Gadget Hacks News
News: Former Google Augmented Reality Engineering Lead Takes Over Facebook's Portal Hardware Team
It looks like Facebook really likes Google's augmented reality leadership talent, as the social media giant has hired away another employee from the AR and VR team at Mountain View to lead its team for a product that brings Facebook's AR platform into homes.
News: AR Cloud Startup Ubiquity6 Turns Up Volume on Audio AR Through Acquisition of Wavy
Among a crowded field of AR cloud companies aiming to power the future of augmented reality by creating a world of persistent holographic content that lives in a cloud, accessible across devices and accounts, Ubiquity6 is hoping it has found a way to differentiate its platform.
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.
News: Pokémon GO Developer Niantic Scores $245 Million in Funding to Fast-Track Real World Platform
With Pokémon GO as its cash cow and the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Niantic Real World Platform promising future revenue streams, Niantic has convinced investors to bet on its flavor of augmented reality
News: Snap CFO Resigns After Just Seven Months on the Job
In the business world, it's sometimes said that "where there's smoke, there's fire." At Snapchat parent company Snap, Inc., it appears the equivalent of smoke is executive turnover.
News: Instagram Goes Retro with Augmented Reality Tribute to Classic Windows Desktop
Just because augmented reality is the technology of the future doesn't mean it can't reach into the past of computing.
News: Arvizio Cross-Platform AR Tool Lets HoloLens & Magic Leap One Users View 3D Models Together
We are in the midst of a mini-boom for communications tools designed for augmented reality headsets, with the introduction of Avatar Chat and Mimesys for Magic Leap One and Spatial for the HoloLens within the last few months.
News: The Pixel 3a XL Is Shaping Up to Be the Best Google Phone This Year
Unlike past Pixel releases, it appears Google isn't done with their current lineup. Rumors have it that Google plans to put out two new phones that act as budget variants for their existing devices. And based on the leaks, it looks like one of these variants might be better than its non-budget counterpart.
News: Google Fi Finally Added Support for RCS Messaging
Despite being at the helms of the RCS push, Google Fi has yet to support the new messaging protocol. It would've made too much sense if the Google-created MVNO was one of the first to support the feature Google's been pushing on other OEMs and carriers for years, but alas, they haven't. Well, better late than never — Google has finally announced support for RCS Universal Profile on Fi.
News: Apple's iOS 12.1.3 Public Beta 4 Available for iPhone
Public software testers can now run the fourth iOS 12.1.3 beta. Apple seeded this update to testers on Thursday, Jan. 10. Just like with beta 3, public beta 4 includes two resolved issues — a VoiceOver fix for ECG and Irregular Heart Rate notifications, as well as audio improvements for iPad Pros.
News: Apple's iOS 12.1.3 Developer Beta 4 Available for iPhones
Apple released iOS 12.1.3 beta 4 to software developers on Thursday, Jan. 10, just three days after beta 3 came out. Public beta testers also received the update. In general, iOS 12.1.3 fixes a VoiceOver issue with ECG and Irregular Heart Rate notifications, as well as a fix in audio quality on the latest iPad Pro models.
Market Reality: Meta Claims Insolvency, ODG Ends in Fire Sale, New Smartglasses Flood CES 2019
The week of the annual Consumer Electronics Show is supposed to be filled with good news for the augmented reality industry as AR headset and smartglasses makers show off their new wares.
Exclusive: Judge in Meta Patent Lawsuit Sets Deadline for Default Judgment, Meta's Founder Moves to Save Startup
The saga of augmented reality startup Meta appeared to be at end, but there are new developments unfolding in real time that may either sink Meta deeper into trouble, or provide a tenuous lifeline for the beleaguered augmented reality company.
Exclusive: Layar Founders Hope to Buy Back Company in Blippar Asset Sale
After entering the UK's version of bankruptcy last month, Blippar's assets are up for sale, and bidding ended today.
News: ODG Patents Headed to Auction Block After Failed Magic Leap Acquisition Deal, Report Says
Despite the hype and potential of immersive computing, the augmented reality industry is showing that it is not invincible, as another AR hardware maker, this time Osterhout Design Group (ODG), is reportedly going out of business.
News: RealMax Returns to CES with Production Model of Qian AR Headset with Industry-Leading Field of View
Last year at CES, RealMax blew away the AR headset competition with a prototype AR headset surpassing 100 degrees field of view.
News: Mimesys Brings Its Version of Augmented Reality Video Calling to Magic Leap via Intel RealSense
The release of Avatar Chat for Magic Leap One and Spatial for HoloLens during the fourth quarter of 2018 appeared to revolutionize video calling via augmented reality.
Exclusive: AR Startup Meta Company Shuts Down Amid Asset Foreclosure Sale, Patent Fight, & Executive Departures
The last time we heard from Meta, the makers of the Meta 2 augmented reality headset, things looked pretty bleak. Now, as several new facts have come to light, we have confirmation regarding the beleaguered company's fate: Meta is done.
News: AT&T Expands Partnership with Magic Leap to Focus on Enterprise AR, Promises Nationwide 5G by 2020
With CES in full swing, it seemed like Magic Leap would have little to announce at the major tech event, but it turns out that one of its partners has weighed in with a rather substantial update regarding the company.
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: Apple Released iOS 12.1.3 Public Beta 3 for iPhones — See What's New
Apple released the iOS 12.1.3 developer beta on Monday, Jan. 7, and the iOS 12.1.3 public beta followed shortly behind. Apple has been pretty on point with its public beta releases for iPhone, always releasing the same day as the dev version unless it's the very start of a beta build (i.e., iOS 12.1.3 beta 1), in which case they come out a day later.
News: Apple Released iOS 12.1.3 Developer Beta 3 — See What's New
Attention all iOS software developers — Apple just released iOS 12.1.3 beta 3 today, Monday, Jan. 7. This is the first update in quite some time for beta testers, as Apple released 12.1.3 beta 2 nearly three weeks ago. While we don't expect beta 3 to offer users a monumental upgrade to iOS, it's still an important update nonetheless.
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: All the Phones That Work on T-Mobile's 600 MHz Band 71 Network
To combat their poor coverage in rural areas, T-Mobile spent nearly $8 billion on 600 MHz spectrum in 2017, which was converted to LTE Band 71. With such a low frequency, the signal can travel further, providing LTE speeds to more Americans. But your phone also has to support this frequency, and so far, only a handful do.
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.