HoloLens Features
News: Surface Studio & HoloLens Used Together in New 3D Detailing & Visualization Tool
An interesting new use-case for the Microsoft HoloLens appeared in a YouTube video from Washington-based DataMesh last month. In it, you can see the HoloLens working in conjunction with the Microsoft Surface Studio, Surface Dial, and Surface Pen for 3D model detailing and visualization in real time.
Have You Seen This?: Mind Mapping in 3D with the HoloLens & Holo Mind
In the world we live in now — a world of complete data overload — new ways to sort through that data moves well past "nice-to-have" and firmly into the needs category. Mind mapping has been one tool that allowed someone to break down large problems into like components and help visualize the problems in different ways. Now thanks to Data Experts gmbh's Windows Store release Holo-Mind, we can do that in 3D on the HoloLens.
News: Alex Kipman Just Said What All HoloLens Enthusiasts Are Thinking — 'The Phone Is Already Dead'
According to Alex Kipman, HoloLens inventor and futurist at Microsoft, the smartphone is already obsolete. In an interview with Bloomberg, Kipman boldly stated that the HoloLens will eventually replace the smartphone and drive society right into a new augmented normal.
News: Better Spatial Maps Will Make Mixed Reality Great
A group of researchers from Stanford University and Princeton University has put together the largest RGB-D video dataset to date with over 1,500 scans of over 700 different locations across the world, for a total of 2.5 million views.
News: HoloLens' First Update Adds Voice Commands, Multitasking, & Much More
Microsoft released a robust version of the HoloLens when shipping the developer kits, but there's still lots of room left to grow. Today, they've released the first update to Windows Holographic, the operating system of the HoloLens, with a whole bunch of cool new features like voice commands and app multitasking.
News: Microsoft to Debut HoloLens 2 Livestream Video Series with Demos, Updates, & Developer Info
To build hype for the HoloLens 2 among developers, Microsoft is borrowing a page out of Magic Leap's playbook.
News: Unity & Microsoft Are Giving Away $150,000 for HoloLens Apps & Loaning Out HoloLens Developers Kits
At the Microsoft Build 2017 conference in Seattle this past week, 3D application and game platform Unity, partnering with Microsoft, launched a contest that drives HoloLens developers to realize their ideas into a full-fledged application and possibly win money for it.
News: This Hackathon Project Turns Any Room into an Art Gallery
One of the first things you'll do with the HoloLens is place little holograms around your room, and it'll look like you have a large figurine collection. Ralph Barbagallo, Edward Dawson-Taylor, and their HoloHacks team decided to take that a bit further and created an app that allows the user to produce and tour virtual art exhibits.
News: With HoloLens Your Gaze Is Your Mouse
HoloLens users will have a handful of ways to interact with the mixed-reality, holographic world. Gaze Input lets the user control a cursor in their field of vision. In other words, it's essentially a mouse that you control by looking around.
News: NASA Team Headed to Titan in Search of Life Using Microsoft HoloLens As Key Part of the Mission
NASA is going going to Saturn's moon Titan, and the space organization is using augmented reality help them do it.
Video: Using the HoloLens & Subtractive Spatial Modeling to Make a Room Seem Larger
Once mixed reality technology is more widely available and realistically priced for consumers, using the tech to create the illusion of a larger space, will likely be a favorite use for mixed reality in places where real-estate is expensive, people tend to live in smaller homes and work in tighter offices.
News: Microsoft's Live HoloLens 2 Apollo 11 Demo Didn't Take Flight, but You Can See It Thanks to Unreal Engine's Video
On Monday, the Microsoft Build conference kicked off, showcasing a series of demos that went off without a hitch — except for one big one.
News: Microsoft Debuts HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition for Pharmaceutical & Semiconductor Enterprise Users
Ever since the US Army awarded Microsoft's HoloLens a $480 million contract, the battle for enterprise augmented reality has heated up in earnest.
