Hot Gadget Hacks News Stories

News: The New Harry Potter Game Is Coming This Month — Here's Who Is Playing Your Favorite Characters

Ever since JamCity dropped the first trailer for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, fans have been eager to get their hands on the game. What Harry Potter fanatic wouldn't want to live out their own Hogwarts adventure on their iPhone or Android device? Well, we now know when the game is officially coming, as well as who will step into the shoes of our favorite, iconic Potter characters.

News: What Every Phone Gained by Adding a Notch

If bezel-less was the goal of OEMs in 2017, 2018 seems to be the year of the notch. Thanks in no small part to Apple's iPhone X, more and more smartphone manufacturers are designing their displays with this polarizing cutout. While many are frustrated with the trend, it's worth taking the time to consider what each phone gains with the unique design.

News: Artsy Claims Crown as First App to Take Advantage of ARKit's New Wall-Crawling Abilities

Less than a week after ARKit 1.5 became available to the public through the iOS 11.3 update, the App Store has its first app with AR features (Artsy) to leverage Apple's AR toolkit update.

News: Microsoft Shows Off Rare Images of Early HoloLens Prototypes

All those early prototype images Magic Leap is so fond of showing off are great, but they rank a far second when compared to a new set of images just revealed by Microsoft in relation to the HoloLens.

News: Google's Announcing the Pixel 3 & 3 XL on October 9th — Here's Everything We Know

Update: Google's new Pixel models have been released! Check out our full guides on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL to see all the details, but we'll leave the rumor roundup intact below for posterity.

News: Snapchat Highlights Augmented Reality Feature in New Group Video Chat

Snapchat has added yet another social feature to its mobile app, and this one makes it possible to use augmented reality with a group of friends over video.

News: Mozilla Wants to Make Firefox Reality Your Web Browser for Augmented & Virtual Reality Headsets

Before Google Chrome entered the scene and subsequently dominated the market, Firefox trailed only Internet Explorer as the most popular web browser. Now, Mozilla has its sights set on a new opportunity to revive its browser for immersive experiences.

Apple AR: Apple's First Augmented Reality Wearable May Include MicroLED Panels from Taiwan, Report Says

With numerous insider reports, patent awards, acquisitions, and hires over the past few years, augmented reality smartglasses from Apple appear to be an inevitability.

News: New Magic Leap Images Appear as Saudi Prince Gets Demo from CEO Rony Abovitz

It turns out that the government of Saudi Arabia has managed to do something last month's Game Developers Conference couldn't — give us a few new glimpses of the Magic Leap One being worn by someone other than Shaq.

News: Snapchat Refocuses on Its Camera & AR Magic in New Marketing Push

With a fresh series of videos and a new webpage, Snapchat has composed an answer to its own question, "What is Snapchat?"

News: Snapchat's Easter Egg Hunt Showcases Potential for Branded Augmented Reality Games

Alongside the usual collection of holiday-themed Lenses, Snapchatters received an extra-special treat from Snapchat over the weekend—a world-spanning Easter egg hunt.

News: iOS 11.3 Update Ruins 3D Touch on iPhones

It's no secret that iOS 11 is one buggy piece of software. Remarkably, even after three major updates, we're still seeing issues with our iPhones. This time, the glitches have come for 3D Touch on iPhones running the new iOS 11.3 update.

News: The First iOS 11.4 Beta for Just Dropped for iPhone, Messages on iCloud Returns

Less than a week after iOS 11.3 was released to the public, iOS 11.4 beta dropped for developers on April 2, then became available for public beta testers the following day. If you're an iPhone user, there doesn't seem to be much to love about iOS 11.4 just yet, since its mostly geared toward education uses for iPads, but Messages on iCloud is back, as well as AirPlay 2.

Market Reality: Apple's AR Toolkit Is Slowly Catching on While Google & Snap Invest in More AR Development Tools

The business of enabling the development of augmented reality experiences appears to be as lucrative as AR app development itself.

