Gadget Hacks News
Apple AR: Luden.io Unveils 'AR Tribe' Mobile Game That Uses ARKit
Luden.io just revealed more details about their mobile game "AR Tribe," made using Apple's ARKit. The company has previously focused on VR games such as InMind 2 and VRobot. This is the company's first attempt at AR, and it looks like it's going to be pretty cool.
Market Reality: Augmented Reality Demonstrates Value for Business & Recreation
We continue to field stories underscoring the strong trends of Investment in augmented reality in various sectors. This week, one company strengthens their offerings to the enterprise sector, while two other companies capitalize on the promise presented by augmented reality to consumers – specifically, in gaming.
News: Google Play Music's New Release Radio Works for Everyone
Google Play's newest feature may have once been exclusive, but it's now available for everyone. New Release Radio — a feature that provides you with a personalized playlist of new songs compiled based on your listening history — was originally released a month ago for Samsung devices. Now, it's available for all smartphone users with the Google Play Music app.
Review: Street Fighter IV Champion Edition Is a Knock Out
Full disclosure — I have almost zero Street Fighter experience. The first time I played the game was at Barcade, way back in ... 2017. Yes, to the shame of gamers everywhere, this reviewer is a Street Fighter noob.
News: Dining, Travel & … Smartphones? Groupon Now Offers Discounts on Unlocked Galaxy S8
As my fellow cheapskates know, Groupon is an oasis. From discounted vacations to reduced-price massages, it has — nearly — anything and everything. It's great for discounts on dining and travel, but I've never thought of it as a place to shop for smartphones ... until now.
News: If You're a Verizon Customer, This Recent Leak May Have Exposed Your Private Information
It seems like there's a cyber security scare every day. Consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the safety of their accounts, and they have reason to be. Hackers will maliciously attack you anywhere — and we mean anywhere — they can to get your private information.
Apple AR: Creepy Effects Make Surfaces Bubble & Boil
This man's effect using Apple ARKit is both really cool and really freaky. In his tweet, John van der Zwaag said that this "alters reality" rather than just adding to it.
Apple AR: Use Augmented Reality to Measure Rooms Without a Tape Measure
Measuring a room has never been so easy thanks to Apple's ARKit. SmartPicture 3D is known for its quick measurements based on pictures from your smartphone. Recently, they released a video of the company measuring a room using the ARKit.
Apple AR: JigSpace Shows You How Things Are Made Using AR
JigSpace, a company that uses 3D renderings to give instructions, showed off a fun new way to learn how things work using Apple's ARKit. The video released shows the anatomy of a range of things, including an espresso machine, an Archer Hb Plus chair, and the manual transmission of a car. Not to mention, they also used ARKit to show a 3D how-to of removing an iPhone's SIM card.
News: DreamWorld Seeks to Dismiss Meta Lawsuit
Facing claims of misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information by Meta Company, DreamWorld, led by Meta's former employee, Zhangyi "Kevin" Zhong, has fired back with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
News: Zillow Invests in Augmented Reality Interior Design App Hutch
Hutch Interiors, Inc., makers of an eponymous augmented reality home design app for iOS and Android, has closed a series A round of funding, led by online real estate company Zillow Group, totaling $10 million.
News: DAQRI Deploys Smart Helmet for Navy Gunners
Augmented reality headset maker DAQRI has collaborated with the US Navy to outfit the company's Smart Helmet device for use on battleships.
News: Facebook Messenger's 'Visabot' Can Help You Apply for Your Green Card
Getting your green card can be an extraordinarily complicated and difficult task. Often times it seems so daunting that it's hard to know where to begin. Thankfully, Facebook Messenger introduced "Visabot" last year, a chatbot in the app that helps with all things immigration. Now including applying for your green card.
News: Zently Takes on Venmo with New Bill-Splitting Feature
Zently — the mobile app for renters — is taking on Venmo with its newest feature. Traditionally used to automate rent payments, deliver rent checks for free, and communicate with your landlord, it now allows you to connect to your bank account and split bills with housemates. Following the addition of Zelle to several major banks apps — to allow users to transfer money to their contacts — the battle of the mobile payment apps is getting increasingly fierce. With this new update, Zently is als...
News: For Virgin Mobile Customers, Twitter Just Became Free-er
How can something get more free than free? Well, in the case of Twitter, Virgin Mobile found a way with its newest promotion. If you have a 4G plan with Virgin Mobile, you can now access Twitter from your smartphone without it counting towards your monthly data allowance.
News: Microsoft's 'Seeing AI' App Helps the Visually Impaired Through Narration
When the iPhone first came out, using them seemed like an impossibility to the visually impaired. Luckily, the iPhone now provides a multitude of resources to make sure that the visually impaired have accessibility to the phone.
YouTube 101: How to Upload Videos from Your Phone
What makes YouTube such a special platform is that anyone and everyone can upload their own content. Big players upload their videos to the same site that the little guy does.
News: World of Tanks Is Bringing Us This Mind-Blowing AR Museum Attraction
Wargaming's World of Tanks — the popular multiplayer online war game — teamed up with The Tank Museum to create an augmented reality experience like no other. Alongside several German tanks that are part of the exhibit, visitors can use Microsoft HoloLens and Google Tango technology to explore a rare Stürmtiger tank inside and out.
YouTube 101: Is YouTube Red Worth It?
When Google announced YouTube Red — a paid monthly subscription service that disables advertising, among other perks — many of us thought "just use an ad blocker." But it isn't really that simple.
News: Become Fluent in Daenerys Targaryen's Mother Tongue Using the Duolingo App
"Valar morghulis." Don't know what that means? You should probably download Duolingo for Android or iPhone.
