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Microsoft's next-gen HoloLens reportedly won't arrive until 2019
If you've been hoping for a cheaper, smaller HoloLens to come out soon, you might be disappointed. Microsoft-focused news site Thurrott reports that the company is eschewing a more incremental follow-up device in favor of something with significant upgrades. For tech enthusiasts, this means it will be at least a couple years before we see a new HoloLens for consumers, as Microsoft allegedly plans to release this more advanced device sometime in 2019.
The HoloLens version of 'Portal' jumps right into the real world
If the thought of immersing yourself in Portal in VR has already got your brain tied in knots, just wait until you step into the HoloLens version. Developer KennyW has successfully ported a basic rendering of Valve's wildly popular first person puzzle-shooter to play on Microsoft's augmented reality hardware, and the result is just as trippy as you'd expect. Since this is just a proof-of-concept, there are no puzzles to solve just yet, but it does turn a boring old office building into a mind-bending Aperture Science playground.
Developer combines HoloLens and Vive for 'shared reality'
As fun and immersive as virtual reality is, watching your friend play around in a completely computer-generated environment doesn't have quite the same impact when watching it on a flat monitor or TV screen. But now, thanks to the vivid augmented reality of Microsoft's HoloLens and the developer-friendly HTC Vive, virtual and augmented reality can be easily combined so observers can share in the VR experience.
HoloLens is helping engineers visualize building blueprints
With its ability to give the real world a digital assist, mixed reality can be much more useful than the insular cocoon of VR. Microsoft is showing again how HoloLens can help designers via a collaboration with the University of Cambridge's construction IT lab. "We've never been able to bring 3D models from buildings and bridges off our screens and onto the real structure," says Cambridge's Ionnis Brilakis. Using the HoloLens, however, engineers can overlay a design onto a real world bridge or building (or vice-versa), making inspections simpler and safer.
Microsoft thinks AR could help you find your lost keys
You may think RFID tags are a pretty decent way to track your property, but Microsoft is trying to patent a much higher-tech system. A Hololens-like augmented reality device would scan your surroundings and keep tabs on objects like keys, wallets or other things. Then, if misplace something, it would guide you straight to where it saw it last.
Magic Leap CEO responds to 'grumpy mouse tech blogger writers'
After yesterday's report by The Information blew away some of the smoke surrounding Magic Leap, its CEO has responded. In a series of tweets over the last day and a blog post, Rony Abovitz still didn't directly counter the article, or provide technical details on his company's upcoming product. He did say that its first "PEQ (Product Equivalent) build of our target form factor" has been completed and that it's about to begin a larger production run.
Ukraine's military wants HoloLens helmets for its tank commanders
It's not easy to see out of a tank (that's the point) but in order to be effective on the battlefield, their crews need to know what's going on around them. Modern tanks often have a variety cameras mounted to their exteriors to help the soldiers inside get a better view but crews still have to rely on monitors in the cabin to see out. However, a new HoloLens-enabled helmet from Limpid Armor can give tank commanders a better view of their surroundings just by turning their heads.
3D audio is the secret to HoloLens' convincing holograms
The streets of Microsoft's campus are lined with tall fir trees. A drive through lush, green urban woods reveals dozens of nondescript buildings. Minibuses shuttle employees across the company's 500-acre headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Inside Building 99, a concrete and glass structure that houses Microsoft Research, Ivan Tashev walked through the quiet halls toward his lab, where he devised the spatial sound system for HoloLens. Tashev leads the audio group at Microsoft Research, which is the second largest computer science organization in the world. For HoloLens, a mixed reality headset that places holograms in your immediate environment, his team worked on a sound system that creates the illusion of 3D audio to bring virtual objects to life.
Lenovo, HP and Dell are all working on $300 Windows VR headsets
Microsoft's holographic computing platform will cross over to the world of virtual reality. The company first revealed its hybrid-VR ambitions at Computex earlier this year and today that vision was solidified on stage at its big Surface event in New York City. Microsoft has partnered with companies like HP, ASUS, Lenovo, Dell and Acer to bring a slew of affordable VR headsets, all of which are said to start at $299.
Microsoft's HoloLens is now available to pre-order in Europe
With all of the hype around VR, it's easy to forget Microsoft's push into augmented reality (AR). Today, the company is launching HoloLens pre-orders in a bunch of new countries, including Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. In (not so) good old British Sterling, the headset will set you back an eye-watering £2,719, while the enterprise-ready "Commercial Suite" version costs £4,529. Microsoft says the first units will ship in late November -- that way, you can wow your friends and family with some tabletop-projected Minecraft over Christmas.
