Accenture and Qualcomm Technologies have partnered with InterContinental Hotels Group to assess a solution that uses augmented and virtual reality to reinvent the event planning experience.

Accenture’s extended reality (XR) practice has developed the XR Event Planner solution in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, which will place event planners, buyers and hotel sales staff side-by-side in a virtual reconstruction...

California-based startup Mojo Vision is developing a smart contact lens that will have an inbuilt display in what the company is describing as ‘the world’s first true smart contact lens.’

The Mojo Lens provides users with an eyes-up experience known as invisible computing whereby the information is accessed without looking down at a screen or losing focus on surrounding objects.

NexTech AR Solutions has announced that Romios Gold Resources will be using its augmented reality (AR) technology to demonstrate exploration projects. The latter has contracted for NexTech’s 3D/AR omni-channel services to help drive its marketing and client-education activities in 2020.

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A recent study by PwC has predicted that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will together add $4.1 billion into the UAE economy by 2030, which will enhance the country’s GDP by 1%.

It says that AR and VR would significantly influence employment in the UAE, which will generate over 42,000 jobs in the country over the next decade.

Ali Al Hosseini, chief digital officer...

Mastercard has revealed its latest augmented reality (AR) app that aims to allow cardholders to see, explore and access the various benefits of their credit card.

The app, announced at CES last week, offers a photorealistic AR experience to its users taking them to a 360-degree virtual environment, where a series of interactive portals brings their card benefits to life. It was found in the ‘J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Credit...

Abu Dhabi has been awarded the Guinness World Record for installing the world’s largest augmented reality (AR) screen in London.

The AR screen, which used the Piccadilly Lights digital billboard and ran across 5,904 square feet, captured images of people near the statue of Eros in the city’s Piccadilly Circus and placed them digitally by using 3D AR overlays, among some of Abu Dhabi’s most famous tourism landmarks.

Ali Al Shaiba, acting executive director of tourism and marketing at DCT for...

PTC and Magic Leap have announced an extension of their partnership that will let enterprise and industrial customers to merge the AR capabilities of its Vuforia Engine solution with the powerful Magic Leap 1 wearable headset.

Starting from this month, PTC will offer Vuforia Engine to Magic Leap 1 customers, who will have access to the new AR innovations of Vuforia Engine which also includes its differentiated AI-based Model...

The market for extended reality products, comprising VR and AR devices, will see a growth of 21% in 2019 to just over 10 million devices, according to the latest forecast from analyst CCS Insight.

Sony has been already on track to record a solid 2019, and Facebook too has started gaining meaningful revenue from its Oculus devices, the company argued in what it descried as a ‘volatile but promising’ market.

According to IDC's latest Worldwide Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide, global spending on augmented reality and virtual reality is forecasted to reach $18.8 billion (£14.5 bn) in 2020.

This figure is an increase of 78.5%, compared to the £8.12bn which IDC expects to be spent in 2019.

The report also shows that global spending on AR/VR products and services...

The New Yorker has launched an augmented reality-based (AR) series of cartoons in addition to its previous campaigns around the technology.

The offering, called ‘Animate Objects’ and part of the revamped New Yorker Today app, allows users to point their smartphones at various everyday items and see an animation in return from New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck.

The product...

A partnership deal has been signed between Verizon and Snapchat creator Snap, where the former’s 5G Ultra Wideband technology will support the Snapchat’s creator’s AR, visual communications, and content experiences.

Under the agreement, both will work as official 5G innovation partners at the telecom giant’s 5G Labs to develop new experiences, such as experiencing live events in newer ways through...

A new report launched by PwC has revealed that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) could add £62.5 billion to the UK economy, boosting the GDP by 2.4% by 2030.

The majority of the contribution to the UK economy will come from AR (£44.4bn) with VR providing £18.1bn. VR and AR will also have a major impact on the UK workplace with 1.19% of jobs – coming to just over 400,000 people...

A recent study from Juniper Research has revealed that the number of consumer mixed reality app installs will reach 10 billion by 2024, increasing from the current three billion. Mixed reality overlays interactive digital images and videos on the real world via a smartphone, tablet or smart glasses.

The research, titled 'Consumer Mixed Reality: Emerging Opportunities, Vendor Strategies & Market Forecasts...

First, a confession: I love VR. I became hooked on its potential long before today's affordable, reliable hardware. But as the old adage says, when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And that's dangerous for a tool in its early stages of deployment like VR.

Training is an obvious and useful application of VR. And almost every industry is bad at training.

Audi has introduced its new hyper-reality experience, called “The e-tron room: the Future Paradox”, in Spain to raise public awareness of its electric propulsion technology.

By using the escape room format for the first time, the German automaker is trying to educate participants through an entertaining series of trials and challenges helping them understand the Audi e-tron concept.

Network Rail has introduced an augmented reality-based smartphone application, called ARki, which supports the railway company’s engagement with passengers by allowing them to see the replacement of footbridges at train stations.

The app, developed by London-based Darf Design, highlights 3D visualisations of planned buildings in place helping passengers and local communities to see their future as the railway firm...

Researchers at Rhode Island-based Brown University have developed a new software system which turns smartphones into AR portals, allowing users to position virtual building blocks, furniture, and other objects into real world settings.

The developers believe that this new system, called Portal-ble, has the potential to be used as a tool by artists, designers, game developers and others to experiment with AR.

Verizon is acquiring the technology assets of California-based VR content startup Jaunt, comprising of its VR tech and newer augmented reality (AR) efforts.

As reported by TechCrunch – which is part of Verizon Media – Jaunt has been looking to sell many of its assets and pursue a business...

Augmented reality (AR) can be seen as a major trend – indeed, its potential is set to outstrip that of virtual reality (VR). But a technical challenge lies ahead.

According to a new whitepaper from Adlens, a provider of adaptive focus lens technologies, alongside analyst Greenlight Insights, solving the two key issues plaguing augmented reality could unlock an incremental $10 billion in addressable market value by 2026.

A new report from the University of Nottingham has argued virtual reality (VR) has great potential to improve employee safety at workplaces.

The research, titled “Immersive Virtual Worlds: Multi-Sensory Virtual Environments for Health and Safety Training”, aimed to produce evidence-based guidance for the development and use of virtual environments in engaging and effective training. The researchers conducted...