Apple may have just made a key acquisition that could help the company create a truly revolutionary augmented reality headset. According to a new report, German eye-tracking company SensoMotoric Instruments has been purchased by an Apple shell company, giving the iPhone-maker access the company’s trove of patents related to eye-tracking glasses and other systems.
This year’s WWDC keynote was an early Christmas for Apple fans. It delivered the big updates to iOS, macOS, and watchOS we were eagerly anticipating; a 10.5-inch iPad Pro; updated Macs with Intel Kaby Lake processors, plus nice surprises like the iMac Pro and HomePod.
But is this Apple back at its best, or do we need more out of Cupertino? Are fancy software updates enough to breathe new life into boring hardware? Is Apple’s new push into virtual reality and machine learning too little, too late?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over a bumper WWDC!
Apple is finally embracing virtual reality with new Macs that are powerful enough to run VR apps and games. To support that commitment, Valve has launched its SteamVR platform on macOS in beta.
Apple hasn’t done much with the Smart Connector since it debuted on the iPad Pro in 2015, but according to a new rumor, the data and charging port could finally be headed to the iPhone.
The next big thing from Apple is probably a year or so away from its grand unveiling.
Apple has a host of engineers dedicated to building and testing different augmented reality headsets, and according to a new report, the crew is getting a lot more resources to turn it into a consumer product.
A stunning new iPhone 8 concept imagines what it would be like if Siri could use AR to interact with the real world.
Imagination Technologies, the company behind the PowerVR graphics technology used in iPhone and iPad, has unleashed its powerful new Furion architecture.
It’s the first major upgrade since the introduction of Rogue, the architecture currently used in iPhone 7, and it’s capable of powering 4K smartphone and tablet displays with four times the resolution of 1080p.
Mac users hoping to jump into the world of virtual reality will have to wait even longer than expected.
Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell revealed in a recent interview that the company currently has no plans to bring Rift support to the Mac. Even though Mitchell himself is a MacBook Pro user, he says Apple’s machines don’t have the resources to deliver a premium experience
It’s one of the more ridiculous rumors we’ve heard in a while: Apple is teaming up with Zeiss to create augmented-reality glasses that will be unveiled later this year, according to long-time tech blogger Robert Scoble.
Don’t believe him.
Just because Apple ignores CES, the gigantic electronics show that slams Las Vegas each January, doesn’t mean you should. If you’re interested in the next wave of tech innovation, the annual show should definitely be on your radar.
You won’t glimpse the next iPhone or the rumored Apple Car, but there’s plenty of great tech breakthroughs that should get you salivating over next week’s big event. Here’s a rundown of all the cool stuff we expect to see at CES 2017.
This year’s iPhone upgrade might have been a little dull, but we saw plenty of exciting accessories for Apple’s iconic smartphone in 2016.
From awesome new AirPods to ultraportable virtual reality headsets, they all helped make iPhone 7 more exciting. Here are our favorite iPhone accessories of the year.
A secret team of Apple employees are working on a project that will turn iPhone cameras everywhere into a portal for augmented reality.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he’s bullish on the future of AR, and according to a new report the company is working on a total game changer.
Apple’s stalling autonomous car project caused the company to shift its attention to augmented reality, according to analyst Ming Chi Kuo, who says the company is racing ahead of the competition when it comes to AR.
In a new note to investors, the KGI Securities analyst says Apple’s decision to develop a self-driving platform instead of an entire electric car makes sense. The company will use augmented reality to provide an incredible experience, he predicts.
All the news about virtual reality, the pictures and videos of people having a great time wearing high performance (and high price) headsets, makes for a brand new form of FOMO. Thankfully, it doesn’t take hundreds of dollars to get in on the virtual fun, thanks to headsets like the DAWAY 360. It’s a full-featured, comfortable, high quality headset that transforms your mobile device into a VR gateway, and right now you can get one for just $38.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Unlike its rivals at Facebok, Twitter has shown little interest in virtual reality, but it appears that the company is finally ready to make a play and an ex-Apple designer is leading the charge.
