Say what you will about going outside, but there isn't an AdBlock program for real-life billboards and ads. At least, there didn't use to be. A software engineer on X (formerly Twitter) has built an augmented reality app to identify and block out advertisements, billboards, and product branding in real life.

Stijn Spanhove, a Belgian programmer, has engineered an advertisement-blocking app for use with Snap's fifth-generation AR Spectacles. Google's Gemini AI identifies advertisements and brands visible through the smart glasses, and promptly blocks them, replacing the advertisement with a red square, naming and shaming the blocked brand.

The above video shows the glasses in action, with the app correctly identifying and visually blocking out ads on posters, pedestrian billboards, and a newspaper. The captured video also shows the glasses blocking out the brand names on food packaging.

Spanhove says the project is still very early in its production, but "it’s exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see." Spanhove continues to brainstorm the future of the app in his replies, hinting at future features allowing users to replace the glaring red prohibited square with custom photos or lists from a notes app.

The app is built from libraries and APIs shared by Snap on its Github on its Depth Cache development, making the app, for now, a Snap Spectacles exclusive experience. Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest enjoyers will need to wait a bit longer for similar experiences to arrive on their screens.

Snap, best known for its flagship social media app Snapchat, has been developing its AR Spectacles since 2016, though the camera goggles were originally designed to help people capture life events, rather than AR devices. While companies like Microsoft and Meta have abandoned or paused their augmented reality projects in recent months and years, Snap has seemingly been carrying the banner forward, with its fifth-gen Spectacles available for $99 per month for developers.

While mere mortals without development interest will need to wait a bit longer to experience a true They Live anti-propaganda glasses experience, the questions the app raises are perhaps the most interesting part of it. What will a world look like where we can control what, or perhaps who, we see? At least for now, it will look just like the normal world, just with a few extra red rectangles.

Today, Philips launched the Evnia 49M2C8900. This monitor is the newest addition to the Evina 8000 gaming monitor series. It promises a host of features such as a 48.9-inch 32:9 aspect ratio QD-OLED display, a 240 Hz refresh rate, a response time of 0.03 ms GtG, a built-in 30W DTS speaker system, and immersive Ambiglow surround lighting.

Philips characterizes the Evnia 49M2C8900 as a premium gaming monitor but says it is also an excellent display for work. It backs up its statement by highlighting its comprehensive USB-C docking station, which offers 90W power delivery, the integrated KVM switch, a VESA mounting option, and included ergonomic stand. Users with their eyes glued to the screen for extended periods will also benefit from OLED's true blacks and a LowBlue mode.

Gaming is, of course, where the Evnia 49M2C8900 excels. Its resolution of Double-QHD (5210x1440) delivers plenty of detail (remember to buy one of the best graphics cards for gaming). Gamers will appreciate the 240 Hz refresh rate, a response time of 0.03 ms GtG, and VESA ClearMR (Clear Motion Ratio) 13000 certification to ensure blur-free gaming.

Helping provide a good overall and integrated immersive experience, this 1800R curved Evnia also features built-in DTS Sound with 30 W output (via 4x 7.5W speakers). Ambiglow lighting is also built-in to extend the on-screen action to the surrounding periphery.

The display's great color stats will benefit both games and more serious work. Philips says the true 10-bit QD-OLED panel used is certified for DisplayHDR True Black 400, and offers up to 450 nits peak brightness. The monitor's color gamut covers 99% DCI-P3, equivalent to 153.1% sRGB. Factory calibrated, users should find the display's sRGB mode offers a <2 delta E.

Connectivity is provided by the monitor's 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB type-C (with DP-Alt mode, and 90W power delivery), and an audio jack. The aforementioned USB-C hub provides four USB data ports.

Philips mentions mid-September availability for the Philips Evnia 49M2C8900. We don't have US pricing yet, but the UK MSRP is £1,650, and buyers in mainland Europe will be asked to spend €1,950. Depending on the finalized price and test performance, the Evnia 49M2C8900 might find a place in our Best Ultrawide Gaming Monitors 2023 feature.

Samsung's Cheaper Challenger (Same Panel)

If you like the look of the above monitor, you might also be tempted by the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 DQHD gaming monitor, now available for $1,799 at Best Buy. Both monitors are based upon the same Samsung QD-OLED panel; however, the Evnia's supporting features like DTS Sound and Ambiglow might give it the edge.

Xreal announced its name change (from Nreal) and a new product, the Beam, in late May. The Beam gives users more freedom when using the Xreal Air augmented glasses on-the-go, and greatly simplifies the mess of cables and adapters that previously complicated my experience.

Thanks to the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro headset, augmented and mixed reality glasses are getting a second look from customers these days. But whereas that device has more ambitious goals for how consumers will interact with computers and media content, Xreal is focused on making the augmented reality experience already present with its Air glasses more convenient and accessible. And whereas the Vision Pro costs $3,499, the Xreal Air + Beam bundle will set you back “only” $488.

Since I’ve already reviewed the Air glasses, I’ll focus this review primarily on the Beam and what it brings to the table. 

Specifications for the Xreal Beam

Design of the Xreal Beam

You would be forgiven if you thought that the Beam looks like a reimagined early Apple iPod. From its rounded rectangular shape to its circular navigation wheel with the center action button. The navigation wheel allows you to move up, down, left and right through the Beam's user interface. You then use the center button to select a menu choice.

A blue rocker switch on the right side of the device handles volume up/down while pressing and holding the switch activates mute. The black circular button below the navigation wheel serves as a back button for the Beam’s user interface, while the circular red button on the left side switches between display modes. One final button resides at the top of the Beam; this is the power button.

The sheer number of buttons and controls on the tiny device seemed overpowering to me at first. Still, I quickly became acclimated and found myself navigating through the menus by feel with the Beam in my pocket.

An LED bar sits above the navigation wheel. It pulses white from left to right while charging, increasing the bar length as the Beam approaches 100 percent. When battery levels are low, you'll see a small red bar.

You'll find two USB-C ports on the bottom of the Beam. The left USB-C port is for charging the Beam, while the right USB-C port connects directly to the Air glasses. Xreal says that the Beam can last up to 3.5 hours per charge, while a 30-minute charge via USB-C (27-watt support) will replenish 50 percent of the 4870 mAh battery. Thankfully, the Beam can be used while charging.

The Beam measures 4.16 x 2.59 x 18.2 inches and weighs 5.4 ounces. It easily fits in the front pocket of my shorts.

Setting up the Xreal Beam

Unfortunately, getting started with the Beam was an exercise in frustration. The first thing I did was take the Beam out of the box and plug in a USB-C cable to charge it. After about 15 minutes, I returned to the device and turned it on. I plugged in the Air glasses and was greeted with an Xreal animation screen and allowed to choose my preferred language. Next, I was asked to join a Wi-Fi network (the Beam supports Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0). Once the Beam connected to the internet, this is where the troubles began.

First, the Beam asked me to install a v0.3.5 update, which came in at 787.17MB. With my Wi-Fi 6E router (about 3 feet away) and a 500 Mbps internet connection, the download should have taken around 20 seconds. However, the Beam puttered around at approximately 0.5 Mbps. Adding insult to injury, after 25 minutes, the download reached 75 percent completion and unexpectedly restarted the process. The slow download started again until it reached around 80 percent, and it restarted again. This happened multiple times until it finally completed the download after two hours of frustration.

The Beam then took another few minutes to install the update and restart. Once it restarted, it downloaded an update for the Air glasses, which took about 5 minutes from start to finish.

Taking two hours to download and install a less-than-800MB update with a fast internet connection is unacceptable. I talked to Xreal about this experience and was told that my experience was unfortunate and that their engineers would ensure that they would fix things server-side so that incidents like this don’t happen again.

Using the Xreal Beam

Once I got past the cantankerous setup process, using the Beam with the Air glasses was straightforward on multiple computing platforms (AirPlay and Miracast are supported). I first tried the Beam with an iPhone 14 Pro, and the connection process was far more streamlined. When I initially reviewed the Air glasses, I not only needed to use a $59 Air Adapter, but also a $49 Apple Lightning to Digital AV Adapter. This made for a heavy and bulky setup when using the Air glasses.

With the Beam, I only needed to plug in the USB-C cable from the Air glasses. The Beam slipped into my pocket, out of sight and out of mind. Once the Beam is wirelessly connected, there are three options for how images project onto the Air glasses.

Smooth Follow allows the projection to follow your head movements, keeping everything in front of your face whether you’re running, lying down, or bending down to tie your shoes. Body Anchor places the projection at a fixed point of your choosing (three degrees of freedom). However, as you move your head up/down or right/left, the projection will move out of your field of view, just as a physical monitor would as you move your head around. Sideview places the projection in a resizable “window” in the top corner of your field of view. This gives you a fuller view of the world in front of you while still giving access to projected images at a glance.

To wirelessly connect with an Apple device, like the iPhone 14 Pro, I needed to swipe down from the top right of the screen and tap on the screen mirroring button. From there, I selected the Xreal Beam from the list of available devices. Then, the iPhone's screen was presented in front of my eyes on the Air glasses, in portrait orientation. However, opening up a YouTube video or a video I streamed from my Plex Server would automatically place the video in landscape orientation.

It was a similar process with a 14-inch MacBook Pro. I clicked screen mirroring from the Menu bar and selected the Xreal Beam from the list of available display devices. Then my entire macOS desktop was shown on the glasses.

I next tried the Beam with a NUC 8 Windows 11 desktop, which again, couldn't have been any simpler. I navigated to System → Display → Connect to Wireless Display and selected Xreal Beam from the list. I was then given the option to extend my workspace to the Air glasses or duplicate my desktop; I chose to duplicate the workspace for simplicity’s sake.

For fun, I tried Cyberpunk 2077 on an HP Victus 16 with the Air glasses and Beam. After connecting the Beam as a wireless display in Windows 11, I loaded Cyberpunk 2077 and began playing. Overall, the image quality looked good but was slightly washed out in darker game areas. I placed the light-blocking shades over the lenses to combat this, significantly increasing contrast and color vibrance. The audio from the game is also played through the speakers on the Air.

However, I did run into some issues. When the action started picking up or I made quick movements, the picture would stutter, and the audio would cut out. Sometimes it would take a few seconds to “catch up.” This is an obvious deal breaker in a fast-paced game like Cyberpunk 2077. If you instead play games that move more leisurely, these performance hangs likely won’t be an issue.

I also used the extended desktop feature of the Air glasses and the beta version of the Xreal Nebula app (without the Beam accessory, as this feature isn’t supported yet when going wireless). I had success in both Windows 11 and macOS with the Nebula app, although it was much more stable with the latter. As you can see in the clip below, I used the Nebula app in Windows 11 to invoke the Augmented Reality Desktop. This allowed me to string together three desktops by panning my head around using the Air glasses. While the YouTube video clip played fine on my Intel NUC 8, it stuttered a bit on the Air glasses using the Augmented Reality Desktop.

One thing I noticed when using the Beam is that it can get very hot. The second revelation was that I soon realized that the Beam has an internal fan, which exhausts through a vent behind the power button. I didn’t notice the inclusion of the fan until I turned off my TV and heard a fan noise that I didn’t recognize from my MacBook Pro or NUC 8. Instead, the Beam was blowing out a surprising amount of hot air for such a small device.

Bottom Line

The Air + Beam combo is a boon for iPhone users, as you no longer must deal with the clunky adapters and wires that were previously required. Now, you can plug the glasses into the Beam and enjoy wireless streaming.

Wireless streaming from a Mac, Windows, Android or iOS/iPadOS device is simple. Sitting back on the couch watching YouTube wirelessly with my iPhone 14 Pro, Air glasses, and Beam was a hoot.

The Xreal Beam is now available at $119, which is a hefty price to pay for wireless connectivity, especially considering that the Xreal Air glasses already cost $379. However, Xreal offers an Air + Beam bundle for $488, representing a tiny $10 savings.

The big question, though, is, should you buy it? If you aim to play fast-paced games on your Windows PC with the Air glasses, then the answer is no. The stuttering, lag and audio cutouts confirm this isn’t a gaming device. However, the Beam opens some pretty intriguing possibilities if you want to watch movies and TV shows or play slower-paced games wirelessly. The Xreal Beam is an excellent little accessory for those that already own a pair of Air glasses. And even if you don’t already have Air glasses, the Beam might add just enough functionality to make you want the glasses.

At WWDC on Monday, Apple's Vision Pro wowed a live audience at Apple Park here in Cupertino, as well as online around the world. CEO Tim Cook and a team that worked on the project detailed what they heralded as VR and AR's transformative properties as a computing platform.

And then, sitting in the live audience just inside Apple's flagship campus, I heard gasps. The Apple Vision Pro, at $3,499, would cost even more than the rumors suggested.

There's been a lot of skeptical talk on Apple's Campus today among the media and analysts (do we really want to use an AR headset to take photos of our families?), but also a lot of wonder that Apple has pulled off something so thin and seemingly so powerful. But everyone is mentioning the cost.

$3,499 is a lot. While that's not Mac Pro money, Apple is pitching this as a device that people will have in their homes, use to take photos of their families, watch movies and work like they would on their Mac.

But here's the thing. This is WWDC, and it is for developers. Apple is pitching the device months before release, which it typically does with products when it needs to get developers on board. Apple has pitched the Vision Pro as its future, but it can't do that without a boatload of apps.

And that's what the Vision Pro seems like: a $3,499 dev box. At least, in the short term, this will be the headset that developers use to design Apple's future, should the Vision Pro succeed. And those apps will trickle down, to cheaper headsets, potential AR glasses, and other rumored products. Those dedicated developers are the ones that can make something like the Vision Pro a winner, and Apple absolutely needs them on board.

I didn't get the chance to test the Vision Pro at Apple Park — those opportunities were few and far between, though I know they existed. But even without that, I can see a version of this that entices me more than the Vision Pro currently does, a few years down the road.

Sure, I could name some issues. For one, while the Vision Pro looks far slimmer than similar products, it still looks like it could be heavy on the head (again, I didn't get to try it), and it has a battery pack that hangs down off the back, which isn't ideal and feels very first generation, and offers only two hours of battery life when not plugged in. The other thing Apple needs is a killer app. There was no one dedicated reason to use Vision Pro that's better than an iPhone or a Mac. Apple needs its developers to make a lot of these, and to make them fast.

We've seen this before. Apple releases a product. It's expensive, out of reach, or not as focused as we'd like. But Apple knows how to whittle. Think back to the Apple Watch, which came out in 2015 with few customization options and an "Edition" model class with 18K gold. Heck, when it was revealed, a Gawker editor started a pledge not to sleep with anyone wearing one; today, that would mean he might have trouble finding a partner, as Apple ships more watches than many of the Swiss watchmakers.  But the Watch needed some editing. Since then, Apple has changed the focus to fitness and health and added multiple watch faces with customization options. I doubted it at first, and now I love mine.

We saw something similar with the HomePod, as the original kind of failed to launch. But with the cheaper, $99 HomePod Mini, Apple made something that, while still a luxury, better competes with Amazon's Echo speakers. The newer full-sized HomePod is cheaper than the original, was largely lauded as better by reviewers, but doesn't supplant the entry-level item. It's an improvement, but one we're still seeing in progress.

$3,499 is still a stretch for a new category. But the Vision Pro is the first play in a long game, which will compete with Meta, HTC, and likely a number of other players who we may not even know the names of yet.

But knowing history, Apple usually, eventually, gets hardware right. If AR/VR/XR takes off as a new frontier in computing, Apple will be on the leading edge, editing as it goes along. Maybe it will eventually get rid of the battery pack or focus more on certain types of apps. Over the years, it may increase the field of view, resolution or other specs (some of which Apple has not confirmed for this model yet!) Perhaps cheaper models will emerge. And as those things happen, it will get there with an App Store full of software from dedicated developers. And this time, it also has to launch beyond the U.S. Here, Apple is starting in just one country.

In between, Apple is still working on its Macs as productivity machines (a space it clearly hasn't abandoned, but has embraced with a new enthusiasm), and it's not like the iPhone is going anywhere. This will be a slow transition. Apple and its competitors have to prove that you want to wear a computer on your face. Meta's been trying for a few years and hasn't done that yet.

It's unclear if what we witnessed at WWDC is an iPhone moment. Like the iPhone, we won't know immediately upon launch what the Vision Pro — or the AR space — does with its impact. But Apple has the resources to keep iterating.

You do have to start somewhere. If it works as advertised, a headset that relies entirely on hands, eyes, and voice, with tons of apps from Apple's ecosystem ready to go, including specialized experiences from Disney, works as a great first step. But until I get to try it, I firmly see this announcement as a first step in building the future, with Apple's dedicated third-party developers making experiences that will germinate here, but become invaluable down the line. Those are the super-fans who will pay to plant a flag, even as everyone else lines up just to try one at an Apple Store.

Am I skeptical? Sure. But talk to me again in a few years. We'll see where I am then.

Note: As with all of our op-eds, the opinions expressed here belong to the writer alone and not Tom's Hardware as a team.

After years of speculation, Apple is getting into VR and AR in a big way. At its WWDC 2023 developer conference keynote, the company revealed Vision Pro, an XR headset combining virtual and augmented reality. It's Apple's first big hardware category since the Apple Watch was released in 2015. It will start at $3,499 next year and will ship on Apple.com and in US retail stores. It's being shown now to get developers involved.

The headset has a single piece of laminated glass with a "wide array of cameras and sensors." The frame includes a button for photos and videos, and a digital camera to switch between levels of AR and VR. Vision Pro's frame has a thermal design that draws air through holes in the system to keep it cool. Needless to say, this isn't a fanless design, although Apple says that it's "near silent" in operation.

Apple is calling it "the most advanced personal electronics device over" and says it is based on over 5,000 patents.

The light seal comes in multiple sizes and conforms to your face. Straps reach out from the frame with "Audio Pods" to deliver spatial audio. The headband is a ribbed, 3D pressure that stretches with an attachable mechanism. An adjustment dial lets you make small adjustments during use.

Glasses-wearers will use inserts made by Zeiss that attach to the lenses. There was no mention of the cost for these accessories for an already pricey headset. 

Apple promises two hours of battery on a charge (but it can be used longer while plugged in). The hardware includes a battery pack wired to the headset, which you then put in a belt or pocket. 

An external display will show your eyes so that people can recognize if you're immersed in VR or not, and keep people from feeling isolated.

We got to see the design form a distance at WWDC. It's space-age, and the reflective glass along the front is surprisingly welcoming. It's a very attractive device, but wearing it is still a bit of a mystery. Apple ensured these models weren't touched, but we did get a better look at the battery that hangs off the side of the device.

Tech in Apple Vision Pro

Vision Pro will boast some impressive specs. It fits 64 pixels in the space of a single iPhone pixel. It has 23 million pixels across two panels for more than 4K resolution. It supports high dynamic range and allows for sharp text, Apple states.

Apple uses a dual-chip design with Vision Pro, with M2 and a new chip called R1. R1 is designed for input from 12 cameras, five sensors and six microphones. M2 allows for performance, while R1 is designed to make experiences feel immersive.

