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The entire Half-Life series is available to download on Steam for free till March. (Source: Valve)

Valve's Half-Life series is free on Steam for the next two months

To help drum up the hype ahead of the launch of Half-Life: Alyx in March, Valve is offering gamers an unbeatabale deal. For the next two months, anyone with a Steam account can download and play each of all previous Half-Life titl...

Sanjiv Sathiah, Wed, 22 Jan 2020 02:57:00 +0100

Panasonic effectively quadrupling the resolution and even implements HDR compatibility in a lighter and slicker package. (Source: Panasonic)

CES 2020 | Panasonic unveils world's first UHD HDR VR glasses

Besides quadrupling the resolution of current high-end VR headsets, Panasonic also introduces HDR compatibility to the VR world for the first time, and all this is packed neatly in a light frame. In order to achieve this feat, Pan...

Bogdan Solca, Fri, 10 Jan 2020 15:13:00 +0100

NVIDIA's latest Game Ready driver brings in many new features. (Source: Forbes)

CES 2020 | NVIDIA announces new Game Ready driver with VRSS, Wolfenstein: Youngblood to receive a major RTX update

NVIDIA has announced the release of a new Game Ready driver at CES 2020. The new driver brings support for variable rate supersampling (VRSS), Freestyle splitscreen, updates to image sharpening, and frame rate limiting among other...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, Mon, 06 Jan 2020 17:30:00 +0100

Various forms of extended reality may become very successful in the future. (Source: SHRM)

VR, AR and MR may make a US$30 billion industry by 2030

Virtual, mixed and augmented reality are probably the most familiar forms of extended reality - or technologically-enhanced experientia - out there. The latest research suggests their combined market may be worth US$30 billion or...

Deirdre O Donnell, Mon, 30 Dec 2019 19:25:00 +0100

Facebook continues its gaming quest with acquisition of PlayGiga

Facebook announced today that it has acquired cloud gaming startup PlayGiga. The startup, which is based in Madrid, has experience working with telecoms to build gaming-as-a-service platforms that rely on 5G networks. This is yet ...

Sam Medley, Thu, 19 Dec 2019 15:54:00 +0100

Valve Index, the latest premium entrant in the VR market (Image source: Valve)

SuperData XR Dimensions market intelligence platform introduced: claims VR isn't dying

SuperData recently announced its XR Dimensions market intelligence platform. XR Dimensions focuses on trends in the AR and VR industries. Initial XR Dimensions reports make bold claims: VR is thriving and AR is already mainstream....

Arjun Krishna Lal, Tue, 17 Dec 2019 08:01:00 +0100

Qualcomm's president, Cristiano Amon, at last year's Snapdragon Tech Summit. (Source: Qualcomm)

The 2019 Snapdragon Technology Summit keynotes will be livestreamed from their Hawaii venue

Qualcomm has announced that its next Snapdragon Tech Summit will take place from December 3 to 5, 2019 in Maui, Hawaii. This year, the company will showcase its growing 5G expertise, as well as other facets of its mobile device bu...

Deirdre O Donnell, Wed, 20 Nov 2019 23:22:00 +0100

Settlers of Catan to get AR treatment, courtesy of Niantic

Settlers of Catan is coming to mobile with an AR adjustment. Dubbed Catan: World Explorers, the new augmented reality game will be built using Niantic's extensive suite of AR tools. The game is still in the early stages of develop...

Sam Medley, Wed, 20 Nov 2019 04:49:00 +0100

A new Half-Life is apparently on the cards, but not as we know it. (Image source: Den of Geek)

New Half-Life game details leaked ahead of The Game Awards

Rumour has it that Valve plans to announce a new Half-Life game, and soon. Apparently based around protagonist Alyx Vance, the game may see a release as early as Q1 2020. It looks set to be sad news for those holding out for Half-...

Alex Alderson, Mon, 18 Nov 2019 20:03:00 +0100

Minecraft Earth now available in the US on iOS and Android

Minecraft Earth, the latest augmented reality title from Mojang, is now available in the United States and a few other countries. The title is currently in Early Access. In true Minecraft style, Minecraft Earth focuses on collecti...

Sam Medley, Thu, 14 Nov 2019 21:44:00 +0100

John Carmack steps down as CTO of Oculus to develop Artificial General Intelligence

John Carmack, the creator of Doom and a pioneer of virtual reality, is stepping down as the CTO of Oculus to focus on artificial general intelligence, which can be considered a super-powered version of artificial intelligence. Car...

