augmented reality - page 5

Facebook eyes 2023 launch for smart glasses project

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Facebook messaging apps
Zuckerberg has reportedly asked that the project be made a priority.
Photo: Facebook

Apple’s long-rumored AR glasses project could get some competition from the world’s biggest social network company.

Facebook is reportedly developing its own augmented reality glasses. The social network recently struck a partnership with Ray-Ban parent company Luxottica to speed the product along, according to a new report.

How Apple will spark an AR boom [Cult of Mac Magazine 313]

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Apple's deep investment in augmented reality looks set to pay off.
Apple's deep investment in augmented reality looks set to pay off.
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple’s long bet on augmented reality is about to pay off. Thanks to new tools for developers, and hardware that can handle the advanced apps they create, an AR revolution is in the offing.

Find out how Apple will spark the AR boom in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it now for iOS, or see the top stories below in your browser.

This is the start of a whole new era for Apple augmented reality

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Apple Park ARKit
Apple's augmented reality journey is just getting started.
Photo: Nobuyuki Hiyashi

When Apple introduced ARKit in 2017, the augmented reality platform was hailed as a game-changer. Two years later, Apple’s AR push looks ready to deliver the type of experience that gets CEO Tim Cook so excited he wants to scream.

Thanks to a trio of new augmented reality tools for iOS 13, and the very real possibility of an Apple AR headset on the horizon, 2019 promises to be the start of something truly special for Apple’s augmented reality efforts.

Apple’s first AR headset spilled by iOS 13

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Apple’s first AR headset could launch in 2022, AR glasses in 2023
You can expect big things next year.
Concept: Taeyeon Kim

Apple is still developing its own augmented reality headset, according to code discovered in iOS 13.

Internal builds of the software include a “STARTester” app for switching in and out of a headset mode, according to a new report. It offers two modes, including “worn” and “held.”

Researchers also uncovered a text file that describes a “StarBoard” system for stereo AR apps.

Apple’s AR glasses team gets a new, no-nonsense leader

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glasses
Apple‘s AR glasses project may have gotten a big boost from a new leader with long experience herding developers.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The top-secret group at Apple developing a pair of Augmented Reality glasses reportedly has a new leader. Kim Vorrath has been with the company for many years, and is now in charge of all Apple’s AR efforts.

Apple wants to put AR navigation in your car

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Apple Maps could make driving easier with augmented reality navigation tips.
Apple Maps could make driving easier with augmented reality navigation tips.
Photo: Apple

Apple is exploring ways to build augmented reality into Apple Maps. Rather than top-down views of roads and intersections, the company is considering overlaying route information onto live views of the road ahead of the car.

Apple Maps has always lagged behind Google Maps. Building in AR could help it jump ahead.

No, Apple hasn’t canceled its AR glasses project

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Apple glasses
Apple Glasses could be the next big thing.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Production of Apple’s upcoming augmented reality glasses has supposedly been “terminated,” according to one of the worst sources of Apple rumors on the internet.

A number of websites have taken DigiTimes’ dubious report of the canceled Apple smart glasses as fact. However, after digging into iOS 13’s assets, one of the best Apple sleuths in the world says there’s still a lot of evidence that the AR glasses might come even sooner than expected.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite takes off like a Nimbus 2000

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The first AR Harry Potter game promises spell casting in the real world
If you started playing the new Harry Potter augmented-reality game this weekend, you weren’t alone.
Photo: Niantic and WB Games

Harry Potter still has his magic… if by magic you mean the ability to make tons of money in a short amount of time. An augmented-reality game set in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World pulled in nearly three million new players its first weekend. And they spent a lot of real muggle money.

Google takes aim at enterprise with new $999 Glass headset

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Google
Say hello to Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2.
Photo: Google

Google Glass is officially moving out of Alphabet’s “moon shot factory” to become an official Google product.

The search engine giant revealed its new Glass Enterprise Edition 2 spectacles today only instead of trying to reach mass appeal with consumers, Google is focused solely on making Glass great for businesses.

Apple AR glasses concept is both futuristic and retro

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Proposed Apple AR glasses would run realityOS, their own operating system.
Proposed Apple AR glasses would run realityOS, their own operating system.
Photo: Dominik Hofacker/ConceptsiPhone

An artist created a vision for a set of augmented reality glasses running a new Apple operating system. His concept video is built around the strong evidence that Apple is designing just such a product.

Watch the video now:

Everyone’s a wizard in upcoming Harry Potter AR game

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The first AR Harry Potter game promises spell casting in the real world
The first AR Harry Potter game promises spell casting in the real world
Photo: Niantic and WB Games

In Harry Potter: Wizards Unite,  players must seek out creatures, objects and people that have made their way into the muggle world through the magic of augmented reality. 

The developers have revealed a first look at this upcoming game that has quite a bit in common with Pokémon Go.

Apple’s first AR glasses to arrive in 2020 as iPhone accessory

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iOS 11.3 ARKit
Augmented reality will be even better with glasses.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s long-rumored augmented reality glasses will finally arrive in 2020, according to a trusted analyst.