Twitter has hired Alessandro Sabatelli as its first Director of VR and AR where he has been charged to “empower us all in the spatial computing revolution.”
Microsoft today announced that it’s opening up its HoloLens platform to third-parties — and it has a crazy new ad to celebrate.
The three-minute clip showcases some of HoloLens’ insane capabilities, like turning an old warehouse into a shoe store, putting people from around the world in the same room, and taking you on sublime acid trips without the acid.
Apple doesn’t have gamers in mind when choosing components for its latest Macs, but PC maker Digital Storm has proven that it’s possible to build a beastly gaming rig into the iMac’s gorgeous all-in-one form factor.
Check out the company’s stunning new Aura PC, which puts NVIDIA’s latest GTX 1080 graphics card behind a 34-inch curved display.
Thanks to headsets like Google Cardboard and Gear VR, the virtual reality experience is already pretty portable. But on a smartphone, you’re only getting a watered-down version.
That’s why MSI decided it would be a good idea to build a PC into a backpack, allowing you to enjoy high-end VR on the go.
Is Apple finally going to dip its toe into the fast-growing world of virtual reality?
Everyone’s been waiting for the Cupertino company to make its move as devices like the Samsung Gear VR become increasingly popular, and according to Indian actor Emraan Hashmi — who met with Tim Cook this week — “Apple VR” is on its way!
It’s not easy to find a good VR headset for iPhone that’s easy to carry around. Google Cardboard will probably get crushed in your bag, and more robust models made out of plastic are just too bulky. But Speck has an awesome solution.
It’s called Pocket-VR, and it’s an iPhone-compatible virtual reality headset that folds up so small, you can easily fit it into your pants.
It’s time to dust off that virtual reality headset you bought for your iPhone. Thanks to a new YouTube update that’s rolling out now, it’s finally possible to watch any video in glorious VR.
Apple hasn’t shown much enthusiasm for diving into virtual reality in the past, but all signs are pointing to a renewed interest. With Tim Cook mentioning VR in the latest Apple earnings call, I got to thinking more about it — as I’ve never personally given it a go.
Being immersed in a 3-D world that tracks your head movements is becoming a mainstream reality. At the moment, VR is heading full-steam toward gamers in particular — the user is immersed in a virtual world where they can look around without the 16:9 constrictions of a standard TV or monitor.
So in this video I’m looking at a $30 VR headset and seeing how well it works. Or, if it just sucks. Check out the video after the break.
Hit-and-miss Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster (a.k.a. the “Apple television set is coming” guy) has a somewhat wacky theory in his latest note to clients: that Apple will not only announce its own virtual reality project at some point in the future, but that this will prove to be the real iPhone killer.
And that Apple’s totally okay with that.
We’d play this game in a heartbeat, especially if it can bust video games into our living rooms in such a realistic way.
Putting on a typical virtual reality (VR) headset like an Oculus Rift can be disorienting at first, as VR tends to shut you out of the real world and into a, well, virtual one. Augmented reality, like you might find with Google Glass, for example, tends to place the digital world into the real one.
This Sulon Q looks like a VR rig, but lets you see the real world through it, with some digital overlay to make the fantasy of a video game look like it’s in the same place as you are.
In the video below, you’ll see a demo of a Jack and the Beanstalk game which starts out in the Sulon offices, but then things get fantastic fast as the giant beanstalk finds its way upward to the sky.
Check it out and thrill along with us.
Next month, St. Bartholemew’s Hospital in London will live-stream an operation, letting anyone with virtual-reality goggles see the procedure from any angle.
Dr. Shafi Ahmed, the colorectal and laparoscopic surgeon who will perform the surgery, has broadcast from the O.R. before using Google Glass. But this will be the first time a stream will include 360-degree video that will let viewers observe from any angle.
“You’ll be with me in the operating theater,” he said.