Sam Medley, Thu, 14 Nov 2019 05:31:00 +0100

Intel unveils Keem Bay VPU for improved on-device vision processing

Intel unveiled its upcoming vision processing unit (VPU) for edge computing devices. Dubbed Keem Bay, the new chip offers major improvements over existing VPUs from Nvidia and Huawei. Additionally, Keem Bay offers better performan...

Sam Medley, Wed, 13 Nov 2019 15:23:00 +0100

The new Spectacles 3 from Snap Inc can shoot 3D stills and video. (Source: Snap Inc)

Snap Inc launches Spectacles 3 with 3D VR recording and AR effects capabilities

Snap Inc has officially launched its new Spectacles 3. The Spectacles 3 feature dual built-in cameras that can shoot photos and video in 3D at up to 60fps with the ability to overlay 3D AR-style effects.

Sanjiv Sathiah, Wed, 13 Nov 2019 10:33:00 +0100

These icons are few and far between for some Pokémon GO players. (Source: Bulbapedia)

Niantic is addressing its current Pokéstop deficiency in Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO remains one of the world's most popular augmented-reality (AR) mobile games. However, it has a persistent discrepancy as a title in this ecosystem, which is a lack of Pokéstops, particularly in more isolated regions. Th...

Deirdre O Donnell, Fri, 08 Nov 2019 19:35:00 +0100

Google sold over 15 million Cardboard viewers, but has called time on official support. (Source: Google)

Google Cardboard open-sourced as a lifeline for mobile VR

VR on smartphones is all but dead following the end of Samsung’s Galaxy VR ambitions and Google’s recent announcement that it has ceased development for its Daydream VR platform. However, in an inkling of hope for those who were s...

Sanjiv Sathiah, Thu, 07 Nov 2019 11:42:00 +0100

Pokemon GO to get live AR multiplayer feature, called Buddy Adventure

Pokémon GO will be getting a live AR multiplayer feature sometime soon. Currently called "Buddy Adventure," the feature will allow two players to interact with each other's Buddy Pokémon in real-time through their smartphone camer...

Sam Medley, Wed, 06 Nov 2019 18:47:00 +0100

Qualcomm is set to make a sizeable investment in 5G's future. (Source: RTE)

Qualcomm incentivizes 5G development with a new multi-million-dollar fund

Qualcomm's Venture division has announced the implementation of the 5G Ecosystem Fund, a source of investment worth up to US$200 million. As the name suggests, it will help support start-ups involved in new, innovative and potenti...

Deirdre O Donnell, Thu, 24 Oct 2019 22:49:00 +0200

The new LG U+ app allows the user to shop in AR. (Source: LG)

A major South Korean carrier unveils a service to make the dream of virtual shopping a reality

LG's South Korean telecomms company has announced the debut of its new app, "U+ AR Shopping". It enables users to transform the content of 2 popular TV shopping channels into augmented reality (AR) experiences. Consumers can then ...

Deirdre O Donnell, Sun, 20 Oct 2019 19:03:00 +0200

Red Magic 3S now available - Snapdragon 855+ starting at $479

The Nubia Red Magic 3S is a slight improvement over the Red Magic 3. The updated handset sports a faster Snapdragon 855+ SoC and UFS 3.0 storage. All other factors, including the price tag, are the same as the older Red Magic 3. T...

Sam Medley, Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:48:00 +0200

Nvidia's next-gen Ampere GPUs are set for 1H 2020 release. (Source: Nvidia)

Rumor: Nvidia Ampere 7nm GPUs to launch 1H 2020

Nvidia’s successor to the Turing architecture powering its current line of Turing based RTX 20 series GPUs isn’t far away. According to the latest rumors, the graphics powerhouse will be releasing its new chips based on Samsung’s ...

Sanjiv Sathiah, Mon, 07 Oct 2019 08:29:00 +0200

Pokemon GO reportedly mistakes some MIUI users for cheaters. (Source: Niantic)

Pokemon GO reportedly bans Android players for running a certain version of MIUI

There have been multiple reports of Pokemon GO handing out strikes preventing play to those who own certain Redmi devices. This pattern has been linked to MIUI 10.3.2.0, a recent firmware update for the phones affected. Niantic, t...

Deirdre O Donnell, Sat, 05 Oct 2019 18:30:00 +0200

Google Shopping is back. (Source: Google)

Google Shopping re-launches in the US, integrates with Lens this time around

Google has announced the re-institution of its Shopping service, albeit for users located in the US only. The company claims that the renewed feature can analyse millions of retail listings and other data in order to show customer...

Deirdre O Donnell, Fri, 04 Oct 2019 16:33:00 +0200

Facebook has announced several new features for its Quest standalone headset including in new support for PCs and Rift titles. (Source: Facebook)

Facebook intros a slew of new features for the Oculus Quest including PC support

Facebook has announced several updates for its Oculus Quest standalone headset that are likely to greatly broaden its appeal. The company has announced that it is introducing wired PC support for the headset as well as hand tracki...