Meta's $1,499 Quest Pro has two LCD panels at 1800 x 1920 pixels with a claimed 106-degree horizontal field of view and a 96-degree vertical field of view. (Last week, Meta announced the Meta Quest 3, but didn't provide full specs ahead of a full launch later this year). And yes, there's a screen on the outside to show your eyes.

The Audio Pods trace your room with sound to customize it for you. Apple calls this "audio ray tracing." There are tons of scanners, including LiDAR, for 3D tracking. There are IR cameras and LEDs to track your eyes, so you don't need "clumsy hardware controllers."

For FaceTime, Apple creates a digital version of your face. After being scanned by the front cameras, Apple uses a neural network to make a 3D avatar to use in FaceTime calls. When someone in another Vision Pro is chatting with you, they'll see it in 3D. 

The new OS is called visionOS, which supports iOS framework, a new real-time subsystem, a foveated rendering pipeline and a multi-app 3D engine to keep multiple apps running in the same simulation. 

For security, Apple is using Optic ID, a new take on features like Face ID and Touch ID. Your iris scan will be stored on-device in the secure enclave. Apple says eye input will be separated into a special background process so that websites or apps won't be able to see where you're looking. Only finger taps will be registered.

Using Apple Vision Pro

Apple's operating system for AR and VR  will be somewhat familiar to users of iOS and iPadOS with a home screen with app icons and widgets that can be rearranged. There's a home view in your space, with apps that appear as they float in your room. They respond to light and cast shadows on your home. You can scale apps and place them wherever in your space that you wish.

The switch between AR and VR is critical here. Apple relies on a mix of the two so that people who use the headset don't feel entirely blocked out from the world. The dial, similar to the digital crown on the Apple Watch, lets you move in between AR and VR modes.

The headset relies solely on your eyes, hands, and voice. There's no controller. Graphical elements on the screen respond to your looking at them, and a tap of the fingers selects. You can flick your hands to scroll.

Apple uses the EyeSight moniker to show your eyes to others near you on an external screen. The company says this keeps you from being isolated from others and lets others know if you're immersed in VR or can see in AR.

For productivity, you get a "canvas for apps." You can place your apps anywhere on the screen. It looks like a floating version of Mac, with web browsing and other productivity apps around in space. You can turn your head to move from app to app or even put 3D objects in front of you and see them from any angle.

Vision Pro works with the Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard and other Bluetooth accessories. You can also use your Mac to put your Mac's screen on the headset for a massive 4K display.

There's also a version of FaceTime that lets you see digital versions of other people in one-on-one calls. When new people are added, they float in front of you. You can share apps with others while on a call.

Multimedia and Gaming on Vision Pro

Apple showed it as a multimedia machine for use when you're not working. Photos float in mid-air, and panoramas taken from iPhone will wrap around you. You can take pictures or video with the press of a button on the unit to watch in 3D later. Vision Pro blinks to let others see you're taking images.

Vision Pro also works as a personal movie theater. You can adjust the size in your space, and the OS automatically dims the surrounding area while adding spatial audio. You can even add an "environment" to work as a massive movie theater larger than your home. A specialized movie theater is meant to focus on film and nothing else. You can also watch 3D "spatial" movies; Apple showed off Avatar: The Way of the Water.

You can also use the Vision Pro to play Apple Arcade games with game controller support. Apple promises hundreds of titles on launch day.

Disney CEO Bob Iger joined Apple CEO Tim Cook at WWDC, showing off Disney Plus, including customized versions of shows like The Mandalorian, as well as customized ESPN game views that show replays in 3D. If also showed a Marvel: What If? game that seems to put you in the shoes of a superhero. Apple clearly has partners ready for this headset — Disney Plus will be ready on a launch day, Iger said.

Developing for Apple Vision Pro

Some developers have already had their hands on Vision Pro. For example, Apple demoed a 3D beating heart as well as a design of an Alfa Romeo F1 car. These are similar to what we've seen on other headsets and even Microsoft's HoloLens.

But others sound more unique, like a spatial interface for DJ-ing and a sky guide to transform Vision Pro into a planetarium. And Microsoft has its Office apps ready to go, as do a bunch of video conferencing software companies.

The same frameworks in iOS and iPadOS are built into visionOS, meaning plenty of existing apps should largely work out of the box with the built-in controls. 

Apple has been working with Unity, and it says games and other apps based on Unity will be able to work with minor tweaks. There will be a brand new App Store to see everything built for Vision Pro as well as any other compatible apps.

Two big announcements are coming from the folks at Nreal today. First and foremost, the company is changing its name to Xreal. Nreal ran into a dispute over the Nreal trademark, which was resolved, but it wanted to avoid further confusion as it continues to grow its global brand.

The second and most significant news from Xreal today is the announcement of Beam. Beam is a portable device shaped (and somewhat designed like) an original Apple iPod. This device takes video from smartphones, laptops, game consoles, etc. and sends it to Xreal’s Air glasses.

The Beam features two USB-C ports onboard, one of which provides a direct connection to a pair of Air glasses. The second USB-C port charges the Beam's 4870 mAh battery (enabling up to three hours of runtime) or provides a direct data connection to a smartphone or PC. That second USB-C port was something that Xreal's customers requested to enable the ability to play and charge simultaneously.

While wired connectivity to a smartphone was expected, Xreal also added wireless connectivity into the mix and support for DTS: X Ultra audio support. Xreal notes that customers can watch YouTube videos wirelessly using the Beam initially and that it will support DRM content later (the company is being mum on an exact launch for that support at this time). However, Xreal's primary focus at launch will be on PC users and gamers that want a more immersive experience.

Xreal also announced that its Spatial Display technology, previously only accessible through its Nebula software for Android or macOS, is also available with Beam. With this augmented reality experience, you have access to three degrees of freedom (3DoF), allowing you to "place" a virtual display at a fixed point in space and have it remain stationary as you move your head around. 

For example, this arrangement would allow you to view a game or a Windows desktop while looking straight ahead with the glasses. However, turning your head to the left or right would remove the projection from your field of view, allowing you to see your surrounding environment fully.

When taking advantage of Xreal's Spatial Display experience, users feel like they're viewing content on a 201-inch display. Xreal also added two new display modes for the Beam: Smooth Follow and Sideview. Smooth Follow lessens visual anomalies using the mirroring function when you quickly move your head. On the other hand, Sideview reduces the size of the projected image in the Xreal Air, making it easier to navigate your surroundings. This would be beneficial if you're, say, walking in a crowded downtown area and want to see more of the real world while simultaneously looking at projected content with the connected glasses.

Xreal says it will open preorders for the Beam on June 1, but it has not announced pricing.

It's been rumored that Apple would release a mixed-reality headset to the public for several years. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has steadily dripped details about the headset in recent months ahead of its expected WWDC 2023 unveil. 

Further fueling the flames of a WWDC announcement is that Ian Hamilton of UploadVR received an invite to the June 5th keynote. This is the first time UploadVR, which focuses primarily on augmented reality and virtual reality technology, has been invited to attend WWDC. Where there's smoke, there's usually fire, and it appears Apple is finally ready for the world to know what it has in store for customers.

So, what exactly should we expect from the headset, which is reportedly called the Reality Pro? Well, it's rumored that the Reality Pro will use dual 4K resolution micro-OLED displays (one for each eye), delivering a combined 8K resolution for the user (around 3,000 pixels per inch).

It's also reported that two Apple M2 SoCs will power the headset. These won't be watered-down chips but will instead be just as potent as the ones you'd find on current-generation MacBook Air and Mac mini computers. This would make the Reality Pro among the most potent standalone mixed reality devices on the market.

Gurman alleges that the Reality Pro will tethered to an external battery pack to trim down the headset's weight to make wearing it for extended periods less fatiguing. However, the cable connecting the battery pack to the headset is reportedly proprietary (it won't use Lightning or USB-C) and the battery pack is hot-swappable.

It's also alleged that the headset will have at least a dozen cameras facing inward and outward. Inward-looking cameras will reportedly track the position of your eyes, while the external cameras will allow you to see the outside world while wearing the headset. It's also possible that Apple will include iris-scanning biometric technology to authenticate purchases made using the Reality Pro.

Because of the robust hardware involved, the Reality Pro reportedly won't need to be tethered to an iPhone -- instead, it will use its own xrOS (Extended Reality Operating System). It will reportedly also come preinstalled with versions of existing iOS apps tailored to function in a 3D environment (i.e., Safari, Mail, Photos, Apple TV+, etc.). As you might expect, Apple is rumored to have partnered with game developers and sports leagues to bring a new level of immersion to those respective platforms.

We must remember that all of the information reported above is speculation primarily from one source: Mark Gurman. However, Gurman is a generally reliable leaker of Apple information and tends to back up his assertions thanks to his well-connected sources. Regardless, we won't have long to see what Apple has been brewing behind closed doors in Cupertino, as June 5th is less than two weeks away.

Around this time last year, we reviewed the Nreal Light glasses priced at $599. This year, Nreal has released the follow-up "Air" glasses, which are lighter and cost less at just $379.

The lighter weight and lower price can be attributed to the fact that these aren’t true augmented reality (AR) glasses. The Air lacks the dual cameras of the Light; hence there are no provisions for hand tracking, image tracking or plane detection. So while the price is lower, you’re also getting less functionality. However, for the tasks that it can handle, the Air does them quite well.

Specifications for the Nreal Air

Design of the Nreal Air

The Nreal Air is primarily constructed of plastic, just like its Light predecessor. While the Air looks similar to regular sunglasses, there are some noticeable differences. For starters, at 2.78 ounces (79 grams), they're heavier than most traditional sunglasses. In addition, the top portion of the frame is much thicker, as this is where the dual OLED displays are housed. Those displays then project their image down onto the lenses in front of your eyes. You cannot wear regular glasses with the Air, but a frame is included to add your prescription lenses.

The arms of the Air are thicker than what you'd find on a pair of sunglasses due to the need to support the internal electronics, including a pair of integrated speakers, a power button and a rocker switch for controlling the display brightness.

At the end of the left arm, you'll find a USB Type-C port that accepts a USB-C cable (included in the box) for plugging directly into an Android smartphone, computer or Steam Deck. There are three included nose grips (one of which is already installed on the glasses), a black plastic shade to block out light (making them more akin to virtual reality glasses) and a compact case to hold everything.

If you want to connect to an Android device, Windows PC or M1 Mac, all the hardware you need to get started comes in the box – namely, the USB-C cable. The Air draws power from these devices, so only the USB-C cable is needed for power and audio/video.

However, if you want to connect to a game console (an Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch), iOS device, or anything that doesn’t have a USB-C port, you must purchase a separate Nreal Air adapter ($59) with HDMI connectivity. Unfortunately, iOS users will also need to purchase an Apple Lightning to Digital AV Adapter ($49) if they don’t already have one. If you’re an iPhone user, that’s another $110 you’ll need to budget for in addition to the $379 Nreal Air.

The adapter features an integrated battery providing up to three hours of playback since the glasses won't get power from USB Type-C. Nreal also says you can go from 0 to 40 percent battery in 30 minutes using a USB-C charger. You’ll need to keep this in mind when playing games with a Nintendo Switch or watching videos on an iPhone. 

so It’s definitely a downer to have the Air glasses shut down in the middle of a firefight because the adapter’s battery died. And since there’s no USB-C power passthrough, you can’t get back into the action until you unplug the glasses and stick in a USB-C cable to recharge the adapter.

General Observations with the Nreal Air

Nreal says that the Air projects a 130-inch virtual screen 4 meters away from you with Air Casting mode, which is the mode that I primarily used (there’s also a MR Spaces mode that we’ll discuss later). It's this vast viewing area that makes consuming content like movies/TV shows and playing games so enjoyable. The image doesn't completely fill your field of view; you can still see the environment around you in your periphery (even with the black plastic light blocker installed).

The integrated speakers do a decent job with sound and will work in a pinch. Music sounds lifeless and lacks bass, while in-game audio similarly lacks depth. Instead, I recommend using a decent set of wireless earbuds or headphones. Besides, if you're using the glasses in close quarters, like on an airplane, I doubt that other passengers want to hear whatever sound is emanating from the Air's speakers. 

I must also say that because the Air looks mostly like a pair of traditional sunglasses, you can blend in with the general populous without looking out of place (try wearing a Microsoft HoloLens in public without getting stares). They make a great way to kill time  while riding the subway or taking a long flight.

Using the Nreal Air with the Nintendo Switch

Getting up and running with a console is a somewhat cumbersome process due to the adapters and wires the glasses require. While testing the Nreal Air with a docked Nintendo Switch, I first inserted the included HDMI dongle into the Nreal adapter and plugged in an HDMI cable. The other end of the cable plugs directly into the Nintendo Switch dock. Finally, I plugged the USB-C cable from the Nreal Air into the adapter and turned on the Nintendo Switch. After a few seconds, the glasses displayed the familiar image of the console’s home screen.

I first decided to bogart an existing session of Burnout Paradise Remastered that my oldest son had left in suspend mode. Before I knew it, I had spent 10 minutes blasting around the map, challenging others to races and crashing into unsuspecting AI-controlled vehicles head-on. I was fully immersed in the game world, not paying attention to what was happening in my periphery.

The image displayed was so bright and clear that I didn’t need the black plastic light blocker to enjoy it.

Using the Nreal Air with the Xbox Series X

Setting up the Nreal Air to work with an Xbox Series X was similar to the Nintendo Switch OLED. Using the same Nreal adapter/HDMI dongle/HDMI cable setup, I plugged it into the HDMI port on the back of the Xbox Series X and then connected the Nreal Air.

I first fired up Forza Horizon 5, hitting 215 mph in a Ford GT on the interstate before crashing into a ditch after sideswiping a Jeep. I then switched vehicles, opting for a Ford Bronco as I ventured off-road through the rocky wilderness and over streams. While not the full 4K resolution that I’m used to with the 55-inch TV that the Xbox Series X is usually attached to, the detail was sharp enough that I preferred this viewing experience.

Microsoft Flight Simulator also looked dazzling on the virtual 130-inch screen. Playing in a completely dark room at night was a sensational experience. However, after becoming immersed for about two and a half hours, the game abruptly ended because the battery on the Nreal adapter died.

Using the Nreal Air with an Oppo X5

The Nreal Air has limited compatibility with Android devices; only a select few OEMs are currently supported. You're in luck if you have a recent Android smartphone from LG, Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo or Sony. Nreal provided an Oppo X5 for us to test the Air, and it worked just fine with a OnePlus 9 that I also had on hand (you can see a full compatibility list here).

Rather annoyingly, you must sign up for a Nreal account before using the Air with the required Nebula app. The Nebula app allows you to mirror content to your screen or provide a more interactive AR experience. Once I created an account, the Air paired with the Oppo X5 and downloaded some firmware updates.

Air Casting mode allowed me to mirror the content displayed on the smartphone’s screen, which is a bit limiting due to the permanent portrait orientation. However, when watching videos with apps like Disney Plus or Amazon Prime Video, the Air automatically kicks into landscape mode to view content.

MR Spaces is an interface provided by the Nebular app that Nreal has designed that allows you to customize your own virtual workspace. You can see more of your workspace as you move your head left and right. You can rearrange apps to your choosing and have multiple windows open simultaneously (you can also resize those windows to your liking). If you can't see everything you want on the screen, simply turn your head to see the rest.

You use the phone as a makeshift laser pointer and tap the screen with your finger to interact with apps and on-screen content within MR Spaces. It takes a little while to get used to, but it’s a pretty efficient way to navigate the interface.

I felt like MR Spaces was more of a gimmick than something I'd use daily. However, it's definitely something that you'd want to show friends and family if they want to see what all the commotion is about regarding mixed reality.

Using the Nreal Air with an iPhone 14 Pro

Attaching the Nreal Air to an iPhone required the removal of the HDMI dongle from the Nreal adapter and replacing it with the Apple Lightning to Digital A/V Adapter (provided by Nreal). Next, I inserted the Lighting connector into the iPhone and plugged the Nreal’s Air’s USB-C cord into the Nreal adapter. 

With everything connected, the iPhone automatically recognizes the Nreal adapter and outputs to it. You’re first presented with the iOS home screen and all of your apps in portrait mode. However, this is not an optimal experience as you still have to look down at the iPhone to navigate the user interface.

That all changes when you decide to play a video. I opened the YouTube app and selected the latest episode from Rich Rebuilds, where their homebrew electric side-by-side caught on fire at SEMA. As soon as I hit play on the video, it automatically displayed in landscape mode and took up the full “viewable area” of the Nreal Air. Games also played just fine in landscape mode, as intended.

Using the Nreal Air with a Corsair Voyager A1600

Gaming on the Corsair Voyager A1600 was just as thrilling as it was on the Xbox Series X, and only required me to plug the Nreal Air’s USB-C cord into a free port on the laptop. The Nebula app isn’t available for use in Windows 10/11; the Air just shows up as an additional mirrored display. 

I immediately fired up Red Dead Redemption 2 and galloped on a horse around town, then played about an hour of Grand Theft Auto V. Not surprisingly, I got my butt handed to me repeatedly in Overwatch 2. My gaming skills weren’t enhanced nor diminished due to the Air; I just suck at online shooters.

Frame rates are capped at 60 fps because of the Air’s hardware limitations, which wasn’t a problem for me with the Air in the games I played. I played at 1920 x 1080 resolution and didn’t notice a drop off in image quality compared to playing natively on the Voyager A1600’s IPS panel.

Using the Nreal Air with a MacBook Pro

Like my experience with the Corsair Voyager A1600, using the Nreal Air on a MacBook Pro didn’t require using the adapter. Simply plugging in the AR headset allowed it to spring to life, giving me a full view of my desktop and all apps. 

However, Nreal also provides its Nebula app (in beta) that allows you to utilize the full capabilities of the glasses better. We should note that the Nreal Air and the Nebula software are only supported on M1 Macs – it is not hardware/software compatible with Intel Macs.

While the displayed image tracks with your head movements on the other aforementioned devices (and on the Mac without Nebula), the Nebula Mac software allows you to set the screen at a fixed point in space as if it were a physical monitor. So if you turn your head to the left or right of the fixed point, you see less of the screen. The same goes for moving your head up and down. 

While this arrangement doesn’t make much sense with just a single desktop, Nebula also allows you to simultaneously have up to three desktops. So you can start off looking straight ahead and your primary (central) workspace. If you turn your head to the right, you’ll see the second workspace. If you instead turn your head to the left, you’ll see the third workspace. This, in essence, gives you three virtual monitors to work with when using the Nreal Air.

The only downside to using the Nebula app is that the refresh rate dropped to around 30 Hz instead of its native 60 Hz and the image became very jittery, which gave me a severe bout of eyestrain. I couldn’t find a way to adjust this in display settings, so I used the Nebula Air primarily without the Nebula app.

