Niantic 8th Wall enhances WebAR with powerful GenAI modules

Niantic 8th Wall is enhancing its WebAR platform with generative AI (GenAI) modules to revolutionise augmented reality experiences.

The fusion of technologies promises to offer developers, brands, and agencies more creative potential and improve users’ augmented reality experiences.

Over the past few months, 8th Wall developers have harnessed the power of GenAI, integrating various cutting-edge GenAI technologies into the WebAR platform.

Current integrations...

1 September 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

Inworld and its AI NPCs are now valued at $500M

Inworld, a trailblazing company at the forefront of AI and gaming, has just closed a fundraising round where it raised a further $50 million.

This latest capital infusion – backed by prominent investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Stanford University, First Spark Ventures, Samsung Next, LG Technology Ventures, and existing investors like Microsoft’s M12 fund and Intel Capital – brings Inworld's total funding to over $120 million since its inception in...

3 August 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

Industry giants form AOUSD to standardise 3D ecosystem

Industry leaders Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA – in partnership with the Joint Development Foundation (JDF) – have announced the formation of the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD).

The main objective of AOUSD is to promote the standardisation, development, evolution, and growth of Pixar’s Universal Scene Description (USD) technology, thereby advancing the capabilities of Open Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD).

OpenUSD, originally created by Pixar...

2 August 2023 | Developer

Samsung prepares to announce its Vision Pro rival

Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm are gearing up for an exciting announcement following their strategic partnership to build next-generation AR/VR products.

During the summer Unpacked event in Seoul, Samsung's president of mobile experience, TM Roh, assured journalists that the plan for a new XR headset and ecosystem is on track and that an official announcement is imminent.

The partnership was first announced six months ago at Samsung's Unpacked event in February in San...

1 August 2023 | Metaverse

Apple releases visionOS SDK for crafting ‘all-new experiences’

Apple has released the visionOS SDK for developers eager to explore the possibilities of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences for Vision Pro.

While betas and SDKs for other Apple operating systems like iOS and macOS were launched on the first day of WWDC, developers had to wait for the release of the visionOS SDK. This meant that they could prepare their software for the upcoming fall releases but couldn't immediately start building for the new...

22 June 2023 | Development Tools

Developers will be able to apply for Vision Pro dev kits

Apple is gearing up for its next big leap into the world of spatial computing with the introduction of the Vision Pro. Developers eagerly awaiting their opportunity to prepare apps for the device will be able to apply for dev kits.

Vision Pro is Apple’s first leap into spatial computing. However, without access to the hardware, developers face significant challenges in building and testing their applications for the platform. 

While specific details about the...

6 June 2023 | Developer

Apple opens ‘Activities’ sign-ups for WWDC 2023

Apple has opened sign-ups for ‘Activities’ which enable remote developers to actively participate in this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) festivities. 

Apple introduced WWDC Digital Lounges in 2021, providing developers with the opportunity to engage in online discussions with Apple engineers and designers. This year, the experience returns for WWDC23, renamed simply as Activities.

Developers can now register on the Apple Developer website to...

31 May 2023 | Developer

Apple registers ‘xrOS’ trademark ahead of WWDC

Apple has filed a trademark in New Zealand for ‘xrOS’ ahead of the company’s annual WWDC conference next month.

The wordmark filing all but confirms the official name of the operating system for its highly anticipated headset, along with the font and styling that will accompany it.

The discovery of the ‌xrOS‌ wordmark was made by Parker Ortolani, who spotted the registration with the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office.

Unsurprisingly, Apple will...

16 May 2023 | Metaverse

Tim Cook: Augmented reality can ‘bring people together’

Apple CEO Tim Cook has long been a proponent of augmented reality (AR) over virtual reality, arguing that AR has the potential to bring people together rather than isolate them.

In a recent profile with GQ, Cook reiterated his belief that overlaying the physical world with digital elements can enhance communication and connection between people. 

Cook emphasised that AR should be used to drop digital things into the real world rather than transport people to purely...

4 April 2023 | Platforms

Google tool helps developers create XR experiences

Google has released a tool called Immersive Stream for XR that makes it easier for developers to create mixed-reality experiences.

Earlier this week, the company held an event where it demonstrated a new “immersive view” in Google Maps that uses advances in AI and computer vision to fuse billions of Street View and other images to create a detailed 3D model of locations. Impressively, it even works indoors to allow users to check out a venue like a restaurant before they...

10 February 2023 | Developer