Technologies

Pinterest’s new AR feature will let you ‘try on’ furniture, home decor

Buying a couch could be easier with the help of augmented reality.

Picking a new piece of furniture for your home can feel like solving a puzzle. Is that couch too big? Will a cow print bar stool clash with a granite countertop?

Retailers and tech companies are boosting their use of augmented reality to help customers decide what products to buy. AR lets people superimpose a virtual image onto a view of the real world through their phone’s camera, making it easier to visualize what an item will look like in a particular space.

On Monday, digital pinboard company Pinterest said it’s releasing a new feature called Try On for Home Decor. The tool will let you see how products from Crate & Barrel, CB2, Target, Walmart, West Elm, Wayfair and others look in your space before purchasing the items.

The feature is the latest example of tech companies and brands embracing AR, a development that comes as social networks explore the creation of new virtual worlds.

Brands such as CB2 and Target already have ways for their customers to shop using AR. Pinterest allows people to see products from various retailers in one place, said Jeremy King, senior vice president of engineering at Pinterest.

«Retailers are happy to work with us because they know people don’t typically buy their entire bedroom set from one company,» King said. «They want a chance to mix and match.»

Returning a big piece of furniture can be a pain, so it isn’t surprising that more brands have been experimenting with AR. Trying on items virtually can also entice people into clicking the buy button. In 2020, Pinterest rolled out an AR feature that lets people try on makeup. Pinterest found that users are five times more likely to buy makeup when they interact with this AR tool and King said the platform hopes to see the same behavior for home decor.

Even though the ability to visualize AR items in your space has been around for years, shopping with AR hasn’t become mainstream yet. About half of US adults have used or are at least somewhat interested in using AR or virtual reality while shopping, according to an October 2021 survey by Bizrate Insights.

«We’re seeing that interest rise slowly but steadily,» said Jasmine Enberg, a senior analyst for eMarketer. «It’s young people primarily who are leading the way for shopping with AR.»

On social media, teenagers are already using AR filters to communicate with one another. Incorporating the technology into shopping is a «natural next step» for these social networks. Snapchat, which also has AR tools to try on luxury clothing and purses, published a report with Foresight Factor last year that projected in 2025 the proportion of US Gen Z shoppers who use AR before buying a product will increase by 37%.

Using Pinterest’s new AR tool

Home decor and furniture items Pinterest users can virtually place in their space have a cube icon displayed on the upper left side of a «pin,» which are bookmarks used to save content on the platform.

When you click on the pin, there’s an option to «try in your space.» Users are then prompted to move their phone as the camera’s technology figures out how far objects are away from you. Depending on the camera angle, the object can appear bigger or smaller. When the item is in the right spot, you click a check button.

The AR home decor feature will be available in more than 80,000 shoppable Pins, which includes a link to the retailer’s website to buy the product.

Still, using AR to shop can «be rather clunky» and that will turn some consumers away from embracing the tool, Enberg said. «As the technology develops and the experiences improve, that’s probably going to bring more users into the fold,» she said.

Technologies

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

In a world where information defines influence, Verum Messenger is building a new architecture of digital communication — intelligent, secure, and ready for tomorrow. Here, technology serves not limitations, but possibilities.

Not being part of change. Leading it. Verum Messenger — the future that speaks first.

Technologies

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

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Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal