Everything Else « Mobile AR News

News: Hang Out with Some of Your Favorite Characters Using the 8i Holo App

Can't wait till Apple's ARKit is released? Me neither. Luckily, a fun new app launched today that is close to what the ARKit promises to deliver in a few months.

News: Want to Try on Lipstick Without Leaving Your Home? Meitu Has a Way

Finding the perfect lip color can be a difficult task, to say the least. Thankfully, we're living in a world with augmented reality, where it's possible to try on lipstick from different brands at home.

News: Pinterest Is Comparing Their Lens Update to Cher's 'Clueless' Closet

We are totally buggin' about Pinterest's update to their Lens. I know, I had to.

News: Ready or Not, Augmented Reality Is Coming to Fantasy Sports and Dating Apps

It seems that mobile app developers are constantly coming up with new ideas to apply augmented reality, with Apple's ARKit promising to increase adoption in apps exponentially.

News: Ikea & Apple Are Partnering to Let You Virtually Rearrange Your Home

Furniture shopping is about to get a whole lot easier thanks to Apple's AR Kit and Ikea. In an exclusive with Bloomberg Businessweek, Tim Cook, Apple CEO said:

News: Google's MobileNets Bring New Visual Recognition Models to Smartphones

Google might be taking the lead on artificial intelligence in smartphones with their latest announcement, MobileNets. MobileNets is a series of TensorFlow vision models built for mobile devices, described by Google as "mobile-first."

News: Niantic Promises More AR in Pokémon GO on the iPhone with ARKit

Pokémon GO's augmented reality journey is continuing with Apple's newly announced ARKit. It's no surprise considering Pokémon GO is the largest mainstream augmented reality game, with 500 million downloads.

ARKit 101: Using the Unity ARKit Plugin to Create Apps for the iPhone & iPad

Many developers, myself included, use Unity for 3D application development as well as making games. There are many that mistakenly believe Unity to be a game engine. And that, of course, is how it started. But we now live in a world where our applications have a new level of depth.

News: Scandy Gives Tango Owners a Taste of 3D Scanning

Mobile 3D scanning company Scandy has released a new app for devices on Google's Tango mobile AR platform that gives users the advanced 3D scanning capabilities.

Building Next Reality: How the ARKit's Impressive Software Detects Surfaces Using Just the iPhone's Color Camera

I currently am and have always been what one might call a PC/Android guy. Many that know me well would likely even go so far as to say I am anti-Apple. Well, all of that recently changed. About an hour after seeing the ARKit demo during the day-one keynote at WWDC, I became the owner of a brand new Mac.

News: Tech-Savvy Walsh Community Previewed Through Augmented Reality with Pre-ARKit iOS

Walsh, a new community under construction on 7,200 acres of former ranch land near Fort Worth, Texas, will one day contain 15,000 homes.

Video Roundup: Look at These Great Examples of What the ARKit Can Do on Your iPhone

Since its release into the arms of waiting developers, Apple's new ARKit is already making waves in the augmented reality scene. Only a week out and there are already a hefty number of videos appearing on the web showing off various demos with iPhones and iPads.

Dev Report: A Breakdown of the What Apple's New ARKit Can Do for iPhones & iPads

At Apple's yearly event, the World Wide Developers Conference, the tech giant finally announced their decision to enter the augmented reality space. Through adding basic AR functionality to the beta release of Xcode 9, the development environment for Mac computers, as well as their line of iOS devices, the company has said they understand the importance of the tech.

News: Apple Bursts onto Augmented Reality Scene with ARKit

During the opening keynote of their Worldwide Developers Conference today in San Jose, Apple introduced the ARKit for the new iOS 11 that will bring augmented reality apps to millions of compatible iPhones and iPads.

News: Markerless Tracking & Tango Support Come to Scope AR's Remote Assistance Solution Remote AR

Today in Santa Clara, California, at the Augmented World Expo, Scope AR revealed a major new update that will add markerless tracking for their remote assistance application, Remote AR, on standard devices.