Duke hopes HoloLens will assist with tricky brain surgeries
When Microsoft envisioned the medical world embracing HoloLens in the future, it wasn't kidding around. Duke University is testing the augmented reality headset as an assistive tool for difficult brain surgeries like extraventricular drain placement, which relieves potentially fatal pressure. Instead of relying on CT scans and markers to insert a catheter into the skull during the draining procedure, Duke's doctors would use HoloLens to overlay a reconstructed CT scan on the patient's head. The virtual approach should not only be more accurate than conventional markers (the target is frequently too small or shifts around), but faster and simpler.
Microsoft launches Actiongram on HoloLens with a tiny George Takei
Ever wanted to hang out with a tiny, goofball celebrity? If you happen to have a HoloLens augmented reality headset, now you can. Today Microsoft made Actiongram, its mixed-reality filmmaking app, available to all HoloLens owners -- and celebrated the launch by giving users access to a hologram of George Takei.
HoloLens' 24-core chip makes vivid AR possible
Microsoft has revealed more details about its HoloLens headset at the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino. The augmented reality (AR) device marries video games with the real world, so it needs to calculate your location, head position and gestures extremely rapidly. We now know more about the so-called holographic processing unit (HPU) that does that -- the 24-core chip has near-supercomputer levels of performance, performing a trillion operations per second.
Microsoft gives everyone a chance to buy a HoloLens
In the past, developers had to apply for a chance to buy Microsoft's augmented reality headset. Now, the tech titan has loosened up its requirements for purchase. You only have to meet three conditions to be able to get up to five HoloLens units: 1.) you have a Microsoft account, 2.) you have an address in the US or Canada, and 3.) you can afford the device's $3,000 price tag. The device is officially on offer for developers, but so long as all three requirements aren't an issue, you can get one (or five) straight from the Microsoft store. We'll bet the consumer edition will be easier on your wallet, though. So if you're not developing apps for the device, you can always wait a bit longer to make sure you can afford rent next month.
'Pokémon Go' gets in your face with an unofficial HoloLens demo
With Pokémon Go fever gripping the nation, it was only a matter of time before someone took the game's augmented reality features and evolved them, as it were, with VR and mixed reality. And CapitolaVR has done just that, creating a Pokémon Go-esque demo with a Microsoft HoloLens.
VLC media player hits Windows 10 today, Xbox One this summer
At last, VideoLAN's VLC media player has a universal Windows 10 app... and it definitely won't be confined to conventional Windows devices for long. The developer has released a Windows 10 beta that, on a base level, embraces Microsoft's modern OS on both PC and mobile. You'll get recent VLC staples like a media library, a network browser and a "full" player alongside Windows 10 perks like Cortana voice commands, live tiles and Continuum support when you dock your phone. However, the real fun might come later. VLC has teased the app's promised HoloLens and Xbox One support, and it's clear that it won't lose much (if anything) in translation -- the features and interface will be familiar whether you're watching on a console or an augmented reality headset.
Microsoft has just what VR needs
In a move we should have seen coming from a mile away, Microsoft announced that it will be opening up the Windows Holographic platform, which powers HoloLens, to other companies. Those partners will be able to build AR headsets like HoloLens, full-fledged VR headsets like the HTC Vive, as well as components powering those devices. It's similar to Microsoft's original approach to PCs with Windows -- build the operating system and let others go wild with hardware -- as well as its push for new form-factors with the Surface. With the VR market still feeling like the Wild West, a bit of stability from Microsoft could be a huge help.
Microsoft brings Outlook mail and calendar to HoloLens
You can't get a Microsoft HoloLens yet unless you pony up $3,000 for the developer edition. But when a consumer version does become available -- either through Microsoft itself or through companies that choose to use the Windows Holographic platform -- you'll easily be able to access your emails and schedule on the headset. Microsoft has released HoloLens versions of Outlook Mail and Calendar, so those who do have the developer version no longer have to load them on a browser.
Microsoft gets into VR by letting others build HoloLens gear
HoloLens will eventually get some siblings -- but most of them won't be coming from Microsoft. At Computex today, Microsoft announced that it's opening up the Windows Holographic platform to third parties, which they can use to build their own virtual and augmented reality devices. Yes, that's right: Windows Holographic won't just be about the AR experiences we've seen in HoloLens; it'll also power full-fledged VR hardware. Microsoft is calling this mixture of AR and VR "mixed reality."
Microsoft releases first update for Windows Holographic
It's taken a long time to get real Windows 10 applications up and running on Hololens. The headset finally shipped to developers last March, and now the Windows Holographic dev kit has received its first update, adding several features like multitasking and the ability to rotate 3D models. These are the kind of interaction options that are important to the platform's survival.
