3 useful Google Maps features I wish I started using years ago

Artist Shows Slice-AR, Unity iPad App for Visualizing Medical Data

Roy Rodenhaeuser, a former Senior Technical Artist at Unity, has showcased a demo of Slice-AR — a Unity-powered iPad app for interactively visualizing 3D medical data like MRI and CT scans. The tool lets users define custom cross-section planes by moving the device and supports real-time navigation of anatomical structures. It was demonstrated on the Illumetry IO 3D display and is suited for educational, research, and demonstration purposes.

Ingress developer Niantic Spatial shuttering New Zealand office

Niantic Spatial, đơn vị phát triển ứng dụng không gian (geospatial) của Niantic, đóng cửa văn phòng New Zealand và sa thải ít nhất 10 nhân viên khi chuyển hướng từ mảng game giải trí sang thị trường doanh nghiệp. Đơn vị này, được thành lập sau khi Niantic bán mảng game (bao gồm Pokémon Go) trị giá 3,5 tỷ USD cho Scopely vào năm 2025, đã huy động 250 triệu USD để phát triển mô hình AI không gian địa lý cho hệ thống tự động và ứng dụng AR. Niantic Spatial vẫn duy trì game AR Ingress nhưng ngừng hoạt động ứng dụng thú ảo Peridot từ tháng 4/2026.

Nếu bạn đang theo dõi xu hướng công nghệ AR/VR và thị trường doanh nghiệp, bài này giúp hiểu rõ cách chuyển đổi chiến lược của Niantic Spatial từ giải trí sang công nghiệp, đặc biệt là về mô hình AI và địa lý không gian cho hệ thống tự động hóa và thực tế tăng cường.

Smart glasses maker Even Realities hits $1B valuation with $150M funding led by Meituan, Tencent

Even Realities, a Shenzhen-based startup founded by ex-Apple engineers, has raised $150M in a pre-Series B round led by Meituan and Tencent, reaching a $1B valuation. Unlike Meta and Snap's camera-equipped smart glasses, Even's flagship G2 is camera-free and focuses on a heads-up display that beams information into the wearer's line of sight, controlled via a companion ring. The company has grown from 30–40 to 300–400 employees, surpassed 10,000 units sold, and counts the U.S. as its largest market. Its proprietary Even HAO optical technology integrates microchip, waveguide, and prescription support end-to-end. Frames retail at $599 with average orders around $1,000, targeting male professionals aged 30–50.

Luminvera bets on immersive software for robotics

Luminvera, a Silicon Valley startup founded in March 2026, has pivoted from an AR wearable hardware product to pure B2B software targeting the robotics industry. Founder Lu Yang, a former Bosch and Mercedes-Benz IT project manager, built the company around the problem of engineers drowning in thousands of pages of flat 2D specifications when designing inherently 3D machines. The new product is an AI-driven spatial design workspace that converts dense specification documents into structured 3D constraints engineers can interact with directly. The pivot away from hardware was partly driven by Microsoft discontinuing HoloLens 2 with no successor, making hardware bets risky. Luminvera now competes against established AR/industrial software players like PTC, Scope AR, and Augmentir, but differentiates by targeting the design-stage engineer rather than the floor technician, and focusing specifically on robotics rather than manufacturing broadly. Yang presented the company at the Founder Institute's Silicon Valley Spring 2026 graduation.

Meta launches its own smart glasses brand at $299, breaking from the Ray-Ban name

Meta has launched smart glasses under its own brand for the first time, with the Adventurer and Fury models priced at $299 — undercutting the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 ($359) by dropping the licensing premium while keeping identical hardware. All models feature a 12MP ultrawide camera, 3K video, five-microphone array, and over 8 hours of battery life. AI features run on Muse Spark, Meta's new on-device model supporting voice queries, visual identification, and real-time translation in 20 languages. A third model, Starfire, designed with Kylie Jenner, costs $399. EssilorLuxottica remains the manufacturing partner. The move creates a two-tier strategy: Ray-Ban Meta retains fashion premium positioning while Meta Glasses offer a lower entry point. Meta and EssilorLuxottica together hold ~82% of the global smart glasses market, with 7 million AI-enabled glasses sold in 2025.