Hot Gadget Hacks News Stories
News: Microsoft Brings Chromium-Based Edge Browser, Swipe to Type & More to HoloLens via Windows Holographic Update
Since its launch two years ago, the HoloLens 2 has been the best AR headset available, and nothing has come close to touching it since.
News: Microsoft's Alex Kipman Confirms HoloLens Consumer AR Smartglasses Being Developed & Describes How It Can Happen
The story of the HoloLens has been a mix of work and play. But while many developers have devoted time to creating gaming and entertainment apps for the HoloLens 1, with the HoloLens 2, Microsoft has been encouraging everyone to focus more on the enterprise side of things.
News: Microsoft Mixed Reality Developer Shows Off the Full Power of Hand Tracking & Occlusion via the HoloLens 2
The experience of actually using the HoloLens 2 can be difficult to describe to anyone who hasn't had a chance to directly interact with the device in person and be blown away by its immersive capabilities.
News: NBCUniversal Teases Augmented Reality-Powered Shopping via TV
Consumers who haven't already delved into the interactive wonders of augmented reality are about to be pushed into the immersive waters by market forces.
News: The History of Europe Gets Immersive via HoloLens 2 Experience at St. Peter's Church in Belgium
In recent years, the tech innovation space has been dominated by the US and Asia, with Europe weighing in, but still being mostly lauded for its art history and architecture.
News: Niantic Opens Private Beta for AR Cloud Platform Now Called Lightship
Niantic first unveiled its AR cloud back in 2018, using it to enhance the immersive capabilities of its gaming portfolio.
News: Rovio Reinvents Angry Birds as Web-Based AR Tower Defense Game for Burger King Campaign
Angry Birds, one of the first franchises to find success in mobile gaming, continues to shoot its shot at new life in augmented reality gaming.
News: Apple $45 Million Corning Investment Shores Up iPhone Display Supply, Opens Up Investment AR Innovation
After awarding $410 million to the company that supplies it with VCSELs and LiDAR sensors, Apple has made another strategic investment into a company that may contribute to future augmented reality hardware innovations.
News: Apple Releases iOS 14.6 Beta 3 for iPhone, Adds Fix for Performance Bug
Apple released the third iOS 14.6 beta today, Monday, May 10. The update fixes a bug that could cause your iPhone to experience performance issues after startup.
Market Reality: Apple Funds AR, Campfire Headset Plans Revealed, Marvel Adds AR to NBA, & Star Wars Day Snapchat Lenses
Apple has a sterling reputation when it comes to managing its supply chain; it's where CEO Tim Cook proved his mettle to succeed Steve Jobs. Now, the company has made a strategic investment with a supplier that will be crucial to its future plans for AR wearables.
News: Campfire CEO Jay Wright on How He Plans to Use AR to Transform How We Work & Collaborate
The mission to rise above the fray to become a leading player in the augmented reality business is a moving target that depends on innovation, resources, and timing.
News: Transform Your Friend into an AR Musical Synthesizer via This HoloLens 2 NFT App
One of the oldest electronic musical instruments is the theremin, a synthesizer that generates sound based on hand gestures, as featured in the classic "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys.
News: Japan-Based Developer Unleashes Giant AR Gundam Robot on the Public via HoloLens 2
The future of the HoloLens 2, according to Microsoft, is all about enterprise use cases. But that doesn't mean some of the more creative-minded HoloLens developers won't bend the top-tier augmented reality device to their own designs. The latest example of this trend comes from Japan.
News: Apple Secures Supply Chain for AR Hardware with $410 Million Investment into Optical Manufacturer II-VI
As Apple prepares to potentially introduce its (mostly) secretive AR headset for possible introduction later this year and launch next year, the company has made a strategic investment to ensure its supply chain can support it.
News: Marvel Heroes Invade ESPN's NBA Broadcast of Warriors vs. Pelicans Game via AR
Two brands with affinities for augmented reality, Marvel and the NBA, joined forces to inject some AR superpowers into Monday night's matchup of the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans.
AR Snapshots: Celebrate May the Fourth Be with You Day with These Star Wars Snapchat AR Lenses
Thanks to the grandest of puns, May the 4th is Star Wars Day. And what better way to pay tribute to the space opera than with the augmented reality superpowers of Snapchat.
News: AT&T and NBA Launch Mobile AR Experience via Chicago Bulls App
The Chicago Bulls may not be very relevant in the current NBA standings, but they do lead the league in one other area.
News: Apple Releases iOS 14.5.1 for iPhone, Includes Fix for Missing App Tracking Transparency Prompts
Apple released the newest update for iPhone, iOS 14.5.1, today, Monday, May 3. The update (build number 18E212) is the first since iOS 14.5, which Apple made available one week earlier on Monday, April 26.
Market Reality: Apple's AR Spaces, Facebook's AR Future, Snap's 3D Acquisition & Campfire AR Headset Launch
There's already some fierce competition between Snap and Facebook in the AR space, but it's about to heat up even more, with Snap snatching up a 3D mapping startup that could add some new AR capabilities to its arsenal.
News: Apple Releases iOS 14.6 Public Beta 2 for iPhone
Apple seeded public testers the second iOS 14.6 beta today, Friday, April 30. The update (build number 18F5055b) comes three hours after Apple released the second 14.6 developer beta, four days after the launch of iOS 14.5, which introduced over 60 new features and changes to iPhone, and eight days after the first 14.6 beta hit developers' iPhones.
