Apple is reportedly developing an initial VR headset as a precursor to their eventual AR glasses. The upcoming VR headset will be a niche expensive product that may only be distributed through Apple's first-party stores and will cost considerably more than competing products from Oculus, Sony, and HTC. The headset will feature custom Apple silicon more powerful than their current M1 processor and include limited AR abilities. Apple had previously planned to develop a device that would harness the processing power of a user's mobile device but has since switched to a standalone solution which has increased complexity. The Apple VR headset codenamed N301 is currently in a late prototype stage and may be announced sometime in 2022, if this timeline holds then Apple may announce their AR glasses the next year in 2023.

Today, during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES ), Lenovo introduced the ThinkReality A3 lightweight smart glasses. One of the most advanced and versatile enterprise smart glasses to come to market, the ThinkReality A3 is part of a comprehensive digital solutions offering to deliver intelligent transformation in business and bring smarter technology to more people.

As increasingly distributed workforces and hybrid work models become the reality of a new normal, small and large businesses around the world are looking to adopt new technologies for smart collaboration, increased efficiency, and lower downtimes. From customized virtual monitors and 3D visualization to Augmented Reality (AR) assisted workflows and immersive training, the ThinkReality A3 helps transforms work across many levels of the enterprise.

Mojang has recently announced that they will be shutting down their Augmented Reality Minecraft Earth mobile free-to-play game on June 30th. This decision comes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic limiting movement and collaborative play which are vital for the game. Mojang plans to re-allocate its resources and invest in areas more valuable for the Minecraft community. The game will receive one final update today which removes all in-app-purchases and reduces time requirements for in-game tasks. Players who made any purchase in the game will receive a free copy of Minecraft Bedrock Edition.

MojangMinecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play - two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to re-allocate our resources to other areas that provide value to the Minecraft community and to end support for Minecraft Earth in June 2021.

Corning Incorporated, the world's leading manufacturer of optical materials, including high-refractive index glass that enables superior image quality for augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) wearables, and Pixelligent, a leading high-quality compound material supplier, on Thursday announced a new strategic collaboration to further the development of AR/MR optics. Pixelligent's resins, which are optically transparent polymers, paired with Corning's glass will help reduce product-development time and expand availability of AR devices.

Corning has several years of experience delivering mass-produced quantities of ultra-flat, high-index glass wafers for leading AR device makers. The inherent properties of glass, paired with industry-leading materials science and optical design expertise, make Corning uniquely suited to help customers deliver increasingly demanding functionality for consumer electronics.

A German website, Heise.de, has discovered a bug in HDMI 2.1 chipset that causes black screen issues on specific hardware. On AV chipsets sourced by Panasonic, and used by Denon, Marantz, and Yamaha HDMI 2.1 AV receivers, the chipset experiences a specific issue of a black screen. More specifically, the bug happens once you connect Microsoft's newest console, Xbox Series X, or NVIDIA's Ampere graphics cards. When connecting these sources at resolutions like 4K/120 Hz HDR and 8K/60 Hz HDR to Panasonic HDMI 2.1 chipsets, the black screen happens. This represents a major problem for every manufacturer planning to use the Panasonic HDMI 2.1 chipset in its AV receivers, meaning that the issue has to be addressed. The Audioholics website has reached out to Sound United and Yamaha to see what their responses were, and you can check them out below.

Editor's Note: This is written by Arm vice president and general manager Paul Williamson.

Over the last year, I have been inspired by the innovators who are dreaming up solutions to improve and enrich our daily lives. Tomorrow's mobile applications will be even more imaginative, immersive, and intelligent. To that point, the industry has come such a long way in making this happen. Take app stores for instance - we had the choice of roughly 500 apps when smartphones first began shipping in volume in 2007 and today there are 8.9 million apps available to choose from.

Mobile has transformed from a simple utility to the most powerful, pervasive device we engage with daily, much like Arm-based chips have progressed to more powerful but still energy-efficient SoCs. Although the chip-level innovation has already evolved significantly, more is still required as use cases become more complex, with more AI and ML workloads being processed locally on our devices.

HTC VIVE, a global leader in innovative technology, today officially announces it will enter the cloud software business with the VIVE XR Suite offering at its hybrid event, "Journey into the Next Normal", which took place physically in Shanghai and online through the Engage virtual events platform. Comprised of five separate applications covering remote collaboration, productivity, events, social and culture, the VIVE XR Suite gives users the tools they need to overcome the new challenges faced while working and living in a socially distant world. The VIVE XR Suite is targeted to launch in Q3 2020 in China, with additional regions to follow throughout the year.