Bottom Line

The Nreal Air is a compelling piece of hardware at a more attractive price than its Nreal Light sibling. However, the Air also lacks the onboard cameras and extended tracking features of a true augmented reality headset like the Light.

Where the Air truly shines is a as a media consumption tool. I found myself immersed watching YouTube clips and episodes of Star Wars: Andor on the Air. Since they’re so lightweight and don’t feel much different than wearing a pair of sunglasses or prescription glasses, it is low-impact. 

The same ergonomics platitudes can be said about gaming, be it on a Nintendo Switch, Windows PC or Xbox Series X. I felt zero eye fatigue using Air Casting for hours at a time. The only time serious eye strain occurred was when using the Nebula app in macOS.

Where things quickly fall apart is if you want to use the Air with an iOS device like an iPhone. You have to consider the $379 cost of the glasses, $59 for the Nreal adapter and another $49 for the Apple Lightning to Digital A/V Adapter. Now you’re looking at nearly $500, which is a lot to spend for a cobbled together solution for pairing an iPhone and the Air.

Another thing to consider is that if you want to use the Air with a game console or iOS device, the Nreal adapter is required. It has an integrated battery which only provides around three hours of runtime before it needs recharging. We really wish that the adapter was included in the box.

However, if you can get past those downsides, the Nreal Air provides an excellent “big screen” experience that can’t be matched by even the largest smartphones or laptops on the market.

Nreal is expanding its presence in the United States by launching another pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses. First launched in Asia in 2021, the Nreal Air AR glasses bring the entry price down for consumers to $379, compared to $599 for the Nreal Light, which we reviewed last year.

Compared to the Light, the Air glasses are 25 percent lighter and consume 50 percent less power. Designed to compete with the best VR headsets, The Nreal Air is also cheaper because these new AR glasses don't feature built-in SLAM or RGB cameras. Instead, the Air glasses only use 6 degrees of freedom (DoF) tracking.

Nreal is positioning the Air as a media consumption device for watching videos (i.e., Netflix and Hulu) and playing mobile games. You'll be treated to a 46 field of view with content, and when using the Nebula Mirror Mode, you're treated to a virtual screen that measures 130 to 200 inches. This could be an interesting way to enjoy content from game consoles like the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.

In the past, Nreal primarily focused on Android mobile devices and left iOS devices out of the loop regarding support. However, Nreal will now offer a $59 dongle that allows its AR glasses to work with an iPhone. It should be noted that you aren't finished after spending $59 on the dongle. You will also need to purchase the official Apple Digital AV Adapter that plugs into the Nreal dongle, which will cost you another $35. It's a clunky solution for iOS users, and we wish that Nreal offered a more streamlined and cost-effective option. 

Even with all the necessary components in place, you won't have access to Nreal's Nebula AR interface. Instead, you'll only be able to use the screen mirroring option for streaming content.

In addition, Nreal is showing even more love to the Apple ecosystem with the availability of Nebula for select macOS devices. Nebula provides MacBook Pro and MacBook Air users with a virtual user interface that can project multiple displays in front of you, expanding your available productivity workspace. Unfortunately, Nreal macOS compatibility is limited to Macs running on Apple Silicon (i.e., M1- and M2-based SoCs). Nreal did not indicate if or when Intel-based Macs would gain support for Nebula.

"AR glasses will likely first emerge into people's lives as a display technology and then gradually grow into a holistic experience," said Nreal co-founder Peng Jin. "That is why the thinking behind Nreal Air is very focused on the aesthetics, display quality, and its connectivity with other hardware devices."

U.S. customers can purchase the $379 Nreal Air AR glasses from Amazon with an expected delivery of October 6. The $59 Nreal Adapter is also available on Amazon, with delivery as soon as October 2.

Lenovo's moving to put a display on your face. As companies like Meta, Apple and others are reportedly looking into smart glasses, the Lenovo Glasses T1 are meant to give you a large, private viewing experience for phones and laptops by acting as a second display. Whether consumers will want to play mobile games, stream movies or extend their PC’s desktops onto glasses is an open question.

The Glasses T1 look like sunglasses. They're a bit bulkier, of course and you can't miss the USB Type-C cable attached to them. Lenovo will include swappable nose clips, and the temple arms are adjustable. There's also a frame to attach prescription lenses, though you'll have to find an optician to cut lenses in the right shape.

Lenovo says that the Glasses T1 will work with USB-C devices running Windows, Android, and macOS, as well as iOS devices, though iPhones and iPads with Lightning connectors will need Lenovo's HDMI to Glasses Adapter accessory and Apple's Lightning Digital AV Adapter. On a spec sheet, Lenovo specifically claims that compatible devices include the Moto Edge S, iPhone 12 and 13, Samsung Galaxy S 21, and Lenovo ThinkPad, ThinkBook, Yoga and Legion PCs have been tested to work. Note that the USB-C port must be one that outputs video.

The Glasses have Micro OLED display tech showing at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 per eye. There are also built-in speakers.

Android phones will work differently depending on the companies that manufacture them. Motorola Smartphones will use the Ready For desktop experience, while Samsung's phones will show up with Dex.

I got to try an early build of the Glasses T1, which left me with mixed feelings. WIth the glasses attached to a Motorola phone, I could play some games or play movies on lenses that appeared bigger, but without much demo material on the device, it was hard to get a feel for it.

On a Windows laptop, it made slightly more sense. Windows detects the Glasses T1 as a second monitor, and you can use a button on the Glasses to "lock" the screen in one location so you can turn your head away from it. In theory, I could see someone using these if they were working on a train or a coffee shop on some sort of classified document; no one else could see what they're working on. But on that early unit, it was tough to see the top edges of the screen, and some text was really small. I think it would require a lot of fine tuning with resolution and scaling to make this work.

Unlike Lenovo's ThinkReality glasses for enterprise users, there's no computing taking place on the glasses. (The ThinkReality A3 could make multiple augmented reality monitors appear at once on Windows devices.) That also means that there is no hand tracking or other flourishes. Everything is controlled by the device you plug the glasses into, which means that you can’t walk too far away from the keyboard or put the phone down (not that the wire would let you).

The Lenovo Glasses T1 will launch in late 2022 in China (under the moniker Lenovo Yoga Glasses) and will follow in "other select markets" in 2023. No pricing has been announced, and a press release says it won't come until the wearable goes on sale. One Lenovo rep ballparked that this consumer wearable display could go for as much as $600, but that it's yet to be finalized.  

Being the world's No. 1 supplier of notebook platforms, Intel must adopt the latest technologies as soon as possible to maintain this lead. In addition, one of the key selling points of laptops is a fast Wi-Fi connection, so adopting the latest tech version is crucial for the CPU giant. As it turns out, Intel is poised to support Wi-Fi 7 by its client PC platforms by 2024.

"We are currently developing Intel's Wi-Fi '802.11be' in order to obtain the 'Wi-Fi Alliance' certification, and it will be installed in PC products such as laptops by 2024," said Eric McLaughlin, vice president of Intel's wireless solutions division, at a press conference in South Korea, reports ET News (via The Register). "We expect it to appear in major markets in 2025."

Wi-Fi 7 (also known as IEEE 802.11be) will offer a maximum raw aggregated bitrate of 40,000 Mbit/s (40 Gbit/s), which will make wired Ethernet connections obsolete for most users. However, in most cases, client devices will support considerably slower connections.

But to get such a high bitrate, Wi-Fi 7 clients and access points will have to use three bands — 2.40 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz — and increase channel width to 320 MHz as well as add 4096-QAM. Meanwhile, since Wi-Fi 7 will rely on technologies its predecessors introduced, things like mandatory support for MU-MIMO (Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access) capabilities supported by Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E.

Given the significantly improved performance of Wi-Fi 7 over Wi-Fi 6/6E, Intel expects the technology to be adopted by bandwidth-hungry applications, such as augmented reality and virtual reality headsets that use Intel's WiGig (Wireless Gigabit) technology.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is expected to adopt the IEEE 802.11be specification only in 2025 formally, so some of its peculiarities might change. But interestingly, Intel looks at it with enthusiasm and expects the performance of the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 technology (or its own Wi-Fi 7 client chips) to improve by the time it rolls out commercially in 2024.

"Since there is more than a year left before the release of 802.11be, there is still a chance that we could improve the processing speed even further." Said McLaughlin.

For quite a while now, Intel has been one of the foremost advocates of Wi-Fi 7. So far, both Broadcom and Qualcomm have already announced their Wi-Fi 7 draft-compliant chips for access points and client devices.

We often hear about RISC-V, its competitive open-source architecture, and how it is making inroads into the CPU industry. However, last year we reported on an open source GPU under development, which would seriously bolster the development of open-source graphics engines. This week Think Silicon announced that it is ready to "showcase the industry's first RISC-V-based GPU."

The new RISC-V 3D GPUs from Think Silicon will form the foundation of its Neox series. Two branches are already being readied to expand Neox offerings; the Neox G series for graphics acceleration and the Neox A series for accelerating deep learning tasks.

Why is Think Silicon purposing these two separate Neox branches? It is reasonable to assume that, as Think Silicon is a self-proclaimed "leader in ultra-low power graphics IP," that it designs lean products strictly for targeted tasks. These won't be flabby general-purpose GPUs.

Think Silicon's press release gives us a few more clues to the type of embedded products and applications the respective Neox GPUs will target. It says that the new GPUs will feature customized SoCs for graphics, machine learning, vision/video processing, and general-purpose compute workloads. Mobile devices and platforms appear to be the most obvious, but not exclusive, target for this technology. Think Silicon reckons Neox G and A cores will be used in; next-generation smartwatches, augmented reality (AR) eyewear, video for surveillance and entertainment, and smart displays for point-of-sale/point-of-interaction terminals.

"Unveiling the first RISC-V-based GPU is a significant milestone for the graphics industry and for Think Silicon," said Ulli Mueller, Director of IP Licensing, Sales, and Marketing at Think Silicon. Mueller added that he hoped developers coming to the exhibition would be inspired by his firm's new 3D GPUs. In particular, he hopes that some will see the Neox GPU's potential to create "exceptional user experiences" while being thrifty with power.

Think Silicon will demonstrate its RISC-V 3D GPU family at Embedded World 2022. This trade show takes place in Nuremberg, Germany, from Tuesday, June 21 to Thursday, June 23. It will be interesting to see the level of performance these early RISC-V GPUs can muster, albeit in the low-power and embedded segments.

Before we go, it is worth pointing out that the PC graphics industry big hitters like AMD are also looking at using RISC-V technologies in their product portfolios.

A device packing an AMD Mero APU has emerged online. According to a sys-info screenshot shared by Rogame on Twitter, the device is the Magic Leap Demophon, rumored to be an AR headset that is currently in development.

The Tweeted screenshot above offers quite a lot of information to decode and take in. For example, AMD's Mero APU appears to be an octa-core CPU partnered with a Mero GPU. But what is a Mero GPU? Thankfully, we have some previous Mero tech leaks and spills to look back on and provide clues.

In 2020, PC hardware hound Komachi shared a screenshot of a document that tabulated functions and device IDs of AMD APUs. Specifically, it mentioned AMD Renoir, Van Gogh, and Mero. Komachi later clarified that Mero and Van Gogh were "the same." However, some changes or tweaks may exist to distinguish between AMD Van Gogh and AMD Mero APUs.

AMD's Van Gogh APU famously powers the Steam Deck, but due to being customized for Valve, it doesn't carry any AMD codenames, just a line saying 'Powered by AMD.' With the Steam Deck launched, reviewed, and in the hands of many a tech enthusiast and gamer, we now have a good understanding of the Van Gogh APU. In March this year, when the Steam Deck was released, we featured it in an in-depth review, and you can check out the complete device and APU specs there.

In brief, the Steam Deck's Van Gogh APU offers the following processing technologies; a Zen 2 CPU cluster with 4C/8T running between 2.4 and 3.5 GHz and an RDNA2 GPU with eight compute units running at between 1.00 and 1.6 GHz.

Checking back on the purported Magic Leap Demophon device specs, we see it is quite a different proposition to the Steam Deck. The contrast in purpose and function means that Magic Leap may have got AMD to implement a few APU design tweaks and rebalances to suit it better than a PC gaming handheld.

Magic Leap's Android OS AR device is likely going to be for the central part projecting 3D rendered elements into your field of vision, popping up some widgets and menus, as well as simultaneously processing a wide range of sensor data. Makers of wearables are very reluctant to pack in large and heavy battery packs. Due to device comfort and portability, we expect this mysterious Mero APU to be less power-hungry than the version in the Steam Deck.

Things will get very interesting in the mobile space thanks to AMD moving its newer gen CPU and GPU cores into low-power APUs. As well as the Magic Leap Demophon, we'd like to see Van Gogh-a-like APUs inaccessibly priced laptops and 2-in-1s that currently rely on weedy Celeron or Pentium chips.

The SimulaVR Simula One probably isn't going to wind up on our gaming-focused list of the best VR headsets, but it's certainly unique.  Its goal is to function as a VR workstation, by replacing your physical monitors with a virtual environment to get work done. The Simula One runs a Linux operating system on a small intel NUC attached to the headset itself.

Since the headset isn't aimed at gamers, high graphics horsepower is not required. So the team behind SimulaVR opted to use an Intel NUC 11 compute element equipped with a Core i7-1165G7 processor. It's a quad-core hyperthreaded CPU with a peak boost of 4.7GHz and Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics.

The screens used inside the VR headset equate to two 2448 x2448 panels that promise to be incredibly sharp compared to most gaming VR headsets. The headset will use a custom 3-lens design to accomplish this, which will provide a 100-degree field of view and 36.2 PPD or pixels per degree. SimulaVR notes that 36.2 is 3.27 times better than the Valve Index and 1.76 times better than the Quest 2. This means the Simula One will have some of the sharpest looking text of any headset on the market, which is great considering it's aimed toward productivity, where reading text is of the utmost importance.

The operating system Simula One uses is also called Simula, and it's a Linux desktop environment that runs on top of the Godot game engine to simulate the virtual experience. The operating system is capable of running any Linux desktop application within the virtual environment and provides high-resolution visibility of text within those applications with an optimized filter specifically designed for VR headsets. The OS comes pre-installed on the Simula One, but it can also be run on other VR headsets such as the HTC Vive and Valve Index.

Augmented reality is also being worked on for the Simula One, allowing the user to see the real world and virtual screens simultaneously. But, the implementation right now is in the testing stage and far from finalized.

But perhaps the best feature of the Simula One is its completely enclosed package, featuring the computer inside the headset, so there's no need to power the headset with an external PC. All that's required is power, internet, and control inputs for the unit.

The Simula One is in its prototyping stage at the moment, with no known release date. The device, for now, appears to be a testing bed for the Simula virtual reality operating system, which is available on GitHub to download now. But, the devs behind the Simula One do plan on eventually releasing the device in the future with a 12th Gen NUC, once Intel releases it.

We first got our hands on the Nreal Light augmented reality (AR) glasses in early January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. So it’s been nearly two years and the Chinese firm is now ready to bring the AR glasses to the United States. 

Nreal says that around 20 games that support its AR headset are available to download from the Google Play store for the device for those willing to give it a try. However, if gaming is not your forte, then partaking in a movie via the virtual 220-inch display (at a six-foot distance) is sure to get your attention.

The Nreal Light will be available to purchase exclusively at Verizon retail stores starting on November 30th. This is probably the best purchase option for those new to AR devices, as you can trial the Nreal Light in-store to see if this is an experience that suits your gaming or productivity workflows.

We should mention that availability is limited to just 20 Verizon retail stores across the U.S., with New York City accounting for seven of those locations. However, the AR glasses will also be available from Verizon’s online store starting on December 2nd. 

"Nreal Light's availability in the U.S. has been highlighy anticipated," said Nreal CEO and founder Chi Xu. "We couldn't be more excited to be announcing the sales of Nreal Light at Verizon retail stores as this marks a momentous milestone not only for Nreal, but also the AR industry as a whole." 

The Nreal Light is priced at $599 and is supported by the following Android smartphones:

• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW
• Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G
• OnePlus 8 5G UW

Nreal says that its AR glasses will also work with iPhones, although the company didn’t provide further guidance on that support. 

Stay tuned for our full review of the Nreal Light AR glasses, which is coming shortly.

In a livestream for Facebook Connect 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Project Cambria, a next-generation, high-end Mixed Reality headset that will raise the bar for how customers interact with virtual words. It's still in the development stages, but with "encouraging progress" being made towards a bridge between VR and AR, Meta (which Facebook renamed itself as during the event) feels it will have a product ready as early as next year.

Project Cambria will features high-resolution, full-color video passthrough to the headset’s screens, which will allow it to showcase not only the physical space you're involved in, but also overlay it with augmented reality. Zuckerberg explained the cutting-edge nature of the device as requiring  price tag high end of the price spectrum” price tag.

Project Cambria is expected to make use of a new generation of optics that would make it slimmer than existing headsets. New sensors handle the improved tracking features, as well as take in, algorithmically process, reconstruct and augment your immediate physical reality.

The headset features face and eye tracking, which will work in conjunction with avatars that closely mimic your actual movements into the digital real. And so that those lifelike avatar interactions are more engaging than simple digital video conferencing, Facebook also announced Horizon Home for Oculus experience, enhancing the existing virtual home by allowing users to invite digital friends over to play games, watch movies, or hang out. Customization for these virtual spaces will take slightly longer to arrive.

Also bundled into today's announcements and teases was the news that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is under development for the VR space. We're getting a remastered version of San Andreas already this year as part of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, so it would make sense that a VR version may make use of the remastered assets coming out of that release, but details were virtually absent. Like project Cambria, we'll have to wait for further details.

Lenovo is giving its smart glasses a new chip and a lighter build. The Lenovo ThinkReality A3 smart glasses, announced today, use Qualcomm’s SoC made specifically for virtual and augmented realities, while bringing a more lightweight option to the brand’s lineup of extended reality (XR) headsets. 

The ThinkReality A3 targets businesses' needs for privacy and immersiveness in training and collaboration, while also going after 3D visualization use cases in areas like design and engineering.

 Lenovo ThinkReality A3 Specs 

The ThinkReality A3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 CPU (its predecessor, the ThinkReality A6, uses a Snapdragon 845), the same chip found in Google’s Glass Enterprise Edition 2 smart glasses. Qualcomm has been pretty quiet about the SoC’s specs but says its optimized for AR experiences that use AI by improving power consumption, thermals and up to 6-degrees of freedom (6DoF), which the ThinkReality A3 leverages.

In addition to 6DoF, the smart glasses support a pile of features via software:

• Voice recognition
• Object recognition
• Image recognition
• Gesture support
• Head and gaze tracking
• Barcode reader
• HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) for DRM (digital rights management)

While not quite as stylish as more inconspicuous smart glasses meant for wearing in the streets, like the now Google-owned North Focals, the ThinkReality A3 does its best to look like a pair of sunglasses. At 0.3 pounds (130g), these specs are less than half the weight of the ThinkReality A6, which weighs 0.8 pounds (380g). The ThinkReality A3’s arms bend, and there’s a carrying case, lanyard, belt clip, arm band and battery pack available to make travel easier. An IP54 rating also means it should be safe against limited amounts of dust and splashes of water. 

