Lenovo has been hitting IFA 2025 hard with a bevy of new product announcements, but one of the more (potentially) interesting reveals is a free software update coming to a piece of tech that we've all been able to buy for months.

The Lenovo Legion Glasses (Gen 2) are part of the growing AR glasses category, but with a gaming focus. The idea? A massive, responsive, and fully private display for all your devices, wherever you are — and all you need is an open USB Type-C port.

Now, the Legion Glasses 2 are set to get even better thanks to a free update adding a new "3D Mode" for Legion gaming devices, and the list of supported games at launch will apparently number over 20. Here's what you need to know.

Making your AR glasses a little more interesting

If you're not familiar with augmented reality glasses, these wearables use complex lens and ultra-tiny OLED displays to provide a private theater experience within the confines of a pair of nondescript glasses.

AR glasses can be invaluable tools for productivity or excellent companions for entertainment, especially with their wide compatibility, ensuring you can use them with the device of your choice.

I sadly don't have personal experience with the Lenovo Legion Glasses, but I have reviewed competing AR glasses like the excellent XREAL One Pro. This is an incredibly exciting category of personal technology, with so many potential applications.

The Lenovo Legion Glasses boast a unique aviator-style design and are decently reviewed by consumers, and for just $399.99 at BestBuy.com they deliver a great value for a pair of quality AR glasses. In the near future, these lenses could become even better.

The Legion Glasses 2 already features 2D and 3D modes depending on the kind of virtual environment you want, but a free update is heading to users to finally add 3D support for supported video games.

Basically, the Legion Glasses 2 will be able to automatically convert 2D video games into stereoscopic 3D, and Lenovo claims over 20 titles will be officially supported when the update rolls out. Lenovo sadly didn't tell us what those games will be, but we were told the list will grow over time.

The major question, of course, is whether this 3D mode will actually be worth using. The quality of execution will decide whether the latest Legion Glasses 2 feature is an actual game-changer or an unwanted gimmick.

A match made in heaven for the Legion Go 2

The new "3D Mode" for the Legion Glasses 2 will work with any Windows 11-powered Lenovo Legion gaming laptop or the upcoming, very exciting Lenovo Legion Go (Gen 2) gaming handheld.

As it turns out, Lenovo used IFA to properly unveil the Legion Go 2 and its official specs, too, and there's a good reason these products are featured so close together. Yes, this flagship handheld rocks a gorgeous 8.8-inch OLED display, but you may not always want to use that screen.

Whether you want to game in public without peering eyes or lay in bed without wearing out your arms, plugging a good pair of AR glasses into your gaming handheld can be a match made in heaven. I speak from experience (using my ASUS ROG Ally X and XREAL glasses) that it's a potent combination.

Obviously, Lenovo would rather you stayed within the Legion family — yes, the Legion Go 2 will be able to take full advantage of the Legion Glasses 2 and its new 3D gaming mode.

The Lenovo Legion Go (Gen 2) is coming next month, starting from $1,049.99, but you can pick up the Legion Glasses (Gen 2) and use them with all your devices for $399.99 at BestBuy.com right now.

If you'd rather look at what else Lenovo has been up to at IFA, we also got some new Legion and LOQ gaming hardware (including a trio of very nice-looking OLED monitors).

Companies are always trying to find the "next big thing," and there's a whole lot of personal tech that you really don't need. One rapidly evolving category is breaking through, though, spearheaded by one company in particular — XREAL.

I'm talking about AR glasses, of course, which can fulfil a variety of roles but largely focus on giving you a way to use your devices without losing sight of the real world... or letting the real world peer into your digital life. When I reviewed the XREAL One Pro AR glasses, I called them the best of the category.

Now, these glasses are finally widely available and can be bought for $649 at Amazon.com, and is also available for $649.99 at BestBuy.com, a big step that should make this wearable tech more accessible to more people.

If you already had your eyes on the XREAL augmented reality ecosystem, you can also pick up an XREAL One Pro & XREAL Beam Pro Bundle for $848 $798 at Amazon.com.

AR glasses are here to stay, and XREAL is at the forefront

If you're new here, you may be wondering what the big fuss is about AR glasses. Are these set to replace our phones or something? Well, no (at least, not right now); AR glasses are a companion accessory to go along with the tech you already use, and the appeal is pretty straightforward.

Rather than watch movies on your 6-inch phone display, or play games on your 7-inch handheld display, or work on your 14-inch laptop display, you can do it all and more on a massive, +100-inch display that only you can see, complete with stereo speakers designed to fire audio directly into your ear.

You get complete privacy, but any time you need to jump back into the real world, you can — these are glasses, so you can still see through them (and the best offer varying levels of dimming to change how transparent the lenses are).

XREAL is the leader in this category right now, with the biggest and highest-quality displays, the best audio, the most features, and the greatest use of spatial tracking so that your private screen actually knows where it is in the world (so you can pin it in place or have it follow your vision).

The XREAL One Pro is the flagship, and nothing really comes close on a hardware level right now. It still works with basically any device with a USB Type-C port, too, so you don't have to stress about compatibility.

Yes, these are still a luxury product more than a pure tool, but AR glasses genuinely offer a ton of value for anyone who frequently travels, works in public, games in bed, or simply wants more screen real estate wherever they are and whatever they're doing.

If that sounds like you, the XREAL One Pro is now available for $649 at Amazon.com and $649.99 at BestBuy.com following months of limited stock and slow rollouts. XREAL should be hitting some physical Best Buy storefronts soon, too, if you need to see these glasses in action before making a decision.

I've been an advocate of augmented reality glasses for years now, believing the category possesses substantial potential among wearable technology. In the same vein, I've been waiting for AR glasses to properly mature off the back of company investments.

Now is when I finally feel my dreams have been answered. While there's still a broad, practically inconceivable horizon of possibility in front of us, AR glasses as a category has finally reached a level of refinement that makes these interesting accessories appropriate for the average consumer.

The company to thank? XREAL. This company has been a leader in AR glasses since its inception, but it feels like XREAL has truly come into its own with the new One series. I've been using the XREAL One Pro (and the optional XREAL Eye add-on) extensively, and it feels like I've been peering directly into the future.

Right now, that future contains a lot of XREAL and its highly ambitious plans for the category.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by XREAL. XREAL had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

XREAL One Pro review: Pricing and specifications

The XREAL One Pro is the company's flagship product, and it's definitely a luxury wearable for those who want the best. Originally priced at $599, the XREAL One Pro AR glasses will retail for $649 at XREAL starting Jul. 1, 2025.

That's a sizable upcharge over the standard XREAL One for $499 at XREAL, but you're getting a sleeker, more optically transparent design with brighter, higher quality, and wider Field-of-View (FoV) displays.

You can upgrade your XREAL One or One Pro AR glasses with the XREAL Eye add-on for $99 at XREAL, too, which enables enhanced spatial tracking and recording capabilities.

In the near future, you'll also be able to pick up the One Pro at third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

In the box, you'll find the XREAL One Pro AR glasses, an empty prescription lens frame, a braided USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable, three sets of nose pads, a microfiber cleaning cloth, and the magnetically clasped protective carrying case.

XREAL One Pro review: What I like

Compare the new XREAL One Pro to the last-gen Air 2 Pro we reviewed, and you can clearly see where XREAL has levelled up its design game. The new glasses are sleeker, more refined, and have noticeably higher build quality.

They look and feel like a more premium product, and although I don't love the glossy front, there's much more to appreciate, from the accommodating, springy stems and size-adjustable, flexible nose pads to the detachable prescription lens frame and even the red-accented primary button, the One Pro is a step above most AR glasses.

One of the biggest upgrades you're paying for, compared to the standard XREAL One, is also a part of this design. This is XREAL's "Optic Engine 4.0," which combines new, higher-quality micro-OLED displays with flatter, thinner, and more transparent prism glass.

Because of this design, the One Pro sits much closer to your face in use, and it's significantly easier to see through the glasses when you're not using the displays. There's still distortion, but in transparency mode, I had no issues continuing work, reading messages and articles, checking my phone, and responding to people without taking the One Pro glasses off.

The ASUS AirVision M1 AR glasses I reviewed boasted a similar strength, but unlike those, the XREAL One Pro is actually worth using.

Going back to those micro-OLED displays, these are easily the finest screens I've enjoyed in AR glasses. They're technically even smaller (0.55-inches per eye versus 0.68-inches on the XREAL One), but boast an industry-leading 57-degrees FoV, which gives you a larger "simulated" screen of up to 171-inches with less blurriness and clipping at the edges.

We're still not quite at "my entire field of vision is covered," but the One Pro displays offer lots of other strengths. The combined screen is beautifully clear with vibrant, punchy, and accurate color reproduction, a wonderfully smooth 120Hz refresh rate (great for gaming), and a competitive latency of just 3ms.

These displays are still 1080p per eye, so text can be grainy at times, but overall, no other AR glasses I've used come even close to this level of display quality for productivity, gaming, and consuming media like movies on a large, completely private screen.

Supporting those dual micro-OLED displays are stereo speakers embedded in the stems, designed to fire down directly into your ear. XREAL partnered with major audio brand Bose to upgrade the audio experience, and it worked.

These speakers are beautifully clear and crisp, with good dynamics and noticeable low end. They're not as totally private as XREAL claims (others nearby can hear them in quiet environments), and good, dedicated headphones or earbuds will obviously provide superior acoustics, but once again, the One Pro is at the top of the category from my testing.

While the XREAL One Pro can't quite be described as "smart" glasses like some other options from companies like Meta, these are still some of the most advanced AR glasses on the market, and that's thanks to the new, custom XREAL X1 chip.

With a brain, the One Pro can enable Three Degrees of Freedom (3DoF) tracking with any device, without relying on additional (and often unreliable) software. That means the One Pro is aware of your positioning in the world and can anchor your display in space as you pitch, yaw, and roll (up/down, side-to-side, tilt).

We also finally get a full-featured On-Screen Display (OSD) with all the display, audio, spatial tracking, and other feature settings you need. The XREAL One Pro keeps it all onboard, so you'll get the same experience as you move between devices. It's an excellent all-around experience.

We still get three levels of lens dimming thanks to electrochromic technology, too, so the One Pro can adjust to your environment lighting and how much you want to see of the real world. In most ways, it's the complete package... and there's an accessory to add even more.

The XREAL Eye accessory

The XREAL One Pro is already a complete product, as it should be for $650, but there's an added layer of functionality you can unlock by picking up the XREAL Eye for $99 at XREAL.

This is a compact, 12MP camera that seamlessly slots into a dedicated port below and between the One Pro's lens (after you remove the incredibly stubborn, protective silicon cover there), and it adds two features: Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) spatial tracking and external recording capabilities.

The first means that the One Pro will become aware of more spatial information in more dimensions, not only pinning your display in one spot on a flat plane, but also being aware of its position in the room, so you can walk around it, leave the room, and more without the One Pro losing track of where your screen is.

It works incredibly well, and also solves one of the problems with the One Pro's default 3DoF tracking (more on that later). However, the Eye also adds a feature common with other AR and smart glasses.

That 12MP camera can capture still images and record video clips with a press of the remappable quick button on the top of the XREAL One Pro, with 2GB of onboard storage saving your memories (and a transmission feature allowing you to transfer them to your connected device.)

The image quality isn't the best, but it's still an excellent solution for capturing Point-of-View (PoV) photos and videos in a pinch, and makes the One Pro an even more valuable companion to carry around.

XREAL One Pro review: What I don't like

The XREAL One Pro is the best in its category now, but the move to sleeker and more independent hardware does come with some trade-offs.

For one, XREAL does offer the One Pro in two sizes to accommodate different Interpupillary Distances (IPD) with 63mm and 69mm options, but you have to make that decision up front. Once you have the One Pro in hand, there's a simulated IPD adjustment option in the OSD, but that may not be enough for everyone.

There are also no physical dials for myopia adjustment like the VITURE Pro XR Glasses I reviewed, so some users may struggle to tailor the One Pro to their unique vision.

While it's great that the One Pro can handle 3DoF tracking entirely on its own (and it does work well), there are two compromises here. On one hand, I still had to deal with my screen regularly drifting off to the side, requiring regular calibration to keep it centered. The Eye completely solved this problem.

On the other hand, XREAL's Nebula software is basically dead now, and while the One Pro doesn't need it, one feature that it can't handle on its own is multi-monitor support. Other AR glasses also use software to simulate multiple external displays that you can position as you want, but the One Pro can only do one.

XREAL One Pro review: Also consider

XREAL One Pro review: My final thoughts

✅You should buy this if ...

• You want the absolute best AR glasses experience and displays.
• You want a bright, beautiful, and private display for all your devices.
• You see the value in the Eye and its added AR features.

❌You should not buy this if ...

• You don't need the advanced spatial tracking capabilities.
• You want AR glasses that can do multiple virtual displays at once.

Want a second, much larger screen at your desk? Want to lie in bed or on the couch and play video games or watch movies on the ceiling? Want to work or game in public without fear of peeping eyes?

The XREAL One Pro offers the best of all of that. Its refined design, gorgeous displays, intelligent spatial awareness, and excellent stereo audio make this the greatest, completely private, universally compatible, and ridiculously adaptable external monitor you could ask for.

The optional XREAL Eye add-on brings even more features to the experience, making the XREAL One Pro the obvious option for those willing to spend more to gain more. You're still tethered to your devices, and this new approach comes with some trade-offs, but the One Pro still puts XREAL on top.

I'm excited to see what the future brings, but for now, the XREAL One Pro are the AR glasses I'm keeping on my desk. If you want a pair of your own, you can buy the XREAL One Pro for $599 at XREAL until the end of the month.

Over the past few weeks, Google has doubled down on throttling and preventing playback on YouTube videos for users with ad blockers installed on their devices. At this point, it feels like a cat-and-mouse chase, leaving Google stuck in a "hamster wheel" of chasing down the loopholes users are leveraging to bypass YouTube's ads.

Recently, Belgian software engineer Stijn Spanhove developed an ingenious augmented reality (AR) app designed to identify and block ads in real life, including billboards and product branding (via Tom's Hardware).

For context, the app works on Snap's fifth-generation AR "Spectacles" and leverages Google's Gemini AI to identify and block billboard ads and brands in the real world. As shown in the video above, the smart glasses are demonstrated running the app, blocking ads on billboards, newspapers, and posters.

The app replaces the ads with a red square and the blocked brand’s name. Interestingly, the app also seems to block out ads featured in food packaging. It isn't perfect, but it's close enough to be impressive.

According to Spanhove:

“I’ve been building an XR app for a real-world ad blocker using Snap Spectacles. It uses Gemini to detect and block ads in the environment. It’s still early and experimental, but it’s exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see."

To that end, the app was built from libraries and APIs shared by Snap on GitHub, limiting the ad-free experience to Snap's smart AR glasses. Developers who applied for access through the company's Lens Studio desktop tool can grab the Snap fifth-gen AR Spectacles for $99/month.

While the app's access is fairly limited since it is still in an early development phase, it could, in theory, find its way to Apple's Vision Pro and Meta's Quest. In the viral clip on X (formerly Twitter) post, users have suggested that the developer should replace the bold red rectangle with more natural elements like local foliage, plants, and animals. Imagine that.

When Microsoft announced the Xbox One X a few years ago, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer then said it would support VR headsets — a first for the ecosystem. Fast forward a short while, and those plans were totally shelved. Xbox has repeatedly said that it has no plans to chase VR in the future, either.

Microsoft has had a weird relationship with virtual reality and augmented reality. It was all CEO Satya Nadella seemed to talk about during the pandemic, "metaverse this," and "metaverse that." Again, fast forward a short while, and the big tech fad faded almost as fast as NFTs. Microsoft's much hyped AR headset, HoloLens, is now practically dead.

Still, there were two major players persisting, with what can only be described as mixed success. Meta, of Facebook fame, is actually building some kind of limited edition Meta Quest 3S in partnership with Xbox, to showcase Xbox Cloud Gaming on the platform. However, it has lost tens of billions chasing VR. That's B for Billion. Meta even rebranded its entire company around the "metaverse" fad, which will likely never yield profitability. To date, reports suggest Meta has lost $45 billion on VR so far, which can only be described as absurd.

Sony PlayStation, the other major player, has definitely not spent $45 billion on its headsets — which on paper are extremely good, and among the best and most comfortable on the market. However, this latest news emerging from one of VR's most popular games is a signal that PSVR might not be long for this world.

Beat Saber is one of the few VR gaming success stories the industry can point to. The musical VR rhythm block hack n' slash has made hundreds of millions of dollars since its launch according to the WSJ. It was acquired by Meta in 2019, and often comes bundled with Meta Quest headsets.

Despite the game's success, it seems that Beat Games is sunsetting support for Beat Saber on the PSVR range. As of June 2025, no new content will be added. Multiplayer will be closed a few months after, although the basic game will still be available to purchase.

The game's retirement on PSVR comes as a bit of a blow to the platform, and I couldn't help but wonder how much longer PSVR has left in a gaming industry that seems to have rejected VR almost entirely.

I recalled how disappointed a few Xbox fans were when Microsoft rescinded its promises to bring VR to the Xbox One X, but looking at the VR landscape today, I can't help but feel like it was the right call to make. Even Apple, with its legions of unquestioning customers, utterly rejected the Apple Vision Pro. If Apple and PlayStation couldn't figure out this paradigm, there's absolutely no reason to think Microsoft could have done.

VR and AR likely still has some role to play in the future. Smaller, more discrete headsets like the excellent XREAL glasses can give you a 1080p monitor anywhere you currently are. Some estimates suggest that the VR market will continue to grow as well, but whether or not immersive VR gaming is part of that profitability layer remains to be seen.

In my experience VR gaming is — today — simply far too uncomfortable, claustrophobic, and nauseating for huge sections of the addressable audience. Xbox was right to not bother chasing this one. Perhaps the Xbox Ally and PC gaming handheld market will fare better?

I have a lot of displays in my home, but none of them measure over 100 inches, and certainly not while being entirely private to me.

Well, that's not entirely true. For months I've had and loved the XREAL Air 2 Pro AR glasses that we reviewed, and now I have one or two more other pairs of glasses lying around the place. That includes the VITURE Pro XR Glasses, which I had little hope would actually surpass the tried-and-true despite VITURE seemingly carving out a comfortable chunk of the AR market for itself.

I can admit when I'm wrong, though, and I was wrong. XREAL has been the standard for augmented reality glasses at Windows Central, but it's clear that it's not the only company serious about getting it right. VITURE is out to create a compelling and thorough XR ecosystem, and the VITURE Pro XR is a part of that foundation.

After a few weeks of use, I have little reason to return to my Air 2 Pro. The VITURE Pro XR Glasses are comfortable, with bright and detailed displays, solid stereo speakers, built-in controls, and actually useful software to enable additional features. AR glasses continue to cost a pretty penny, but I'm more than comfortable recommending these alongside the best.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by VITURE. The company had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

VITURE Pro XR review: Pricing and specifications

• The VITURE Pro XR Glasses retail for $460, which is expensive.
• That's the XREAL Air 2 Pro at $400, but below the XREAL One at $500.
• VITURE also offers the more affordable One Lite XR Glasses for $350.

AR glasses are steadily declining in price, but even the most affordable still sits outside the interest of casual users.

The VITURE Pro XR Glasses are the company's flagship shades, so they're going up against the best from companies like XREAL in terms of price. Available in one size and color, the VITURE Pro XR Glasses retail for $459 at Amazon. For reference, the XREAL Air 2 Pro that most directly competes with these glasses is $400, while XREAL's new One glasses with enhanced spatial capabilities are $500.

VITURE also offers an ecosystem of accessories and add-ons, but you get a complete AR experience just with the glasses. For example, those who want more can consider the VITURE Pro Neckband for $299 at VITURE, which enables a whole suite of additional features like hand tracking and remote access. There are also various adapters, a mobile dock, and a prescription lens frame to improve compatibility and accessibility.

In the box, you'll find the VITURE Pro XR Glasses, the USB Type-C to magnetic connector cable, a travel case, and four swappable nose pad sets. These glasses are covered by VITURE's standard 1-year warranty.

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VITURE Pro XR review: The good

• The VITURE Pro XR Glasses feel like a quality product.
• They're built well, but they're also designed well with lots of useful features.
• The AR experience is overall great, and VITURE's software adds to it.

Most AR glasses tend to look pretty similar, and the VITURE Pro XR Glasses are no exception. Large lens, a chunky matte black frame, long and thick stems — they're all here. That being said, I do think the VITURE Pro XR Glasses look more stylish than the XREAL Air 2 Pro, with some more distinctive lines and accents. They weigh 2 grams more than XREAL's alternative (75g vs. 77g), but also feel a little more solid.

VITURE didn't just copy and paste the generic AR glasses formula, though. The fundamentals are here, but VITURE injected a few extra goodies that help its glasses stand out. For one, both lenses have independent adjustment dials for myopia (between 0.0D and -5.0D), which may help many adjust to the Pro XR Glasses without prescription lens.

If you need it, you can customize your own Prescription Lens Frame from $29 at VITURE, which is not only more cost effective than other solutions but beautifully simple to install thanks to a snappy magnetic attachment.

The VITURE Pro XR Glasses' connecting cable may use USB Type-C to be compatible with most modern devices, but the other end is actually a proprietary design that magnetically clicks onto the end of one stem. Proprietary designs are always a cause for concern, but the benefits in this case are undeniable — easier connecting, less hair clipping, and less risk of damage if the cable is yanked out.

Even the hard travel case is more than an empty shell; the soft, lined interior features a shaped cavity to help guide the glasses into the case and keep them in place, while there's a dedicated area to store the cable behind a magnetically attached flap. I don't love the zipper or obnoxious orange accents, but it's clear VITURE didn't cut corners even here.

I found the VITURE Pro XR Glasses to be quite comfortable to wear, too. VITURE includes four sets of interchangeable nose pads in the box so you can find the perfect fit, but the default was just right for me. Clamping force is reasonable, there's no pinching and chafing, and weight is balanced well throughout the glasses.

If I had to pick one, I'd say the XREAL Air 2 Pro glasses are slightly more comfortable, mostly thanks to the flexible stems, but it's pretty close.

It's incredibly easy to get started with the Pro XR Glasses, as all you need is a device with a USB Type-C port that supports DisplayPort output (or one of VITURE's various adapters for other devices). Plug in, and your device will see the Pro XR Glasses as another monitor.

