For a few years now, we’ve been hearing a lot about the promise of augmented reality — technology that can add to the real world through the window of your phone’s display (or, soon to be more often, a headset!). The most famous example so far is Pokémon Go, which added Pokémon to reality on your smartphone, […]
If you’ve ever looked with any level of suspicion at the open tester products at cosmetics stores, we’ve got some great news. MAC stores are getting magic mirrors this month, and while they won’t tell you who the fairest of them all is, they will tell you how that new eyeliner is going to look […]
There have been a lot of augmented reality games, but most of them have just involved you staring at some not-that-convincing looking aliens or monsters invading your living room in not-very-dramatic fashion. Pokémon Go completely changed what was possible with augmented reality, bringing the idea outside and giving us all the closest thing to the dream real-life Pokémon […]
All aboard the hype train to Hogwarts! Niantic, the wizards behind Pokémon Go, are working their magic to bring us Harry Potter in the real world. Like Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will be an augmented reality game — you’ll walk around the city and, where in Pokémon Go you’d randomly stumble across Pokémon, in the new game you’d find […]
Usually, lost and found trackers are pretty straightforward — you put a tracker on your keychain, you lose your keys, and you use your phone to make the tracker ring out. Pixie likes to have a little more fun. Since the beginning of this year, they’ve been using augmented reality to help find lost items using […]
So far, augmented reality games haven’t been all that impressive. A few markers get thrown around the room, maybe some enemies pop out, shoot them, etc. For a while, they were mostly held back by needing to hold a smartphone up at eye level to play them — something that was fixed by hybrid AR/VR headsets […]
Want to have the full experience of being in a Jedi academy? Well, historically that hasn’t ended well for those students, but you do you. Lenovo and Disney have been working on bringing Jedi education into this galaxy, and they’re almost ready to introduce it to aspiring Padawans. At the D23 fan expo in Anaheim […]
Things have come full circle. Thanks to Microsoft’s upcoming augmented reality headset, the HoloLens, George Takei got the hologram treatment in real life, 50 years after Mr. Sulu did in Star Trek. Microsoft put up a video on YouTube earlier this week showing off a beta version of the Actiongram program, using Takei to show off […]
Well, it wasn’t going to last forever. The meteoric rise of Pokémon Go this summer has finally ended, with new stats from Axiom Capital Management showing that daily active user and engagement rates have been dipping since mid-July. Bloomberg has a report on the decline of the game, with an Axiom analyst suggesting that worried execs of […]
E3 had plenty in store for older gamers, but the little guys weren’t completely forgotten about. Air Hogs, long known for their remote-controlled vehicles, has taken their flight prowess and combined it with augmented reality gameplay that should be a hit with kids. Usually, augmented reality games work with small markers — place them around a […]
Worried about getting a headache while playing around with VR? Excedrin wants you to know that your fears are completely founded — and that’s not a bad thing. In a pretty interesting VR experiment, the people responsible for deliverance from all headaches has created the Migraine Experience, a simulation of what it’s actually like to […]
ModiFace has established themselves as the leader in augmented reality beauty apps, allowing you to try nail polish, hairstyles, and cosmetics on virtually before paying or getting a disastrous haircut. But, it was FaceCake that really got the augmented reality retail party started back in 2013, when they introduced Swivel. Swivel was an early AR […]
We’re getting closer to the device that will finally put augmented reality over the top — after a lot of closed testing and development, Microsoft is finally making HoloLens available to select developers. It’s expensive, but it’s looking more and more like those developers are going to be able to create some pretty amazing applications […]
Last night at CES 2016, Lenovo and Google held a special joint event to announce that a smartphone using Google’s Project Tango technology is in production and currently scheduled for a summer release. Project Tango ventures more deeply into the world of augmented reality than we’re used to seeing, and while it might not be […]
Want a kitten without the responsibility of pet ownership? Unsurprisingly, the solution is a kitty on your smartphone. There are many ways to get kitties on your smartphone, YouTube being the obvious one, but fewer ways to properly give one as a gift. This is the promise of Teeny Tiny Kitten in a Box. The […]
The Ted Baker designer cases always add a beautiful distinction to your phone, but the Alli Cascading Floral Mirror iPhone 6 case adds a little something useful, too—a mirror inside the cover. Perfect for a last minute makeup check. We absolutely love this case—in fact, my wife tried it out on her phone and hasn’t […]
Qualcomm has a new development platform that will help make the real world a little more interesting when viewed through a VR lens. Their new Vuforia SDK might just be the thing that finally enables developers to take augmented reality firmly out of the realm of gimmick and into the future. The SDK will work […]
Lego remains one of the best loved and best selling kids toys. And they’re no slouch when it comes to advances in technology either. Products like Lego Mindstorms and Lego Universe pushed the Lego envelope by melding real land virtual play. The newest high touch meets high tech collection is Lego Fusion — a mashup […]
Playing dress up has officially made it into the 21st century with the new Barbie Digital Makeover Mirror. The Digital Makeover Mirror is actually an app-accessory that transforms the iPad into a digital mirror by sliding it into a vanity frame. Girls can use the “mirror” to apply eye shadow, lipstick, color, and glitter, onto […]
What geocaching is to the physical treasure hunt, Aurasma should be to the virtual one. With Aurasma, the treasure isn’t physical – it exists only in the digital world. Take your iPad with you around town and check out the app to find locations near you where Auras can be found. Once you’ve found a […]
An online fashion accessories e-commerce site called BoutiqueAccessories has set up “Virtual Mirror” that lets users try on jewelry using augmented reality. Lets face it, some things are more difficult to purchase online because you can’t try them on first – and jewelry is a perfect example of that. However, this site’s Virtual Mirror changes […]
