Gadget Hacks News
News: iOS 11.4.1 Beta 5 Released for iPhones, Still Only Has 'Bug Fixes' & Unknown Improvements
Apple has been testing iOS 11.4.1 for just over a month now, and so far, there's nothing to show for it except unknown "bug fixes" and under-the-hood "improvements." And that still rings true with the release of iOS 11.4.1 beta 5 on Monday, July 2, which comes exactly one week after beta 4. Now the question is, when will the stable update be pushed out to everyone?
Market Reality: Google Pushes ARCore, Niantic Previews Its New AR Platform, & 'Walking Dead' AR Game Nears Release
Apparently, it's Google Week for the augmented reality business. Now that ARCore has a firm foothold in the app ecosystem, Google is making a case with educators and marketers that the apps should have a place in schools and campaigns, and the company is also encouraging developers to learn how to build apps using ARCore.
News: Sony's Xperia XZ2 Premium Is Coming to the US with a 4K HDR Display & Dual Cameras
While Sony as a company is well-known in the United States, it smartphones are not. For years, Sony has stuck with a boxy design with sharp edges and large bezels — however, they're finally getting with the trends. As a result, the Xperia XZ2 Premium offers a rare combo: A super powerful phone which is also pretty sexy.
News: Drake Drops Shoppable AR Lens on Snapchat to Push Fans to New Album on Apple Music
Hip-hop artist Drake once rapped that "goin' online...ain't part of (his) day," but that's not stopping him from promoting his new double album, Scorpion, via augmented reality on Snapchat.
News: Lionsgate & Pepsi Launch Snapchat Augmented Reality Experiences to Promote NBA Star-Packed 'Uncle Drew'
Snapchat is enjoying a high field goal percentage when it comes to securing movie studio business with its sponsored augmented reality experiences, the latest coming through the basketball movie Uncle Drew.
News: Google Expands ARCore to More Android Devices, Adds iOS Support
The roster of handsets supporting Google's augmented reality toolkit now includes 46 Android models as well as support for ARKit-compatible iPhones and iPads.
News: Niantic Reveals Augmented Reality Platform for Multiplayer Gaming & Interaction with Real World Objects
Location-based gaming pioneer Niantic has offered a preview of its augmented reality cloud platform that could change the immersive content game yet again.
News: Every Picture-in-Picture Compatible Android App
For those of us who love to multitask, picture-in-picture mode is a godsend. The feature, introduced in Android 8.0 Oreo, lets you enjoy videos in a floating window overlaid on top of another app. However, while the OS does have native support, only a select number of apps support the feature.
News: China's Vivo Unveils Time-of-Flight 3D Sensor That Rivals iPhone X's TrueDepth Camera
The spirit of Google's Tango augmented reality platform lives on at Vivo, a China-based company that has developed its own 3D sensor for mobile devices.
News: Tale of the Tape — How Does Apple's Measure App Measure Up Against Google's Version?
Earlier this month, when Apple announced at WWDC that iOS 12 would include an augmented reality tape measure called Measure, iPhone watchers seemed impressed by the new addition to the company's AR arsenal. Well, just a couple of weeks later, on June 19, it appears that Google remembered it had its own Measure app as well.
News: 'The Walking Dead' Pokémon GO Knockoff Gets a Launch Date, More Details Revealed
While it has been slower to arrive than a walker limping through thick Georgia mud, location-based augmented reality game Walking Dead: Our World finally has a confirmed launch date: July 12.
News: Google Makes Case for ARCore Apps to Educators & Marketers
When it comes to mass adoption, augmented reality is still primarily a mobile world, so Google is pitching its own ARCore flavor of mobile AR to the education and marketing segments.
News: The LG V40 ThinQ Goes Official — 5 Cameras, 1 Notch & a Laundry List of Top-Tier Specs
LG is really coming strong at the flagship smartphone market in 2018. They have already released three new flagship caliber smartphones this year: the V30S ThinQ, V35 ThinQ, and the G7 ThinQ. But LG isn't done with flagship phones yet — they've just announced the V40 ThinQ.
