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Snapchat celebrated its sixth Lens Fest today and shared a new version of the Lens Studio with more capabilities for developers. The Lens Studio 5.0 Beta loads faster and features Gen AI.

Snap Inc. CEO has announced that the company is winding down its AR Enterprise business because of the significant investments needed to maintain the technology that can be used elsewhere.

Snap has launched a new Lens Creator Rewards scheme that pays creators of popular AR lenses up to $7,200 per month. The performance of lenses will be measured in the United States, India, and Mexico.

Google has partnered with TAITO to celebrate the 45th anniversary of SPACE INVADERS. There's a new augmented reality title to play and Google Arts & Culture has a new history of the game.

The AR game will be developed by Niantic, who previously created Pokemon Go. Players will be able to hunt monsters in the real world with their smartphones when it launches in September.

IDC has forecasted that VR and AR headsets will experience lower growth in 2023 than previously expected. Through 2027, however, the sector is expected to see 32.6% growth each year.

Google has officially stopped selling the Enterprise edition of Google Glass, its augmented reality smart glasses. The company, however, will keep supporting the device until September 15, 2023.

Meta has revealed its AR products roadmap for the next four years, during which the company will finally launch the much-awaited AR glasses that could potentially be the successor of smartphones.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially dropped its lawsuit against Meta's acquisition of VR fitness company Within, in the first major loss for FTC commissioner Lina Khan.

A U.S. court has declined a request to halt Meta's acquisition of VR fitness company Within, dealing a major blow to the FTC. It's unclear if the regulator will continue the fight in other avenues.

Samsung's first “extended reality” headset is "not too far away", but the company offered little info on its plans for the new wearable devices, which will have a Qualcomm chipset and Google software.

The augmented reality iOS app is being made available as open-source software soon. The app itself will also be removed next month from the App Store as a consequence of this step.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that mass shipments of the company's first AR/VR headset could be delayed to the second half of 2023. This is reportedly due to software-related issues.

Apple is looking to hire more people to help it with its VR and AR headset ambitions. It comes at a time when economic conditions are tough and companies are looking to layoff staff, not hire more.

Snapchat has partnered with Amazon Fashion to launch Snap lenses that let users virtually try out eye products. The feature brings an experience of Augmented Reality shopping for Snapchatters.

Researchers at MIT have developed a fascinating machine learning model that leverages sound to accurately map an environment and also determine the acoustics of the room at different locations.

At IFA 2022 in Berlin, Meta and Qualcomm have signed an agreement. Qualcomm already makes custom silicon for Meta's VR headsets and will continue to do so for the future Quest lineup of devices.

Apple is reportedly going to use OLEDoS displays supplied by LG Display for its rumored mixed reality headsets. Both Samsung and LG are also currently working on OLEDoS and LEDoS technologies.

Meta is being sued by META for infringing on its brand name. The two companies had previously been negotiating, but Meta has so far refused to come to the table to settle the matter.

Google is going to start testing augmented reality headsets in public next month. The firm said it's going to take things slow because it's very concerned after what happened with Google Glass.

Apart from the much-hyped AR/VR headset, Apple seems to be working on a new AR headset. According to sources, the Cupertino-based tech giant is eyeing 2024 to launch its first-ever AR glasses.

Apple's board of directors have been shown an in-development mixed-reality headset which suggests the firm could be getting closer to publicly unveiling the device later this year or in 2023.

TikTok has launched its Effect House to open beta that gives creators the tools and resources they need to create their own augmented reality effects and share them with other TikTok users as well.

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Motorola and Verizon have unveiled the 5G XR Neckband which is designed to promote a hands-free AR and VR experience. Pricing and availability for the device have not yet been shared.

Apple's rumored AR/VR headset is expected to house two processors, with performance akin to the Mac line, and will require a 96W USB-C power adapter like the higher-spec 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Thanks to the end of the holiday season in the U.S., this was quite an eventful week in the world of Microsoft with news items ranging from CES to Windows 11, to Exchange Server Y2K22 bugs.

Qualcomm and Microsoft are collaborating to design custom chips and offer integrations between their respective software to drive the adoption of augmented reality solutions and the metaverse.

The partnership between Meta and ZP Better Together brings VRS apps, that add a sign language interpreter onscreen to allow the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to connect with family and friends, to Portal.

Samsung has launched a new augmented reality app called Dreamground. It's available for Android and iOS at two locations; Hollywood Park in California and Samsung 837 in New York City.

Meta has shown off its haptic gloves which it hopes will make the metaverse experience more immersive. They are still considered a lab project and much more work still needs to be done.

Facebook has launched Group Effects on Messenger video calls and Messenger Rooms. The new AR feature is designed to make calls more fun and interactive. Group Effects will also come to Instagram.

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Vodafone has published a new report which states that the UK manufacturing industry could get a £6.3 billion boost if it introduces productivity-boosting 5G technology into its operations.

Snap has unveiled its SPS 2021 Spectacles. Unlike other Spectacles devices, the SPS 2021 will not be going on sale, instead, it's being reserved for Lens creators so they can create AR Lenses.

Apple has updated Clips to version 3.1 with a new feature called AR Spaces that scans a space using the LiDAR Scanner on the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max as well as the 4th and 5th-gen iPad Pro models.

Following the $480 million augmented reality headset contract with the United States Army in 2018, Microsoft today landed another similar contract with the U.S. military worth $21.9 billion.

As previously hinted, Microsoft has announced financing plans for HoloLens 2 Development Edition in the United States. The 0% interest options go as low as $97.22/month for a three-year plan.

Nintendo has announced a partnership with AR specialist Niantic, which will see the two companies develop AR experiences featuring Nintendo characters. The first app will be based on Pikmin.