HoloLens Features
News: Microsoft HoloLens 2.0 Has a Secret Codename, Release Date, & Major Price Change, Report Says
With all the talk about the impending release of the Magic Leap One, some have forgotten a very important, competing release on the near horizon: the HoloLens 2.0. Well, now we have new information that tells us when (roughly) the device will be released, as well as a few other exciting tidbits.
HoloLens Dev 101: Building a Dynamic User Interface, Part 2 (The System Manager)
Now that we have installed the toolkit, set up our prefabs, and prepared Unity for export to HoloLens, we can proceed with the fun stuff involved in building a dynamic user interface. In this section, we will build the system manager.
News: The Floor Is Actually Lava on the Microsoft HoloLens
Unless you had a master of visual effects for a parent, you had to imagine the floor was actually lava when playing the classic furniture-hopping game. With a Microsoft HoloLens, however, you don't have to imagine anything.
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: A Wish List of Windows Mixed Reality Features That Could Change Everything for the HoloLens
"Necessity, not novelty," is a phrase I use often when it comes to HoloLens development. It would be fair to call it my mantra, or mission statement, as I prototype and explore software creation on this new frontier of mixed reality.
Rumor Roundup: A New Microsoft HoloLens Could Be Coming in 2017—Here's What We Know So Far
We've been hearing some interesting rumors in the last few days that are stirring up all kinds of speculation about the potential upcoming consumer release of the HoloLens. However, MSPoweruser has speculated a bit further past the consumer HoloLens release to a possible HoloLens 2 as soon as Q3 2017.
HoloLens Dev 101: Building a Dynamic User Interface, Part 9 (Moving Objects)
So after setting everything up, creating the system, working with focus and gaze, creating our bounding box and UI elements, unlocking the menu movement, as well as jumping through hoops refactoring a few parts of the system itself, we have finally made it to the point in our series on dynamic user interfaces for HoloLens where we get some real interaction.
Proof of Concept: HoloLens App Shrinks a Room Down to a Miniature 3D Map
Sky Zhou, also know as Matrix Inception on YouTube, is no stranger here on NextReality. We loved his Pokémon concept game for HoloLens, as well as his D3D Keyboard that lets HoloLens users leave notes around the house. He just can't seem to stop creating cool mixed reality apps, and he's already got another one in the works.
HoloLens Dev 101: How to Create User Location Hotspots to Trigger Events with the HoloLens
One of the truly beautiful things about the HoloLens is its completely untethered, the-world-is-your-oyster freedom. This, paired with the ability to view your real surroundings while wearing the device, allows for some incredibly interesting uses. One particular use is triggering events when a user enters a specific location in a physical space. Think of it as a futuristic automatic door.
News: HoloStudy Teaches Science in 3D Using the HoloLens
Humans learn best by doing or through an experience, and so the holographic environments provided in virtual and mixed reality are ripe with educational opportunities. HoloStudy took this to heart and created an educational science app that teaches you with animated models you can explore in your own space.
News: Microsoft Opens Access to Sensor Data on the HoloLens with 'Research Mode' Update
The addition of a new research mode for Microsoft HoloLens will enable researchers and developers to tap into a wider range of data collected by the device's sensors.
News: Smart Home Proof of Concept Uses a Raspberry Pi to Control Air Conditioner with HoloLens
Empea Berlin, a Germany-based company specializing in augmented, mixed, and virtual reality software, released a Facebook video a few months back showing off their experiments in smart home technology. Using a Raspberry Pi and a HoloLens unit, they were able to make a virtual remote control for an air conditioning unit. The remote is complete with various modes, temperature controls, timers, and other features. There have been no updates on this project since they first showed it off, but hop...
News: HoloLens Will Be Your AR Piano Teacher in the Future
You've likely seen light-up musical keyboards that teach you how to play a song with visual cues, but few of those devices exist and have a limited number of songs you can actually learn. But Karl Baumann and his HoloLens Hackathon team figured out that in mixed reality, you can learn music with visual cues with any piano.
