Month: June 2021

The startup JigSpace, which was among the first apps to support ARKit and LiDAR for iPhone augmented reality apps, has capitalized on its early mover status by innovating within the space. On Wednesday, JigSpace closed a $4.7 million Series A round of funding, led by Rampersand with Investible, Vulpes, and Roger Allen AM participating as well. Don’t Miss: The 50 Best Augmented Reality Apps for iPhone, iPad & Android Devices “Creating and sharing knowledge in 3D should be simple, useful, and delightful. We’re on a mission to unlock the utility of augmented reality at massive scale and bring… more

Yo dawg, Snap heard you using Snapchat augmented reality Lenses in your messages, so it’s putting its AR Lenses in other messaging apps. On Wednesday, Rakuten Viber flipped the switch on an update that brings Snapchat’s popular AR Lenses to many users of its Viber messaging and voice communications app. Don’t Miss: Snap Releases Lens Studio 4.0 with 3D Body Mesh & More, Upgrades Scan as Fashion Assistant Viber users will now have access to 30 Lenses at launch for augmented video messaging and photos created in the app, but the selection will expand over time, with Rakuten Viber planning to… more

No, Jack Dorsey’s Cash app isn’t about to launch an augmented reality device (er, I don’t think…), but its latest outing is about as close as we’ve come to full confirmation that the wearable AR age is upon us. The payments app, which is owned by Square, recently rolled out a flashy new marketing video (see below), and while AR isn’t the star, it’s worth unpacking the major cultural cues contained in the spot. • Don’t Miss: Snap’s Non-Creepy, Fashionable Spectacles Wearable Camera Proves We’re Ready for Mainstream AR Smartglasses The video stars music star Megan Thee Stallion (who is no… more

While Snap may eventually compete with Apple and Samsung in selling smartglasses to consumers, today it is helping them achieve their business objectives via augmented reality. That’s not all that’s new with Snap. the company has also brokered a major content deal with Universal Music Group and showed off a new AR app for its next-generation Spectacles. On the AR headset front, Microsoft HoloLens 2 is helping one museum wow its visitors, while the Varjo XR-3 is fueling a breakthrough in remote virtual collaboration. Apple Promotes Apple Pay via AR & Snapchat Lens Now that vaccinations have… more

The Paris-based technology conference Viva Technology, which hosted the likes of Apple’s Tim Cook and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, is now over. But there are still a few more treats to discover from the annual gathering. Namely, from new Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson. • Don’t Miss: ‘The Matrix’ Movie Effects Pioneer & Former Magic Leap Exec Reveals ‘Tragic Story’ of Startup’s Recent Struggles Unlike Cook and Zuckerberg, who both appeared at last week’s tech conference via remote video, Johnson instead decided to appear in person. Although we’re not aware of Johnson’s specifics around the… more

The march of Snap to become the world’s augmented reality engine isn’t slowing down. In a new deal announced on Thursday, Snap has revealed that it has signed an agreement to become the software driving Universal Music Group’s (UMG) mobile AR music offerings. • Don’t Miss: Taylor Swift Invites You to Dance to Her Music in Augmented Reality As the home to major artists like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Adele, Justin Bieber, and many others, the deal effectively gives Snap an exclusive pipeline into the some of the most popular entertainment content on the… more

While Apple was one of the first to integrate LiDAR into mobile devices for depth sensing, headset maker Varjo has developed a truly remarkable feat with its implementation of the sensor. On Thursday, Varjo introduced Varjo Reality Cloud, a system that uses the LiDAR sensors embedded in its XR-3 device to scan an environment and stream volumetric video of it in real-time, essentially simulating the teleportation of people and spaces. Don’t Miss: Hands-On: Hands-On with Spatial’s Remote Meeting App on Microsoft HoloLens With Varjo Reality Cloud, an XR-3 headset can scan and record an… more

We already know that the US Army will be using its modified HoloLens 2 for special missions, and major businesses are deploying the augmented reality device for enterprise use cases. Nevertheless, despite Microsoft’s mostly business-focused push for the advanced AR device, there are still creative studios using it to expand the boundaries of entertainment. One of the latest is bringing us an immersive trip through time. • Don’t Miss: Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 Makes Primetime Debut on Fox TV Show ‘The Resident’ This month, the National Museum of Natural History (Muséum national d’Histoire… more

Many years ago, when I first traveled to Tokyo, Japan, I was amazed by the contactless IC card turnstiles embedded in the county’s subway system. Well, despite New York City also being a top-tier city, its famed subway system has only recently added contactless payment, and Apple is leading the charge, powered in part by augmented reality. • Don’t Miss: Snap Spectacles Get a New App for Hands-Free Drawing in AR New York’s MTA transit system One Metro New York (OMNY) contactless payment system launched a few years ago and starting adding an Apple Pay option back in 2019. Now that… more

If you thought Snap’s Spectacles were limited to a couple of demos, you haven’t been paying attention. During the initial launch of the augmented reality wearable, the social media giant said that it had seeded Spectacles with a wide range of developers, and now we’re getting the chance to see what another one has done with the AR smartglasses, • Don’t Miss: How to Get a Pair of Snap’s New Spectacles AR Smartglasses Pittsburgh-based AR and VR developer Matthew Hallberg used Snap’s Lens Studio to create a new app for Spectacles that he calls Sketchflow. To demo the app, he takes us on a… more