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Niantic first unveiled its AR cloud back in 2018, using it to enhance the immersive capabilities of its gaming portfolio. Now, the company is expanding access to the system, allowing third-party developers to take advantage of next-generation augmented reality features for their mobile apps. Don’t Miss: Pokémon GO Developer Niantic Scores $245 Million in Funding to Fast-Track Real World Platform The platform, which was previously known as the “Niantic Real World Platform,” is also getting a new name: Lightship. Niantic opened up the refreshed developer kit as a private beta this week. At… more

Angry Birds, one of the first franchises to find success in mobile gaming, continues to shoot its shot at new life in augmented reality gaming. After adapting its slingshot gameplay for Magic Leap with Angry Birds FPS: First Person Slingshot and mobile with Isle of Pigs, Rovio Entertainment has pushed its furious feathered friends into the tower defense genre altogether for a web-based AR mini-game. Don’t Miss: Hands-On: Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs Reinvents the Franchise for Mobile, but Smartglasses Are Its Destiny Launching as a promotional tie-in with Burger King UK, the web-based… more

Apple has a sterling reputation when it comes to managing its supply chain; it’s where CEO Tim Cook proved his mettle to succeed Steve Jobs. Now, the company has made a strategic investment with a supplier that will be crucial to its future plans for AR wearables. While Apple gets its ducks in a row for its debut AR wearable, startup Campfire has benefited from the design expertise of a long-time Apple collaborator. We recently spoke with Campfire CEO Jay Wright about its relationship with famed design studio Frog and its plans for its enterprise-grade AR headset. On the content side of the… more

The mission to rise above the fray to become a leading player in the augmented reality business is a moving target that depends on innovation, resources, and timing. Last week, Campfire took advantage of these remote-centric times to introduce a new AR product to the market that could change how many of us work. • Don’t Miss: Campfire AR Headset Emerges from Stealth to Offer 3D Collaborations for Enterprise & Design Teams The team is lead by CEO Jay Wright, the person who took over at the newly formed Meta View when it rose from the ashes of the now-defunct Meta Company. But that’s all… more

One of the oldest electronic musical instruments is the theremin, a synthesizer that generates sound based on hand gestures, as featured in the classic “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys. Now, indie developer Lucas Rizzotto has taken the concept of the theremin and translated it to an augmented reality synthesizer app for HoloLens 2 that can turn people into musical instruments. Don’t Miss: Control a Synthesizer with the HoloLens to Make Music in Mixed Reality Yes, technically, people are already musical instruments, or at least those gifted with singing talent or possessing the ability to… more

The future of the HoloLens 2, according to Microsoft, is all about enterprise use cases. But that doesn’t mean some of the more creative-minded HoloLens developers won’t bend the top-tier augmented reality device to their own designs. The latest example of this trend comes from Japan. • Don’t Miss: Microsoft Japan Helps Godzilla Invade Real World Tokyo via HoloLens If you’ve ever been to Tokyo, you may have seen the incredibly designed “Gundam building,” which looks like a giant Gundam robot crouching among the normal buildings of the megalopolis. More recently, a life-sized Gundam was… more

As Apple prepares to potentially introduce its (mostly) secretive AR headset for possible introduction later this year and launch next year, the company has made a strategic investment to ensure its supply chain can support it. On Wednesday, Apple announced an award of $410 million from its Advanced Manufacturing fund to II-VI, an optics manufacturer that supplies the company with iPhone and iPad components that enable advanced AR experiences. Don’t Miss: Concept Video Hints That First Mainstream AR Smartglasses Could Feature Glass from Apple-Backed Corning “The expansion of the company’s… more

Two brands with affinities for augmented reality, Marvel and the NBA, joined forces to inject some AR superpowers into Monday night’s matchup of the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans. While ESPN carried the traditional broadcast of the game, ESPN2 delivered a special broadcast called Marvel’s Arena of Heroes. The alternate broadcast was injected with comic book-style scorebox and graphics and various quotes from Marvel movies spliced into the play-by-play announcements, such as “Steph Curry is inevitable.” Don’t Miss: AT&T and NBA Launch Mobile AR Experience via Chicago Bulls… more

The Chicago Bulls may not be very relevant in the current NBA standings, but they do lead the league in one other area. With an assist from Nexus Studios, AT&T has debuted StatsZone, an augmented reality experience that presents game statistics in an immersive format, in the Chicago Bulls app. Don’t Miss: NBA AR App Launches on Android & Adds Portals to Playoffs Leveraging ARKit from Apple and ARCore from Google for horizontal plane detection, StatZone anchors a tabletop-sized virtual basketball court with customizable dashboards, shot charts, and animations that help visualize the numbers… more

There’s already some fierce competition between Snap and Facebook in the AR space, but it’s about to heat up even more, with Snap snatching up a 3D mapping startup that could add some new AR capabilities to its arsenal. Meanwhile, Facebook is investing a sizable portion of its research and development budget on AR and VR. On the hardware front, startups Campfire and Tooz previewed AR wearables with very specific use cases. Finally, Zoom and Apple have added new immersive features that push the boundaries of their respective video apps. Snap Acquires 3D Mapping Startup Pixel8.Earth The… more