| Cult of Mac

iOS 16’s RoomPlan captures 3D floor plans in seconds

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RoomPlan lets you create 3D floor plan using your iPhone's LiDAR scanner
RoomPlan puts the LiDAR Scanner on iPhones and iPads to good use.
Photo: Apple
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A new framework dubbed RoomPlan will allow apps to quickly create 3D floor plans of rooms using the LiDAR Scanner in recent iPhones and iPads.

The Swift API will allow real estate and e-commerce apps to scan and create a room’s floor plan. This can then be used for remodeling and interior design changes. Despite its wow factor, Apple did not talk about the RoomPlan API onstage during Monday’s WWDC22 keynote.

The radical evolution of watchOS and what it tells us about Apple’s future

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I've seen the future and it's Apple Watch: The radical evolution of watchOS and what it tells us about Apple’s future.
I've seen the future and it's Apple Watch.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Unveiled at a special event way back in 2014, the first Apple Watch looked similar to the wearable we know and love today. But looks can be deceiving. Take the Digital Crown and Side Button, for example. Their design may not have changed, but their functionality is now very different.

Apple Watch went through a radical evolution over the past eight years. What started out as an “intimate way to connect and communicate,” has become primarily a health and fitness device.

This pivot is uncharacteristic of Apple. Products like iPod, iPhone and iPad launched with a clear vision and remained true to it. The Apple Watch’s evolution suggests a shift in Cupertino’s approach to new products, and provides tantalizing clues to the future of the company’s rumored next platform launch: realityOS.

Mixed-reality Apple glasses could add a new dimension to fitness

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How augmented reality could augment your workout
Will augmented reality augment your workouts?
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Like Apple Watch before it, Cupertino’s much-anticipated mixed-reality headset looks set to be another leap forward for fitness wearables.

Mixed reality is already commonplace in TV sports. You see it every time the virtual line of scrimmage is superimposed onto a football field. Now imagine that the players on the field can see that virtual line too, just like the viewers at home. That’s exactly what Apple’s latest gadget could deliver, adding a whole new dimension to sports and fitness.

Get the most from your iPhone’s augmented reality features [Deals]

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MagiMask
These AR goggles make the most of immersive games, interactive learning and 360-degree movies.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The power of the new iPhones to produce augmented reality experiences is really amazing. Thanks to powerful graphics processing and cameras, it’s possible to overlay convincing 3D images over the real world.

Unfortunately, the only way to get that AR experience is typically through the phone screen — but not so with this headset and accessories.

Facebook boxes out Apple on AR displays

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Plessy
Plessy has been at the forefront of micro LED display development.
Photo: Plessy

Apple’s long-rumored augmented reality glasses project may have suffered a serious setback thanks to Facebook.

The social network company reportedly reached a licensing deal with Plessey, a British firm that makes displays specifically for augmented reality displays. Apple supposedly was looking into acquiring Plessey. But Facebook rushed in and struck an exclusive supply deal with the company, effectively shutting out Cupertino.

Apple’s ARKit 3.5 offers augmented reality enhanced wih LiDAR 3D mapping

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ARKit 3.5 offers improved people occlusion with its LiDAR 3D scanner.
ARKit 3.5 does a better of job of mixing people and virtual objects in augmented reality apps.
Photo: Apple

ARKit 3.5, the new version of Apple’s augmented reality software, can capture a 3D representation of the world in real time. This feature employs the LiDAR scanner that’s already in the 2020 Pad Pro and expected in some of this autumn’s iPhone models.

And the version of ARKit that debuted yesterday in iOS 13.4 is better at allowing virtual objects to pass in front of and behind people in the scene.

Apple AR tech will bring Alabama civil rights history to life

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Apple CEO Tim Cook at the launch of Ed Farm in Birmingham.
Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the debut of Ed Farm, an educational initiative in Alabama.
Photo: Tim Cook/Apple

In Birmingham today, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced Ed Farm, which will help teach students to program with Apple’s “Everyone Can Code” curriculum.

In addition, Cook  reportedly spoke about employing his company’s augmented reality tools in Birmingham’s civil rights historical sites.

You’ll be shopping in AR soon, thanks to Apple

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Apple AR Quick Look is augmented reality shopping
Apple’s AR Quick Look lets you see how this unique speaker, and other products, would look in your home.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Retailers that advertise with Apple’s AR Quick Look now have the option to add a “buy now” button directly in the augmented reality experience. Before this, shoppers could only look at items superimposed onto the real world.

This is just the latest part of Apple’s growing embrace of augmented reality.

2020 is the year Apple gets serious about augmented reality

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Apple augmented reality has business potential
Hardware changes in the 2020 iPad and iPhone could noticeably improve augmented reality’s usefulness.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook called augmented reality “the next big thing” this week. But he kept quiet about his company’s specific plans for this emerging technology. So Cult of Mac reached out to industry analysts, who predict that this year’s iPhone and iPad will come with AR equipment built in. And, for the future, they’re optimistic about Apple’s rumored AR glasses.

Apple said to be working with Valve on first AR headset

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Valve-Index-headset
Valve already knows how to make headsets.
Photo: Valve

Apple is reportedly partnering with Valve, the company behind Steam, to develop its first augmented reality headset. Valve already offers a virtual reality headset of its own for gaming. But its work with Apple is said to be focused on AR, which Cupertino thinks will play an increasingly important role in the future.