News: Magic Leap Teases Cross-Platform Augmented Reality Experiences with iOS Developer Job Posting

Why would Magic Leap, a company preparing to launch its first augmented reality headset this year, need a developer for iPhone and iPad apps? It's not as crazy as it sounds.

News: Meet the 8-Year-Old ARKit Developer Who Just Uploaded Her First Augmented Reality App to Apple's App Store

While you were busy browsing Instagram, composing tweets, or chasing Snapchat updates, an eight-year-old ARKit developer was hard at work on her first step toward taking over the tech world via augmented reality.

News: IBM's Visual Censor Patent Is the AR Nightmare 'Black Mirror' Warned Us About

In the latest example of life imitating art, IBM has applied for a patent for a video censoring system that looks a lot like the "Arkangel" child monitoring system from the latest collection of modern sci-fi fables from Black Mirror on Netflix.

News: Apple's iOS 11.3 Update Arrives for All With AR Vertical Surface Detection via ARKit 1.5 for iPhones & iPads

If you have an ARKit-compatible iPhone or iPad, check for a software update, as iOS 11.3, with ARKit version 1.5 in tow, has just dropped. As we previously reported, ARKit 1.5 brings several new augmented reality features for app developers to use.

News: iOS 11.3 Released with Battery Health Tools for iPhones, Health Records, New Animoji & More

Three months after its promise, Apple has pushed out an iOS update that gives you important information about the health of your iPhone's battery. This means you no longer need tools such as Geekbench and Battery Life to determine whether or not you need a replacement battery.

News: Here's Why Notifications Are the Best Galaxy S9 Feature When Compared to iPhones

The iPhone vs. Android debate is almost as old as smartphones themselves. While there are a number of reasons to skew towards one operating system or the other, the Samsung Galaxy S9 models have a ton of great features that help set them apart from Apple's iPhones. The coolest feature, in my opinion, is the way notifications are handled.

News: Sorry, SE Fans — iPhone SE 2 Won't Have a 4" Display

While Apple usually sets the precedent for its consumers to follow, the iPhone SE returned the company's iconic smartphone to a small form factor, one that had been ditched by the iPhone 6 and beyond. However, it appears Apple is finished with 4-inch phones for good, as the iPhone SE 2 looks to be even larger than last year's iPhone X.

News: Apple Surpasses 13 Million ARKit Downloads Within Six Months, Report Says

A report from app data firm Sensor Tower reveals that more than 13 million ARKit apps have been installed on iPhones and iPads within the first six months since the toolkit launched with iOS 11.

News: Google Backs Yet Another AR Cloud Platform via Ubiquity6's $10.5M Funding Round

Google's AI investment arm, Gradient Ventures, has joined a $10.5 million round of funding for Ubiquity6 and its platform for shared augmented reality experiences, just weeks after Google's GV fund backed a competing AR cloud platform.

News: Augmented Reality App Created by NYU Students Can Translate Sign Language in Real Time

While Magic Leap may have plans to eventually introduce sign language translation for smartglasses in the near future, students at New York University have demonstrated that such a feat is possible today with a smartphone and a prototype app.

Dev Report: Microsoft's First HoloLens Update in Over a Year Now Available in Preview, Hints at Big Plans for 2018

After more than a year and a half of silence, the rumors have morphed into reality: Microsoft has finally released an update for the HoloLens. And with that update comes a collection of new features that hint at big plans for the HoloLens this year.

News: The US Government's Spat with Huawei Is Depriving Americans of a Wonderful Phone

With Huawei's recent emergence as the second largest OEM in the world, the company was poised to finally make a big push into the US market. Instead, their efforts were derailed by an unlikely foe, the US government. As a result, American customers will miss out on the newly-released Huawei P20.

News: An Augmented Reality Game Brings the Monsters of The Rock's 'Rampage' to Your City Skyline

Given Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's blockbuster movie pedigree and the promotional power that usually accompanies his work, there's a certain predictable symmetry in the news that Rampage, a movie adaptation of the classic arcade game, has now become an augmented reality mobile app.

