Gadget Hacks News
Brief Reality: ITC Infotech, PTC, Oracle Join Forces for Augmented Reality Service
The common thread between this week's Brief Reality stories is that augmented reality is beginning to prove its worth as a technology that improves workflows and processes. From customer service to healthcare to manufacturing, augmented reality is helping companies improve productivity.
Hands-on: Acer Windows Mixed Reality Dev Kit & Datascape
One thing that I got more and more excited about as we got closer and closer to the Microsoft Build 2017 developers conference was finally learning about the new Acer Windows Mixed Reality head-mounted displays (HMD). Brandon Bray, Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft, had teased us a few weeks earlier at the Vision Summit event in Los Angeles, California, and said there would be a lot more information at Build. Fortunately for us, he was right.
AWE Giveaway: We Promised Free Passes to the Augmented World Expo & Here They Are
The Augmented World Expo or AWE — if you are a big fan of AR/MR technology, that is a very fitting acronym — is the world's largest conferences dedicated to all things augmented, mixed and virtual reality. AWE is in its 8th year, and with the massive growth we have seen in the space over the last year, promises to be its biggest year yet.
News: Apple Aggressively Targets Android Switchers as Growth Disappoints Analysts
Tim Cook claimed 85% of new iPhone buyers are switchers from Android back in 2015. Now, after financial analysts noted a drop in the company's stock prices, Apple has unleashed a series of ad campaigns directly targeting the users it needs to win over. That's you, Android lovers.
News: New Snapchat Group Features Swipe Back at Facebook's Story Stealing
Snapchat hit back at its arch-rival Facebook this week with a number of new Group features, including custom stories. Facebook and Instagram both rolled out clone Story options this year, but Snapchat is obviously trying to up the ante in this arena.
News: HeadsupAR Turns Smartphones into Mixed Reality Headsets
Three years ago, with VR enthusiasts prepared to throw their money at Oculus to get their hands on the yet-to-be-release Rift headset, Google surprised the audience for Google I/O with Google Cardboard, a seemingly late April Fool's joke that actually jump-started virtual reality.
News: Forget Convenience, Uber Pool Maximizes Efficiency by Making You Walk More
After Uber noticed that if you walked to a more convenient pickup spot — instead of your exact location — that it would save you time and money, they decided to make a change to their system.
News: Snapdragon 660 Benchmarked Not Far Below the Galaxy S8+
Someone out there is testing an unknown mid-range phone codenamed "Heart," and it has a 16% lead in speed on the Oppo F3 Plus and is just 15% shy of the Samsung Galaxy S8+, according to GSM Arena.
News: Microsoft Demonstrates Holograms with Phase-Only Displays
Microsoft Research has published a technical paper reviewing their work with near-eye displays for virtual and augmented reality to project phase-only holograms.
Market Reality: Aira Raises Funding for Visual Interpreter Service
Over the past week, we are seeing more companies capitalizing on services leveraging augmented reality. One company secured funding to expand their service, while two other companies grow its own services through acquisition.
News: Samsung Creates World's Most Breakable Phone Then Wraps It with Protection
After SquareTrade tested out the Samsung Galaxy S8 and found it to be the first phone to shatter on all sides after only one drop, it's nice to know we may have a solution for this $500 problem.
News: More eSports in Your News Feed as Facebook Takes on Twitch
Facebook is hiring video game teams and other eSports organizations to create live and on-demand videos for its newsfeed. The company aims to take on others such as Twitch and YouTube, where most of the eSports' content is typically housed.
News: Watch the Red Bull Air Race in a Whole New Way with Flight Deck on HoloLens
At Vision Summit 2017, UK-based Rewind, one of the recent additions to the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program, showed off a HoloLens application called "Flight Deck" that genuinely blew me away. The idea of watching a live-action sports experience on a coffee table has been explored and mocked up, but Rewind not only has done it, they will be releasing it later this year.
News: Merged Notifications Could Make Life Easier for Facebook, Instagram & Messenger Users
Online lives could be made easier now that Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger are testing merged app notifications. 'Could' being the operative word!
News: Rooters Beware, Google Will Soon Start Locking You Out of Apps
Yep, Google just put in place a new thing called the dun dun duuuun .... "Device Catalog!" No, not like the Macy's catalog of your smartphone dreams. This is quite the opposite.
News: Tango's Reach Is Being Limited by New Zenfone Exclusive to Verizon
Verizon will be exclusively selling the ASUS ZenFone AR, which supports Tango (Google's mobile AR platform) and Daydream VR.
News: Realfiction's New Mixed Reality Display Projects Large Scale Holograms Without a Headset
Mixed reality display manufacturer Realfiction has developed a 64-inch display capable of delivering 3D holograms without a headset.
News: HoloLens Demo Lets Airline Staff View Passenger Emotional State & Flight Details
The list of HoloLens applications continues to grow as more companies discover ways to enhance their operations using augmented reality. Air New Zealand is the latest to show interest in the technology, demonstrating their vision for AR in a new concept video.
News: Google Assistant on iOS Is Absolute Garbage
Google Assistant was just released for iOS today. You may know it as the AI-powered assistant that makes Google Home tick, or perhaps you've heard from one of many review sites about how much better it is than Siri. Well, before you run off to the App Store to install Google Assistant, let me save you some time: It sucks.
News: Overly Optimistic Report Says 92% of iPhone Users Will Ugrade to a New iPhone
Over 90% of ride-or-die iPhone users will upgrade to the latest Apple smartphone, according to a recent survey. Really, though? Well, Morgan Stanley certainly seems to think so.
