I was flying across a polygon-filled cloudy kingdom, rising too high. Like Charlie Bucket drinking the Fizzy Lifting Drink, I didn’t know how to come down. My right arm didn’t seem to be working well. It felt like my wings were broken. I turned upward, and nearly hit a mountain. We reset the system and …

Virtual reality? Augmented reality? Asus is working with Google to release a phone that does both, and it’s being built with Qualcomm’s chips. A leaked announcement via Qualcomm in advance of Asus’ January 4 CES press conference revealed the Asus Zenfone AR, a phone that merges Google’s Daydream View VR platform and its Tango depth-sensing cameras. A likely photo of …

When I look back to December 2015, VR was all about mysteries and promise. Oculus Rift ($290 at Amazon), HTC Vive ($479 at Amazon) and PlayStation VR ($127 at Amazon) were all unreleased, and still shrouded in some mystery. I’d tried them, but they weren’t yet available. Now, all the VR systems have arrived. So many, in fact, that it …

Fitbit’s latest earnings reports weren’t good at all. Pebble sold itself at a firesale price (to Fitbit) and cancelled its future watches. Microsoft, Motorola and Intel appear to have halted (or at least suspended) their wearable product lines. The Samsung Gear S3 slid into the holidays with a whimper, not a bang. And while Apple claims it just had its …

Virtual reality is a somewhat understandable concept in 2016. You put on a headset, you find yourself in 3D worlds. But augmented reality — AR — is still a bit less understood. You could engage with augmented reality with a headset, and see 3D objects “projected” into your real world — something that’s usually called “mixed reality.” Augmented reality doesn’t …

Now playing: Watch this: This VR/AR headset uses your iPhone to make mixed reality 1:00 Odds are, you might have tried VR. But maybe you’re not as familiar with “augmented reality” or “mixed reality” headsets that blend virtual things into actual reality, like Microsoft’s HoloLens does. That could change once more affordable phone accessories start to arrive. Occipital Bridge is …

One of wearable tech’s biggest names may be buying one of its most inventive upstarts. And the rumored combination could well be a mutually beneficial move in an increasingly competitive category. Fitbit, the No. 1 fitness tracker brand, is said to be buying Pebble. The news, first reported by The Information, is not confirmed. But Techcrunch is reporting that Fitbit’s …

I’m a relentless browser of discounted e-books. I peek at Kindle Daily Deals each day, and I get BookBub emailed to me (a nice way to check for sale books, FYI). Amazon’s biggest Kindle e-book sale of the year tends to be right now, and the sale books offered today are numerous. I bought a handful during last year’s sale. …

Sometimes it seems like Apple’s products never go on sale. There’s usually a good handful of deals every year around Black Friday, however, especially if you’re shopping for an iPad or Apple Watch. The best deals this year seem to involve the iPad Mini 2, iPad Air 2, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Apple Watch Series 1, iPhone 7 and a handful …

One of the late arrivals to the 2016 parade of ho-hum smartwatches is the Samsung Gear S3, announced back in the late summer. It just went on sale last Friday, and it’s on my wrist right now. You might see it advertised in holiday sales, or in stores. Should you buy one? And what can it offer next to the …