With its detachable USB-C cable there are two versions of the ThinKReality A3: one that tethers to a PC and one that connects to a Motorola phone. The former is ideal for tasks like navigating Windows apps on five virtual monitors simultaneously. Lenovo sees it being used in engineering and finance, as well as companies with remote workers in need of more space and privacy.

The smart glasses will work best with a PC featuring a discrete GPU, but Lenovo said it can also work with “some integrated GPU devices.” 

Tying to a Motorola phone with a Snapdragon 800-series processor or better, the ThinkReality A3 Industrial Edition is more for factory and laboratory settings. 

The ThinkReality A3 will be available in “mid-2021,” according to Lenovo, in select markets. Pricing wasn’t disclosed. 

Nintendo’s new Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, a game where your home becomes the track thanks to augmented reality and a remote controlled kart, is almost ready for release. The team behind prototyping the unique kart have talked about prototyping the technology used, which anyone can buy, namely the Raspberry Pi Zero W.

As written by Nintendo Life, VELAN was tasked by Nintendo to develop a prototype of the kart used in the game, and they chose the Raspberry Pi Zero W as a testbed.  Looking closely at the image, we can see four key areas that identify the components used.

To the right we can see part of the Raspberry Pi Zero W board, with a female header soldered in place and a microSD card inserted. Moving to the top, you see a camera, and following the flat flex cable to the left, you can see the width reducing as it connects to the Raspberry Pi Zero W. The reduction is necessary as the Raspberry Pi Zero range of boards do not use the standard Raspberry Pi Camera flat flex cable. The final clue is the center 'red board,' which appears to be a Sparkfun control board, most likely a motor controller used to control the steering and the two DC motors that power the kart around the track. 

An enhancement to the Raspberry Pi Zero W WiFi antenna, needed for greater range, can be found across the top of the kart. 

"In these early VELAN prototypes the battery life just didn't last that long, especially when we drove in the 150 or 200cc speed classes, but Nintendo's hardware team was so committed to coming up with this amazing design that really allowed for battery life to last much, much longer," Velan Lead programmer Jan-Erik Steel said. "There is so much technology packed into this car; it is essentially a mini console on wheels"

So why choose a Raspberry Pi Zero W for prototyping? Firstly it is cost effective. Retailing for $20, a Raspberry Pi Zero W can be embedded and forgotten about. The Raspberry Pi ecosystem also has a mature selection of programming languages and support, enabling developers and makers to quickly build and test their products before they go for manufacture.

Researchers at Facebook today announced Project Aria, its work on a pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses. Facebook is in the very early stages of the project, not even calling it a prototype and only letting a few personnel use it for R&D purposes.

Project Aria is anticipated to be a critical tool in the development of a future product. The vendor didn't confirm when we could expect to Facebook smart glasses on the market or even when a working sample would be shown off. 

However, the tech giant did confirm a partnership with EssilorLuxottica to use Ray Ban branding on its upcoming smart glasses.

"The partnership will combine Facebook apps and technologies, Luxottica’s category leadership and iconic brands and Essilor’s advanced lens technology to help people stay better connected to their friends and family," EssilorLuxottica's announcement explained. "The first product will be branded Ray-Ban, the world’s most popular eyewear brand and is scheduled to launch in 2021. " 

Facebook emphasized that Project Aria is not a prototype of any sort. Instead, the new device is a research tool intended to help gather data for the development of useful, compact AR components. The news follows a recent blog post from Facebook expressing a desire for an improved surround sound experience in AR environments.

The new glasses only make use of a few sensors. They don't have any display mechanism, so wearers won't see anything in the lens to create an AR experience. The sensors capture things like audio and video from the wearer's perspective with the intention of helping the team better understand how they can go about augmenting day-to-day experiences.

The glasses feature a full sensor suite like the ones found in VR headsets to calculate spacial awareness. They also use a GPS to determine and log location information and can take "high-res" images and "capture multichannel audio and eye images," according to Facebook's blog. 

In alternate reality news, as part of its Facebook Connect event today Facebook also announced the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset and its discontinuing of the Oculus RIft S 

The Facebook Reality Labs research team today highlighted new advancements on the audio front of their augmented reality (AR) work. The ultimate goal is to create a pair of AR glasses. These steps are part of the process to refining the end product.

Seeing Facebook bring more attention to AR is pretty exciting. Oculus has continued pushing virtual reality (VR) closer to the mainstream since being acquired by Facebook, making some of the best VR headsets on the market. That includes the standalone Oculus Quest, which works without tethering to a pricey gaming PC or phone. We've yet to see a pair of AR smart glasses see as much success as the Quest. 

As Facebook Reality Labs progresses towards the final design of its AR smart glasses, they have considerable work ahead of them to ensure the product is desirable and immersive. Recent developments take place in two areas: Audio Presence and Perceptual Superpowers, (which sounds a lot more exciting than the actual technology but is still notably useful).

"The mission of the team is twofold: to create virtual sounds that are perceptually indistinguishable from reality and to redefine human hearing," Facebook's blog post says. 

Audio Presence is centered around reconstructing audio for a virtual environment, so the sound comes from appropriate directions. This is essentially like perfecting surround sound for AR. Refining the Audio Presence is a huge step in creating immersive environments.

When it comes to Perceptual Superpowers tech, the name may be a little generous. But don't let that discredit the seriously useful nature of what it does. This technology is designed to reduce distracting background noise so you can amplify the volume of your target audio source—like a conversation you're having at a table in a crowded restaurant.

Work like this is crucial to creating an optimized AR experience and directly tied to Facebook's AR glasses efforts, although incorporating the technology is still "a ways away," according to Facebook Research Scientist Manager Ravish Mehra. 

"Imagine being able to hold a conversation in a crowded restaurant or bar without having to raise your voice to be heard or straining to understand what others are saying," Facebook's blog says. 

"By using multiple microphones on your glasses, we can capture the sounds around you. Then, by using the pattern of your head and eye movements, we can figure out which of these sounds you’re most interested in hearing, without requiring you to robotically stare at it."

Facebook wants its AR smart glasses to be stylish and understand the visual and acoustic world around you in order to provide useful information.

"When you walk into a restaurant, for example, your AR glasses would be able to recognize different types of events happening around you: people having conversations, the air conditioning noise, dishes and silverware clanking," the blog explains. "Then, using contextualized AI, your AR glasses would be able to make smart decisions, like removing the distracting background noise — and you’d be no more aware of the assistance than of a prescription improving your vision.

With more of us working from home these days -- around our children, messy kitchen and other potential distractions -- it can be easy to lose focus on our jobs. But what if your glasses could you help you stay on task? That's the idea behind Auctify Specs, smart glasses launched today that are designed to help you keep your eyes on the prize. 

Creators have been searching for a way to integrate smart technology into our lives for more than a decade. From pocket-sized computers, to augmented reality (AR) glasses devices like Google Glass, North Focals (now owned by Google), Vuzix Blade and Nreal Light, finding the right balance of usefulness and inconspicuousness is key to smooth integration.

That's why Auctify Specs look like a regular pair of plastic-framed glasses. If thick-rimmed specs are your style, these will be a subtle and inconspicuous upgrade. However, these smart glasses are designed to do much more than just replace your existing specs.

These glasses are fitted with a "productivity sensor" used to track your daily activity alongside Auctify's machine learning and computer vision software. We confirmed with Auctify the productivity sensor is just used to capture images from the wearer's perspective. One of the earpieces also features a pulse oximetry sensor.

The images and sensor data collected is processed before being made accessible through the accompanying app. The information displayed in the app can be used to help evaluate your productivity and make room for improvements. 

"Our patent pending machine learning algorithms can provide personalized real time activity tracking and uses proven methods in positive psychology to keep you motivated and focused," Auctify's website says. 

Auctify claims its Specs will help wears improve self-awareness, as well as provide mindfulness training and "mental conditioning" via "real-time LED and auditory cues." 

There are additional options in the app to manage media, play music, track exercise and even take phone calls. Most importantly, Auctify includes in-app encryption settings that can be used to protect your Auctify Specs data.

The crowdfunding campaign for Auctify Specs is officially on Indiegogo. You can reserve a pair for yourself for just $1 USD, which also guarantees a discount on the final product. 

In case you haven't been watching, the smart glasses market is shaking up this summer. Google already bought North Focals, giving way to the potential for greater distribution and investment in augmented reality (AR) smart glasses. Today, we’re seeing more tangible proof of smart glasses getting another shot at mainstream audiences, as Nreal Light has hit retail availability.

But there a bunch of catches, so don’t go stomping out your stupid prescription specs yet. Nreal Light, which are mixed reality glasses (you can manipulate the AR features by tethering a smartphone, which becomes a 3-degrees of freedom controller) leveraging Nreal’s Nebula UI, are being sold through a partnership with LG UPlus. That limits them to the South Korean market. An Nreal spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware that the glasses will hit the U.S. “before the end of the year in partnerships with carriers.” 

On top of that, you need to have a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 with a 5G connection. That’s going to limit the audience significantly. Although, those who’d spend $1,000 on a 5G phone may include the types of people interested in MR glasses. 

In a statement, Song Dae-won, EVP of LG Uplus's Future Device Unit, offered reasoning for the pairing: 

“We wanted to lower the barrier to the AR glass market with a realistic price and lightweight design. If 5G services were focused on entertainment, this U+ Real Glass (Nreal Light) will provide a rich experience that will change your daily life. Through this, we hope that the popularization of AR will be in full swing and will be further activated in the 5G industry.”

Of course, price is also another obstacle. The Nreal Light will cost enthusiasts 349,000 KRW (USD $295) on top of the cost of the smartphone and an LG Uplus 5G data plan. 

However, as of August 21 the AR glasses will also be available in retail stores. But the specs will still only be compatible with Note 20 and LG Velvet smartphones. The glasses don’t need 5G to function; however, Nreal plans on announcing more compatible 5G smartphones in South Korea, as well as other markets. 

Nreal Light promises compatibility with mainstream apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Google Chrome and WeChat. The glasses vendor says there are hundreds of apps available and native Android apps don’t need to be redeveloped. Nreal’s Nebula technology turns these 2D apps into 3D experiences. 

According to Nreal’s announcement today, you can bring “dozens'' of screens into your field of view (FOV). That means you could watch Netflix while browsing the web, for example. And with the clarity I’ve experienced when testing the glasses over the past two years, partially due to their 1,000 nits brightness, that doesn’t sound too far-fetched. 

Additionally, LGPlus plans on bringing additional apps that are exclusive to the glasses, namely U+AR and U+VR. 

 Nreal Light Specs 

Nreal Light has been in development for two years. We first spotted them at CES 2019. The next year, we saw them with a new UI -- one so advanced, in fact, that it made that of North’s Focals look like child’s play. With 3D tracking via two SLAM tracking cameras on the outer edge of each lens, I enjoyed games, shopping, videos and photos that filled my view. I could also rearrange windows, using a connected phone as a trackpad, and share screenshots of my MR world, with help from an RGB camera. 

Nreal compares using the MR glasses to viewing a 100-inch micro-OLED screen. We wouldn’t go so far to call out the pristine contrast and image quality of anything OLED-related. However, in my demos with the Nreal Light, image quality had a crispness that knocked the Focals out of the park and even rivaled the impressive image quality of the 480 x 853 resolution Vuzix Blade. 

Nreal Light Accessories

The smart glasses are also being bundled with “several” accessories, according to Nreal’s announcements. That includes a “corrective lens frame that accommodates near-sighted users.” 

However, the ability to offer subscription lenses, like the Vuzix Blade has and North Focals had, isn’t yet ready.

“Currently we recommend all of our customers to take the prescription lens frames to their local optometrist for fitting the Nreal Light frame, but whether it is offered by Nreal will depend on the markets,” an Nreal spokesperson said. “In South Korea due to the local regulations, customers are required to have them fitted by an optometrist. However in other markets we're looking to potentially fit the glasses for our customers.

They’re also throwing in dark lenses (above) that’ll block your view of everything except for the Nreal Light’s UI. 

A Real Future for Nreal? 

Light’s UI is one of the most consumer-friendly I’ve seen in XR. 

But the glasses’ polarizing looks and current dependence on 5G smartphones are clear obstacles. 

And with early adopters of Focals now owning just regular glasses, we couldn't blame consumers for being cautious about investing in expensive AR goggles.

We’ve all made jokes about Google Glass before. The idea of wearing an obvious computer on your head just never took off, not even with the backing of a tech giant. Google Glass still lives in the enterprise space, but we haven’t heard a peep from Google in terms of a new consumer-facing pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses since. Today, Google made more than a peep on that front by buying North, the maker of Focals smart glasses.

North Focals stand out from any other pair of smart glasses in that they don’t really stand out much at all. They look like a regular pair of prescription glasses, and instead of having to touch the specs to navigate its menu and features, you do so discretely with a joystick-equipped plastic ring. 

This is a stark contrast from Google Glass, which could almost pass as a pair of regular glasses until you peep the hardware near the right lens. While you might wear Focals on a date (I wore them around the San Diego Zoo once), Google Glass is still best considered warehouse fashion.  

In a blog post today, Rock Osterloh, SVP of devices and services at Google, wrote of a Google-led future of ambient computing, “where all your devices just work together and technology fades into the background." 

“North’s technical expertise will help as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts and ambient computing future,” Osterloh said.

Sadly, it seems the acquisition news also means the end to Focals 2.0, which North in December teased as an upcoming follow-up to the original Focals but with 10 times the resolution. The AR specs were supposed to come out this year. 

“We are winding down Focals 1.0 and we will not be shipping Focals 2.0, but we hope you will continue the journey with us as we start this next chapter,” the co-founders of North wrote in a joint statement on North’s website. 

While North's original Focals were available for fitting online, you could only do in-person Focals purchases at North's two stores in Brooklyn and Toronto. Those locations will likely shutter soon; however, North’s Canadian headquarters will remain.

“Over the last while, it became clear that aligning with Google would significantly advance our shared vision. This acquisition is a terrific fit for North and, importantly, we’re staying here in Kitchener-Waterloo,” North’s announcement said.  

In our North Focals review, we praised the smart glasses’ groundbreaking design that will be remembered as a turning point for those championing the use of AR glasses in the general public. 

However, it was reported that the specs didn’t make as big of a financial impact. With Google now behind North, money should be less of an issue. But it's hard to ignore the fact that Google already attempted -- and failed -- to make consumer smart glasses a thing.

There have also been numerous reports of Apple getting into the AR eyewear game, which may explain why Google is willing to invest in North right now. However, we recommend that the company stay's closer to the Focals branding than Google Glass. Google is the bigger name in tech, but Google Glass already made a regrettable name for itself when it comes to realistic, fashionable, wearable tech. 

Before the official announcement, Canadian news publication The Globe and Mail reported that Google would pay $180 million for North, but neither involved vendor has confirmed a price. 

Who needs a physical light switch when you can use an augmented-reality one? Armed with a smartphone and a Raspberry Pi, you  can control Phillips Hue lights with the power of AR, highlighting a virtual on/off button that appears as if it's in your living room. This project was created and shared on Reddit by a maker known as Toernblom who was kind enough to give all of the build details.

After watching a video showcasing an AR headset that allowed the wearer to control lights in the real world, Toernblom decided to take on the concept himself. In this project, a Raspberry Pi is used to receive input from an AR smartphone app to toggle Phillips Hue lights on and off. The code will also work on a PC.

Toernblom has a complete breakdown of the project on his website, where he explains more about the setup. The Raspberry Pi relies on a while loop to check for triggers from the AR app. When it detects a change, it sends a signal to the Phillips Hue gateway to change the light value.

This project looks really fun, especially if you're quarantined at home. Be sure to follow Toernblom on Reddit for more updates. You can also check out the Toernblom website for a detailed review of this awesome AR Pi project.

If you're stuck working at home, you may be thinking of ways you can get out. A Reddit user known as Dungeon_Master_Dan from has you covered with the best VR headset -- at least the best one by yourself and with a Raspberry Pi. The maker shared the project this week and included plenty of details on how to make one yourself.

The headset works as both a VR and augmented reality (AR) system. It uses a Raspberry Pi, infrared (IR) camera and an HDMI-compatible head-mounted display (HMD). As of posting, Dungeon_Master_Dan has demonstrated three separate functions for the Pi VR headset: AR, a virtual desktop and a self-contained VR arcade that uses RetroPie.

This specific project was built on top of a Yuneec Skyview FPV (first-person view) headset, which has a 5-inch screen made for seeing from the point of view of a connected Yuneec drone. With the Pi VR headset project, the Skyview headset connects to the Raspberry Pi using HDMI input. The Pi is equipped with an IR camera module and battery pack before being mounted to the headset.

For AR, the IR camera module sends a real-time video feed of the room around you. By programming the Pi to display, the image as a semi-transparent overlay, it provides access to both the room and virtual environment, creating the AR effect.

There are already a few improvements planned for the future, including custom 3D printed components. You can check out the full post on Reddit and follow Dungeon_Master_Dan for more updates on this DIY VR Pi project.

Imagine your favorite smartphone apps blown up in front of your eyes to the size of a wall in augmented reality (AR) form. Now add the ability to interact with that app, make the window appear smaller or larger, move it around or even open another app, also in massive AR form, beside it. That’s exactly what I experienced when I tried out the glasses and their new UI, and with Nreal Light’s bright display this could be the most consumer-friendly take on an MR system yet.

I got to demo the glasses at CES this week and the experience was very intuitive. Nebula, the glasses’ new 3D UI, takes any native Android app and translates it into AR that looks sharp, crisp and bright.

Connection to the glasses’ USB-C cable coming out of the left arm and downloading the free companion turns Android smartphones into a controller with 3-degrees of freedom with the screen serving as a trackpad. I could open multiple apps, like Netflix and Spotify, and rearrange them, even off outside my immediate field of view (FOV). This usually worked on first try, although occasionally it would lag. These kinks should be ironed out before their official consumer release, however. 

The Nebula UI uses 3D tracking, courtesy of two SLAM tracking cameras, which live on the outer edge of each lens.There’s also an RGB camera that allows users to share screenshots of what they’re seeing. Meanwhile, the smartphone turned into a controller with 3-degrees of freedom and a trackpad through the app. 

The glasses also have spatial sound speakers for offering 360-degree sound. When I played an AR zombie game and watched some YouTube with the glasses, audio was certainly loud and clear, and I even had to turn it down to properly hear the person next to me.  But I didn’t get to experience how well the surround sound works. 

Although MR glasses are an emerging tech, the learning curve with Nreal Light is very minimal. Within minutes I was easily able to navigate the Nebula UI and its apps, simply because the apps work and look just like they would on an Android phone. An Nreal rep told me that they may make special MR versions of popular apps later this year, but couldn’t get into specifics.

But unlike on my smartphone, apps viewed on Nreal Light looked massive. Nreal says it’s comparable to watching a 200-inch TV with a 52-degree field of view (FOV).