This "basic" mode is essentially just a giant screen that follows your head movements, but it works great and that's how most people will use these glasses for playing games or watching movies.

Display quality is excellent. Any color grading issues VITURE had in the beginning have long been resolved by post-launch firmware updates, so the Pro XR Glasses' dual FHD micro-OLED displays are vibrant and accurate, searingly bright with up to 4,000nits peak brightness, beautifully smooth thanks to a 120Hz refresh rate, and decently sharp throughout.

VITURE claims this is the equivalent of a 135-inch display, which is difficult to quantify. Still, it's a great viewing experience; the 46-degrees field-of-view (FoV) isn't the best in the business and the edges of the display still show some blurriness, but it'd be difficult to readily find AR glasses that comfortably surpass the VITURE Pro XR Glasses in this category.

The dual speakers, tuned by HARMAN, also sound quite good, even while listening to music.

In most ways, you can flip a coin between VITURE and XREAL and be extraordinarily happy with each side it lands on, but there are two areas VITURE comes out on top: on-board controls and ecosystem features.

Both XREAL and VITURE install a multifunction button and rocker combination on their glasses, but VITURE goes a step further. Not only is there a ton of functionality packed into these buttons, but there's also an on-screen display (OSD) so you know exactly what you're doing and when.

There are the basics like adjusting the volume or brightness and toggling the electrochromic lens tint, but you can also adjust the eye axis to help the screens appear directly in front of you, cycle between multiple different color profiles for the display, and make the display turn off and the lens go transparent until you press any other button (useful if you want to see something in the real world clearly).

There's a learning curve, but having a clean and legible OSD that's device-level helps a ton. Now, the VITURE Pro XR Glasses are similar to the XREAL Air 2 Pro in that they don't have much spatial awareness on their own, but VITURE's SpaceWalker enables new features and turns these glasses into a proper productivity-boosting tool.

Installable on Windows 11, macOS, and mobile devices, SpaceWalker allows you to set up a virtual desktop with multiple individual screens (in a variety of configurations). Using your device's computational power and the Pro XR Glasses' sensors, it also enables 3DoF head tracking so that your desktop remembers its place in space.

A long list of shortcuts gives you added utility, including adjusting the size or layout of your desktops, moving windows around, tweaking or toggling tracking, recentering your desktop space or cursor, and more. It's a lot to learn, but the SpaceWalker program really does add a new dimension to the VITURE Pro XR Glasses' capabilities.

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VITURE Pro XR review: The bad

• These glasses are now competing with the more advanced XREAL One.
• Despite an impressive ecosystem, spatial features are still lacking.
• Not everyone will be willing to accept those compromises at this price.

As an emerging product category, AR glasses are already struggling to break into the mainstream, and will until the technology behind them slowly becomes more affordable and, therefore, more accessible. You can find the XREAL Air 2 at $300 and the VITURE One Lite XR Glasses at $350, but many features are still locked behind higher prices.

The VITURE Pro XR Glasses are $460, which is now $60 higher than the similarly capable XREAL Air 2 Pro I'm comparing them to. That's only $40 less than the new XREAL One, which takes the Air 2 Pro, refines the design, upgrades the displays, adds new sensors, and uses XREAL's custom X1 chipset to enable on-board spatial computing — no external device required.

VITURE may be building an impressive ecosystem with its SpaceWalker software mobile dock and neckband accessories (more impressive, at least, than XREAL's Nebula and the XREAL Beam Pro we reviewed), but is that enough to remain competitive?

Of course, the VITURE Pro XR Glasses have flaws and blemishes of their own. For example, the myopia adjustment dials feel miscalibrated, and the Pro XR Glasses in general are more finnicky to find that "sweet spot" than the XREAL Air 2 Pro.

The SpaceWalker software takes up a ton of system resources so older devices may struggle to run it, and you'll still notice screen tearing, jitteriness, and wonky tracking (my virtual desktop constantly, slowly drifted to the left and down).

Spending $460 on what will always be an accessory rather than a necessity means accepting those compromises and choosing this over the latest and greatest competitors.

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VITURE Pro XR review: Also consider

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VITURE Pro XR review: Final thoughts

You should buy this if ...

✅You're interested in an XR ecosystem, not just XR glasses

VITURE's software is miles better than XREAL's, and its hardware ecosystem also seems both more impressive and more comprehensive. You may start with the Pro XR Glasses, but you may eventually want accessories like the Pro Neckband to gain hand tracking, native 3DoF support, remote access to your devices, an AI assistant, and more.

✅You can benefit from the myopia adjustment

Most great AR glasses offer options for those with prescriptions, and VITURE's magnetic prescription lens frame is even one of the better solutions, but a lot of people with minor prescriptions may not need it at all. For those with myopia up to -5.0D, the VITURE Pro XR Glasses support your eyes right out of the box.

You should not buy this if ...

❌You want an all-in-one pair of AR glasses

With custom silicon designed from the ground up for spatial computing, XREAL has already departed for the next era of AR glasses. The XREAL One and One Pro are a step above anything VITURE has made when it comes to on-board XR features, and you don't have to pay much more to get in on the ground floor.

I enjoyed testing the VITURE Pro XR Glasses far more than I thought I would, and if I had to choose between them and the XREAL Air 2 Pro glasses I've been using... I'd probably choose VITURE.

These are comfortable, high-quality AR glasses with a thoughtful and attractive design. They work great as a private, ultra-portable external display for all your devices, but VITURE's clear commitment to the category and its growing ecosystem means you have multiple ways to expand those features.

Genuinely useful software and various accessories that make the Pro XR Glasses more accessible, compatible, or functional all help sell these expensive AR glasses. If this is what you're in the market for, VITURE is a legitimately great option.

The XREAL One is now available for $499 at Amazon, though, and you're getting better displays with a wider field-of-view, a more refined design, and actual spatial computing features without the need for another accessory or device. That's only $40 more than the VITURE Pro XR Glasses, which takes some of the bite out of these shades.

Despite the aggressive competition, I still recommend the VITURE Pro XR Glasses, and you can pick them up for $459 at Amazon if you're interested.

• Back to the top ⤴

What you need to know

• XREAL is an augmented reality glasses company that is at the forefront of miniaturising the tech.
• Up until now, XREAL relied on external computing solutions to add spatial anchors to its insanely sharp hologrammatic screens, but not anymore.
• The XREAL One series (One and One Pro) have a new XR chip baked straight into them, side-stepping the need for apps and external add-ons.
• The XREAL One and One Pro are available now in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, starting at $499 USD, £449 GBP, and €549 EUR.

XREAL is back, and this time, they're even better.

I'm a big fan of XREAL. In my XREAL Air review, I detailed how the subtle lenses do all the things I wish HoloLens would've ended up doing, albeit with a key concession: they have no on-board compute. The worst thing about the XREAL glasses previously was underbaked software and integration with Windows and Android, although the app situation has improved immeasurably over time. XREAL even launched its own compute module for their glasses called the XREAL Beam, although it was a bit like carrying an extra phone around in your pocket, and not exactly ideal.

XREAL agreed, which is why their shiny new XREAL One and XREAL One Pro now have on-board computing for the first time, completing the augmented reality circle HoloLens failed to accomplish.

The XREAL One glasses are now available for preorder over on Amazon.

XREAL describes its new One series as the "biggest least forward" for consumer AR, owing to its independently-designed X1 processor platform. Previously, without a connected XREAL Beam, Android app, or Windows app, the XREAL was unable to independently reconfigure its virtual 3D display. You basically got an external monitor in glasses form, which while admittedly a very good external virtual reality monitor, the lack of configuration options was always a bit of a drag. Now, however, the X1 chip and the new XREAL SDK should enable an entire universe of new possibilities without having to rely on additional devices and apps to do the heavy lifting.

"Using XREAL's brand new, in-house designed X1 independent spatial computing co-processor, XREAL One Series creates a spatial display from nearly any device and for anything the wearer sees, leaping beyond the limits of today's AR and VR devices by introducing a fully customizable cinematic virtual screen that is for the first time spatially controlled by the glasses themselves."

The new glasses feature a variety of other tweaks and improvements over their predecessors. We now have speakers by BOSE, alongside official eye health certifications and even an AI-powered optional modular camera for added tracking and spatial awareness features. The new glasses have dynamic interpupillary distance control as well for the first time, which should make for a more comfortable experience and easier positioning. There are also options for prescription lenses as was the case with the previous glasses.

The XREAL glasses are compatible with a huge range of devices, giving them broad applications for all kinds of use-case scenarios. Connect them to a Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally for large display gaming. Connect them to a Windows PC as a second virtual monitor. Expand your Samsung S24 with Samsung DeX, and so on.

XREAL is what HoloLens could've been

The XREAL One glasses have boosted 57-degree field of view, incredibly sharp 1080p visuals, clocking in at 84 grams and 87 grams for the Pro respectively. This is orders of magnitude more usable and convenient than HoloLens, or even devices like the Meta Quest 3.

I think therein lies the big gap between what some platforms want to push vs. what consumers will actually want in reality. Yes, the XREAL aren't cheap, but they're also something I use regularly as someone who travels frequently. I watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners while travelling exclusively on the XREAL devices connected to my phone. They're great for playing Xbox Cloud Gaming titles, and also adding a bigger display to the Lenovo Legion Go and so on.

The downside was always that you couldn't resize the monitors or anchor them without extra steps. The new X1 computing platform should help resolve that situation. We'll be back with a full review soon.

What you need to know

• Nobody wants an Apple Vision Pro. 
• That's it, basically. 

According a report via Mac Rumors, water is wet nobody wants to spend $3000 dollars to wear an Apple Mac computer on their head, even if it has holograms. 

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Cuo reports that Apple has reduced its orders for Vision Pro devices, after demand in the United States fell "sharply beyond expectations." Supposedly, Apple will use the humbling to approach sales in other regions a little less optimistically. Supposedly, Apple will unveil wider Vision Pro availability at this year's WWDC conference, where we could see the expensive hologrammatic paperweight hit Europe and other regions. Apple supposedly expects demand for the headset to only decline year-over-year too, which doesn't exactly paint a rosy picture for the nascent market. 

It seems that Apple learned nothing from Microsoft's failings with HoloLens, although Apple was arguably far better positioned to actually make something of its tech. Apple's mixed-reality headset offers full inside-out virtual landscapes, utilizing cameras that reproduce the external environment, overlaying holograms on top. Apple also enjoys far more consumer confidence in hardware than Microsoft most likely, yet it still couldn't make the use-case for this monstrosity make any sense. 

Instead of full inside-out virtualization, HoloLens used clever prisms and lenses to overlay Windows windows directly on top of the real world, complete with spatial anchoring. The downside of HoloLens was its "letterbox" effect, since the field of view was incredibly small. The upside was that the headset didn't make you feel like throwing up, unlike Apple's, which due to subtle latency differences between the real world and virtual world, creates a sea sickness-like affliction in many users. 

The Apple Vision Pro could end up being remembered as one of Apple's most high-profile hardware failures in recent years. 

Is mixed reality doomed?

Both Microsoft's HoloLens and Apple's Vision Pro suffer from the same central issue: nobody wants to wear a huge, ugly computer on their face. Literally nobody. Even people who claim to like wearing the Apple Vision Pro are lying to you, me, and everybody else — and most of all, themselves. The only place these types of devices have any potential is in business scenarios, where you wear the headsets for a specific purpose before removing them. Wearing them for any length of time is simply uncomfortable, throw paying thousands of dollars on top of it for the privilege and you make for a seriously dumb product.

At least you wouldn't have to sell a kidney to grab a Meta Quest or something like that. Meta even "opened up" its platform recently, allowing Microsoft to build its very own Xbox edition Meta Quest, although it won't really be anything different from a regular Meta Quest, besides coming pre-installed with Microsoft Office and Xbox Cloud Gaming, perhaps. 

The best augmented reality headset remains the sleek, sexy, and small XREAL Air glasses. Which as you might expect from my description there, are actually just glasses. Connected to your phone, laptop, or gaming handheld, the XREALs give you a personal HD cinema for gaming, media consumption, and beyond — without looking stupid. If any of these products are ever going to make sense, it's going to be in a small package like the XREALs, rather than some huge face-hugging thing like Apple's effort. 

What you need to know

• Razer has acquired Interhaptics, which is also known as Go Touch VR SAS.
• Interhaptics develops haptic solutions for gaming on a variety of platforms, including virtual reality, mixed reality, augmented reality, mobile devices, and consoles.
• Razer is not new to the haptics game, having used haptics in its devices since the Razer Nari Ultimate headphones launched in 2018.

Razer today announced its acquisition of Interhaptics, a company that specializes in haptic technology. Interhaptics, which is also known as Go Touch VR SAS, develops haptic solutions for PCs, consoles, mobile devices, and mixed reality devices. Razer will acquire 100% of Interhaptics stock shares as part of the deal.

Interhaptics products are used in a variety of industries, including the Sense Glove, which provides feedback to simulate touching and interacting with virtual objects.

"Haptics has tremendous value for gamers," said CEO of Interhaptics Eric Vezzoli. "The opportunity to join Razer was a no brainer for us, as they are committed to delivering the most engaging gaming experience, and we are looking forward to doing it together as part of the Razer family."

Alvin Cheung, Senior Vice President of Razer’s hardware business unit, also weighed in on the purchase. "At Razer, we know how important it is to create best-in-class products for a unique and personalized gaming experience, because we are gamers ourselves."

"Interhaptics brings leading expertise in haptics and their development platform will be leveraged to expand the HyperSense ecosystem."

Haptics aren't just about vibrating controllers or feeling like a virtual item is in your hand. Razer first used haptics in its Nari Ultimate headphones, which launched in 2018. Speaking of the headphones, our senior editor Matt Brown said, "while the Razer Nari Ultimate sells an unusual proposition, its HyperSense haptics aren't only fun; they make immersive games even more impactful."

Razer even has a gaming chair with haptics, the Enki Pro HyperSense.

In its press release announcing the acquisition of Interhaptics, Razer said that the former would remain an independent entity but closely integrate with Razer's ecosystem. Presumably, Interhaptics tech will be used in a wide range of products.

Interhaptics Founder and CEO Eric Vezoli will join Razer as associate director of haptics.

What you need to know

• A Microsoft HoloLens Kinect camera was used to "holoport" a group of people from Earth to the International Space Station.
• Holoportation refers to 3-D scanning people in real-time and projecting the scanned image to a HoloLens headset.
• The technology allowed a group of people to appear as if they teleported to the International Space Station as it traveled 17,500 mph in orbit 250 miles above the Earth's surface.

Usually, it's hard to have company when living aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But thanks to technology from Microsoft, astronauts can have visitors any time they'd like, at least virtual ones. Microsoft's technology was used to "holoport" humans to the ISS in October 2021 (via Space.com). A HoloLens Kinect camera was used to record a group in 3-D and then project their likenesses through a HoloLens headset worn by astronauts on the space station.

NASA flight surgeon Dr. Josef Schmid, industry partner AEXA Aerospace CEO Fernando De La Pena Llaca, and their respective teams were the first people to ever be holoported from Earth into space.

To make the process work, the Hololens camera and headset were used in conjunction with custom software from Aexa. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet was able to hold a conversation with Schmid and De La Pena while the latter two appeared virtually as holograms.

"This is completely new manner of human communication across vast distances," said Schmid. "Furthermore, it is a brand-new way of human exploration, where our human entity is able to travel off the planet. Our physical body is not there, but our human entity absolutely is there."

Schmid highlighted the fact that the setup does not require people to be stationary. In fact, a ship can travel several times the speed of sound and still receive holoportation signals.

"It doesn't matter that the space station is traveling 17,500 mph and in constant motion in orbit 250 miles above Earth, the astronaut can come back three minutes or three weeks later and with the system running, we will be there in that spot, live on the space station," Schmid explained.

This is another example of science fiction coming to life. Holograms have been used to communicate through space in various shows and films, such as Stargate, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Microsoft's implementation of having a headset project images on a screen is a bit different than what's usually shown in cinema, but it appears to be effective.

Microsoft is heavily involved with space exploration and experimentation. The company has partnered with NASA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and several other aerospace organizations. Microsoft's work includes scanning the equipment of astronauts for damage and improving satellite imagery with AI.

What you need to know

• In February 2022, reports surfaced indicating Microsoft had nixed its HoloLens 3 plans.
• Now, there's a report stating that Meta has dissolved the team tasked with creating an operating system that could handle augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
• The OS-focused team is said to have been over 300 people strong before its manpower was rerouted toward other projects.

Microsoft isn't the only one facing reports of internal shakeups surrounding metaverse-related development initiatives. Meta, the company responsible for kicking off Big Tech's metaverse mania in October 2021, is also the subject of stories citing project cancellations.

The Information has released a report indicating that Meta's planned hybrid OS, which would serve as the joint heart of the company's future AR and VR ambitions, isn't happening anymore. At least, not for the time being. The operating system (codename: XROS) was set to be at the core of both Meta's headsets as well as its AR glasses, which are on the way. It's said that XROS had a team of over 300 people dedicated to it and other OS projects. Some of said employees are being redirected to other projects. The Information's writeup cites "three people with knowledge of the situation" as its source.

This news comes not long after similar reports arose regarding Microsoft canceling HoloLens 3, another metaverse-linked project that isn't currently set to see the light of day if the claims surrounding it are accurate. Also relevant to the discussion at hand is the fact that a substantial number of Microsoft's augmented reality experts have hopped ship to Meta in recent memory.

According to a Meta spokesperson's statement shared with The Verge, the company is focused on "embedding more OS engineers directly into [its] AR and VR teams." While this would tangentially address the XROS report, it does not directly elaborate on the state of the project or its team.

What you need to know

• Members of the approximately 1,500-person strong Microsoft HoloLens team have been leaving.
• Many of them have transitioned to rival augmented reality company, Meta.
• Apple has also seen some of its workers transition to Meta.

As its new name would imply, Meta (formerly Facebook) is going all-in on the metaverse. In order to do that, it needs employees, the likes of which it appears to be gathering in part from rival companies Apple and Microsoft.

In Microsoft's case, it has a team dedicated to HoloLens that measures roughly 1,500 people large. However, that team has been shrinking, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Approximately 100 people have abandoned the home of HoloLens, with over 40 transitioning to work at Meta.

This comes at a time when Microsoft not only has its commercial-facing HoloLens endeavors to worry about, but also the IVAS project for the U.S. Army. That project recently saw a delay.

According to the WSJ report, former employees said Microsoft hadn't hired enough engineers to keep up with the strain IVAS is putting on company resources. And further employee departures won't help matters, either.

Apple's team members are also cited as part of the defector wave, with former Apple employees joining Meta. Meta did not comment to WSJ about its recruiting practices.

With all that being said, at least publicly speaking, Microsoft has made it clear the metaverse is a focus. Meta snapping up Redmond's employees may, to some, suggest that one company values the world of augmented reality more and is willing to do more to ensure there's manpower behind it, but based on the publicly available information, both companies have their hands full with AR ambitions.

What you need to know

• A new report reveals that Microsoft and Samsung are working together on an AR project.
• Should the details of the report be accurate, we'll see the mystery project go public in 2024.
• Based on the information, the collaboration should result in some form of commercial hardware.

Microsoft is no stranger to the augmented reality (AR) game. Not only does it continue to support its HoloLens 2 headset for everyday AR users, but it's also deep into a project with the U.S. Army to produce soldier-attuned HoloLens variants (referred to as IVAS) for use in combat scenarios and other dangerous situations. Now, it's reportedly working with Samsung on an all-new AR project, though we're a long way from finding out what exactly it is.

According to The Elec, Microsoft and Samsung have been hard at work on something secret since the summer of 2021. The project is said to take the companies through 2023, at which point it will wrap up. From it, a commercial offering will be unveiled in 2024, meaning we may have a ways to go before the details of this report are confirmed by either company.

All that is known is that the project is AR-related and may involve some sort of hardware Samsung will be producing (rather than Microsoft). Samsung's investments in DigiLens, the company behind tech found in AR display devices, may further substantiate the idea that the former will be handling the physical gadgetry in its collaboration with Microsoft.

Either way, should the report's information be accurate, we aren't likely to hear much until 2024 or close thereto, potentially in sync with when the ever-expanding metaverse necessitates the need for everyone to have AR tech.

What you need to know

• Microsoft and Greece's Ministry of Culture and Sport worked together to create an augmented reality experience.
• The experience allows people to tour the ancient ruins of Olympia brought to life through modern technology.
• People can tour ancient Olympia remotely or by augmenting reality with a mobile app when visiting in person.

Microsoft partnered with Greece's Ministry of Culture and Sport to recreate ancient Olympia in augmented reality (AR). The partnership allows people to tour an augmented version of the ancient city with a mobile phone app or to check out the site remotely (via The Seattle Times).

Olympia was used as a site for the Olympics for almost 1,000 years. The AR experience allows tourists to see what the area looked like in its prime. Greece's Ministry of Culture and Sport helped Microsoft map and recreate Olympia virtually.

"It's a milestone … that helped us bring technology and culture and history together so we can preserve it," said Microsoft President Brad Smith.

People can also check out the ruins by using a HoloLens headset at the Olympic Museum in Athens.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that we're able to present to the world a completely new cultural experience using technology to re-create the ancient world of Olympia," said the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the Associated Press.

As part of the project, Microsoft used drones and sensors to map out Olympia. Work on the new experience took 18 months. The project came after an agreement between Microsoft and the Greek government to build three data centers in the Athens area. That investment's total value is up to $1 billion.

While augmented reality isn't new, it's become more of a focus now that metaverse experiences are a hot topic. It may seem odd to refer to this seemingly standard AR experience as metaverse content, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's take on the metaverse is not quite the same as Meta/Facebook's.

What you need to know

• 8th Wall has launched its Reality Engine, a platform to make augmented reality experiences that instantly work across mobile and PC systems.
• It enables development for "iOS and Android smartphones, tablets, computers and AR and VR headsets."
• Reality Engine is available today and is included with 8th Wall's subscription offerings, which you can experience at no cost via a 14-day free trial.

Wondering if there's a development platform that'll let you seamlessly prep WebAR experiences for HoloLens, PC, and Android? That's Reality Engine's promise, a new development platform launched by 8th Wall. It's available today and is bundled alongside 8th Wall's existing subscription options, which start at $99 per month.

