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The era of virtual meetings has been evolving every few months, with augmented reality filters leading the charge in changing the way we interact when chatting via video streams. Now Zoom, the current leader in the virtual meetings space, has changed the game again by bring a new kind of immersiveness to virtual meetings with Immersive View. • Don’t Miss: Arvizio Brings AR Collaboration to Zoom Meetings with Immerse 3D App for Smartphones, HoloLens & Magic Leap The new feature was officially launched on Monday and allows all participants in a Zoom meeting to put themselves in a virtual… more

As the sports world slowly gets back to normal while observing pandemic protocols, fans are once again being folded into the mix in innovative ways. The latest example comes from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and uses augmented reality via the Snapchat app. • Don’t Miss: Wilder vs. Fury Boxing Rematch Will Feature an AR Experience & Sponsorship via a UFC Legend On Saturday, April 24, when users open the Snapchat app, a new sponsored Lens appears that allows anyone to make their picks for UFC 261. Using the head tracking feature in Snapchat, the Lens allows you to pick the… more

As a company, Facebook is not shy about talking up its AR smartglasses plans. The latest missive comes from two executives in charge of developing AR software and hardware. As far as we know, Amazon doesn’t have plans to make AR smartglasses yet (and audio-only smartglasses don’t count as AR). However, the company is getting into the salon business, and it does have plans for AR in that regard. Elsewhere, content is king, and AR is no exception. This week, Google, Snapchat, and Samsung demonstrated their latest examples of AR content and content generation for mobile devices. Facebook Execs… more

Disney Plus shows WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier are both streaming hits, but the two series could not be more different in terms of giving fans a taste of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the two titles do have another thing in common: Marvel Studios delivered an AR experience for each of them just ahead of their finale episodes. Don’t Miss: Marvel Expands Roster of Avengers Playmoji for Pixel Playground Ahead of ‘Avengers: Endgame’While WandaVision’s AR experience arrived via Facebook Messenger, Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s AR content is locked away in the Disney Insider app for iOS. Tommy Palladino/Next Reality Tommy Palladino/Next Reality The experience starts with the Shield Challenge, a mini-game that replicates (spoiler alert) Sam Wilson’s training sequence with Captain America’s shield in the penultimate episode of the series. In order to play, you’ll need a fairly wide open space, which you’ll scan with your iPhone camera. Pro tip: scan as much of the…more

After integrating Snapchat into its latest Galaxy A Series smartphones, Samsung is trying out a new AR camera app for its army of mobile devices. The company recently released a beta version of AR Canvas, an experimental app for its Galaxy smartphones that gives users the ability to create semi-persistent AR scenes with a variety of images. Don’t Miss: Here Are All the Things in You Can Do in Augmented Reality with the Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9+ Using the rear-facing camera, users can type out and anchor 3D text, doodle, embed GIFs, and place photos from their photo gallery into their physical… more

It’s Earth Day, which means that nonprofits, individuals, and brands are making a concerted effort to raise awareness of environmental issues and how to change behaviors to reverse impacts of pollution, deforestation, and suburban sprawl, among others. Leading the charge is Snap by stepping up to this challenge by using the augmented reality powers of Snapchat to illustrate problems we face across the planet. Don’t Miss: Snapchat Celebrates Earth Day with Sobering Augmented Reality Look at Rising Sea LevelsWorking in partnership with the AR/VR team at Google, Snap recruited Lens Studio creators to craft five interactive AR experiences using the Depth API in ARCore. Three of these Lenses center on the effects of pollution on wildlife, particularly the dumping of plastics and other trash and the spilling of oil in our oceans. In Saving Chelon by Aidan Wolf, you are tasked with guiding the titular sea turtle through a virtual underwater environment using a light controlled by the…more

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, so, too, does the demand for video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. For its part, Google is banking on some augmented reality tricks to give Google Meet some added value for users. Don’t Miss: Add Some Fun to Your Zoom Video Calls by Changing Your Virtual BackgroundThis week, Google unveiled a host of interface tweaks and improvements for Google Meet, including the addition of AI-powered virtual lighting adjustments and automatic zooming and centering. The one that caught our attention, though, is the addition of virtual video backgrounds. By now, video conferencing veterans are familiar with how to add virtual backgrounds to Zoom, Teams, and Meet calls, with Google extending the capability to iOS and Android apps last month. Google takes this fun perk a step further, with three options for video backdrops — classroom, forest, and party — rolling out to users within the coming weeks. More video options will be added…more

The march of Amazon to insert itself into nearly every retail arena continues with the e-commerce giant’s latest move to launch its own brick-and-mortar beauty salons. However, this new initiative isn’t limited to simply facilitating transactions at real-world locations, instead, Amazon is deploying some of its augmented reality aspirations to its experiment with in-person beauty customer service. • Don’t Miss: Google Lens Delivers AR Try-On for L’Oreal’s Garnier Products at Walmart But what was missing in Amazon’s announcement regarding its new beauty salon experiment, and the AR that will… more

Gamers, anime fans, and those with an interest in Japanese culture are in for an AR treat courtesy of Google. On Tuesday, the company added 14 3D renditions of popular Japanese characters, headlined by pop culture icons Pac-Man and Hello Kitty, to its roster of augmented reality content available in Google Search. Don’t Miss: Hands-On: Here’s How Augmented Reality in Google Search WorksIn addition to Pac-Man and Hello Kitty, you can view Ultraman, Ultraman Zero, Ultraman Belial, Gomorra, Evangelion (Evangelion Unit 1), Gundam (Odusseus Gundam, Kusui Gundam, Penelope), Kogimyun, Taiko Master, Pompompurin, and Little Twin Stars. Google/YouTubeSome of the characters come with special animations or sound effects. For instance, Pac-Man gobble dots while being chased by ghosts, while Hello Kitty greats you in Japanese and English. Each of the AR characters can be scaled in size and captured in photos or videos for sharing elsewhere, but the additional effects could make for some interesting…more

Snap introduced some fantastic new augmented reality abilities in version 3.4 of Lens Studio, the company’s tool that allows anyone to create AR lenses for the Snapchat app. The newest features include improved hand tracking and full-body segmentation. The Lens Studio community has wasted no time in putting these capabilities to the test. The results include virtual recreations of popular sci-fi tech along with some amusing and visually stunning effects. Let’s check them out… Don’t Miss: Next Reality’s 30 People to Watch in Augmented Reality for 2020I Am Iron Man in ARSnapchat can’t help you become a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist like Tony Stark, but it can give you a virtual suit of armor. Using the full-body segmentation, the Iron Man Suit covers your full body in the familiar hot rod red and yellow suit without the need for spinning wheels, suitcases, nanotechnology, or other ostentatious suit-up contraptions. Tommy Palladino/Next Reality Tommy Palladino/Next Reality…more