News/AR/VR
Google Meet adds 12 AI makeup filters for shyness-free video calls
Google Meet has introduced 12 AI-powered makeup filters that let users apply virtual cosmetics during video calls, building on the platform's existing "Touch-up" feature launched last year. The update addresses a common remote work challenge—looking presentable for unexpected video meetings—while positioning Google to compete more directly with beauty-focused video calling features. What you should know: The AI makeup system offers studio-style presets ranging from subtle professional looks to more creative options, with virtual foundation and lipstick that adapts to individual facial features.• The filters use AI to create natural-looking makeup that stays in place as users move around or drink...
read Oct 10, 2025Ray-Ban, Meta launch $799 smart glasses that require mandatory in-store demos to buy
Ray-Ban and Meta have launched the Display & Neural Band, a $799 smart glasses system that projects text and images directly onto the lens while being controlled through subtle finger gestures via a companion wristband. The device represents a significant leap in wearable AI technology, featuring real-time translation capabilities and requiring mandatory in-store demos at Best Buy before purchase—a strategic shift toward tactile retail experiences for high-tech eyewear. What you should know: The Display & Neural Band combines advanced visual projection technology with gesture-based controls to create a hands-free computing experience. The glasses use micro-projector and waveguide technology to display...
read Oct 9, 2025Google adds AI virtual try-on for shoes in Search and Shopping
Google has expanded its AI-powered virtual try-on feature to include shoes and sneakers, allowing users to see how footwear looks on them through Google Search and Shopping results. The technology uses full-body photos rather than requiring specific foot images, positioning Google to capture more of the growing virtual shopping market as consumers increasingly seek digital try-before-you-buy experiences. How it works: The virtual shoe try-on uses the same technology as Google's clothing try-on feature, requiring only a full-length photo upload.• Users can select shoes from Google Shopping or search results and tap the "try it on" button to generate a virtual...
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Meta’s $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses add screens to smart eyewear
Meta has unveiled its Ray-Ban Display glasses, featuring a tiny screen inside the lens that allows users to read messages, view photos, and get directions without looking at their phones. Priced at $799 and launching September 30 in limited US stores, the glasses represent Meta's latest push into AI-powered wearables and a significant step toward mainstream augmented reality adoption. What you should know: The Display glasses build on Meta's existing smart glasses line by adding visual feedback through a small display in the right lens corner. Unlike previous audio-only versions, users can now see text messages, Instagram Reels, maps, and...
read Sep 12, 2025Serve Robotics buys Phantom Auto for $5.75M to boost delivery robot operations
Serve Robotics has acquired the assets of Phantom Auto and its subsidiary Voysys for approximately $5.75 million, adding ultra-low latency video streaming and teleoperation technology to its autonomous delivery robot fleet. The Swedish company's technology enables glass-to-glass latency as low as 50 milliseconds, which will help Serve maintain safe operations as it rapidly scales its sidewalk delivery operations in dense urban environments. What you should know: Voysys brings industry-leading video streaming capabilities that have already been integrated into Serve's production fleet of hundreds of robots.• The company's proprietary bandwidth regulation, advanced video compression, and multi-link redundancy technology sets new benchmarks...
read Sep 5, 2025Job alert: Meta Quest’s top sports game Gym Class seeks founding UX engineer with $170K-$240K salary
Gym Class, the top-rated social VR sports game on Meta Quest, is hiring a founding UX Design Engineer to develop their upcoming mobile web app and web surfaces within their flagship VR experience. The role comes with significant equity and the opportunity to shape the user experience for a platform that has achieved millions of downloads, over 79,000 reviews, and a 4.9-star rating. What you should know: This is a senior-level position requiring 6+ years of experience, combining design expertise with front-end engineering skills to own key UX surfaces end-to-end.• The role involves crafting designs in Figma and building production-grade...