News: Aryzon Joins the Race to Be the Cardboard of AR

Another entrant — Aryzon — has joined the competition to be crowned as the "Cardboard of AR." The Netherlands-based startup launched their Kickstarter campaign Monday (May 29) and the campaign has already surpassed its funding goal. The company expects to ship units to backers in September.

News: The Mummy Unwraps Augmented Reality Scavenger Hunt

Universal Studios and Cinemark Theaters have enlisted mobile augmented reality game Seek to promote The Mummy, a reboot of the action-adventure film franchise starring summer movie mainstay Tom Cruise.

News: HeadsupAR Turns Smartphones into Mixed Reality Headsets

Three years ago, with VR enthusiasts prepared to throw their money at Oculus to get their hands on the yet-to-be-release Rift headset, Google surprised the audience for Google I/O with Google Cardboard, a seemingly late April Fool's joke that actually jump-started virtual reality.

News: Amusement Park Pits Guests Against Each Other in Augmented Reality Warfare

Kings Dominion, an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, just announced a mobile augmented reality game for park visitors. Gameplay in The Battle for Kings Dominion — available on May 19 for iOS and Android devices — follows the playbook designed by Niantic through Ingress and Pokémon GO.

News: Instagram Swipes Snapchat Lenses with Furry AR Koala Ears & Icy 3D Crowns

Instagram just added another nail in the coffin for Snapchat. It looks like it's the AR platforms final hurrah as IG has snapped up the app's last good feature: its AR selfie filters.

News: Blippar Brings App-Free Augmented Reality to Web Display Ads

Mobile augmented reality developer Blippar has escalated the augmented reality advertising arms race, introducing a new rich media ad format that enables augmented reality experiences without a dedicated app.

News: Captain Blimey Seeks to Plunder the Pokémon GO Craze

A Seattle development team is putting the "ARRRR" in AR with the maiden voyage of Captain Blimey, an augmented reality game for iOS and Android devices that puts a pirate premise on Pokémon GO.

News: Drone Prix Finishes as First AR Game for DJI Drones

Augmented reality software developer Edgybees has launched Drone Prix. The new mobile app immerses DJI drones and their pilots in more than 30 augmented reality obstacle courses.

News: New App Lets Your Trace Drawings from Your Phone onto Paper

Get ready to draw like Leonardo da Vinci, or, at least, trace like him. A new augmented reality app, SketchAR, is the first mobile app that uses AR to allow users trace an image on real paper. The Lithuania-based company describes their product as "an application through which the user sees a virtual image on the surface of which they are planning to trace a sketch."

News: AR Makes Its Broadway Debut on Makeup App

The Broadway musical War Paint is teaming with augmented reality cosmetics app YouCam Makeup to promote the show on iOS and Android devices. The musical, which centers on the famous rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, two cosmetics industry pioneers, has been the talk of Broadway since its premiere in March 2017.

News: Gorillaz Debut Augmented Reality App to Go Along with Their Album Listening Party

The Gorillaz have launched a new app in promotion for their new album Humanz that allows you to "[s]tep inside the hallowed halls of the Gorillaz house" through the power of augmented reality.

News: Pixie for iPhones Uses Augmented Reality to Help Find Your Lost Wallet or Keys

Augmented reality could come in very handy for those of us prone to losing things—namely, our wallets. Pixie Technology, a company from Los Altos, California, has developed a way to locate your lost wallet and keys using AR technology and tracking chips, a platform they call the "Location of Things."

News: iPhone 8 Rumored to Ship with iPad Pro-Like Smart Connector for AR & Wireless Charging

The rumors surrounding the next iPhone and Apple's ambitions toward augmented reality have been going on for months, and a fresh development brings back the idea of Apple's Smart Connector bringing the two together. The Verifier, an Israeli news site, claims the next suite of iPhones (iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and 7s Plus) will all sport Smart Connectors for both AR and wireless charging.