News: Apple Releases iOS 14.6 Developer Beta 2 for iPhone
Apple seeded developers the second iOS 14.6 beta today, Friday, April 30. The update (build number 18F5055b) comes four days after the launch of iOS 14.5, which introduced over 60 new features and changes to iPhone, and eight days after the first 14.6 beta hit developers' iPhones.
News: Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Uses Latest Appearance to Triple Down on Augmented Reality & Creator Revenue-Focused Future
Facebook's annual earnings call on Wednesday didn't come with any big surprises, that is, if you took everything at face value.
News: Adidas & Tooz Reveal More About AR Smartglasses Partnership
The progress Tooz has been making in the smartglasses space has been mostly kept under wraps, but the company is slowly giving us a deeper look at what it has in store for smartglasses wearers.
News: Apple's AR Spaces in Updated Clips App Uses iPhone & iPad LiDAR to Give You New AR Video Powers
Ever since the debut of the LiDAR Scanner in the latest batch of Apple's iPhones and iPads, the questions have swirled as to how this would benefit augmented reality interactions.
News: Campfire AR Headset Emerges from Stealth to Offer 3D Collaborations for Enterprise & Design Teams
The augmented reality space is no longer about if but when every company and creator will use some kind of immersive device and software to produce and distribute 3D content.
News: Snap's Acquisition of 3D Mapping Startup Signals Move to Build AR Cloud
The concept of Metaverse, otherwise referred to as AR cloud, where a digital twin of the real world filled with virtual content anchored persistently for all to see, has been a sci-fi dream of futurists for years and an aim for most tech companies who are serious about AR.
News: Netflix Fantasy Franchise 'The Witcher' Opens Early Access to AR Game Called Monster Slayer
Having found success in video games and a hugely popular Netflix series, The Witcher franchise is now on the hunt for the coin Pokémon GO has earned in location-based augented reality mobile games.
News: Apple Releases iOS 14.5 for iPhone, Introducing 60+ New Features & Changes
Apple's "Spring Loaded" event introduced us to many new and exciting products, including iMac and iPad Pro models with the M1 chip, an upgraded Apple TV 4K, a purple iPhone, and the long-awaited AirTag. However, one of the most anticipated announcements came in the form of a software update — the biggest update since iOS 14.0 and iPadOS 14.0 came out — and that's iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5.
News: Zoom Unveils Immersive Feature That Puts Multiple People in a Single Virtual Room
The era of virtual meetings has been evolving every few months, with augmented reality filters leading the charge in changing the way we interact when chatting via video streams.
News: UFC Lets You Pick the Winners in AR via Snapchat Lens
As the sports world slowly gets back to normal while observing pandemic protocols, fans are once again being folded into the mix in innovative ways.
Market Reality: Facebook Execs on AR Future, Amazon AR Beauty Salons, Samsung AR Launch & the Best Snapchat AR Lenses
As a company, Facebook is not shy about talking up its AR smartglasses plans. The latest missive comes from two executives in charge of developing AR software and hardware.
News: Apple Releases First iOS 14.6 Public Beta, Introduces Easy Way to Update from RC to New Test Software
Apple released the first public beta for iOS 14.6 today, Friday, April 23, one day after the company seeded iOS developers 14.6 beta 1. The update introduces an easy way for testers to update from an iOS RC (release candidate) to the latest beta, via a simple option in Software Update.
News: Marvel Studios Tosses 'Falcon & the Winter Soldier' AR Game to Fans in Time for Finale
Disney Plus shows WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier are both streaming hits, but the two series could not be more different in terms of giving fans a taste of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
News: Samsung's New App for Galaxy Smartphones Turns the World into Your AR Canvas
After integrating Snapchat into its latest Galaxy A Series smartphones, Samsung is trying out a new AR camera app for its army of mobile devices.
News: Apple Releases iOS 14.6 Beta 1 for iPhone
Apple released the first beta for iOS 14.6 today, Thursday, April 22. The new beta (build number 18F5046e) comes just two days after Apple's spring event, as well as the iOS 14.5 RC, and features an easy way for beta testers to update to the latest beta software when running an RC.
News: Snapchat, Google & Verizon Highlight Humanity's Impact on the Environment with AR for Earth Day
It's Earth Day, which means that nonprofits, individuals, and brands are making a concerted effort to raise awareness of environmental issues and how to change behaviors to reverse impacts of pollution, deforestation, and suburban sprawl, among others.
News: Google Gains Ground in Remote Video Race with Virtual Video Backgrounds in Google Meet
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, so, too, does the demand for video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
News: This Is the Secret AR App Powering Amazon's New Entry into the Beauty Salon Business
The march of Amazon to insert itself into nearly every retail arena continues with the e-commerce giant's latest move to launch its own brick-and-mortar beauty salons.
AR Snapshots: Live Out Your Sci-Fi Dreams with Iron Man Suits & Lightsabers in Snapchat
Snap introduced some fantastic new augmented reality abilities in version 3.4 of Lens Studio, the company's tool that allows anyone to create AR lenses for the Snapchat app. The newest features include improved hand tracking and full-body segmentation.
News: The iOS 14.5 Release Candidate Is Now Available for iPhone
Apple's new iOS 14.5 will be coming out very soon, and that's even more evident now with the release of the iOS 14.5 Release Candidate (RC) on Tuesday, April 20. Anyone can install this update and get all of the same features iOS 14.5 will give everyone for iPhone; only you'll have a head start to using all of the updates in Maps, Music, Podcasts, Reminders, Shortcuts, Siri, and more.