Free Republic

The Pac-Man collab is just the start of Pizza Hut’s new nostalgia-driven ad campaign, which will bring back Book It! pins, red cups, and old menu items. Not that Domino's didn't have the Noid (cough), but as far as America's big pizza chains go, Pizza Hut is most likely to trigger a sense of nostalgia. For one, unlike other places, Pizza Hut has historically had a larger focus on dining in: the distinctive red roofs, the stained-glass lamps, the pans and buffet—much of what lured us into Pizza Hut as kids can't be replicated at home. However, as part of...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- A novel technology called "Tactical Augmented Reality," or TAR, is now helping Soldiers precisely locate their positions, as well as the locations of friends and foes, said Richard Nabors. It even enables them to see in the dark, all with a heads-up display device that looks like night-vision goggles, or NGV, he added. So in essence, TAR replaces NVG, GPS, plus it does much more. Nabors, an associate for strategic planning at U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC, spoke about TAR at the Pentagon's Lab Day,...

Microsoft won a patent for augmented reality glasses that would provide a guiding voice at mealtime – whispering for you to consider grabbing a salad for lunch, rather than a greasy burger. The patent claims a device with image data would use a sensor to detect foods – and then provide feedback information to the user on the food's nutritional information. “A see-through, head mounted display and sensing devices cooperating to provide feedback on food items detected in the device field of view,” the patent abstract reads. “Feedback can include warnings based on personal wearer needs, general nutrition information, food...

ook has been dropping hints about Apple's interest in augmented and virtual reality since the beginning of the year. In January, the Financial Times reported that Apple has a secret team numbering in the hundreds of employees working to develop applications of the two technologies, including headsets. In his comments to GMA, Cook doesn't entirely write off virtual reality, but he does make it sound like a lower priority for Apple. "Virtual reality sort of encloses and immerses the person into an experience that can be really cool but probably has a lower commercial interest over time," he said. "Less...

*********************clip The tremendous success of Pokemon Go, which is based on augmented reality, shows that the augmented reality/virtual reality era has arrived and is poised to be huge. With research firm Gartner predicting that 1.4 million virtual reality headsets will be shipped this year and 6.3 million will be shipped next year, investors should look to benefit from this trend. In 2020, 45.6 million augmented reality devices will be sold, another research firm IDC predicted.********************************************CLIP*********************************

Apple could be working on its own augmented-reality technology, which would be a first for the company, according to Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster. Apple usually focuses on mainstream consumer products such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Munster has picked up on a few clues within the industry that indicate Apple could be working on some type of augmented reality device. For example, the company acquired a German augmented reality startup called Metaio earlier this year, which was reported back in May. Munster notes that Metaio owns 171 worldwide patents related to augmented reality technology, which would put Apple in 11th...

Larry Page and Sergey Brin have long had the dream of a hands-free, mobile Google, where search was a seamless process as you moved around the world. As the years progressed the vision did, too, expanding beyond search to persistent connections with the people in your lives. In other words, Google’s view of the world now has the social side fully baked into it. Today, Google is revealing that it is taking concrete steps towards that vision with ProjectGlass, an augmented reality system that will give users the full range of activities performed with a smart phone — without the...