News: Unity & Microsoft Are Giving Away $150,000 for HoloLens Apps & Loaning Out HoloLens Developers Kits
At the Microsoft Build 2017 conference in Seattle this past week, 3D application and game platform Unity, partnering with Microsoft, launched a contest that drives HoloLens developers to realize their ideas into a full-fledged application and possibly win money for it.
News: Will Google's Standalone VR Headsets Enable AR Experiences?
Google announced several new devices (as well as updates to existing devices) that will take advantage of the company's augmented and virtual reality platforms.
News: Amusement Park Pits Guests Against Each Other in Augmented Reality Warfare
Kings Dominion, an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, just announced a mobile augmented reality game for park visitors. Gameplay in The Battle for Kings Dominion — available on May 19 for iOS and Android devices — follows the playbook designed by Niantic through Ingress and Pokémon GO.
News: Google Unveils Visual Positioning Service for Tango
At the Google I/O keynote presentation today, Clay Bavor, Vice President of Virtual Reality for Google, shared a number of new initiatives in virtual and augmented reality. This included new services for the Tango platform called visual positioning service, or VPS.
News: McDonald's Partners with UberEats to Bring Heart Attacks to Your Doorstep
Whoop, there it is. McDonald's makes its food even faster by partnering with UberEats to bring orders to your doorstep in over 1,000 locations around the country.
News: Google Lens Will Turn Your Phone's Camera into a Smart AI Assistant
Google Assistant will be getting an AI makeover with the addition of Google Lens. This new feature is basically a set of vision-based computing capabilities within the Assistant.
News: Google Assistant Now on iPhone — Without Key Features
As we've said before, Siri has some major competition moving into its own playground, and Google just announced at its I/O event that Google Assistant is available on the iPhone, starting today.
GIVEAWAY ALERT: AWE Is Here & We Are Giving Away Free Passes!
The Augmented World Expo (AWE) is upon us, and that means it's time to get excited about all the awesome next reality things to come.
News: Fly Lufthansa? Snapchat Will Introduce You to Your Flight Crew
What companies do you think have a unique and compelling take on social media? Wendy's is certainly confident, to say the least. But Lufthansa Airlines is taking a different approach than most — and it seems to be working — as they give passengers a look behind the scenes through Snapchat Stories.
Brief Reality: Blippar Delivers ARcade for M&M's Promotion
Marketing and healthcare, two of the leading industries in the adoption of augmented reality, continue to demonstrate applications for the technology in their businesses. Meanwhile, improvements to augmented reality devices are just around the corner with new developments from two display makers.
News: Insta-Stalking Ramps Up a Notch with Location Stickers
We're all guilty of a little social media stalking now and again. Or ... every day. Who's keeping track? Everyone secretly wants to know what their ex/arch nemesis is doing for the weekend via Snapchat or Instagram Stories.
News: Instagram Swipes Snapchat Lenses with Furry AR Koala Ears & Icy 3D Crowns
Instagram just added another nail in the coffin for Snapchat. It looks like it's the AR platforms final hurrah as IG has snapped up the app's last good feature: its AR selfie filters.
News: Who Has the Best Camera of Them All? HTC U11 Apparently
The Google Pixel was just knocked off its pedestal as DxOMark Mobile's best smartphone camera, courtesy of the HTC U11. Ouch ...
News: Move Over, Galaxy S8 — LG Will Be Using OLED Panels for V30
Samsung has some competition as LG may be incorporating OLED panels for their new flagship V30 launching later this year.
Market Reality: Upskill Acquires Pristine
This week's Market Reality covers a variety of business news from acquisitions and partnerships to competitive and technology assessments to quarterly financial results.
NR50: Next Reality's 50 People to Watch: Timoni West
If you're a developer in the augmented and mixed reality space, there's a high probability that you're intimately familiar with the 3D application and game engine Unity. In May, at VisionSummit 2017, Microsoft announced that 91% of all HoloLens applications have been made with the software. But there's a section of Unity that you may not be familiar with, which has become very important to augmented, mixed, and virtual reality (known collectively as XR, for "extended reality") — Unity Labs.
News: Your iPhone Will Someday Be as Sensitive as You Are
Tuesday gave us what I am dubbing a "patent dump." Can you blame me? The U.S. Patent Office released 56 patents from Apple. 56! Among them, there are patents confirming Apple is working on embedded Touch ID, edge-to-edge displays, and a 3D camera system (surprise, surprise). Some of those things we've heard rumors on for some time, but what is new is one of the patents hidden amongst the bunch, describing an Apple-made avatar system. One whose end-goal is to reflect your current emotional sta...
News: Arvizio Aims for Enterprises with Collaboration Tools for HoloLens
Augmented and mixed reality developer Arvizio is working on a suite of software solutions for enterprises that will extend HoloLens capabilities as a full-fledged collaboration and conferencing tool. The company will demonstrate its Mixed Reality Studio suite to attendees at the Augmented World Expo, which begins later this month in Santa Clara, California.
News: Netflix Is Revolutionizing Streaming Quality as It Test Drives HDR with LG G6
The displays on all of our devices are getting better and better. TVs, smartphones (Infinity Display, anyone?) — any modern device you use, the screen looks great. So we should expect our content to live up to these fantastic displays. Netflix is attempting to do that, by implementing HDR video for LG G6 users.
News: Bogus WhatsApp Update Will Have You Seeing Red
If you ever get asked to update your WhatsApp to your favorite color, don't. It's probably spam. According to Reddit user Yuexist, a new WhatsApp adware is going around disguised as an update.