The sales pitch is thus: Developers can ensure their web creations translate to the metaverse experience with ease across Android, iOS, tablets, PC, and various headsets such as HoloLens 2.

The goal is to make immersive website development less of a hassle. Reality Engine features spatialized UI that puts 2D web elements onto a spatial control panel, universal interaction mapping for easy input assignment, environment mapping, and responsive scale capabilities.

To gain access to 8th Wall's toolset, you'll need to subscribe, which starts at $99 per month. However, you can take advantage of a 14-day free trial to get a taste of what the company's offering.

What you need to know

• Peggy Johnson will leave her executive role at Microsoft to become CEO of Magic Leap.
• Johnson leaves her role at Microsoft as executive vice president of business development.
• Johnson begins her role at Magic Leap on August 1, 2020.

Magic Leap announced this week that Peggy Johnson will become the company's new CEO. Johnson is currently executive vice president of business development at Microsoft but will begin her new role as CEO of Magic Leap on August 1, 2020. Before joining Microsoft in 2014, Johnson held several leadership positions at Qualcomm.

Magic Leap is an augmented reality startup. Initially founded in 2011, the company developed the Magic Leap One headset that released in 2018. The headset saw low sales numbers, reportedly selling 6,000 Magic Leap One headsets in six months. The company had a goal of selling 100,000 headsets in that time. These figures likely played a role in Magic Leap's shift toward businesses sales. Johnson has an extensive work history of working with business to build relationships, which aligns with Magic Leap's relatively new goals.

Magic Leap highlights Johnson's experience in building strategic partnerships. In her role at Microsoft, Johnson built and grew relationships with partners and enterprises. She also led M12, Microsoft's corporate venture fund. In that role, Johnson identified strategic investment opportunities.

Johnson spoke highly of her new company and its developments within the realm of spatial computing, stating, "Since its founding in 2011, Magic Leap has pioneered the field of spatial computing, and I have long admired the relentless efforts and accomplishments of this exceptional team. Magic Leap's technological foundation is undeniable, and there is no question that has the potential to shape the future of XR and computing."

Johnson thanked Magic Leap's board and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Magic Leap's press release, stating, "It is with great pride and sincere appreciation to the Magic Leap Board, Rony and the entire team, as well as to Satya Nadella at Microsoft, that I assume the role of leading this visionary business into the future."

In addition to her roles at Qualcomm and Microsoft throughout her career, Johnson currently serves on the Board of Directors and BlackRock, Inc., a global investment management company.

As pointed out by The New York Times, Johnson joins Magic Leap at a key time in its development. Last December, Magic Leap announced that it would focus on selling technologies to businesses, moving away from selling directly to consumers. This move aligns with Johnson's experience at Microsoft.

Johnson's statement in Magic Leap's press release echoes these sentiments and focuses on her plan to build relationships for Magic Leap, "As CEO, I look forward to strategically building enduring relationships that connect Magic Leap's game-changing technology and pipeline to the wide-ranging digital needs of enterprises of all sizes and industries."

Recently, Bill Stillwell of Xbox fame left the gaming division to join Windows Mixed Reality, to work on "world-class consumer AR/VR experiences in the Microsoft ecosystem." Interesting.

For a couple of years, Microsoft couldn't resist demonstrating its unprecedented HoloLens augmented reality tech at every single event, it felt like, using Minecraft and other random Xbox properties to showcase the potential therein. Fast forward five years to 2020 and HoloLens remains firmly in the realm of big business and the military, powering next-generation training, awareness, and productivity solutions.

The only "games" on HoloLens remain more akin to small home projects and tech demos. Meanwhile, Microsoft's more consumer-friendly Windows Mixed Reality headsets, affordably priced by comparison, have less than half a dozen decent games to choose from on the Microsoft Store, which is truly abysmal. Thankfully they are compatible with SteamVR, but the experience isn't exactly what I'd call seamless.

Despite steadily trending upwards, VR hasn't exactly taken the world by storm in the consumer space, but could that change in the future? And is Microsoft running the risk of being left behind again? Let's explore.

State of VR

Some estimates put the video game industry value anywhere between $120 to $150 billion, with VR solutions making up around $6 billion of the overall pot in 2019.

There's little information about how much games like Half-Life: Alyx might impact the landscape for VR, which launched just a few weeks ago as of writing. It almost immediately garnered tens of thousands of players on Steam and is more than likely in the running for game of the year 2020 awards.

For context, video game consoles make up around $15 billion in the same report, with PC gaming on $30 billion and mobile titles on a whopping $64 billion. While VR is small right now, it seems to be growing relatively nicely according to analyses from Bloomberg, detailed in the graph above. VR is at least growing at a comparable rate to the early days of mobile and other platforms and is no doubt set to grow ever further.

Even though the industry isn't massive right now, we're clearly seeing an industry trending upwards year over year, despite its cost-prohibitive nature and relative inaccessibility.

Could Microsoft change its attitude towards consumer VR?

Bill Stillwell is known for running the Xbox backward compatibility program among Xbox fans, leading to the procurement of hundreds of high-quality Xbox 360 titles from yesteryear from third-party developers. Stillwell also led similar efforts over at Project Cloud, making me wonder if perhaps his jump to AR/VR could have something to do with bringing game developers to the platform.

Indeed, Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass has been a powerful vehicle for bringing game developers to the Microsoft Store for PC games, which is shockingly becoming a fairly respectable library of quality PC titles as of late. Not to oversimplify things, but it stands to reason that a feature like Xbox Game Pass for PC could also help bulk up the Microsoft Store for VR titles too, which right now only has some older (albeit brilliant) titles like Arizona Sunshine and Superhot VR. If Xbox Game Pass PC subscribers have access to those games as a result of their subscription, it might increase interest in picking up an associated Windows Mixed Reality headset as well.

To that end, we've also heard that the impressive-looking upcoming flight sim Microsoft Flight Simulator may be in development for virtual reality as well. It makes sense, given that it's a sit-down experience designed for immersion above all else. Flight simulation games like Elite Dangerous were pioneers in the VR space, and it stands to reason that Flight Simulator could be among the first of Microsoft's homegrown VR efforts.

Should they dive in before it's too late?

In recent years, I've had this (admittedly unsubstantiated) idea that Microsoft has become almost afraid of taking risks in consumer tech, regressively sticking to safer paradigms. Burned by Kinect, Microsoft Band, Windows 10 Mobile, Cortana devices, and other products, it feels like Microsoft is taking a "softly, gently" approach to areas of consumer tech that it hasn't historically had involvement in.

Microsoft has repeatedly affirmed that its efforts in VR remain firmly on PC for the time being, where the vast majority of the users are. Quality VR headsets are expensive, and to get the most out of them, you need a comparable gaming rig to match. Cheaper solutions like some of the lower-end Windows Mixed Reality headsets are accessible, but the experience is far beneath the more premium solutions out there. You have to wear these things after all, and cheap headsets aren't only uncomfortable, they can induce motion sickness more easily.

I have mixed feelings about VR, given that it makes me feel sick, but a lot of these sorts of issues are surely solvable with improved tech. Few companies out there have the technical prowess, engineering talent, and investment capital to advance this technology. Microsoft is among those companies. The longer it waits, the more it hands consumer market share to shady companies like Facebook and its Oculus platform, while also giving PlayStation a significant differentiator in the console space with its PSVR tech.

Microsoft has this staggeringly impressive capacity to underestimate nascent tech that really should be within its purview, could Windows Mixed Reality become the next missed boat like Windows Phone? Microsoft still has a chance to get involved in consumer VR before it's too late.

Xbox

Main

• What is Xbox Game Pass?
• Best 4K TVs for Xbox Series X and S
• Must-buy Xbox One Headsets
• Our Favorite Xbox One Wireless Headsets
• Best Upcoming Xbox Games for 2021
• Xbox One X vs. Xbox Series S

LEGO can never leave well-enough alone, which is why the company is constantly coming up with innovative ideas for its building kits — one of the latest being the Hidden Side line. These sets blend LEGO's classic building blocks with an app on your smartphone that utilizes augmented reality technology to make it appear as if the set is coming to life. The sets focus on the "chilling, creative world of ghosts", with eight sets having been revealed so far, and today's your chance to save on nearly every single one.

The best offer available today is on the LEGO Hidden Side Ghost Train Express Building Kit. It's down to just $59.99 at Target today, saving you $20 off the regular cost. Plus, as usual, Target REDCard holders can save an additional 5% on the purchase and bring the price down to $57.

The deal given is no longer valid and we do not have a better one. However, we have found some similar deals

Lego Ideas 910-piece dinosaur fossils building kit

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Comes with three models featuring a posable T. Rex, triceratops, and pteranodon skeleton. Built to a 1:32 scale with the T. Rex being the biggest. Comes with a paleontologist minifig and sapiens skeleton figure. Designed for ages 16 and up.

LEGO Brickheadz: Reindeer, Elf and Elfie Set

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Score a 281-piece LEGO Brickheadz set that's a perfect gift for the holidays at $10 off its regular price via Amazon! It includes three characters to build, including a Reindeer, Elf, and Elfie, along with the sign to the North Pole and a mailbox.

LEGO Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban Knight Bus

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Hop aboard the Knight Bus as featured in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This 403-piece set comes with minifigures of Harry, Stan Shunpike and Ernie Prang, as well as some fun details for fans of the series like a tiny shrunken head.

LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Clock Tower 75948 Build and Play Tower Set with Harry Potter Minifigures, Popular Harry Potter Gift and Playset with Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and more (922 Pieces)

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LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle 71043 Building Kit , New 2019 (6020 Piece)

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Each Hidden Side building set features a mystery, and once the set is built, you can start discovering clues and catching ghosts hidden within the set using the free Hidden Side AR app. Of course, you don't need the app to have as much fun with these LEGO sets as you can with any other, though the app helps add a bit of extra magic to each one.

At this time, you can find six out of the eight Hidden Side LEGO sets on sale at 20% off via Amazon, including:

• Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 for $48
• Shrimp Shark Attack for $39.99
• El Fuego's Stunt Truck for $32
• Wrecked Shrimp Boat for $23.99
• Graveyard Mystery for $23.99
• J.B.'s Ghost Lab for $15.99

The Newbury Haunted High School kit is the priciest Hidden Side set available so far, and sadly it's the only one which hasn't seen a discount yet. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed though.

What you need to know

• Facebook's Reality Labs chief spoke with The Information about the future of AR and VR.
• AR glasses could reach wide appeal in 10 years depending on the technology.
• VR will replace your workspace, AR will replace your smartphone.

Facebook Reality Labs chief Michael Abrash has seen the future, and it sits upon your nose. Talking to The Information, Abrash says that your desk workspace will be replaced with high-quality VR someday, and augmented reality glasses will replace smartphones, though for a while he expects a companion device like a phone or "a puck" will be needed for battery power and computing.

Abrash showed concepts for new technology that would allow much thinner displays that look more natural, like modern eyeglasses and not current AR. "In order to be successful AR glasses have to be socially acceptable, weigh no more than about 70 grams and dissipate no more than roughly 500 milliwatts on your head"

There is something bleak in Abrash's utopian vision for the future of reality as controlled by Facebook. The worlds that Abrash describes include "the best workspace in the world." A key benefit to the magic of augmented reality will be your ability "to access a lower fidelity version of the same workspace."

Abrash believes that it will be 2030 before augmented reality technology catches up to the necessary requirements for success and finally reach the "Blackberry stage," as he says.

What you need to know

• Verizon has partnered with Snap Inc. to spotlight the advantages of a 5G network.
• Verizon will preload the Snapchat app and exclusive AR filters on select 5G phones.
• Snapchat will launch exclusive 5G powered AR filters during the NFL's Super Bowl LIV.

Verizon has announced a partnership with Snap Inc, the parent company that owns the popular social media app, Snapchat, to show the advantages of Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network through exclusive augmented reality (AR) experiences.

The two companies will explore 5G possibilities by working on marketing campaigns with exclusive distribution through each other. For example, Verizon will preload the Snapchat app, along with exclusive AR features, on select 5G Verizon phones, and Verizon would be the principal sponsor for Snap Originals.

In an official press release, Snap chief strategy officer Jared Grusd said, "We are thrilled to partner with Verizon to move the industry forward through the development of creative and innovative 5G experiences on Snapchat."

5G would be a big boost for not only AR and VR, but also give Snapchat's 203 million active users and every Verizon subscriber a powerful network to have more engagement with friends, family, and colleagues. On the commercial side, it would mean big business for brands during live sporting events, concerts, and more.

Merging Verizon's 5G with Snapchat's AR technology would mean you could have access to professional sports and concerts in ways you've never had before. For example, you could use Snapchat's Landmarker technology to have an AR version of you and your friends backstage at a concert, or in the locker room of your favorite team after a big win. Since it's on a 5G network, it would all be in real-time with almost no latency issues.

Verizon has also partnered with other companies such as Walt Disney Studios, which could bring a 5G network to Disney themed parks.

The telecommunications company has also partnered with the NFL. It has awarded two separate $400,000 grants to AR/VR developers Colorfiction and Juncture Media to create augmented reality mobile games that would debut during the NFL's Super Bowl LIV in Miami and take advantage of Verizon's 5G network.

There is no doubt that 5G will be huge for AR and VR. It's a match made in high-speed data heaven. Verizon's new partnership with Snap Inc. shows that the tech companies know this too. Between purchasing Jaunt VR back in October and now working with Snap Inc, it's obvious Verizon is positioning itself to lead the charge of delivering a 5G network across the country. Currently, Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network can be found in 18 cities in the U.S. However, the goal is to expand that coverage to 30 cities by the end of this year.

Yes, one month from now.

What you need to know

• The new OpenXR 1.0 specification will help virtual and augmented reality work well across platforms.
• OpenXR is supported by several large companies in the VR and AR industries.
• Microsoft added OpenXR support to Windows Mixed Reality last week.

The Khronos Group released a new specification for OpenXR. The OpenXR 1.0 specification helps unify standards for augmented and virtual reality, which are referred to collectively as XR. The specification can be found at Github.

OpenXR is a standard set in place to ensure that developers can use code across multiple XR platforms. Several large companies, including Oculus, SteamVR, HTC, and Microsoft, have worked to support OpenXR. Last week, Microsoft added OpenXR support to Windows Mixed Reality devices.

The Khronos post announcing the release outlined how this specification will help XR going forward (via MSPU).

Don Box, a Technical Fellow at Microsoft, joined other large players in the XR industry in stating the importance of open technologies.

While virtual and augmented reality are not new, they are still in relatively early stages when compared to other technologies. Having open standards to improve cross-platform support and future compatibility will help XR grow in the future.

Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love

Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.

VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank ($13 at Dell)

This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp "fast charge feature," using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.

Panasonic eneloop AA batteries (From $13 at Dell)

Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.

Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad ($30 at Dell)

This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.

Minecraft Earth kicked off its closed beta across the globe, serving a taste of the new augmented reality (AR) spin-off. Fusing the creative blockbuster with real-world mapping, early foundations already pose a promising premise rivaling Pokemon GO. Multiplayer expands the app beyond your device, pulling groups of friends into a shared virtual world.

How to start Minecraft Earth multiplayer

Minecraft Earth's loop of resource collection ties back to "Buildplates," the game's creative canvas for building in AR. Multiplayer extends your experience to friends, allowing players to team up to build and explore in a shared space.

However, Microsoft hasn't made multiplayer straightforward, at least in its ongoing iOS beta. Multiplayer requires a host to share their Buildplate via a QR code, with subsequent players joining the selected scenario in a multi-step process.

1. Tap the Buildplate icon on the Minecraft Earth menu tray.
2. Select Build or Play based on your preferred mode.
3. Place your Buildplate on a flat, textured surface.
4. Tap the Ellipsis button in the top-right corner.
5. Select Invite Friend. Your unique QR code will display.

Other players can now join your game via the generated QR code, following the steps ahead.

How to join Minecraft Earth multiplayer

With a QR code generated, remaining players are now free to join the world. Microsoft's current implementation is somewhat convoluted, and something we admittedly first misinterpreted as a bug. Diving deeper into the iOS TestFlight notes outlines a two-step process, despite no references found in-game.

1. Tap the Play with Friends icon on the Minecraft Earth menu tray.
2. Scan the host QR code. You will automatically join the game, although the host Buildplate won't be displayed.
3. Scan the host QR code a second time using your in-game viewfinder. This helps orient your position in the world and grants permission to view and interact with blocks.
4. Repeat the steps for all joining players.

While its implementation initially features some unintuitive hurdles, likely attributed to its beta state, Minecraft Earth's multiplayer proves its potential in the beta. Positioning and fluidity appear consistent in augmented reality, serving up a novel building experience with friends.

The ongoing Minecraft Earth beta is currently exclusive to iOS devices, via a limited pool of enrolled applicants via the beta sign-up portal. Expect wider availability and an Android expansion in the coming weeks, alongside additional iOS testing.

Essential Minecraft Earth accessories you'll love

These affordable Minecraft Earth accessories are guaranteed to help on your digital adventures.

Anker PowerCore 5000 Portable Charger ($18 at Amazon)

Like any augmented reality experience, Minecraft Earth will be power-hungry and drain your battery fast. This 5000mAh Anker PowerCore portable battery pack keeps phone topped up when on the move with a compact, cylindrical silhouette.

PopSockets Collapsible Grip & Stand ($10 at Amazon)

Avoid phone drops on your blocky adventures with this collapsible PopSocket grip that doubles as a stand. Grippy and comfortable to hold, it adds convenience and peace of mind to any Minecraft Earth session.

Minecraft Baby Pig 7" Plush ($10 at Amazon)

Grab your own porky Minecraft Earth companion with this affordable official Minecraft Baby Pig plush. Lined with a soft exterior and embroidered pixel detailing, don't miss out on your seven-inch friend.

When HoloLens, Microsoft's wearable augmented reality (AR) computer, debuted in 2015, the company demoed practical business applications, immersive games and more.

For the past four years, Microsoft has executed a methodic infrastructure-building deployment of AR computing as a hardware, software and services platform. This has resulted in the legitimization of HoloLens and AR computing as a practical computing solution within many sectors, including the U.S. military.

In 2017, Microsoft partnered with the U.S. military to use HoloLens to create wargame scenarios and provide soldiers with battlefield insights via AR simulations. Other military partnerships include ones with the Israeli military and Royal Australian Air Force, both of which studied how HoloLens could be used for planning and training. The Ukrainian military even tested HoloLens-enhanced helmets. Last year Microsoft won a $480 million contract to provide the U.S. military with custom HoloLenses for use on the battlefield, to make U.S. soldiers more efficient on the battlefield and to improve infantry survival rates.

HoloLens could ensure U.S. 'overmatches' enemies

Microsoft's controversial HoloLens partnership with the U.S. military is meant to address a problem. The disproportionately high rate of infantry squad deaths is the specific problem HoloLens is being procured by the U.S. military to solve. According to Colonel Daniel S. Roper, a retired U.S. officer, firstline forces — soldiers, Marines, and special forces — make up a mere four percent of the military but have accounted for 90-percent of military combat deaths since World War II.

These groups are at high risk because they engage in close combat or "ground combat within line of sight of the enemy (within 600 meters), which is characterized by extreme violence." Additionally, Roper shared that enemy forces have closed the gap in their effectiveness on the battlefield. Thus, the U.S. military's goal is to equip its infantry forces with HoloLens so that they can overmatch the enemy. From Department of Defense memorandum Establishment of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force (CCLTF):

HoloLens is meant to support the military's goals to improve close-combat effectiveness and survivability across the six following domains:

• sensing.
• communication.
• maneuvering.
• attack.
• survival.
• sustainability.

The better to kill you with

According to (DoD) memorandum, Establishment of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force (CCLTF) the U.S. military plans to use HoloLens (AR) as part of a comprehensive platform to achieve increased lethality on the battlefield. Roper adds:

A military grade HoloLens is expected to be tailored for close-combat use and, based on capabilities outlined by the Army for contract bidders, may enable a range of "sensory" augmentation capabilities such as:

• allowing soldiers to see through dust, smoke and fog.
• facial recognition.
• lie detection.
• night vision.
• thermal sensing.
• vital-sign reading.
• concussion monitoring.
• hearing protection.

Combined with a network-connected communication system, HoloLens-equipped U.S. troops may indeed outmatch enemy combatants. Ironically, HoloLens creator Alex Kipman often speaks of HoloLens as providing people with "superpowers." These military applications of the tech may be a dark representation of that vision.

Microsoft's CEO defends lethal allegiance

Humanity consistently exhibits a profound aptitude for finding (or forging) a path from using technology to help to using it to harm. Gun powder went from fireworks to ballistic firearms; nuclear power went from energy source to weapon of mass destruction; and HoloLens went from an amazing wearable computer for enterprise and potential future consumer use to enhancing a soldier's ability to kill.

Hundreds of Microsoft employees are backing a move to stop the battlefield applications of AR technology. From that petition:

Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella recently doubled down on the company's partnership with the military, stating in an CNN Business interview:

This echoes Roper's stance:

The reality that the freedoms enjoyed in a democracy are often maintained by the high cost of war is a sad and difficult truth. Reconciling that truth with what technology should and shouldn't be used for in warfare, what responsibilities companies have, leaves much to be discussed.

Do you believe HoloLens should be used on the battlefield? Chime-in in the comments.

HoloLens is Microsoft's current baby when it comes to augmented reality (AR), and we're even expecting a second version to debut soon. But a new patent filing points to what could potentially be a much more compact take on AR devices from Microsoft.

Filed in September of 2018 and published on January 24 of 2019, the new patent outlines a set of augmented reality glasses that Microsoft envisions could be used in a variety of interesting scenarios. From the abstract:

In non-patent speak, the AR glasses will be able to display and let you interact with digital content overlaid on the real world, much like HoloLens currently does. Where the glasses would set themselves apart is in size. Whereas HoloLens is currently a relatively bulky rig, Microsoft's proposal would pack the same capabilities into something the size of a large set of glasses.

In its lengthy disclosure, Microsoft outlines a large and varied number of uses for the glasses. In one scenario, traveling and tours could be supplemented by displaying sightseeing information over real-world architecture and points of interest. Another implementation could see real-time translations displayed in the user's field of vision. Other applications include enhancements for shopping, advertising, and even military and identification applications.

It's a brief look at what AR may hold for the future, once the technology has been sufficiently miniaturized. For that to take hold, however, it will have to be accepted by society more broadly. And as we previously saw with Google's Glass experiment, that could prove to be a tough nut to crack.

