Welcome to the race to map reality. At Facebook’s Oculus Connect conference, Augmented and VR VP Andrew “Boz” Bosworth announced that Facebook is making AR glasses, which we technically already knew. But to make those glasses happen, Facebook’s kicking off a project to map reality for spatial computing, called Live Maps. Live Maps looks to …

Facebook has two new VR headsets released this year: one that’s standalone mobile, one that’s PC-tethered. The two look ready to dovetail a bit: the versatile self-contained Oculus Quest is now about to be a PC-connected device, too. At the Oculus Connect developer conference on Wednesday, the VR company announced Oculus Link. The software update, expected later this year, will …

I am led down a staircase by a small team of Facebook communications people, into a high-ceilinged, wide-open office in Facebook’s Building MPK 21 in the heart of Silicon Valley. Open desks cut across the space. The air is calm. The room is silent. At one end of a long open-office desk, back to me, sits someone who looks like …

When you hear about virtual reality, whether or not you’ve ever used it, you probably think of video games that transport you to a far-off space ship, or to an underwater cavern, or some mythical dungeon. Ready Player One, or Black Mirror. Sci-fi things. You know the drill. VR’s been a work in progress for five years at Facebook, with …

I see a little black square held up in front of me. It looks like nothing, just a lump of black plastic with a row of gold contact pins on the bottom. It could be a little memory stick. Or maybe a garage door opener. It’s surprisingly nondescript. This is the new Jacquard Tag. What Google’s showing me is the …

Wow, Garmin has a lot of watches. September is the time for flagship fitness watches: Fitbit Versa 2, Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, the Apple Watch and now Garmin. The company’s just launched a handful of Apple Watch competitors: the Garmin VivoActive 4, and a step-up Garmin Venu, which adds an AMOLED display that has an optional always-on mode. Garmin also …

Last year, the Apple Watch added an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure heart health. This year, Samsung and Withings have, too. Asus’ new health watch that was unveiled at the IFA trade show in Berlin, the Asus Vivowatch SP, also aims to be a complete fitness companion and promises blood pressure functions, too. The VivoWatch SP has GPS, as well as …

September is shaping up to be a big month for smartwatches. Fitbit on Wednesday announced its new Versa 2, which will arrive in stores on Sept. 15. Samsung has a new smartwatch arriving two days earlier on Sept. 13, and a new Apple Watch is likely around the corner, too. But, the $200 Fitbit Versa 2 has new features that …

Your future school and home STEAM toy selection has compressed: odds are, it’ll be made by Sphero. Two of the biggest players in the educational electronics space are merging. Sphero has acquired Littlebits, with plans to possibly move into new product territories, the company announced this morning. Littlebits, founded in 2011, sells a number of connected and programmable kits using …

Facebook’s Oculus has seen a lot of changes lately, with departures by key executives from the mobile VR team, Nate Mitchell and Max Cohen. But Facebook’s standalone VR headset released this spring, Oculus Quest, remains the best VR hardware achievement this year… and may indicate where Facebook could be heading next in AR. Facebook is now talking openly about how …