Sanjiv Sathiah, Thu, 26 Sep 2019 10:39:00 +0200

Facebook first announced its AR glasses project back in 2018. (Source: MobileAppDaily)

Facebook working with Ray-Ban on AR glasses

facebook is certainly not the first to try its hand at augmented reality smartglasses, but with the help of Ray-Ban parent company Luxotica, the social media giant will market its upcoming AR tech as a true smartphone killer. The ...

Bogdan Solca, Wed, 18 Sep 2019 16:12:00 +0200

HTC appoints a new CEO as it looks forward to a 5G- and XR-focused future

HTC has confirmed that Yves Maitre, a former executive at the telecommunications company Orange, is its new chief executive officer (CEO). His predecessor, Cher Wang, will remain at the Taiwanese OEM as the head of its board. This...

Deirdre O Donnell, Tue, 17 Sep 2019 19:28:00 +0200

Windows Core OS gets a simplified UI. (Source: WindowsCentral)

Windows Core OS could be launching with Microsoft's new Surface foldables

Latest reports claim that the upcoming Windows Core OS will offer a modular low-level platform running on desktops, laptops, VR machines, consoles and foldable devices. On top of it, Microsoft plans to add different variants of Wi...

Bogdan Solca, Tue, 17 Sep 2019 17:03:00 +0200

UWB is found in the iPhones 11 Pro and Pro Max only. (Source: YouTube)

Apple develops a proprietary short-range communication system for the iPhones 11 Pro

The Apple U1 chip is new hardware that controls ultrawide band (UWB) energy transfers between devices. This enables compatible products to locate each other and exchange data in a way non-U1-enabled counterparts cannot. These new ...

Deirdre O Donnell, Wed, 11 Sep 2019 20:08:00 +0200

NVIDIA adds the Quadro RTX 6000 to its mobile Quadro RTX lineup. (Source: NVIDIA)

IFA 2019 | NVIDIA announces the mobile Quadro RTX 6000 GPU, sets new Ace Reference Design standard for mobile workstations

NVIDIA has introduced a new mobile Quadro RTX card, the mobile Quadro RTX 6000 at IFA 2019. The specifications of the mobile Quadro RTX 6000 are yet to be officially disclosed, but NVIDIA's performance numbers show that it perform...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, Wed, 04 Sep 2019 14:00:00 +0200

The Dell G5 is its new affordable gaming desktop. (Source: Dell)

Dell's new upgradeable G5 Gaming Desktop will get you in the game from just US$629

Headlining Dell’s announcements at Gamescom is an all-new G series gaming desktop. The new Dell G5 Desktop is designed to be an attractive but affordable and upgradeable gaming machine with up to Intel Core i9 CPUs and either Nvid...

Sanjiv Sathiah, Tue, 20 Aug 2019 10:22:00 +0200

System76 announces Adder WS Linux workstation with 4K OLED display

Linux laptop seller System76 recently announced a new workstation. The Adder WS, which is set to release on August 8, is the retailer's first laptop with a 15.6-inch 4K OLED display. The laptop will also pack a power Core i7 or Co...

Sam Medley, Mon, 05 Aug 2019 23:32:00 +0200

Intel's upcoming GPU may offer HBM VRAM at $200

UPDATE 8/2: Intel has responded with a clarification of Raja Koduri's statement. See below. In a recent interview with a Russian YouTube tech channel, Raja Koduri (chief architect at Intel) stated that Intel's upcoming Xe GPU w...

Sam Medley, Fri, 02 Aug 2019 22:59:00 +0200

An image from an Apple patent application for AR glasses. (Source: Phone Arena)

Apple kills its AR glasses project while Samsung gains new AR glasses patent

Taiwan's DigiTimes reports that Apple has killed its plans for an AR headset citing supply chain sources. Samsung, however, seems to be ploughing on with its AR headset efforts filing a new patent for a foldable headset.

Sanjiv Sathiah, Sun, 14 Jul 2019 03:35:00 +0200

A current pair of Vuzix smart glasses. (Source: Vuzix)

New Vuzix patent may enhance the next generation of smart glasses

Vuzix has filed a new patent with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). It will inform future smart glasses made by this OEM, particularly regarding their use in augmented reality (AR) applications. Vuzix also claims that it...

Deirdre O Donnell, Wed, 03 Jul 2019 19:13:00 +0200

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite now live (almost) globally

Announced in early November 2017 and released as a Beta back in April/May (New Zealand/Australia), Harry Potter: Wizards Unite finally became available for the general public — on both Android and iOS — on June 21. However, this m...

