Reuters: L’Oreal turns to Google as coronavirus spurs virtual make-up shift. “Shoppers searching Google for cosmetics will be able to try them on virtually through a deal with L’Oreal, as the French group looks to make up for lost store sales caused by coronavirus lockdowns by expanding online.”
XR (Extended Reality)
Review: V&A’s Curious Alice VR experience (Engineering and Technology)
Engineering and Technology: Review: V&A’s Curious Alice VR experience. “Ahead of the opening of its much-anticipated Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition in March 2021, London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum has released a VR experience: Curious Alice. This is not a dodgy reconstruction of its existing galleries or upcoming exhibition; it is a creative little companion piece well suited to the medium and offering a brief escape from reality.”
Dezeen: Virtual fashion will allow people to “go completely crazy”
Dezeen: Virtual fashion will allow people to “go completely crazy”. “Interest in virtual fashion has exploded during the coronavirus pandemic as people explore ways of dressing their online avatars, according to digital fashion designer Amber Jae Slooten. ‘We got huge interest,’ said Slooten, co-founder of The Fabricant, a virtual fashion house based in Amsterdam. ‘I’ve never dressed so many people in my life’.”
Android Police: Google adds new creepy (and cute) 3D AR creatures just in time for Halloween
Android Police: Google adds new creepy (and cute) 3D AR creatures just in time for Halloween. “Frightful times have fallen, and Google is getting into the swing of things with an array of special Halloween-themed 3D animals and objects. From a witchy cat wearing a pointy hat to a skeleton getting jiggy with it, summoning up some October thrills is now simply a search away.”
US Army: AR dog goggles could help protect Soldiers
US Army: AR dog goggles could help protect Soldiers. “Through a project funded by the Small Business Innovation Research program and managed by the Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, a new technology has been developed by Command Sight, Inc., to provide military working dogs with augmented reality goggles that allow a dog’s handler to give it specific directional commands while keeping the warfighter remote and out of sight.”
Engadget: Google Maps’ ‘Live View’ AR feature gets landmarks and improved accuracy
Engadget: Google Maps’ ‘Live View’ AR feature gets landmarks and improved accuracy. “Google Maps is continuing to update and improve its ‘Live View’ AR feature, with new capabilities like showing the relative location of landmarks and more accurate locations for pins, according to an announcement on the Google blog. Live View originally launched last May, and uses your camera to visually guide you along a route using large arrows and pins.”
Gizmodo: Google’s Daydream VR Is Officially, Really, Finally Dead
Gizmodo: Google’s Daydream VR Is Officially, Really, Finally Dead. “If you happen to be one of the few people who still use Google’s Daydream VR platform, I’m sorry to tell you that it’s officially dead. (If you didn’t know Daydream was a thing, that’s totally OK. I forgot it was, too.) Spotted by Android Authority, Google recently issued a service update for Daydream letting any lingering users know the software is no longer supported.”