The VIVE XR Suite is comprised of 5 major applications (VIVE Sync, VIVE Sessions, VIVE Campus, VIVE Social, and VIVE Museum) to meet the daily needs of the users to overcome the new challenges faced by users around the world who are working, learning and living remotely. Although it is called an XR Suite, it is important to note that this software is not dependent on VR/AR devices to function. All the applications will function on existing PCs/laptops and some apps will even support modern smartphones, but for a superior immersive experience, PC VR or standalone VR devices would be recommended. Users will be able to login to all apps in the suite using a single account and across various devices they own. This integrated application bundle which is created in partnership with the leading software companies in their respective areas will provide a seamless experience for the consumer and business user. The CEO's of all the software partners in the VIVE XR Suite (Immersive VR Education, VirBELA, VRChat, and Museum of Other Realities) attended the event live via video and within VR in avatar form.

Today, during the VR/AR Global Summit Online Conference, Lenovo announced the latest addition to its portfolio of commercial virtual reality (VR) solutions - the Lenovo Mirage VR S3 headset with ThinkReality. The new VR solution for enterprise was unveiled during the keynote speech by Nathan Pettyjohn, Commercial AR/VR Lead, Intelligent Devices Group, Lenovo.

The Lenovo Mirage VR S3 is an all-in-one headset developed in conjunction with Pico Interactive, a global technology company that develops innovative VR and enterprise solutions. Specifically designed for enterprise, the Lenovo Mirage VR S3 features a 4K display for clearer visuals, hands-free control for utilization with or without the provided controller, and an easy to clean, hygienic face plate suitable for mass use. Built with integrated audio and up to three hours of battery life, the new VR headset is rugged, light weight and ready to scale within the enterprise.

Power up your XR displays and 5G devices because NVIDIA is taking streaming to the next level. With the announcement today of the NVIDIA CloudXR 1.0 software development kit, we're bringing major advancements to streaming augmented reality, mixed reality and virtual reality content — collectively known as XR — over 5G, Wi-Fi and other high-performance networks.

With the NVIDIA CloudXR platform, any end device — including head-mounted displays (HMDs) and connected Windows and Android devices — can become a high-fidelity XR display capable of showcasing professional-quality graphics. CloudXR is built on NVIDIA RTX GPUs and the CloudXR SDK to allow streaming of immersive AR, MR or VR experiences from anywhere, whether from the data center, cloud or at the edge. And with NVIDIA GPU virtualization software, CloudXR scales efficiently allowing multiple users or tenants to securely share GPU resources.

Magic Leap the augmented-reality startup has raised over 2 billion dollars from investor such as Alphabet and Alibaba to develop AR products. In a recent blog post by CEO Rony Abovitz titled "Charting a New Course" he announces that the company has come under financial hardship due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and will focus all of its resources on the enterprise market and the launch of Magic Leap 2. This restructuring will involve Magic Leap abandoning its consumer developments in the near-term and significant layoffs, Bloomberg reports layoffs may be 1000 which would result in the companies workforce halving.

Since the release of HoloLens in 2016 we have seen mixed reality transform the way work gets done. We have unlocked super-powers for hundreds of thousands of people who go to work every day. From construction sites to factory floors, from operating rooms to classrooms, HoloLens is changing how we work, learn, communicate and get things done.

We are entering a new era of computing, one in which the digital world goes beyond two-dimensional screens and enters the three-dimensional world. This new collaborative computing era will empower us all to achieve more, break boundaries and work together with greater ease and immediacy in 3D. Today, we are proud to introduce the world to Microsoft HoloLens 2. Our customers asked us to focus on three key areas to make HoloLens even better. They wanted HoloLens 2 to be even more immersive and more comfortable, and to accelerate the time-to-value.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, debuted the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 Platform, the world's first dedicated Extended Reality (XR) platform during a launch event leading up to the Augmented World Expo (AWE). XR1 is a next-generation platform offering mainstream users high-quality XR experiences while enabling OEMs to develop mainstream devices. The XR1 platform also has special optimizations for Augmented Reality (AR) experiences with Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities offering better interactivity, power consumption and thermal efficiency. Qualcomm Technologies also announced that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Meta, VIVE, Vuzix and Picoare already developing on the first dedicated XR1 platform.

"As technology evolves and consumer demand grows, we envision XR devices playing a wider variety of roles in consumers' and workers' daily lives," said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, Mobile Business Unit, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "By integrating powerful visuals, high-fidelity audio, and rich interactive experiences, XR1 will help create a new era of high-quality, mainstream XR devices for consumers."

Toshiba's Client Solutions Division (CSD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the full availability of its dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses solution. With a starting price point of $1,899.99, the company's dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses are Toshiba's first completely wearable AR solution to combine the power of a Windows 10 Pro PC with the robust feature set of industrial-grade smart glasses. Toshiba's new AR solution includes the dynaEdge DE-100 Mobile Mini PC, dynaEdge AR100 Head Mounted Display (HMD), Lens-Less Frame, USB-C Cable with Cable Clip and carrying case.

