Mixed Reality News Features

News: Microsoft HoloLens 2 & Unity Used to Highlight the Threat to Endangered Whales at the Smithsonian

Although the enterprise use cases for the Microsoft HoloLens 2 continue to impress, the arts community just can't stay away from the best augmented reality headset on the market.

News: Magic Leap's Biggest Problem May Not Be Legal Fights but a Major Battery Charging Issue

While everyone was marveling at the latest drama over at Magic Leap involving employees last week, a major rumor listed in one of the reports, related to the company's flagship device, was mostly overlooked.

HoloLens Dev 102: How to Add Holographic Effects to Your Vuforia ImageTarget

Welcome back to this series on making physical objects come to life on HoloLens with Vuforia. Now that we've set up Vuforia and readied our ImageTarget and camera system, we can see our work come to life. Because in the end, is that not one of the main driving forces when developing—that Frankenstein-like sensation of bringing something to life that was not there before?

News: Magic Leap & Sigur Rós Video Reveals Behind the Scenes Development of Tónandi Augmented Reality Music App

Now that the augmented reality cat is out of the bag, Magic Leap is beginning to open up a bit more about how of some of its work came together in the years and months leading up to the Magic Leap One's release earlier this month. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a behind the scenes video of how the ethereal music-meets-AR app Tónandi was produced in collaboration with Icelandic music group Sigur Rós.

News: This HoloLens App Brings Animals into Your Home Without Violating Your Lease

Augmented reality headsets with depth sensors, like the HoloLens, offer a much more immersive experience than the average smartphone at present, and one app demonstrates that in a uniquely entertaining fashion.

News: Ex-Magic Leap Employee Files Lawsuit Alleging Shady Hiring Practices

The legal travails of Magic Leap appear to have no end in sight, as a lawsuit filed by an ex-employee further threatens to dampen the startup's 2018 launch.

News: Magic Leap Repackages Developer Tools as The Lab, Publishes Updates to Lumin SDK & Lumin OS, & Previews Magicverse SDK

Along with rebranding Magic Leap 1 for enterprise customers, Magic Leap has gifted its developer community with some new toys with a tease of more to come in 2020.

HoloLens Dev 101: How to Get Started with Unity's New Video Player

The release of Unity 5.6 brought with it several great enhancements. One of those enhancements is the new Video Player component. This addition allows for adding videos to your scenes quickly and with plenty of flexibility. Whether you are looking to simply add a video to a plane, or get creative and build a world layered with videos on 3D objects, Unity 5.6 has your back.

News: Windows Holographic Lands in Windows 10 Insider Build 14971

Windows Insiders running Build 14971 of Windows 10 in the Fast Ring can now look for the "Windows Holographic First Run" app to check to see if their PCs are up to the task of running Windows Holographic. It won't detect your VR headset yet, but at least you'll be able to see if your computer will be compatible.

News: Design a Room Layout with Holographic Furniture Using HoloPlanner

When figuring out how to arrange your furniture in a new room, you traditionally have to measure everything and use your imagination. HoloPlanner has a better idea: just place holographic furniture in the room so the Microsoft HoloLens can imagine it for you.

News: This Fun HoloLens App Transforms Any Room into the Matrix

If you've ever wanted to live in the Matrix—or at least the iconic digital rain data visualization that Neo saw when realizing he was, indeed, the "one"—you can now do that with the Microsoft HoloLens. Just download The Red Pill.

News: Magic Leap's Unity Conference Presentation Uncovered Many New Details, Here's What We Found Out

During its presentation at Unite Berlin, Magic Leap gave attendees a crash course in developing experiences for Magic Leap One (ML1), we found out quite a bit more about how the device works and what we can expect to experience with the device.

News: Patent Applications Offer Closer Look at Magic Leap One & How It May Work

Eventually, even the most private company has to file its patents and unveil its tightly-held secrets, and Magic Leap is no exception.

News: Now the HoloLens Can Measure Your Heart Rate by Scanning Your Face

Researchers have developed a new method that harnesses the power of augmented reality to detect a patient's heart rate using a Microsoft HoloLens and computer vision.

News: Airbus Previews Military Sandbox App for HoloLens

As Microsoft works toward fulfilling its $480 million contract to supply modified HoloLens 2 headsets to the US Army, Airbus is preparing to supply advanced augmented reality apps for the device.

News: Preview a 3D House in Mixed Reality Before It Gets Built

Would you like to know what your next house is going to look like? With the HoloLens, you can just plop a hologram down in an open outdoor area and find out.

News: The HoloLens Lets You Watch TV in a Whole New Way

Are there any benefits to watching a movie in a holographic mixed reality headset, or should you just stick with your TV? It's not as cut and dried as you might think. While TVs have some advantages, so does the virtual screen of a Microsoft HoloLens.

News: DataMesh's HoloDesign Makes Redesigning Spaces Easy with a HoloLens

What does our future hold when augmented and mixed reality finally enter the mainstream? As developers, we are always looking for the ultimate solutions to the problems our users see. Welcome the innovative minds of DataMesh Consulting and their impressive HoloLens interior design solution called HoloDesign (previously "Decoration").

News: Microsoft Unveils Remote Assist & Layout, New HoloLens Apps Aimed at Workforce Productivity

On Monday, at its annual Build developer conference, Microsoft revealed two new apps for the HoloLens apps.

News: Microsoft Fuels Efficiency at Chevron with Remote Assist App for HoloLens

Four months after unveiling the latest productivity apps for the HoloLens, Microsoft now has a series of compelling real-world use case videos showing how the augmented reality device and its apps are helping oil giant Chevron.

