I’m standing on a corner near my office in San Francisco. A few blocks away, I can see pointy fortresses and rounded greenhouses. Nearer, a smoking chimney of a tall, blue-roofed inn signals something’s cooking inside. Owls and colorful paper airplanes glide by, and frequently an object appears near to me, including a bit of …
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Magic Leap, a mysterious maker of augmented reality glasses, has filed a lawsuit accusing a former employee of stealing its technology to create a similar device for China. The lawsuit, filed Monday in a Northern California federal court, alleges the former software engineer used confidential information to create AR glasses in just two years, while Magic Leap’s process took much …
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This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference. I chased a giant ball that wasn’t really there with a friend. I watched someone puppet a hovering sun with their face, and speak through its mouth. I sat through sessions where Apple employees discussed the importance of Reality Files, which could store …
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This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference. Apple has been really excited about augmented reality, and at Apple’s WWDC developer conference there were some new effects announced that push ARKit into new realms of realism. But you need a top-end iPhone XS, iPhone XR, XS Max, or iPad Pro with …
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You search for “tiger” and there’s a invitation to launch a tiger into the real world. Google Search has popped 3D animated objects and AR into people’s phones this morning, just in case you’re looking for animals. I got to try Google’s AR-enabled Search a few weeks ago at Google’s I/O developer conference, and now the feature’s available if you …
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VR and AR headsets are going to be powered by phones, via USB-C, in the near future. At least, that’s Qualcomm’s plan. And those headsets could be a lot more capable than you might expect. Eye tracking, full 6DoF positional tracking like Oculus Quest and even controller-free hand gestures are part of the picture. Qualcomm already announced USB-C compatible VR and …
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I see a car driving down a test track. The dashboard is real. But now it’s a glowing blue skeletal frame. The dashboard has changed. It’s become virtual. The car is still racing. Real car, real driving, virtual interface. Welcome to Varjo VR-1. Earlier this year, I wore the Varjo and it was the highest-resolution VR headset I’ve ever experienced. That …
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It’s 2019, and guess what? Google just unveiled its newest version of Glass. It’s not made to be a widespread consumer product, but there are business users who will care. And the latest Glass Enterprise Edition 2, with key upgraded specs, shows where most smartglasses are at. You might remember Glass as a strange 2013 footnote, but Glass has stuck …
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Pokemon Go changed the way people think of mobile games, with its slick use of augmented reality overlaying computer-generated monsters on the real world. Now Minecraft wants to change the way we think of AR. Microsoft on Friday announced a new take on Minecraft as the game marks 10 years since its initial release. The free title, called Minecraft Earth, …
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There’s a massive Statue of Liberty foot on the table in front of me. It’s life-size. I forgot about the scale of it. I live in New Jersey but haven’t visited it for years. For anyone who’s never been to the Statue of Liberty in person, the new Statue of Liberty app could be the perfect augmented reality virtual ticket. …
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