News: Google Takes Developers Back to School with ARCore Classes on Coursera
With a new version of its ARCore in the wild and more than 30 devices now supporting it, Google is helping beginners get up to speed with augmented reality.
News: Microsoft Applies for Another Patent to Enlarge Field of View in AR Displays
Based on its continued research, it appears Microsoft recognizes that the next HoloLens needs a wider field of view (FoV). Based on a recently-revealed documentation, the company's research team has found another way to accomplish that objective.
News: iOS 12 Is Now Open for Public Beta Testers, Here's How to Install It on Your iPhone Right Now
Hours after iOS 11.4.1 beta 4 was released on Monday, June 25, Apple's webpage for its public beta software programs was unavailable because of an "update." Sure enough, that meant the public beta for iOS 12 was being prepped to drop shortly thereafter, which is exactly what happened. In other words, you can now install iOS 12 on your iPhone without a developer account!
News: Augmented Reality Reporting from NY Times Shows That Military Perpetrated Syria Chemical Attack
In its latest feature with an assist from augmented reality in storytelling, the New York Times shows readers the virtual crime scene it constructed to prove that the Syrian military conducted chemical warfare against its citizens.
News: iOS 11.4.1 Beta 4 Released for iPhones, Includes Only 'Bug Fixes' & Unknown Improvements
Apple's on a roll with once-every-week releases for the iOS 11.4.1 beta. Exactly seven days after beta 3 came out, beta 4 has been pushed out to developers and public beta testers on Monday, June 25. Just like before, there are no new features or any known enhancements or bug fixes. Apple confirmed that iOS 11.4.1 is for under-the-hood improvements only, since iOS 12 beta is already out.
News: Magic Leap's Unity Conference Presentation Uncovered Many New Details, Here's What We Found Out
During its presentation at Unite Berlin, Magic Leap gave attendees a crash course in developing experiences for Magic Leap One (ML1), we found out quite a bit more about how the device works and what we can expect to experience with the device.
Market Reality: Disney, Universal, & FIFA World Cup Turn to Augmented Reality for Marketing Muscle
Augmented reality is really picking up steam as a tool for marketing departments to pitch their products.
News: Zappar's ZapWorks Promises to Give Anyone the Power to Create Complex AR Experiences Without Coding Experience
Another entrant into the do-it-yourself AR content creation market has emerged, as Zappar has updated its ZapWorks Studio software to include features for development newbies.
News: Motion Capture via iPhone X Is Available to Animators Now Through Live Face App
While 3D motion capture via iPhone X is coming soon from Unity, software maker Reallusion offers similar functionality to 3D model animation producers today.
News: Magic Leap Shows Off Spatial Computing Demo, FCC Docs Reveal New Controller Images
Magic Leap just did something it didn't do during its recent Twitch hardware demo: show us some new demo footage of what augmented reality really looks like through the Magic Leap One.
News: National Geographic's Open-Air Planetarium Displays Augmented Reality Constellations Through Aryzon Viewers
On June 23, National Geographic will begin welcoming visitors to the world's first outdoor planetarium in Quebec, Canada, where an augmented reality experience overlaid on the night sky will replace the projection systems of traditional facilities.
News: New York Times AR Coverage of Guatemala Volcano Disaster Shows AR Isn't Ready for Breaking News
The latest augmented reality feature from The New York Times gives readers a close-up view of the damage left behind by the eruption of Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala earlier this month.
News: Cord-Cutting Just Got Cheaper — AT&T's $15/Month WatchTV Service Is Coming Next Week
After a district judge approved the $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner, we knew AT&T would be quick to reap the rewards of capturing Time Warner's media properties. Today, we get our first look at this with two cellular plans from AT&T. What makes these plans unique is they include a new cord-cutting service called WatchTV.