Watching a YouTube video on the glasses was a breeze, even in a partially sunlit room with white walls. We can attribute this to the image’s 1,000 nits brightness and 1080p resolution per eye. The AR image was sharp and strong enough that the white wall and its decorations weren’t visible through the video. Meanwhile, over on the right side I could have another app open, like a gallery that automatically pulls photos from your phone and turns them into a mesmerizing AR experience. It was like having an entire wall as my own private screen. 

Nreal Light can also be used for gaming, with the vendor already featuring 3 games, including Kingdom of Blades, which Nreal’s announcement described as “an MR slicing action game that has gamers slice through and defeat waves of enemies” and Arcade Fight, “an arcade-style side-scrolling fighter game.” I tried my hand at Zombie Bomber AR and used the smartphone’s screen to fling bombs, barrels and even some vegetables and AR zombies crawling and limping toward me. Zombie growls filled my ears, thanks to the speakers, and with the augmented undead being a life-like size, this simple game turned out to be a unique experience. 

A shopping app made with AR developer MESON showed life-size models sporting potential buys and let me twirl them around and see how much their clothing and accessories cost. However, the clothing and models looked like 3D models rather than real, so I think I’d still have to check out a store in person or even look at online photos with a human model before opening my wallet. 

Eventually, Nreal will gain eye tracking from 7invensun, so there’s even more potential for making your eyes says wow.

Unfortunately for iPhone users, Nreal Light is only compatible with Android smartphones, PCs or tablets; however, you can use iPads with screen mirroring. Nreal said it’s working on developing accessories to make it compatible with the iPhone, since iPhones don’t have a USB-C port for connection.

Speaking of connecting to your phone, this may not be as simple as you think. Nreal Light are the only MR glasses with foldable arms. Doing that took some creative engineering in order to avoid having a wire protruding out of the bend. At the hinge, the connecting wire’s structure uses a flexible component, allowing the glasses to hold and store like, well, regular glasses. 

Other considerations include the option of prescription lenses (this will cost extra), swappable, magnetic nosepads and your choice of red, blue, black or white specs. But although the Nreal Light’s looks a lot better than most MR glasses out there, between the reflective lenses and the black strip running on top you still won’t be wearing them on any dates. 

Hundreds of developers already have Nreal Light’s $1,199 developer kit. But regular consumers can pick it up for $499 in “early 2020.” 

Focals already had an advantage over any other smart glasses when it hit the mainstream market in October 2018. They look like regular prescription glasses, allowing them to blend into a crowd. But the maker of Focals, Ontario-based North, is already preparing to usher in an updated design in Focals 2.0, its next generation of augmented reality (AR) smart glasses. 

Focals 2.0 will start shipping in 2020, North announced today. It was scarce on details in its announcement but did say Focals 2.0 will offer a "10x improved retinal display." A spokesperson told Tom's Hardware that this means the resolution of the glasses AR image will be 10 times greater than that of the original Focals, which had a roughly 200 x 200 resolution, depending on the frames. That could certainly up the appeal of North’s offering, making its AR projected images look more sharp and detailed and with  a higher resolution than many people's TVs or PC monitors. However, in our review of Focals, we commented on how shaky the AR images the glasses project looked at times, creating a flickering effect reminiscent of a CRT monitor. It's unclear if that will be addressed with Focals 2.0.

The current-gen Focals’ look are arguably the best thing about the smart glasses, and North claimed its next-gen specs will be 40% smaller. Making the glasses even more fashionable will make it harder for chunkier competitors like the Vuzix Blade win over this emerging market. You might not look twice at someone walking down the street wearing Focals, save for the projector visible in the right lens. Focals 2.0 should make the AR gadget even less conspicuous, and based on the image above it even looks like North was able to reduce the visibility of the AR projector. 

Stephen Lake, North’s CEO and co-founder, believes Focals 2.0 are on a "completely different level" than the original Focals.

"We spent the last year in the market learning how to build, sell and support smart glasses with our first generation product, that we now will combine with over five years of research working on the technology upgrades in Focals 2.0," he said in a statement.

There’s no word on whether North will update the Focals’ operating system or the Loop, the ring that lets users control the smart glasses’ apps discretely. North also hasn’t revealed pricing (the current-gen Focals are $599 / $799 CAD).  

North stopped production of its original Focals smart glasses on December 3, and they're no longer available as of today. However, North will still release new features for them ahead of the debut of Focals 2.0. North sold its first line of Focals via its Brooklyn and Toronto stores, pop-up showrooms and the North iOS app. 

Apple's first augmented reality (AR) product is the gift that keeps on giving. That's quite the feat, really, because the company hasn't officially announced that it's even considering a move into the AR market. Yet, reports about that move continue to make their rounds, and the latest from The Information claimed that Apple won't actually release its first AR product until 2022, which is later than what previous reports have claimed.

The Information said Apple's working on two AR products. The one reportedly arriving in 2022 is an AR headset similar to the likes of Microsoft's HoloLens products or the Magic Leap One. The second product, reportedly set to debut in 2023, was described as a "sleeker" pair of AR smart glasses akin to Google Glass.

"Apple executives discussed the timelines, which haven’t been previously reported, in an internal presentation to employees at the company’s Cupertino, California, campus in October, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple Vice President Mike Rockwell, who heads the team responsible for Apple’s AR and virtual reality initiatives, led the meeting, which included new details about the design and features of the AR headset, these people said. The product timetables run counter to recent analyst and media reports that said an Apple AR device could arrive as early as next year," The Information reported.

That's a bit of an understatement. Analysts like Ming-Chi Kuo, who often reveals Apple products before they're officially announced, as well as publications like Bloomberg have repeatedly claimed that Apple would release an AR product in 2020. The exact timeframe varied, as did the nature of the device, but the reports all seemed to agree that Apple would enter the AR market sooner than later.

As we noted when Digitimes maintained that Apple would release its first AR product next year, there is some evidence that the company's interested in the category. It's acquired several AR-focused companies since 2015, and although it's possible that those companies' technologies were simply meant to improve the AR features in the iPhone and iPad, that seems like a lot of money to spend on relatively niche AR tools.

Before there was at least some consensus on when Apple would finally enter the AR market. After this report from The Information, though, it seems like most of the company's potential plans have been covered. Apple could release an AR product until 2020. If it doesn't, just wait until 2022! And if that doesn't happen, well, we're sure there will be other we-swear-this-is-accurate launch dates shared before then.

Microsoft finally released the HoloLens 2 today. Just don't expect to find the device at a store near you: the company's still positioning its next-gen augmented reality (AR) headset as a tool for its enterprise customers, rather than a consumer product.

Microsot revealed the HoloLens 2 in February. At the time, it said that it upgraded the headset with a new design, new components and renewed focus on proving AR's value to enterprise customers. It also upped field of view from the original HoloLens from 30 x 17.5 degrees to 43 x 29 degrees. The AR gear runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 mobile compute platform.

Microsoft made it clear at the Build 2019 developer conference in May that it doesn't expect consumers to buy the HoloLens 2. We asked the company's director of mixed reality communications, Greg Sullivan, if Epic Games' announcement of HoloLens 2 support meant we'd see games for the platform soon. His response was clear: "That journey will be measured in years, probably."

Which brings us to the official launch. Microsoft lists three purchase options for the HoloLens 2:

• HoloLens 2: $3,500 per headset
• HoloLens 2 Development Edition: Starts at $99 per month. It includes a $500 in Azure credit and trial of the Unity Pro and PiXYZ Plugin
• HoloLens 2 with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist. Starts at $125 per user per month. 

The device isn't in ready supply, however. Microsoft said pre-orders for the HoloLens 2 Development Edition are "coming soon." The HoloLens 2 is "available from select resellers," as is the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist bundle. But it noted that it "is responding to unprecedented demand" and told people who've already pre-ordered to contact their account representatives for updates. Clicking the "Contact a reseller" link under the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist bundle leads to the website for Insight, which says people who fill out its pre-order form will be "placed on [its] priority list," making it seem like it's not actually ready to ship. 

MSPowerUser reported that HoloLens 2's launch is limited to the U.S., UK, Canada, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China. 

More information about the HoloLens 2 is available via Microsoft's website, where the vendor once again reiterated that the device is "the future of work," not something consumers are going to be donning any time soon. It seems if you're looking for a consumer-friendly AR headset, you're still stuck with very few options, namely the Lenovo Mirage AR. 

According to a Digitimes report today, Apple plans to release an augmented reality (AR) headset in 2020. Similar claims have been made before, but now there's another wrinkle because the publication also claimed that Apple partnered with Valve to make the device.

The AR headset "may" come out in the second half of next year "at the earliest," according to the publication. It noted that it would be made in Taiwan by ODMs Quanta Computer and Pegatron. 

Working with Valve, which also makes the Steam PC gaming platform, on AR would make some sense. Apple has some experience with AR because of its work on iOS, which introduced AR support with iOS 11 in 2017, but it hasn't made its own headset before. Valve has a lot of experience with VR headsets. It partnered with HTC on the Vive and released its own Index headset in August. VR is a bit different from AR, but the similarities are there. 

Apple previously sought to increase its AR prowess by acquiring smaller companies and hiring experienced workers. The company was reportedly meeting with AR-focused startups at CES 2019, for example. It's also purchased several AR companies since 2015. Yet, so far nothing has come of those efforts.

That might be about to change. MacRumors reported in September that pre-release versions of Xcode 11 and iOS 13 referenced an AR product. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst who frequently leaks Apple's upcoming products, said in October that the company was preparing an AR headset for release in the second quarter of 2020. Bloomberg released a similar report in late October describing Apple's upcoming smart glasses.

All of which leaves us with Apple scooping up AR companies since 2015, chief executive Tim Cook saying that he's excited by AR technology and numerous reports claiming the company will finally release some kind of AR product in 2020.

The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is poised to arrive next year. And now it seems a follow-up to the successful PlayStation VR (PSVR) could be en route.

As Lets Go Digital first uncovered, Sony Interactive Entertainment filed a patent for a new VR headset that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) approved on October 3.

The new headset looks almost identical to the original PSVR but comes with a few upgrades. The patent features a design with two cameras built into the font and another in the back. Even the Move controller has a built-in camera.

It also features a number of LEDs around the headset for improved tracking and motion detection. The headset is designed to use a unique display for each eye, with the ability to display 3D stereoscopic images. Like it's predecessor, the new headset also includes a built-in mic.

The patent indicates the new headset may be wireless—a feature that would give players more freedom of mobility while playing in the virtual world.

The patent also shows the head-mounted display (HMD) VR headset to use the front-facing cameras to generate a transparency effect. This mode allows the wearer to see the actual room around them, which points to the potential for augmented reality (AR) experiences.

This news comes off the tail of the recent news on the PS5, including the use of AMD ray tracing. It's not clear whether PSVR 2 will be part of the PS5 release or even if this patent will come into fruition. Patents often dont’t.

We don't know how long it'll be before we see an official PSVR 2 from Sony. But with  Sony currently leading the VR hardware market, we expect it wants to continue investing in VR gaming.

Augmented reality (AR) is one of the most attainable forms of XR (Extended Reality). Unlike virtual reality (VR) headsets, many of which require PC connectivity, base stations or hundreds of dollars, running AR apps can be as simple as pointing a smartphone camera at something and seeing information, games and more virtually layered on top.

The Lenovo Mirage AR headset is an attempt to bring AR gaming into the mainstream. At this stage, it’s a one-of-a-kind product, letting you slide in a smartphone to run one of two free AR games: Marvel Dimension of Heroes or Star Wars: Jedi Challenges. These are colorful, interactive full-fledged games with enough characters and levels for hours of fun.

But for $250, we demand more apps, no matter how fun the current ones may be. It’s possible the headset could get more games in the future. However, unless Lenovo can also make the headset more universally comfortable, another well-timed franchise won’t save the day.

Lenovo Mirage AR Specs

Design and Comfort

XR headsets still have a long way to go before being lightweight or, shall we say, ‘normal looking.’ Some -- like the sunglass-mimicking Nreal Light or North Focals smart glasses -- attempt to look more mainstream. However, the Mirage AR leans fully into its futuristic weirdness, with its mirror-y lenses and three-point fabric and Velcro head strap locking you in.

Sitting alongside the headset’s concave lenses, which look like mirror panels, are two fisheye camera sensors for inside-out positional tracking. The sensors track the lights emitted from the tracking beacon and controllers, and the headset processes this data and sends it to the app to display on the smartphone. On the right side of the headset, framed by some black, reflective plastic, are three buttons with vague markings to denote select, GIF capturing and menu.

On the side is a hidden panel with a well-placed vent. The panel opens up accessing the tray where you put your smartphone. The idea of figuring out how to integrate your phone into this headgear and turning it into an AR gaming machine may be daunting for the many people new to AR headsets. However, Lenovo surprisingly makes this very clear, with included printout instructions and picture instructions engraved into the removable plastic tray, which, of course, will always be on hand (unlike that paper manual).

The plastic smartphone tray is worryingly flimsy with its notches and thin build. There’s little wiggle room, especially for fitting in larger phones, like the Google Pixel XL (5.5-inch screen). Different notches and sliders let you equip phones with screens 4.7 inches and larger, and the Marvel app will either detect your phone model, let you select your model or let you enter a custom phone size.

The Mirage AR headset supports a myriad of smartphones with three included adapter cables (Micro USB, USB-C and Lightning) for different types of smartphones. The cables are so tiny, though, that resetting the Marvel app, which I found myself needing to do repeatedly, means untethering your phone, taking out the tray and, likely, removing the smartphone from the tray to access options on the screen. If only the cables were longer, you could use your phone while keeping it connected to the headset.

A handy, tiny red light inside the panel indicates if the smartphone is successfully tethered to the headset. However, various times while using a Samsung Galaxy S10 and Google Pixel XL, I either couldn’t get the light to light up for me, or it would, but the phone would still say the headset wasn’t connected. I would have to reset the app several times to get it working.

The Tracking Beacon is a burst of delight emitting a brilliant shade of cyan or magenta -- your choice; it has no impact on the game.  It’s shaped like a golf ball but squishy and is the cutest base station I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, you’ll have to keep feeding it AA batteries over time and can’t charge it.

The Mirage AR headset isn’t remarkably heavy. At 1.05 pounds (0.48kg) it’s lighter than the Oculus Quest standalone VR headset (1.2 pounds / 0.5kg). But don’t forget to factor in the weight of your phone. With a Galaxy S10 tethered, the total weight became 1.35 pounds (0.61kg), and with a Pixel XL I was carrying 1.45 pounds (0.66kg) on my face. At this point we’ve slightly surpassed the Quest’s weight. But the difference is small, so that’s likely not the only thing that makes this headset feel like an oncoming headache.

The Mirage AR has cushions for the forehead and beneath your two eyes, but they’re flimsy and don’t give off an air of comfort. The foam is very thin and looks easy to rip, and there’s a thin felt-like material on top that’s far from feeling luxurious. I must’ve had something resting into one of the eye cushions at one point, as there’s a small vertical indentation there. So it seems the cushions can easily, and seemingly permanently, be marred.

With the weight and cushions offering minimal support, I typically found myself wanting to cut playtime short. While wearing glasses, I adjusted it immensely -- the headset has two Velcro straps by each ear and another extending from the visor and across the head. But it always felt heavy and like it was squeezing my skull from the sides and by my eyes. At the least painful adjustment, it felt too high under my eyes, with the eye cushions noticeable and distracting. The headset does stay firmly in place, however.

You can still see while wearing the Mirage AR, which is handy for speaking to someone quickly or making sure you’re still in the play area. Lenovo recommends there be a 4-5.2-feet radius of clear space circling the tracking beacon.

Universal Controllers

Marvel Dimension of Heroes is one of two games available for the Mirage AR. The headset first debuted with Star Wars: Jedi Challenges and appropriately themed Lightsaber controllers. The release of Marvel Dimension of Heroes came alongside new controllers for the Mirage AR headset, dubbed Universal Controllers. The lightweight, comfortable and easy-to-use controllers are also compatible with Jedi Challenges.

The Universal Controllers’ employ a simple design. Each requires two AA batteries, which you pack into the back of the controllers, adding some central weight. Each controller has a stretchy strap that ensures the controllers stays attached to you while making all types of hand gestures, including open-handed ones.

The joystick up top aligned nicely with my thumb and shows quick responsiveness, snapping back to its center point after I flicked it in either of four directions (you can also press it in). The two large control buttons feel of basic, plastic quality. They also lined up well with my ring and middle fingers’ top knuckles. I wish the buttons fell closer to my fingertips, but this will depend on the size of the users’ hand and fingers. Regardless, I had no problem working the buttons or memorizing the controls.

A power button is well-located by the can’t-miss LED tracking light (right is red, and left is blue, evoking Nintendo Switch comparisons), so you shouldn’t find yourself accidentally hitting it and abruptly turning the controller off.

Image Quality

The Mirage AR projects the game through optics. The smartphone outputs the image, which goes through a polarization layer before traveling through a beam splitter. That splitter projects the picture out and onto the concave lenses for viewing with a 60-degree horizontal field of view (FOV) and 30-degree vertical FOV. Because of this, Lenovo says screen protectors may hurt brightness, but I still enjoyed playing with mine on just the same.

Whether at night or in a room flooded with sunlight, the Mirage AR displayed Marvel’s heroes and villains clearly and with bright colors. The darker the room, the bolder the image, but even in a bright room, the game was completely playable, and colors -- from Doctor’s Strange orange, flowing cape to Ronan the Accuser's purple skin -- were apparent, if not vibrant.

I tried getting my superhero on under various lighting conditions, including in the middle of a very sunny day with the blinds down (a bit of light still peeked through). The room wasn’t pitch black, yet the picture was clear and colorful but didn’t have the same saturated color I enjoyed at night or in a truly dark room. The AR layered easily upon my wall. The wall had a desk with decorations above it and a doorframe, but none of that distracted from the strength of the image. With the blinds open, darker clothes were faded, but yellows, like the game’s text, were still legible and Doctor Strange’s colors were strong. However, a friend who tried it reported double vision when playing with some sunlight (it went away when playing in the dark). You’ll want to darken your space as much as possible.

Marvel Dimension of Heroes Gameplay

Lenovo recommends that there be a 4.9-8.2-feet radius of clear space around the tracking beacon during gameplay. And it means it. At one point, I had an ample 8.2 feet of distance between me and the beacon, but countertops were within 4 feet of the beacon. Assumedly due to those interferences, the AR started display higher and higher up my wall, to the point where Doctor Strange was hovering above me. By the time I exited to the menu, the hero was on the ceiling. So you’ll want to make sure you have a completely empty space all around the beacon at the distance specified for proper tracking.

With open space, the headset tracked much better, with the game displayed perpendicular to the tracking beacon and it staying in a consistent, visible location.

One of Marvel Dimensions of Heroes’ strengths is the character lineup. With individual tutorials for Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, Star-Lord, Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange (sorry, Hulk fans), there’s a lot to do.