News: Microsoft's Windows Holographic Is Breaking Free from the HoloLens
Not content with bringing the first untethered mixed reality headset to market, Microsoft wants to expand their Windows Holographic operating system beyond HoloLens into vastly more robust technologies.
News: HoloLens Can Now Wirelessly Tap Rendering Power of Any Desktop PC via UWP Apps Built in Unity
Looking to inject a little more processing juice into your HoloLens? Unity can fix you up with the Standalone Universal Windows Platform Holographic Emulation.
How To: Control Your Microsoft Hololens with These Cortana Voice Controls
When Microsoft release an update to the HoloLens Development Edition at the end of May, there were a bunch of cool new features added in. Among them: New voice controls that make working in the HoloLens operating system much easier.
News: Microsoft's Alex Kipman Predicts Three Trends in Augmented & Virtual Reality for 2018
In a LinkedIn post published on Tuesday, Microsoft's leading advocate for the HoloLens made a prediction that the mixing of immersive technologies will define augmented reality in 2018.
News: Inputs for the HoloLens Can Be from Any Device... Even a Smartphone
We've highlighted the projects of Wavelength Studios a few times over recent months for their work in the augmented and mixed reality space. Since receiving their HoloLens headsets, they've been hard at work on both development community projects as well as efforts for clients. This brings us to their latest work—a way to control holograms on the HoloLens with our pocket-based modern miracles, also know as smartphones.
How To: Buy a Microsoft HoloLens
Microsoft's HoloLens project is shaping up to be the forerunner of augmented reality. With jaw-dropping features that would allow you to bring entire football games into your living room and control software with your eyes, there's plenty to be excited about with the upcoming AR headset. Up until now, HoloLens has been seen as potential vaporware, considering that the technology it brings to the table is so futuristic that some folks have thought it wouldn't be possible any time soon. But a r...
News: Microsoft HoloLens Makes Virtual Teleportation a Reality
Logan's Run is one of my favorite movies of all time. The dialog is cheesy, the set design and special effects are wonky, and the main villain looks like he was conceived and built by an eighth grader in shop class—oh, and his name is Box.
Video: HoleLenz Adds Magic Windows to HoloLens & Gives Portals to New Worlds
When I first started with HoloLens development last April, one of the first things I created was a window. The purpose of that window was to be attached to a wall and give the illusion of being in a different space—an effect that is often referred to as a "magic window" effect by developers. My goal was to create the feeling of being in the penthouse of a skyscraper, and it's one that I hope to get back to working on soon.
News: The HoloLens Is Already Teaching Tomorrow's Doctors
The human body is amazingly complex, and seeing inside one poses a variety of challenges whether you're dealing with an actual human or some kind of facsimile. Mixed reality offers the ability to get the best of both worlds by creating a holographic teaching tool for human anatomy.
Developer Spotlight: AfterNow's Creative Approach to UX Design & IoT in Mixed Reality
If you have a HoloLens, you can now control the lighting throughout your home or office via holographic controls using the free Hue Lights app in the Windows Store. The app, made by California-based AfterNow, works with the Philips Hue colored lighting system and is much more polished than the prototype we saw in January.
News: We May Finally Know How Many HoloLens Devices Microsoft Sold, & It's a Revealing Peek at the Future of AR
Last week, we told you about Microsoft's Alex Kipman and his nomination for the annual European Inventor Award, presented by the European Patent Office (EPO). And while that's big news in and of itself, it turns out we overlooked a very important detail buried in the EPO's video presentation. What was it? Only one of the most sought-after data points related to the HoloLens since its launch: how many have been sold.
How To: Iterate Faster Inside Unity Using Holographic Emulation
In recent weeks, Unity has made a few great leaps forward for HoloLens development. These new features will increase iteration speed inside Unity and quickly increase the output of applications in the mixed reality space. Of these new features, let's take some time to talk about Holographic Emulation and why this will do so much for the development community.