For customers or application developers looking to design specialized software for the smart glasses, Toshiba will offer Developer's Kits with two different configurations - Basic and Performance to best meet a variety of industrial applications. Pricing starts at $2,399.99.

Vuzix Corporation, a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets, is pleased to announce that the company has begun mass production of the world's first Windows-based smart glasses. First production shipments are expected to be delivered within approximately 30 days.

Vuzix entered into a development agreement with Toshiba in February 2017 to create a customized Window-based USB-C Type C AR smart glasses for Toshiba, which is a derivative product of the Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses. Over the past year the team at Vuzix created an entirely new Vuzix product for Toshiba, has delivered hundreds of engineering and development units and has begun volume manufacturing for Toshiba to fulfill the initial purchase order received by Toshiba as part of 3-year supply agreement, that has an expected minimum of $5,000,000 in purchases in the first 12 months, and which was previously announced by Vuzix in December 2017.

This week at SXSW, Bose introduces Bose AR, the world's first audio augmented reality platform, and glasses to hear- a Bose AR prototype that launches the future of mobile sound. Bose also announces its SDK schedule date for developers, manufacturers, and research institutions, along with collaborations currently under way, and venture funding for related start-ups.

Unlike other augmented reality products and platforms, Bose AR doesn't change what you see, but knows what you're looking at- without an integrated lens or phone camera. And rather than superimposing visual objects on the real world, Bose AR adds an audible layer of information and experiences, making every day better, easier, more meaningful, and more productive.

Toshiba's Client Solutions Division (CSD) a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the first completely wearable Augmented Reality (AR) solution to combine the power of a Windows 10 Pro PC with the robust feature set of industrial-grade smart glasses. Designed for enterprise customers, Toshiba's new dynaEdgeTM AR Smart Glasses packages together the company's new dynaEdge AR100 Head Mounted Display (HMD) with its dynaEdge DE-100 Mobile Mini PC for a completely wearable PC system maximizing mobility, productivity and security without compromising flexibility.

Toshiba's new AR solution provides Document Viewing, Live Video Calls, See-What-I-See, Photo/Video Capture, Alerts/Messaging, Workflow Instruction and Barcode Scanning capabilities making it ideal for a variety of uses cases, including Maintenance, Remote Expert, Manufacturing, QA Inspection & Audit, Logistics, Training and Knowledge Transfer. Available in the second quarter with a starting MSRP of $1,899.99, the dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses is offered in various configurations with processor, memory and storage options as well as developer's kits for different industrial applications.

In a LinkedIn blog post, Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman shared the company's vision for its Mixed Reality ecosystem for this 2018 year. The vision stands on a three-pronged stance: MR +AI, AR + VR, and Immersive Communication. The first is likely the more exciting of the bunch: marrying MR environments and apps with the power of the cloud to render extensive AI workloads. This starts with the inclusion of AI-processing capabilities intro the next version of Microsoft's HoloLens and its HPU (Holographic Processing Unit). With a strong internet connection, this local processing will be joined by Microsoft's cloud AI processing glut to marry the virtual and physical worlds in an increasingly inseparable mix, allowing for the virtual to perfectly overlap the physical.

The second stance on this Microsoft approach is the marriage of the AR + VR environments in a single product, which both allows for virtual overlays in the physical world, and a comprehensive solution for VR-specific workloads that the same AR headset can propel you to - essentially building a HoloLens + VR headset solution. Finally, Immersive Communication is one of the other applications where Microsoft sees extreme potential in this MR world we're about to enter: where the instant messaging and video chats of the world are superseded by an actual VR solution that places people next to their desired public, be it their loved ones or, frighteningly, their boss, from the comfort of their home or another location they see fit. A focus on actual presence can be brought equally to people separated by an inch or a thousand miles.

Dell today announced it will be the first authorized reseller of the Meta 2 Augmented Reality Development Kit, equipping commercial companies with the tools needed to more easily innovate and adopt new AR technology applications that can advance their business. In partnership with Meta, Dell aims to make AR more accessible for business deployment, particularly in healthcare, manufacturing and construction, by providing tools for creating immersive experiences unique to the needs of those industries.

Dell is the only technology provider with an end to end ecosystem to consume, create and power VR and AR. The new offering with Meta stems from Dell's VR/AR Technology Partner Program, which brings together other innovators in VR and AR to test and collaborate on the best technology solutions for varying applications and experiences. This program allows Dell to help current and potential customers to better navigate the new and rapidly evolving VR/AR ecosystem, by working with partners to verify and certify the best software and hardware solutions for VR and AR applications - bringing standardization where it is needed most.

