Weekly Spatial Nov 6 2020 by AWE Team

Highlights

Stanford can Identify VR Users in 5 minutes
Researchers at Stanford created a system that can personally identify a VR user with 95% accuracy after tracking their activity for 5 minutes performing common VR tasks. This raises more questions about privacy in XR. (RoadtoVR) (Nature)

HoloLens 2 Sales Expand
The HoloLens 2 will soon be sold in 15 additional territories. Originally only sold to enterprise customers, Microsoft began selling to individuals at the start of this year. Now, the headset will be also available for purchase by individuals in 11 European countries, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. HoloLens also announced that the HoloLens 2 Development Package will also soon be available for purchase in the US. (Zephyrnet)

People Detection on iOS 14.2
Apple update iOS 14.2 includes a new accessibility feature called People Detection. The software makes use of LiDAR, AR, and machine learning to warn low vision and blind users when they are within a set distance of objects or other people. The software is compatible with audio feedback, so that a user wearing an AirPod can get audio notifications when they within their set distance of another person. (Forbes)

The XR Market

Viveport Developers get 100% of Revenue
Viveport has announced that developers can opt-in to receive 100% of revenue generated by their games through the end of the year. (RoadtoVR)

Zappar Reaches Goal
Zappar announced in a tweet on Tuesday that they have reached their Kickstarter goal to create their new ZapBox, a $40 kit that turns your phone into an AR headset. (Twitter)

Toyota Utilizes XR
Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) speaks with David Kleiner, Extended Reality Lab Manager at Toyota about the different ways the automotive giant is utilizing XR. (AREA)

Lockwood Raises $25M

Lockwood Publishing, makers of Avakin Life, have raised $25M in investments, led by Tencent. Avakin Life has over 200M registered mobile users. (VentureBeat)

Pokémon Go Reaches $1B in 2020
Arguable one of the most commercially popular AR apps to date, Pokémon Go has reached $1B in in-app ourchases in 2020, making this the game's most profitable year, and bringing its total revenue to $4.3B. (SensorTower)

Launches & Announcements

L'Oreal Paris has launched the first fully digital makeup line. (Campaign)
The MLB, NBA, and other major sports leagues are looking into XR not only for the pandemic, but into the future. (CNBC)
Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that the Oculus Quest 2, which shipped early last month, was preordered 5 times as much as the original Oculus Quest. (TheVerge)
Walmart will incorporate AR in its efforts to make stores double as fulfillment centers. (TechCrunch)
The DecaGear headset claims to offer impressive specs, but many remain skeptical. (VRScout)
Home Depot finds their conversion rates are boosted by AR. (DigitalCommerce360)
The New York Times looks to augmented reality as the future of reporting, discussing some of their recent work in the medium, including their recent filter demonstrating the decrease of pollution since the beginning of the coronavirus lockdowns. (NewYorkTImes)
Popular VR Film Spheres was recently added to the "coming Soon" section of the Oculus store. (UploadVR)
Apple has filed a patent that would allow users in an AR HMD (like the Apple Glass) to see better in low light using radar and LiDAR. (AppleInsider)
XR Startup Emissive is creating XR experiences for museums. (VentureBeat)
The North American servers for popular VR Sports Game Sparc went offline on October 28th, and the EU servers only four days later, with no acknowledgement of when they will come back. (RoadtoVR)
Several Hollywood SFX workers are leaving for better jobs developing AR platforms for major tech companies. (AppleInsider)
Vogue's recent shoot and interview with model Fiona Xie includes an AR hologram of Xie as part of Vogues "W[ar]drobe". (Vogue)

In Focus: AWE Nite LA & Boston

AWE is dedicated to bringing you all the latest with not one but TWO AWE Nites next week.

AWE Nite LA: Better Wellness through Technolgy

Join us Monday night, 6:30-9pm PST, for AWE Nite LA, where we will discuss how AR can help with the worsening mental health crisis. (Eventbrite) Panelists:Skip Rizzo - Research Director at USC Institute for Creative Technologies for Medical Virtual Reality; Carrie Shaw - CEO & Founder at Embodied Labs; Mani Srinivasan - SVP & Head of Business Development at TRIPP, Inc.; Lima Jevremović - Founder, CEO at AURA

AWE Nite Boston

Interested in augmented reality on the East Coast? Join us on Nov. 10 for AWE Nite Boston. We have a great lineup of speakers from Oculus, Facebook, PTC, Brown University, and XR Terra! (Meetup) Panelists: Andrew Johnson - Product Design Prototyper at Facebook (Oculus); Jeff Huang - Creator at Portal-ble, CS at Brown University; Neil Reddin - CEO at Redding Futures and Co-founder of Near Future of Retail; Janet Kang - CEO of XR Terra; Mike Campbell - EVP and GM, AR at PTC