HoloLens Feature: Spatial Mapping
Once you've designed some holograms with HoloLens, you'll need to get them to interact with the environment. That's where Spatial Mapping comes in. There are five basic purposes for using HoloLens's Spatial Mapping with your app:
News: This Smart App Makes HoloLens Room Scanning a Game All on Its Own
Complex games in mixed reality require a pretty detailed scan of the room, and getting this process right can be both time-consuming and annoying. Computer science students at the University of Washington decided to fix that by turning it into a game.
Dev Report: Microsoft's First HoloLens Update in Over a Year Now Available in Preview, Hints at Big Plans for 2018
After more than a year and a half of silence, the rumors have morphed into reality: Microsoft has finally released an update for the HoloLens. And with that update comes a collection of new features that hint at big plans for the HoloLens this year.
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: The Crazy Process Behind the HoloLens Optics That Make Mixed Reality Possible
Tricking your eyes into seeing 3D images isn't all that hard in movies or even in virtual reality, but when you start projecting holograms into the physical world, you run into some difficult problems. Microsoft obviously figured them out with their HoloLens, but how? The process is pretty amazing.
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: Did NASA Leak the HoloLens 2 in This Video?
Rumors are swirling today that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) may have shown us the first public glimpse of the next-generation HoloLens. Are they real? Or just a prototype? We've been digging in all day to find the answers.
News: Taqtile's HoloMaps Gives HoloLens Users Ability to View, Scale & Draw on 3D Maps
HoloMaps, an application by Seattle-based Taqtile, is available for free on the Windows Store. Taqtile, whose Vice President of Product Management was Microsoft's former Director of Business Development, is one of the few partners currently in the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program. This interactive 3D map they have created, powered by Bing, offers more than just a top-down view of the world on the HoloLens.
News: Get Ready to Play Fantasy Card Games in Mixed Reality
Card games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and the like have offered engaging fantasy worlds for players—but not without significant help from their imaginations. Video games and cartoons may have helped build these worlds, but mixed reality finally offers an opportunity to make the player's imagination real.
News: HoloToolkit's Expanded Spatial Mapping Capabilities on HoloLens Now Open Source
For those of us that were blown away by the spatial mapping and user experience in Fragments and Young Conker, the version of spatial mapping that came stock in the HoloToolkit was lackluster at best. It became apparent really quick that to get an amazing presentation would require some heavy shader knowledge and some badass mesh culling skills, at the very least.
News: Stimulant's HoloLens App Helps Navigate Inside Buildings
We've got Google Maps to help us out when we need to navigate outdoors, but Google can only map out so many indoor locations without getting creepy. And that's where Stimulant comes in. This "innovation studio" built a HoloLens app that lets you map out an area, define locations, and use the headset to get instant directions to any defined location.
News: Microsoft Applies for Another Patent to Enlarge Field of View in AR Displays
Based on its continued research, it appears Microsoft recognizes that the next HoloLens needs a wider field of view (FoV). Based on a recently-revealed documentation, the company's research team has found another way to accomplish that objective.
News: Vuforia AR Starter Kit Hits the Unity Asset Store for Free
In mid-November, Vuforia officially released Vuforia 6.1, which has full support for the Microsoft HoloLens. They also released their AR Starter Kit to the Unity Asset Store, which contains scenes that show you how to use Vuforia features. While I have yet to find any confirmation, I believe it is safe to assume that the AR Starter Kit will work with the HoloLens. I already had a Vuforia tutorial planned for this week, so as soon as I know for sure, I will begin working on it.
News: How 'Ready Player One' Used Microsoft's HoloLens to Help Build Its VR Cinematic Universe
A funny thing happened on the way to the release of the virtual reality epic Ready Player One — augmented reality grabbed a major piece of the spotlight. Specifically, Microsoft's HoloLens.
News: Classic '90s Game Lemmings Comes to the HoloLens
If there's one thing entertainment companies love, it's rebooting aging franchises. But design firm Globacore Interactive Technologies appears to have taken rebooting to the next level by remaking the classic '90s game Lemmings specifically to work on the HoloLens, Microsoft's mixed reality headset.