News: Magic Leap Used to Bring AR to H&M & Star Wars Fashion Collaboration in Tokyo Developed by Warpin Media

There may be questions from some about the future of Magic Leap, but in Japan, The Force is with the augmented reality startup.

News: UC Berkeley Team Commands Drone Fleet with HoloLens

User interfaces for computers have evolved over the years, from the introduction of the keyboard and mouse on the personal computer, to touchscreens on mobile devices, to natural voice recognition. However, the same cannot be said for robots or drones—until now.

Hands-On: Spotify Premium on Magic Leap One Is Futuristic, But Not Quite the iPod of AR

Back when I worked in the music industry, I never imagined there would be a day that I'd be able to sit in a room surrounded by virtual album covers while listening to beats, but that day is really here.

News: How to Use the Magic Leap One in Outdoor Settings, It's Not Perfect, but It's Possible

From day one, my favorite thing about the Magic Leap One has been its portability. It's so well designed that it just screams to be taken out for a walk through the city. Alas, Magic Leap says the device is (currently) designed to be used indoors, preferably in settings containing few windows or black surfaces.

News: Inside Microsoft Mesh, What Is It & How Does It Work? We Have the Answers

When Microsoft unveiled Mesh a couple of weeks ago, the move revealed a major part of Microsoft's next steps toward dominating the augmented reality space, particularly with regard to enterprise customers.

News: In a Major Hit to Apple, Rovio to Launch Angry Birds in AR for Magic Leap

Considering Rovio Entertainment quite literally owes its existence to Apple and the App Store, it may ruffle a few feathers that the company has opted to aim the augmented reality debut of its blockbuster Angry Birds franchise at Magic Leap instead.

News: Doctors Use 3D Holograms on the HoloLens to Aid in Collarbone Repair During Surgery

Late last year, two surgeons from the Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Jaraguá do Sul in Brazil started using a combination of 3D printing and the Microsoft HoloLens to help plan spinal surgeries. And now, with the rest of their team, they've successfully performed a surgical procedure on their first international patient using their 3D impression planning and augmented reality process.

News: NBA Update Delivers Live Games & Player Comparison Stats in Magic Leap App

It's a magical time of year for basketball fans, with the NCAA Tournament in full swing and NBA frontrunners in the midst of their push to clinch spots in the playoffs.

News: Microsoft Emerges from the Trenches with More Details Behind the Army Edition of HoloLens 2

When we got our first look at US Army soldiers testing Microsoft's modified HoloLens 2 last year, it still looked very much like the commercial edition, with some additional sensors attached.

News: Microsoft Has Figured Out How to Double Field of View on HoloLens

One of the most highly-cited drawbacks to the HoloLens is its limited field of view (FOV), but now it appears that Microsoft has solved that problem.

How To: Add Full Body Motion Tracking to the HoloLens with a Kinect

Thanks to Project-Infrared, there's now a pretty straightforward way to add motion tracking to the HoloLens: Connect it to a Kinect.

News: Here's Your First Look at the US Army's Combat-Ready HoloLens 2 in Action

Though Microsoft has had trouble keeping up with the demand for HoloLens 2, the company has been able to supply modified headsets to the US Army.

News: HoloLens Assists in Live Surgery

Numerous examples exist of doctors and surgeons using HoloLens to plan surgeries. The device has even been used to view reference images during a procedure and stream it to a remote audience. Until recently, it has not been used to augment the surgeon's view of the patient during a live surgery.

HoloLens Dev 102: How to Create an ImageTarget with Vuforia & Set Up the Camera System

Now that we've set up Vuforia in Unity, we can work on the more exciting aspects of making physical objects come to life on the HoloLens. In this guide, we will choose an image (something that you physically have in your home), build our ImageTarget database, and then set up our Unity camera to be able to recognize the chosen image so that it can overlay the 3D holographic effect on top of it.

News: Magic Leap Acquires Augmented Reality Telepresence Startup Mimesys

Just months after we previewed the augmented reality, volumetric video conferencing powers of Mimesys, the company has undergone a major change — it's now a part of Magic Leap.

News: New Magic Leap Images Appear as Saudi Prince Gets Demo from CEO Rony Abovitz

It turns out that the government of Saudi Arabia has managed to do something last month's Game Developers Conference couldn't — give us a few new glimpses of the Magic Leap One being worn by someone other than Shaq.

How To: Share Photos & Videos with the Microsoft HoloLens

Microsoft's HoloLens comes with helpful features for capturing video and photos, but sharing whatever you record isn't as straightforward as you might expect. So here are the many ways to get your media off the device to share with the world.

News: Two Doctors Simplify Spinal Surgery with the HoloLens

True innovation tends to come from the places we least expect as developers. The Microsoft HoloLens is still a very new product, and some of the other headsets are still just ideas, so the rules for mixed reality are not set in stone. That means all the real problems to be solved are yet to come.

News: 'Land of Dinosaurs' HoloLens App Brings Jurassic Park to Life with Holograms

Jurassic Park makes a great (and sometimes mediocre) action movie, but hopefully isn't the sort of thing we're dumb enough to actually make. Fortunately, on the HoloLens, you can now walk with the dinosaurs with no risk to your life and limbs.

HoloLens Dev 101: The Unity Editor Basics

With any continuously active software, it can start to become fairly complex after a few years of updates. New features and revisions both get layered into a thick mesh of menu systems and controls that even pro users can get bewildered by. If you are new to a certain application after it has been around for many years, it can be downright intimidating to know where to begin.