Today, Intel began shipping two new Intel RealSense D400 Depth Cameras from the next-generation Intel RealSense D400 product family: the D415 and D435, adding 3D capabilities to any prototype development or end user-ready device or machine.

Ideal for makers and educators as well as hardware prototyping and software development, the new depth cameras come in a ready-to-use, USB-powered form factor that pair with a D400 depth module, a turnkey optical depth solution, and the new Intel RealSense vision processor D4 for processing complex depth data in real time. Supported by the Intel RealSense SDK 2.0 - available for the first time as a cross-platform, open source SDK - the cameras can also be used both indoors and outdoors and in any lighting environment.

Recent articles in the media have raised awareness around the processor security vulnerabilities named Meltdown and Spectre. These vulnerabilities are particularly troubling as they are not due to a bug in a particular processor implementation, but are a consequence of the widespread technique of speculative execution. Many generations of processors with different ISAs and from several different manufacturers are susceptible to the attacks, which exploit the fact that instructions speculatively executed on incorrectly predicted code paths can leave observable changes in micro-architectural state even though the instructions' architectural state changes will be undone once the branch prediction is found incorrect. No announced RISC-V silicon is susceptible, and the popular open-source RISC-V Rocket processor is unaffected as it does not perform memory accesses speculatively.

Vuzix Corporation, a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies for the consumer and enterprise markets, is pleased to announce the official unveiling of the Vuzix Blade, which was awarded four International CES Innovation 2018 awards in the areas of Fitness, Sports and Biotech; Wireless Handset Accessories; Portable Media Players and Accessories as well as Computer Accessories.

The Vuzix Blade AR Smart Glasses provide a wearable smart display with a see-through viewing experience utilizing Vuzix' proprietary waveguide optics and Cobra II display engine. It's like having your computer or smartphone screen information right in front of you, wherever you go. The Vuzix Blade weighing in at less than 3 oz. represents the first pair of smart glasses that provide the wearer with a sizable virtual screen and brilliant pallet of colors via a thin completely see-through lens, in a fashionable form factor. The Vuzix Blade features adjustable FOV location and brightness, and is prescription ready, enabling any wearer both indoors and out to enjoy a comfortable visual experience. The Vuzix Blade, which can be paired seamlessly to Android or iOS phones enables individuals or workers to leave their phone in their pocket while visually presented with location aware content driven by the user's phone. Built for today's world and usable for work or play, the Vuzix Blade AR Smart Glasses offer the wearer heads up and hands-free mobile computing and connectivity, in an unprecedented form factor.

Vancouver-based startup BioInteractive Technologies Inc. has developed TENZR: the only accurate, hands-free, camera-free, wrist-worn gesture recognition controller for VR AR. For the last three years the company has focused on developing an easy to use, comfortable, accurate, and reliable gesture recognition wearable that will help replace current mobile VR AR controllers. This innovative product will provide a more immersive experience to users by freeing the hand from holding bulky button-based controllers. TENZR's new design is aimed at developers and early adopters that are interested in building and interfacing with systems that have Bluetooth connectivity. Its new design is comfortable, easy to use, and has a similar form factor to Fitbit Charge.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced a major update to its Display Identification Data (DisplayID) standard. The new version 2.0 of this universal display standard simplifies connecting and configuring modern display products, including PC monitors, consumer TVs and embedded displays (e.g., display panels within laptop and all-in-one systems). The result is a best-in-class plug-and-play experience. Advanced capabilities supported include 4K-and-higher resolutions, high dynamic range (HDR), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and refresh rates of 120 Hz and above.

The DisplayID standard was originally launched in 2009 to enable the widely adopted Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) standard to keep up with newer-generation display technologies. However, with the EDID standard nearing the end of its effectiveness, a standard with new standalone structures, unencumbered by legacy architecture, is needed to properly and efficiently communicate modern display capabilities, thus ensuring an optimal user experience for future display technologies.

ARM processors have been making forays into hitherto shallow markets, with it's technology and processor architectures winning an ever increasing amount of design wins. Most recently, Microsoft itself announced a platform meant to use ARM processors in a server environment. Now, ARM has put forward its plans towards achieving a grand total of 100 billion chips shipped in the 2017-2021 time frame.

To put that goal in perspective, ARM is looking to ship as many ARM-powered processors in this 2017-2021 time frame as it did between 1991 and 2017. This is no easy task - at least if ARM were to stay in its known markets, where it has already achieved almost total saturation. The plan: to widen the appeal of its processor design, with big bets in the AI, Automotive, XR (which encompasses the Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality markets), leveraged by what ARM does best: hyper-efficient processors.