Thanks to Steven Lack for the tip!

Microsoft is working on a new HoloLens, that much is already known from various leaks and words from Microsoft. While there was talk about the next HoloLens being a standalone PC with its own Qualcomm processor, it has now been confirmed by new sources that this is indeed the case and Microsoft is set to use the Snapdragon 850.

As reported by Neowin, this is the same processor found in the Lenovo Yoga C630 and Samsung Galaxy Book. In our testing of the aforementioned Windows 10 hardware, we found the processor to be speedy enough for casual computing.

Having the HoloLens rock an ARM processor means it'll be an Always Connected PC. You'll be able to turn on the device and carry on where you left off almost instantly, something more powerful (and power-hungry) Intel processors cannot achieve. Then there's the additional X20 4G LTE modem from Qualcomm, which offers true wireless capabilities.

That's pretty much all we know thus far, aside from Windows Core OS being the software that will power everything on the new device. It's expected Microsoft will announce and release the next HoloLens in 2019.

For the people who follow my work and my social media posts, you might know me as someone who persistently hates on virtual reality (VR).

Part of my skepticism has been driven by Microsoft's handling of the mobile paradigm, which it famously failed at, burning what little good about it the company had down to the ground. I believe that includes developer relationships, faith in the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), and perhaps most importantly, the destruction of trust among its most hardcore fans, customers who might have forgiven the awkwardness of the first generation of consumer-facing Windows Mixed Reality devices.

Of course, whether or not Windows Mixed Reality becomes a success (and VR in general) remains to be seen. But after extensive time with HoloLens, HP's head mounted display (HMD), and Microsoft's new Motion Controllers, I'm starting to believe.

My experience with Windows Mixed Reality

Windows Mixed Reality refers to the entire continuum of VR and augmented reality (AR) experiences on the Windows platform, whether it's AR via a holographic headset like HoloLens, or VR in a fully immersive headset like those offered by Lenovo, HP, and Samsung.

In the near-term, head-mounted displays (HMDs) aren't going to replace laptops or TVs, but they enable compelling experiences that simply aren't possible in other paradigms.

Utilizing "Cliff's House," Windows Mixed Reality's staging area, I was able to view my Movies & TV library on a huge cinema-size screen in a virtual theatre. I was able to snap UWP games, such as GWENT: A Witcher Card Game, side-by-side with other programs, such as GroupMe, Skype, and Microsoft Edge, taking advantage of the spacious environment for a next-level multitasking experience.

I had experienced these things before using Microsoft's HoloLens developer kit, which allows you to position UWP apps as holograms in your existing world. HoloLens has a slightly debilitating letterboxing effect, though, meaning you're fairly restricted when it comes to true augmented immersion.

Instead of simply looking to the left, HoloLens demands that you tilt your entire head to locate the missing holograms. With a Mixed Reality VR HMD, this problem is gone, as the lenses provide full viewing angles.

There are plenty of WMR apps such as HoloTour that are "cool," but I doubt I'll use them more than once. I had my WMR "a ha moment" playing Arizona Sunshine, which is a zombie killin' shoot 'em up from Vertigo Games. Even within the game world, I was still receiving notifications from UWP Twitter and GroupMe, and I even received Xbox achievements for playing the game. The pervasive nature of Windows Mixed Reality really brings the "operating system" experience with you in Mixed Reality, reducing the isolated feeling I had while playing PlayStation VR, which not only blinds you to the outside world, but also stops you from being able to multi-task without removing the headset.

Multitasking in WMR was is simple as pressing the Start button, just like on a regular Windows PC. Arizona Sunshine UWP went into a suspended mode, allowing me to get back into Cliff's House. When I was finished replying to messages, I jumped straight back into the game, right from where I left off.

Windows Mixed Reality still has problems

Some of the issues I encountered aren't so much problems with Mixed Reality as a virtual OS, but more limitations from today's technology.

WMR is still a fledgling idea, and there are clear usability issues that prevent it from achieving mainstream adoption beyond niche use cases. While HoloLens might be great for specific tasks, such as remote learning, adding rich information to an existing scene, and viewing complex 3D models rather than expensive real-world prototypes, the letterbox effect I mentioned earlier limits its capabilities as a true PC replacement. Microsoft is undoubtedly working to rectify this issue with HoloLens, which hasn't yet seen a hardware update since its initial reveal.

VR-based Windows Mixed Reality headsets eliminate the letterbox effect, but there are other annoyances that put a damper on the experience. While it's awesome being able to have tons of screen space for different windows, not being able to see keyboards and mice is a little annoying for orientation. The motion controller keyboard "shooting" isn't anywhere near as fast or intuitive as touch typing, and I still find voice recognition typing to be clunky, at least with my West Midlands British accent. The next step for WMR is sure to bring your physical desk into the virtual space, too, to take advantage of all that multi-tasking real estate, without limiting your ability to actually interact and input information.

Beyond basic usability issues, there are other systemic problems preventing WMR from being a truly comprehensive or intuitive experience. Not only do you need a powerful computer to utilize it, costing $1,000 or more, you also need to pick up a headset that costs at least $350 with the motion controllers bundled. That's a pretty big ask for anyone outside the early adopter arena, particularly since it's arguably less productive for touch typists and Windows power users versus simply using a regular laptop with plain old regular reality.

It's also just clunky, with annoying additional cables, batteries for the motion controllers, giving up your hands for motion controllers, and having to wear something on your head. With HP's headset, I found myself struggling with condensation on the lenses, constantly. All of these things make Windows Mixed Reality feel less intuitive to me than just sitting on the sofa with a laptop. It's kind of cool having a full-size cinema screen for Microsoft Movies & TV, but I'm not sure I'm willing to put up with wearing a headset and having to use motion controllers to navigate it.

What about gaming?

Gaming is a different beast, because the Mixed Reality experience there isn't directly comparable to regular games. It's a completely different, immersive experience, and strangely, my time with Arizona Sunshine took me back to the '90s, in a good way.

When I was as kid, there were arcade machines in our local movie theatre called Time Cop and House of the Dead, which had advanced graphics, and a super accurate physical light guns. They were on-rails shooters, with PlayStation 2-level graphics at best, but they offered a different dimension of immersion that mouse or joystick-bound shooters couldn't. There's something visceral about pointing a physical gun, and VR takes that experience to the next level.

In Arizona Sunshine, you're not just pointing the gun. You're able to manipulate doors as you would in real life, pick up objects and throw them, and traverse the environment at will, as opposed to being stuck on rails. Arizona Sunshine might not be the prettiest game in the world, with dated-looking animations and environments, but the sheer potential is clear.

There are only a handful of decent UWP-based VR games as of writing, with dozens more as part of the SteamVR bridge, but it's exciting to think what the future could hold for this paradigm.

An uphill battle

Microsoft is faced with stiff competition from Apple's mobile-facing ARKit when it comes to building HoloLens-like AR apps, with competition from other gaming storefronts when it comes to support for Microsoft's own Windows Store.

With Windows 10 Mobile shut down, support for native Microsoft Store apps seems to have cratered along with it, with engagement on PC being far lower than that of a phone. Apps ported to the store via Win32 or Electron don't work properly in Windows Mixed Reality, opening instead in a dedicated "Desktop" view.

VR is a paradigm where native apps could function better than desktop PC websites, designed primarily for mice, but I'm not sure how willing developers will be to jump on this ship, considering the install base is going to be miniscule even when compared to that of Windows 10 Mobile. Progressive web apps could help fill the gap, but again, it could be too late for Microsoft, which already seems to be lagging behind iOS and Android when it comes to defining AR app support.

The path to proliferation is going to be a difficult one for Microsoft, but the company seems to understand what it needs to do to ensure it's not left out of yet another computing ecosystem.

I'm no longer a Windows Mixed Reality sceptic, but Microsoft may have a hard job convincing other consumers, and more importantly, developers that it is the right company to back and to usher in this future.

AR and VR wearable technology are different and inspiring. The lenses of VR headsets are opaque, which occludes the surrounding environment, immersing wearers in a digital world. Gaming, exploration, content creation and more are some VR applications. Microsoft's partners have already begun bringing affordable VR headsets to consumers.

The lenses on AR headsets, like Microsoft's HoloLens, are clear. Thus, wearers can see their surroundings while they interact with digital artifacts or holograms overlaid on the real world. AR-enhanced surgeries and car manufacturing where adjustments are made to holograms rather than expensive physical prototypes, are examples of AR uses.

What if the distinct strengths of AR and VR were brought to one wearable device? Microsoft's HoloLens creator Alex Kipman, recently garnered attention by announcing that Microsoft is on that very path. But peering outside of Redmond reveals that companies like Samsung and Osterhout Design Group (ODG) may grab consumer mindshare for such a device before Microsoft.

Growing pains

Some AR wearables, like ODG's smartglasses and Microsoft's HoloLens, are self-contained mobile computers. Conversely, Google Glass is a streamlined, phone-dependent AR peripheral. Unlike AR wearables, most VR Mixed Reality headsets need to be tethered to PCs.

AR and VR wearable technology are expected to become more streamlined, more powerful and mainstream over time. Currently, ODG's R7 smartglasses, Google Glass, and HoloLens are establishing wearable AR technology in the enterprise (ODG's recent R8 and R9 smartglasses are consumer-focused). Conversely, VR's initial foothold is aimed at the consumer space.

The goal is a single user device where lenses would transition from opaque to clear for VR or AR experiences.

The Windows 10 Falls Creator update has expanded Microsoft's Mixed Reality platform (which powers Windows AR and VR) to provide the foundation for just that functionality. Samsung's "Monitorless" concept and ODG's R8 and R9 smartglasses, have already given us a glimpse of what the future may hold, however.

Samsung 'Monitorless' AR/VR smartglasses

Samsung's Monitorless smartglasses concept allows a user to remotely view his desktop. Via a WiFi connection to a Samsung smartphone, the glasses would use a high-speed connection to reach a personal computer. The glasses would function as the remote "monitor" to the connected PC, while a phone or even a gamepad could be used for interaction.

The glasses, using electrochromic glass, will allow the lenses to transition from opaque to clear to provide an AR or VR experience.

Monitorless is not a standalone computer like Microsoft's HoloLens. It's also less sophisticated in that there's no gesture, voice or gaze control or immersive audio experience. Monitorless provides a simple remote PC (or a projected smartphone screen) experience via wearable tech. The point here is that the concept, which may make it to market, introduces VR and AR on a single device.

ODG smartglasses vision

ODG CEO talks about converging VR and AR on single device.

ODG's R8 and R9 AR smartglasses, though not as complex as Microsoft's HoloLens, are impressive. They are standalone wearable computers based on Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and ODG wearables generally have a strong presence in the military and enterprise.

The company's 2016 partnership with 20th Century Fox via its media assets like the WSJ, Fox News and more, are expected help ODG CEO Ralph Osterhout bring its devices to consumers. Osterhout said:

ODG's smartglasses also received THX certification which guarantees that movies viewed via the R8 and R9 smartglasses are being seen as the directors intended. The visual standards ODG has set for its immersive media viewing VR experience combined with the data-driven vision of the AR experience creates a platform for a single device that provides a strong AR and VR experiences.

Osterhout introduced that very capability via an attachment that converts the wearable from an AR to VR experience. Though, not as cool as lenses that transition between transparent and opaque states, it does provide a real experience, on an actual device that can be purchased this year.

Microsoft's platform play

Microsoft is aiming to provide the platform to enable AR and VR on an individual, and looking forward, a single device. This is a very different and broader strategy than its rivals device-centric approach. Via Windows Mixed Reality and the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft has provided developers with tools to help make the company's vision a reality. Microsoft has provided API's that enable an app to function as both an AR or VR app.

Microsoft's approach can potentially power an industry of partner devices. VR Mixed Reality headsets may be followed with HoloLens-like AR headsets and which may be succeeded with AR/VR smartglasses. Microsoft and Osterhout envision cellular connectivity will ultimately be part of smartglasses. Osterhout, even noted that adding telephony would be just an additional six dollar production cost to the AR/VR product he's already bringing to market.

Microsoft's platform play may make the breadth and depth of its AR/VR strategy difficult for rivals to combat in the long-term. On the other hand, Microsoft is also slow with bringing products to consumers. Samsung already introduced a concept and ODG has already introduced an actual product.

Will Microsoft's vision of a single AR/VR wearable be overshadowed by the competition?

Microsoft's Hololens is a standalone wearable Windows 10 computer that places 3D holograms in the wearer's field of view and does everything else Windows 10 PCs can. Additionally, Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality, AR and virtual reality (VR) platform allows developers to build holographic apps for HoloLens and Windows 10 PCs.

Microsoft's HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality comprise a comprehensive platform for the development and deployment of holographic content. With a 500 million Windows 10 install base, Microsoft has a massive mixed reality platform. As impressive as that sounds Microsoft has made little impact in mainstreaming AR.

Microsoft's Mixed Reality mission

With Paint 3D, which allows Windows 10 users to create and share 3D content to Remix 3D, and Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft has empowered developers and consumers of varying skill levels to create content for 3D environments. Microsoft even boasted that 3D is for everyone and demonstrated a yet-to-be released smartphone app called Windows Capture 3D Experience. The app allows users to scan real objects to produce 3D models.

If 3D is for everyone, why isn't Microsoft marketing Paint 3D to anyone?

In conjunction with supporting 3D content creation, Microsoft partnered with OEMs to bring affordable VR headsets to consumers this year. Led by Elizabeth Hamren, former CMO of Oculus VR at Facebook, Microsoft will heavily market these VR headsets.

That covers VR, but what about AR?

With all of its innovation and earlier entry with HoloLens, Microsoft's lack of a successful smartphone platform is putting it behind the competition as rivals are introducing AR to the masses via smartphone-based solutions.

Apple takes a bite out of AR

During Apple's 2017 World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC), the company announced that iOS 11 would include ARkit which will allow developers to bring AR to hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users later this year. This will make iOS the world's largest AR platform.

Compared to the $3,000 HoloLens, which is still limited to select sectors like the U.S. Army, NASA, health care and education, ARkit is a "free" consumer-focused upgrade. Developers are already embracing it.

ARKit is limited to projecting 3D objects within the small window of an iPad or iPhone. Conversely, HoloLens provides a hands-free, and more visually and audibly immersive experience. Still, ARkit opens the door for developers to populate the App Store with millions of AR-specific apps for millions of iPhone users. Apple's smartphone-based AR platform is poised to garner tremendous mindshare that Microsoft's far more advanced but far less supported (with only 150 HoloLens-specific apps and relatively little exposure) can achieve.

Apple's next logical and rumored step will be smartglasses that will reap the benefits of the imminent deluge of AR-specific apps and consumer mindshare. Without a smartphone, Microsoft will struggle to combat this level of support and accessibility to AR. The only AR device Microsoft has is HoloLens, and an affordable consumer version is years away. Even if an OEM partner brings a Windows 10 AR headset to market, it will do little to combat the massive developer support, and mindshare Apple's ARkit will achieve. The smartphone which is the nexus for a number of emerging technologies is proving to be the bridge to mainstreaming AR.

Google grapples with VR and AR

Last October, Google introduced the Daydream View headset which allows users to use VR-ready smartphones like the Galaxy S8 and the Moto Z to experience VR. Google's Daydream VR goals include support for standalone headsets, like those from Vive and Lenovo, that won't require a smartphone or PC. Google's wearable VR efforts will compete with Microsoft's Mixed Reality VR headset strategy. Apple has no compelling contender in this arena.

Like Microsoft's efforts with Paint 3D, Google is providing users with tools to create 3D content for virtual worlds. Unlike the 2D PC-based environment Microsoft employs, however, Google uses the virtual world, via a VR headset, as the canvas using its Blocks and Tilt Brush applications. Blocks allow users to create, move, paint and modify their 3D creations with natural gestures, as seen in the video below.

Paint 3D has the advantage of being available to millions of Windows 10 PC users while VR headsets are still niche. Microsoft's baffling problem, however, is that it's not marketing Paint 3D, its purpose nor its potential. Like many things, it seems Microsoft will allow the competition to outmaneuver it due to its failure to execute.

Google 'tangos' with AR

Google's Tango, which supports the company's AR and VR investments, allows devices to track distances and their position. The technology has been used for AR to superimpose virtual objects over the real world. Tango is also an essential part of Google's Visual Positioning Service (VPS) which allows devices to perceive and understand their positions indoors.

Like its successful efforts with its VR-focused Google Cardboard, Google is bringing AR-based lessons to the classroom via its Pioneer Program this school year.

As seen in the above video, the smartphone-based AR platform allows students to view 3D objects in their physical environment. Google's investments in smartphone-based AR and VR in the education sector are grabbing mindshare among the next generation.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft's HoloLens is being used in the education sector as well and provides a much more interactive experience than the phone-on-a-stick experience Google's solution provides. Still, the costs for each solution most certainly leans in Google's favor.

Google gets to the ARCore of the matter

Google's ARCore is a smartphone-based AR solution that builds on the technologies pioneered by Tango. Like Apple's ARKit, ARCore will be deployed on existing Android hardware running 7.0 Nougat or above. Samsung's Galaxy S8 and the Google Pixel are among the first of these devices. Google's goal is to bring AR to 100 million devices by the end of the preview and is working with a number of manufacturers like ASUS, LG and others to accomplish this goal.

Google demos ARCore.

Google's goal is to extend beyond the tabletop-type AR experiences it shares with Apple's ARKit solution. It's VPS will allow the company to produce world-scale AR experiences. Google's AR ambitions also extend to the web, where it is providing web developers with browsers to begin creating web-based AR experiences. AR-enhanced websites, via these browsers, will run on both Android's ARCore and iOS's ARKit.

The mere news of Google's and Apple's AR efforts is beginning to overshadow Microsoft's methodically executed and comprehensive accomplishments. Once consumers begin experiencing AR on their iPhones and Android smartphones, seeing an obscure HoloLens video or reading about a future HoloLens may impress, but that abstract exposure will be quickly overshadowed by the real AR experience in the palm of users' hands.

Many tech companies are investing heavily in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Microsoft has Windows Mixed Reality and HoloLens. Google has Google Glass, Daydream and Cardboard. Apple has ARKit and rumored smartglasses.

Magic Leap's still on the radar, ODG's R-8 and R-9 smartglasses are due this year, and Facebook's 10-year plan for AR and VR is ambitious. Personal computing is transitioning to a more immersive, interactive and natural experience via some form of AR smartglasses.

Facebook's, Microsoft's and ODG's leaders believe smartglasses will eventually replace smartphones.

This belief isn't expressed in ignorance of the social barriers smartglasses face.

Four-eyes, nerdy no more

There was once a social stigma associated with wearing glasses. The cultural norms of previous generations didn't always see prescription eyewear as stylish. The goggle-sized spectacles that dominate my teenage face in old pictures scream, "nerd." Yes, glasses and nerds were negatively intertwined.

Society has become more accepting of glasses and their wearers over time. The change in how we perceive "nerds" has contributed to that shift. The accomplishments and pop culture status of high profile "geeks" like former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and others have shifted the status of nerds from uncool to cool.

Furthermore, the proliferation of tech and mainstreaming of computer technology has made the role of the "glasses-wearing geek" an important part of helping to keep our tech-dependent world flowing.

Nerds are both needed and cool, and glasses aren't a bad thing anymore. Sometimes even people who don't need glasses, want glasses.

Smart or not I ain't wearing 'em

Despite this progress, the existence of corrective eye-surgery and contact lenses is a testament that some individuals still don't like wearing glasses. And making glasses "smart" won't change that.

This, of course, is observing the issue from today's perspective. Societal norms change. What may be a barrier today may not be as profound a barrier by the time this technology's ready for the mass market. What is considered fashionable changes with each generation. Skinny jeans on a man would have been unappealing in the 80s for instance. Today society accepts them as stylish.

Like sunglasses, stylish non-prescription glasses may be considered chic in the future. Streamlined smartglasses would fit right into that context.

But I already wear glasses

Glasses wearers like myself have a legitimate gripe with smartglasses. Most current examples of smartglasses at this early stage won't accommodate both a person's prescription lenses and this progressive tech.

Google Glass can be clipped to existing glasses, but it's smartphone-dependent. Since it's not an all-in-one mobile computing platform like HoloLens or ODG's smartglasses, Google Glass isn't en route to replace smartphones. Still, HoloLens and other wearables aren't en route to replace prescription glasses either, although the former can be worn over existing specs in some situations. Still, that's no reason to write them off.

Declaring smartglasses a failure at this very early stage because of current barriers is neither forward-looking nor an acknowledgment of the past. People said the automobile would never replace the horse and buggy. Cars were a novelty for the rich.

But with the establishment of necessary infrastructure such as the assembly line and the construction of paved roads that evolved with the automobile's adoption, cars became the dominant mode of transportation.

I believe smartglasses adoption have a long road ahead but will begin in the enterprise, followed by early adopters in the consumer space. Over time the tech will become more affordable and streamlined, and more of the population will likely embrace them. Various OEMs will likely support the industry with smartglasses spanning different price ranges and capabilities.

Over time, and as the technology continues to evolve, partnerships with eyeglass distributors may emerge as the supporting infrastructure that will address the "I-already-wear-glasses" group. Apple's partnerships with major U.S. hospitals with HealthKit have set a precedence for the overlapping of consumer technology and healthcare after all.

As this industry trend continues, smartglasses could become part of the product lines of prescription lens providers like LensCrafters or Opticare.

Big brother and everyone else is watching

The failure of the consumer-focused Google Glass in 2012 was due in part to this camera-equipped wearable's threat to privacy.

In 2017 the same concerns are being raised regarding camera-equipped smartglasses. But, what about five, ten or fifteen years from now when today's children are the world's decision-making adults? Will they care?

As smartglasses make their slow journey through the enterprise and then early adopters on their way to the broad consumer space life will go on and societal norms and concerns about privacy may change. As a forty-something-year-old man, I've witnessed cultural shifts where privacy standards have changed profoundly with the advent of reality shows and social media.

Today's youth are growing up in a world where over two billion people self-report personal demographic information, interests, family connections, hobbies, break-ups, make-ups, fights and more on Facebook. Location-tagged pictures are nonchalantly shared on Instagram and Twitter. Millions of Snapchatters live shackled to their smartphones desperate not to break a "Snapstreak".

