Three years ago, Google debuted Cardboard, a clever sub-$20 DIY kit that turned nearly any phone into a VR viewer. It was brilliantly simple — so cheap and universal that The New York Times eventually gave it away for free to its print subscribers. And it worked as a smart counterpoint to the high-end PC-based …

A new service that syncs your calls and texts across multiple devices is coming soon to T-Mobile. It’s also mostly free. With Digits, your phone number works on compatible internet-connected devices. It’s been in beta this year, but it’s coming to the US starting May 31. It sounds like great news for anyone who’s juggling extra phones, tablets or even …

Microsoft renamed its game-streaming service and gave it some upgrades. Co-op live-streamers might be thrilled. Microsoft Beam is now Mixer. If you have no idea what that means, a quick refresher: Microsoft bought Beam, a livestreaming game-sharing app, in 2016. Beam was added to Xbox One and Windows 10 this year. Mixer’s new focus is on being faster — according …

At the VR keynote at Google’s IO developer conference, a slide appeared on screen to start the morning’s presentation. Clay Bavor, head of AR and VR for Google, explained the spectrum of virtual and augmented experiences that Google is exploring. On that spectrum, there are two points: Real Reality, and Virtual Reality. And in the middle, there’s augmented reality. That’s …

Google’s Daydream View VR headset has been around for six months, long enough for Google to collect user habits and data about what its VR users are like. At a developer session at Google’s I/O developer conference called “What’s New With Daydream,” some of the stats were revealed. The main takeaways: Google VR users spend more, are looking for more …

There’s something amazing about holding a selfie stick and trying augmented reality. I didn’t know this until I tried Google Expeditions and its new AR-based tech at Google I/O. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll ever have an everyday phone that can use it. More from Google I/O 2017 Android O, Google Lens and VR: Everything important from Google I/O …

On-screen directions show you where the paint is when you hold up your phone. And how to get there. Maybe, even, remember where you shopped last. Lowe’s hardware stores have already been experimenting with indoor mapping via Google Tango, and now 400 stores will be indoor-mapped in the future. Google Tango is a camera for phones that adds advanced augmented …

It’s not exactly easy to figure out how to finesse shooting photos on phones. iPhones don’t come with a clear manual. That may be the inspiration behind Apple’s new site dedicated to camera tips and how-to videos, which just went live today. Among the topics and tips: How to shoot during golden hour (Arrive before sunset > Use the sun …

A lot of people, myself included, find sharing files across phones and PCs to be challenging. Wireless seamless phone-to-computer sharing, however, is starting to happen. Microsoft’s newly announced Windows 10 Clipboard, a feature of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update unveiled at Microsoft’s Build developer conference, shows a lot of promise. Clipboard allows sharing by copy-and-paste from Windows 10 machines to …

Now playing: Watch this: Microsoft shows wild demo of Cirque du Soleil inside… 3:00 At Microsoft’s Build developer conference, there were a lot of pitches for the use cases of mixed reality. One of the wilder demos was from some of the team members of Cirque du Soleil, who demonstrated using Microsoft’s HoloLens for virtual design work. Cirque’s “C: Lab” …