If Toys ‘R’ Us is going to survive its recent bankruptcy filing and prevent a domino effect of debt throughout the toy industry, the retailer will need to get shoppers into stores and buying things. The company is hoping that making its stores more interactive for customers — including try-before-you-buy playrooms — will help put it back on the path to solvency. [More]
augmented reality
Facebook Hopes To Have Us All Staring In Awe At Blank Walls With New Augmented Reality Tech
By 4.18.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
This afternoon, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the hopeful next big thing for his company: augmented reality, allowing people to use their phones to interact with the physical world through their phones — carving virtual messages into table tops, leaving notes in public for friends that only they can see, and creating public art that is nothing more than a blank wall with people staring at their smartphone screens. [More]
Report: Snapchat Initial Public Offering Set For $22B
By 2.16.17
Four months after Snap Inc. — the company behind Snapchat and Spectacles — quietly began looking into an initial public offering, filing papers to gauge investor interest in a public debut to the tune of $25 billion, the photo-messaging app has revised those plans, dropping the price by about $3 billion. [More]
Pokemon Go To Add Over 80 New Critters, Some New Features
By 2.15.17
Pokémon Go was an all-ages breakout mobile game hit in the summer of 2016, and it kept on existing even after it was no longer in the headlines. This morning, there was good news for lapsed and loyal players: The game is introducing more than 80 new species of critters, adding more in-game boosts, wardrobe options for players’ avatars, and items that will help players direct the evolution of their Pokémon. [More]
Video Of Real-World ‘Portal’ Shows Off Possibilities For Microsoft HoloLens
By 2.6.17
If you have doubt about the entertainment potential for augmented reality headsets like Microsoft’s HoloLens, this video from developer who recreated the mechanics of the popular Portal video games in AR may give you something to believe in. [More]
Snapchat Jumps Into Augmented Reality With $40M Purchase Of Israeli Start-Up
By 12.27.16
Those Snapchat lenses you use to turn yourself into a dog or into a rainbow-puking caricature could soon be a bit more detailed, as the company behind the quick messaging service has reportedly purchased an augmented reality startup based in Israel. [More]
Nintendo Delays Pokémon Go Wearable Release Until September
By 7.27.16
Pokémon Go fever is now global, but the frenzy over the game will eventually fizzle out a bit. That’s inevitable. That’s why it’s a bad sign that Nintendo has announced that a new wearable device that goes with the game has been delayed by two months. [More]
Adidas Launches Shoes That Double As Game Controllers
By 1.25.10
I’ve been thinking lately that my sneakers are too stupid. They don’t do anything, at least not anything video game related, which is where it matters. Adidas has recognized this problem and has announced a new “augmented reality” sneaker that you have to hold in front of your webcam in order to play special online games. [More]