News: Win $430K for Your HoloLens Concept App in the US Dept. of Education's EdSim Challenge
The US Department of Education has put together a competition called the EdSim Challenge with a $680,000 purse to facilitate next-gen education. The event calls upon augmented and virtual reality, as well as video game developers, to bring immersive simulation concepts to prepare the workforce of the future.
Have You Seen This?: The New & Improved Windows Mixed Reality Portal
For those of us on the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program — Microsoft's continual beta program for the Windows operating system — the constant updates can be a bit of a pain. But there is a trade-off. We get to try the new features long before they come out to the public. So if you like to see the new shinies before everyone else, and don't mind the sometimes two or three major updates in a week, then this is definitely the option for you.
News: Microsoft Mobile World Congress Invite Hints at HoloLens 2 Release
The mystery surrounding the release of the next version of the HoloLens has been swirling for months, but at least some of that mystery may removed in the coming weeks.
News: See What's Inside the HoloLens Development Edition
Microsoft began shipping the Development Edition of its much-anticipated HoloLens—the world's first untethered holographic computer—back in March. As the name implies, it was only available to developers (we got ours near the end of April), but Microsoft has recently opened up the program to anyone who wants one—not just developers.
News: To Win This Obscure Star Trek Game on the HoloLens, Players Need to Control Their Stress Levels
When playing word association with Star Trek, the first thing to come to mind with regards to augmented reality is likely Holodeck, not The Game, an obscure episode from season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
News: Javier Davalos Used the Microsoft HoloLens to Turn a Bush into a Perfect Sphere
You've likely seen some impressive art carved out of a bush or tree before that looked like it required a lot of work and skill to create. While that may have been the case in the past, software engineer Javier Davalos used the Microsoft HoloLens to turn a bush into a perfect topiarian sphere with no training whatsoever.
News: This Theater Group Is Taking Entire Audiences into Mixed Reality with Networked HoloLens Headsets
Live theater doesn't typically benefit from the kind of computer-generated special effects that big-budget Hollywood blockbusters deploy, but that could change soon thanks to Microsoft's HoloLens.
News: Kinect Graduates from Gaming to Enterprise with Project Kinect for Azure
Microsoft's Monday keynote introduced the fourth generation of the company's Kinect sensor during Build 2018 in Seattle.
News: ARails Lets HoloLens Users Build Holographic Roller Coasters in Any Room
As people experiment with mixed reality software, we're seeing applications that cover the entire spectrum of human interest. Anything that can exist in the physical world has a place in the holographic one. And just as we enjoy building various contraptions with real parts, a new app called ARails knew we'd feel the same about digital ones.
News: Microsoft Expands Its Augmented Reality App Portfolio from HoloLens to Android & iOS
Although all signs points to Microsoft releasing a new HoloLens in the coming days, the company is nevertheless looking to distribute its augmented reality apps to other operating systems.
News: You No Longer Have to Wait to Buy a Microsoft HoloLens
Microsoft recently announced that they're producing HoloLens units fast enough to keep up with demand, which means you can acquire up to five dev kits right now—if you've got the $3,000 fee for each one.
News: New Video from Microsoft's Alex Kipman Delivers Teaser for HoloLens 2 at Mobile World Congress
If there was a version of the Doomsday Clock for counting down the release of Microsoft's HoloLens 2, then the caretakers of that imaginary clock would move the minute hand to "one minute to midnight."
News: Trimble & Umbra Partner to Bring Complex Imagery on the HoloLens
When developing for the HoloLens, keeping a constant 60 fps (frames per second) while making things look beautiful is a challenge. Balancing the processing power to display complex models and keeping the frame rate where it needs is just a straight up painful process, but a solution seems to be on the horizon.
News: HoloLens Continues to Make the World Your Canvas with Inclusion of SketchAR
The app SketchAR is an easy, innovative way to trace what you want to draw onto the canvas of your choice. It was first released on iOS and Android Tango phones, but now, finally, it has been released on Microsoft's HoloLens.