The first-generation specs reportedly will function strictly as an iPhone accessory. They will depend on Apple’s smartphone for processing, rendering, location services and just about everything else. Mass-production of the Apple AR glasses could start later this year.

Apple’s VR headset could pack motorized headband system

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Apple is definitely designing a head-mounted display like this one, but hopefully less brick-like.
Apple is definitely designing a head-mounted display like this one, but hopefully less brick-like.
Photo: Apple

Engineers are apparently working on an innovative design for the head-mounted display Apple is secretly developing: the company requested a patent for a motorized adjustment system.

Apple doesn’t openly talk about this project but this request, and another the company made recently, leave no room for doubt that the company is researching what will almost certainly be an augmented reality headset.

Leaked images of second-gen Google Glass reveal USB-C upgrade

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technoblog
Say hello to the new Google Glass.
Photo: Tecnoblog

Google Glass is set to get an upgrade later this year for enterprise users and it looks like USB-C charging will be one of the big new features.

Leaked images of the second-generation Google Glass for enterprise surfaced on the web today. The images show that Google is ditching its magnetic cable charging system in favor of a single quick-charging port.

Take a closer look:

Noted analyst lists four ways that 5G will be a huge win for Apple

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No matter what your AT&T iPhone says, everyone else says “5G E” is 4G.
Apple has years to get a real 5G iPhone on the market, according to a well-known analyst.
Photo: Cult of Mac/@Siddavarapu

The faster cellular data networks being rolled out now will bring tremendous benefits to Apple, according to a well-known industry analyst. Gene Munster even said today, “Apple will be one of 5G’s biggest beneficiaries.”

He listed a number of current and future products that will see gains from this nascent wireless tech.

Lego adds spooky augmented reality ghosts to new playsets

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Hidden Side sets combine Lego bricks with augmented reality ghosts.
Will AR finally go mainstream in 2020?
Photo: Lego Group

Lego is exploring the cutting edge of play with its Hidden Side sets. These include augmented reality (AR) ghosts that children catch on their iPhone or Android.

This upcoming offering from the toy giant is in line with all of AR, which combines the real world with the digital one. 

Apple names senior exec to promote its augmented reality initiatives

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There are plenty of AR apps but few people have heard of them. An Apple veteran has been tasked with changing that.
Frank Casanova is Apple's new AR boss.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s augmented reality efforts have a new spokesperson. Frank Casanova has been named head of marketing for Apple’s AR offerings.

Apple has been hard at work in this area for years, but its developer tools and the resulting AR apps haven’t attracted significant attention. Perhaps that’s why there’s a new senior director in charge of promoting them.

HoloLens creator leaves Apple AR headset team

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With HoloLens, Microsoft enters the age of holographic computing. Photo: Microsoft
There’s been a slight setback at Apple’s secret team creating augmented reality smartglasses, like the ones being demonstrated here.
Photo: Microsoft

One of the designers of Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality (AR) smartglasses has left Apple.

Although exactly what Avi Bar-Zeev was working on is a secret, it was almost certainly a project to develop Apple’s own AR glasses.

Lego Ninjago AR app brings toys to virtual life

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Lego Ninjago AR brings playsets to life in a mixed reality in game.
Lego Ninjago AR brings playsets to life in a mixed reality in game.
Photo: Lego

At Apple’s developer conference in June, Lego demonstrated an app built with ARkit that placed real Lego sets in virtual environments. The first version of that software just launched today.

Lego Ninjago AR lets players interact with certain Dragon Hunters sets. And two people can play together thanks to the multi-player capabilities added in ARkit 2.

Pokémon Go player-vs.-player battles teased again

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A major missing feature from Pokémon GO will be added soon.
A major missing feature from Pokémon Go will be added soon.
Photo: Niantic

Every version of Pokémon is about players using pocket monsters to battle other trainers. Well, every version except Pokémon Go, which conspicuously lacks the capability to let you go head-to-head with another player.

Game developer Niantic promised this feature would arrive before the end of the year. The company suggested today that the wait is almost over.

Next Harry Potter game will be Pokémon Go for wizards

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A teaser trailer reveals the theme of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
A teaser trailer reveals the theme of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Photo: Niantic

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will use augmented reality to let players seemingly cast spells in the real world, while encountering characters and creatures from the Wizarding World.

It had been scheduled to be released before the end of this year. Instead, all we’re getting is a teaser trailer and a promise that this AR game will be out in 2019.

2019 iPad could sport revolutionary 3D scanning tech

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LEGO AR Studio
Apple's adding its laser-scanning tech to the next iPad.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple is all-in on augmented reality. This requires sensing the objects around the computer and user, which is why Apple reportedly intends to build its new “Time of Flight” laser scanning technology into the back of the next iPad.

The 2018 iPad Pro isn’t even out yet and there’s already a possible reason to wait on its replacement .

New Pokémon Go feature makes exercise enticing

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Pokémon GO is blasting off again with new GO Battle League
Pokémon GO Adventure Sync rewards you for exercising with the Candy needed to Power Up and evolve your pocket monster.
Photo: Niantic

Playing Pokémon GO requires you to get off the couch and explore the world. The game now takes that idea and runs with it (pun intended) by rewarding you for exercising even when not hunting virtual monsters.