Of course, each Avenger has their own set of moves, requiring unique gestures with the controllers, like holding multiple buttons down, slashing, punching and stretching both arms out. Large AR instructions make learning moves easy, but some controls are more intuitive than others. For example, for one of Captain Marvel’s moves, you hold down your pointer finger for an open-hand photon beam. On the other hand, the controllers were accurate, so when I was Star-Lord I was able to shoot straight. And remember that tracking space we mentioned? It’s also important for bobbing and weaving necessary for avoiding getting hit. HP damage.

The game has three different modes. In Story Mode, you face villains including Ronan, Loki, Ultron Prime and Winter Soldier in an effort to thwart an attack on Earth. Survival mode challenges you to survive as long as possible as one of the Avengers.

Any game is more fun with a friend, and Marvel Dimension of Heroes does have a 2P mode. However, you’ll have to convince another person to buy the $250 kit and come over to play with you. Room space requirements remain the same. That means a total of $500 has to be shelled out in order to play this Marvel game with another person. If you do manage that, you two can stand-by-side and compete to kill the most enemies. However, your team must be either Thor and Captain America or Black Panther and Doctor Strange. Apparently, the Avengers have a teamwork issue as no other pairings are possible, and Captain Marvel and Star-Lord are benched.

Battery Life

The Mirage AR charges via the included MicroUSB to Type-A cable and included wall adapter. The LED light inside the headset’s panel clues you in, blinking when power’s off and on fully when it’s charging.

Lenovo claims the headset lasts up to 5 hours. However, I had the headset on, including setup and troubleshooting time, for 8 hours before it died. But don’t forget that the controllers and tracking beacon also require AA batteries. While Marvel Dimension of Heroes doesn’t feature a way to check the Tracking Beacon’s battery status, my Universal Controllers still had 92% battery after about 3 hours of gameplay.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo Mirage AR headset is even better with the addition of Marvel Dimension of Heroes. The game means the headset now has two compatible games, including a superhero-packed one with multiple well-known characters and villains and distinct moves for hours of fun. Additionally, the new Universal Controllers offer a quality experience with easy controls and navigation with a variety of hand gestures.

However, the headset isn’t universally comfortable. Experience will likely differ, but I often found myself fearing an oncoming headache or distracted by the eye cushions.

That said, the Mirage AR is one-of-a-kind. No other device offers this level of AR gaming, and the fact that it does so with popular franchises like Avengers and Star Wars means that there are games you might actually want to play. We’d love to wait until the Mirage AR potentially gets more games or apps before spending $250. However, with its cutting-edge approach to AR gaming, you can’t find anything else right now like the Mirage AR.

Image Credits: Tom's Hardware

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Logitech is expanding its streaming empire. The company announced yesterday that it agreed to acquire Streamlabs, which offers a suite of tools made specifically for live streamers, for approximately $89 million in cash. (With the promise of another $29 million in Logitech stock "subject to the achievement of significant revenue growth targets for Streamlabs.") It expects regulators to approve the deal within the next few weeks.

Streamlabs was created to give streamers an easier way to manage certain aspects of their broadcasts, such as displaying on-screen messages when their viewers subscribe or donate to them, that were difficult to set up before. The company has expanded in the years since: over the last year it's announced an app store for streamers, augmented reality tools and a website creation tool made specifically for popular broadcasters.

Perhaps more importantly, the company also makes Streamlabs OBS, which can be used to stream to various platforms. (It's based on the popular Open Broadcaster Software program, which is where the OBS in the name comes from.) While other manufacturers have started to focus on the streaming market as well, most of them haven't gone so far as to buy a company that handles damn near every aspect of the broadcasting process.

Here's what Streamlabs CEO Ali Moiz said in a blog post about the acquisition:

"Both Streamlabs and Logitech have strong brands in the gaming space with millions of users. While we help streamers broadcast, monetize and look their best via software, Logitech’s gear enables them to look, perform and sound amazing. When my brother Murti and I founded Streamlabs our goal was to enable streamers to pursue their passion while making a living. Now that we’re part of the Logitech family, we’ll be able to take this so much further with their reach, resources and expertise."

Moiz said the Logitech acquisition isn't expected to immediately change Streamlabs' offerings. The company's services will continue to support numerous streaming platforms, won't be exclusive to specific hardware and will remain free to use. That might change in the future--larger companies often tell startups they'll be more independent than they really are--but for now Moiz said that "nothing changes" so far as streamers are concerned.

This is just the latest of Logitech's efforts to capitalize on the streaming market. It acquired Blue Microphones in 2018, too, in an effort to appeal to content creators. With the Streamlabs acquisition it would be possible for Logitech products to be used for everything in a stream except the actual, you know, streaming part. We wouldn't be surprised if the company decides to rectify that in a future acquisition as well.

Nvidia today announced RTX Broadcast Engine, which it described as "a new set of RTX-accelerated software development kits that use the AI capabilities of GeForce RTX GPUs to transform livestreams," ahead of the annual gathering of the world's top streamers at TwitchCon 2019.

The company said that RTX Broadcast Engine utilizes the Tensor Cores found in its RTX GPUs to "enable virtual green screens, style filters and augmented reality effects" without requiring dedicated equipment. Those features could allow rising streamers to improve their production values without requiring a significant upfront investment that could easily be lost if they fail to find success in the somewhat unpredictable field.

Nvidia also partnered with Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to make RTX Greenscreen available to all of the popular streaming app's users. The company plans to show off the green screen feature at TwitchCon 2019 and said it will debut in "the coming months." It's not yet clear when the other SDKs revealed alongside RTX Broadcast Engine--the aptly named RTX AR and RTX Style Filters--will be released to the public.

Developers have also brought support for the Nvidia Video Codec SDK (used "for fast, high-quality streaming") to three more apps. It's now integrated in the Twitch Studio broadcasting app that debuted in August, the Go Live feature used to stream via Discord and the Elgato Game Capture Software used to record 4K HDR content at 60 frames per second with the new 4K60 Pro MK.2 capture card.

More information about the RTX Broadcast Engine can be found on Nvidia's developer website. Devs can apply for early access to the SDKs now, and Nvidia will present its "RTX Greenscreen in OBS, new RTX Studio laptops and upcoming RTX games" at the OBS booth at TwitchCon. 

The Mirage AR headset is about to become a bigger play for Lenovo. Currently, the headset is only available with Star Wars Lightsaber-like controllers, for running with its Star Wars: Jedi Challenges smartphone game. But tomorrow, Lenovo will release the headset with new Universal controllers, pointing to potential for more attention and games for Mirage AR. The controllers are already backed by a pretty super group: the Avengers, since they’re debuting alongside a new AR game, Marvel Dimension of Heroes.

Previously, the only controller for the AR gear was the Lightsaber Controller, which made sense for a Star Wars game but clearly limited the headset. The 0.6-pound, 12.4 x 1.7-inch controller has power, activation matrix and control buttons.

But starting tomorrow, you can buy the Mirage AR headset with a pair of Universal Controllers. They expand operations, with each featuring two control buttons, an analog stick and power button. They connect via Bluetooth 4.2 and and are half the weight of the Lightsaber Controller. The new controllers require two AA batteries, and Lenovo claims up to 8 hours of battery life.

I briefly played with the Universal Controllers without a game. They fit very comfortably over my knuckles, allowing me to punch and slash about without dropping the controller, similar to the Index VR controllers but with fewer premium adjustments available and an arcade-like red or blue glow. Their light weight helped make movements fluid and easy. Lenovo also said that “control buttons are dynamically adjusted to function on hold release or press, allowing for intuitive open hand gestures and control of complex artillery.” That means playing with different Avengers characters means learning different controls and moves. So I look forward to learning which hero feels more intuitive with the way I play. 

I didn’t get to play Dimension of Heroes, but Lenovo said it’s supposed to call for slicing, blasting, ducking and dodging. Each controller has two fisheye sensors that drive inside-out positional tracking, so hopefully they'll be able to keep up with the fury players will want to unleash on their AR foes. 

It's not a Hulk-sized leap to see the controllers working with future Mirage AR-compatible games, since they'll already be compatible with Star Wars: Jedi Challenges upon release, serving as a Lightsaber or letting you command your troops or play Holochess. If you already have the headset and Jedi Challenges, you'll be able to buy the Universal Controllers separately (price not disclosed).

Marvel Dimension of Heroes AR Game

Just in time to cope with the conclusions of Endgame, Marvel of Dimension of Heroes is flying in in the form of a free Android or iPhone smartphone app. You can forget the traumas of the cinematic universe and play as Thor, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Star-Lord and take on Marvel villains who'll seem like they’re standing right in your living room, according to Lenovo.

The AR game has three modes. The most exciting one is the co-op mode, where you can battle villains while physically standing next to a friend and competing to be the strongest, just like a real Avenger. However, each player has to have a headset, two controllers and their own tracking beacon to play, so while the most exciting, it's also the least practical.

The game also has a story mode, where you play as one of the six Avengers and fight a surprise attack from Doctor Strange villain Dread Dormammu who's teamed up with Thor's mischievous brother, Loki, Guardians of the Galaxy villain Ronan the Accuser, Captain America foe Winter Soldier and overall Avengers arch nemesis Ultron Prime. 

Finally, survival mode lets you play as an Avenger trying to survive long as possible for the glory of the global high score board.

If Dimension of Heroes proves anywhere near as popular as the Marvel movies--and is enough to drive fans to a $250 product--we wouldn’t be surprised to see more AR games, perhaps of different franchises, debut to give the Mirage AR enough punch to win over gamers. But with just two games under its belt so far, it's unclear if assembling the Avengers will be enough. 

Lenovo Mirage AR Headset and Universal Controllers Specs

Every $250 headset comes with a headset, two controllers a Tracking Beacon, plus a phone tray, lighting to MicroUSB cable, USB-C to MicroUSB cable, six AA batteries, a 5V wall charger, power cable and quick start guide. 

Legos and technology go together like a pair of studded, 6 x 2 bricks. The world’s leading toy company has been heavily involved in robots and video games for decades, and last year it even dipped a toe into the augmented reality (AR) space with Lego Playgrounds, which projected digital characters on top of an existing Ninjago set.

Unfortunately, Playgrounds was a little disappointing. The app used Apple’s proprietary ARKit technology, so it could only run on iOS devices, and in my testing it didn’t work properly on many surfaces, including a dark hardwood table and light-brown hardwood floor. When the Playgrounds experience was active, it just wasn’t a very good game. The ninjas had limited fighting skill, and if you died in the game, you had to start over from the beginning. Also, after about five minutes, the novelty of viewing digital ninjas against the backdrop of my home office wore off.

Enter Lego Hidden Side, a completely new series of Lego sets built from the ground up for AR gaming on both Android and iOS. With a completely immersive environment that makes parts of the set come to life, addictive gameplay and a compelling story, Hidden Side creates a fascinating world you and your kids will want to visit again and again. Just make sure nobody knocks over or takes apart your builds.

The Story: Scooby-Doo Meets Ghostbusters

Like Ninjago and Nexo Knights, Hidden Side is a completely original Lego IP with its own unique story. The plot centers around teenage protagonists Jack and Parker, who use a ghost-detecting app on their smartphones and discover that their hometown of Newbury is filled with ghosts, which they capture (also using their phones). They are aided in their quest by scientist J.B., who appears in the game a couple of times to share basic info.

Everything in Newbury, from the characters to the sets and backgrounds, has a beautiful 1970s dark teen mystery feel reminiscent of the famous Rudy Nappi Hardy Boys covers or the first season of Scooby-Doo. The creepy but cool music reminded me a lot of the dramatic soundtrack from the Netflix series Dark.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of backstory available right now, either in the app or in the instructions that come with each set. Lego posted a trailer for a short video story it’s releasing in the fall. In the trailer, Jack and Parker are shooting lasers at ghosts in an abandoned building when J.B. comes in a school bus to help them.

Augmented Reality Experience

Available for iOS or Android, the Lego Hidden Side mobile app provides the best and most immersive AR gaming experience I’ve seen. Lego’s developers have combined the Vuforia AR engine with Apple’s ARKit (on the iOS version) and Google’s ARCore (on the Android version).

The results are amazing. Instead of simply putting a few digital characters on top of the real world, the app changes how you see both the Lego playset and the background behind it. Instead of seeing my messy living room behind the high school or a blank wall behind the graveyard, the app showed trees with an ominous dusk sky. In the case of the high school, there was a parking lot behind it, and I sometimes had to peer over the back to attack ghosts that had retreated there.

The backgrounds aren’t the only part of reality that Hidden Side augments. Parts of the sets themselves come to life. An ominous looking tree that appears on top of the mausoleum in the graveyard became an animated object when viewed through the app, as did a graveyard angel. The bell on top of the high school became animated, and two gargoyles appeared perched on the roof in the apps, even though they are not part of the set in real life.

The Hidden Side game provides several points where you need to interact with the real-world Lego set in order to make something happen in the virtual world. Every set has a conveniently located color wheel that has gray (default / no choice), red, blue and yellow squares on it. The game frequently prompts you to change the wheel to a different color and then scans it to see what color you’ve selected. At other points, you need to open a door to let a ghost out or turn the entire high school around so you can interact with the front or back of the model.

Perhaps the best thing about the AR technology in Lego Hidden Side is how accurately it scans the sets. With Lego Playgrounds, I had to try over and over again to get the app to detect the Ninjago castle it worked with, and the technology only worked on the brightest blonde wood surface in my home. When scanning a set with Hidden Side, the app shows an outline that’s the shape of the Lego set, you position your camera so the set fits roughly into the outline and it detects easily.

The Hidden Side app quickly and easily detected both sets I tested -- the graveyard and the high school -- in dim lighting and on a variety of surfaces. Playgrounds would stop play and require me to rescan the Lego set every time I moved my phone in a direction that pushed the castle off-screen, but Hidden Side didn’t do that, even when I put my phone facedown on the floor for a few seconds.

Of course, the app warns you to play in a well-lit area on a surface that doesn’t have a patterned or reflective surface, so it may not work when you put it on a checkered tablecloth as part of a candlelight dinner. Interestingly, for most parts of the app, you have to use your device in portrait orientation, but if you play in ghost mode (where you are the ghosts), you do that in landscape.

The App

The first time you open the app, J.B. tells you the town is haunted, and then you are presented with the choice of either playing as a hunter or as a ghost. If you choose to play as a hunter, which is the primary mode, you then get to choose a location (aka level) to visit from a map.

Each location that the characters visit to hunt for ghosts is one of the eight Lego sets, and you must own that set in order to play it. You don’t actually play as the characters or see them on screen, but you do what they would do: fight ghosts and collect “gloom,” a form of ghostly energy that gives you points. Every set has a color wheel with blue, red and yellow squares on it, and the game will advise you to turn and scan the wheel so you can see gloom and ghosts in the red, blue or yellow spectrum.

While you’re collecting gloom, a ghost will eventually pop out. The ghosts all have different looks and humorous names, like Gary Atric and Nagging Nathan, that sound like they come straight from the Garbage Pail Kids cards. To fight, you’re shown crosshairs and tap to shoot lasers at both the ghost and green smoke it shoots at you. As you shoot, the crosshairs get smaller until your laser “overheats” and you have to wait for it to cool down before shooting again. You also have a battery at the top of the screen that shows your “charge,” which is really your health meter. If the ghost hits you enough, your charge goes down to zero and you lose, but you get to keep all the gloom you collected.

In addition to the eight locations on the map that correspond to Lego Hidden Side sets, you can scan a mini figurine known as a “gloombie” ( each set comes with them) or possessed person. You can scan that figure and fight the ghost that comes out of them to set them free.

When you’re not playing in a level, you can redeem gloom for added power-ups, such as faster shooting or shorter recharge times for your laser. You also gain subscribers -- presumably the ghost hunters are posting videos to a fictional YouTube channel -- and rewards, such as gloom or loot boxes for gaining more power ups. Any ghost you’ve defeated is added to your ghost collection screen.

Playing as a Ghost

If you don’t choose to play as a hunter, you can play as a ghost, more accurately a team of ghosts from your collection. When you’re a ghost, you get to “haunt” a level. There are various levels to unlock, but all of the ones that have appeared for me so far take place at the graveyard.

After you choose your level, you get to assemble a team of three ghosts: one blue ghost, one red ghost and one yellow ghost, because each can see “gloom” in a different spectrum.

What’s interesting about ghost mode is that it doesn’t require the physical Lego set at all. You can play it on the train, because it’s not actually AR. You move your ghost around a 3D digital world that looks like the graveyard set and earn gloom by attacking objects that have a green outline around them, like a creepy tree or the door to a mausoleum. To attack these objects you need energy, which you get by picking up green orbs that are all over the ground.

You need to collect 100% of the available gloom in six minutes (there’s a countdown timer) or you lose. You can switch among your three ghosts by walking over glowing change spots, and the entire time someone with a laser -- presumably a hunter -- is shooting at you from above. If your ghost “dies,” you just respawn at the back of the graveyard, which will make you waste some time getting back to where you were. If you gather 100% of the gloom and win, you unlock a new level and gloom you can use to buy upgrades.

The Lego Sets

For Hidden Side’s initial launch, Lego has released eight different sets that represent different places in the town of Newbury. Prices range from $19.99 for J.B.’s Ghost Lab to $129.99 for the humongous and very detailed Newbury Haunted High School.

For this review, I tested the $29.99 Graveyard Mystery set and aforementioned Haunted High School. The 335-piece graveyard took about an hour to build with my seven-year-old son doing the lionshare of the work. It has a few neat interactive elements, including a grave that pops open, a small mausoleum with a door that you can open and the color wheel with a creepy angel statue on top. It also comes with Jack, Parker, a skeleton and Mr. Branson, who has different heads you can use to show him as possessed or not possessed.

As an AR platform, the Graveyard Mystery set is an affordable way to play a level in Hidden Side and has plenty of gloom and ghost battles to go around. However, it’s a rather small set, so it’s not as cool of a toy for kids to play with sans app, like some of the larger sets.

The Newbury Haunted High School is one of the coolest looking Lego sets I’ve ever built. The 1,474-piece model creates a high school building filled with several different rooms, including a restroom, cafeteria, classroom, science lab and a trophy case. The back of the set shows all of these rooms and lets you play with them, while the front side shows the outside of the building. The building has some really neat interactive elements, including claws and creepy eyes that pop out to make the entire building look like a monster.

As you might imagine, the high school took a lot longer to build -- six to seven hours -- than the graveyard. And while my son was able to do a lot of the work without help, I had to help him a few times when he misaligned blocks.

Fragile Sets

The problem with both sets, which is more pronounced on the Haunted High School, is that they are quite fragile. Some of the pieces that join one major section to another are held together by only a couple of studs, so it’s very easy to knock pieces off or for parts to fall off.  If major parts fall off, you won’t be able to scan the set until you fix it. And if you try moving either set after building it, you will definitely have to do some repairs.

