Month: February 2021

The Lens Studio creators have published more than 1.5 million AR effects to Snapchat. One of them is Audrey Spencer, who shared her story with us and provided her insights into Lens Studio as a storytelling device. Meanwhile, Snap has added new capabilities to the platform to stoke more creativity from its creators. In AR wearables, Samsung, perhaps prematurely and maybe accidentally, illustrated its vision for smartglasses and spatial computing via leaked concept videos. At Mobile World Congress Shanghai, tech giant Qualcomm and one of its hardware partners, Nreal, each revealed new AR… more

The rapid advance of Lens Studio as a platform for easily developing augmented reality experiences is just one indicator that immersive computing is becoming the norm. But one layer above the technology tools are the users, the real stars of any platform. Without passionate users, your platform is really just a great idea without the footprint of real-world usage and momentum. That’s part of why we decided to begin looking closer at some of the people who are driving the most mainstream version of AR forward via mobile apps. • Don’t Miss: Bernie Sanders Presidential Inauguration Freezing… more

The Lens Studio app has become a cornerstone of Snap and its augmented reality technology portfolio by giving developers, creatives, and novices the ability to create augmented reality camera effects for Snapchat. One reason for this is Snap’s steady and frequent iteration of the platform’s capabilities, and the latest round looks to greatly expand what the Lens Studio community can do with the tool. Don’t Miss: Snapchat Spooky AR Experiences from Lens Studio Creators Get You Ready for Halloween On Thursday, Snap released Lens Studio 3.4, which adds improved hand tracking, full-body… more

San Francisco-based augmented reality company Scope AR has made building AR instructional content for mobile devices and AR wearables as easy as throwing together a PowerPoint deck, primarily via its WorkLink platform. For its next trick, ScopeAR has packaged its platform into a browser window. Don’t Miss: 15 Remote Assistance Apps Driving the Enterprise Sector of Augmented Reality, from HoloLens to iPhone On Wednesday, the company launched WorkLink Create, a web-based application that, like the original WorkLink, enables users without coding or 3D modeling experience to create AR workflows… more

Apparently, we learned nothing from Jurassic Park, as scientists are still working on bringing extinct species back to life. Until that day comes, you can interact with long-lost animals through augmented reality…if you have a newer model iPhone. On Wednesday, Atlantic Productions, the company behind the BAFTA award-winning film David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive featuring the eponymous historian, have created a companion iPhone app that enables users to view virtual reproductions of fossils of three extinct species and then brings them and their habitats to life in augmented… more

The augmented reality smartglasses race is getting a major new entrant that could significantly change the entire landscape. On Tuesday, Qualcomm revealed its own XR1 AR Smart Viewer Reference Design, a pair of smartglasses that are meant to give OEMs (original equipment makers) an easy solution for launching their own smartglasses products. • Don’t Miss: Nreal Announces Move to Expand AR Smartglasses Sales to US, Europe, & Launch Enterprise Edition in 2021 Qualcomm’s XR1 offers a dynamic that allows the user to connect the smartglasses to a PC, an external puck computing unit, or even a… more

When it comes to augmented reality wearables, it’s currently an enterprise world. As such, Magic Leap’s latest Lumin updates are centered on features that appeal to enterprise customers. And Epson and Spinar are joining forces with a solution for distributed workforces. Meanwhile, smartphones continue to be the domain for consumer-grade AR. Lego has its eyes on the user-generated AR content that TikTok and Snapchat traffic in. Similarly, a week after Apple launched an AR app to promote its own spaced-based programming, Smithsonian Channel published its own AR app to commemorate the… more

A year and change into its shift towards enterprise customers, Magic Leap has updated Lumin OS and the corresponding Lumin SDK with some key prerequisites for the business sector. First and foremost, Magic Leap has added support for Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) in Lumin OS 0.98.20, including an update to the Helio browser to improve compatibility with audio and video communications platforms. Don’t Miss: 10 Remote Collaboration Apps for HoloLens, Magic Leap, & Mobile That Can Substitute for in-Person Meetings WebRTC, which works as a Javascript API that enables connected devices on… more

Two years ago, the 50th anniversary of the moon landing gave flight to a handful of Apollo 11 augmented reality apps and experiences, including one from the Smithsonian Channel. Now, as NASA’s latest unmanned mission to Mars is scheduled to land on Thursday, the Smithsonian Channel’s digital team has crafted yet another timely space-based AR app for the occasion. Don’t Miss: This iPhone & Android App Lets You Celebrate 50th Anniv. Of Moon Landing by Taking the Trip in Augmented Reality Available now for iOS and Android, the Mission to Mars AR app unloads seven AR experiences that enable you… more

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses into remote work models, whether they were ready or not, making Zoom a household (or home office) name for its video conferencing service. Now, in response to this general shift, smartglasses maker Epson and remote assistance platform provider Spinar America are joining forces with their respective products, Moverio smartglasses and Remote Vision software, to add augmented reality to the video conferencing toolkit for companies with teams of technicians who need assistance from remote experts for troubleshooting. Don’t Miss: 15 Remote Assistance… more