News: Apple's Education-Focused iPad Event Pushes Augmented Reality Further into the Classroom

At Apple's education event in Chicago on Tuesday, augmented reality stood at the head of the class among the tech giant's new offerings for the classroom.

Dev Report: Some Light Shed on Magic Leap's Persistent Object Locations Solution but Many Mysteries Remain

With the reveal of Magic Leap's developer documentation last week, many questions have been answered—and several new ones have been raised as well. But since the Magic Leap One (ML1) isn't simply called the "Leap One," these are questions that the company probably has no interest (at least for now) in answering. Understandably, Magic Leap wants to keep some of the "magic" under wraps.

News: Niantic Defends Against App Clones with Quests & Mew Character for Pokémon GO

With the Google Maps API giving entertainment brands the means to build their own location-based AR games, Niantic is raising the bar for the genre with new updates to Pokémon GO.

News: Snapchat Powers Up Its Game & Development Capabilities with PlayCanvas Acquisition

With its recent acquisition of 3D gaming engine PlayCanvas, Snapchat parent Snap, Inc. appears to be preparing a challenge to the existing players in the world of game development, particularly in terms of augmented and virtual reality gaming.

News: 5 of the Hottest New Snapchat Filters This Week

When I'm with my friends on the weekend, we always end up Snapping shots of one another, adding in whatever stickers and lenses we've accumulated over the last week. But these filters are fleeting, so it's always a challenge to keep up with the best new ones. If you want to get a leg up on the competition, this is your one-stop-shop.

Market Reality: Magic Leap Captivates Developers & Settles a Lawsuit, While Avegant Undergoes a Shakeup

This week's Game Developers Conference came at just the right time for Magic Leap, a company that was riding a wave of bad news from legal troubles and rumors regarding Magic Leap One.

News: Now You Can Bring NASA's Spacefaring Robots into Your Home via ARCore

Space might be the final frontier, but NASA is making a detour into augmented reality first. The Spacecraft AR app, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with Google, debuted exclusively for Android this week (an iOS version is also in the works).

The Mobile Advantage: Why You Should Be Playing Fortnite Battle Royale on iPhone

If you're a console or PC gamer, you may be quick to ignore the mobile version of Fortnite Battle Royale. The lower graphics and the switch to touchscreen controls may be enough reason to dismiss this version of the game. But don't be so quick to judge — there are actually some clear advantages to playing on mobile.

News: Walmart Shoppers Can Now Use Their Smartphones to Become Marvel's Black Panther via Augmented Reality

Marvel and Walmart are looking to capitalize on the uber-successful Black Panther film with a mobile augmented reality app designed to push the franchise's merchandise.

News: 10 Awesome (& Free) Dark Themes for Your Galaxy S9

One of the best features on the Galaxy S9 is the ability to quickly apply new themes from the Samsung theme store. A number of the available themes are available at no cost. If you pick the right dark theme, you might even be able to save some battery life over the course of your day. Unfortunately, not every theme is worth your time, so we curated list of dark themes worth downloading.

News: Developers Can Now Add Native 3D Content Search & Download from Sketchfab to Their Apps

Sketchfab, one of the leading 3D model aggregators, continues to defend its turf from encroachment by Google. This time, the company has deployed a new API that gives developers even easier access to Sketchfab's extensive library.

News: Where to Watch Huawei's P20 Event Live

We are slowly approaching Huawei's "See Mooore" event where the P20, P20 Pro, and P20 Lite will officially be revealed to the world. With the event being held in Paris, France, attending won't be an option for most of us. Fortunately, there are ways to enjoy the event online.

News: Nokia 9 PureView Leaks & Rumors

Update February 25: The Nokia 9 PureView was announced at Mobile World Congress! Read all of the official specs and details at our full rundown of Nokia's latest flagship.