Review: Acer Windows Mixed Reality Headset and Controller

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The VR headsets of one or two years ago like the Oculus and the HTC Vive did deliver on the promise of bringing VR to consumers but at a steep price as well as high-end hardware requirements. With the entry of Microsoft into VR, using tech and knowledge coming from its HoloLens solution, makes enjoying VR more affordable.

Microsoft showed off the future of Windows as a holographic OS with HoloLens which put the desktop in virtual and real space. HoloLens was unfortunately too expensive for mass production and while it seems to be making waves in enterprise and special situations, there’s no consumer version available.

Instead, Microsoft created the Windows Mixed Reality VR standard, packaged it as part of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and makes it accessible to anyone running Windows on the minimum specs (8^th Intel Generation Core Processor). Hit jump for my immersion into WMR.

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Hands on with Canadian Made Apple AR Kit powered Apps

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I recently had an opportunity to discover some of the latest Canadian-made ARKit apps for iOS. AR or Augmented Reality is a huge part of Apple's iOS 11 and the Apple ecosystem going forward.

I've seen implementations of AR before, around a year or so ago Lenovo and Motorola showed off their Project Tango smartphones. These were large phablets that used special cameras and sensors to 'project' 3D images into reality (as viewed through their screen). While the demos looked impressive, the hardware felt awkward and certainly more cumbersome than a regular smartphone.

With Apple's ARKit, Augmented Reality comes to existing iPhones and iPads, no extra hardware required. More impressive is that Apple's made it possible for existing app programmers to port their apps and enable AR functionality.

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See the Stranger Things AR stickers on the Pixel 2 in action

One of the more engaging demos of the new Google Pixel 2 devices were the AR (Augmented Reality) Stickers that they can project onto a scene. Here we see Eleven and the Demogorgon from Netflix' Stranger Things show populating a set piece. Not only are the stickers animated, they are interacting with the real and virtual objects and people around them. This is a simple yet truly engaging implementation of AR. Google is working on more partnerships for this exclusive Pixel initiative. 

Lenovo launches Phab Pro 2, the first AR enabled Tango smartphone

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

San Francisco: Lenovo and Google have released the first Augmented Reality enabled smartphone called the Phab 2 Pro which comes in September for US $499. Using four cameras as well as AR sensors, the device can know its location inside buildings, recognize and measure physical objects as well project animations and on screen to create mixed reality scenarios.

Potentially game changing,Tango devices built in unison by Google and Lenovo elevate what smartphones can do as well as extend their functionality beyond two dimensions. During the demos here, we saw how Tango can generate graphics and characters into reality, how it can measure and help approximate 3D dimensions. Another demo showed how, using an app for Lowe's furniture store, it is possible to virtually redesign a home's interior before even purchasing fixures, rugs or surfaces.