News: Proof-of-Concept HoloTire App Shows How Much People Are Going to Love Shopping in Mixed Reality
We've already seen plenty of shopping potential for mixed reality headsets, from holographic car showrooms to trying on clothes and picking out furniture. Very few of those ideas have been put into actual practice, but we're getting closer, and consulting firm Valorem is making headway. They created HoloTire for the Microsoft HoloLens to demonstrate the advantage of experiencing a product in mixed reality. I'm hard-pressed to think of a more boring product to put on a holographic pedestal tha...
News: Microsoft Brings Outlook to the HoloLens, Rounding Out the Office Suite
One of the more surprising omissions from the HoloLens' original app selection was email. You could write a word document or make a spreadsheet but only email through the browser. While not a major encumbrance, Microsoft's addition of Outlook makes the whole office experience feel complete.
News: Soldiers Could Soon Use HoloLens to Plan Missions Using Interactive 3D Maps & Models
Just like in the Spy Kids 3D movie, US soldiers may soon upgrade their mission planning from 2D to 3D. Welcome to the wonderful world of augmented reality, US Army.
Concept: HoloLens App 'Future Boy' Turns a Painting into an Interactive 3D Game
The HoloLens opens up new, digital locales within our physical world, so it was only natural for the HoloLens Challenge to ask developers to create a portal into one. One developer rose to the task and gave life to wall art, turning it into an interactive game called Future Boy.
Video: Space & Sound Used to Help Visually Impaired Navigate with the HoloLens
We live in a marvelous age, a time where technology is driving us forward as a species at a rapid pace, and tech-driven miracles are becoming more and more commonplace. While the human race may not be focused on building the largest wonders of the world, as it once was in history, the current order of wonders are much smaller in scale—even internal.
News: This Guy Playing IRL Super Mario in Central Park Is One of the Coolest & Most Fun Demos of What MR Can Do
There's a general belief that augmented and mixed reality is going tied to enterprise solutions for the foreseeable future, and most developers in the field are focused on business use-cases. Without a dramatic breakthrough in the next couple of years that will likely be the case, making that decision the sensible one.
Video: Two Women Wearing HoloLenses Duke It Out Anime-Style in the Middle of a Restaurant
Joyce Kuo of Nijie Technology released a video showing a group fighting it out Dragon Ball Z-style in a restaurant, but instead of Goku, Piccolo or Vegeta, we have two horse-headed young ladies shooting fire and other elements at each other.
News: Come Build an Awesome Virtual or Mixed Reality Experience with Us!
We're on the verge of an amazing evolution of technology where we can work and play in virtual worlds that merge with our own—or let us escape into our imaginations entirely. But creating virtual, mixed, and augmented reality experiences requires resources and hardware that not everyone has access to. If you want to build something awesome with the Microsoft HoloLens (or one of the other awesome platforms), we want to help you do just that.
News: Unreal Engine 4 Now Available for Microsoft HoloLens 2
A major software tool first promised during the reveal of the HoloLens 2 earlier this year is finally available.
Have You Seen This?: Holo Space Invaders Hits the Windows Store for HoloLens
For those familiar with my old YouTube series, New in the Store, you will be excited to know that I am starting something very similar here on NextReality that's a bit more broad in scope. Have You Seen This? will take a look at HoloLens applications that are new in the Windows Store, as well as some that may not have gotten the attention they deserve.
News: Hollywood Exhibit Uses HoloLens to Transport Fans into the Worlds of 'Back to the Future' & Halo
The potential of augmented reality is often shown in science fiction movies, but a new exhibit marries the genre with very real-world AR technology, to great effect.
News: Adobe Integrates with HoloLens for Personalized Marketing
At Adobe Summit 2017 this week, Adobe announced they are looking to occupy a new space in the market by combining their analytic capabilities with augmented reality. Teaming up with Microsoft, the company has combined Adobe Sensei software with the HoloLens, reports GeekWire. Together, the tech and software create a new tool for retailers to track their consumers' habits.
News: HoloLens & Actiongram Direct Reggie Watts Holograms for Mixed Reality Video
Move over, Spike Jonze; Microsoft has published a mixed reality music video featuring holograms of Reggie Watts filmed through a HoloLens.