Pioneering AR company Blippar has found coal in its stocking this holiday season. The company developed a sophisticated computer vision that no-one could productize. While its winter for Blippar, Immersal springs to life, and zSpace introduces its AR laptop.
Break the screen barrier with zSpace’s VR laptop, now available. Complete with head tracking 3D glasses and a 6 degrees of freedom stylus, the zSpace VR laptop lets users interact with and create 3D content without the need to wear bulky headgear. A solid Windows machine in its own right, the VR laptop is a CES2019 Innovation Award Honoree and is far more portable and flexible than its previous incarnations. So far zSpace has focused on the education market, but anyone working with 3D content whether artists, designers, or trainers could find use for the device. The price for a single laptop is not yet listed, but purchasing information can be found on the zSpace website.
AR Cloud SDK that’s markerless, multi-user, persistent, and accurate published by Immersal. In a continued effort to enable worldwide AR using the devices we already have, Immersal has created an AR Cloud SDK that can quickly map an environment using a phone’s camera. AR objects placed in the mapped environment will persist over time and between devices. Multiple users of Immersal’s AR Cloud can see the same AR objects within centimeter-accuracy. Once the device is positioned, the heavy computation goes to the AR Cloud freeing up the device’s battery. The SDK is in private beta, but you can join the early access waiting list on Immersal’s website.
Intel’s Vaunt AR glasses patents acquired by North. Since shutting down it’s attempts at smart glasses, Intel has invested in smart glasses maker North and has released hundreds of patents to the company. The acquiring of Intel’s patents is part of a partnership deal between North and Intel.
AR startup Blippar shuts down due to funding crisis. A shareholder dispute blocked an emergency cash infusion, forcing Blippar into Administration, the UK version of bankruptcy. The startup, founded in 2011, raised a remarkable 131M and at one time had "unicorn" (a startup valued over 1 BN) status. The company developed some impressive impressive AR technology that used computer vision to identified real-world objects, but pivoted around to find a sustainable business model. Alan Smithson, CEO of Toronto consultancy MetaVrse dove into Blippar's sad fate and came away with this detailed analysis.
Angry Birds comes to VR in 2019. In a continued partnership between Rovio Entertainment and Resolution Games, after their release of Angry Birds: FPS on Magic Leap, the franchise is making its way to all major VR headsets. The new game, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs will let fans step into the Angry Birds universe and take on the green pigs in a new immersive way.
Tend a magical garden with new Magic Leap title Luna: Moodust Garden. Funomena, creators of 2017 indie VR title Luna, have brought their storyworld to the Magic Leap One in an interactive magical garden experience. Players plant a garden in the world around them, explore its details to discover moondust, and sprinkle moondust on the plants to help them grow.
Over 6000 applicants await word from Magic Leap’s independant creator program. From November 15th to December 15th anyone could apply for a grant to build an application for the Magic Leap platform. The eight-figure grant program has slated $20,000 - $500,000 per project and the review process is taking place through February 15th, 2019. The best experiences built next year will be announced at the 2019 L.E.A.P. Conference.
mk2 partners with Secret Location for managing location-based VR venues. Secret Location’s Vusr Venue, a LBVR operations management tool, will now be found at multiple mk2 LBVR locations as a part of their VR Pods.
WayRay releases SDK for in-vehicle AR displays and sponsors MIT hackathon. WayRay is a creator of in-vehicle holographic AR displays and has released their True AR SDK for developers to build AR apps for vehicles. On January 17-21, 2019 WayRay will sponsor the Automotive Prize Category at the Reality Virtually Hackathon at the MIT Media Lab. The SDK will be presented at CES 2019 and can be downloaded on WayRay’s website.
ICYM, here's a link to the first preview of my new book, The World Will Be Painted With Data.
DroneShowSoftware seasonal greetings video was created in collaboration with BaseMotion, one of the most experienced Latvian graphical animation companies. As drone shows become exponentially popular all around the world, SPH Engineering can create any flying formation.
This is our last update for 2018. We'll be back with another XR round-up on Friday, January 4th.
"This Week in XR" is written and edited with Michael Eichenseer.