As the smaller set, the graveyard is fairly easy to repair, and the app was also pretty forgiving; if a small piece was missing or loose but the general shape of the graveyard was static, it would scan without a problem. However, the high school posed a much bigger challenge. Several times, major pieces of the structure fell off, seemingly just from a light touch or even when my son was bouncing around the other side of the room. Putting things back together was a time-consuming process because the instructions tell you how to build it, but not how to fix it if, for example, one of the towers falls off.

To be fair, most Lego sets can break apart if you’re not very gentle with them. I can’t count the number of great-looking sets that have fallen apart after my son played with them a little bit. But in the case of Lego Hidden Side sets, you have to touch them to play the AR game and need to keep them in one piece if you want to play the game repeatedly. Parents may want to think about putting these sets in a secure location on their own tables or shelves if possible. And it may be worth considering using the dreaded Kragle.

Bottom Line

Lego’s Hidden Side sets provide a compelling combination of AR awesomeness and Lego building fun. The app’s AR magic is truly impressive, credibly blurring the line between the physical world and the virtual world. Some users may not even notice the difference between parts of a set that render as computer graphics and others that come from your device’s camera.

The story seems to have a ton of potential, so let’s hope the company follows through with a TV show or at least a series of web videos that fleshes the characters and plot out. The creepy 1970s aesthetic and dramatic music give this a rich atmosphere that will draw in both adults and kids. Any or all of the eight sets makes a great gift or wonderful project for children as young as seven to share with their parents. Just be sure to snap everything together tightly and keep the fragile structures from falling apart.

MORE: Lego AR Playgrounds Hand-On: Great AR, Mediocre Gameplay

MORE: Lego Unites AR, Physical Play and Ghost Hunting With New Hidden Side Line

Apple has filed a patent for a new mixed reality (MR) headset that could be different from other products on the market. As reported by Variety, the new device includes sensors that can track users' eyes, facial features and hands. The patent was originally filed in March 2019 but published earlier this month.

It's the latest to join Apple's ever-growing list of mixed and augmented reality (AR) patents, all in an apparent bid to take the tech from simple phone applications and smart glasses to Apple-branded wearables, like headsets. The "Display System Having Sensors" patent includes a litany of different components, including eye-tracking sensors, cameras and environment-tracking sensors, that work in tandem to create a virtual image of the real world.

The patent also notes additional applications of the headset and things it could potentially do, including the utilization of "head pose sensors," "eyebrow sensors" and "lower jaw sensors" to help read the entirety of a person's face and hand tracking. Detailed lighting sensors could also be implemented in a similar setup.

All of this culminates in a unique vision that could allow Apple to project an image of the real world through the headset, instead of overlaying information on top of – such as Microsoft's HoloLens. One version of the headset includes cameras meant to capture a direct video feed, which the headset could use to create composite objects meant to be seen on a virtual reality (VR) display.

Of course, Apple hasn't confirmed what it'd use this tech for or if any such products will ever come into fruition at all. In fact, the vendor has yet to announce anything in the AR or VR department. But given that Facebook is working to create VR headsets with built-in facial tracking for communication via virtual avatars, it would make sense for Apple to look to follow suit or beat the social media giant to the punch. Apple has plenty of ways it could employ the tech, especially with its Animoji and Memoji avatars that people can already use to create voice messages and expressions that mimic their own.

On July 11, however, DigiTimes reported that Apple isn't actively developing these products any longer. Apple hasn't given any statement on the matter, so we don't have any sort of official word to go by. But with these types of intriguing patents continuously rising to the surface, it's hard not to wonder exactly what's going on over there in terms of XR. 

Lenovo today announced its first AR headset, the ThinkReality A6, as the first of a new line of products that use AR in the enterprise market.

The A6 is powered by the Intel Movidius chipset and waveguide optics from Lumus, and it’s attached by a cord to an Android Oreo-based compute box with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 system on a chip that you wear on your belt.

Lenovo’s AR glasses weigh 0.8 pounds (380 grams) and have a 40-degree diagonal field of view. Each eye has a resolution of 1080p. It has a 13MP RGB camera and two fish-eye cameras.

Those specs make it slightly less powerful than Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, with a Snapdragon 850 and a roughly 52 degree field of view.

The A6 has gaze control and gesture recognition or can use a 3DoF controller. The headset works over Wi-Fi but not 4G or 5G. It has a built-in headphone jack as well as built-in speakers. Lenovo claims the whole headset lasts about 4 hours on a charge.

The ThinkReality A6 has no official price or release information for consumers, but businesses can consult with Lenovo for purchases.

This summer, gamers will be able to download Firefox Reality, Mozilla’s browser for VR and augmented reality (AR), from SteamVR. The browser is already available through the Oculus, Google Daydream and HTC Vive Viveport store.

Firefox’s head of mixed reality strategy, Andre Vrignaud, made the announcement via a blog post today, saying that since HTC Vive headsets received the browser in January, Mozilla’s been working with Valve to bring Firefox Reality to SteamVR.

Notably, Valve also announced today that it will start shipping its own VR headset, the Valve Index, this June. Clearly, Valve’s interest in the browser was not just about making Firefox Reality accessible to SteamVR users, but also about ensuring its Index HMD has the same capabilities as its competitors.

“With a few simple clicks, users will be able to access web content, such as tips or guides or stream a Twitch comment channel, without having to exit their immersive experiences,” Vrignaud said in the blog post.

He added that users will only need to log into Firefox once in order to share bookmarks and cookies between Firefox Reality and Firefox on a PC.

Those eager to download Firefox Reality via SteamVR can sign up to receive a notification when it’s by going to the Steam store and adding the browser to their Wishlist.

You can get a taste of Firefox Reality for SteamVR in Mozilla's video below:

GJS Robot’s Geio ($200 / ~£170.00) is a robot that kids (recommended for ages 13+) can control with a smartphone app to engage in all different forms of play, from augmented reality (AR) to racing, treasure hunts and good ol’ fashioned robot fighting. Additional modes using a camera, object recognition and paper markers for power-ups, and a coding feature make this robot feel less like a typical toy and more like something with some STEM potential.

That said, its coding app is rather basic and doesn’t align with any actual programming languages, so it’s more of an introduction to thinking in code. And the AR mode, while fun when it works, is buggy with janky DIY execution that almost makes us wish the company held off on introducing it. For kids, Geio is a step up from what you’d get from a more toy-like battle robot and a solid step toward combining basic robotics with a touch of STEM and AR.

GJS Robot Geio Specs

Geio comes from GJS Technology, aka GJS Robot, a Shenzhen-based company founded in 2015. In addition to Geio, GJS Robot makes Ganker, a battle robot you can build yourself and control with your phone. Ganker lacks Geio’s AR and facial recognition.

Geio, on the other hand, comes built out of the box. It runs on a 7.4V battery, which is removable (with a lot of force) and rechargeable via the USB cable provided (you’ll need your own AC adapter or a computer) in 2 hours.

To control Geio, you’ll need to download the free companion GJS Geio app for Android (5.5 and newer) or iOS (9.0 and newer) on your smartphone or tablet. You’ll also need a device supporting 5 GHz Wi-Fi, which Geio can connect to from a distance of up to 229.7 feet (70m), according to GJS.

When you first take Geio out of its box, you’ll have to charge it, turn it on, download the app and connect your phone to the robot’s Wi-Fi network using the included password. Mine was the totally secure numerical string “12345678,” but you can change that if you want to. Your phone won’t have Internet when you’re connected to Geio’s Wi-Fi.

One nifty trick up Geio’s plastic sleeve is facial recognition that allows it to identify faces from about 20cm away. Using a 3MP camera, the feature is also how Geio can ‘see’ different paper markers, or totems, as GJS calls them, which grant it bonuses like special weapons and health.

Geio comes with one robot with a battery, USB cable, print-out instructions and 11 totems.

Design

Geio is a blocky fella, with four legs and a rotating turret on top, all made of ABS and polycarbonate plastic and aluminum alloy.

Like a castle’s protective turret, Geio’s turret is where a lot of the action happens. Powered by two servomotors, the turret holds the gun, which spins around like a machine gun, shoots infrared LED lights in place of actual bullets (up to 2.5m) and houses the 3MP camera. The camera is on top of an OLED display, which portrays Geio’s watchful eyes. GJS claims the turret can move horizontally 160 degrees and move up and down 90 degrees, but the turret on mine didn’t seem to reach a right angle when pointing upwards.

Geio has four infrared sensors on its legs, which are purple unless you’re playing a game. You’ll know Geio has taken a hit when the lights on its legs flash rapidly twice. It's vulnerable to infrared lights on each of its legs and physical attacks (running another Geio into it) from all sides. Infrared receivers on the legs keep track of scores and health. When Geio’s near the end of health, the lights flash until it meets its doom.

The power button, a triangle that lights up in white is on the back, and there are two bonus colored lights above that. The leg lights and two bonus lights are either purple (before entering a game mode) or blue / red to denote your squad.

Geio itself comes in red or blue. The red version sports a “01” on its ‘knees,’ while blue Geio is team “02.”

Some Personality

A squeaky giggling sound every few seconds makes Geio seem pretty bubbly. If you activate “Cute Pet Mode” in the app, its cute side takes center stage, meaning its OLED-displayed eye will smile at you like an anime character (see above), accompanied by another chipper squeaking noise, when it sees a face.

It also occasionally makes beeping/booping noises that sound like a Morse code transmission. The sound effects are kind of cute at first, but Geio’s motors also make a winding noise, like a remote-controlled car, every time the wheels or turret moves. All that noise gets annoying pretty quickly, but you can turn off the laughing and Morse code sounds via the app.

You can also make Geio show its relentless battle warrior side with “Patrol Mode,” where the turret will swivel a few degrees horizontally every second looking for a fight. If it spots another Geio, its gun will automatically start spinning (loudly) in ‘attack.'

AR Game

AR and robotics is an exciting mix for tech enthusiasts, but Geio falls short of executing its augmented reality well. Long story short, I encountered many bugs in my experience with Geio’s AR game, and with the amount of DIY work required, Geio may have received its AR-ready label prematurely.

In order to play the app’s AR game, my review unit came with a 16.5 x 11.5-inch mat, which feels like a large microfiber cloth, and a sticker sheet for applying 7 different sticks to various parts of Geio. This is likely because Geio was already a product before its app was updated with an AR mode, so AR was added after the fact. Rather than investing in creating new robots with an AR-friendly design, GJS will include the mat and stickers for you to attach yourself starting at the end of April. For iOS users, GJS recommends an iPhone 8 or newer.

So what do you get if you buy Geio right now? A link to download paper stickers, which you’ll either have to tape on or print on sticker paper, and another link for printing out a paper mat. Having to print your own accessories (and possibly tape them on) feels pretty lame for a product this expensive.

In order to see what shoppers get today, I downloaded the ‘sticker sheet,’ printed it, cut out 7 shapes and stuck them to Geio with double-sided tape. I then guiltily used up a lot of color ink to print the makeshift mat. As you can see, the end result is not quite as lavish as what I got with my review unit and what shoppers can expect in late April.

In any case, the AR mode is quite particular about the mat; it has to be facing the proper way or else the AR targets will appear behind Geio. And the game won’t run unless both Geio and the mat are in your camera’s view, which is easier said than done.

The AR game works by laying the mat in front of Geio, standing behind the robot and using your phone to view AR robots attacking your robot. Controls on your smartphone allow you to fight against their merciless onslaught, by spinning Geio around and activating different weapons, including boomerang (my deadly fav), a tracking missile and calling for help from another AR robot.

To use the AR mode, you’re supposed to stand directly behind Geio and point your phone toward it and the mat at a 45-degree angle. However, when I tried this—on both iOS and Android, and with the GJS-made materials and printed out ones—I struggled to get the game working smoothly. Even if both the robot and mat were in my camera’s view, the app would sometimes not pick the two up. It could be because the robot is for children, who are likely shorter than my 5 feet 7.5 inches of height.

With my review unit cloth and stickers, I had better luck with Geio on a table and me standing, but then I risked rolling Geio off the table, which at Geio’s size is like a cliff. But after just three days, one of the stickers was already falling off, and the rest didn’t seem any stickier.

With the paper materials, kneeling was the only way I could get AR mode to work. And, even then, it wasn’t guaranteed. When you’re sitting or kneeling, it’s hard to get the whole level into view. I tried moving Geio around the mat (he can’t roll over it) closer to the pillars in the back, but then the app would tell me it lost track of Geio.

Coding

The Geio app has a Programming section, which if you click takes you to a link to download an additional free app, Geio Edu (if you’ve already downloaded it, clicking on Programming launches Geio Edu). Geio Edu is where the coding actually happens.

In kid-friendly fashion, Geio Edu uses block-based coding. It’s not a standard coding language, but it’s similar to Scratch in that you drag and drop blocks from a toolbox and snap them together on a virtual canvas.

The app lets you program a lot of different Geio functions, including controlling what happens when it moves (perhaps you make its lights turn red when moving then blue when it stops) or how it responds to getting hit or what noises it makes and when. However, your code can only be run within the coding app, not when playing any of the games in the regular Geio app.

There’s also a “Widgets” sections for making the different controls of the GUI perform different things. For example, I programmed the button that typically would make Geio’s gun rotate in place to instead make the turret turn to the left before shooting for 10 seconds and then playing the same sound it makes when it wins a battle. When the button’s released, Geio stops shooting and then emits the scanning / Morse code noise it likes to make.

The app has a courses section that’s supposed to be instructional but really isn’t. If you’ve never done any coding before, you'll have no idea what’s going on in Geio Edu at first. You may also get confused because some blocks don’t look like they’d fit together but still work in unison. But with some trial and error, a kid should be able to figure it out eventually. Geio Edu lets you save, edit and delete your code at any time.

But again, the coding is in a simplified form and is more an introduction to coding than a coding tutorial. And since it is introductory, it’d be nice if it came equipped with more helpful directions.

Camera and Object and Facial Recognition

With the 3MP camera on its ‘face’, you can make Geio roll around and take pictures or video for you. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a potential spy cam, since Geio is so loud when it moves that it can’t sneak up on anyone with good hearing.

When shooting, there’s about a 1 second lag, and with 3MP you’re not getting cinema or even smartphone-quality images, as you can see in the picture Geio took above. Of course, Geio is shooting from its point of view, which is rather low. However, you can adjust the turret, and therefore the camera, up and down, but the angle can only get so wide. You can also make it so the GUI isn’t in the final image or video (they’ll still be visible when recording, just faded out).

The controls displayed on your smartphone let you record a video or take a pic and save it to your phone with one button. Buttons also provide full control over Geio physically, so you can rotate him clockwise or counterclockwise and move him in all four directions.

Object and Facial Recognition

Geio’s object and facial recognition works really well. It uses object recognition to identify different totems, or paper markers, from 35-40cm away that serve as power-ups in two-player modes. One lets Geio freeze its opponent, there’s fire ammo for extra damage, another slows the enemy down and another that reverses the enemy’s controls. A heart totem gives you more health, of course.

All the robot uses its facial recognition for is to smile at you with its eye when it sees a face. I wish Geio could do more with the tech, like learn who I am and make special faces for me or automatically move toward me when it sees my face. Still, what it can do with facial recognition it executes flawlessly, never failing to smile at my face even when pushed to do it over and over again to boost my vanity.

Other totems include flags for setting checkpoints for Race Mode, where Geio races against other robots or tries to beat its own best time, and a Treasure totem. The Treasure totem is for the app’s Treasure Snatch game, where you try to scan and ‘hold onto’ the totem for a longer amount of time than the opposing Geio, which will try to knock it from your hands with attacks.

If any of the totems aren’t standing upright or are angled, Geio will take a few seconds to scan them. But if it’s upright and front-facing, Geio will scan it instantaneously and without frustration.

Movement and Control

With the Geio app, your smartphone becomes a robot controller in more ways than one. First, there are the controls that display on the screen, a virtual D-pad and one button each for rotating clockwise and counterclockwise. For me, the D-pad was sometimes confusing because ‘up’ is forward no matter what direction Geio is facing. But I appreciated that the app has settings for making Geio move fast, medium or slow, which makes it easier to control.

Some modes let you motion control Geio, so that turning your phone clockwise or counterclockwise makes it rotate in that direction. I didn’t prefer this mode because I would often end up moving Geio unintentionally as I aggressively played games. Also, you can’t move Geio forward and backward with motion control, so the function is pretty limited.

You can’t miss the amount of noise that comes with each ‘step’ Geio takes. It sounds like a remote-control car, which your child may not mind if they’ve played with many before. However, I was hoping for some technological advancement to make the motors quieter.

All that said, the app controls Geio well without any noticeable lag. Racing and Driving modes also have a turbo mode that lets Geio go extra fast for 5 seconds. If you’re going fast and hit that turbo, you can pop a wheelie if you swap between going forward and backward rapidly.  By the way, don’t enter the Racing game thinking it’s civil; if you have two Geios they can attack each other while racing. And if your Geio dies, you'll have to wait a few seconds before it can be revived.

Battling

Geio may have a lot of AR enemies to fight, but it can also throw down with another Geio. In Battle Mode, each player controls their Geio with their smartphone and, in our testing, the app paired the two for battle automatically and without trouble.

GJS likes to call Geio a first-person shooter robot because, when battling, you can see the battleground from Geio’s point of view on your smartphone. There are also crosshairs that show you where its gun is aimed before Geio unleashes infrared bullets, invisible to the human eye. But it can also fight without digital weapons and use brute force to crash into another Geio and take away health points. Battling gets more competitive and fun with the aforementioned paper markers/power-ups that you can set up around the battle zone.

The only thing I don’t like about this mode is the 3-minute time limit per round. Historically, I’ve never willingly played a fighting game without changing the time limit to infinity. Non-stop violence, please.

Geio Companion App

To enjoy Geio’s various modes, from racing, to recording photo/video, to battling and more, you need the Geio app, which is meant for Android 5.0 and iOS 9.0 and later. Coding is done in a second app, Geio Edu, which works alongside the Geio app.

When you launch the Geio app, you’re prompted to connect to Geio’s Wi-Fi source. Unfortunately, when you click Connect, the app takes you to the wrong part of iOS/Android for finding Wi-Fi connections. But once you find your way, you'll be able to play with Geio. Again, you won’t have internet on your phone because you’re connected to Geio instead.

One nice thing about the app is the amount of support it offers. There’s a column that for each mode tells you if it’s one or two-player, along with a brief description and instructional video (without narration). The app also has hardware and app troubleshooting, video tutorials for using different features and controls, a Beginner’s Guide that gives you a brief tour of the app, and a link to Geio’s manuals. Everything you need to understand and / or troubleshoot should be obtainable through the app.

Battery Life

GJS claims a max playtime of 40 minutes. However, I enjoyed up to 2 hours and 15 minutes of on and off playtime with Geio, so depending on how you use the robot, you can certainly go past that modest estimate. When charging the battery, it conveniently flashes red; you’ll know it’s fully charged when the light turns steady.

