On Wednesday’s podcast, we talk to CNET’s Scott Stein about these stories: Apple will offer a fix for that battery slowdown feature. We just don’t know exactly when. Apple’s iOS 11.3 will come with new tricks for ARKit. Virtual reality could cut the cord this year with HTC offering a wireless adaptor for its Vive …
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Two years ago, Naughty America made waves at CES with its debut of VR porn — or, to be specific, 180-degree 3D videos viewable on VR headsets. Riding the coattails of upcoming VR hardware like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, it was a return to the risque days when CES overlapped with the adult-themed AVN (Adult Video News) show, making …
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When wandering around with a VR headset on, I’m afraid of going too far without someone to spot me. The reason is simple: I can’t really see where I’m going. Odds of tripping over a chair or a table are extremely high. One company seems to have tried to solve that problem, and I tried out the result deep in …
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You can stick Amazon’s Alexa into all sorts of things: speakers, cars, phones, watches, robots and even refrigerators. Add smartglasses to that list. Vuzix, makers of various smartglasses and Google Glass-like head wearables for years, are now making smart eyewear compatible with Amazon’s Alexa. Bloomberg broke the news ahead of CES, but I got to wear the glasses in Las Vegas. Smartglasses, …
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When VR first made its major CES reemergence via Oculus Rift years ago, it was jaw-dropping. Those moments, since, are harder to come by. After a 2017 where VR hardware sales flagged and buzz quieted, AR started to gain steam via phone apps from Apple and Google. Meanwhile, the dream of some next-level “mixed reality” — a holographic blend of …
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How do you interact with a pair of augmented-reality smartglasses? Maybe with your hands or a controller or a touchpad? Rokid, a Chinese company that’s developed voice assistant-based products, believes the answer is voice. Last year, Rokid unveiled a little Amazon Echo-alike called the Rokid Pebble at CES, which used an AI called Melody to attempt to one-up Amazon Alexa and …
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Maybe the next wave of AR toys will avoid your face entirely. Merge’s 6DoF Blaster looks like a Laser Tag gun and uses a phone. And that’s basically what it is: Laser Tag, for AR. And it might be one of my favorite things at CES. Seriously. Now playing: Watch this: Merge’s toy AR gun turns the iPhone X into …
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Still playing Pokemon Go? Did you quit months ago? Either way, developer Niantic is about to give you another reason to pick up the mobile game. As long as you’ve got a recent iPhone, that is. GIF by Sean Hollister/CNET “Soon” — and we take “soon” to mean possibly as soon as later today, Wednesday — Pokemon Go will see …
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Magic Leap’s much-hyped and long-awaited augmented-reality platform just got a little more real with the official introduction of its Magic Leap One Creator Edition. It includes a set of Lightwear smart glasses, a belt-worn Lightpack battery pack and a controller, simply called Control. The company said it’s due to ship in 2018, but gave no pricing information. The Creator Edition …
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Now playing: Watch this: What to expect from Apple in 2018 (The 3:59, Ep. 330) 5:03 Today’s podcast focuses entirely on Apple and the year to come. We discuss a handful of expected changes from the tech titan in 2018, including several new iPhone designs, more augmented reality features and the new HomePod smart speaker. The 3:59 gives you bite-size …
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