News: Live-Stream Your AR Looks with ModiFace's New Makeup Platform for Facebook & YouTube

ModiFace, the makers of Sephora's Virtual Artist app which allows users to try on multiple different combinations of makeup through augmented reality, has just bumped up its augmented reality strategy. The company is now including a live-stream option for all those personal makeup trials you've been secretly admiring from the comfort of your own phone.

News: Popular App Shazam Trying to Cash in on the Trendiness of AR with Hiring of New CTO

While it remains unknown how exactly augmented reality will make its way into the mainstream (the Microsoft HoloLens sitting at $3,000 isn't exactly accessible), many brands have been trying to integrate the tech into their mobile apps, mimicking the success of Snapchat and its popular AR filters. One of those brands going all in on augmented reality is Shazam.

News: Experience Holograms in Your Pocket with 4DViews' New AR & VR Mobile App

4DViews, the volumetric capture company that films actors and performers in augmented and virtual reality for things like movies, TV series, and applications, has just released the app 4DViews: Raise Virtual to Reality, to demonstrate its technology for smartphones.

News: B2B Software Company Kaon Bets Big on Google's Tango Phones & AR

At the moment, it would be safe to say that demand for devices running Tango, Google's augmented reality smartphone platform, is relatively low among consumers. Kaon Interactive, a B2B software company who has built more than 5,000 interactive applications for use at trade shows, remote sales demonstrations, and other customer engagements, is betting that there is a market for the devices in sales and marketing.

News: Facebook Copies Snapchat Again by Putting Augmented Reality Camera Filters in the Main Facebook App

Facebook is aware that Snapchat is killing the social media game amongst the youths, which makes sense, because in 2017, video is king in social media currency. Facebook has continually shown that Mark Zuckerberg and crew seem to think the best strategy to keep up is to simply copy them.

News: Lowe's New Tango-Based App Helps Shoppers Find Products They Need

Lowe's Home Improvement laid another brick in their augmented reality foundation with today's announcement of a new app for Tango-enabled smartphones.

News: Archer AR App Deputizes Viewers as Detectives

The producers of FX's animated series Archer have devised a plan to introduce augmented reality hijinks into its eighth and penultimate season with a new app for iOS and Android devices.

News: Design Your Dream Room with Pottery Barn's New Augmented Reality App

Pottery Barn has teamed up with Google to create 3D Room View, a new mobile app to allow all wannabe interior designers (like me) to pick out the perfect couch, table, or whatever, and then overlay it onto a spot in his or her house.

News: Apple Granted Patent to Make Augmented Reality Maps—Hinting at a Cool, Futuristic Version of Our Well-Worn Maps App

Apple recently scored a patent (number 9,488,488) to create augmented reality maps, hinting at possible AR integration into the iOS Maps application for iPhone. Does this mean we'll be seeing super visionary projections of places in the app in the near future? Maybe.

News: Coachella Partnered with Camera IQ to Alter Your Festival Experience with Hidden AR Easter Egg Hunts & More

Any stoked Coachella-goers out there? Well, get even more excited, because the celebrated music festival has partnered with virtual reality company vantage.tv and software platform Camera IQ this year to take the Coachella VR/AR app to augmented reality paradise.

News: Shazam Sets Sights on AR Advertising with iPhone & Android App Updates

The company that pioneered music scanning for mobile devices is moving into the augmented reality advertising arena. Included in an update of their iOS and Android apps last week, Shazam can now scan special codes to immerse users in 3D animations, 360-degree videos, mini-games, and other AR content.

News: Easily Make Your Own Pokémon GO with Motive.io

Throughout the summer and fall of 2016, in the sudden whirlwind that was Pokémon GO, it was hard to go anywhere in public without seeing someone attempting to catch Pokémon. Now, thanks to an upcoming platform called Motive.io, from the Vancouver company of the same name, location-driven application development will soon be accessible to everyone.