Heat

GJS claims that during operation, Geio’s temperature will range from 0-40 degrees Celsius (32-104 degrees Fahrenheit). When I played with it for 40 minutes, its hottest point, the back by the power button, just surpassed that at 41.3 degrees Celsius (106.3 degrees Fahrenheit).

Bottom Line

At $200, Geio is pricier than many other toy fighting robots. But it brings a lot to the table with 8 different modes, which is also great for those (especially kids) who get bored easily. Most modes work well, and the accompanying apps are easy enough to use. Of course, you'll need to invest in a second Geio to enjoy robot fights.

But Geio isn’t perfect. The mechanical noises it makes are too loud, and there’s no way to dial it down. Currently, the AR experience isn’t on par with what you’d expect for this price, since it requires users to print, cut out and tape paper markers in addition to printing a paper mat. While the pre-made stickers and cloth mat I got with my review unit are much better, you still have to attach the stickers yourself, and you may encounter bugs regardless. The AR game is pretty fun when it works, so it would’ve been better if Geio came with the necessary patterns printed on it already, instead of making its customers do extra work. If AR is a big part of your interest in Geio, hold off until it starts shipping with the proper materials (supposedly by the end of April).

But Geio does so much that one flawed game doesn’t spoil the bunch. And special features like its object and facial recognition camera, responsive OLED eye and two separate apps make Geio feel like more of a premium toy. A fighting robot is a great way to introduce and cultivate interest in robotics, AR and basic coding to a youngin’ — especially if those terms interest them less than “fighting robot” does.

Photo Credits: Tom's Hardware

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A lot of video game streaming's appeal comes from the interaction between the streamer and their audience. Sometimes it can be fun to watch someone play without even glancing at their chat, sure, but most of the time it's the give-and-take that keeps people coming back for more. That's why Streamlabs and Twitch announced a partnership today to make augmented reality (AR) face masks easier for streamers to implement and viewers to activate.

Streamlabs added face masksin December 2018 as part of its own app store. It allowed streamers using the Streamlabs platform and Streamlabs OBS broadcasting software to use AR face masks on their channels. (An aside: please branch out from the stream-based naming system. It's losing all meaning.) Plus, people who donated to the channel could pick a face mask that would show up on the stream. 

Today's partnership between Streamlabs and Twitch makes face masks an official Twitch extension, the Face Masks Twitch Extension. In addition to giving the tool Twitch's stamp of approval, becoming a Twitch extension will also offer new ways for viewers to interact with face masks. Streamlabs said the feature can now be activated when someone signs up for a tier two or three subscription--which cost more than the tier one option--or when they donate Bits.

Both of those options should make face masks far more popular among streamers and their viewers. Some people don't like to donate to a streamer directly and feel more comfortable signing up for a monthly subscription. For streamers, accepting financial donations can be a double-edged sword because of the way different payment processors work. Twitch's proprietary Bits currency helps solve that problem.

Not that streamers were struggling to monetize with face masks before. Streamlabs said in its announcement that it "saw 30 percent of streamers doubling their donation revenue" after the feature debuted last December. There's no denying that the feature is silly, but honestly, most streams are pretty silly as well. (And here all the fuddy-duddies were complaining about millennials buying avocado toast; little did they know.)

The Face Masks Twitch Extension is currently available in a beta. Streamlabs said it currently offers 26 face masks that can be unlocked by signing up for tier two or three subscriptions and sending Bits. Another 70 face masks are unlockable by donating Bits through a channel's dedicated face masks page. The feature is limited to Twitch partners and affiliates; it also requires both the Twitch Extension and Streamlabs OBS to function.

Oculus today announced a new VR headset, the Rift S. With a higher resolution display, integrated audio and other features, it's meant to improve on replace the original Rift while only raising the price by $50.

This isn't Oculus' first Rift followup--the company announced the Oculus Go in 2017 and revealed the Oculus Quest in 2018--but it's the first to follow in the Rift's footsteps by relying on a PC instead of a smartphone, like the Go, or standalone VR experience, like the Quest.

Rift S will rely on some of the tech introduced with the Go and Quest. UploadVR reported that the headset uses the same 2560x1440 LCD panel as the Go, which improves on the Rift by offering 40 percent more pixels with three subpixels each instead of two.

The new headset will also use the same lens technology as the Go and the Oculus Insight inside-out tracking, which Oculus announced alongside the Quest in September. However, the Rift S will use five cameras instead of the Quest's four. The controllers are also similar to Oculus Touch, but they've been redesigned to work in tandem with Insight. 

The Rift S also features a new head strap, integrated audio and Passthrough+ technology that Oculus said "utilizes core Oculus runtime advancements, including ASW, to produce a comfortable experience with minimal depth disparity or performance impact."

The Rift S was co-developed with Lenovo, by taking feedback from the company's use of VR and augmented reality and gathering insight from the Lenovo Legion gaming community. Oculus said Lenovo helped design the headset "for increased comfort, better weight distribution and improved light blocking." It's also supposed to offer "a simple, single-cable system for a clutter-free experience," so long as you don't use the headphone jack.

The Rift S will be available sometime this spring--just like Quest--with a $399 price tag. That compares well to the original Rift, which settled at $349 after a series of price cuts. (Just remember that you'll also have to supply the gaming PC, of course.)

More information about the headset and the option to receive an email alert when it's available is on Oculus' website.

Rift S' system requirements are below/ You can also download the company's compatibility tool to see if your system is ready to go.

Oculus Rift S System Requirements

Want to comment on this story? Let us know what you think in the Tom's Hardware Forums.

It's been a little over a week since a report about Apple's augmented reality plans crossed our radar, which means today's report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is actually slightly overdue. This time Kuo claimed that Apple plans to start production on its first AR product, a pair of smartglasses, by 2Q20 at the latest.

According to 9to5Mac today, Kuo reportedly said the first generation of what we assume will be called the Apple Glasses will rely on a paired iPhone for pretty much everything: computing, rendering, connectivity, location services, etc. The glasses themselves will have some smarts--they have to if they're going to work well--but the iPhone will be the "brain."

That seems like a distinctly Apple approach to AR. It's hard to imagine the company releasing a headset like those made by HTC Vive, Oculus, and their counterparts. The company's products are status symbols as much as they are computing devices; it wouldn't expect its customers to look like they're in an old sci-fi movie.

Of course, that's assuming the company is actually working on AR products, which hasn't been officially confirmed. But as we noted when Apple reportedly met with AR companies at CES 2019, it's bought up so many companies working in the space that it would be weirder for it not to release something like what Kuo described.

Here's the timeline we shared in January: 

• 2015: Apple acquires Metaio, a phone-based AR company we covered at that year's Mobile World Congress, for an undisclosed sum.
• 2017: Apple acquires SMI, a company whose eye tracking technology was used by companies like Valve and Qualcomm, for an undisclosed sum.
• 2017: Apple acquires Vrvana, which made the Totem HMD we called the best VR demo we'd ever seen, for an undisclosed sum.
• 2018: Apple acquires Akonia Holographics, which turned to AR after working on holographic data storage, for an undisclosed sum.

Rumors intensified after Apple was granted a patent covering AR-enabled navigation. (The company filed the patent in 2017; it wasn't granted until this February.) Combine that with Kuo's claim that mass production will begin in the last quarter of 2019, or at least by the second quarter of 2020, and more rumors will swirl.

Kuo's timeline also matches a Bloomberg report from 2017 that said Apple "aims to have technology ready for an augmented-reality headset in 2019 and could ship a product as early as 2020." At this point, even we'd be upset if Apple doesn't finally reveal an AR product in that timeframe, if only so we can stop wondering.

Many people can't bear the thought of not seeing their smartphones. They'll leave them on the counter while they wash dishes, use them even after the lights dim in a movie theater, and hold them in front of their faces while they drive. So it makes sense for Microsoft to look to smartphones as the mixed reality input devices of the future in a new patent application.

Microsoft applied for the patent on February 28--after it revealed the HoloLens 2 at MWC Barcelona 2019--and it has since been published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO). It's simply called "Virtual Reality Input," and in it, Microsoft describes a system that would allow people to use their phones even when they're in virtual/augmented/mixed reality.

The company explained that current interaction methods, from hand-held controllers to gesture-based input, have their limitations. They're also unfamiliar to many people, making it even harder for them to feel comfortable in mixed reality. The solution? Allow people to use devices they use all the time--smartphones--to interact with mixed reality experiences. Microsoft explained:

"In some examples, the touch-sensitive input device may enable the reception of touch input, which may be an intuitive and familiar input paradigm to a user (e.g., as a result of repeated, daily use of a smart-phone). Touch and/or other types of input may extend the range of inputs that can be supplied beyond translation and rotation enabled by the hand-held controllers described above. The input device itself may also provide a familiar paradigm of interaction, as in some examples the input device may be, as referenced above, a smart/phone or other mobile device of the user."

While some people can navigate their smartphone without looking at it--constant use has ingrained the location of each app icon in their memory--others cannot. (It can be hard to figure out exactly what's happening on-screen with nothing but tactile or auditory feedback.) Microsoft thought of those limitations, too, and it also wants to go beyond addressing them. It explained:

"Moreover, the virtual reality experience may complement and/or extend input device functionality. As described in further detail below, the virtual reality experience may render a representation of the input device that visually indicates the device and also provides a user interface for interacting with the device and virtual reality experience. In some examples, the user interface may provide additional information and points of interaction beyond a user interface rendered by the input device itself."

It makes sense. Immersion in VR can be elusive if people aren't comfortable with a control scheme. Most people are comfortable with their phones. And if augmented reality is about building upon things in our environment, well, our phones are pretty much tied with our bodies as the most constant things in our environments. Microsoft's system merely embraces those truths in mixed reality.

Google isn't the only company working on augmented reality (AR) maps. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has today granted Apple a patent related to a "method for representing points of interest in a view of a real environment on a mobile device and mobile device therefor." Or, in English, viewing the world through an AR lens.

Apple's technology would be able to recognize objects in the user's environment. It could then display information about known points of interest to suit a variety of needs. One example provided in the patent's introduction is "tour guidance for exploring the urban environment." Read: navigation.

Credit: Apple

Apple's patent also said the technology could be used inside homes, vehicles and other locations to identify more specific points of interest. This could prove especially useful when searching for a lost object, for example, or trying to highlight something about the room that someone might not notice otherwise.

As reported by AppleInsider, Apple applied for this patent in April 2017, and the USPTO today granted the application. That doesn't mean the company's on the verge of revealing new AR products, however, because companies often apply for patents related to technologies that might not ever see the light of day.

But this is still more kindling for rumors that Apple's working on an AR headset. Those rumors have persisted for years because of Apple's numerous acquisitions of AR-related companies, the introduction of ARKit in iOS and Apple CEO Tim Cook saying he's excited for AR. 

This patent doesn't center on an AR headset--most of the focus is on using the technology via an iPhone or iPad--but it does leave open the possibility of such a device. The patent references a "semi-transparent display," like those used in smart glasses and other AR products, that could be used in tandem with this tech. And the following picture submitted with the application does seemingly point to something reminiscent of AR smart glasses.

That setup certainly sounds a lot more comfortable than holding an iPhone or iPad in front of your face whenever you wanted to use this potential tool. Google sought to avoid that problem in Maps by advising people to use the AR feature sparingly.

Like we said: there's no guarantee that Apple plans to release an AR headset or even the AR navigation feature at all. But it does certainly bring more evidence that offering data via AR may be the next big step for technology-assisted navigation.

Updated, 2/25/19, 12:42pm PT: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded to employees' petition to end the HoloLens contract with the U.S. Army in an interview with CNN Business. "We made a principled decision that we're not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy," he said. "We were very transparent about that decision and we'll continue to have that dialogue [with employees]." He also said that it wasn't about what 100 people wanted, it was about "being a responsible corporate citizen in a democracy."

Original article, 2/23/19, 12:08pm PT:

Microsoft employees demanded the cancellation of a U.S. Army contract through which the HoloLens augmented reality headset would be used to train soldiers. The petition backing the demand was signed by more than 50 employees and addressed to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and chief legal officer Brad Smith.

The contract was made public in November 2018. It's called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract, and it's worth $479 million to Microsoft. Employees who signed the petition to cancel the contract are essentially asking the company to back down from a deal worth nearly half a billion dollars. (To start.)

BuzzFeed News obtained a copy of the petition, which said in part: “We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country's government ‘increase lethality’ using tools we built. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.”

This isn't the first time Microsoft employees have demanded that their employer stop offering its technologies to the U.S. government. They did the same thing in June 2018 to protest Microsoft's work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency following reports of mistreatment.

Other tech workers have made similar demands: Google employees pressured the company into ending its artificial intelligence contract with the Pentagon. Unlike Microsoft, which has ignored employees' efforts to cancel these contracts, Google decided to end the partnership. (Though it's still a defense contractor.)

These efforts are part of a larger trend which is seeing tech workers push back against the ways the fruits of their labor are being used. They want their employers to behave ethically--and in accordance with their own political views--rather than selling advanced technologies without considering the ramifications.

To its credit, Microsoft has made those ramifications a central part of its research into things like facial recognition, which Smith has published several blog posts about over the last year. It's not hard to guess why the company's employees would then be surprised about a contract meant to make soldiers better killers.

Not that the U.S. Army would be able to train too many soldiers via the IVAS contract. HoloLens dev kits cost $3,000--even if the entire contract went towards equipment procurement, that would only buy roughly 160,000 headsets. Adding on maintenance fees, software development, and other costs would reduce that number.

Want to comment on this story? Let us know what you think in the Tom's Hardware Forums.

Nreal light, the mixed reality (MR) headset that looks like a pair of sunglasses, just announced partnerships with Qualcomm and LG Uplus pointing to likely compatibility with the wave of 5G phones poised to hit the market. With today's newfound ability to connect to smartphones running the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, nreal light is hoping to drive into the mainstream by 2020.

Nreal light works by connecting to either the included CPU, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 housed in a 170-gram square vessel, or an Android smartphone (no iPhones) via USB-C. In any case, an included controller, which can also stick to the CPU hardware, handles navigation with a touchpad and 3-Degrees of Freedom. Nreal expects to start shipping the glasses in Q3.

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona today, nreal announced compatibility between the nreal light and a “5G-enabled LG smartphone unveiled at MWC,” the LG V50 ThinQ. Nreal light will be able to plug into the new 5G LG phone via USB-C, and the company’s announcement promised “low latency and high data throughput on-the-go” and the ability to easily stream video from the phone to the glasses.

For someone who’s tried out nreal light, the idea of watching movies, TV or sports on it isn’t too far-fetched. I watched a live football game on the glasses during our hands-on with the nreal light at CES in January, and with 1080p images displayed in each lens and brightness up to a whopping 1,000 nits, the game was vibrant with bright greens and whites I can still recall.

Nreal will also work with LG Uplus, an LG-owned South Korean telecom, on future volumetric and panoramic MR content, primarily holographic video calls or entertainment.

“This type of content will first roll out to Korean customers, but we'll be looking to secure more carrier partnerships throughout MWC. And the compatibility will be available on most if not all 855-compatible 5G devices,” an nreal spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware.

Nreal Light’s 5G MR Push

Today’s announcement means nreal light will be able to connect to smartphones running on a Snapdragon 855 for its computing and battery power. The MR glasses should be compatible with all smartphones equipped with the Snapdragon 855 platform, as long it supports 5G. We asked nreal if this includes Samsung's 5G smartphones arriving this spring and were told nreal hasn’t tested this yet and can’t guarantee it, but “technically speaking we believe it could be possible.”

Nreal is also working with developers Sensetime and Netease to develop relevant content for the glasses. It’s interested in bringing MR, augmented reality and virtual reality content to the glasses, Chi Xu, nreal CEO and founder, told Tom’s Hardware. Its partnership with Qualcomm connects it with the vendor's ecosystem partners, including HTC, Sprint, NextVR and more.

In addition to seeking out more relevant partnerships, the vendor recently brought foldable arms to the glasses (like the Vuzix Blade and North Focals smart glasses) for better ease of use. It’s one of the reasons nreal thinks it can grow adoption in the U.S., Xu noted.

“It's a familiar shape that we truly believe will make it frictionless for consumers to purchase an MR device,” he told Tom’s Hardware.

Nreal light will also offer 6-DoF tracking and SLAM (simultaneous localization mapping), plus plane and object recognition.

nreal light MR Headset Specs

Beating your friends in video games is always fun. But it becomes even more satisfying when they can hear your taunts and you can see their disappointed faces. Add augmented reality (AR) face masks, spaceships and the need for speed, and you’ve got yourself a party. At least that’s the hope behind Hyperspeed, a free, new mobile gaming app.

Hyperspeed launched today for Android and iOS, The game lets you race through space against one of your real friends, who you can watch and talk to as you play. All the while you get to don an AR face mask called a "Gameface."

When my colleague and I played, I opted for the Ultraviolet Shades, pink cat-eye sunglasses, while he put on Cosmic Outlaw, which looks like a celestially colored motorcycle helmet. There's also Blue Steel, blue glasses filtering through futuristic graphics, and Catstronaut, ‘nuff said.

While you and a friend take turns racing through the cosmic racetrack, you earn points and upgrades, like the ability to slow your opponent’s progress. There are tricks like Inferno and Acid Spill, which obscure the opponent’s view with all-encompassing flames or green gloops, and Meteor Drop, a spaceship-killing move my colleague was particularly fond of. Win by either earning the highest score or by killing your opponent’s spaceship. 

In addition to random messages inexplicably hovering above the space-track, such as “BELIEVE” with a unicorn and “BE KIND” with a heart, what most impressed me were the game’s communication capabilities. I could clearly and easily hear my opponent talking through the app. But I bet being able to race simultaneously (instead of taking turns) would give players more to talk about. There’s also a messaging feature for when you’re not racing.

Hyperspeed’s livestream video of my opponent was also pretty clear, although, admittedly, I found it hard to keep an eye on my opponent’s face while also looking for opportunities to end his run with different attacks.

The game itself is fun and simple enough. And there’s reason to keep coming back with planets / racetracks to unlock. But since it’s a typical racing game, it’s not so exciting that I’d care to schedule a time to play with a friend. Luckily, you can also let Hyperspeed pair you with a player from around the globe.

More AR Mobile Games to Come

Hyperspeed comes from Teatime Games, Iceland-based maker of QuizUp, a mobile game that got a lot of attention in 2013. In May, the company secured $9 million in Series A funding. The game is the first of what Teatime hopes is a line of mobile apps centered on interactivity and social gameplay.

Gunnar Holmsteinn, co-founder & COO of Teatime, told Tom’s Hardware the company is already working with “a few” gaming studios, including in Iceland, Japan and Spain, and hopes to release its next game within the next few months.

"The studios we're working with range from small indie developers to one of the biggest in mobile games,” Holmsteinn said.

Teatime is betting big on multiplayer games with a social aspect and is looking to expand across genres.

"We believe that in five years, it will be outdated to play a game with someone you can't see, hear, or speak with,” Holmsteinn said.