Brief Reality: Acura, L'Oréal Latest Brands to Buy into Augmented Reality
When it comes to differentiating from the competition, brands are continuing to leverage augmented reality to give consumers to the point that there are few "firsts" left to achieve in the marketplace. While L'Oreal jumps on the augmented reality bandwagon for cosmetics, Acura finds a new way to make augmented reality a spectacle in the automotive industry.
News: Apple Patents Light Field Cameras That Could Add AR to FaceTime
Apple continues to impress the AR world with game-changing innovations that add to their already incredible products. The company's most recent endeavor has been to plunge into the world of augmented reality with the announcement of their ARKit.
YouTube 101: How to Manage Your Notifications
YouTube is nothing without its creators — the people who make the content worth visiting the site again and again. Many of us have favorite channels and creators we return to, but it can be difficult to keep track of all the new videos they make, as the alternative is to be plagued by unwanted notifications.
News: Meta Appoints Chief Revenue Officer
Augmented reality headset and software maker Meta Company announced today board member Joe Mikhail will serve as the company's chief revenue officer.
Netflix 101: How to Cast Shows & Movies from Your Phone to Your TV
Chromecast comes to mind when "casting" video from a smartphone to a big screen television, but it's not the only way to "cast" streaming content. This is especially true for Netflix, where you can cast movies and TV shows to not only a Chromecast-enabled TV, but to smart TVs, video game consoles, and other streaming media players so that you have complete control right from your smartphone.
News: Travel the World for a Price You Can Afford with Wander
Ah, the sand between your feet, the sun on your skin, and the debt you're accumulating. However strong my sense of wanderlust may be, I still can't justify dropping thousands of dollars on a vacation. Fortunately, a new site — Wander — promises to help you book vacations that match your budget.
News: Defeat the Dreaded 'Sharknado' in the Franchise's New Mobile AR Game
The Sharknado franchise is, somehow, releasing a fifth movie "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming" (groan) next month. In anticipation of the film's release, the company has decided to create an augmented reality mobile game called, prepare yourself, "Sharknado: ShARkmented Reality".
News: Break Out of Your Comfort Zone with This News App
Following the most recent election, some argue that increasing political polarization is dividing Americans. A new app, called Read Across the Aisle, is aiming to combat this by encouraging users to read news from media outlets on both sides of the political spectrum.
News: AR Investor Says Apple ARKit Apps Face Same Challenges as Other Mobile Apps
In a recent series of tweets, investor and entrepreneur (and NR50 member) Amitt Mahajan summarized the challenges and opportunities for iOS developers looking to leverage Apple's ARKit for augmented reality experiences.
YouTube 101: How to Make a Playlist from Your Phone
YouTube is a giant platform — over 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute. It can be difficult to keep track of your favorite videos in such a chaotic sea of content. Difficult, but certainly not impossible.
Market Reality: Lampix, Nokia, Xiaomi & More Invest in AR
Over the past week, companies took a variety of approaches to investing in augmented reality. Lampix is backing its own effort to build an ecosystem for augmented reality platforms. Nokia and Xiaomi are teaming up on numerous fronts, potentially including augmented reality.
News: This Live Game in Times Square Will Make Your Spidey Senses Tingle
To celebrate the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming and to advertise Dell's newest gaming laptop, Dell and Sony Pictures teamed up to create a live game in Times Square. Simply walk through the tourist hotspot to unlock the game and help Peter Parker save the day.
News: Holographic Smartphone Is Coming, but We're Not Sure You Should Get It
So it's 2017 and there are no flying cars and teleportation devices around, but there might be holographic smartphones sometime soon. As cool as that sounds, should we trust a holographic smartphone from a company that has never made smartphones before?
News: Hilton Customers Successfully Unlocked Their Rooms Over 11 Million Times via App
A few years ago, the Hilton hotel group unrolled the Digital Key, a feature of the Hilton Honors app that allows you to unlock your hotel room with your smartphone.
News: Battlefield AR Game 'Recoil' Takes Tag to a Whole New Level
The new battlefield AR game announced by Skyrocket Toys today is similar to the childhood game "Tag", except the stakes are much, much higher.
News: 2016 App of the Year Winner Prisma Releases New App 'Sticky AI'
Isn't it everyone's dream to be a sticker? No? Just me? Well, if you've ever felt like emojis just aren't conveying the exact emotion you want and you feel like your face would do a better job, have no fear. Prisma has released a new app called "Sticky AI" that allows you to transform your selfies into stickers that you can use for your messages.
News: Someone's Selling a Putin-Trump Nokia 3310 & I'm Confused Too
Russian phone customizer Caviar — you might have heard of the blinged-out iPhone 6s Pokemon GO phone they released a few months back — is taking on international relations with their newest product.
Dev Report: New Tools for Microsoft Mixed Reality and Unreal for ARKit Is Here
More platforms and more tools to make content for those platforms. It seems like the Dev Report —Next Reality's breakdown on the latest information on tools and processes to make augmented reality experiences — is going to be coming out on a much shorter cycle.
Hands-On: Up Close & Personal with the Meta 2 Head-Mounted Display
Last June, Meta began shipping their Meta 2 mixed reality headset, to the delight of many. In September, it was announced that shipping had been delayed until the end of the year. Then it appeared that Christmas would bring something magical when Meta sent out an email four days before the big holiday saying that the Meta 2 developers kits were finally shipping. Unfortunately, having a few on order here at Next Realit,y we are still patiently waiting for ours to arrive.
Netflix 101: Choosing the Netflix Plan That's Right for You
Netflix offers three different tiers of service. The good news is that no matter which subscription plan you choose, the available content is the same. Whether you choose the cheapest plan or the most expensive, you'll be able to watch any TV show or movie in Netflix's library. But there are other things to consider when choosing the plan that's right for you and your smartphone.