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Tech NewsNews
Oh Dip, Magic Leap’s Got a New CEO
Magic Leap has had it rough during the pandemic. In March, word got out that the struggling augmented reality company was looking for a buyer. A month later, it reportedly laid off roughly half its workforce. Another month passed and it somehow pulled an additional $350 million in funding out of nowhere. About a week … Continued
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io9Games
The Creators of Pokémon Go Are Now Working on a Settlers of Catan AR Game
In a blog post on its website yesterday, Niantic, the company behind the somehow-still-popular Pokémon Go augmented reality smartphone game, revealed it was working on at least 10 new AR games including one that turns your neighborhood and city into one of the most popular board games since Monopoly: Settlers of Catan. Niantic promises the … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle
Google Buys North Smart Glasses and North Then Kills Its Smart Glasses
Last Friday, it was reported that Canadian smart glasses startup North was on the verge of being snapped up by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Today, it’s official. North announced the acquisition on both Twitter and in an official blog. Details regarding the terms of the sale were scant, though a Globe and Mail scoop from … Continued
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Tech NewsApple
Future Apple Watches Could Scan Your Veins to Detect Gestures
While accelerometers and gyroscopes are generally how smartwatches detect hand movements, a newly-released patent hints that Apple may be considering scanning veins in your wrist via the Apple Watch to detect non-touch gestures in the future. First spotted by AppleInsider, the patent describes a scenario in which a device with one or more sensors to … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle
Alphabet May Be Buying Smart Glasses Startup North, But Don’t Expect New Google Glasses Any Time Soon
Tough times seem to keep rolling for makers of augmented reality glasses. North, the Canadian startup behind the consumer-focused Focals by North smart glasses, is in the final stages of a $180 million sale to Alphabet, according to a Globe and Mail scoop. Citing anonymous sources, North is essentially being “stripped for parts” and that … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
Snapchat: Yeah, Our Juneteenth Filter Asking Users to Smile to Break Chains Was a Bad Idea
Snapchat received widespread criticism Friday for its Juneteenth filter that prompted users to celebrate the anniversary of the end of slavery in the U.S. by smiling to break chains. By mid-day, Snap quietly pulled the tone-deaf filter and the company has since issued a public apology. Apparently, this Lens was a beta version that went … Continued
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Tech News
RIP, Bose AR, We Hardly Knew Ye
Bose seemed like a company that had a slightly different, incredibly interesting vision for augmented reality. It was different from other tech companies’ approaches—Bose put AR in its Bose Framessunglasses, but it wasn’t like the AR glasses or headsets that are already on the market. In lieu of holographic images superimposed on the real world, Bose’s … Continued
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Tech News
Who Is Still Investing in Magic Leap in 2020?
Despite recently having to announce the lay off of 1,000 employees, it would now appear that Magic Leap has somehow pulled a $350 million miracle out of its ass. In a letter sent to employees—first obtained by Business Insider—Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz said the company had secured a new round of investment to the … Continued
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Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook Expects Half Its Workforce to Stay Remote Indefinitely
Facebook is the latest tech giant to broaden its telecommuting policies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In a livestreamed employee townhall Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to “aggressively” ramp up hiring for remote workers and begin taking applications for permanent remote work among its existing 48,000 employees. According to Zuck, … Continued
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Tech NewsApple
Are You Shitting Me?
Earlier today, Cult of Mac posted the most egregious rumor: Apple is apparently crafting a pair of special edition augmented reality glasses that will look like Steve Jobs’s moderately iconic ones. Apple will then reportedly sell these glasses for money. The claim comes from Jon Prosser, a YouTuber who has made waves in the last … Continued
By Alex Cranz -
ScienceHealth
These Coronavirus-Fighting Smart Glasses Can ‘See’ Your Temperature
Chinese startup Rokid has found a unique and somewhat terrifying market foothold for its AI and augmented-reality tech amid the coronavirus pandemic: smart glasses that clock the temperature of those around you. The Hangzhou-based company has already sold roughly 1,000 pairs to governments, businesses, and schools, according to a Reuters report. While its products are … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
VR’s Future Isn’t in Gaming
When it comes to virtual reality tech, you typically fall into one of two camps. Either you love the sci-fi concept of snapping on a headset and suddenly being transported into an immersive, three-dimensional universe, or you’re a reasonable person who finds these same headsets vomit-inducing, awkward to wear, and downright butt-ugly. At least for the … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle
Google’s AR Easter Bunny Can Still Visit This Holiday Weekend, Even if You’re Stuck Inside
With large portions of the country under shelter-in-place orders due to the coronavirus outbreak, I’m betting Easter plans for most folks look a lot different now than they did back in the bygone era of March. Seemingly with this in mind, Google rolled out several holiday-themed Easter eggs, per tradition, including an Easter Bunny that … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
$2 Billion Wasn’t Enough to Keep Magic Leap Afloat, So Now It Wants to Find a Buyer
After years of drumming up ridiculous hype, producing a mediocre product, and raising an absurd amount of money (a little over $2 billion, to be a little more precise), augmented-reality start-up Magic Leap is reportedly looking to sell itself. According to Bloomberg, a sale could net the company more than $10 billion—or about $8 billion … Continued
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Tech NewsFacebook
Reporter Doesn’t Realize Facebook’s Filters Were Making His Live Weather Report Especially Awesome
The scourge of low-budget news broadcasts and impromptu live streams has reared its ugly head once again as a North Carolina TV reporter forgot to disable the wacky Facebook Live Mystery Mask augmented reality filters before going on air to report on some unusual snowfall in the area. WLOS ABC 13 anchor Justin Hinton had … Continued
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Tech News
Maybe We Shouldn’t Go Bananas Over Smart Contacts Just Yet
Imagine plopping a contact lens in your eye, and instead of just seeing better, you could see an enhanced view of your environment. That’s what Mojo Vision is saying their new prototype smart contact lens could do. Eventually. It sounds like a concept straight out of a sci-fi movie. But whereas anything is possible in … Continued
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io9Games
Pokémon Go Somehow Still Relevant in the Year of Our Lord 2020
Remember the bygone era of 2016? Oh, to return to that sanguine time, where instead of fretting over deadly vaping illnesses and the possibility of World War III, we all held hands and sang kumbaya united by a serious case of Pokémon Go fever that swept the globe. But if you, like myself and scores … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
All Your Base Are Belong to Bulbasaur
The heyday for Pokémon Go headlines has long since passed, but it turns out that in 2016, Canada’s military ordered officers to play the game after civilians kept wandering onto bases in pursuit of Pokémon. The news comes from CBC News which obtained 471 pages of documents nearly three-and-a-half years after filing an access to information … Continued
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Tech News
Apple Is Apparently Working on AR Headphones
At this point, it’s no secret that Apple’s working on augmented reality glasses. However, a patent reveals that the company is also tinkering around with augmented audio in headphones. The headphones are positioned as a useful tool for conference calls. That’s because you’d be able to hear where a person is in the room, even … Continued
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Tech NewsMicrosoft
Microsoft Bets Big on AR With U.S. Launch of Minecraft Earth In Early Access
Just in case you forgot that Microsoft is deep into augmented reality, the early access version of Minecraft Earth is finally available on iOS and Android for Americans to get a taste of the future. The mobile AR game was announced back in May as a joint effort between Microsoft and Mojang. Per the release, … Continued