read Aug 29, 2025Dr Pepper uses mixed reality, AI, and a little carbonation to transform college football marketing
Dr Pepper is expanding its college football marketing strategy with mixed reality experiences, AI-powered activations, and a commercial-free sponsorship of "The Pat McAfee Show" on ESPN. The beverage brand is deepening its ties with Disney and ESPN to reach college football fans through innovative technology and premium content partnerships. What you should know: Dr Pepper's enhanced college football playbook leverages cutting-edge technology to create immersive fan experiences during the sport's most popular season. The brand is incorporating mixed reality elements that blend physical and digital experiences, allowing fans to interact with virtual content overlaid on real-world environments. AI-powered marketing activations...
read Aug 27, 2025Rokid’s $599 AI glasses challenge Meta with built-in displays
Rokid has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new AI Glasses, featuring dual micro LED displays that provide heads-up functionality for navigation, real-time translation, and teleprompter capabilities. Priced at $599 with November shipping, these glasses directly challenge Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses by offering visual displays that Meta's current $299 model lacks, potentially positioning Rokid advantageously ahead of Meta's rumored $800 AR glasses launch. What you should know: Rokid's AI Glasses combine familiar smart glasses features with breakthrough display technology that sets them apart from existing competitors. The glasses include a 12MP camera, open-ear speakers, and ChatGPT integration for capturing moments,...
read Aug 25, 2025AI and VR converge to reshape graphics at Vancouver’s Siggraph 2025
Siggraph 2025 in Vancouver showcased how artificial intelligence and extended reality (XR) are converging to reshape the graphics industry, with major announcements from Nvidia, Meta, and Arm demonstrating the future of neural rendering and immersive computing. The conference highlighted a fundamental shift toward AI-accelerated graphics processing, with new hardware and software solutions designed to make high-fidelity rendering more accessible and efficient across platforms. What you should know: Nvidia unveiled new Blackwell-powered RTX PRO servers and workstation GPUs specifically designed for professional AI and rendering workloads. The RTX PRO 6000 servers deliver 4x improvements in real-time rendering FPS and 6x better...
read Aug 22, 2025AI expands “Wizard of Oz” for Sphere’s 160K-square-foot immersive experience
The Sphere in Las Vegas is preparing to debut an AI-enhanced version of "The Wizard of Oz" that expands the 1939 classic to fit its massive 160,000-square-foot screen. The production promises a full sensory experience with remastered audio, added characters, and environmental effects like wind machines, sparking debate about using AI to modify cinematic classics. What you should know: The Sphere team used AI trained specifically on "The Wizard of Oz" footage and original materials to create this expanded version.• The team combed through archives at the Academy and Warner Bros., studying shot lists, sketches, and notebooks from the 1939...
read Aug 15, 2025Text-to-worldbuilding: Google’s Genie 3 turns text prompts into explorable 3D worlds
Google DeepMind has released Genie 3, an AI "world model" that can generate entire explorable virtual worlds from a single text prompt at 720p resolution and 24 frames per second. This represents a significant leap forward in generative AI capabilities, potentially transforming gaming, education, training simulations, and virtual exploration by creating interactive 3D environments that users can navigate and modify in real-time. What you should know: Genie 3 creates fully interactive virtual worlds that respond to keyboard or touchscreen controls and maintain consistency for several minutes. The system generates worlds on-the-fly, theoretically making them infinitely explorable as new areas load...
read Jul 30, 2025Stanford researchers use AI to overcome VR’s biggest hardware challenge
Stanford researchers have developed a groundbreaking VR headset with an ultra-thin 3mm display that dramatically expands the field of view using AI optimization. This breakthrough addresses one of virtual reality's most persistent hardware limitations by transforming what has traditionally been a physics problem into a software challenge that artificial intelligence can solve. The big picture: Virtual reality headsets have long been constrained by hardware limitations, particularly narrow fields of view that create an unsatisfying user experience—a problem that plagued even Apple's Vision Pro despite its premium positioning. How it works: The Stanford team published their research in Nature Photonics this...
