TechBooky

Virtual reality headsets have made a storm over the last couple of years, being adopted by global companies such as Sony to progress and create new business opportunities. Up to now, the features appear limitless and it could very be the future of technology considering the strong interest it’s received from other industries. The largest question revolved around VR is its accessibility, with some questioning that this could make or break the technology. It leaves the question of whether virtual reality is the furthest that technology can go, or if there are other potential technologies that can overtake the phenomenon. It would be worth looking into VR’s possibilities and what could be challenging it. Is VR the future, or simply a trend?   There are arguments to suggest that VR is only starting its journey and there’s more to come from it. At this stage, we’re simply at a “buzz” with the technology, still waiting for it to break through to the ma...

The Portal is a smooth new camcorder like device which has a screen that makes chats with family and friends look incredible. On Monday, Facebook launched the $200 Portal, the first customer gadget from social media giant. The bread toaster size video camera, alongside a bigger $350 version called Portal+, is a blend of a video camera and smart speaker. [xyz-ihs snippet="FB-Portal"] The device looks very much like the Amazon Echo Show and does just about what Facebook is trying to achieve with its Portal. That said, the new Portal uses the Amazon Alexa voice command and other artificial intelligence services like answering questions and playing a specific music for you from your playlist. The unique thing about Facebook"s gadget is the tech it uses to make the video calls look great. Consider it an individual cinematographer: A 12-megapixel camera — equal to most telephones — distinguishes the state of individuals inside its 140-degree field of view and dish and zooms to...

You’ll soon be able to try on sunglasses and buy them without ever leaving your Facebook app. The social media company announced that it"s beginning a rollout of mobile ads utilising augmented reality in the News Feed. Soon, your feed will be filled with interactive experiences with the intent to sell you products. The company explained in a blog post that, the new AR ad feature that will place virtually engaging advertisements in the News Feed. In its announcement to advertisers, Facebook claims that, “by incorporating calls-to-action within the camera experience, people can seamlessly go from engaging with your product—such as trying on a lipstick shade or exploring a new game—to making a purchase or installing an app.” Facebook’s marketing team seems to be attempting to make advertisers’ products as tangible as possible. Facebook’s vice president of product marketing at its global marketing solutions department, Ty Ahmad-Taylor, provid...

At the F8 developers conference, Facebook announces a bunch of new Instagram Features. Due to these new features, no doubt, Instagram has become the most frequently used app and is estimated to be worth more than $100 Billion with over 1 billion user worldwide . Photo sharing platform has announced new features for the service that include the following: Video Chat, new camera effects, and Topic channels on Explore. Today, those features are live. Video Chat in Instagram Direct Instagram users can now start a one-on-one video chat or a group video chat with up to four people in Instagram Direct. In order to start a video chat, just open a contact in the Direct inbox and tap on the camera icon at the top right corner to start a video chat. Instagram’s video chat feature has an interesting feature i.e. you can minimise the video chat window and perform other tasks simultaneously such as browse your feed, share media, post a story and a lot more. However, you have to establish a dir...

Social messaging app Snapchat has become somewhat renowned for its AR features, and it appears some of those will soon be in the hands of developers. According to TechCrunch , Snapchat is preparing the launch of its first complete developer platform under the tentative name of Snapkit. Earlier this year in March reports revealed that Snapchat had started testing a new ‘Connected Apps‘ feature in a beta release which would allow users to connect their Snapchat account with other apps. Snapkit SDK will allow third-party app developers access to a number of Snapchat’s feature, including the aforementioned login authentication, Snapchat Bitmoji avatars, and most interestingly, Snapchat’s full-featured AR-enabled camera software. The Bitmoji will offered a keyboard full of your avatar in different scenes, Snapkit could make it easy to add yours as stickers on photos or in other ways in third-party apps. Seeing them across the mobile universe could inspire more users t...

Tired of sticking your tongue out to watch that Snapchat augmented reality mask change into a puppy dog face or your face in a dancing doll? Snapchat has a new lens reaction that responds to sound. The messaging social media app"s latest addition is an animal mask with ears that pulse and shine, as well eyes that move, depending on the sound your phone"s microphone picks up. It also appears to react more at greater volumes. “It"s a cute animal mask overlay for your face, with ears that pulse and glow, and eyes that move based on the sounds it hears. Snapchat says it"s just the first of many," Engadget reports . Previously, certain Snapchat Lenses could only respond to facial gestures — for example opening your mouth, or raising your eyebrows might trigger an animation. This latest feature, however, responds to sound. Snapchat"s "Lenses" is one of its "face filters" feature that comes with two options, "Face Lenses" and "W...

After the spectacular rise and fall (and rebirth) of Glass, Google is taking another run at augmented reality smart glasses. Google is reportedly working on a standalone Augmented Reality headset that will use new Qualcomm chips. The company has outsourced this headset to  Taiwanese computer maker Quanta. According to documents obtained by WinFuture , the project is still in its early stages. The German tech site reports that the headset is in the early stages of development with Taiwanese computer maker Quanta. The headset, which is said to be code named the ‘Google A65,’ is supposedly similar to Microsoft’s HoloLens. HoloLens headset came out in 2016 and was aimed at training, design and industrial use. Google’s AR headset which is slated to be self-contained and powered  by  Qualcomm QCS603 chip, which includes an artificial intelligence programming interface that supports Android Neural Networks, Tensorflow, and other machine learning framework...

Machine learning now gives you a version of the internet tailored to fit your specific needs and wants. Google’s been beating that drum for years, but the vision manifested itself in fresh, in an overhauled Google Maps app revealed during the company’s I/O keynote. Google Maps will be updated with a new personalised "For You" section that offers up recommendations based on your interests. The Maps app is gaining a dedicated "For You" tab that is designed to "tell you what you need to know about the neighbourhoods you care about." It will feature new restaurants opening nearby, trending spots, and more, based on places you"ve rated and places you"ve visited For You will be accompanied by a new "Match Score" that predicts which restaurants you"re most likely to prefer based on your personal preferences, which is designed to help you to choose between multiple restaurant suggestions. The score is generated by utilising Machine Learni...

For years, pop-up ads and pre-roll videos have been the kind of nuisance that internet users have simply had to put up with. The vast majority of people report finding these traditional forms of digital advertising to be intrusive and unpleasant. Millennials, one of the demographic groups advertisers want to reach most, are particularly displeased with such tactics; 74% of 16-to-39-year olds claim they even stop using social networks if they get the sense they’re just platforms for brands to target them. And for the 5 million businesses running Facebook ads , this can be extremely detrimental. Our collective distaste for these marketing techniques has contributed substantially to the popularity of ad blockers, with the amount of people using them rising each year . Luckily, you may not have to put up with these ads for much longer. Thanks to augmented reality and virtual reality tech, the age of the pop-up and pre-roll ad may soon be coming to an end. The Shift Millennials and G...

Virtual Reality is a trend that many businesses are approaching, whether if it"s for games, medical application or any type of simulation environment. What is the future of VR then? How will the VR industry develop in the next 5 years? Let"s try and break this down in a simpler way: The Gaming Industry When it comes to Virtual Reality, of course, the first application that comes to our minds is gaming-related. What will happen during the next years will be “development” based since many Gaming Studios are implementing VR peripherals in their game development plan. Right now, Oculus Rift , HTC Vive and many more have small applications in AAA+ titles with 4k graphics, but this will change soon since it"s already confirmed by Santa Monica that many trilogies are getting a remake in 4k and VR (God Of War in particular, even if they just released the last chapter) Training If we think about Virtual Reality, as said before, one of the applications that come to mind is related...