Kids and Snapchat streaking.

Self-esteem and self-perception have become intricately intertwined with the likes, reactions, and retweets we get to our latest posts from an audience of "friends" and strangers. We put ourselves on display (via social media and video platforms) at a magnitude never before seen in human history.

Changing of the guard

Children and teenagers don't know of a world that isn't the connected virtual fishbowl it has become. They're oblivious to a reality where cameras don't stare at intimate moments and personal interactions of celebrities and regular people on reality shows.

They're even encouraged to "perform" on this digital stage for a world that is dutifully watching social media and video platforms. This is the new normal.

My generation, in memory of a bygone era, will vocally decry the threat smartglasses pose to privacy. But as this younger generation who has spent their entire lives in "glass houses" comes of age, perhaps privacy won't be as much of a concern. Consider this: as recent as 2009 cell phone cameras were under fire for their threat to privacy. Now they're the most celebrated smartphone feature.

Dystopian abuse of Microsoft's AI-driven camera tech is inevitable

The adoption of smartglasses isn't just a matter of evolving technology, but also a changing society. To measure their potential for adoption based upon the current limited infrastructure and what society will accept today is short-sighted.

Considering current social trends and the proliferation of emerging tech into existing industries, smartglasses may find a place of acceptance on the faces of today's children when they're tomorrow's adults 10 or 20 years from now.

The technological progress and inspired technologies we've seen since the first iPhone in 2007, and the social impact smartphones have had, prove that a lot can change socially and technologically in just 10 years. Current concerns about smartglasses simply may not matter tomorrow.

Go ahead, laugh. Call telephony-enabled smartglasses a sci-fi fantasy. But remember, sci-fi has an uncanny knack at becoming reality. Technological leaps such as the moon landing, the mapping of the human genome, cloning, artificial intelligence, bionic limbs and more were all foretold within the annals of science fiction.

For some, the notions sci-fi proposes are merely entertainment. For others, they are sources of inspiration that expand perception, ignite imagination and become the underpinnings of confidence in human ingenuity. Such ingenuity has been confidently applied to exerting our God-given dominion over the material world and shaping it to conform to our imaginations.

The technology that is both the foundation and context of modern society is the result of these actions. Not everyone can see beyond the paradigms that rule our current experiences, however. The present way of doing things, the systems that are in place and the apparent immutability of both obscures the vision of some.

So when someone like me, HoloLens creator Alex Kipman or Windows Insider Chief Dona Sarkar suggests that one day augmented reality (AR) smartglasses may replace the "all important" smartphone, we should be prepared for passionate resistance.

Alex Kipman says smartphones are dead

Kipman's assessment of the smartphone's status and where we are headed technologically is bold and decisive:

Kipman is a "futurist". As such he looks at current technological trends, observes the path they're forging and makes predictions about where that road will lead. He sees mixed reality, the spectrum from AR to virtual reality (VR), as becoming mainstream, emerging from the current paradigm of highly mobile computing and becoming the next personal computing and communication model.

Smartphones, the intelligent cloud, and digital assistants have made computing highly personal and mobile. Under the current smartphone model, we engage our digital experiences by staring downward, away from our world, at a tiny screen. Kipman anticipates that technology like Microsoft's AR holographic wearable computer, HoloLens, will replace our screens and merge our physical and digital worlds. From Kipman:

Dona Sarkar says staring at a smartphone screen is unnatural

A visit to any public venue will reveal a troubling scene where dozens of people of varying ages spend their time at dinner, on dates, shopping and more with their heads bowed in reverence to their smartphones.

Many people see this paradigm and the associated unnatural bowed head, swiping, tapping and zooming means of interaction as something that's here to stay. One thing about technology's evolution, however, is that more often than not, it conforms more to us than we to it.

Sarkar sees mobile technology and Microsoft's investments in ARM, cellular, HoloLens and mixed reality as producing a mobile device that replaces the smartphone and allows natural human interaction.

Dona Sarkar talks about the future of mobile.

Sarkar said:

Sarkar, like Kipman, hints that Microsoft will create a device category where our digital lives and physical worlds meet via a "screenless" mobile device that replaces the smartphone. The ultimate vision of an ultimate mobile device or "Surface phone" may be full Windows 10 AR smartglasses.

The way it was, is and always will be?

Some individuals, unable to see beyond "the now," resist the notion that things won't always be the same. Some even mock those who present an image of a future ruled by another paradigm and that follows different systems than what is currently in place.

Still, change is inevitable. The naysayers or non-dreamers barely realize they are moving forward, changing their behavior as technology slowly changes their reality.

Take telephones for instance. Home telephones became car phones, which became forearm sized mobile phones, later becoming cell phones that were pocketable bricks, and finally veritable pocket-sized, touchscreen computers or smartphones.

Over the years during that transition life continued, distracting us and the non-dreamers, as feature phones in all their dumb glory, then smartphones went from early adopter novelties to social mainstays. We lost sight of the technological wonderment the devices initially provoked as the marketing and social undertow of the "next big thing" dragged us continually to the obligatory annual upgrade.

We are easily lulled into complacency as the new, becomes the norm, the norm becomes dull, and the dull becomes "just the way things are." We're in a constant cycle of visible change.

Do you see what I see?

For non-dreamers, seeing the technological shifts, trends and behaviors that are shaping tomorrow is a difficult challenge. If what a visionary or futurist presents as an impending future differs too much from the current reality, non-dreamers often dismiss it, seemingly unable to see the breadcrumbs highlighting the way to the future.

They often do see the path once the journey is done, however, as they look back and remember when things were different.

Futurists may have that same level of awe as they look forward while observing current trends that they perceive are leading to an imminent technological shift toward smartglasses-as-phones that will change society and human interaction.

Telephony-enabled AR smartglasses

Like Sarkar and Kipman I see smartphones one day being replaced by AR smartglasses.

ODG CEO Ralph Osterhout, who's bringing the R-8 (consumer) and R-9 (business) smartglasses to market, also sees this future. Though these Android-based smartglasses don't currently have telephony, its on the product roadmap. ODG's partnership with the world's largest carrier, China Mobile (which serves 800 million people), will be strategic leverage for telephony-enabled smartglasses.

Microsoft's Sarkar and Kipman allude to AR smartglasses replacing smartphones. Other futurists including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and ODG's Osterhout see the same future. The question is who will get there first or do it smarter.

Either way, whether you see it or not, the transition is coming.

Changing a paradigm isn't easy. The inertia of the "usual way of doing things" can be very difficult to alter. This is particularly evident when you consider human behavior and the neurological, emotional, psychological and social aspects that contribute to habit formation and entrenched behavior. Couple these intangible internal human variables with technological challenges, limitations, costs and practical applications of new technology and it becomes abundantly clear why change is hard.

The concept of personal computing conjures images of someone sitting at a desk dutifully pecking away at a keyboard with eyes affixed to a screen. That vision began to undergo a metamorphosis within the last ten years, after the advent of the consumer-focused smartphone market. The mobility of smartphones combined with ever-increasing processing power and a virtual "swiss army knife" of apps has made personal computing an "anywhere" experience for "anybody" regardless of age or demographic.

The ideology of ever-present computing that has settled to the backdrop of our "new normal" has laid the groundwork for an eventual acceptance of a move of our "personal computers" from our pockets to our faces.

Heads up

Intermittent peeking at our digital world's via our smartphones has already transitioned to persistent peering at them during virtually any free (or not so free) moment. This has created a demand for smartphone etiquette, anti-texting while driving laws, a diminishing of social interactions and an appeal for people to raise their heads from their screens to interact with the people and world around them.

The coalescing of these factors are moving us toward a point where the increasingly persistent peering at our phones may be replaced with a perpetual and simultaneous viewing of a merger of our digital and physical worlds via AR smartglasses or headsets.

The consumer space isn't quite ready technologically, fiscally or socially for that shift, but the business world may be prepared to dive in head first.

Glass act

In 2012 Google introduced its slim AR headset Google Glass. The ambitious attempt to bring AR to consumers didn't meet with success, however. At $1500 the cost was prohibitive for many buyers, particularly since its limited use cases couldn't justify such an investment.

Concerns about privacy were also a barrier. The camera on Google Glass naturally led to uneasiness around surreptitious recording. Poor battery life, an aesthetically unappealing design, worries about constant exposure to radiation, no clear purpose and poor marketing also contributed to Google's shattered consumer Glass dreams.

Still, that wasn't the end of the story. For the past few years Google has continued investing in Glass and has recently divulged its enterprise focused progress and vision

Glass repair: Glass Enterprise Edition

Google Glass Enterprise Edition is a manifestation of Google's regrouping and applying its AR vision where the company felt it could succeed. For the past two years Google has worked with 30 expert partners building customized software and business solutions for Glass.

These efforts have resulted in Google forging partnerships with 50 companies such as GE, AGCO, Dignity, DHL, Volkswagon and others that have incorporated Glass within their business.

Google boasts that replacing physical manuals with text or videos viewed through Glass has increased worker's efficiency.

Glass, unlike HoloLens, is streamlined and can be attached to a regular pair of glasses or goggles. It projects information in a portion of a wearers field of view via a single display over the right eye. It does not provide the "immersive" experience the HoloLens creates via its displays in front of each eye.

Glass is also smartphone-dependent. Unlike HoloLens, it is more a smartphone accessory or peripheral, than a fully independent, self-contained computer. The less advanced Glass is likely much cheaper to make than the $3000 developer edition and $5000 enterprise editions of HoloLens.

Google has opened its enterprise Glass program to more businesses in hopes of forging additional partnerships.

HoloLens: Starting on the right foot

Microsoft, to the dismay of many fans who desperately want a HoloLens began its AR strategy by building partnerships and tailored solutions in the enterprise. Redmond accurately gauged the "lack of readiness" of the consumer space, and by skipping consumers (for the time being) avoided the disaster that befell Google with its first Glass attempt. Timing is everything.

For now, Microsoft is content to maintain its enterprise focus. The company boasts partners like NASA, the US military, the health care industry, the entertainment industry, the education sector and more.

Microsoft recently announced that the second version of HoloLens will have an AI coprocessor incorporated in the Holographic Processing Unit (HPU). The HPU is what enables the HoloLens to be the world's only fully self-contained holographic computer. This new AI coprocessor will enable the HoloLens to natively and flexibly implement deep neural networks (DNN).

The implementation of native DNN will allow the HoloLens to efficiently process the complex and enormous amounts of data that are received from the headset's range of sensors. The HoloLens, as a full Windows 10 computer, is a far more complex AR device than Google Glass. It's not dependent on any other device and is open to developers to create a range of applications that operate directly from the apparatus.

As a Windows 10 PC, users can execute familiar PC tasks on HoloLens as easily as they do enterprise-tailored AR solutions. It's a comprehensive device.

From the enterprise to the consumer

Personal computers in the workplace were critical to familiarizing users with PCs at the dawn of the personal computing era. In time use cases for Windows and productivity tools like Office began emerging for home-based scenarios. The cost and relevance challenges began falling in the face of greater consumer demand for PCs and the accompanying software. Ultimately as personal computing began to trickle, then flow to the consumer space, PC costs dropped resulting in a robust personal computing environment.

History may later reveal that smartphones and the mobile computing paradigm they introduced are a mere transitory phase to holographic or AR computing via wearables and not the mobile end game some perceive smartphones to be. To see that path one must take a long view and consider the shifts that are currently underway and not just the smartphone that is in their pockets.

During the early days of computers, there were naysayers who mocked the idea of a computer in the home. They were short-sighted. As holographic/AR computing becomes prevalent in the workplace, consumers will be made more familiar with it, and like PCs, relevance for home use may increase, and as it trickles into the consumer space costs will drop and applications for AR computing in the home will increase. Like PCs, wearable computers may become commonplace.

A PC on every face?

Microsoft's early goal was a PC on every desk and in every home. Its new goal may be a PC on every face.

The difference in this scenario is Microsoft does not have a virtual monopoly as it did with Windows, Office and the PC space. The enterprise space has two powerful companies courting it to accept two very different AR solutions. One, a full Windows 10 wearable PC, the other a light-weight Android-based wearable smartphone peripheral. We're still in the very early days of AR, and the likes of Apple, Magic Leap, and others may soon get involved.

Microsoft's advantage is that most corporate IT infrastructures run on Windows. If Microsoft leverages that position and offers HoloLens as part of the broader IT solution, it may have an edge.

AR is coming to the masses via wearable tech. Increasingly consumers will use it at work. The question is will it be Windows or Android-based? Or will Apple's ARKit be the wildcard? If Microsoft wins in the AR space, it could be the company's key back to OS dominance. Especially if Microsoft's ultimate mobile device or "Surface phone" vision ultimately is not a pocketable device at all, but is a pair of Windows 10 AR glasses with telephony.

In 2015, Microsoft introduced its untethered, wearable Windows 10 holographic computer, HoloLens. As part of Windows 10, Windows Mixed Reality (previously called Windows Holographic) was also introduced as the platform that would power AR and virtual reality (VR) experiences. Microsoft is positioning for a future of holographic computing.

To bring holographic computing to market, Microsoft began executing a methodic strategy of building partnerships and creating tailored AR experiences. This strategy resulted in HoloLens adoption in specific industries like health care, education, the U.S. military, entertainment, NASA and more. Consumers aren't part of that picture yet, but Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella said in 2015 that a consumer version of HoloLens was five years away. That would be 2020.

Apple's AR threat isn't virtual

That 2020 prediction may have been shortened to 2019 as Microsoft has skipped HoloLens version two to expedite version three. Recent reports reveal an upgrade to HoloLens with onboard AI and other enhancements. Still, there are currently just 150 HoloLens-specific apps in the Windows Store. That's an uninspiring number considering Apple's developer community.

In the wake of what Microsoft has accomplished with a holographic platform, a unique wearable computer, strategic partnerships, mindshare and developer support, Apple has boldly thrown its hat into the AR ring. With an update coming to iOS 11, hundreds of millions of iPad and iPhone users, and 16 million developers, will have access to Apple's less advanced take on AR via ARKit.

With Windows 10's install base, Microsoft's AR platform is technically over 500 million devices strong. Apple boasts its platform will surpass that. Supported by passionate developers that are already showing excitement for ARKit, Apple's deluge of AR-specific apps will likely dwarf Microsoft's 150 HoloLens-specific apps before the end of the year.

After two years of legitimate progress but "consumer silence," Microsoft's AR efforts are poised to be overshadowed by Apple's less advanced, but consumer-focused strategy. Microsoft needs an AR strategy that brings its more advanced HoloLens technology to market in a form that resonates with consumers.

HoloLens is not ready for public use

One of the advantages to Apple's AR strategy is that it utilizes the socially accepted iPhones and iPads, which people carry daily. The downside is that iPhones and iPads must be awkwardly handheld and pointed at various surfaces to "reveal" AR objects.

By contrast, HoloLens, which is comfortably worn on the head, displays holographic objects in a wearer's field of view and provides spatial sound. A user's hands are unencumbered, and via gestures, voice, and gaze he can interact with the HoloLens-generated holographic world.

Hands-free use of SketchAR for HoloLens.

Microsoft's challenge is that unlike iPhones no one carries a HoloLens around, and priced at $3,000 it's exceedingly expensive. Even if it were affordable and more people owned one the aesthetically unappealing headset is not something many self-respecting consumers (or even socially awkward geeks) would don for a trip into town. Appearing in public wearing a technologically cool wearable computer is, from a social perspective, technically uncool.

So what can Microsoft do to combat the price, social stigma and practical application challenges it faces in bringing HoloLens tech to consumers? Sure HoloLens is a wearable Windows 10 computer that can do what any other Windows PC can do. There are therefore a plethora of things for which a consumer can use it. Introducing this unique tech with too broad a scope could be confusing and intimidating, however.

Focusing on a specific category from which Microsoft can later expand is a better strategy.

For entertainment purposes only

The living room fireplace used to be the central gathering place in homes. That "fireplace experience" has been largely replaced by the TV.

Nielsen reports that for the 2016-2017 TV season there are 118 million TVs in U.S. households. Worldwide TV penetration for 2016 was 1.59 billion, and by 2021 that number is expected to be 1.68 billion. The average American spends four hours a day watching television. This amounts to 28 hours a week, two months a year and by age 65, nine whopping years of one's life.

Of the 118 million U.S. homes with televisions, Nielsen reports 23 percent use a streaming device such as a Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV or Google Chromecast. Smart TVs are also in 29 percent of U.S. homes.

In addition to these devices, 42 percent of homes own connected, streaming-capable, game consoles like Xbox, Nintendo Wii or PlayStation Nielsen claims.

In January of this year, streaming devices like Roku were used by 18 percent of American homes, for 15 days out of the month and three hours a day, reports Nielsen. Other less popular brands were used 11 days out of the month for two hours a day. Game consoles like Xbox were used the most, by 37 million households for gaming and streaming 15 days out of the month for up to 4 hours a day.

With the growing availability of broadband, connected devices are becoming increasingly popular. There are currently an estimated 673 million connected TVs worldwide, according to market researcher Statista's prediction. This internet-connected media environment where streaming and gaming abound is the prime place for Microsoft to "meet consumers where they are" with a new "type of screen."

HoloLens media for home

There's a market that Microsoft (or a competitor) can take advantage of where the stationary physical TV screen can be replaced by a virtual screen that follows the user throughout the home.

Microsoft, with the Movies and TV app, Xbox, Groove, Windows 10 and HoloLens, has the technical foundations for building a media platform with AR as the virtual screen. I envision a pared down HoloLens that has basic capabilities of projecting AR objects and has stereo sound that is less sophisticated than the spatial sound of the current HoloLens. These tradeoffs are to make this consumer version of HoloLens more affordable.

This device would be targeted at consumers as a home appliance of sorts. It would be a "modern screen" that you'd eventually pick up and put on almost thoughtlessly as you walk into your home and turn on the TV. This HoloLens would still be somewhat bulky and unappealing to wear in public. But as something meant for the home, where we comfortably walk around in raggedy robes, holey socks, hair rollers and other "not-for-public-view-attire," this fashion-challenged device fits right in.

HoloLens down the line

Microsoft could market "HoloLens Media for Home" as a tool for TV, streaming video, and gaming. I imagine that just as with the first TVs, most homes that can afford one will be able to afford just one. But in time, as costs drop, like most members of a family currently have their own TV, each member in a family will have a HoloLens.

Game streaming to HoloLens.

I imagine different people in different rooms, homes, cities, and countries watching the same program while talking to one another (with real-time translate if necessary) over the built in microphone much like a multiplayer game experience. A holographic telepresence (holoportation) is also a possibility.

The media aspects I proposed would be Microsoft's way to get HoloLens to consumers but that would not be the endgame. In time, as IoT and ambient computing becomes commonplace, the Home HoloLens may become the means by which users "see" and interact with digital interfaces of IoT appliances in the home. As the tech becomes more refined, users will venture out of their homes with the AR wearables where they will interact with digital interfaces that may begin populating the public sphere.

However, before Microsoft gets a refined HoloLens out into the public and potentially one day replaces our smartphones with it, it must meet consumers where they are now. That place is likely the central meeting place in the home: right in front of the TV.

Achieving and maintaining a leading position in the ever-shifting world of personal computing is no trivial task. Sometimes a company enters a space, becomes an industry leader, and competitive shifts or internal errors causes that company to plummet to survival mode, as Microsoft did with smartphones. Other times a company struggles from ground level and attains a respectable position in a particular industry as Microsoft did with Xbox.

Some people may attribute a company's failures to external forces while others would credit leaders for success. Success or failure is a mix of a company's leadership and industry conditions, however. Sometimes, companies succeed due to favorable industry conditions, (the failure of a competitor) despite questionable leadership. Other times, good leadership isn't enough to overcome industry forces that work in favor of rivals.

With this context in mind, let's take a look at a few leaders who are setting the strategic direction of some of the most prominent businesses at Microsoft.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Satya Nadella

Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's CEO in 2014.

"Mobile first, cloud first," where he explained "mobile" as the mobility of experiences, is Nadella's mantra. He announced at Build 2017 that, like Google, Microsoft has moved toward an AI- and cloud-focused vision, or an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge.

Nadella's cloud-focused strategy isn't only attributable to the obvious industry move toward a device-less intelligent cloud computing platform. His experience as former vice president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, a position currently held by Scott Guthrie, certainly plays a role in his affinity for the cloud.

The company's latest reorg around a cloud-focused sales and marketing core is further testimony to Nadella's vision of cloud computing, where Microsoft is second only to Amazon. Some fear this reorg expands the gap between Microsoft and the admittedly less lucrative consumer demographic. Time will tell.

Ideally, Nadella's concern for emerging markets, like his home Hyderabad, India, will continue to impact his leadership. In the past, he referenced the importance of Continuum's ability to turn a phone into a desktop for consumers for whom a smartphone is their only computer.

Nadella's reference to an ultimate mobile device and a recent statement of Microsoft's commitment to phones gives hope to Windows phone loyalists that Microsoft's cloud-focused actions are not indicative of an abandonment of mobile.

Nadella has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master's in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago.

He has three children, a son Zain and two daughters Tara and Divya, and lives in Bellevue, Washington with his wife, Anupama. Nadella's easy-going demeanor is likely influenced by the strength of character and compassion many parents with children with special needs exhibit. His son Zain has quadriplegia, and one of his daughters also has special needs.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chris Capossela

Chris Capossela is Microsoft's CMO, and he has over 25 years with the company. Capossela is passionate about fulfilling the company's mission to empower every person and organization to achieve more.

He has worked toward that goal in various capacities at Microsoft. He was a leader in the Microsoft Office division, marketing the company's productivity tools. He was also responsible for marketing and sales with OEMs, retail and operator partners with the consumer channels group.

Capossela explained Microsoft's marketing strategy of engineering one product into another. Skype as part of Office is an example. This strategy has been successful for Microsoft rivals Apple and Google, which Capossela acknowledged have better integration of products promoting other products than Microsoft.

Relative to Apple and Samsung, Microsoft strategically doesn't spend a lot on aggressive television ads. Whether that's good or bad in a consumer-driven market is up for debate.

Capossela earned a bachelor's in computer science and economics from Harvard. He's originally from Boston where as a boy he wrote a reservation program for his family's Italian restaurant. He currently lives with his wife and two daughters in Seattle.

In a previous position, Capossela helped "partners deliver new consumer experiences through Windows, Windows Phone, Office and Xbox." Microsoft's current position in mobile and the threat Apple's ARKit poses to Microsoft's AR and HoloLens investments from developer-support, mindshare, and consumer perspectives has prompted loyalists to desire more aggressive consumer-focused marketing.

Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group (WDG), Terry Myerson

Windows is core to Microsoft's personal computing strategy. Terry Myerson oversees the Windows ecosystem which includes the platform, games, apps, the Store, and Minecraft, as well as the Windows 10 family of devices, including Surface, Xbox, and HoloLens.

Myerson has the difficult challenge of ensuring the synergy of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) with a complete portfolio of Windows 10 devices that is currently missing the phone. Myerson has reiterated Microsoft's commitment to mobile but divulged little else. One can only hope that he and Microsoft are exercising "HoloLens-like" silence in relation to Nadella's ultimate mobile device, where the device remains a secret until it's time to be revealed.

Myerson earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Duke University. His wife, three children, and golden retriever live with him in Washington state.

Executive Vice President of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research Group, Harry Shum

As Executive Vice President of Microsoft's AI and Research Group, Harry Shum directs the company's AI strategy and oversees all AI-focused groups. This includes providing the company's vision for research and development, infrastructure, agents, apps and services, and providing leadership for the information, Bing and Cortana groups.

Microsoft's AI and cloud focus makes Shum's role vital in a highly competitive space where Google, Facebook, IBM, Apple and Samsung have made huge investments in AI.

Shum, who is a recognized leader in his field, joined Microsoft Research in 1996 and just this year received the honor of being elected to the National Academy of Engineering of the United States.

HoloLens creator and Technical Fellow of the OS Group, Alex Kipman

Alex Kipman is the creator of Microsoft's groundbreaking untethered, wearable holographic computer, HoloLens.

Kipman believes that the AR technology demonstrated by HoloLens will eventually replace smartphones. In fact, he has already declared the smartphone as "dead."

The Brazil-born Kipman joined Microsoft in 2001 after graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology. He has worked on Visual Studio, Windows and Xbox. Kipman is also the man behind the once very popular Kinect motion controller.

Kipman told Time magazine, "Software is the only art form in existence that is not bound by the confines of physics. You are only ever bound and constrained by lack of imagination."

Kipman's technical skills and creativity have helped the company pioneer groundbreaking AR and VR solutions via Windows Mixed Reality. Unfortunately, those lightly publicized AR efforts face a serious threat from Apple's consumer-focused AR strategy, which will be broadly known in the consumer and enterprise spaces.

Devices Chief, Panos Panay

Panos Panay is responsible for delivering the company's vision for its premium Surface hardware brand. Panay pushed a failing Surface through two iterations to the forefront as a premium industry-respected brand.

Panay is passionate when he presents the products he has labored over designing. He shared during Build 2017 that as a boy his dad taught him to be meticulous while they worked together repairing televisions. Because of what he has achieved with Surface many fans eagerly anticipate what a possible Surface phone might be.

Xbox Head, Phil Spencer

Phil Spencer joined Microsoft in 1988 after earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington. Spencer became head of the Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Xbox Video teams in 2014.

He refocused Xbox on its gaming, rather than general media device roots. Xbox as Microsoft's most successful consumer product has the elusive cool factor its other products need.

Spencer recently made headlines when he stated affordable consumer AR headsets are five to 10 years away.

Wrapping up

Microsoft has had many failures and successes over the years. Some are attributable to leadership while others were the result of outside forces. Leadership is key, however, in planning the future and navigating sudden shifts to either course correct or minimize damage.

The above leaders represent a portion of the teams that have helped bring Microsoft where it is today. If you could say something to these leaders or ask them any question what would it be?

To understand ambient computing we must first understand the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT refers to the interconnected array of computing devices, objects, and machines with unique identifiers that are capable of transferring data over a network without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

IoT is becoming a normal part of our infrastructure. As with many technologies, it is becoming the "invisible" and supportive backdrop to our daily lives, helping us to accomplish various tasks in various settings.

The IoT is comprised of devices of varying complexities and equally varied purposes. IoT devices can be internet-connected home appliances, intelligent surveillance in the community, wearable devices, smart cars, smart home speakers and more.

By 2020 there is expected to be a three-fold increase in IoT devices to 34 billion far surpassing a human population of 7.5 billion. There will be nearly five times more intelligent machines engulfing and supporting human communities than there will be people.

Companies like Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Apple and Amazon are investing in this next phase of computing which is the foundation and infrastructure for ambient computing.

Google and Microsoft

The core of IoTs evolution to ambient computing is intelligence. Companies are therefore attempting to infuse intelligence into their IoT solutions. Google has an advanced AI platform, a competitive cloud solution and recently released the Google Assistant SDK so that companies can add Google Assistant to their hardware.

Microsoft, last year demonstrated it's cloud-based supercomputer which was able to translate "three billion words across five million articles in less than a tenth of a second" using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said:

The Internet of Intelligent Things: Google, Samsung, Microsoft and the new battlefront

Microsoft's investments in the intelligent cloud, among other things, are the company's attempt to become a platform player in the internet of things. Microsoft also released the Cortana SDK enabling manufacturers to integrate its digital assistant into intelligent devices like the Harmen Kardon Invoke speaker.

Amazon and Samsung

Amazon is the world's number one cloud provider, and with Alexa, it provides the industry's leading smart home speaker. Amazon's Alexa set the bar for smart home speakers that rivals Google, Apple and Microsoft are striving to surpass.

Samsung's acquisition of startup Viv allows the company to integrate the unbounded, self-programming Viv AI not only into phones but also the 500 million products it ships each year. Additionally, Samsung's Harman acquisitioin gives it an advantage with intelligent cars and other connected solutions as seen in the video below:

Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung Electronics HARMAN said: "We see transformative opportunities in the car – and a future which seamlessly connects lifestyle across automotive, home, mobile and work."

Apple

Compared to competitors Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, Apple's iCloud is barely a blip as a cloud competitor. The company does, however, have industry support with intelligent home solutions, CarPlay — the company's in-car personal computing solution — and the upcoming Home Pod intelligent speaker.

Additionally, its partnership with IBM suggests a potential integration of Big Blue's industry-leading AI and IoT resources with Apple's aggressive consumer- and increasingly enterprise-focused strategies.

These and other companies are permeating our world with connected appliances, embedded computers, and intelligent cloud solutions. This nearly all-encompassing, intelligent computing environment is the foundation and framework of ambient computing.

Ambient computing taking shape

When the components of the IoT are in place and move from collecting and transferring information to using that information intelligently, computing has become ambient. In other words, ambient computing is when the computers and electronics within our environment can sense and respond to our presence and needs.

Various technological systems are crucial to enabling ambient computing. Embedded devices position deeply integrated computers throughout our communities. Context awareness enables devices to recognize users as well as their context. Personalization allows devices to fit specific needs. Adaptive technology allows devices to change in response to a user's needs. And anticipatory capabilities allow devices or systems to act proactively on a user's behalf.

Microsoft demonstrates AI-powered surveillance technology.

Together these technologies are represented in increasingly intelligent consumer-focused devices including smartphones, smart home hubs, intelligent car systems, wearables and more. Intelligent systems are also part of businesses and commercial and public infrastructure. Microsoft's AI-powered surveillance technology which can recognize people, places, things, and context and can act proactively is an example of advanced (and potentially intrusive) IoT solutions.

Ambient computers bringing the digital and physical worlds together

Ambient computing is happening all around us. As the intelligent cloud becomes more of a consistent backdrop to or personal and professional digital experiences the more our digital and physical worlds will merge. This progression will result in more natural interactions between humans and intelligent systems that can perceive us.

Powered by vision, hearing, emotion and a host of other cognitive services the computers that permeate our world will evolve in their ability to understand and proactively respond to our needs.

Microsoft's Cognitive Services and AI everywhere vision are making AI in our image

This is a vision of what the ambient computing digital/physical world may look like.

Not only will intelligent systems evolve in their capacity to perceive and interact with the physical world, but AR glasses or headsets will enable humans to see and interact with digital components of the IoT-based ambient computing environment that surround us. The digital and physical worlds will further merge as a result.

Ambient computing's future

Virtual reality (VR) will also enable us to delve into an immersive virtual representation of the digital world. Programming, problem-solving and other applications where users "exist" as an avatar on the digital plane and affect real code that manifests as real changes in the real world are already possibilities.

Code Builder for Microsoft's Minecraft for Education where students are taught to code using the wildly popular game is an example of this:

Ambient computing is much bigger than smart home appliances. It the intelligent computing platform based on the billions of devices that are part of the IoT that can perceive and interact with humans. As ambient computing evolves, the future of computing will become less device dependent or device-less.

Is quantum computing a genie we will wish we kept in the bottle

It will also become more pervasive and will know users across various contexts from home, work and even public places where connected devices act as a portal to an intelligent cloud that is managing our digital experiences.

Are you ready for such a future?

Also read:

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How Microsoft's mixed reality strategy may augment its Home Hub and IoT visions

Pre-2007 Microsoft was content targeting businesses with cumbersome, stylus-dependent smartphones sporting physical keyboards. Those precursors to modern smartphones could play music, surf the web, take pictures and run apps.

Apple didn't invent the "MP3 player-internet device-phone" combination former Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced in 2007.

The iPhone was simply a refinement of a preexisting model. The removal of the keyboard, the introduction of the App Store and most importantly targeting consumers put Apple and the iPhone at the forefront of a mobile revolution. Microsoft has been scrambling for mobile relevance ever since. With Apple's move into AR history may repeat itself.

Here we go again

In 2015 Microsoft introduced HoloLens and Windows Holographic (now called Windows Mixed Reality). Microsoft's untethered wearable Windows 10 computer projects holograms onto the real world in a wearer's field of view. It also provides spatial sound. With gaze, gesture and speech interaction HoloLens is the most advanced AR solution in the industry.

Windows Mixed Reality APIs are also part of Windows 10, which makes it a growing AR platform 500 million devices strong.

As it did with smartphones, Microsoft has focused its AR efforts on the enterprise and specific industries. Consumers have not been part of the equation.

Now, as in 2007, Apple has introduced a consumer-focused AR solution with ARKit for iOS 11. With hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads as its medium, Apple's AR solution may be adopted, popularized and mainstreamed among consumers faster than the iPhone was. Microsoft may find itself scrambling for relevance yet again.

Microsoft can't sit idly by while its HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality AR investments are buried beneath the coming deluge of media coverage, apps and business uses of Apple's AR move. Microsoft needs to go all-in with both a mobile and AR solution that addresses the consumer space.

It will be a gamble, but doing nothing is certain defeat. Microsoft should launch a Surface phone with a pen and AR glasses in 2018. There I said it.

Microsoft, all in is the only option

Microsoft's careful advance into AR, building partnerships, developer support and practical applications in various industries was a smart move. Having NASA, the US military, Legendary Entertainment, the education sector, car dealerships, health care and more as HoloLens and AR partners is great for Microsoft and its platform. It's just not enough.

The mainstreaming of personal computing has shifted the balance of influence. Increasingly consumers, not the enterprise, are dictating what technologies are adopted and ultimately succeed. Microsoft's absence from the AR consumer space makes it irrelevant to consumers and consequently irrelevant to developers. Get it? Even with Microsoft's presence in niche markets, with enough consumer and developer critical mass Apple's AR solution may make HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality AR as irrelevant as the iPhone made Windows phone.

Microsoft should continue investing in niche markets but must add an aggressive consumer component. A massive awareness-building television campaign would show consumers and the enterprise what it's doing with AR and HoloLens. Telling its AR story could generate interest, mindshare, and demand for its AR solution. In consumers eyes, Microsoft's more sophisticated and mature solution would make Apple's look elementary by comparison. Microsoft needs to establish that edge, and they can easily afford to set these wheels in motion.

Microsoft could begin this campaign this year before Apple's AR apps hit the market and continue into 2018. This campaign would be the prelude to Microsoft's 2018 AR glasses and ultimate mobile device.

Microsoft's ultimate mobile device augmented with AR

Microsoft must put the weight of the entire company behind Surface phone. As a device that I presume will benefit from a synergy of technologies such as inking, AI, gaming, CShell, Continuum, mixed reality and more, inter-department collaboration is a must.

The strategy and marketing teams are also essential to positioning and marketing this ultramobile Surface. This "ultimate mobile device" must appeal to all market segments: consumers, the enterprise, and gamers. Microsoft must go all in.

If it launches, the Surface phone is expected in 2018. The next version of HoloLens is planned for 2019. I believe the ultramobile Surface should launch with both pen support and AR glasses in 2018 to further differentiate and to bring an AR product to market.

I don't mean a HoloLens headset with all the bells and whistles. I'm suggesting paired down, device-dependent AR glasses, based on HoloLens tech that will provide users with a basic but useful AR experience.

Just as the Surface Pen works synergistically with the Surface, these AR glasses can do the same with the Windows 10 ultramobile Surface PC. I imagine glasses that connect wirelessly (or wired when sitting) to an ultramobile Surface or any Windows 10 PC for that matter. They would be capable of displaying 3D images, alerts, and apps in the user's field of view and would have limited sensors for detecting motion and one's surroundings.

Microsoft can make the apps for that

As the world's leading software developer Microsoft can support its ecosystem by creating a broad suite of exclusive Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and AR-specific productivity, utility, gaming and entertainment apps. These high-quality apps can bear the Surface branding, like the Lumia apps of the past, and would be software equivalents of the esteemed Surface hardware.

Microsoft should begin developing, releasing and marketing these apps now. This level of commitment as a developer of exclusive apps for its own platform would convey to developers and consumers that Microsoft is serious about Windows, mobile and AR.

If the AR apps combined with the ultramobile Surface and AR "Surface" glasses is a compelling experience, consumers may be drawn to Windows, just as gamers are drawn to consoles because of exclusive games.

Microsoft's productivity legacy, Xbox and Windows gaming platforms, and Microsoft Garage are resources that can be drawn on to develop a broad range of engaging UWP and AR-specific apps. Real-time translation, facial-recognition, weather, and mapping are just some AR apps Microsoft could launch as seen here:

Microsoft's full commitment to creating a host of AR games, utility, and entertainment apps would make its AR solution practical, appealing and inspiring to developers.

Get it to market then iterate

AR glasses connected to an ultramobile Surface will be wrought with engineering challenges. Power consumption, modes of interaction, display quality, cost and more are valid considerations.

Still two years ago Microsoft introduced HoloLens, the first fully untethered wearable holographic computer. The company has since learned more about the technology and its applications and have skipped version two to jump to an even more advanced version three.

Microsoft has likely gleaned enough knowledge from HoloLens to enable it to build a far less sophisticated set of AR glasses that require connection to a separate device but can provide useful and engaging AR experiences. I understand Microsoft likely wants to wait until it can blow everyone's minds with a full consumer version of HoloLens, but the market won't give Microsoft that chance. Apple is on the move.

This ARKit-created virtual measuring tape for iPhone is the type of app that would be more practical viewed hands-free via AR glasses:

Apple's 16 million developers and hundreds of millions of iOS users are poised to mainstream AR in Apple's image with little to no resistance from Redmond. This can't be what Microsoft want's after its pioneering AR investments.

Just do it

Microsoft, give us a Continuum-enabled ultimate mobile device with CShell that has the support of the entire company, showcases a synergy of technologies and appeals to consumers, gamers, and the enterprise. Include a pen and AR glasses to highlight Windows 10 innovations in inking and AR.

Support UWP and Windows Mixed Reality with high-quality first-party apps. Most of all, do what Apple did with iPhone and what it's doing with AR: get the ultramobile Surface and AR glasses to market, then iterate.

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Spencer said:

The good news is Microsoft seems committed to realizing its "holographic computing for everyone" vision. The bad news is that five to 10 years without a consumer-facing AR device in the market could be disastrous for Microsoft's mindshare among consumers.

Apple's ARKit for iOS 11 will bring augmented reality to hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users beginning this fall. Though crude, cumbersome and elementary by HoloLens standards, it is "AR" nonetheless.

I'm convinced Apple's strategy is meant to build developer support, an ecosystem of AR apps and consumer demand for an eventual AR headset or glasses. While Apple is dominating mainstream and tech news cycles with its evolving AR solution, Microsoft's more advanced HoloLens and industry-specific Windows Mixed Reality AR accomplishments may be relegated, as they are now, to the shadows.

Even without a consumer version of HoloLens, if Microsoft seizes the opportunity obscurity doesn't have to be its fate.

Making marketing a priority

According to an internal company memo from Corporate Vice President of Windows and Devices Yusuf Mehdi, Window Mixed Reality which powers both virtual reality (VR) and AR, will get a big marketing push later this year:

Mehdi's creation of a dedicated marketing team for Windows Mixed Reality reflects the importance of AR and VR to Microsoft and its intent to be a major player in these markets. Also, since Windows Mixed Reality includes both VR and AR, a reasonable expectation is that the new marketing team will aggressively market both platforms, though Microsoft's AR investments are not yet consumer-focused.

Marketing AR is a must

We know that the fully immersive VR experiences that Microsoft's partners will bring to market via mixed reality VR headsets will get a push this holiday season.

Without a consumer-focused AR product, however, how will Microsoft market AR experiences, where holograms are overlayed on the real world, as we see with HoloLens? This question is particularly relevant since Spencer stressed the consumer investments Microsoft is making in VR while downplaying HoloLens and emphasizing its "not-designed-for-consumers" status:

Where does this leave Hamren's focus as the corporate vice president responsible for marketing VR and AR? Can Microsoft market its AR platform without consumer-facing AR hardware? I think so.

Augmenting the AR conversation

News that HoloLens version two will be skipped to "accelerate version three" saw a mixed reception. Some believe any new product, while development continues, is better than no product at all. Others see the arrival of version three a year earlier, in 2019 rather than 2020, as being worth the sacrifice of version two.

The question is what will HoloLens version three be? In 2015, Nadella stated that a consumer version of the category-defining wearable computer was five years away. That would have been 2020. Will that consumer HoloLens be the version three we are now expecting in 2019?

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in 2015 that HoloLens is a five-year journey.

Though Spencer's statements of an affordable, capable and scalable consumer AR headset being five to 10 years out were not an official statement of Microsoft's timeline, it raises two questions: Has development been slower than Nadella initially expected, pushing the delivery of a consumer version of HoloLens out by up to ten years? Or is Spencer's vision more advanced than what Nadella sees as a sufficiently capable and still valid consumer headset that could be available in 2019?

More streamlined in time

Spencer also said the following:

Spencer sees consumer AR wearables as not giving users the feeling they're wearing a helmet. Perhaps what Nadella envisions for an initial consumer HoloLens will be just as "geeky" as the VR headsets that Microsoft and its partners are pushing to consumers this year.

A less streamlined, "helmet-like" consumer HoloLens could simply be an iterative step on a roadmap toward what Spencer describes. It's inevitable, after all, that this technology will become more streamlined, batteries will become more efficient and processors and "displays" more powerful. With that in mind, if Microsoft can release suitable consumer versions of HoloLens which naturally improve over time, perhaps it should.

Microsoft must market its AR story

Whatever the 2019 version of HoloLens turns out to be and any versions that follow will be important. Equally as important is the messaging or the story Microsoft tells to give its AR efforts context.

Most consumers are being educated to believe that AR is limited to the two-dimensional overlay of digital artifacts on the real world, as viewed through the limited window of a mobile device. The popularity of Pokemon Go and the coming deluge of "AR" apps via iOS 11's ARkit are and will be responsible for this very limited understanding of AR's current and potential capabilities.

Hamren has the unique opportunity and responsibility to forge a message, a story, about Microsoft's AR endeavors that entices both consumers and the enterprise. She can lead the Mixed Reality Marketing Team to promote, through an engaging campaign, the encompassing environment of 3D holograms as viewed through the head-mounted HoloLens.

She can also emphasize the multisensory approach of Microsoft's AR investment that includes spatial sound. Combined with 3D objects, HoloLens also creates an ambient audio experience. Gesture, voice and gaze interaction are parts of the story, as well.

Even without a consumer version of HoloLens, Microsoft should run an aggressive television campaign that shows consumers and businesses what entities like NASA, the US Military, auto dealerships, the education sector, health care, entertainment, private developers and more are doing with it and Windows Mixed Reality.

Microsoft's AR story is ready to be told

HoloLens and AR are more than concepts. They're a reality with real-world, even life-saving, uses today as seen in the video below. Microsoft needs to tell its AR story. Now.

HoloLens is used to train doctors in life-saving procedures.

As consumers hear the story, it'll build excitement, awareness, mindshare and potential demand for how Microsoft is using the technology. It would also set a high bar for what consumers and enterprise will "understand" AR to be. If Microsoft begins such a campaign now, when Apple launches iOS 11 "AR" apps this fall, consumers will naturally compare Microsoft's far more advanced solution to Apple's offering.

In conjunction with this ongoing campaign, perhaps Microsoft should launch a consumer AR wearable as early as 2019. What do you think?

Microsoft is reinventing Windows as a platform for creators via a host of innovations such as Paint 3D. And though Redmond boasted it's bringing 3D to everyone at the October 2016 reveal, consumers don't know that because Microsoft isn't telling them.

Conversely, tech enthusiasts know all about Microsoft's vision for creators which includes Paint 3D, the Fall Creators Update, the innovative Surface devices, HoloLens and mixed reality and the recent Creators Update. Microsoft's Creators Updates are bringing new features to Windows while HoloLens leads the industry's charge into mixed (virtual and augmented) reality.

With these tools, Microsoft's creating a robust platform for creators of varying skill levels. Sadly most "regular" consumers don't know any of this. Even those with the Creators Update may be unaware of Microsoft's reimagining of a Windows classic, Microsoft Paint, with Paint 3D:

Paint 3D makes "creating" on a Windows PC using touch and a pen an entirely new and robust, yet simple experience.

Furthermore, as part of Microsoft's strategy to implement 3D throughout Windows and to bring 3D to everyone it is core to Microsoft's vision for the Creators Updates. It's therefore ironic (even confusing) that Microsoft isn't doing more to promote Paint 3D to consumers.

Microsoft, you get out what you put in

Microsoft's repositioning of Windows as a creators and mixed reality platform, implementing system-wide inking, and refocusing on gaming with game mode and Mixer are a reflection of it's attempt at a renewed commitment to consumers.

