Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple Maps is getting a feature that users have been wanting for years: offline maps. With the launch of iOS 17 later this year, you’ll be able to download portions of a map for offline access to turn-by-turn navigation. Just like when you’re using Apple Maps online, the offline map will be able to show nearby places and your estimated time of arrival, along with directions for driving, walking, cycling, and public transit. This especially comes in handy if you’re traveling through an unfamiliar area where service might be spotty and need a set of backup directions in case you lose signal. It doesn’t cover the areas that you don’t download, however,…

Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the U.S. military, The Verge reports, citing a post from the CEO’s private Instagram account on Monday. Apple confirmed the acquisition to The Verge. Zoe Schiffer and Alex Heath for The Verge: It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to two former employees who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. Apple shared its typical statement it gives when it buys a company with The Verge: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we…

Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the U.S. military, The Verge reports, citing a post from the CEO’s private Instagram account on Monday. Apple confirmed the acquisition to The Verge. Zoe Schiffer and Alex Heath for The Verge: It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to two former employees who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. Apple shared its typical statement it gives when it buys a company with The Verge: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we…

Mira’s Prism headset from 2017. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the US military, according to a post from the CEO’s private Instagram account yesterday seen by The Verge and a person familiar with the matter. Apple confirmed the acquisition. The news comes just one day after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, a $3,499 mixed reality headset that the company has billed as a new “spatial” computing platform. It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to…

Apple Vision Pro involved a lot of neuroscience to develop some of its key features, according to a former Apple engineer, with it relying on various tricks to determine what a person could be about to do in the interface.The main interface of Apple's Vision Pro headset is based on navigating using eye tracking and gestures, with the system needing to determine what the user's looking at specifically as quickly as possible. In a Twitter posting on Monday, the curtain is pulled to reveal some of the early thought that went into the project.Sterling Crispin spent time as a Neurotechnology Prototyping Researcher in the Technology Development Group at Apple for over three years, the longest he's "ever worked on a…

Apple Vision Pro involved a lot of neuroscience to develop some of its key features, according to a former Apple engineer, with it relying on various tricks to determine what a person could be about to do in the interface.The main interface of Apple's Vision Pro headset is based on navigating using eye tracking and gestures, with the system needing to determine what the user's looking at specifically as quickly as possible. In a Twitter posting on Monday, the curtain is pulled to reveal some of the early thought that went into the project.Sterling Crispin spent time as a Neurotechnology Prototyping Researcher in the Technology Development Group at Apple for over three years, the longest he's "ever worked on a…