AR
At WWDC today, Apple unveiled its long-awaited AR headset, which consumers have been anticipating for years. But how much will the Apple Vision Pro cost? Apple Vision Pro will retail…
After a reported seven years of development, Apple’s AR headset is finally here. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a “one more thing” moment. The wisdom, efficacy and ultimate…
The name of the operating system powering Apple’s Vision Pro headset is visionOS. And in many ways, it’s Apple’s most ambitious OS yet. At the architecture level, visionOS shares core…
Say hello to the second worst kept secret in VR. Meta today gave the world the first (official) glimpse of its latest headset, the Quest 3. The mixed reality hardware…
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A brief history of VR and AR
By the time Howard Rheingold’s “Virtual Reality” was published in 1991, the Sensorama was already a “slowly deteriorating” relic stashed away in a cabana next the pool at its inventor’s West Los Angeles home. Rheingold describes awe — even surprise — that the system was still operable almost 30 years…
Apple has sent out official invitations to select media to attend its WWDC 2023 keynote in person at the company’s Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. The keynote is set…
Augmented reality is coming to Reels Ads and Facebook Stories, Meta announced this afternoon at the IAB’s NewFronts as part of its pitch to advertisers. The update allows brands like…
This Week in Apps: Apple ‘sherlocks’ journaling apps, Twitter’s checkmark apocalypse, Snap summit recap
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app economy in…
Snap today offered an update on its AR Enterprise Services (ARES), the company’s recently announced initiative focused on providing AR tools and expertise to businesses that want to leverage Snapchat’s…
While the U.S. government debates TikTok’s future following last week’s congressional hearing, the video entertainment platform today announced a new product called Branded Effects aimed at businesses marketing themselves on…
Snap quietly acquired Amsterdam-based 3D-scanning studio Th3rd in the second quarter of last year, at a time when the company was looking to bolster its AR-powered commerce ambitions. A spokesperson…
Update: Google tells TechCrunch that it remains committed to augmented reality, stating, “For years, we’ve been building AR into many Google products and we’ll continue to look at ways to…
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Apple’s AR/VR headset reportedly being pushed out due to ‘huge pressure to ship’
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Apple is building a mixed reality headset that’s set to ship this year. The company’s MR (AR+VR) hardware ranks among its longest-lasting rumor cycles. Some (Apple Watch) have borne fruit. Others (that pesky Apple TV set) not so much. The category doesn’t…
Hexa, a 3D asset visualization and management platform, today announced that it closed a $20.5 million Series A round from Point72 Ventures, Samurai Incubate, Sarona Partners and HTC. CEO and…
People on TikTok are getting emotional over an AR filter that makes you look like a teenager. Juxtaposed one beside the other, the filter shows you as you are, and…
Something wasn’t working. In late 2020, Magic Leap announced a major change spearheaded by incoming CEO, Peggy Johnson. “[W]hat I found was nothing was really broken,” she told the press…
We’ve met with Mojo Vision for several CESes, watching the startup’s AR contact lenses develop, year by year. These sorts of things take a lot of time and money, of…
SPIN focuses on luxury consumers, though it’s not hard to ponder what an app such as this could do for a market in desperate need of a transfix, such as…
As Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisition of VR fitness developers Within, the tech giant is making another acquisition. Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that it is purchasing Luxexcel, a…
Google has acquired Alter, an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar startup that helps creators and brands express their virtual identity, for about $100 million, a source familiar with the matter told…
Disney+ releases its first AR-enabled short film, ‘Remembering,’ starring Brie Larson
Today is Disney+ Day, and, as part of its perks, the company is offering Disney+ subscribers a new AR experience in conjunction with the short film “Remembering,” starring and produced…
Snapchat has launched a new in-app game called Ghost Phone designed to showcase the company’s AR technology by allowing players to discover the secrets of an abandoned phone and hunt…
This Week in Apps: Elon wants out, TikTok’s content ratings, a new milestone for subscription revenue
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached…
If you’ve ever searched on YouTube for a review of the latest iPhone or electric car, then you’ve probably encountered Marques Brownlee. Since he started his channel MKBHD as a…
With Pokémon Go, Niantic became the poster child for the power of mobile AR apps. Since then, the company has struggled to recapture that glory, including a round of layoffs…
LG officially pulled the plug on its smartphone division in April of last year. It was another signpost in a dramatically changing mobile market that had left the electronics giant…
Meta wants to make it clear it’s not giving up on high-end VR experiences yet. So, in a rare move, the company is spilling the beans on several VR headset…
Meta is reportedly scaling back plans for its AR glasses, pivoting away from marketing Portal as a consumer device
Meta is scaling back its plans for its augmented reality (AR) glasses and is pivoting its Portal smart display device away from the consumer market, according to a new report…
New functionality arriving in iOS 16 will enable apps to trigger real-world actions hands-free. That means users could do things like start playing music just by walking into a room…
Since the launch of Pokémon Go in 2016, players have been coordinating meetups, in-game raids and battles on platforms like Reddit and Discord. This summer, parent company Niantic is unveiling…