News: Moviebill Captures the Dinosaurs of 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' in Augmented Reality
Regal Cinema's augmented reality magazine Moviebill enjoyed a big debut in April and it has its sights set on an even bigger (virtually) outing with its next edition.
News: Leap Motion Shares Amazing Demo of Augmented Reality Table Tennis with AI Opponent
Hand tracking technology company Leap Motion has built a stunningly fluid augmented reality ping-pong game that not only showcases the capabilities of its open source Project North Star augmented reality headset, but also demonstrates how artificial intelligence can elevate immersive experiences.
News: 9 Ways iOS 12 Makes the iPhone X Even Better
While there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to iOS 12 in general, iPhone X users will not just get the same new features and tweaks that all other iPhones will get — they'll get a few unique ones that will make the device even more desirable to those who don't have one yet. Also, iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR users will also see these benefits out of the box.
News: Magic Leap One Makes a Surprise Appearance During World Cup TV Show
Magic Leap shows up in the weirdest places. Last week, right at the start of World Cup fever, for some reason, the Magic Leap One appeared on a Brazilian television show.
News: Unity Unveils Project MARS for Simplified AR Development & Facial AR for Easy Mocap
On Tuesday, at the Unite Berlin developers conference, Unity unveiled new tools designed specifically for augmented reality that could literally raise the technology to the next level.
News: You Can Preorder the LG V35 ThinQ on Project Fi Starting Today
Earlier in June, we learned that Project Fi was going to carry three new phones, one of which was a device previously thought to be AT&T-exclusive, the LG V35 ThinQ. After much waiting, preorders are now open.
News: Unity Builds Developer Bridge Between ARKit & ARCore Apps with AR Foundation Tool
A new set of APIs for Unity promise to make it easier for developers to publish apps that support both ARKit and ARCore.
News: iOS 12 Dev Beta 2 & Public Beta 1 Hit iPhones
Right on the heels of the iOS 11.4.1 beta 3 release, Apple pushed out iOS 12 beta 2 to registered developers on Tuesday, June 19. Public beta testers received the same version, labeled as iOS 12 public beta 1, six days later on Monday, June 25. Last year, the iOS 11 public beta opened up just five days after the release of iOS 11 developer beta 2, so iOS 12 is pretty much right on track in that regard.
News: Microsoft Opens Access to Sensor Data on the HoloLens with 'Research Mode' Update
The addition of a new research mode for Microsoft HoloLens will enable researchers and developers to tap into a wider range of data collected by the device's sensors.
News: Google Flips the Switch on Web-Based Augmented Reality Experiences for ARCore
Developers can now publish augmented reality experiences that are viewable through the experimental version of Chrome and ARCore.
News: iOS 11.4.1 Beta 3 Released for iPhones, Still Focusing on Unknown Improvements
Another beta for iOS 11.4.1 was released on Monday, June 18, exactly one week after iOS 11.4.1 beta 2 was pushed out. Like the second beta, iOS 11.4.1 beta 3 has no new features or any known enhancements or bug fixes. It's likely Apple is simply using iOS 11.4.1 to add under-the-hood improvements only, since iOS 12 beta is already out.
News: Snapchat Gains Super Powers with 'Incredibles 2' Augmented Reality Experience
Pixar's Incredibles 2 has entered the fray as the latest sequel in a summer of highly anticipated follow-up films and, like its peers, it also has an augmented reality experience to promote its presence in theaters.
News: LG UX vs Stock Android — a Visual Comparison
There's a growing sentiment around the web that when it comes to Android, stock is best. Many people prefer the clean look of Google's vision for Android, but manufacturers like LG will add features and themes on top of this base to differentiate themselves from the pack. But these OEM skins, as they're called, aren't always as overbearing as you might think.
News: 5 Snapchat Lenses You Have to Try Out This Week — World Cup, Superman & More
With summer in full swing, these Snapchat lenses are as hot as ever. With people celebrating the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Snapchat contests that earn could earn you a free ride to Comic Con, and the everyday innovation that comes out of Lens Studio, there's something for everyone here this week.