Sadly, most consumers have no clue Microsoft has made that commitment. Nor do they realize Windows is being reimagined as a platform to appeal to the creator in all of us.

If Microsoft's relying on users discovering new Windows features, and subsequently understanding and then embracing its creators vision, the company may be unpleasantly surprised when that doesn't happen.

Microsoft, you gotta show 'em

Microsoft's challenge as a historically enterprise-focused company is communicating with consumers. According to Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela, the company has focused on a marketing strategy which relies on the integration of products as a means to promote other products. Think Skype integration in Office.

This marketing strategy relies on users discovering one product by using another. It's not the aggressive "in your face" marketing method that's needed to introduce consumers to and educate them on Microsoft's expanded vision of Windows-as-a-creators-platform.

Microsoft hasn't abandoned its forte; it's simply positioned new creation tools alongside the familiar productivity-focused tools like Office. Just as Microsoft historically equipped consumers for traditional productivity, it now also sees us as creators and is equipping us accordingly.

Paint 3D is just part of the picture

Ben Reed of Microsoft's Windows Next Generation Experiences Team demonstrates how Microsoft is "enabling the creator in all of us" with Paint 3D in the video below:

Paint 3D's a familiar yet powerful tool that Microsoft can market to introduce its "creators" vision to the masses. This isn't just about Paint 3D, however. It's about Microsoft taking the initiative to tell consumers about Paint 3D, mixed reality, gaming and more which are part of its expanding vision for Windows.

Rather than hoping consumers will discover these new features Microsoft must be proactive in establishing mindshare for each.

And a little child shall lead them

Windows Chief Terry Myerson expressed that the next generation of children inspired the creators vision for Windows.

Myerson observed children's affinity for and fluency with complex 3D content creation and sharing. He also shared that children are an indicator for what's coming next in personal computing. Microsoft is, therefore, building features into Windows that are forward-looking and currently relevant as seen here:

The skills displayed by Microsoft's partners in the above video may intimidate those who don't fancy themselves as an artist, musician or some other professional creator. However, whether we're using Windows to create a symphony, painting, sketch, PowerPoint or even a document Microsoft says we're all creators.

How will Microsoft convince the masses of this vision? Windows and Office trickled from the enterprise to homes organically. It was also virtually unchallenged; thus, aggressive marketing wasn't required. That strategy won't work here.

Paint 3D, the bridge to Microsoft's creators vision

In a personal computing past dominated by traditional enterprise and desktop productivity, Microsoft Paint was fun and useful but also intentionally overshadowed by Office. Today, content creation and sharing are parallel to traditional productivity, thus Microsoft's vision ideally gives Paint 3D a front row seat in Windows.

Paint 3D embodies Microsoft's mission to make Windows a creative platform for everyone. It's available to the masses, easy to use, allows 3D creations to be integrated into other products and with Remix 3D, provides a community for users to share creations.

It's an easy onramp to Microsoft's modern vision for Windows. Moreover, as a tool for creating 3D objects, it opens the door to Windows Mixed Reality.

Mainstreaming 3D with smartphones

Microsoft even created a mobile app called Windows Capture 3D Experience. The cross-platform app (with the consumer-unfriendly name) will allow users to scan an object with their phone's camera to create a 3D representation of that object that can be edited, integrated into other programs and shared. Microsoft's General Manager, Megan Saunders, demos this app on an HP Elite x3 in the video below:

The app isn't yet available, but it demonstrates Microsoft's innovative vision. The ability to use smartphones to memorialize 3D representations of experiences and ultimately edit and share them as easily as we routinely do 2D images is a big step forward.

Unfortunately, Microsoft is slow to bring products to consumers and may be beaten to market by rivals.

Appeal to kids, parents will follow

Microsoft needs to become aggressive in making consumers aware of its creators vision and Paint 3D's role in it. Children, the inspiration for the updates, may be the key.

Most parents have experienced their child's incessant begging for some toy or food they saw advertised or a friend has. Advertisers who target children know that by creating demand with kids, adults with purchasing power subsequently become aware of a product and may potentially purchase it.

Microsoft already knows that children have an affinity for creating, manipulating and sharing 3D content. The company needs to appeal to that quality with an aggressive campaign that promotes Paint 3D and Microsoft's creators vision for Windows.

Microsoft's campaign should showcase use cases that appeal to both children and adults as seen in the YouTube video above. Children's demand for the product will increase adult's awareness of the same.

Paint 3D, the path to Windows Mixed Reality

Though informative, Microsoft cannot rely on YouTube videos to convey its vision. The viewers of those videos are primarily techies who search for or happen upon them in tech articles. To reach ordinary consumers, Microsoft must "force" TV commercials in front them.

Additionally, as the herald for Microsoft's 3D-for-everyone strategy, Microsoft's marketing of Paint 3D would be a push for its Windows-as-a-creators-platform and mixed reality vision.

Saunders said of capturing 3D objects from the real world:

Paint 3D is key to Microsoft's strategy to make consumers creators not just viewers of mixed reality content. Given Microsoft's emphasis of mixed reality it is mind-boggling the company is putting so little effort behind marketing Paint 3D.

Now a visit to a local Microsoft store can give you access to a world where alien robots burst through walls. Well, that's as long as you've donned Microsoft's HoloLens. The presence of digital elements in our physical world is a reality.

Microsoft's goal, as seen in the company's vision of a scuba diver's augmented POV in the video below, is to provide a platform where holographic computing is applied in a variety of scenarios.

Redmond envisions a future where fluid interaction with digital elements that populate our world, augment our perceptions and provide additional information about our environment is the norm.

First things first: Holo-foundation

HoloLens is Microsoft's untethered wearable computer that showcases the augmented-reality extreme of Redmond's Windows Holographic mixed-reality vision.

Head Mounted Displays (HMD's) like those coming from Acer, Asus HP, Dell and Lenovo will showcase the Virtual Reality extreme of that vision. VR opposed to AR's overlaying of digital artifacts onto the real world, immerses a user in a virtual environment.

Microsoft's Windows Holographic platform (as part of Windows 10) is being positioned to mainstream AR and VR. Redmond is working to democratize the technology so that everyone has access to it. Affordable AR glasses, I believe, are the long-term goal.

Ambient computing, interfaces in our faces

To understand Microsoft's augmented reality goal, we must consider their ambient computing goal. Ambient computing refers to computing that is part of our environment and not restricted to a localized device such as a desktop PC. Static sedentary computing is personal computing's past.

I expounded on Microsoft's vison of a device-less future in October 2015:

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has been reinforcing his mobility of experiences vision since he took the helm in 2014. The mobility of a user's digital experiences, not the mobility of our devices is the focus. You are the hub. The Cloud, as an intelligent omnipresent backend, powers these experiences and conveys them across devices. Microsoft's cloud-based services, Universal Windows Platform and Windows 10 family of devices are foundational to this vision. They, however, are not the totality of the mobility of experiences vision.

Microsoft's platform company, "do more" vision, includes every medium through which a user's digital experiences will travel. Thus, a countless array of Internet of Things devices, which Microsoft is determined to infuse with intelligence, are also part of Redmond's mobile strategy.

Connected devices are expected to reach 34 billion by 2020. Microsoft hopes its intelligent cloud, Cortana and bots will be the platform for the majority of those devices. In time, IoT devices may permeate our environment and "know" us at work, in public, and at home. This is Microsoft's (and its rival's) goal.

Seeing the screen-less interface

Microsoft's Home Hub strategy will utilize low-cost ARM-based devices with screens that give us a visual interface to communicate with the IoT:

There will, however, also be millions of devices in our general environment and many in our homes that will be screen-less. Voice will be one way to interact with these devices as Microsoft's investment's in far-field communication indicates. Vision and motion I believe will be another.

I believe augmented reality will enable us to "see" digital interfaces and the data associated with screen-less devices. It's conceivable that companies like Microsoft envision a world where the IoT will have both a physical and digital make-up. Not unlike a human being can have a physical body and an invisible soul. This digital component would be visible with AR glasses (that would connect to devices) and could be interacted with via gestures like those we currently see employed with HoloLens.

In the video below London designer, Keiichi Matsuda, explains a vision of AR that helps us visualize this concept.

I contend that Microsoft's IoT and augmented reality visions are not independent of one another. I believe Redmond's goal is that holographic computing will supplement the ambient computing platform IoT may make ubiquitous.

Microsoft shares their vision

Microsoft has produced several videos over the years that provide inspiring imagery of incredible technological vision. At the time of the videos releases most of their content seemed like science fiction. I recently noted, however, that the videos foreshadowed technology that ultimately became a reality.

Continuum, OS-level digital inking, real-time language translation, 3D computing, computer vision and more were once mere concepts in Microsoft's future vision videos. They are all now real.

The following future vision video which shows a woman using AR glasses (0:01 mark) and a young girl interacting with holographic images at home (4:23 mark) may hint at Microsoft's IoT/AR computing vision.

The realization of this vision is years away, but its foundation is being laid by the industry's fervent embrace of AR and a battle for IoT dominance among the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Samsung.

An all-encompassing ambient computing environment that will be a composite of physical and digital structures is before us. AI that will recognize and "perceive" us via those intelligent devices may work in concert with AR glasses that will allow us to perceive and give us the option to interact with the "digital extensions" and "digital interfaces" of those devices.

Mobile is bigger than we think

Microsoft's IoT, Home Hub and AR visions are components of its mobility of experiences vision. Redmond's vision of facilitating a user's digital experience goes beyond the PC, phone, HoloLens and other members of the Windows 10 device family. The IoT computers that will permeate our environment and help us "do more" at work and play are part of Microsoft's mobile vision.

If Microsoft is successful, rather than a hodge-podge of disparate devices, its single cloud-based intelligent platform will be a singular intelligence linking a bulk of the IoT.

What might that content-saturated digital world look like through augmented reality glasses?

By then Microsoft's high-profile, untethered, AR wearable computer, HoloLens, will be three years old. Microsoft's earlier arrival to the market, however, is no guarantee that Redmond's answer to AR will win over Cupertino's much later arrival.

Microsoft was first to tablets and smartphones after all, and we know how that turned out. Still, Redmond seems to have learned a lesson or two from its former lax approach to hardware that resulted in the company being beaten at its own game on more than one occasion.

With HoloLens Microsoft has taken a strategically calculated approach to the market by introducing it to specific industries and for specific use cases. This tailored approach has garnered passionate developer support for Windows Holographic. Moreover, Microsoft's nurturing of partner relationships to bring HoloLens-like hardware to market will further help Microsoft's ecosystem become the industry's platform for mix-reality (the continuum from augmented to virtual reality).

With such a strategically comprehensive approach and an undeniable lead, does Microsoft have anything to fear from a potential AR headset from Apple? Candidly speaking: yes.

Apple is as Apple does

Apple's CEO Tim Cook had the following to say of AR this Summer:

Apple employs a strategic approach to the market that helps the company minimize financial and perception risks that more daring company's like Google and Microsoft may incur.

Cupertino often makes minor (relatively speaking) investments in a field while it watches and learns from the successes and failures of companies that make heavier and earlier investments in an unproven area.

Others test the viability of new technology in the market, allowing Apple to then glean what works while avoiding what doesn't. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg recently stated this strategy this way:

Apple is a consumer company. Before it invests deeply in a technology, it must see a path to bringing that tech directly to the mass consumer market in a consumer-friendly form. With sixty-percent of its revenue coming from the iPhone, in a saturated market, Apple is under pressure to diversify, but must do so with minimal risk.

If a company builds an AR headset and that company isn't Apple, did it happen?

Cupertino lacks the breadth of products, services and infrastructure that Microsoft has as a consumer and enterprise platform company. Redmond has been able to take advantage of its deep-reaching relationships as the default computing platform in the enterprise to take the long road to the consumer space by refining and proving HoloLens and Windows Holographic in the private sector.

If reports are true Apple's AR glasses will work in concert with the ever-popular iPhone, much like the Apple Watch does today. When we consider history and the fact that the iPhone is still seen by many in the industry and the media as the industry's standard, Microsoft's mindshare with AR could be in jeopardy. Particularly in the ever-important consumer space.

Historically, an accessory, like the Watch, that treats the iPhone as a hub for a user's digital experiences receives profound media coverage and a tremendous marketing push from Apple. Apple Watch news saturated both tech and mainstream media mainstreaming the idea of a smartwatch for non-techies. If history's any indication of what may occur with Apple branded AR glasses, the resulting phenomenon may propel Apple's AR efforts to the forefront of not only tech but also mainstream news.

Conversely, as profound an accomplishment as the self-contained, wearable holographic computer HoloLens is, few non-techies know it exists. Furthermore, with a first-party consumer-facing version not expected until about 2020 per Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, Apple's simpler, iPhone-dependent AR glasses may reach consumers two years before HoloLens does. Granted, Microsoft partners may bring a consumer-facing AR headset to market before or around the same time as Apple's rumored time frame. It is unlikely, however, they will get the type of mindshare-grabbing marketing or media coverage Apple's efforts will engender.

Four Eyes

There was a time when glasses were considered unfashionable. Now people with 20/20 vision wear non-prescription lenses to look chic.

HoloLens is a full Windows 10 computer that can be worn comfortably on one's head. That's a tremendous engineering feat, but no one will be walking around publically sporting those sci-fi-looking goggle computers.

We've no idea how Apple's AR glasses will look. We do know that it will likely be iPhone-dependent, Apple is obsessive about the aesthetic beauty of its hardware and Cupertino's goal is to bring AR to the consumer market in a user-friendly form. Simply put, they'll be something Joe Consumer would wear.

Apple's massive developer ecosystem will also likely ensure practical everyday uses early on. Furthermore, because a person's personal phone often becomes their business phone via BYOD, the iPhone has a dominant presence in the enterprise. Thus, the iPhone may become Apple's portal for AR into the enterprise and with that a corresponding proliferation of industry-specific iOS AR apps.

The popularity of the iPhone, BYOD and likely aesthetically pleasing AR glasses may be positioning Apple's AR strategy to threaten HoloLen's budding enterprise presence.

Still ahead of the game

Microsoft's mixed-reality strategy is not only more comprehensive than Apple's, but it's already here. Now. HoloLens and Windows Holographic are in the hands of developers and is in use in various industries. Moreover, Microsoft's cognitive services such as facial recognition and vision APIs are more advanced than Apple's current facial recognition implementations in its camera app.

These technologies, in addition to the 3D scanning tech demoed at Microsoft's Oct 26th event, will likely find a way into a number of augmented reality scenarios.

Still, the iPhone's dual camera system and Apple's purchase of Metaio and PrimeSense may point to a future evolution of AR within iOS. No matter how far ahead Redmond may be, like the hare who lost the race to the tortoise, I think Microsoft has learned not to sleep on its lead.

Related Must Read:

Live Photos, 3D Touch & Universal Apps: Apple hijacks Microsoft's lingo

Of course, at the time no one could get one. The hardware was unfinished, and the tools in Windows Holographic, a new component of Windows 10, which would allow developers to build holographic apps had yet to be to be released.

But even then I knew that HoloLens and Windows Holographic would have a profound impact on Microsoft and the future of personal computing. Developer's adoption of the platform and manufacturer partnerships for HoloLens-like wearable computers are core to Microsoft's vision. Microsoft fellow Alex Kipman explains:

As partners have emulated the Surface with affordable 2-in-1s, Microsoft's goal is to foster an explosion of untethered wearable holographic computers for everyone!

A new perspective

Bringing Holographic computing to the masses isn't as easy as a "show the world today and change the world tomorrow" strategy. The hardware, the platform and the way we think about personal computing requires a systematic, deliberate and strategic shift. This takes time.

When Microsoft introduced HoloLens it seemed like a science fiction fantasy to onlookers. "Could this untethered wearable computer projecting holograms into the user's world be real?" Moreover, could it really be "uncool" Microsoft, that is presenting this artifact from the future? The answer to both questions was: Yes.

HoloLens and Windows Holographic not only took the industry by surprise, but the ambition it represents as a bold new personal computing platform have many proclaiming Redmond as innovative in a way that Apple and Google are not. Apple's Tim Cook recently acknowledged the importance of augmented reality (Apple is rumored to be working on their own AR headset) and Google has made investments in the mysterious Magic Leap — are they playing catch-up?

The industry is still wrapping its heads around the implications and potential of Microsoft's holographic platform. Furthermore, developers are challenging their imaginations with its boundary-crossing nature. Potential hardware partners are, no doubt, entertaining strategies that will help bring wearable holographic computers to the masses.

A long road to the masses

Microsoft wants to get holographic computing right. They want Windows Holographic to be the industry's platform for this new way of computing. That's one of the reasons "holographic APIs are enabled inside every Windows 10 build." Moreover, Microsoft wants hardware partners to manufacture holographic computers patterned after the $3000 aspirational HoloLens.

Thus, to build an infrastructure of support, Microsoft has engaged in a tempered approach to the market. Redmond has demonstrated the efficacy of the technology first in specific industries and with specific use cases before launching haphazardly to the masses.

The progress in education, science and other sectors reflect Redmond's dedication to the platform. Though a first-party consumer version is still at least three to four years away according to Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, Windows Holographic is inching into the mainstream via Virtual Reality.

HP, ASUS, Lenovo, Acer and Dell have recently committed to bringing affordable VR headsets, which use elements of Windows Holographic, to market. Starting at $299 these headsets and partnerships represent both the adoption of Microsoft's holographic platform by manufacturers and a possible progression of these partnerships toward HoloLens-like AR headsets.

At $3000 the price is not right

A $3000 HoloLens, like the $3000 Surface Studio, is not accessible to most people. In fact, Redmond's aspirational first-party devices are not meant to be.

They're intended to inspire manufacturing partners to emulate the synergy of software and hardware exemplified on first-party hardware.

The success of 2-in-1s and the introduction of the Surface Studio-Like PC from Dell so soon after the Studio's debut are good signs manufacturers recognize Redmond's Windows 10 device family vision.

Windows Chief Terry Myerson is excited to see this vision realized at WinHEC in relation to helping manufacturers bring HoloLens-like PCs to the masses:

Microsoft's holographic computing vision is on a path to becoming reality.

From virtual dream to reality

Kipman had this to say of Windows Holographic:

The combination of developer's passion for the software and the coming democratization of the hardware may bring Microsoft's holographic personal computing vision to fruition.

It'll be interesting to see if partners will bring wearable holographic PCs to consumers ahead of Microsoft's self-imposed first-party timetable of about 2020.

Alcatel introduced the consumer-focused Windows Mobile Idol 4S though Microsoft's Windows Mobile vision is enterprise-focused after all. Microsoft's partners have their own strategies for the Windows platforms. A consumer-focused HoloLens-like PC just might be at the fore-front of a manufacturers personal computing strategy.

Would you buy an affordable third-party holographic PC if one debuted in the near future?

Related reading:

What Hololens means for Microsoft and the future of personal computing

If you're anything like me, that quote is familiar to you. It's the ominous warning of Star Trek's cybernetic hive mind-connected Borg, meant to communicate the hopelessness of escape to those the unrelenting race has determined to assimilate.

As I shared in in the first part of this extended editorial, though Microsoft is not a species-devouring cybernetic antagonist, the company ambition, and aggression equals that of the fictional Borg. In their passionate pursuit to rule personal computing the business has grown beyond the founding dream of putting a PC on every desk as Satya Nadella states here:

The company's current manifestation is a firm pursuing the dominant position in the new of age personal computing. Microsoft has now become an aggressive advocate of Windows 10 as an all-encompassing form-factor agnostic platform as discussed in part one of this series. The firm is also positioned as an ever-growing provider of a cloud-based platform for individual and enterprise digital experiences. These shifts combined with Redmond's position as an aggressive provisioner of cross-platform mobile apps is Microsoft's ambitious positioning of itself as the "platform for platforms" upon which personal computing will occur.

About the company's pursuit to rule personal computing, Microsoft is making clear it's intent: Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Windows and Beyond

Microsoft's goal with Windows 10 is to leverage its 1.5 billion PC install base to grow beyond the PC and to position Windows as a unified platform for every personal computing venue of the modern age. As such Windows 10 is Microsoft's tool to move the industry's dominant perception of personal computing from the "smartphone" to the unified platform that facilitates a user's digital experiences between devices.

Microsoft's aggressive efforts with Windows 10 are just a part of the company's strategy to position itself as the industry leader in personal computing. As a sponge submerged beneath the water is both surrounded by and filled with water, Microsoft via the cloud and pervasive cross-platform app development is seeking to engulf and fill rival platforms with Microsoft-branded cloud and work/personal productivity solutions.

From an individual user's personal computing needs to the breadth of a corporation's diverse processes, the cloud is the new frontier and Microsoft is staking its claim. Nadella had this to say{.nofollow} about Microsoft's cloud strategy:

Microsoft's efforts to position itself as the complete cloud solution has seen the company partner with app makers such as John Gruber and Brent Simmons. They used Microsoft Azure as the backend for their mobile app Vesper on iOS. Redmond has also pushed commercial business customers to embrace Microsoft's cloud across Azure, Office 365 and CRM online.

Microsoft, through its cloud efforts, is steadily assimilating businesses and individuals into its personal computing ecosystem.

Silver lining

As the only company with a public, private and hybrid cloud platform, Microsoft has a strategic advantage over rivals like Google (ranked fourth in the cloud business after #3 IBM and #1 Amazon). As the number two player in the industry, Microsoft has seen tremendous growth in its cloud business thanks to its unique combination of offerings. Following is an excerpt of some highlights from Microsoft's Q2 results:

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud grew 5% (up 11% in constant currency) to $6.3 billion.

• Server products and cloud services revenue grew 10%
• Azure revenue grew 140%, with revenue from Azure premium services growing nearly 3x year-over-year
• Over one-third of the Fortune 500 have chosen our (Microsoft's) Enterprise Mobility solutions, up nearly 3x year-over-year.

Microsoft's cloud offerings encompass a range of services{.nofollow} such as cross-platform management of mobile devices, combining existing data centers with Microsoft's public cloud, third-party extensibility and much more. As Microsoft's cloud offerings continue to offer such diversity and value, the industry may concede that resistance is indeed futile.

