist Beeple's $69 million NFT art auction at Christie's has a second act called Wenew, and includes attempting to open the digital art floodgates to mainstream collectors and artists alike by using physical goods.

News: Facebook Puts a Spell on Portal Devices & Mobile Apps with Harry Potter AR Experience

Augmented reality technology is often likened to magic powers, so it is fitting that a new AR experience featuring the Harry Potter franchise uses the newest AR tricks from Facebook and its Spark AR platform.

Market Reality: Ubiquity6 Acquired, JigSpace Funded, Snapchat in the Viber App, & US Army HoloLens Testing

The close of the second quarter of 2021 brought about a flurry of merger and acquisition and financing activity in the augmented reality industry, headlined by the acquisition of Ubiquity6 and JigSpace's new multimillion-dollar funding round.

News: PepsiCo's Doritos Used to Push for Return to Live Concerts with Augmented Reality Experience

With fears over the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding, live concerts are returning. And Doritos wants to send music fans to a few of them via an augmented reality promotion.

News: New US Army Military-Grade HoloLens 2 Imagery Gives Us Star Wars Stormtrooper Vibes

It's all fun and games until the technology is actually put into use and you realize augmented reality is now part of Death Star.

AR Snapshots: Fire Off These Snapchat AR Lenses Instead of Fireworks for the Fourth of July

The Fourth of July, the celebration of US independence, as well as the second paid holiday of the summer, has arrived.

News: JigSpace Puts Together $4.7 Million in Funding to Expand AR Tutorial Technology

The startup JigSpace, which was among the first apps to support ARKit and LiDAR for iPhone augmented reality apps, has capitalized on its early mover status by innovating within the space.

News: Snapchat Extends Its AR Lenses to Viber Messaging App

Yo dawg, Snap heard you using Snapchat augmented reality Lenses in your messages, so it's putting its AR Lenses in other messaging apps.

Opinion: Cash App & Megan Thee Stallion — Making Smartglasses Cool Again Starts Here, with the Culture

No, Jack Dorsey's Cash app isn't about to launch an augmented reality device (er, I don't think...), but its latest outing is about as close as we've come to full confirmation that the wearable AR age is upon us.

News: Apple Releases iOS 14.7 Beta 4, Fixes Battery Health Issue on iPhone 11 Line

Apple released the fourth beta for iOS 14.7 today, Tuesday, June 29. The update comes 15 days after iOS 14.7 beta 3, and restores battery service messages that may have disappeared after reboot on some iPhone 11 models.

News: AR Cloud Startup Ubiquity6 Gobbled Up by Discord

The herd of augmented reality cloud startups that emerged in 2018 have been hunted to near extinction, with Google-backed Ubiquity6 the latest to move from an independent entity to a wholly-owned asset.

Market Reality: Apple & Samsung Partner with Snap, HoloLens 2 at the Museum, & Inside the Varjo Reality Cloud

While Snap may eventually compete with Apple and Samsung in selling smartglasses to consumers, today it is helping them achieve their business objectives via augmented reality.

News: Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson Talks Remote AR Meetings Ahead of Magic Leap 2 Release

The Paris-based technology conference Viva Technology, which hosted the likes of Apple's Tim Cook and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, is now over.

News: Apple Releases iOS 15 Beta 2 for Developers, Includes 'SharePlay' Feature for Sharing Music & Videos on FaceTime

Apple released the second beta for iOS 15 on Thursday, June 24. The update includes FaceTime's "SharePlay" feature for the first time, a new Maps icon, updates to Focus mode, in addition to many other changes and bug fixes.

News: Snap Teams with Universal Music Group to Further Mainstream Its AR Platforms

The march of Snap to become the world's augmented reality engine isn't slowing down. In a new deal announced on Thursday, Snap has revealed that it has signed an agreement to become the software driving Universal Music Group's (UMG) mobile AR music offerings.

News: Varjo Reality Cloud Makes Virtual Teleportation Possible with XR-3 Headset & Its LiDAR Sensor

While Apple was one of the first to integrate LiDAR into mobile devices for depth sensing, headset maker Varjo has developed a truly remarkable feat with its implementation of the sensor.

News: Microsoft HoloLens 2 Brings Extinct Animals Back to Life at Paris National Museum

We already know that the US Army will be using its modified HoloLens 2 for special missions, and major businesses are deploying the augmented reality device for enterprise use cases.

News: Apple & Snapchat Use AR to Let You Travel on the New York Subway System via Apple Pay

Many years ago, when I first traveled to Tokyo, Japan, I was amazed by the contactless IC card turnstiles embedded in the county's subway system.

News: You Can Now Try-On & Test Samsung Galaxy Smartwatches in AR via Snapchat

Now that Snapchat has extended its virtual try-on powers from the face and feet to the wrist, Samsung is leveraging the new capability, along with an interactive twist, to sell its smartwatches.

News: Snap Spectacles Get a New App for Hands-Free Drawing in AR

If you thought Snap's Spectacles were limited to a couple of demos, you haven't been paying attention.

News: Nissan Launches 3D Car Experience on the Streets of London

The recent release of the Looking Glass Portrait has gotten the public excited about personal displays that simulate 3D visuals, but in the public display marketing space, this is an area that has already received a lot of attention.

Market Reality: Apple & Facebook Spill AR Details, Niantic's AR Transformers, Looking Glass Unboxed, & Snap's Viral Lens

The makers of arguably the two most important mobile AR apps, Niantic and Snap, both had good news this week, with the former preparing to replicate its success with Pokémon GO for another franchise and the latter notching another popular augmented reality Lens for Snapchat.