Codrut Nistor, Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:32:00 +0200

An up-to-date render for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10. (Source: Business Today)

TOF camera now projected for Samsung Galaxy Note 10

Samsung has just allegedly trademarked a product called "Make & Play 3D", which apparently involves a time-of-flight (TOF) module that brings depth-sensing to devices such as smartphones. This suggests that upcoming releases from ...

Deirdre O Donnell, Fri, 21 Jun 2019 18:57:00 +0200

An OLED micro-display. (Source: Road to VR)

The micro-display market will be worth over US$3 billion by 2025

A micro-display is a panel that may be made of conventional materials such as OLED or LCD, yet are 2 inches at most on the diagonal. They are incorporated into everyday devices such as digital cameras, and in emerging categories s...

Deirdre O Donnell, Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:37:00 +0200

Games will almost certainly make a huge market in the near future. (Source: Medical Xpress)

The games industry could be worth up to US$179 billion in 5 years

The video-game industry could accrue as much as US$179.1 billion by 2024. This is in line with a new market-research report on the subject. This valuation may be driven by conventional platforms such as mobile devices, PCs and con...

Deirdre O Donnell, Sat, 01 Jun 2019 14:18:00 +0200

Game of Thrones' Beyond the Wall is set to launch on VIVEPORT. (Source: HBO)

HTC's VIVEPORT is offering its subscribers a trip beyond the Wall of Westeros

Viveport Infinity is a service that pulls together VR experiences from numerous different publishers for a single monthly fee. To this end, "Beyond the Wall", an HBO/Game of Thrones product, launches on this platform tomorrow (Ma...

Deirdre O Donnell, Thu, 30 May 2019 19:54:00 +0200

The new Bose Headphones 700 offer 11 levels of noise cancelling for US$399. (Source: Bose)

Bose Headphones 700 are its all-new US$399 noise-cancelling cans

Bose has launched an all-new range of premium noise cancelling headphones. The first to hit the market is the new Headphones 700 that packs in 11 levels of noise cancellation.

Sanjiv Sathiah, Thu, 30 May 2019 09:20:00 +0200

The new Smart Viewer Reference Design is based on the Snapdragon XR1 Platform. (Source: Legit Reviews)

Qualcomm unveils a new Smart Viewer Reference Design

Qualcomm is at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) to launch its new Snapdragon Smart Viewer Reference Design. It is a reference VR headset based on the XR1 Platform. This device has a DJI display, up-to-date controllers, interfaces an...

Deirdre O Donnell, Wed, 29 May 2019 14:47:00 +0200

Oculus Quest now available, starts at $399 for a 64GB set

The Quest is Oculus' first all-in-one virtual reality (VR) headset. It is available for sale from today (May 21, 2019). It is also a truly wireless VR set, and uses the company's imaging and touch-sensor technology to deliver this...

Deirdre O Donnell, Tue, 21 May 2019 15:15:00 +0200

The VR gaming market will be worth just over US$40 billion in 5 years

According to a new report, the virtual reality (VR) gaming market will grow from its most recent US$10.3 billion valuation to one of $40.2 billion in 2024. This is likely to be driven by advancements in VR equipment design and fun...

Deirdre O Donnell, Thu, 16 May 2019 21:46:00 +0200

The alleged Intel patent in image form. (Source: LetsGoDigital)

Intel may be working on a particularly futuristic smartphone

According to a patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), Intel may be considering the manufacture of its own smartphone. This device may follow the dual-display trend set by Vivo and Nubia, and also allegedl...

Deirdre O Donnell, Thu, 16 May 2019 18:47:00 +0200

The 2-in-1 notebook category may grow at the highest rate between now and 2025. (Source: AO.com)

The global notebook market will be worth just over US$100 billion in 6 years

The latest report by the market analysis group Grand View Research indicates that the laptop market will be worth US$108.91 billion worldwide by 2025. This is based on data collected from 2014 to 2019, and shows that the segment f...

Deirdre O Donnell, Mon, 06 May 2019 17:37:00 +0200

Slightly Mad's Mad Box console project has been affected by Google Stadia. (Image source: Trusted Reviews)

The future of Slightly Mad's Mad Box console that proposed VR gaming at 120 FPS is looking grim

An executive for Slightly Mad Studios has admitted that the future development of the Mad Box console is looking “questionable”. Slightly Mad, which is the company behind the Project CARS series of games, revealed it was planning ...

Daniel R Deakin, Fri, 03 May 2019 10:56:00 +0200

Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR)