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During the Tuesday launch of Google I/O, the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, pulled off a Steve Jobsian “one more thing” move near the end of his keynote address that was simply stunning. It’s called Project Starline, and it’s a (for now) internal project working to make remote video meetings a lot more immersive. • Don’t Miss: Google Adds Sports Athletes to AR Search, Includes Virtual Street Signs in Live View AR in Google Maps The system uses high-resolution cameras, custom-built depth sensors, and what Google describes as a “breakthrough light field display” to deliver what appear to be 3D… more

Since bringing augmented reality features to Search and Maps, Google has made them arguably the most useful augmented reality products in its portfolio. On Tuesday, at Google I/O, Google unveiled some of its new AR capabilities for the pair of mobile apps. Don’t Miss: Google Offers Virtual Photo Booth Web App Ahead of Socially Distanced I/O ConferenceIn Google Search, you can now view AR animations of athletes like soccer hero Megan Rapinoe, tennis star Naomi Osaka, and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. Searching for these athletes now via the Google app for iOS and Android (or via Chrome for Android) will allow you to see them perform their famous feats in your personal space. Google/YouTubeGoogle/YouTubeGoogle/YouTubeMeanwhile, Live View, the walking navigation mode for Google Maps, will gain some helpful enhancements for iOS and Android over the coming months. Perhaps the most exciting of these improvements is the expansion of Live View from a walking navigation tool to an AR x-ray…more

In the great smartglasses race, component makers, such as those that supply the crucial waveguide displays that make visualization of virtual content possible, have a vested interest in pushing the industry forward in order to ship units. On Tuesday, waveguide maker DigiLens unveiled Design v1, a reference design based on its Visualize Framework for smartglasses development, with the aim of helping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), software and content makers, and IoT providers to jumpstart the development of their own augmented reality wearables. Don’t Miss: DigiLens Previews Smartglasses with Its Waveguide Displays in New Video on Design & Manufacturing ApproachDigiLens will ship Design v1 units immediately to a limited set of hardware partners and expects to expand availability by early summer. The DigiLens reference design, which runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 computing platform, includes the company’s Crystal50 waveguide lens, which yields a field of view of 50 degrees…more

Facebook Reality Labs just experienced its first major executive exit since the pandemic began. Hugo Barra has announced that he’s stepping down from his position as vice president of VR at Facebook. Barra’s move comes as a bit of a surprise as Facebook and its Oculus brand have been on a bit of a winning streak with the success of the Oculus Quest 2 (which features passthrough augmented reality features) and increased consumer interest in VR during pandemic lockdowns in 2020. • Don’t Miss: Facebook Searching for More Troops to Work at Oculus on AR Product Design & Marketing Previously… more

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing signs of winding down, nevertheless, Google will still hold its annual I/O developer conference as a virtual affair, with keynotes and sessions available as live streams and on-demand videos starting Tuesday, May 18 and concluding on Thursday, May 20. As a consolation prize, Google has a web-based AR treat for attendees and observers to bring a taste of the conference into their own home offices. Don’t Miss: Hands-On: Here’s How Augmented Reality in Google Search WorksThe Google I/O Photo Booth is a web app that is available for desktop and mobile browsers and adds animated brand mascots and Easter eggs from across Google’s ecosystem, including the Android’s Bugdroid, Chrome’s Offline Dino, Flutter’s Dash, and Firebase’s Sparky, to your camera view. Tommy Palladino/Next Reality Tommy Palladino/Next Reality After adding your virtual friends, you can then take a photo and add more props, including Google products, fashion accessories, snacks,…more

One fight for augmented reality branding that we thought had been settled has suddenly turned into a full-fledged legal battle—again. The combatants? Unreal Engine maker Epic Games versus the Chinese startup known as Nreal (aka Shenzhen Tairuo, formerly known as Hangzhou Tairuo, and parent company named Beijing Unicorn Technology). The stakes? Who gets to use the name “real” in reference to augmented reality products. • Don’t Miss: Hands-On with the Nreal Light, Smartphone-Powered Augmented Reality Immersion Next Reality was the first to report on this fight back in 2019, when Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Nreal to stop it from using the Nreal name. Epic’s specific claim was: “‘NREAL’ and ‘UNREAL’ are highly similar from a visual perspective. The only difference in spelling—that the Applicant’s Mark lacks a single vowel contained in Opposer’s UNREAL Marks—does not sufficiently distinguish the appearance of the Applicant’s Mark from that of Opposer’s UNREAL Marks,” read the filing…more

Sure, Microsoft has mostly marketed its HoloLens headsets towards enterprises and developers, but we learned this week that, like every other tech giant, the company is working on a consumer-grade AR wearable. Speaking of consumer smartglasses, Apple made another strategic investment this week that has implications for Apple’s AR future. While Apple is putting the pieces in place for its future AR products, Niantic is making the next steps towards the future of AR apps, advancing its AR cloud platform into private beta with a new name. For AR and TV, the future may be closer than we expected… more

Since its launch two years ago, the HoloLens 2 has been the best AR headset available, and nothing has come close to touching it since. So, at first blush, new features arriving for the device via an update to the Windows Holographic operating system might seem a bit…tame. Don’t Miss: 10 Remote Collaboration Apps for HoloLens, Magic Leap, & Mobile That Can Substitute for in-Person Meetings The top change arriving via version 21H1 is the transition to the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the default browser. Yawn? Not so fast. This means better support for WebXR experiences, which is… more

The story of the HoloLens has been a mix of work and play. But while many developers have devoted time to creating gaming and entertainment apps for the HoloLens 1, with the HoloLens 2, Microsoft has been encouraging everyone to focus more on the enterprise side of things. But there’s apparently still hope for those looking to harness the powers of the HoloLens for mainstream consumer uses, as HoloLens co-creator Alex Kipman has just commented on the development of a consumer version. • Don’t Miss: Microsoft Mixed Reality Developer Shows Off the Full Power of Hand Tracking & Occlusion via… more

The experience of actually using the HoloLens 2 can be difficult to describe to anyone who hasn’t had a chance to directly interact with the device in person and be blown away by its immersive capabilities. That’s why any new exploration into exposing the augmented reality magic made possible by the HoloLens 2 demands attention as we reveal how computing is about to change for the entire planet. This latest demo is no different. • Don’t Miss: Intel Takes Us Inside to Reveal How HoloLens 2 Is Transforming Computer Chip Production This demonstration focuses on displaying the hand tracking and object interactions that allow the HoloLens 2 to simulate the experience of touching and holding objects. In this case, the object is a virtual cube that is being handled by a pair of virtual hands overlaying the real hands of the user. This specific virtual hands effect is useful in that it allows the virtual light beaming from the cube to interact with the virtual hands, thus enhancing the…more