We've seen how mixed and augmented reality can offer better shopping experiences for consumers, and even how Magic Leap wants to make advertising a non-intrusive experience. So it's no surprise that Magic Leap seems to have partnered up with Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba—one of their largest investors—to create an augmented reality shopping app.
China's e-commerce site Alibaba has been making heavy investments in augmented and mixed reality startups. In February of this year, they led a $793 million round of Series C financing of Magic Leap. And now they've just invested in Israeli-based InfinityAR, which acquired $18 million in its Series C financing.
Amazon has been toying with the idea of opening physical retail stores for some time now, even opening old-fashioned bookstores in select locations and teasing cashier-less convenience stores. But the online retailer has some new ideas in the works, including implementing virtual and augmented reality into retail home stores.
To create a destination for coffee connoisseurs, Starbucks has ordered up a venti cup of augmented reality to make the visit more interactive.
Augmented reality was recently named the "Mobile Disruptor of the Year" for 2017 by Mobile Marketer, but the technology is showing no signs of slowing down as we head into 2018. In fact, the technology appears to be gaining momentum.
While hackers know and love the Raspberry Pi, many don't know of its cheaper cousin, the microcontroller. Unlike a Pi, which can be used more or less like a regular computer, microcontrollers like the Wi-Fi connected ESP8266 require some necessary programming skill to master. In this guide, we'll build an Arduino program from scratch and explain the code structure in a way anyone can understand.
When you run an augmented reality company worth billions of dollars, backed by some of the biggest names in tech, and you haven't even released a product yet, even late night tweetstorms rank as worthy of dissection. Such is the case with Rony Abovitz, CEO of Magic Leap, who decided to spend a little time on Twitter on Wednesday to outline his vision of the future of immersive computing.
The rumors have been circulating for months, but now there's a source attached to the notion that Magic Leap is looking to sell itself off after a rough couple of years following the launch of its Magic Leap 1 augmented reality device.
Just a week after rumors surfaced of a massive new investment in Magic Leap led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the investment has been confirmed by the company's CEO Rony Abovitz.
On Monday, German newspaper and digital publisher Axel Springer announced its role as the latest company to invest in Magic Leap. This is just the latest in a series of investments the augmented reality company has garnered from the likes of Google, Qualcomm, Alibaba, Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros., and others amounting to almost $2 billion in overall funding.
When it comes to marketing, sexy sells, a point that has been lost on most augmented reality hardware makers focused mostly on the geek space. But a new promotional spot from AR-in-the-car accessory maker WayRay indicates that AR companies are beginning to see the virtual sizzle reel light.
As expected, Magic Leap closed a Series D round of equity funding, raising $502 million from new and existing investors. Less expected, however, were a fresh set of rumors that the company's first devices could ship within six months.
The world of investment and finance can be labyrinthine in its very nature — and even more complicated in regards to augmented and mixed reality. While these new emergent technologies are teeming with explosive levels of unrealized potential, there's still a big layer of uncertainty in terms of return — but these investors aren't afraid to take the leap.
If we were to assign a theme for the 2019 edition of the Next Reality 30 (NR30), it might be something along the lines of, "What have you done for me lately?"
Throughout this NR50 series, we have talked about the incredible growth the augmented and mixed reality space has seen in the last year. More devices, software, developers, and use-cases seem to arrive daily. For this growth to have occurred, it took the work of many people, from many different backgrounds and skill sets — and Next Reality wants to recognize them for all that they have done and are doing.
Starbucks is spicing things up ahead of this holiday season with a little augmented reality joy. This week the company launched its first Instagram filter, called Holijoy, delivered like an early Christmas gift and packing four seasonal lenses.
Another major retailer is putting all its chips in on the relentless rise of selfie culture. Sally Beauty is rolling out kiosks to try-on "some of its best" hair dyes in 500 of its stores throughout the US. The in-store augmented reality-powered kiosks invite you to view yourself on video, overlay a punky (or otherwise) hair color, and snap a selfie on the screen to share your #glowup with friends.
Until self-driving cars become mainstream, augmented reality might be the next big technology to hit your dashboard.
Baidu Inc, the "Chinese Google" search engine and technology company, which has been actively pursuing self-driving cars, reported that a gang of hackers recently attempted to steal its driverless car technology.
