Hacking Emperor

The Lens Studio creators have published more than 1.5 million AR effects to Snapchat. One of them is Audrey Spencer, who shared her story with us and provided her insights into Lens Studio as a storytelling device. Meanwhile, Snap has added new capabilities to the platform to stoke more creativity from its creators. In AR wearables, Samsung, perhaps prematurely and maybe accidentally, illustrated its vision for smartglasses and spatial computing via leaked concept videos. At Mobile World Congress Shanghai, tech giant Qualcomm and one of its hardware partners, Nreal, each revealed new AR... more http://dlvr.it/RtZZB4

Have some sensitive information you need to share with somebody on Telegram but are worried it might fall into the wrong hands? You don't have to worry anymore because Telegram now sports a way to automatically delete all new messages in any chat of your choosing, not just end-to-end encrypted ones. Telegram's "Secret Chats" already features a "self-destruct" option that can erase messages from both ends of the chat after a certain period of time. While that feature is undoubtedly great, it's limited since it doesn't work for your regular threads. Sometimes, if not most of the time, you just... more http://dlvr.it/RtZZ7m

The rapid advance of Lens Studio as a platform for easily developing augmented reality experiences is just one indicator that immersive computing is becoming the norm. But one layer above the technology tools are the users, the real stars of any platform. Without passionate users, your platform is really just a great idea without the footprint of real-world usage and momentum. That's part of why we decided to begin looking closer at some of the people who are driving the most mainstream version of AR forward via mobile apps. • Don't Miss: Bernie Sanders Presidential Inauguration Freezing... more http://dlvr.it/RtVfKd

The Lens Studio app has become a cornerstone of Snap and its augmented reality technology portfolio by giving developers, creatives, and novices the ability to create augmented reality camera effects for Snapchat. One reason for this is Snap's steady and frequent iteration of the platform's capabilities, and the latest round looks to greatly expand what the Lens Studio community can do with the tool. Don't Miss: Snapchat Spooky AR Experiences from Lens Studio Creators Get You Ready for Halloween On Thursday, Snap released Lens Studio 3.4, which adds improved hand tracking, full-body... more http://dlvr.it/RtTcv1

San Francisco-based augmented reality company Scope AR has made building AR instructional content for mobile devices and AR wearables as easy as throwing together a PowerPoint deck, primarily via its WorkLink platform. For its next trick, ScopeAR has packaged its platform into a browser window. Don't Miss: 15 Remote Assistance Apps Driving the Enterprise Sector of Augmented Reality, from HoloLens to iPhone On Wednesday, the company launched WorkLink Create, a web-based application that, like the original WorkLink, enables users without coding or 3D modeling experience to create AR workflows... more http://dlvr.it/RtQ3xX

Apparently, we learned nothing from Jurassic Park, as scientists are still working on bringing extinct species back to life. Until that day comes, you can interact with long-lost animals through augmented reality...if you have a newer model iPhone. On Wednesday, Atlantic Productions, the company behind the BAFTA award-winning film David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive featuring the eponymous historian, have created a companion iPhone app that enables users to view virtual reproductions of fossils of three extinct species and then brings them and their habitats to life in augmented... more http://dlvr.it/RtN8Rk

Outside of plastic surgery disasters or costumes, augmented reality is the closest we can get to morphing our likenesses into those of animals. We've previously shared an anthropomorphic AR Lens that turns you into a horse. This week, we have two more examples of animal transformation AR effects, one that serves as a callback to recent viral sensation, and another that comes to use courtesy of music marketing efforts. Elsewhere, creators and developers have come up with some fun AR experiences that leverage AR gadgets to project letters and emojis into our environment. And, speaking of... more http://dlvr.it/RtLRKp