read Jul 30, 2025Retail replication: Nestlé builds 4,000 AI digital twins for 30% faster marketing content
NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Accenture Song are collaborating with Nestlé to deploy AI-powered digital twins for large-scale marketing content creation, using virtual 3D replicas of products to generate personalized campaigns without constant reshooting. This partnership positions Nestlé at the forefront of retail's digital transformation, where AI marketing revenue is projected to reach $47 billion this year and brands using digital twins report 30% faster content production cycles. What you should know: Nestlé has built a library of 4,000 3D digital products and plans to convert 10,000 products into digital twins within two years. More than 250 Nestlé global digital specialists are...
read Jul 14, 2025VR training proves 30% faster than traditional methods for manufacturing skills
AI-powered virtual reality training is emerging as a solution to America's critical factory worker shortage, where only one qualified worker exists for every 20 open manufacturing positions. This technology could rapidly upskill workers while making technical training more engaging and accessible, particularly for younger generations who might otherwise avoid blue-collar careers. The big picture: The U.S. faces an unprecedented manufacturing labor crisis as baby boomers retire and college-educated workers lack the technical skills needed for modern factory jobs. David Gitlin, CEO of Carrier, an HVAC equipment maker, told The New York Times there is "one qualified worker for every 20...
read Jun 26, 2025Show me, Xiaomi: Chinese firm’s AI glasses offer features Meta’s Ray-Bans lack
Xiaomi has unveiled AI-powered smart glasses that feature electrochromic dimming technology, allowing users to manually adjust lens darkness by sliding their finger along the frame. While the glasses closely resemble Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses in design and core functionality, this manual dimming feature addresses a key limitation that has made smart glasses less practical for all-day wear across varying lighting conditions. What you should know: The Xiaomi AI glasses offer several hardware upgrades over Meta's current offerings while maintaining a similar price point. They feature a 12MP camera capable of 2K video recording at 30 frames per second, built-in microphones,...
read Jun 24, 2025Augmented Retail: Walmart built internal AI platform serving 1.5M associates daily
Walmart has built Element, an internal AI foundry platform that now serves 1.5 million associates across its operations, handling 3 million daily queries from 900,000 weekly users. Rather than buying enterprise AI solutions, the retail giant created a manufacturing-style approach to AI development that treats applications like products rolling off an assembly line, fundamentally changing how large enterprises can deploy artificial intelligence at scale. What you should know: Element's foundry model eliminates traditional AI deployment cycles by standardizing the entire development process from conception to production. The platform is LLM-agnostic, allowing Walmart to select the most cost-effective model for each...
read Jun 13, 2025Google and Snap push XR mainstream with Android XR and $3B Spectacles bet
Augmented World Expo 2025 concluded in Long Beach, California, with Google's Android XR and Snap's consumer Spectacles announcement driving momentum for mainstream XR adoption. The three-day event, drawing over 5,000 attendees and 250 exhibitors, showcased how AI integration and mature hardware are finally positioning extended reality technologies—which blend digital content with the physical world—for widespread deployment across enterprise and consumer markets. What you should know: Industry leaders declared 2025 the year XR moves from experimental to mainstream, with AI serving as the critical catalyst. AWE co-founder Ori Inbar's keynote emphasized that "the hardware is good enough, the tools are mature,...
read May 28, 2025Google aims to humanize tech with advanced AI
Google is embarking on an ambitious journey to make artificial intelligence more human-centric, as revealed at its recent I/O conference. The tech giant's vision for artificial general intelligence (AGI) represents a philosophical shift away from purely technical achievements toward technology that amplifies human capabilities, understands physical environments, and preserves individual creativity. This approach signals a potential turning point where AI development prioritizes human connection and personalization rather than pursuing technological advancement for its own sake. The big picture: Google unveiled over 100 new products and technical advances at its I/O conference, positioning itself as a frontrunner in the race toward...