Hitting the road

Microsoft's goal to be the platform wherever personal computing is taking place includes our vehicles. Consequently, as the automotive industry continues its trek to build connected, intelligent vehicles Microsoft has forged partnerships to ensure a unique and comprehensive presence. The following excerpt shares some highlights about Microsoft's partnerships with automakers:

• Volvo: Integrate Microsoft Band 2 with a Windows 10 smartphone and the Volvo on Call Universal App.
• Harman: Integrate Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite capabilities into Harman infotainment systems. Drivers will be able to access Office 365 services and interact with them through intelligent personal assistant software to schedule meetings, hear and respond to important emails, and make Skype calls when in park, or when on the road in autonomous vehicles.
• IAV: will use Windows 10 Continuum to stream Windows 10 via a mobile device directly to a car's dashboard, giving drivers access to Windows 10 features and apps such as Cortana, Skype for Business, Calendar, Outlook and Groove Music while the vehicle is in autonomous driving mode or parked.
• Nissan Motor Company and Microsoft will announce that all Nissan LEAF and Infiniti models in Europe will have Connect Telematics Systems (CTS) powered by Microsoft Azure

Microsoft's partnership with automakers sees the company not only bringing front-end productivity tasks to automobiles as those outlined above but also cloud-based services that make Microsoft's solution a broad platform for all intelligent connected cars. Microsoft articulated their position this way:

The advantage of Microsoft's solution over Apple's and Google's in-car solutions is that it is a broad platform play rather than a pitch for the dashboard. Microsoft's Peggy Johnson, VP of global business development at Microsoft summed it up this way:

From the inside out

No strategy seems to ignite the ire of the Windows phone faithful as much as Microsoft's cross-platform endeavors. Over the years, we've seen apps such as Office, Bing, Skype, OneNote, Groove, SmartGlass, OfficeLens, Sway, SunRise, and even Cortana (can you think of any others?) either arrive exclusively or first on rival platforms or apparently receive better development than their Windows counterparts. Microsoft's Joe Belfiore recently stated the following in reference to Microsoft's cross-platform app development:

Microsoft's Windows 10 Companion app is the firm's tool to help users integrate the Window 10 experience with their mobile devices. As the Borg inject nanoprobes into those they seek to assimilate to initiate their transformation, Microsoft is injecting Microsoft apps into the ecosystems of those users they wish to assimilate. Consequently, a consumer using Microsoft apps on a rival platform is an active participant in Microsoft's ecosystem. Resistance is futile.

Microsoft's aggressive push at a ubiquitous mobile presence with purchases such as Accompli, SunRise, and most recently SwiftKey, is a testimony of the company's aggressive push to rule personal computing and to be wherever the user is. As to why the "best on Windows experience" promised by Nadella is yet to come to fruition is open to speculation. The incompleteness and "developing" status of Windows 10 may have hindered the development of an optimal experience on Windows. Additionally, Microsoft's efforts to stand out on rival platforms littered with enticing first- and third-party alternatives to its cross-platform apps may have motivated the firm to ensure Microsoft's solutions ranked as an engaging choice there. Whatever the reason Satya Nadella, with his Microsoft-app-laden "iPhone Pro", sees the company's cross-platform apps efforts this way:

Crossing the virtual divide

As Virtual Reality moves into the mainstream by way of market leaders such as Facebook with its Oculus Rift VR headset, Microsoft's gaming ecosystem and Windows 10 is moving with it. The Oculus Rift streams Xbox games, includes a Xbox controller and runs on Windows 10. Through key partnerships such as this, Microsoft is ensuring that it is the platform for personal computing, including new venues for gaming, wherever it is happening.

Moreover, the 34.05% of Steam users on Windows 10 is a nice compliment to this expanding Windows 10 gaming ecosystem which includes the millions of Xbox One users now running Windows 10.

Having mentioned Microsoft's partnership in virtual reality, it is only prudent to address their pioneering efforts in augmented/mixed reality. I shared in "What HoloLens means for Microsoft and the future of personal computing" that Microsoft is making a platform play for holographic computing. Since every Windows 10 build contains APIs for Windows Holographic (Microsoft's platform for holographic computing), Microsoft's aggressive Windows 10 push is seeding the industry for what it deems to be the next stage in personal computing.

Like the Surface inspired a range of 2-in-1s, HoloLens is an aspirational device designed for OEM partners to emulate. As such, a variety of wearable Windows 10 computers may eventually become the norm.

Given the pace of technologies advancement, with enough time, what is now a relatively bulky headset may give way to a more traditional eyewear form-factor. Consequently, personal computing via a wearable platform with the full power of a traditional PC and the communication features of current smartphones places Microsoft in an optimal position for what may be the next shift in mobile.

You will be assimilated

As the decades-long hegemony of Windows PC's made Microsoft's personal computing solution ubiquitous and virtually inescapable, the combination of Redmond's cloud efforts, cross-platform app offerings, and aggressive Windows 10 push will make it virtually impossible to escape Microsoft's presence in this new age of personal computing.

Regardless of a user's ecosystem of choice, Microsoft's, Apple's or Google's, the Microsoft Cloud, cross-platform apps or Windows 10 are likely part of most users personal computing experiences. Resistance is futile; because whether you realize it or not, you've probably already been assimilated.

Part I: Microsoft's aggressive push to rule personal computing: Windows 10

COPTAR is an Augmented Reality (AR) game that not only places you behind the controls of a combat helicopter but will also use what you see as the backdrop for the game. COPTAR launches your Windows Phone camera and uses whatever is around you as the gaming background; be it your living room, backyard or street corner. Game play is very similar to any other air combat game with power-ups that fall from the sky and a handful of missions to tackle.

While the concept behind COPTAR has a certain amount of appeal, the game falls short on user-friendly controls. While available for low-memory devices, COPTAR has potential but until the game receives a little fine-tuning, the gaming experience can be a little frustrating.

Main Menu

While game play takes on a non-traditional approach, COPTAR's main menu is laid out in traditional fashion. You have options to jump into game play, access the gaming options (sound/music), view the tutorial screens and view the developer credits. The tutorial is simple an overlay detailing where all your controls and dashboard indicators are.

Game play is spread out across five missions where you have to defeat a certain number of enemies. When you enter game play, COPTAR will launch your Windows Phone camera and wherever you point your camera, that image becomes your gaming backdrop.

Game Play

Controlling your helicopter's flight is done by moving your Windows Phone around. You may look funny but spinning around while you play the game does help get you into the flight aspect of COPTAR.

Weapons controls are handled by tapping one of the two joysticks at the bottom of the screen. The difficulty with the weapons controls is that the joysticks move with your helicopter's movement and blend in too much with the dashboard, making them easy to miss.

Another nit against the weapons controls is that it is very difficult to see any indication that your weapons are firing. The machine gun flash is difficult to see. While the rocket launch will generate a more noticeable flash, the machine gun fire needs a little boost.

Your cockpit dashboard includes a radar screen that will show you where friendly and enemy helicopters are, as well as green dots to indicate health and ammunition power-ups. You also have a health meter and HUD (Heads Up Display) switch on the dashboard. The dashboard does have a cluttered feel to it. The health meter is difficult to read and I kept tapping the HUD switch accidentally when searching for the joysticks.

Game play does have a slight zip to it. Enemy helicopters can be rather aggressive and if you are not careful, once they get behind your helicopter they are hard to shake off.

Overall Impression

COPTAR is a Windows Phone game that has a decent amount of potential and delivers an interesting gaming concept to the Window Phone Store. Unfortunately, the cool factor fades away rather quickly once you get into game play and realize how cluttered and cumbersome the gaming controls are.

The flight control (moving your Windows Phone around) helps simulate the gaming action but the weapons control and cluttered dashboard really needs renovation. The two joysticks used to fire the weapons needs to stand out more to make them more identifiable during game play or just have a broad area at the bottom sides of the screen to fire rockets and machine guns. You also need to see the weapons fire more noticeable on the screen or haptic feedback when you hit the fire buttons.

I understand the developer working towards a realistic view of things but realistic doesn't always translate well in the gaming world. For example, your health meter is a tiny display to the side of the radar that is difficult to read. Why not put a small meter at the top of the screen to reflect your health and ammo status. It may not be realistic but it should be more practical for a video game.

Again, I do think COPTAR has potential and worth trying. Just don't get your hopes up too much. COPTAR pulls in a 3.5 Star rating in the Windows Phone Store and with a little fine-tuning, the game could reach 4.5 Star range.

• Download COPTAR for Windows Phone (Free)

Microsoft's research into 3D audio could become a big boon to virtual and augmented reality applications like the Oculus Rift and Valve's 3D glasses. Essentially, the technology turns simple headphones into ones that can mirror where the sound is supposed to be coming from to create an even more immersive environment in applications like gaming.

Accordint to Tom Simonite of Technology Review, even if you move around across the room, the sound travels with you and maintain their position relative to your head and ears. This way, if the sound is to your back, if you turn your head, the sound may appear now as if it is coming from your side. Sensors in the headphone as well as a camera can be used to track a person's head and position so that the system can pump out sound from the appropriate direction to the ears.

The technology itself isn't new. Head related transfer function has been around for some time and basically maps out where the sound is coming from and how the sound waves reach a person's ear with an array of microphones that are fitted to a person's ears. Dolby and THX have also been experimenting with delivering surround sound to movie patrons for some time.

How Microsoft delivers this technology is different and may be more cost effective. By using the 3D sensor inside a Kinect, Microsoft is able to map out a person's body and use models to filter sounds to the ears. This way, no expensive microphone or individualized mapping is required.

"Essentially we can predict how you will hear from the way you look," Microsoft researcher Ivan Tashev says. "We work out the physical process of sound going around your head and reaching your ears."

Whether this technology will reach Microsoft's Xbox in the future or wearable gaming devices like the Oculus Rift is still unclear, but as it stands it could offer a better augmented reality for gamers.

Source: Technology Review

This new app we’re writing about is either really cool or really creepy. Alphega for Windows Phone shows the status updates and check-ins near you on a map. Updates from social networks that take place in your vicinity will appear in the real direction relative to you. The app is currently in open beta and it’s also available on Android devices.

Head past the break to watch our hands-on video and walkthrough.

Alphega works best after adding your social networks. In current version 1.3.1, you can add your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Foursquare accounts.

The main screen shows a list view of the status updates and check-ins nearby. Icons below the profile photos let you know which network it’s from. Each update also shows when they were shared and how far they are from you. We find it unusual to find really old updates from Foursquare. We find it strange to see Foursquare check-ins that are really old, including some from even 3 years ago. This will probably get fixed by the time the app leaves beta.

On top of the list are thumbnails for photos and videos. You can scroll sideways to view more. We think this can be improved by adding a play button for videos, so we can differentiate between photos and videos.

If you turn your phone sideways like you’re taking a photo, the map view appears. You can move it around to see updates from people located in the direction you’re facing. You can reply, retweet, like, or even add people as friends in this view. On the right side, you can click the pause button to prevent it from moving. Clicking the share button takes a screenshot, which you can email, tweet, or upload on Instagram.

From the camera view, tilt down to see the updates on a flat map. From here, you can pan and zoom. Click on user photos to see their update or check-in.

Alphega is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. It’s currently in public beta testing, so don’t forget to send feedback to the developers. You can do that from within the app. Check out Alphega and let us know what you think in the comments! 

On New Year’s Day, we wrote about a recent App Campus game released for Windows Phone 8: Mossad, from Israel-based indie developer GreenShpits. Mossad marries location-based gaming with searching for virtual items in the real world via augmented reality, something you don’t see all that much on Windows Phone.

While Mossad’s unique gameplay made the game noteworthy, a few major bugs tempered my enthusiasm for it. The developer took notice of our report, and quickly released a patch that addresses most of my concerns. Head past the break for post-update hands-on video and impressions!

Mossad version 1.0.0.3 release notes

• Bunker screen: we added animation to make clear the screen is scrollable, and adjusted the text size to fit.
• Profile screen: bug causing the categories to stop responding after coming back from the "Add Credit" screen was fixed.
• Mission completion bugs have also been addressed.

Post-patch experience

Let’s address those fixes point-by-point. First, the Base or Bunker screen is a place that players can visit in order to receive instructions from their boss. Prior to the update, the boss’s text was not formatted properly and extended beyond the border of the screen. That has now been fixed. The game also pans towards your boss the first time you visit him, providing a nice cinematic touch.

The Profile screen is where players go to set up their profiles and customize their characters. Until you visit it, you’re only a guest. The game offers several degrees of customization, including gender, hair color, clothing, and accessories.

Before the update, a bug caused the different customization categories to load extremely slowly – turns out it wasn’t responding to player input for a brief time. The categories now load instantly as intended.

Most disconcerting of all in our initial play session was a bug that caused missions not to complete. The whole game structure revolves around accepting missions and then completing them in order to earn credits, items, and increase your rank. Because I couldn’t complete missions, I couldn’t progress through the game properly.

That issue was actually a result of my profile having played the beta before moving to the final version of the game. After our first article ran, GreenSphits wiped my profile in order to fix the problem. The issue would never have affected regular users, they tell me, so you guys can download the game without fear of encountering it.

Joining the agency

So what’s Mossad about, anyway? It shares a name with that of the Israeli Secret Service. It was made by developers living in Israel, after all. But the agency that players join in the game is a fictional one, not the real life agency that Israel haters love to hate. If you think that way, you’re probably not going to give the game a chance. But Mossad is not a political game, and players should try not to approach it from that perspective.

Mossad is a game in which players search for items within their actual surrounding environments. Find the correct item or location (it can involve some walking) within the time limit in order to succeed. Try it out for an augmented reality experience and the chance to pretend you’re a spy in your own neighborhood.

• Mossad – Windows Phone 8 – 13 MB – Free – Store Link

Location-based games and mobile are a great fit since smartphones usually have a GPS built in and people take their phones around everywhere. Why not work that into a game, right?

Israel-based developer GreenShpits recently released its own location-based/augmented reality game for Windows Phone 8 called Mossad as part of the AppCampus program. The word “Mossad” means “Institute” in Hebrew and is used to refer to the Israeli equivalent of the CIA. Mossad allows players to travel around playing spy and acting out their own missions, but some major bugs cut into the fun.

Secret agent man

Mossad has a fun character customization component in which players dress up their own paper doll-style characters as agents. You can choose between a couple of male and female body types, but not skin color, unfortunately.

To start with, players will only have access to the free clothing and hair styles available. You’ll have to complete missions or make an In-App Purchase in order to get the credits needed for the nicer stuff. Tapping a category of item reveals the stuff for that category, but the menus don’t always like to load – as shown in our hands-on video.

Head to base

Between missions, players can head to base by selecting the icon at the bottom of the screen. The base consists of a single grainy panoramic picture, from what I can tell. The player’s boss stands in the middle of the base and provides instructions.

Oddly, the boss’s instructions are too wide for the screen, forcing players to scroll in order to read them. The text can be scrolled up and down, so it’s not “baked in” to the background art…

At the start of the game, there’s nothing else to do at the base. Tapping anywhere just takes you back to the map screen. Presumably, more interactions will unlock as players progress.

Gameplay

The core gameplay in Mossad involves finding and completing missions from a map of the player’s real-life surroundings. As you do this, you will (presumably) earn credits and progress through the ranks of the game's spy agency.

After selecting a mission, you’ll read a short description of its objectives. These tend to involve locating or delivering an item or message, from what I’ve seen so far. You then press the camera icon at the right side of the screen and start looking into the camera feed…

Mossad uses augmented reality to hide items and objectives within the environment surrounding the player. You’ll have to watch the camera feed and allow the red arrows that appear on it to guide you to your destination.

After reaching the destination (which can be either close or far, depending on the selected mission), an item should be hovering on-screen somewhere in the vicinity. Line it up dead-center in the camera and tap the screen to complete your objective.

Bugs located

Completing objectives is where things get hairy. I’ve only been able to actually finish a mission once. Every other time, the game either doesn’t recognize that the mission is done, and continues flashing the camera indicator, or it simply crashes. So for me, it’s impossible to progress. See the problem in action in our video above. Maybe you guys will have better luck?

The game has potential. Hopefully the developer can iron things out with the next update.

• Mossad – Windows Phone 8 – 13 MB – Free – Store Link

We’re closing in on the end of 2013 and as we look back it’ll hard to argue that this wasn’t an incredible year for Windows Phone in terms of gaining new apps. There have been so many big name apps that joined the platform this year. But more importantly, startups have increasingly been turning their attention and resources to focus on Windows Phone. Blippar is a fairly young startup that’s just released their application for Windows Phone 8. Let’s check it out.

What’s Blippar? It’s an augmented reality advertising platform that helps brands and consumers interact. They already have apps on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry, but now Windows Phone is joining the fun. Check the video above to see what Blippar does or read the app description here:

• Play fun and exciting games
• Watch unique videos and movie trailers
• Witness thrilling 3D animation
• Participate in competitions and win prizes
• Take pictures using virtual photobooths
• Get exclusive tickets/vouchers/recipes etc.

It’s certainly an interesting idea and worth checking out to participate in any promotions where you see the Blippar logo. Platforms like Blippar are inevitable as brands and publishers work on engaging more with consumers. Want to try it out? Just install the app and scan the nearest Heinz ketchup bottle near you. 

You might run into a few errors at first like we did. We’ve seen some messages about Blips not working properly in this app. This could either be a version 1.0 thing or maybe a limitation of the Blip itself since it was most likely created before the Windows Phone app. Either way, we’re glad that Blippar thought it was time to build an app for Windows Phone and look forward to seeing it improve going forward.

Want to try Blippar for Windows Phone 8? Grab it for free in the Windows Phone Store. You can also use the QR codes below or swipe to the right in our app. 

Via: Windows Phone Central Forums, Learn how to create your Blips at blippar.com

Thanks for the tip alv3ster!

When the majority of us think about Kinect, we think about shouting “Xbox, Play” to get our Netflix movie rolling or we picture ourselves waddling around the living room trying to get our groove on with games like Dance Central. If we step outside the world of gaming, we can see how the Kinect for Windows SDK can be used in retail. To help us imagine the world for Kinect outside of gaming, Microsoft has released a video showcasing how the high tech accessory can be used in various retail scenarios.

The first video showcases a woman shopping in a clothing store, and then stopping in front of a “fashion mirror”. The mirror is, of course, a display that is able to overlay digital images on real world imagery creating an augmented reality experience for the shopper.

The woman is able to try on various pieces of clothing digitally and see how they appear. Simple voice commands can switch between browsing pants or skirts – the flick of a wrist allows the woman to fly through various designs and prints. The software on the “fashion mirror” is also able to handle physics as the woman twirls and the dress responds by gently moving in a realistic fashion.

Two other videos were also produced by the Kinect for Windows team. One of the two videos showcases a customer playing a winter themed game at a Ski shop, and then receiving a coupon on her Windows Phone for completion. The second, showcases Kinect being used within a toy store. A boy picks up a hot wheels toy, Kinect scans it, and the child is then able to race with it in a virtual game.

Kinect has many uses beyond being attached to an Xbox and being used for gaming. Microsoft has stated that a collection of companies have already “created exciting retail experiences” including Bloomingdales, Build-a-Bear, Coca-Cola, Mattel, Nissan, and Pepsi.

What do you think of shopping with Kinect – do you have any great ideas for using Kinect within a retail environment?

Source: Microsoft

Ever since Yelp (www.yelp.com) hit version 2.0 earlier this year, the company has been steadily trickling our new features to give it parity with its iOS and Android counterparts. Last night the latest version of the app, one for Windows Phone 7.x and one for 8, was bumped to version 2.0.0.3 and 2.5.1.4 respectively and it brings along with it a few nice changes.

There isn’t a detailed changelog though we do note you still can’t add full reviews. Instead, the app will save a “draft”, which you then need to finish on your own time on the PC. That's kind of a weak implementation, though we suppose it may weed out the insta-angry reviews that sometimes people bang away while still in the restaurant.

Yelp's "Monocle" augmented reality, finally on Windows Phone

Augmented reality via their Monocle was added to the mix in the last update and (it came to the iPhone in 2009, ahem)  although it’s a little tricky to find (Hint: dig into a Category, hit the 3rd icon near the bottom). It seems to work well enough and it's similar to Nokia’s implementation of City Lens, which while fun we also find to be a bit gimmicky.

Other improvements look to be speed enhancements and general stability.

We have to admit: Yelp is a fairly solid app. We’re not of the hardcore Yelp crowd, in fact, we’re really new to the service. But so far, it’s been fun to use to scout out for local restaurants, eateries, bars and coffee shops. Yes, Windows Phone has Local Scout, which isn’t half bad but Yelp certainly goes further with its OpenTable integration, checkins and our favorite feature, bookmarks. It also has a social-network built in so you can interact with your friends. It’s fast, fluid and nicely laid out, so much so that we’re pinning it to our Start screen for easy access.

Think you may want to try Yelp? Haven’t already received your update notification? Give it a spin here in the Store. Windows Phone 7.x and 8.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips!

We can’t help, but to love the United States Patent Office – it gives away too many good secrets. This week, a user at NeoGAF found a Microsoft patent filling for a pair of augmented reality glasses. The high-tech head mounted eye wear appears to be aimed at the gaming community and might just bring our favorite titles to the streets – literally.

The patent is titled, “Multiplayer gaming with head-mounted display” and is described as a system that allows players “to participate in a multiplayer game via a user head-mounted display device.” The device is able to receive a collection of data including voice, eye-tracking, and the position of a user’s head within 3D space. The system is also able to match potential players in the area with other users close by.

It's not clear if the device is the same as "Project Fortaleza", which was revealed last summer in a leaked Microsoft Xbox roadmap.

Microsoft’s patent includes a collection of images and diagrams to help depict the new device. In one figure (the one we have listed below for your enjoyment), a user is viewing the world through his pair of the Microsoft Glasses; he is able to view two players engaging in a sword fighting (read: fencing) match along with a potential player standing directly in front of him.

The augmented gaming glasses show a woman known as “The Queen”, along with a list of games she might be available to play and her level within said games. Video game examples within the figure include: Dance, Search and Find, and Tennis.

According to the patent, the glasses include a semi-transparent display that sits in front of the user’s eyes to display content; the two particular displays are said to be OLED.

Another figure (also provided below for your enjoyment) shows a full layout of how the system interacts with a user along with backend computing, server, and network details.

As with most patent filings, we ask you to take the information with a grain of salt as it may never appear. But if it does, we can’t wait to get our hands on a pair.

What do you think about Microsoft’s latest patent filing?

Bonus Question: What would you name these new High-Tech Glasses?

Source: GameSpot, United States Patent and Trademark Office