Update January 27, 2014: Samsung has released a statement to address the flip cover issue, claiming it as a bug with a "fix" coming soon:
The 15-year-old star of the 1980s-inspired hit series Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown, may have (spoiler alert) lost all her powers as the character "Eleven," but in the real world, she still has augmented reality in her arsenal.
Automotive augmented reality company WayRay has set its destination for a $1 billion valuation with an estimated time of arrival of 2019, and it has just passed a major milestone towards that goal.
The long, long, loooong wait finally ended this week for the augmented reality community as the Magic Leap One was finally released. The Florida-based company has loomed over the industry for years promising something big, and now the AR cat is finally out of the bag. Now we get to see if it will live up to expectations, but early reviews are a bit skeptical.
While the company is adamant that the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition will ship this year, currently, it seems its CEO is more interested in striking deals with content partners than releasing details about the headset.
When the "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" video was released last year, it was called a mind-blowing, stunning, and breathtaking take on mixed reality gaming. It was a great presentation of what the technology could be, but not for a second did I think it was anything other than a concept video, and I'm not the only one who thought that. This was a goal to reach for mixed reality, not the reality.
Virtual reality headsets are all the rage these days, and among the menagerie of tech companies gunning for the top spot, there's one mysterious startup that is ahead of the game—Magic Leap—and you can tell just by watching their latest demo video of their product in action.
Charcoal is a famously prized substance when it comes to food and drink. Grilling aficionados swear by it, and its purifying properties make it the main ingredient in Brita filters (and its alternatives).
Is the augmented reality magic fading down in Plantation, Florida? That's the first question some may be asking following a casual revelation over the weekend that Magic Leap, the maker of the Magic Leap One, has assigned much of its patent portfolio over to JP Morgan Chase as collateral.
Apple might not be ready to unveil its rumored-yet-unconfirmed smartglasses. But the iPhone's current depth-sensing hardware is proving to be useful for both smartglasses makers and mobile AR apps.
This week, Next Reality published profiles on the leaders in augmented reality hardware industry, with Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz topping the list. So, it should be no surprise that two app makers want to align themselves with Magic Leap's flagship product.
As the calendar year (and, for many companies, the fiscal year) comes to a close, it appears 2017 may stand as the new high-water mark for investment in augmented and virtual reality technology.
The year is 2018. You just received your own Magic Leap One: Creator Edition. What now? Rewinding back to today, we know of one specific app that will be available for Magic Leap's device, along with two others that could be tagged as highly likely. Paired with Magic Leap's own experiments and demonstrations, we can get a sense of what the playground for this new toy will offer.
The next frontier for AR hardware is the consumer headset, and tech companies of varying size and tenure are working hard to strike the right mix between comfort, cool factor, and cost. How these companies handle the hype and flow of information vary wildly.
Last year's augmented reality investments roundup was impressive. And in 2018, the dollars flowing toward AR haven't decreased, as venture capitalists and strategic investors continue to aggressively fund AR startups at a rapid pace.
This time last year, we got our first taste of what mobile app developers could do in augmented reality with Apple's ARKit. Most people had never heard of Animojis. Google's AR platform was still Tango. Snapchat introduced its World Lens AR experiences. Most mobile AR experiences existing in the wild were marker-based offerings from the likes of Blippar and Zappar or generic Pokémon GO knock-offs.
A new technological movement without the technology itself is just an idea sitting and waiting. Once the technology is present in the equation, movement forward can begin. This is how many of us see the head-mounted displays (HMDs) and smartglasses that have recently entered the augmented and mixed reality market — or are coming out in the next few months. This is a movement that will sweep over the world, changing everything in its path, and these are some of the people behind it.
Around this time in 2016, the predictions for the next year had reached something of a consensus: 2017 would be the year of augmented reality. But a funny thing happened on the way to the future — nothing much, really. At least not for the first half of the year.
With all the time most of us spend on our phones each day, wouldn't it be great if we could get rewarded for our addiction? Well, we can, thanks to various iPhone apps out there that can help us make a quick buck, earn cash back, donate freebies to charity, get complimentary cryptocurrency or stock, and receive other types of rewards.