read May 22, 2025AI and XR take center stage at Google I/O 2025
Google's I/O event this year showcased a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence with extended reality (XR) as a complementary focus, reflecting the company's evolving priorities beyond its Android ecosystem. The event revealed an impressive acceleration in Google's AI initiatives, particularly with Gemini models seeing 50x growth in token usage over the past year, while simultaneously advancing multiple XR hardware and software partnerships that position Google at the intersection of these transformative technologies. The big picture: Google is aggressively expanding its AI capabilities while strategically re-entering the XR market through partnerships rather than solo hardware ventures. Gemini AI usage has increased...
read May 22, 2025Google’s new Android XR smart glasses aim to balance function and fashion
Google's upcoming Android XR smart glasses represent a significant advance in wearable computing, integrating Gemini's multimodal AI capabilities into a practical, everyday form factor. Revealed at Google I/O 2025, these glasses merge AI assistant features with augmented reality displays while offloading processing to users' smartphones—potentially solving the weight and battery life issues that have plagued previous smart eyewear. By partnering with established eyewear brands like Warby Parker, Google appears poised to deliver the first smart glasses that balance style, functionality, and comfort when they launch later this year. The big picture: Google is shifting its Android XR platform focus toward...
read May 20, 2025AI expands creative horizons with 4 new directions including audio and XR
Artificial intelligence continues to evolve beyond text-based applications into new creative domains, opening fresh possibilities for businesses and creators. A recent panel at an Imagination in Action event revealed how AI researchers and companies are expanding neural network technologies into audio processing, gaming analysis, extended reality, and biomimicry. These emerging directions highlight how AI is becoming increasingly multisensory and adaptive, requiring enterprises to understand both technological capabilities and the changing expectations of AI-native generations. 1. Mining the audio world Audio represents a largely untapped frontier for AI development compared to text-based systems. While text has been the primary focus of...
read May 20, 2025Google I/O 2025: 5 key AI announcements to watch for
Google's upcoming I/O developer conference marks a significant shift in focus, centering predominantly on artificial intelligence rather than Android announcements—which the company unveiled separately last week. This strategic pivot reflects the intensifying AI race between Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta, positioning the May 20-21 event as a showcase for Google's latest AI innovations while also offering glimpses into its extended reality ambitions. The big picture: Google's I/O 2025 keynote will prioritize AI developments, particularly Gemini, continuing a trend established over the past two years. The opening keynote begins May 20th at 10AM PT/1PM ET and can be streamed from Google's...
read May 13, 2025Vatican embraces AI under Pope Leo XIV with continued HolyDeeds partnership
He's only partly skeptical. The Vatican's digital transformation accelerates as Pope Leo XIV endorses AI and immersive technology for spiritual outreach in his first address to the College of Cardinals. This significant shift builds on the groundwork laid by his predecessor, Pope Francis, who partnered with UK tech startup HolyDeeds on "The Immersive Faith Project" before his passing in April. The Catholic Church's embrace of digital evangelization represents a strategic pivot to reach younger generations through modern technological mediums while maintaining doctrinal integrity. The big picture: The Vatican is embracing digital technologies as tools for spiritual outreach, with the newly...
read May 13, 2025Digital twins are reshaping how stores are designed and experienced
Virtual and augmented reality technologies are transforming retail by enabling digital twins of physical spaces, offering immersive shopping experiences without the limitations of traditional brick-and-mortar stores. This evolution represents a significant shift in how consumers interact with products and brands, combining the convenience of e-commerce with the experiential aspects of in-person shopping that many consumers still crave. The big picture: AR/VR and digital twin technologies are addressing fundamental challenges in retail design by creating virtual shopping environments that replicate and enhance the in-store experience. What was once science fiction (like the digital clothing selection system in the 1995 film "Clueless")...
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